Day 1: Back to School

This article, , is the opening chapter of the Investigating Grat arc, which is part of Bleach: Cataclysm. It is a stand-alone segment set in the instead of the Reikai, and focuses on Garrett Sheppard and his friends as the main characters. It begins at the end of summer vacation and picks up at the beginning of a new school term.

"I trust your brains haven't gone to mush in the holidays?"

Garrett's teacher, depending on your point of view, could either be awesome or downright annoying. She was a woman in her mid-thirties with long brunette-coloured hair resting on her shoulders and an hour-glass figure. A pair of delicate black glasses framed her face whilst highlighting those green eyes that scanned her class. Mrs. Summers was her name and this was her second term at the school. The name was kind of ironic considering the holidays had just finished but Garrett wasn't really paying attention.

"Oi, Garret!"

Garrett looked over his shoulder casually. Lloyd was the source of the irritating "oi" that had drawn his attention away from Mrs. Summers perfectly formed ass. Lloyd was working on a two-week beard, though it looked more like the thin bristles of a wire brush than anything else. His white-haired "friend" was a lanky young man who constantly chewed on a tooth-pick. He'd done it ever since he saw some cheesy gangster movie two years back.

"What?"

The tone Garrett adopted showed that his patience was already almost spent. This was going to be a long day.

"Don't be like that! Look! That's the new transfer student. Ain't she a cutie?"

Garrett, against his better judgement, followed Lloyd's pointing finger. His eyes rested on a fair-featured girl with neck-length blonde hair, big blue eyes, and an athlete's figure. She had an ample bust and Garrett found his eyes wandering. He eventually shrugged his shoulders. A number of Garrett's classmates where ogling her and generally making fools of themselves, which did little to ease her look of awkwardness.

May came to her rescue and introduced herself. At this Garrett leaned back in his chair and rested his feet on the top of his small desk as he looked away, the new girl -- and May -- forgotten.

"Garrett!" Mrs. Summers exclaimed. "So glad to see my reprimands from last year stayed with you. Take your feet off your desk, please. That's a terrible habit. And speaking of bad habits how often can I expect you to be absent to dance around a boxing ring this term?"

"... It's not my fault I'm talented." Garrett replied. He set his feet back on the floor and leaned back in his chair. Mrs. Summers rolled her eyes and paid him no further mind. "Finally," he whispered.

"So, what'cha think?" Lloyd asked.

"Of what?" Garrett, irritated, asked.

"What, he says! The new student you flamin' eejit!"

"... Nice enough, I suppose. You should talk to her. If nothing else it'll share my head a while."

Lloyd's sigh could have been heard three rooms over.

"You're no fun. Where's Randy? He'll have a different opinion."

"Oh, sure. Ask the walking boner!" Garrett answered flippantly. "His mother has no idea how well-named he is. The new girl will be lucky if Randy doesn't try to mount her leg. That guy'd ride a cracked plate."

"I could swear my ears just burned. You still bitching at your betters, G?"

Randy Jones was built like the quarterbacks who play in the NFL. He was all height and hard muscle. Garrett and he clasped hands as the latter approached. Such ribbing seemed to be a common thing with them. Randy had shaved since the last time Garrett saw him and had cut his formerly shoulder-length brown hair short, with go-faster-stripes cut into his sideburns. Lloyd suppressed a laugh; Garrett did not.

"Right, get it out o' your system. Laugh it up." Randy said.

"Thanks, I will." Garrett answered.

"Dude, you look like you got run over by a busted lawnmower with a midget at the wheel." Lloyd claimed.

Garrett and Randy gave him a look that asked why a midget needed to be driving. They never got an answer because Mrs. Summers proceeded to roll-call, which was followed by the first lessons of the day. By the time his classes where finished Garrett was bored and irritable. It was a very bad combination. He said his farewells to Lloyd and Randy who had extracurricular activities today and walked out into the corridor before descending to the ground floor.

Laughter drifted towards his ears.

"Give it back!"

"Why don't you come and take them? Whoops! So close!"

The new girl -- whose name from roll-call escaped him -- was trying futilely to retrieve her school bag from a group of boys. The main instigator was an annoying little shit called Shaun. He'd moved to the area from the UK about two years back and thought himself the big-cheese. In reality he was pathetic blighter who picked on new kids because he thought it was fun.

He was about to have a very bad day.

"Come and get- Oof!"

Garrett grabbed his arm from behind and spun Shaun around to face him.

"I think that's enough, eh? Give her the bag."

"Garrett? This got nothin' to do with you. Piss off!"

"I wasn't asking. Do it. Now. Or we'll have a problem." Garrett let his reputation speak from there: he was a semi-professional boxer. All he needed to do was clench his free hand into a fist and Shaun, dropping the bag to the floor, fled with his tail tucked firmly up his ass.

"... Thank you very much. I didn't want to cause trouble on my first day."

Garrett regarded the new girl with a weighted look. Now that he was looking at her up-close he had to admit that Lloyd was right; she was quite attractive. Not bad to look at at all.

"You're welcome. He should leave you alone now. If he doesn't I'll happily talk to him again."

"I'll remember that. I'm Tiffany, Tiffany Henderson."

"Garrett Shepard. And that's my sister waving at me. I'll see you tomorrow, Tiffany."

He felt her eyes on him the whole way and strangely the feeling didn't lessen when they left the schools building completely.

"Who was that?" Jenna asked.

"Just the new transfer student. Nothing to get excited about."

"Yeah, right! I saw how you where looking at her. Wouldn't May get jealous? Oh! Speaking of May: you're working tonight at the store."

"Ah, fuck!"

"Suddenly I hope a Hollow appears."