My jaw dropped to the floor when I realized that the boy standing in the doorway was none other than Byte. At first I thought he was someone else, his previous armor-esque attire replaced by our school uniform, even bearing the logo on the shirt pocket.

“I’m sorry” the instructor said politely, “are you a new student joining us today?”

“Yes, I am designated as Biito Saito”

My jaw has hit bedrock at his point. Not only did he come back to school, get a uniform from god knows where, but now he's using my last name? What are the other students going to think? I do have to give it to him though, at least he managed to come up with a pretty good first name instead of telling everyone his serial number like some kind of haywire desktop.

“Okay Mr. Saito, why don’t you take a seat wherever there is one open?” The instructor said as they pointed to the seats in front of the white board.

“Yes” Byte announced stoically as he stepped into a row of neatly lined seats.

I'm glad that there was a seat next to me so he could sit down, not only because he's my friend (somewhat) but because I also feel responsible for him in a way. On his way to sit down I could hear students in the class whispering to each other, and there was no doubt in my mind it was about Byte, which made me feel a little nervous.

“What are you doing???” I said to him in an exaggerated yet whispered tone.

“You said that I couldn't come to ‘school’ ‘looking like that’ so I obtained one of these facilities attires” he said with a blank look on his face.

“And how exactly did you get it?” I ask him with a cold look on my face.

“Stole it” he said blankly, to which, I started to flip out.

“FROM WHERE” I said in an angry whisper.

Before I could receive my answer the bell had rang and class was over. Someway or another I had completely forgot to ask Byte where he had stolen his uniform from. As we walked the halls the heaviness in my chest grew and I filled with guilt.

“I'm sorry I left you all alone today, I should've tried to help find a way to get you to fit in here at the school or I should've skipped for the day” I apologized as I looked up at him.

“I see,” he said as he marched alongside me to my next class.

“As rigid as a statue” I said quietly as we walked down the hall.

I knew that Byte was going to garner attention one way or another, that wasn't a question. In high school gossip is huge and teens will gossip about just anything, especially new students. He turned out to be a real head turner, girls were watching him like old people watch the weather channel. Guys were giving him passing glances, and even teachers were eyeballing him. I guess it's to be expected. What I wasn't ready for was-

“Yo, guys, look what we got here, a brand new freshman just waltzed on in” belted an upperclassman punk, a ‘real winner’ as my mom would call them.

“What's this guy think he's doing huh? Walking around like he owns the place” yelled one of the other seniors.

“Guess this guys got girls falling heeeeead overrrrr heelllllllls for him” squawked the third goon “Guess we outta show this skinny little stick who this school belongs to”

At that second a million different scenarios raced through my head. ‘What should we do?’ ‘What should I do?’ ‘Should I call for help?’ ‘Should I grab his arm and run?’ I was so lost in thought that I didn't even realize that Byte was trying to tell me something.

“Erika” He called to me in a cold soft tone.

“C-Come on we have to go” I uttered in a scared tone.

“No, I need you to pat my head.”