Sabastian Shephard had just finished high school. He was the top student in the School for the Talented and Gifted in Dallas, Texas, one of the foremost schools in the country

  This was a school where the best and brightest students from all around the state was gathered, and for the past 4 years after qualifying for the school, Sabastian was undisputed Number 1

  For the time he's been there, his main competition was his best friend Layton Peters, and his girlfriend Theresa Bothingham.

  However, his best friend Layton beat him in their finals, after getting one of the teachers to give him an extra point, beating Sabastian to becoming top student and valedictorian

  It all bore down to a mathematic question where the examiners gave an impossible puzzle that was impossible to solve. Everyone else got the answer wrong. However 3 students, namely Sabastian, Layton and Theresa at least successfully managed to prove their answer, even if the answer was wrong

  However, Layton managed to get the maths teacher to give him an extra point, which was unfair since his answer was wrong, but Layton gave a supposedly better attempt

  Theresa was third in the overall standings since she had made a mistake in her Physics paper, while Sabastian and Layton both giving perfect papers. The only thing separating them for valediction was the math paper, which Layton received the extra mark

  Sabastian was shattered when he found out that not only did he lose in the overall scores for the first time in his life, but Theresa had decided to break up with him and get together with Layton

  He kept assuming that Theresa dumped him because Layton got valedictorian, but he found out that Theresa had been sleeping with Layton all along!

  When Sabastian approached her, she freely admitted that they had sex. Sabastian was shocked as they had been mostly platonic before when they were together

  Having his title and girlfriend stolen by his best friend, he had to smile even though his heart was broken by the breakup and betrayal by both parties

  Avoiding his friends and completely isolating himself, he sank into a dark hole, unable to see the light

  However, he didn't want to tell his parents about his breakup and subsequent depression

  Piling on to all this was the month long trip that he had helped plan with Theresa and his group of friends for over a year ago

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  Many of them had been saving up for the trip of their lifetimes, but now Sabastian was dreading it since Theresa and Layton would be there, presumably enjoying their time together as lovebirds

  As his parents had rewarded him by paying for his trip although he missed out on this year's valedictorian like everyone expected, he wasn't able to tell them that he wanted to pull out of the trip

  And so, fully packed his parents sent him to the airport

  They were confused as they thought he would be so excited for this trip. He has talked about this for over a year, begged and pleaded for them to pay for the trip if he got top student, even worked several part time jobs to save up for it

  But now, before going to the airport, he seemed to be hesitant, seemingly finding all sorts of ways to go late. Did he want to miss his flight?

  His mother Nancy thought that he might just have been nervous but Thomas, his father, suspected something was wrong. However, he kept it to himself as Sabastian finally got his luggage into the car

  "We're late. Hopefully you don't miss your flight!" Nancy said

  But Sabastian simply shrugged

  They finally arrived at the Dallas International Airport late and Sabastian seemed not to be any hurry as they dropped him off

  "What's the matter with him?" Nancy asked, watching him walk off slowly to check in his luggage

  "He might still be bummed for missing out on valedictorian" his father Thomas said

  "But we still paid for the trip even though he came second, right? He should be happy" Nancy said

  "I've been thinking, maybe we've been too hard on him. He's always been top student. Maybe he's never not won before. Maybe he has already linked his identity, who he is to always be number 1, and now he's lost" Thomas said

  "Then what shall we do?" Nancy asked

  "Don't worry. Hopefully he finds himself in Europe and sort all this out. If not, I will have a talk to him when he gets back" Thomas said

  He pulled out the car and drove off, heading back home

  In the meantime, the steward had to rush Sabastian along as he was walking at a leisurely pace even after the time for boarding had already shut

  Technically they shouldn't have allowed him on the plane, but they were waiting for him after he checked in extremely late

  Sabastian boarded the plane, looking around so that he didn't see anyone he knew

  Sitting down, he fastened his seatbelt and took out his eye mask and put it on, blocking all light from his eyes

  Sighing, he leaned on the side of his window seat and tried to sleep as the plane moved to the runway

  He really didn't want to be here, and even now, he could hear the familiar voices of his friends talking and laughing from behind

  Minutes later, after the plane successfully took off and reached a certain altitude, the seat belt sign switched off and a few passengers started to go to the restroom

  "Hey, there he is" a voice said

  "Sabastian! Hey Sabastian! I thought you had missed the flight!" another voice next to the first said

  But Sabastian didn't respond

  "Looks like he's asleep. Let's check up on him later" the first person said

  "Damn it. They found me so fast. Maybe if I sleep the whole flight, they won't bother me" Sabastian thought to himself

  "Hey Sabastian" a female voice called

  "Shh. He's asleep. We'll disturb him later" the earlier voice said to the female

  Sabastian thought that it will be a long flight indeed as he wallowed in depression and self pity