Tales Of Corinthia

This is based 9ish years before the first post of this story when all of the main cast are teens except Elias who is like 10 and not in this one.

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Summer had passed and Sam had yet to meet the woman his father had married. His time at home spent mostly alone watching tv and playing games. When they returned from their honeymoon his father had come into his room with a new suitcase and told him to pack.

„you’re going to be staying with my sister, we need the space for the little ones now,“ He has said before leaving. Any arguments the teen had died on his tongue replaced by a lump in the back of his throat. His father had never been the most loving but kicking him out was low even for him. Especially to ship him off to an aunt he hadn’t seen in ten years.

Clothes were shoved haphazardly into the suitcase whatever he grabbed first without any care for what it contained. His favourite jacket was put in last alongside his laptop. By days end he was packed to go not a word spoken to either his father or his new wife. At least from his memory his aunt was nice though he had only been five the last time they visited.

Less than a week later he was on a flight alone surrounded by strangers. An attendant occasionally came to check on him getting him more water and snacks frequently. It was a longer flight almost 10 hours just sat quietly watching whatever movies were on the small screen. Next to him was an older man in a suit that looked too uncomfortable for the situation. His blazer removed not long into the journey to be folded on his lap instead. The coarse fabric ever so slightly catching Sam’s arm.

By the end of that flight he was more stressed than ever and just wanted to go to bed. An unsettling anger at the whole situation sitting deep in his chest as he looked for his bag with an attendant. They said they had to hand him over to his aunt directly. Something he both hated and appreciated knowing he barely recognised the woman when he saw photos of her.

Bag in hand he followed the man through crowded queues out to a crowded lobby. People milled through knocking into him and eachother in their rush to get where they needed to be. One woman not even looking up from her phone as she walked straight into him knocking his suitcase from his hand.

Across the lobby they met up with the older face of his aunty, who had been talking to some stranger, before she could spot them. His aunty looked a lot like his father same light brown hair, blue eyes, and slightly askew nose. He never saw his father in himself despite looking similar but he could in her every feature. It was definitely his aunty.

„Nephew! How are you? Let me take that,“ she said quickly removing the suitcase from his hand. Leaving him with only his half filled backpack slung over one shoulder. Her voice was bright and gentle a tone he never thought his father had used, „Thank you for escorting him,“ she now turned to the attendant who was about to leave.

Sam kept mostly quiet while she spoke, trying to figure out if this was an act or genuinely how she behaved. Sure when he was five she was kind to him but most people are to little kids. Maybe when she realised he was a teen she’d kick him out aswell pass him on to the next unsuspecting relative. By the time they were in the car he had worked himself up entirely too concerned with possible bad outcomes.

„You never did tell me how you’re doing,“ his aunty spoke as she began to drive out of the airport, „Want to stop for something to eat the drive to mine takes a while.“

„Yeah food sounds good,“ He muttered staring out of the window at the passing dull grey buildings that reached higher than he could see. The roof cutting off the view before the sky could touch it. People passed in cars mostly some on foot trying to cross busy roads as fast as possible.

He heard the radio come on quietly turned low so they could still speak but enough that the silence didn’t feel so much. Not as lonely as the ride to the airport early that morning, or as quiet as the plane that seemed to drag on in the too loud cabin. She didn’t make him sit in to get food just going through a drive thru and buying much more than he needed. Her excuse being that much time on a plane wasn’t fun.

The drive continued long, quiet and accompanied by the occassional singing along to songs from the older woman. They passed through the city into suburbs and then along empty roads for miles. About an hour away from the city they passed a large plaque for BeachView. A cartoony illustration of a beach on the sign with bright colours and a vibrant sun.

„Is there actually a beach here?“ Sam asked quietly as they went into the town. He hoped there was, he couldn’t remember ever going to one so it would be fun. Might make up for being shipped off to the middle of nowhere.

She stopped humming to whatever song was playing glancing at him still staring out the window, „Yes, I took you when you were little but that was a long while ago now,“

He nodded looking up when she pulled into a driveway. The house in front of them was massive, way too big for one person. Surely had to be at least three floors. Maybe this wouldn’t be too bad he could just keep out of the way.

Upstairs there was a room already set up for him, bed made up with some blue checkered bedding, tv mounted on the wall with a hdmi hanging down for him to plug something in. There was also an en-suite which his aunty was quite happy to show him was stocked with some generic items but it was everything he needed.

„I’ll leave you to unpack and settle in, if you need anything ill be in the lounge,“ She said before leaving to give him space.

###

Beachview Academy was much smaller than Sam’s previous school, less than two hundred students attended barely filling the halls. There was enough lockers lining the walls for each student to have a few though they were still limited to one. Sam had asked about that when his tour guide had shown him to his.

Said tour guide was a couple years older than Sam, dark hair down to their shoulders that covered their face in on older emo cut. Their nose was pierced with two small rings on the nostril and they didn’t look at him as they spoke through the tour.

„Where’s your first class?“ The bell rang loudly signalling people out of the halls towards various classrooms.

Sam looked down at the timetable trying to make sense of the different format, back home it was all just an app. „C302 I think?“ He didn’t sound sure at all and he almost laughed at the waver in his voice.

Max didn’t. Instead taking the timetable and nodding, „Yep C302. Thats the storage crate looking thing outside, come on I’ll show you“

Behind the school there was in fact what looked like three massive storage crates. Inside each one had two classrooms small maybe fifteen students each. These were what the school had called the C block. A was inside the school and B was the Gym and field.

Fortunately for them both Max’s class was in another one of these ‚temporary‘ classrooms so they could drop him off without being too late themself. „Come find me at lunch and I’ll introduce you to my friends“ Max had said before pushing him into his class.

Class was boring after being forced to introduce himself and entertaining a number of uncomfortable questions he’d sat off to the side. Maths this early in the morning was criminal, it just had to be. Yet here he was trying to figure out Algebra before nine. At least the teacher seemed nice enough.

By lunch he had gone through a handful of dreadfully boring classes and uncomfortable introductions. No one had seemed particularly interesting to talk to though he had gotten along well with his seat mate in the chemistry class they had. When he got to the lunch hall he was quite glad that his aunty had just handed him a card as the queue was so crowded he couldn’t see the prices on anything.

A girl in the line stumbled back into him nearly hitting the ground before he could catch her, „Are you okay?“ He asked trying to steady her as he tried to figure out who pushed her. Unkempt pink hair laid across his arms as he held her up.

„All good, sorry,“ she stood straight turning with a smile, „Thanks for the save.“

„Of course, who pushed you?“ He asked still looking ahead at the crowded line. Though he gave up when she just shrugged.

They didn’t speak again as they got through the line ordering food and paying a few people pushing between them as they went. By the time Sam was out and paid she was gone, at least far enough gone for him to see her at Max’s table with one other girl.

He walked over a bit more awkwardly now that he’d already met one of the friends. Hopefully she didn’t think he was being a creep. Or if she did Max would explain before she punched him, she seemed like she might be able to throw a punch. Most of the girls at his old school were down for a fight anyway he had taken more than one hit.

Thankfully Max saw him and waved him over introducing him to them. Their other friend was a lot more ‚normal‘ than the other two. The typical girly girl, long blonde hair, light makeup so she didn’t get in trouble and a pink bead bracelet with a heart pendant on her wrist. Next to her plate was a sheet of science homework she worked on with one hand the other shovelling food into her mouth.

„As you can see Adeline is a bit of a nerd“ Pink hair teased with a smirk.

Adeline elbowed her in the side, „Shut up Astraea, at least I do my homework.“

Sam tried to hide his laugh watching the two continue to bicker, the homework completely forgotten. Beside him Max wasn’t doing as good a job hiding their enjoyment from them occassionally adding fuel to the fire.

By the end of lunch the homework wasn’t complete, Sam had been invited to Max’s on the evening and they all learnt that Astraea actually got A’s in physics exclusively. Apparently nothing else was really worth it so just passing was fine. Adeline barely got a word of argument out before giving up on that fight.

###

The car home was near silent, the radio had cut out moments after leaving the school and Sam still hadn’t really spoken to his aunt. He had realised that she might not be okay with him going to a new friends house so soon or even at all. His dad had always been weirdly controlling about his friends.

So he didn’t ask. It wasn’t that important really they’d just met and it wasn’t a plan just an offhanded invite over food.

„Penny for your thoughts?“ he heard her ask from the drivers seat, seemingly unbothered by his ignorance. He didn’t respond just watching out the window again, „You’ll have to talk to me eventually Sam and when you’re ready I’ll be there.“

They pulled up to the house and he just got out quietly waiting for her to unlock the door so he could go to his room. At least there he couldn’t say something to mess up. Instead he would focus on his homework and hope she didn’t decide a speech was needed. Until dinner time when he was called from his room to eat. A glance at his phone showing a single message with an address.

Downstairs his aunty was already sat two places set at the way too big table. There was enough seats for his entire class but he couldn’t imagine anyone but her at the table. They ate quietly his aunty trying and failing to coerce him into talking about his day. Eventually settling on just telling him about her own.

Some guy at work couldn’t follow orders and needed to be dealt with. She apparently had one of her managers deal with it after her repeated requests that he fix his issues were ignored. On top of it all she’d spent most of her day working through paperwork.

Sam listened silently not asking anything but enjoying the attempt at conversation. He was scared and didn’t trust her but she at least seemed to be trying. Asking her if he could go was considered for a moment but he pushed it away.

„Did your father ever tell you about the time he almost punched his boss?“ she asked eventually which had the boy on edge.

He shook his head with a scowl, „I don’t want to talk about him“ he snapped a bit harsher than he intended. His aunty looking taken about by the hardness of his voice.

She sighed, „I know you’re angry…“

He cut her off finally looking at her properly a fury in his eyes, „yeah angry,“ it was bitter and sad spoken as he pushed his chair back and walked out. He didn’t want to fight her.

Halfway down the street he realised he didn’t grab a jacket or even think this through. He could have just gone to his room. Locked himself in and spent the night watching whatever show caught his fancy. Now he was wandering the streets of an unfamiliar place hands shoved into his pockets.

His phone buzzed again with a message from a different number, „Hey, you coming to Max’s? I can pick you up. -Adeline“

Well that fixed it.