Sun and Moon (Chapter 1 - A New Face)

“Nice to meet ya, the name’s Moony!”

The whole class erupted into a cacophony of mumbles and whispers as the new kid entered the room and introduced himself.

“So that’s our new kid huh?” said Kel, tapping his pencil on his desk to the rhythm of a catchy song he just heard.

Aubrey focused on the boy, sizing him up. There’s a small perceptible smile on her face which Sunny immediately noticed. He turned to the window and closed his eyes.

“Settle down class!” the teacher instructed. “Now, tell us about yourself Moony.”

The boy whose name was Moony smiled sheepishly. “Well, ah, I suppose I’m kinda new around here,” he said as he rubbed the back of his head. “About myself uh… lemme see, there’s not much t’say really. I play the guitar as a hobby and I’m quite good at it, I have two older brothers workin’ somewhere far away — not to be confused with this Faraway hehe, and… I like—no I love horses! We have lots of ‘em runnin’ in the field back in my hometown. Shame I couldn’t bring one here to show y’all, haha.”

Laughter filled the room as the kids voiced out their observations.

“Horses? What a weirdo.”

“He’s kinda cute, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, his accent sounds soooo adorable!”

“Meh.”

“Moony, what kind of name is that?”

“Is that even his real name?”

With an eye-catching combination of smooth gray hair and dark blue eyes, and standing at a height taller than most kids in the class, Moony certainly looked the most unique out of anyone.

The teacher gestured for the class to quiet down.

“So, um, yeah… it’s good to be here,” said Moony, his voice wavering. The smile on his face had already faded.

“I hope you’ll all get along with him,” the teacher said with a smile. “Let’s see…you can have that seat right over there,” she said, pointing to the empty seat next to Aubrey.

The smile on her face grew bigger which did not escape Kel’s notice.

“Someone’s happy,” he remarked.

“Shut it, Kel.”

“Oh! Looks like the Sun has met his match!” joked a kid sitting behind Sunny, tapping the back of his chair. “Sun and moon, sun and moon, sun and moon!”

Darn. Can’t say he didn’t see that joke coming a mile away after hearing the new kid’s name. Sunny clenched his fists and buried his face on the desk.

Moony…

Gotta watch out for him.

Today’s pizza day at the cafeteria — Sunny and Kel’s favorite. The four friends sat together in their favorite spot as usual.

“Moony, funny name huh? Must be nice having a moon by your side eh, Aubrey?” Kel snickered, pinching her elbow and doing what he normally does, which was to annoy the heck out of her. She promptly responded by giving his shoulder a good whack, making him jump off his seat.

“Ow! Hey, not too hard!”

If looks could kill, he would’ve died a nasty death right there.

“Just what are you implying?!”

Kel winked. “D-Do I really need to spell it out? Man, I should’ve borrowed Basil’s camera and took a snap of you back there looking like the happiest person in the class when the teacher told him to sit next to you. Priceless.”

“Will you just drop it, you jerk?! You’ve got the wrong idea!”

Sunny covered his face with the palm of his hand.

Yeah, just drop it Kel. Aubrey’s not that kind of girl.

“He seems like a nice kid,” Basil obliviously chimed in. “It’s not often that we get someone from the outside joining our class. It’d be nice to hear more from him. Oh I know, we should definitely invite him to our table, right Sunny?!”

Sunny just shrugged, his face showing no discernible emotion.

Aubrey seemed to like the idea. “I haven’t seen him since we got out of class though. Where could he be?”

Sunny gritted his teeth. Look what you’ve done, Basil…

He stood up.

“Where are you going?” Basil asked.

“Bathroom,” he mumbled, sighing deeply as he dug through the insides of his pocket. He needed some space to think.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine.”

Kel stood up as well.

“I’ll come with. Watch our seats for us alright?”

Sunny was already a few steps ahead of him however.

“Sunny, wait up!”

He walked as fast as his frail legs could muster, squeezing and maneuvering through a thick crowd of kids who just got out of their class, scrambling to stuff their faces on pizza. He turned a corner to the left and hugged the wall, with Kel who’s still trying to catch up to him going in the opposite direction. Good. It’s not like he was actually on his way to the bathroom, he just needed to stretch his legs and walk for a bit, and he’d rather do it alone.

Sunny walked a bit further before stopping near a flight of stairs. There’s no one here, good.

“You’re going to give us that or what?!” demanded a loud voice.

Perhaps he spoke prematurely.

Sunny turned around and saw two older kids, probably ninth graders from the looks of it, surrounding a shorter boy who had his back on the wall.

Moony?

Of course it’s him.

“Hey now, there’s no need for violence! Let’s calm down and talk about this with a clear mind,” he pleaded.

“There’s nothing to talk about!” barked one of them. “Give us your wallet or we’ll take it by force!”

“No can do. My mom’s killin’ me if I ever lose my wallet again.”

The taller of the two furiously punched the wall behind Moony and made him flinch.

“We don’t want your shitty wallet, dumbass! We want what’s inside of it!”

Moony stifled a laugh. “I see, it’s just that you’ve been askin’ for my wallet this whole time,” he said. “Sorry, but answer’s still no. I ain’t giving you anythin’. Now if you don’t mind—”

Another punch. The other boy grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and lifted him off his feet and pinned him to the wall.

“We’ll wipe that smug look off your face, asshole!”

Sunny backed away slowly as sweat filled the palm of his hands and started weighing his options. He could run back and ask someone for help but that would mean leaving Moony right now to those two which didn’t feel right to him. The other option would be to divert the bullies’ attention from Moony and to him and make a run for it but needless to say, Sunny has never been the heroic type. He’s not going to risk getting beaten up for some kid he didn’t even know.

“Found you! Man, why’d you leave me back ther—”

Oh crap, it’s Kel.

“Hey, what the heck are you two doing with Moony!” he yelled, mere seconds after witnessing what’s happening. “Leave him alone!”

And it’s up.

The two bullies turned their back on Moony and faced them, advancing and quickly closing the distance between them.

“What, he a friend of yours?”

“Y-yeah.”

Sunny reflexively covered his mouth. Why did he just say that?

Kel stepped forward and put himself between Sunny and the older boys, ready to cover him if things go south. Sunny wanted to say there’s no need but he’s still too stunned to properly process everything.

“You heard him! He’s our friend and we won’t let you pick on him! Now get lost!”

The two hooligans cracked their knuckles, ready to brawl. “Fine dipshit, if you want to get beaten up so badly then step right up!”

Sunny didn’t see what’s coming next. The taller of the two lunged toward Kel, only to stumble and miss after receiving a strong kick on the back of his knees courtesy of Moony.

“Shit!”

This was followed by another swift kick to the face which knocked the older boy out cold.

“What the hell?!” his friend cried. “What did you do to him?!”

Sunny couldn’t believe his eyes. Taken out in two kicks. He almost felt sorry for the guy.

Moony was on his knees panting. “Whew, almost twisted my leg there. Don’t worry about him, he’ll be up again in no time.”

Even Kel couldn’t move after watching what Moony just did.

“You’ll pay for this!”

The other kid jumped at him but Moony easily sidestepped him.

“Please stop. I don’t want to hafta—”

“Shut the fuck up!”

Another missed punch. Sunny and Kel silently looked at each other.

“Sir, haven’t you had enough?”

The boy managed to grab his hand at the last second but Moony was one step ahead of him. A swift kick to the crotch sent him crumpled to the floor. Moony took that chance to run to Sunny and Kel’s position and yanked both of their arms.

“C’mon, gotta run.”

They reached the cafeteria entrance after a minute of frantic running, stopping momentarily to catch their breath.

“Dude, what was that? That was amazing!” Kel praised.

Sunny couldn’t help but nod and agree. “Thanks,” he mumbled.

“Yeah, thanks dude!”

Moony shrugged and gave them a half-smile.

“Ah jeez guys, it was nothin’, I should be the one thankin’ you two for what you did. Really saved my hide back there, y’know?”

Kel was practically bouncing over with excitement. “Hehe wait until the others hear of this! Hey, that reminds me, you should totally join us in our table Moony! We’ll introduce you to the rest of our little group!”

“Is it really okay? I don’t wanna intrude or anythin’.”

“Oh come on! You’re more than welcome to join us! Right, Sunny?”

Sunny nodded. Wouldn’t make much sense not to after what just happened.

“Then I’ll gladly take you up on your offer,” he said, putting a hand on Kel’s shoulder. “I was just fixin’ to eat when those guys cornered me out of nowhere.”

“Great!”

Looks like the Sun has met his match!

He shook the obtrusive thought out of his head right away.

“This way,” he said, leading their new friend back to their table. The crowd from earlier have already dispersed and the cafeteria tables were almost fully occupied. Still a little bit of time left before lunch is over.

Basil and Aubrey were discussing something in hushed voices when they got back.

“Hey, look who we brought back with us!”

Moony revealed himself to the two. “Hi!”

“Moony?” the two blurted in unison.

Kel told them what happened over the next ten minutes. Aubrey and Basil listened intently; the awe on their faces unmistakable when they heard how Moony took care of the bullies. Moony ate the pizza slices Basil offered him as Kel recounted the story.

“So yeah, that’s how we met this guy” he said, putting an arm over Moony’s shoulder. “Man, you gotta teach how to pull off those kicks!”

“Sure, maybe some time. Sunny, right?” he said, turning his attention to him as he took another slice of pizza. “Looks like you have a moon in your group now, hehe.”

Ugh, this again?

“Funny.”

Awkward silence permeated the air around their table.

“Sun and Moon! A perfect pair!” Kel piped up.

Aubrey cringed but resisted the temptation to hit him again. “Kel…”

“What?”

Moony took a sip of water. “Oops, haha. Sorry, that was a bad joke.”

“Anyway, you should totally hang with us after school!” said Basil, changing the topic. “Since you’re new in town we could all take a walk and show you around, to help you familiarize yourself.”

Aubrey seemed to delight at the suggestion. “Hobbeez would be a good first stop, right Sunny?”

“Uh, yeah I guess.”

Moony tilted his head as he took another bite. “Hobbeez? What’s that?”

“They sell comic books and a bunch of other cool stuff like capsule toys and games,” Kel explained. “They’ve even got people all the way from the city coming over from time to time just to hang out! I’m sure you’ll love it there.”

Moony’s eyes lit up. “Oooh, sounds great. My pa used to collect comic books as a kid. Shame he sold all of it back when I was little to pay a debt before I had the chance to read ‘em.”

“Guess it’s settled, we’ll head to Hobbeez right after school!”

A light suddenly flashed which took them all by surprise. Well, almost all of them.

“This one’s going in the photo album,” said Basil, grinning triumphantly. “The beginning of a new friendship.”

“Haha, that’s Basil for you. Always on the prowl to capture us unaware.”

Sunny sighed.

There’s a long day ahead of them.