Matthew kept his eyes on his notebook as the teacher droned about history or something. To be honest, he knew what the teacher was talking about until about ten minutes ago, when his mind began to wander and he stopped paying attention. His pencil seemed to dance across the paper in front of him as he doodled little pictures of fire breathing dragons and knights, and a small smile appeared on his lips as his drawing began to gain detail. A dragon scale here, a glinting sword there. The dragons began to look less cartoonish and more ferocious, one looked to be lashing its tail towards a well armoured knight, about to knock him off his feet. Two muscular dragons fought the army of knights, while a smaller dragon curled protectively around a few large eggs, blowing fire at any human that managed to get past the two guardians. It began to develop like its own little story, despite the lack of writing or story telling.
"Matthew!" He was harshly snapped out of his artistic state of mind as the teacher called his name. He crossed his arms over his drawings and tried to look attentive. "Y-yes, Mr. Edelstein?" The teacher frowned and tapped his fingers impatiently against the wood of his desk. "I've asked you three times already to explain what happened in the Revolutionary War"
"Well, um, England had control over America, who was being taxed too much, so after arguments and rebellions and stuff, the Americans went to war to gain independence" It started out confident, but as the other students attention went to Matthew, his voice quieted even more than the usual volume and his sentence ended in a timid whisper.
"I suppose that will do for now. I except you'll stay attentive in my class from now on, Mr. Williams" The teacher said warningly, receiving a hasty nod in return. He continued talking about history and wars, and everyone's attention left the nervous student. Matthew sighed softly in relief and glanced at the clock, blowing a lock of wavy blonde hair from his eyes to do so. While most students would be excited and ready to jump out of their seat, Matthew seemed to wish that class would last longer. Only a few minutes until lunchtime, a time that most students enjoyed.
"RRRRRIIIINNGGGG"
The loud, intrusive sound echoed through the empty halls and all the students hopped from their desks and scurried out the door, already talking loudly about something or other with their friends. Matthew took his time getting his books ready, even stopping to apologize to the teacher for not paying attention. Maybe if he waited, they would lose interest and leave.
The teenage boy slowly walked out into the hallway, looking around anxiously. He didn't seem to find what he was looking for, judging by the slight sigh of relief and the way his shoulders slumped into a more relaxed posture. He walked through the halls, staying to the side so he didn't bump into anyone on the way to his locker. Once he got to his destination, the crowd had thinned out noticeably, now only a few people hurrying to the lunch room. He shifted the books in his arms so that he could use his free arm to spin the combination to open his locker. Right before he opened it, however, a loud voice from behind him met his ears and he froze.
"Hey freak!"
Matthew didn't respond, nor show any sign that he heard the voice except for freezing up for a moment. After regaining movement of his body, he opened his locker with a trembling hand and started to put his books away. Suddenly his locker was slammed against his fingers and he let out a sharp cry of pain, yanking his hand away from the locker door and holding it close to his chest.