A New Life [OPEN]

Mari walked down the sidewalk while looking at all of the people laughing and chatting with one another. She hoped that maybe while staying at this new school, she could make some friends.

But Mari knew that bad things alway happen when she tried to get close to people. She would have fun with them and be happy for a little while, and then suddenly they would never even look at her...
Mari’s psychiatrist had talked to her about something called “multiple personalities”, but she didn’t fully understand what that meant. Maybe it was some sort of disease she had? Something had to be wrong with her if so many people had stopped caring about her. Mari tried to remember the day she was expelled from her old school, but it was very hazy. She could make out a few kids towering over her and her eye hurting, but that was all. She had blacked out after that and the next thing she knew, she was at home again. What if something like that happened again?

Mari thought about how her life had been happening so fast. She wanted to meet new people and have a happier life, but she just wasn't used to it. Mari suddenly became very nervous, tugging at the ends of her dress. She stood quietly for a little while, monitoring her breathing like her psychiatrist had told her. Mari then muttered a few words of encouragement to herself and regained her composure. She dragged a tiny bag of luggage behind her as she walked on.

Mari checked the map she had with her every few seconds, hoping she would be able to make sense of this town. Even if this city wasn't gigantic, Mari had never gone to a place bigger than her small town before. She would often get lost even in her own home. Suddenly, she heard a bell ringing in the distance and started to panic. Mari didn’t want to be late on her first day. But she knew she couldn't figure this city out in such a short amount of time. She felt hopeless. She would never make it to the school and never get the new life she wanted. Mari looked down at her feet and felt her eyes begin to water.

Jimmy was roaming the streets of Toronto, earphones in, letting the music wash over him as he took in the city. He hadn't familiarised himself with what was now his city enough, and had taken some time for doing just that.

Thoughts of his girlfriend Ellie entered his mind as he walked. He wondered what it would be like for her, the sounds, the smells, and the feel of the city, what would she experience? What would she think of this street if he walked down it holding her hand? Then came the thoughts of his family. His stepsister, Akira, had wanted to know everything about Jimmy's new date, and was as delighted to hear of their night at the fair as his stepfather, Rick. Despite making contact with his mother after his return that night, things still hadn't been any better between them. He wondered what they would think of Toronto, too. Akira would have loved it, she loved everything. Rick would have appreciated the commercial aspect of things, but little else. He didn't know what his mother would have thought. He didn't know what his mother would have thought about much, really.

He snapped out of his thoughts not too far from the starting point of his school, at the sight of a rather dainty-looking blonde girl wheeling a suitcase and looking visibly distressed as her eyes flitted over a map. He decided to pause his music and approach the girl, he hadn't done a selfless deed for a while, and here might be as good a place to start as any.
"Hey, do you need a hand? What are you looking for?" Jimmy asked, uncertainly.

Mari's grip on her map tightened, as she felt like someone was looking at her. Although, why wouldn't someone be starring? She looked completely out of place here, at least from the parts of the city she had seen. She looked almost the exact opposite to most people in this big town.
As Mari continued to ponder her appearance, she noticed that the person who was looking at her before had start to approach. She began to panic again, wondering what exactly someone would want from her. Mari continued to stare at the pavement, hoping the person would walk past her instead of trying to talk. This was something she didn't hope for often, but she was in a time of distress. Someone talking to her while she was upset wasn't going to cheer her up any. Unless they could somehow help solve her problem.
"Hey, do you need a hand? What are you looking for?"
Mari slowly turned her head toward the person speaking, but quickly realized she had to look up. This was someone who she definitely imagined to be apart of the city. Tanned and tall, with defined muscles and the like. This quickly made Mari grow intimidated. She tightened her grip on the map once more while nodding her head slowly.
Mari then wondered why someone who seemed to be so intimidating was asking if she needed help. Surely he couldn't be that bad if he was going out of his way to help her? And she did enjoy being spoken to so casually. As if she was just a normal person living her everyday life. She thought about how casual talk probably happened a lot around here. And she wanted to take advantage of that. So she decided to reply to the tall boy, managing to get all of the words out of her mouth... Somewhat.
"Need... Find.. Tachibana.. Acadamy."

The girl seemed further shaken by Jimmy's presence, and struggled to get her words out. This wasn't his intention at all. But he knew from experience with his mother that he needed to act like everything was fine (because it was), and let the girl normalise on her own. He broke into a friendly grin at the mention of Tachibana Academy.
"Tachibana, eh? You're in luck, I study there myself. We're about a fifteen minutes' walk from it now. I'll show you the way, if you'd like."

"Suppose I'd better be polite and introduce myself. I'm Jimmy." He added.

When he smiled, Mari felt extremely upset with herself for making assumptions. Just because this guy was tall didn't mean that he would be scary. She silently scolded herself and returned his smile as he told her about Tachibana Academy. But he stayed at the school too? Mari felt extremely confused. She couldn't imagine someone who looked so normal to have a problem of any kind. But she shook that thought out of herself as well; after all, looks are never what really makes a person.

Even though Mari felt comfortable being around people, she still didn't like to talk too often. It took a lot of her courage to return Jimmy's introduction.
"I'm Mari... Dawn. Um.. thank you."

Mari felt herself becoming more sure about coming to the school now. If there were more people like Jimmy there, she would be just fine. But if there were more people who resembled the children at her old school, she would be in trouble. But she realized she could find that out soon enough.
"Lead.. the way."

Jimmy nodded, catching a look at Mari's eyepatch and instantly assuming the reason as to why she would have needed Tachibana Academy from that one piece of information.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Mari. Any time, I'd like to think of myself as helpful when I can be. Not sure how accurate that is, though..." He replied with a chuckle.

"So, are you looking forward to your first day? Everyone I've met around the school so far is lovely. I'm sure you'll be welcomed with open arms." He observed, as he walked to lead Mari towards the campus.

Mari smiled as Jimmy replied to her introduction and nodded when he asked her about her first day. She had had enough talking for one day, hopefully Jimmy wouldn't mind her staying quiet for the walk..
Mari followed as Jimmy lead the way to Tachibana Academy. She looked around the town with amazement, starring at the flowers, animals, and people. Mari saw a new side to this town now that she knew everything was going to be okay. As the two students walked, Jimmy made occasional small talk. Mari wasn't quite focused on anything he said, but smiled and nodded whenever he did.
Soon, the two of them arrived at the school.

Jimmy had been pretty much talking to himself for the whole time that it took him to lead Mari to the school. But he couldn't entirely tell whether she was listening or not, as she sometimes just smiled and nodded, and not always at the most appropriate times. He didn't talk too much though, just tried to break the silence occassionally, or say something if he felt like he had something worth being said. He didn't know why Mari was so silent and timid, but he didn't want to poke is nose in someone else's business. It wasn't like he was difficult to talk to... was it?

"Well, this is it." He said, smiling as he led her through the gates.

"Anything more I can do? Do you want help finding your classroom or anything?"

As Mari approached Tachibana, she saw people doing all sorts of things. Would she be able to fit in here? Hopefully. This was supposed to be a time of happiness for her, so why did she feel so uncertain? Mari turned her head as Jimmy began to speak.

"Well, this is it."

Mari nodded. Even if she didn't want Jimmy's help in the beginning, Mari knew she wouldn't have been able to find the school by herself.
Mari looked around in awe. She had never seen such a big school before. But that was probably what all big cities were like. Mari smiled as she thought about all of the changes happening.

"Anything more I can do? Do you want help finding your classroom or anything?"
Jimmy's words seemed to startle Mari a bit, as she was completely lost in her own thoughts. Once she repeated Jimmy's question in her head, she nodded.

Mari felt completely exhausted from all of the talking she had to do today. But there was no other way for her to communicate. It couldn't be helped. Mari would probably have to talk more in classes and to doctors as well as other students. She might as well get used to it, even if she didn't want to. Still, she pushed a response out of herself.

"To the principal, please..? They can.. Help me with everything else.."

"Principal? Sure thing." Jimmy said. He'd twigged that Mari was either too nervous to talk, or didn't like talking, so he kept his own speech to a minimum. He tried not to take it personally, but a small part of him couldn't help but wonder if it was something about him specifically that had irked her.

He silently led the timid girl past the dorms and the many small, modern buildings that stood on the school campus, until he found the main building which held the majority of the classrooms and, more importantly, the principal's office. A large wooden door with a minimalistic plaque that simply read "principal's office" could be seen right next to the entrance.

"Well, I guess that's all I can do for you for now, but come and find me any time if you need me for... some reason..." Jimmy shrugged as he trailed his sentence off, not really knowing where he was going. He didn't really know why he said this, as there were exactly zero occasions on which he could envision himself being needed by Mari. Still, it seemed like the polite thing to say, and he wanted to let her know that he could be a friend if she wanted him to be.

As Jimmy led Mari through the school, she was even more amazed than before. Sure, the school looked big on the outside, but it was even bigger on the inside! Mari turned her head every few seconds to make sure she saw everything she passed by.

Soon, Jimmy had lead her to an area with many rooms; which she guessed were probably for class. Once Mari's eyes had settled to one direction, she noticed that she was in front of the principals office.

Jimmy then gave Mari what seemed to be a final goodbye. She had been extremely grateful for Jimmy's help. After all, she wouldn't have found Tachibana if he hadn't shown up. She would've been a puddle of tears on the pavement by now. She smiled and nodded.

"Of course..!"

Mari knew that Jimmy wouldn't exactly consider letting someone follow him back to school to be a burden of any kind. But she felt like he deserved a payment for his kindness.

"This was.. Incredibly n-nice of you, Jimmy. Can I r-repay you.. somehow?"

"What? You don't owe me anything for this, it's the least I could do for you." Jimmy said, Mari's gratitude seeming far too great in his opinion for the small amount of effort he had put into escorting her to the school he was a student in anyway.

"But if you're going to insist on something, we could hang out when our lunch break comes around today, if you're free. There's a slight catch though, you're going to have to seek me out. I can't remember faces. And I don't mean that as in I'm bad at remembering them, I can't remember the visual image of something I can't see in my line of sight. So if you just come and find me, it shouldn't be a problem, I'll remember you from context at least and we can figure out a system from there." He explained, smiling warmly.

Mari knew that Jimmy would have this sort of reaction. She could tell he was the type of person to help others and get nothing in return. Maybe even if he didn't think he did. But Mari hadn't ever gotten acts of kindness aimed toward her. She felt like she was the one to help people, she didn't think she deserved anyone elses help.

But Jimmy still let her repay him. He said that she could have lunch with him today. Mari smiled widely, she wanted to make friends here. Her first day hadn't even technically started and she had made a friend! Well, if Jimmy wanted her to be a friend...

Jimmy then explained his reason for being at Tachibana Academy. Not being able to remember faces seemed horrible! You could meet someone and have an amazing time together, but then never see them the next day. That seemed far worse than what Mari had. Multiple personalities that have only come out once before. Well, that she knew of. She couldn't know that her other self came out unless a witness told her later.

But as Jimmy explained his disorder, he didn't seem to look sad in any way. It was an extremely unfortunate thing to have your entire life. But maybe that was why Jimmy didn't seem sad. He had been dealing with this his entire life, so he had probably gotten used to it. It was just an everyday thing to Jimmy.
Mari decided not to say "sorry" or "that must be hard". She would just make things awkward. And Mari was also pretty sure that Jimmy wouldn't want her pity.

"O-okay. I'll see you.. then! B-bye!" Mari smiled and opened the principals door, her long golden hair had barely made it through the door before she shut it.

Jimmy smiled and nodded.
"See you!" He called out quickly before Mari entered the office and shut the door.

Jimmy had been planning on skipping class when he first found Mari in the city, but since he was at the school now, he decided he should just attend. He made his way to the classroom and took his seat.