Fire.

All I could see around me were large scorching flames. Looking up I saw nothing but a dark blood red color that filled the sky. The ground looked like a pavement of burnt corpses. They seemed alive, and yet…they looked dead.

"Where the hell am I…? Am…am I dreaming?" I questioned to myself.

Suddenly the flames had started to get closer to me as if they were alive. Hotter and hotter it became as for I had a matter of seconds before I join those corpses. Kicking out of shock and terror, I began to think.

"Ok Jayden. Think, just, think. Let's see..."

I started looking around to see if I could use anything to help me, but alas there was nothing.

The fire was about 7 yards away from me at this point and closing in fast.

"Can I run through the flames and live? No…that's not possible…" I quickly reasoned.

I looked at the ground in hope I could dig my way out. I started digging at the burnt corpses as fast as I could. But then I felt an agonizing pain at my hands. When I looked down, my eyes widened.

My fingernails were bleeding heavily; almost burnt to a crisp.

"What the hell is this shit? My nails are completely burnt off and bloodied!" I started to yell in my mind, panicking.

The fire was now a few feet away from me and the heat has become unbearable. I couldn't tell if I was going to be burned alive first or have a heat stroke.

As the fire inched towards me, I heard loud screams of pain and agony all around me through the fire or even in the fire. I covered my ears to reduce or cancel out the screams. At this point I had stopped thinking and just acted.

I ran into the flames.

Enormous amounts of heat started piercing at my body as I ran. The screams continued to echo all around me. I tripped and fell face first onto the ground; burning my hands in effort to get up. I used all my strength to continue running; my flesh now clearly turning into black meat.

I fell once more; unable to get up. I stared blankly for the few milliseconds I had left.

The screams became louder and louder. I couldn't even tell if my ears were bleeding…hell…I'm amazed I still even had ears.

The screeches had suddenly turned into a loud bell like in school.

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Snapping my eyes open, I raised my head and looked around; seeing kids grabbing their bags trying to get to the door.

"Dude, stop sleeping and let's get to our other class."

Turning, I realized who said that last sentence. It was my friend Alex, the white boy.

I got up and stretched out my back and grabbed my bag. "Yeah, yeah. And for your information, I wasn't sleeping. I was just resting my eyes."

"Of course you were." he responded sarcastically; rolling his eyes as if he just heard a bad joke.

We both tried walking out the door to our next classroom, but were interrupted by the teacher calling my name.

"Mister Monning."

I turned around; wearing the most innocent face I could to avoid looking like I had an attitude.

"Uh, yes Mister Clayfore?"

"You fell asleep in my class again Mister Monning." He stated with an annoyed look.

I turned to Alex, (who was seemingly calm about all this). "Go on without me, I'll catch up or something."

Nodding, I watched my best friend head out the door; leaving me behind.

Then, turning back to my teacher, I sighed. "Well, I haven't had that much sleep sir."

"That's what you said for the past week." He sternly replied, not buying my excuse.

"Look I just-"

"No. You look here Mister Monning. You are going to fail this class if you don't shape up, and it's my job to help you pass. So I recommend getting more sleep and do what needs to be done on time." Mister Clayfore cut me off with.

I nodded. "Yes, sir."

He then sat back into his chair, a bit satisfied with this reply (although not entirely). "Good, now I can give you extra credit which you SHOULD do to help boost your grade up a bit."

I turned and looked to the clock, since I'd prefer not to be late for my other classes. I swayed side to side waiting for him to tell or give me my assignment and head to class. Once he stopped digging through his file cabinet, he took a pile of papers and looked through each one of them until stopping. Finally, he picked out a sheet of paper in the middle of the pile.

"Here; finish this by next week." He ordered as he handed me the sheet.

My eyes scanned the work laid in front of me. "…45 questions, huh?"

Having no other choice but to follow his instructions, I nodded once again. "All right. I'll do it."

Mister Claymore sighed; content that he could persuade me to do something for once. "Very well then… now scoot; you don't want to be late for your other classes now do you?"

I abruptly stood up. "N-No of course not!"

Not having the time to hear a response from him, I ran out the classroom and headed for the staircases to the fourth floor. I never liked Mister Clayfore to be honest. He was a tall fat-ass that was going bald. Plus, he always had this stupid old grey mustache that looked terrible on him; like a mouse that was stuck to his upper lip. His teaching isn't that bad, but it's just that…it's so boring. I don't know how anyone can stay awake through the whole period.

When I reached the fourth floor I saw my friend, Chloe, on the floor painstakingly picking up papers she just dropped. I walked up to her and bent down to help her out.

"Oh, you don't have to-" She started, but was quickly stopped.

"That's what friends are for." I reasoned.

For some reason this made her face turn what seemed like a light pink; almost as if she was trying to hide a blush. "Jayden! I-it's you! I'm sorry I didn't even realize it; I was just so concentrated on picking up my papers..."

"It's fine. Really." I said with a shrug.

Once I had the chance, I gazed upon her, and actually started turning a bit red myself.

"As clumsy as she is, she looks really cute now that I think about it…" I could only think.

Shaking myself out of the weird trance, I stopped staring at her and continued picking up her papers.

"You know…you're going to be late for class, right?" she asked worriedly.

"Aren't you as well?" I merely replied.

"Well I don't want you to be late for class because of me." She said so innocently.

"And I don't want you to be late for class because of some stupid papers." I said so bluntly.

Her blush returned, this time a bit deeper. "Thanks, I guess."

We both stood up as I handed her the papers. I checked the floorboards once more, just to make sure we didn't miss anything, but we were fine.

Afterwards, we both exchanged warm smiles to each other and said our goodbyes. Chloe is a nice, but a bit weird girl (in a sense). She had brown eyes and was about an inch or two shorter than me with a pink ribbon dress that went halfway down to her five-to-six-inch jeans. Her hair was long and black; reaching about halfway down her back. She's pretty smart actually (especially smarter than me). Also, Chloe's definitely much nicer than most girls I know (that's a good thing of course).

Almost as if by a miracle, I stepped into class a minute before it began. I looked around and approached Alex once I found him.

"Hey." I simply greeted him with.

"Oh, hey man! So what happened with you and Clayfore?" Alex asked.

"Just extra credit and shit." I replied as I dropped my bag and sat in my seat.

"Wait…does that mean you can't hang with us this Friday?" he asked worriedly.

"Nah, I'll just do it after Friday or something." I replied reassuringly.

"Emma can come right?"

"Yeah."

Emma is my girlfriend; we've been dating for a good year and a half. I met her in school last year as a freshman actually. I think it was during the second month we got to know each other more. It was at gym when I first talked to her when it was my turn to do as many push-ups as possible. When I was doing the push-ups I noticed her doing homework…math homework to be exact. After doing the push-ups I went up to her and asked if she was in my math class and she was. I was so happy because I didn't do my math homework and I might be able to get some answers quickly. I made a few jokes here and there and eventually we became good friends.

At some point I thought it was time to step up our friendship, so I asked her out, and to my joy, she replied with a whole-hearted "Yes". Every moment I spent time with her, I could only think that I had never been so happy before in my entire life. It felt like she was…"The One.", almost like we were meant to be… "The Perfect Two." She doesn't look that different since then. She's only about 2 inches shorter than me, and her long blonde hair with perfect blue eyes made me gaze for an eternity. I still remember freshmen prom…it was the highlight of our relationship.

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On the night of the dance, I went to her house to pick her up. She came out wearing a beautiful tight black dress that reached a bit above her knees. Her father stood next to her; smiling, as he waved to me. I waved back with the friendliest smile I could muster too.

When she reached me she turned waving to her dad and turned back to kiss me on the cheek.

"Ready?" she asked excitedly.

"I've been ready." I replied, reaching my hand towards hers; locking them together.

We started walking and talking about whatever came to our heads first. About a block away from school she ran in front of me and turned.

"I want this to be the best night of our lives, so try your best!" she demanded in a happy tone that made her look almost…cute.

I nodded in agreement. "This will be the best night of our lives."

She smiled and held her hand out for mine. I grabbed it and we both went into the school. We talked to our friends for a while laughing and joking around until the dance began. Alex came up to me with a grin on his face.

"So uh, how's the dance?" he asked still with a grin on his face.

"We didn't even get started yet, retard." I replied jokingly.

He scratched his head; seemingly wanting me to get some other idea in his head. "Yeah I know. Just…how is it so far?"

I looked back at Emma talking to her friends; smiling and laughing. "All I can say is that it's going to get better…a lot better."

"Like…sex?" Alex questioned awkwardly.

I looked back at him with an 'Are-you-serious?' face (though it really didn't have the impact I was expecting since I was a bit red in the face).

"Really Alex?"

"Hey, you never know." He said laughing. I laughed with him.

We danced to fast songs as groups and slow romantic songs in pairs. The whole time I could see Emma smiling and blushing. The fact that she couldn't even hide it just made it all more amusing.

After the dance, she took me to the park on top of a hill near a small lake. It was a silent night with just me and her sitting on the grass staring up to the stars. The night had never been so peaceful before. You could hear the wind pass by; making the tall grass dance gracefully. I can never forget that moment.

"Hey Jayden, can I ask you something?" she asked, as she continued staring at the starlit sky.

"Aren't you already asking me one?" I said like a smartass as I stared at that dark horizon with her.

"Well…then can I ask you something more important?"

I finally decided to turn towards her. "Sure."

"Do you love me?" She asked in a concerned tone.

"Of course I do!" I yelled in disbelief. Why would she even think otherwise?

"Do you really mean it?" she asked with a sad, still-unsatisfied expression.

"More than ever." I replied reassuringly.

Not receiving an answer for a few seconds, I looked up to the stars for a second and looked back at her.

"Then say it." She suddenly egged me on with.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused as hell.

"Jayden. If you mean it then say it. I want to hear you say it with your own lips."

She looked at me and we both locked eyes. A bit nervous at the moment, I looked down at myself for a few seconds, but gained the courage to look back up into her perfect blue eyes.

"Emma. I love you with all my heart." I firmly stated; brushing my hand through her soft blonde hair.

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Her eyes closed and her head moved towards mine. I closed mine and followed. Our lips touched. Everything was silent; all I could hear was the movements of the lake from the wind.

I jumped and realized I was only daydreaming.

"Alright class, let's begin," The instructor began the class with.

I groaned; laying my head into my arms groggily.

Damn..just when things were getting good…

 

2: Chapter 2: Watch Dog: Gregory

Chapter 2: Watch Dog: Gregory

Once the bell had rang, I grabbed my bag and headed downstairs to the cafeteria. It was lunchtime for the freshmen and that meant my sister will be down there. Even though I'm not a freshmen (I'm actually a junior), I still felt like it was my duty to go see her. As her older brother, it is my duty to treat her the best out of everybody. I love my sister to death and would do anything for her. I believe my sister and I have a much stronger relationship than most sibling relationships out there. I try to dedicate as much time as I can to be with her and to help her whenever she needs it. That's why I decided to go downstairs to go check up on her since I had a free period (We get a lot of free periods as a junior in this school).

As I made my way down the stairs I noticed Danny kissing some girl yet again (I think that's the fourth one this week!). Danny disgusts me; he's basically one of those cool, popular jocks that every girl loves. I'm surprised he hasn't run out of girls to date because I'm pretty sure he's dated every girl in this school besides my sister. I would never let that asshole date my sister. Ever. He reminds me of some other boy that dated her a few months back actually. I never liked the fact that she was starting to date people at such a young age; especially the boy she was dating. I hated him. After he broke her heart, I made sure he paid the price. Pretty sure he's still in the hospital right now. I took my eyes off of Danny and continued down the stairs.

"Now, where is she?" I asked myself when I reached the cafeteria.

I stood by the entrance of the cafeteria for about a minute until I noticed her across the room sitting at a table with her friends. I let out a breath of relief and smiled. To me, she is just the definition of perfection. She has beautiful orange hair that went down to her shoulders which compliments her chocolate-brown eyes. Small freckles spread across her rosy red cheeks that basically added to her faultlessness. She's 5'4 and probably still growing since our parents are both really tall.

As I walked towards her table I was stopped by Professor Ross, my science teacher.

"Ah, excuse me, Gregory, but can you do me a favor after school?" he asked me.

I turned to my sister and looked back towards Professor Ross. Whilst nodding, I replied, "Uh, sure sir. What do you need help with?"

He smiled and replied with excitement, "Well, I need a few students to help me set up and prepare for the science fair. I can usually count on you, so I was wondering, if you possibly had the time to come by and stop by the lab with the rest of us, that'll be great.

I scratched my head and nodded, "Yeah, no problem!"

"Fantastic! Also, if you could, can you run up to the lab and get my notepad? I seemed to have forgotten it and I can't leave since I'm on lunch duty."

I quickly responded, "Yeah, sure, no problem. I just need to talk to my sister for a bit, sir, and I'll head right up."

"Sure, and thanks," he smiled.

I turned my attention back to Olivia and continued to walk towards her.

"Hey, Olivia," I said as I rested my arms onto the table.

"Oh, hey, Greg! What are you doing here? Isn't Junior lunch, like, two periods away," She asked looking a bit confused.

I let out a small laugh and replied "Well, I have a free this period and since I knew you had lunch, I decided to come on down."

I took quick glances at her friends and they didn't seem too happy to see me. They looked a bit annoyed but I didn't mind since I was mainly here for Olivia.

"Do you mind if I sit here," I asked Olivia, pointing to an empty seat across from her.

She looked to where I was pointing and turned back towards me and said, "Oh, uh…. Sorry that, uh...that seat is taken. Everyone else is at the bathroom right now, sorry."

My smile faded, "Ok, yeah, no, it's fine."

I stood straight up and looked around the cafeteria. "I'll just, um, go to the library or something."

"Yeah… sorry about that Greg."

I turned back to her, smiling reassuringly and said, "No, no, it's fine! It's perfectly fine; just keep on talking to your friends and enjoy yourself. I'll be upstairs in the library if you need me. See you later, I guess."

She looked down at her food, "Yeah, uh, bye…"

I turned and walked away hearing them continuing to talk and let out bursts of laughter. I headed up the stairs to the library which was, luckily, only one floor above the cafeteria. While walking up the stairwell, I was greeted by Danny.

"Hey, Greg, my man! What's up dude?" He asked in a slang tone.

"Nothing," I replied bluntly.

"What's wrong, dude? You depressed or something," he asked while fixing his hat which was turned to the back.

"No, I'm fine."

"You sure, man? Yo, I can hook you up man. A few girls and me are gonna go and smoke that good stuff, ya' know?"

I looked at him in a surprise manner, "Wait, you smoke now?"

He looked behind himself and turned back to me, "Yeah, dude, it's the bomb. You should totally come!"

I looked at him in disgust and said, "No, I don't smoke and I don't plan on smoking either."

His eyes widened, "C'mon man, it's been a long time since we did anything together!"

I have to admit; as much as I hate and despise Danny, we used to be friends. It was probably a little over a year ago since the last time I actually considered him a friend. He wasn't always like this to be honest. I considered him a pretty close back then when he actually had some common sense. I don't really know what made him change into this kind of person. Back when we were friends, he was nothing like this; almost a complete 180. Now, he doesn't give a shit about anything. He doesn't care about any of the girls he dates or makes out with; he just breaks up with them whenever he feels like it without any rhyme or reason. School used to mean something to him; he got some pretty good grades which were usually better than mine! Now, he's failing every class and I'm pretty sure he can't make all of it up in summer school, especially considering how low the grades are. I still remember that day he was just so…. out of it.

It was about a month before finals….

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"Gah!" I yelled in frustration while walking to the train station. I scratched my head in confusion "Why does math have to be so complicated! I remember the good 'ol days of two plus two. Then they had to add all these letters and shapes and shit…" I continued looking at the page in my textbook; my eyes were squinting. I sighed and started flipping through the pages. I came to the corner of the sidewalk and looked up and noticed Danny halfway down the block from me. After looking both ways I started to jog a bit to catch up.

"Hey! Danny! Hey, wait up!" I yelled trying to get his attention. When I caught up to him I put my hand on his shoulder and took a deep breath. He continued to walk and my hand fell off his shoulder. Continuing to breathe heavily, I let out a small "Hey"; he didn't stop or slow down.

"Danny? Danny! Hey man, what's wrong?" I asked slowly, making my way to his side.

"Nothing," He replied dryly.

"You could have waited or slowed down a bit... Never mind that; I was wondering if you could help me with some math for the finals."

I opened up my textbook and started flipping through the pages to where I last was. He didn't say anything. As I flipped through the pages, I said in a laughing tone, "Yeah, I know it's only like around a month before the finals but I thought I would get a head start, then I would have more time to spend with my sister and all."

He didn't bother to look at me, but let out a small "Cool".

"Hey, Danny, what's wrong? Did something happen?" I asked.

"It's none of your business," He replied quickly.

I closed my textbook and questioned him again, "C'mon, we're friends, right? You can tell me."

His voice grew a bit louder as he said, "I said it's none of your business; now, go away." He began to walk a bit faster.

I stepped up my pace and tried to further interrogate him, "Listen man, if it's about Chloe-"

"It's not about her, now go somewhere else or something. Just stop following me," He interrupted me.

I grew more curious and asked, "Then who or what is it? What's wrong?"

He stopped and turned to me. When I saw his face it almost shocked me; it was much darker than usual. "Greg, I'm serious; go away!" He yelled.

He then turned away from me and continued walking. I stood there confused but knew something was definitely wrong. I jogged towards him and said, "Look Danny, whatever is bothering you- "

He turned around and threw a quick jab straight to my nose. I fell backwards, dropping my book and landing on my back. I held my nose in pain and yelled , "Dude, what the hell?!"

He looked at me angrily and yelled back, "I SAID, GET THE FUCK AWAY!"

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His eyes… I still remember those eyes. They were like nothing I have ever seen before. They were like a giant ball of flame trapped in a small globe ready to erupt like a volcano. That's when I knew something had changed in Danny. We didn't speak and if I ever tried to he would ignore me. It was basically like we never knew each other as time went on. I started to see him talk and sit with other people and slowly he began hanging with the jocks. I don't know what had gotten into him but soon I lost interest and he began to disgust me. I wanted nothing to do with him and I'm pretty sure he wanted nothing to do with me as well. Him bringing up the fact that we haven't done anything together in a while is pretty strange.

I stood there in confusion but finally came to my senses and said "Yeah, why would you want to do anything with me?"

He laughed stupidly and replied, "What are you talking about dude? Just come on, it'll be awesome. Girls and some weed, man; that's all we really need."

Once again disgusted by him, I turned my head side to side and simply said, "No."

"Whatever, man."

He then proceeded to make his way downstairs. I watched him as he went down and was a bit puzzled, but I just told myself not to pay too much mind with it.

"Now, where was I heading?" I asked myself.

"Oh, right, Prosser Ross's notepad!" I remembered. I slowly began to walk up the stairs towards the fourth floor where the lab was located. Halfway up the stairs I realized something.

"Oh shit, I forgot! Olivia has a soccer game today after school. I told her I'd walk her there again, but I said I'd help Professor Ross after school. Gah; well, I'm sure Professor Ross wouldn't mind if I was a tad bit late. I can always tell him I'm walking my sister to her game or something."

After reaching the fourth floor and entering the lab I looked for the notepad which should have been on the main desk. It wasn't on the desk though, but I noticed it on the floor next to the desk.

"No wonder he forgot his notepad," I told myself as I headed back downstairs. When I made it down to the cafeteria, I looked for Professor Ross who was actually just by the place where they served the food. I approached him with a warm smile.

He smiled, "Ah, you found it! Thank you once again, Gregory," and began to look through his notepad.

"Uh, yeah, don't worry about. Um, also, just to let you know, I might be a bit late with helping you after school," I said, nervous for his response.

He looked to me and asked, "Oh, well why is that?"

"It's just that I have to walk my sister to her soccer game today which is right after school."

"Well, that's fine really, I only asked for your help if you had the time. But don't you think your sister can walk herself? The soccer field is only 3 blocks away."

"Oh, well it's just that I always try to spend some time with her and do what I can as a big brother."

He chuckled a bit and said, "Ah, it's good to see brothers and sisters actually being brothers and sisters being that I always hear from other students how they hate their siblings. It's good to see that some of them do get along. Well, anyway, thank you again and I will see you after school if it's possible."

I nodded and watched him walk away to deal with these kids at a table in the far corner making a mess. When I turned to look at Oliva, I saw Danny at their table. I began to get angry and thought to myself, "No. Why is he sitting at my sister's table? What if he's making a move on my sister?" I walked to Olivia's table and stopped when I was next to Danny.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked in an angry tone.

Danny turned and faced me smiling, "Oh it's you again man! Finally changed your mind?"

"No, I didn't. You didn't answer my question," I stated.

He let out a small laugh, "I'm just talking to these fine ladies since they called me over here. Who am I to deny?"

I looked at Olivia and asked "You called him over?"

Her friends looked at her and giggled. One of them then said sarcastically, "Oooh, someone's in trouble."

Olivia blushed and asked, "What do you want Greg?"

I looked at her sternly and stated, "I want you to not talk to him."

"Oh, c'mon dude, don't be a cock blocker!" Danny exclaimed.

"Danny, shut up and get away from my sister," I demanded.

Danny looked at my sister and back at me. He pulled a charming smile and said, "I ain't doing anything wrong! Am I right, girls?"

"Yeah!" said Olivia's friends.

"I don't care. I want you to leave," pointing to Danny.

"Alright, alright, mister party pooper. I guess I can share some of the action since you're so eager to get in on it," he said laughing.

He got up and moved towards me, "That offer is still up so don't worry about it."

He then turned and walked away, soon being called on by one of the teachers to take off his hat.

I turned to Olivia and said, "I want to talk to you after school."

…..

After the last bell of the day rang, I went to my locker and unpacked my books. When I was finished, I made my way to Olivia's homeroom which was one floor below me. When I entered her homeroom, I saw her unpacking some stuff into her locker. I slowly walked towards her, so she can have a bit more time with the unpacking process.

"So, are you ready?" I asked

She turned and looked up, "Um, ready for what?" she asked.

"For your soccer game. You know, the one after school."

She sighed and asked, "Let me guess, you're going to walk me there…again?"

I smiled and replied, "Well, don't I always?"

"That's the problem, you always do! I'm not a kid, you know."

My smile diminished slowly, "I know, but I'm just trying to be a good brother."

"And you're doing fine, but you are being too overprotective and stuff," closing her locker and zipping up her book-bag.

"What do you mean, I'm 'overprotective?'" I asked, puzzled.

She sighed, "Like, with everything. Remember that kid Danny and a bunch of other boys before that? If I talk to any boy, you always tell them to back off."

"Oh, so this is about boys now, is it?" I asked in a loud tone.

"Not just boys, but that's a part of it. You're like an overprotective boyfriend or parent. I can't do anything by myself!"

"You do plenty of things by yourself! Look, I'm just trying to be the best older brother I can be and it's not like I'm asking for a thank you or anything," I said, starting to get frustrated.

"You don't have to be there to hold my hand all the time! I can hold myself up without you just fine. Like with Danny; all you ended up doing was embarrassing me in front of my friends," She said as she began to blush.

I pointed at her and angrily, "No, you don't know Danny and I guarantee you that you don't want to know him. He's an asshole just like your last boyfriend."

"You overreacted!" She yelled

"He broke your heart!" I yelled back.

I could see her face start to get a bit red.

"Just leave me alone," She said softly as she pushed me aside and began running towards the stairs.

As much as I love my sister, she can be very frustrating to deal with at times. I hate when we get into arguments; I know these kinds of things happen all the time but I hate it when it's between my sister and I. I sighed, closing my eyes and planting my hand onto my face, letting it slowly fall off.

"There's no point in going after her, she won't listen to me. I'll let her cool off and we can finish this conversation," I thought to myself. I looked around the room and noticed she forgot to lock her locker. I chuckled and bent down to lock it. I stood back up and walked over to the window. I stared at the darkening sky and thought, "Looks like it's going rain; I hope she brought her umbrella. Good thing I'll be close by I suppose. Guess I better head to the lab to help out with the science fair."

I turned and headed for the stairs.

3: Chapter 3: Twilight: Connor

Chapter 3 – Connor

Boom! Everything around me was exploding into chunks of fiery death. The anger that filled me was exploding around me.

"Why? Why does it get to be him? What's so good about him?" I walked carelessly through the explosions as if they were feathers from a pillow.

"I'm better than him. I can beat him in anything; so why is he the special one?" The floor beneath me began to crack as I walked upon it. Suddenly, lava and fire burst out without warning, consuming me once again.

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Waking up, I flipped over my desk in anger. I put my hand to my chest and slightly clenched it. "There I go again…" I told myself, taking deep breathes in. I was once again having these thoughts that overwhelmed my head. I thought I had it under control for a couple of hours, but was proven wrong. I grabbed my backpack and slipped the strap over my shoulder as I got up from my seat. I grabbed the desk and put it back into place. I looked at the clock and saw that the final bell of the day had already rung fourteen minutes ago. I scratched my head and let out a sigh: "I'm always dozing off to the same thoughts over and over again," I said letting out a small, but brief smile. I walked out of the classroom and headed to where William would be after school (which is usually sleeping after the last bell rang).

William has been a good friend of mine since elementary school and has gotten closer since then. He has black hair with eyes that look like black holes and isn't exactly all that tall; he is one of the smallest kids in the school, so he gets picked on at times by the jocks and such. He says it doesn't bother him too much, but I think it just adds to his depression. The whole depression thing started back somewhere in seventh grade; a couple of days after he broke up with his girlfriend. After the breakup, the girl went out with a different person who just so happened to be "King of the School" or at least that's what he considered himself; a selfish asshole if you ask me. I'm not exactly too sure about what really transpired, but I believe that the girl said some negative things to the guy about William. The guy felt like telling most of the school and William was then picked on by almost everybody. I wasn't one of them of course; I was the one by his side through the thick and thin. We've become closer through those problems and eventually it came to the point where we were able to tell each other anything. He decided to attend the same high school I wanted to go to because he didn't want to be left alone again. It's a little bit better here since the entire school isn't picking on him. It's only two or three kids that tease him for his height which he told me was a major improvement from before. I'm happy for him; hopefully he will stop "hanging in the shade", and see the light soon.

I walked through the hallways looking through the doorways to see where William was. He should be in room 406, but when I viewed through the window, he wasn't in there. I entered the room to make sure if he was really here or not. I also searched the floor in case he may have past out on the ground. After a few minutes of playing treasure hunter, I scratched my head and told myself,"He's probably at his locker or something;" I headed out of the room towards his locker which was a floor above the lab. I slowly made my way up the stairs, but stopped when I bumped into Gregory.

"Hey, Greg, what's up?"

"Oh, hey, Connor; I'm good, thanks. How are you?"

"I'm good, but hey, where's your sister? Aren't you supposed to walk her to the soccer field?" I asked curiously.

He let out a small laugh and said, "Yeah, I was supposed to, but we got into a little argument. She ended up going by herself."

"Are you guys okay? What happened if I may ask?"

"Yeah, we're fine, but she thinks I'm too overprotective and such. Am I really that annoying?" He asked looking down to the floor.

I put my hand onto his shoulder, "Listen, you're doing a great job as an older brother. There are times you do go overboard, but we're not perfect. Just keep doing what you're doing, but ease up a bit!"

He brought his head up and said angrily, "I guess, but Danny was hitting on my sister and I can't let that asshole be with my sister!"

"Danny? Doesn't he have a girlfriend right now?" I asked surprised as I took my hand off of his shoulder.

Greg looked at me and gave out a sarcastic laugh, "Are you kidding me? Danny has had a million girlfriends; I wouldn't be surprised if he dumped the one he was recently dating."

"I thought I saw Danny kissing some girl during lunch though," I said confused.

"Well, it doesn't matter what girl you see with Danny because he's going to break it up one way or the other."

I scratched my head and said, "Well, if I see him with your sister I'll do what I can and inform you about it. So... if you're not walking your sister home, where are you going?

"I'm heading to the lab to help prepare for the science fair. Do you want to come and help us?" He smiled.

"No, sorry; I have to go meet up with William right now. He's waiting for me at his locker, so I'll see you later Greg!" I waved a small goodbye.

"Oh, ok, that's fine. I'll see you later Connor!"

We went our different paths; I went upstairs and he went downstairs to the lab. I opened the door and turned right walking towards the lockers: "Is Danny really hitting on Greg's sister? It's not a far-fetched idea…" I thought to myself before being interrupted by the sound of something being banged onto the lockers and muffled voices. I picked up the pace towards the locker room where the voices became louder and louder until I ran into the locker room to find Thomas lifting William off of his feet from his collar and throwing him straight onto the ground- William landed with a loud thump that rattled a few loose objects.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" I yelled.

Thomas looked at me and smirked, "Oh look, it's your knight in shining armor, William."

I looked down to William who wasn't moving. I looked back up and noticed some blood stains on the locker behind Thomas: "Thomas, you fucker, what did you do?!" I yelled once again, clenching my right fist.

"What? I'm just playing with my good pal; isn't that right, William?" Thomas asked looking down at William with a smirk: "He's probably sleeping again like usual!" He began laughing as he kicked the immobilized body.

I clenched both of my fists now, infuriated, "I'm going to kick your fucking ass!" I screamed. Thomas walked over to William, let out a chuckle, and threw a jab straight for my nose. Quickly maneuvering to the left side, I grabbed his wrist with my right hand and threw a left-hook into the right side of his ribs. Then, letting go of his wrist, I threw another quick punch with my right into this left cheek-bone, emulating a loud 'smacking' sound.

"You think you're so tough picking on someone that's not even your own size?" I asked with both my fists clenched in the air ready for another hit.

As he staggered up, he rubbed the right side of his body and held his hand where my fist kissed his cheek and said in a somewhat menacing tone, "Shut up, faggot, I'm going to kick your ass like I did with the little pipsqueak."

"Why do you think you're so tough? You don't even know how to fight; you're all muscle!" I replied back as snappy as I could. Without responding, he quickly ran towards me, probably attempting to tackle me down. I slightly bent my legs, turned forty five degrees to the left, and side-kicked him in his right shin causing him to fall face forward. As he was falling, I used my right arm for an uppercut right into his battered face. The punch was strong enough to change the direction of his fall...and the shape of his nose. He landed on his back holding his nose with both of his hands. I kept my guard up in case of another attack, but it seemed like he wasn't getting up anytime soon. As the defeated disgrace groaned in pain, I walked towards William who was struggling to get up.

"Will, are you alright?" I asked as I stretched my arm out to help him off the ground. He grabbed hold of my hand, and as I pulled him up, I could see the blood on his face.

"I'm… I'm alright I think," He said holding his nose with one hand and with the other, his stomach.

"Are you sure about that? I can see your nose bleeding."

"A little blood isn't going to kill me, I'm fine," he said trying to wipe the blood off.

We slowly walked out into the hall and I put him down near a wall that was 4 doors away from the scuffle; I went back to the scene to retrieve his stuff. I returned into the locker room keeping a keen eye on Thomas who was still on the floor groaning. Thomas was as basic of a bully as you could get. He was tall and muscular with a buzz cut, but his hair color is probably brown from what I could tell. He was the team captain of the football team and the leader of a group of bullies who think they're hot shit. They go around messing with kids that they know won't fight back. They're pathetic, worthless, and just disgraceful. The teachers don't seem to give a shit about any of it either. I don't know much about Thomas, but he's basically like Danny: Show off, a womanizer, and takes out only the weak. I question if he even has common sense; the chances are very low.

I walked past the beaten Thomas and grabbed all of William's stuff. He continued to moan on the floor as I left the locker room, back into the hallway. I went to Will's side and offered him a hand up, but declined it and tried getting up himself. He slowly got himself to stand up and faced me.

"Let's go," He said softly, slowly walking down the hall. I walked by his side and asked what had happened.

"Just the usual; picking on the weakling," He replied sadly.

"Did you do something to anger him or something? There had to be a reason right?" I pestered on.

"I guess the fact that I'm a weakling led him to mess with me," He replied as we made our way down the stairs.

'I've warned him countless of times before, so why now?" I asked.

"Probably since he thought you went home and I was alone. Because I'm a coward, he thought he had full advantage of me...which he did I might add."

I patted his back, "Well, let's head to the lab where Greg is. He should be able to patch you up; he's pretty good with medical things. Pretty sure he learned about that stuff mainly for Olivia, but it'll come in handy for you now."

He looked at me dead in the eye and said, "No, no, I don't need help. I'm not a wuss, Connor, I'm not. You don't even need to help me walk; I can walk on my own. I know you're trying to help, but you just make my loss worse by showing me pity."

He slowly moved out of grasp and began to walk haltingly down the stairs. The conversation became silent on the way down. When we reached the bottom, we went to the front entrance and pushed open the doors, letting in a small breeze that was very calming. The sky was dark as if it were about to rain. We walked to the corner where he then turned and told me he could tread the rest of the way home himself. I asked if he needed an umbrella since it looked like it was actually going to pour, but he didn't care. We said our goodbyes and he headed home. I turned and went down my way. I continued walking until I passed by the soccer field where I noticed two people away from the crowd. I looked closer only to realize that one of them was a girl and a guy. I then saw two other people who looked like guys as well- one of them was holding a long, but thin object in his hand: "What's going on? Is she in trouble?" I questioned in my head. I contemplated if I should get involved or not for a little, but eventually decided that I would slowly walk away and watch if anything went south. I gradually made my way down the block, keeping my head towards the field. The two guys stopped next to the girl and guy, but I couldn't see too much. I stopped for a brief moment to make sure if nothing was seriously wrong, but it seemed like I misunderstood from here. I turned back around into my normal direction and headed home when a drop of rain fell from the sky as it initiated my beginnings to ponder..."Why do I even bother? What has that person done for me to care anyways? I shouldn't meddle into situations that don't concern me...but...why did I have this instinctual feeling to care...?" The next droplet then came along with others, hazing my field of vision as I hurried my pace with that wonder etched in my mind...

 

4: Chapter 4: The First Drop: Jayden

Chapter 4 – Jayden

"And this class, concludes World War 2. Remember, we have a test next week on Thursday and-" The teacher said before being interrupted by the last bell of the day. The kids in the class quickly grabbed their bags and scurried out of the room as swiftly as possible. I continued to sit lazily in my chair until Chloe came up to me with a smile.

"C'mon, let's go!" She said happily.

I groaned and grabbed my bag; slipping the strap over my shoulder. I got up and said, "Yeah, yeah, hold onto your horses."

She chuckled, "Okay, I'm holding on, now hurry up slow-poke!"

I stood straight up and cracked my back; I had hoped this would make me feel nimble and more awake, but instead it just made my back ache. I grunted and looked at her, asking, "Okay, the sloth has risen; so, why'd you wait for me? Don't you have to go to soccer practice?"

"That's why; I was wondering if you could walk me to the soccer field…" She asked shyly looking down at the floor.

"Sure! I just need to go to my locker and get my stuff and I'll meet you at the front of the school," I replied with a hearty smile.

"Thanks! I really appreciate it, Jayden. See you later!"I waved as she turned and walked away. "Why does she want me to walk with her to the field?" I pondered. I shook off the question and headed out of the classroom towards the staircase.

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I walked up the stairs nonchalantly thinking in my mind on what to do after-school. "I could do the homework Mr. Clayfore gave me or I could just play some games." With much consideration put in, I came up with a conclusion, "I have plenty of time for the homework...I'll do it eventually." After reaching the fifth floor, I headed right in the hallway, passing by some classrooms along the way. As I walked through the corridor, I noticed someone leaning against the window in one of the empty classrooms. The light was off, but the light emitted through the window proved to be enough. The person leaning was Greg. I wonder what's goin' on with him...

I walked up to him and greeted him.

"Hey, Greg, what's up?"

He turned his head towards me and greeted back, "Hey, Jayden. I'm good I guess."

"You sure? You don't look like it," I inquired.

"Yeah, I'm fine; just a little argument with my sister is all," He replied turning his head towards the window for a brief moment.

"Is that why you look a bit down?"

He gave a slight nod and said, "I guess you could say I'm a little bit sad. I'm just thinking about stuff, like, I do all of these things for Olivia, yet she doesn't seem to appreciate it. She acts like she does, but I think I might be bothering her. I want to be a good big brother, but… I just don't know what to do…"

I walked to his side and casually leaned on the wall near the window with him. I scratched my head and said, "You should just talk to her about these things rather than keeping them to yourself. It's not going to just fix itself, you know?"

"I know it's not going to fix anything, but I feel like I shouldn't bother her with my problems. Shouldn't I just worry about her's? I can worry about my situation alone, right?" He asked once again looking at the window.

"You're being too overprotective with her. You should be allowed to tell her your problems because she is your sister and siblings help each other out. There's no rule about being an older brother that prevents you from sharing your dilemma with her. When you get the chance, I think you should talk to her about it and remember; don't be too overprotective," I replied staring out the window as well; the sky beginning to darken.

Greg looked at me, smiled, and said, "I guess you're right… Thanks for the advice. I'll talk to her about it when we're both home tonight. I never thought I was overprotective to be honest… Oh yeah, Jayden, can you give this to Olivia?" Handing me an umbrella, "It's most likely going to rain pretty soon so I thought she would need this. I don't know if you're busy or not, but it would be really helpful if you could do that for me."

I grabbed the umbrella from his hand, gripping it slightly; I gave him a friendly smile and said, "Sure, I'm heading over towards the soccer field anyway. I'll give it to her when I get there"

"Wait, why were you going there in the first place?" He questioned.

As I began to make my way out of the class to meet up with Chole, I gave a short reply, "Chloe asked if I could walk her over to the field, so I said, 'yeah.'"

"Oh, okay. Well, can you tell her I said, 'hi?'"

I slowly approached the door, "Sure, no problem! I'll see you tomorrow, Greg!"

He said his goodbye, still seemingly unhappy. Well, there was just so much I can possibly do for him.

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Continuing my journey through the halls again, I reached an end where I made a right into the locker room, witnessing a disheveled William. He was kneeling next to his busted bottom locker trying pack his bag. I walked to my locker (which was a top locker) and put in the code to open it up. I didn't know William all too much; just the fact that he and Connor are pretty good friends. I know he's slightly depressed and does get bullied because of his height which I truly believe is completely messed up, but ignorant fools will continue being ignorant fools. I decided to stir up a quick conversation with him.

"Hey, William!" I saluted as I continued packing my bag. He was startled by the fact I actually said something to him, but he quickly responded with an abrupt, "hello." I didn't know what to say besides that and began to regret starting the conversation. I had to come up with something quickly.

"So, how are you?" I asked.

"I'm fine; why do you ask?" He responded.

"No reason; I was just wondering. So, how's Connor been lately?"

"He's fine I guess. He's still sleeping from his last class, but I'm sure he'll wake up soon."

"Cool, cool… Well, I'll see you later," I said, knowing nothing else to say.

"Yeah, see you," He said, still packing his bag.

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I walked out of the locker room embarrassed with myself. "What was that, Jayden? What kind of conversation was that? You're an idiot…" I thought to myself. I strolled along down the stairs to the third floor where Emma should be. I pushed open the doors to the third floor and went to the other locker room where I found her leaning upon the set of lockers. I strode up to her with a smile and addressed her.

"Hey, Emma, what are you doing?"

"I was waiting for you as usual, silly! I did want to ask you something though…" She nervously said.

"Sure, what's wrong?" I asked curiously.

Her eyes then locked onto mine, "I've been seeing you and Chloe together a lot lately. I try not to mind it, but I see you with her constantly and I'm only human so I have my worries. I keep telling myself you're mine and you won't leave me, but I just can't help doubting…"

I put both hands onto her shoulders, and reassuringly stated with a grin, "She's a friend and only that; trust me. I'm just trying to be nice since she's a friend. You don't need to worry about that at all. I love you and you know that."

She came in for a hug, "I love you too. I'm just a little bit worried is all… If you say that she is just a friend then I'll trust your word."

"Is there anything else you're worried about that I can try to help with?"

"No, no, that's all. I'm feeling better already just by having you in my arms. I love you," She began to lean in for a kiss.

"I love you too," I said in a whisper before our lips touched.

We pulled back from the kiss and I released her from my embrace. I couldn't help but stare at her beautiful blue eyes all of the time, and I'm sure she was loving the view of mine as well. Our little gaze exchange ended abruptly when a voice called out at us. It was Alex; he was looking for me since I didn't go to his locker sooner. Alex isn't the most patient person I know, so it was only a matter of time before he came looking for me. Well, it was worth the mishap.

"There you are!" Alex yelled, pointing at me.

I stopped gaping into Emma's eyes and faced Alex, "Yeah, here I am; right here."

"Yeah, I can see that you're there. Why didn't you come to my locker?" He interrogated

"Well, I spoke with William when I was packing my bag and then chatted with Emma for a bit," I replied pointing to her with my thumb.

"William; the short one? Did he need something?" He asked confusedly.

I turned my head side to side,"No, I just thought I would start a conversation with him. I don't see him usually talking to anyone except for Connor."

"Oh, okay then. Why do you have that umbrella? Is it Emma's?" Probably had asked this due to the floral pattern.

I held the umbrella higher and examined it a bit, "Oh, no. Greg asked me to give this to Olivia for him. He was going to be busy at the lab, so I decided to help him out. Could you come with me?"

"Sure, I'll come. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that my mom texted me saying that we can't come over on Friday."

"What? Why not?"

He shrugged and replied, "I don't know why, but I'll think of something we can do. I'm sure I can think of something or whatever."

"Okay then, we should get going I suppose," I turned to Emma, "I'll text you later tonight; see you later!" I waved to her and walked out of the locker room, Alex following suite.

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We made our way down the stairs and to the exit (also the entrance) of the school. The sky had fully become dark and there was a strong wind that made nature's debris fly around like a swarm of bees. I could see a bunch of kids heading home. I looked left to see Chloe waiting by the corner (you would think she would wait inside the school). I told Alex that I promised I'd walk her to the soccer field. Alex nodded and we both walked up to her. She looked at us and waved with a smile.

"Hi, Jayden! I see you brought Alex; hello there," She greeted us.

"Hey," Alex greeted bluntly.

"Why did you wait outside in the cold? Why not just wait inside the school?" I asked rather than saying hello back.

She hesitated, "Oh, I dunno; just decided to wait out here instead. No reason or anything."

I took a deep breath and sighed, "Well, let's get you over to the soccer field now."

She nodded with a somewhat down look. We began heading over to the soccer field; Chloe to my left and Alex to my right. Chloe was strangely quiet while Alex was his normal self and began to blabber away. He went on and on about random things as we crossed each street. The entire time Chloe was silent and from what I could see, she didn't seem happy. I wondered, "Maybe she is annoyed by Alex's blibber blabber...or maybe she just prefers the sound of the wind?" but when reached the field, I decided to just ask her directly.

"Are you okay, Chloe?" I asked with grilling eyes.

She looked up to me and blatantly replied, "Yeah, I'm fine."

I noticed her trying to muster up a smile; obviously, something was actually wrong. "Are you sick or something?"

"No, I said I was fine. I appreciate the concern, but don't worry," She tried to assure.

I sighed and scratched my head as I examined the field. I looked back at Chloe, but before I could say anything, she said, "Well, thanks for walking me here, guys. I'll go the rest of the way, so I'll see you two tomorrow," She walked away before both of us could depart correctly.

"Why was she acting this way all of the sudden? She was all excited back in class and now… I guess I'll talk to her about it tomorrow."

"We need to find Olivia and give this to her; then we can go home," I said trying to spot Olivia among the crowd of shadows in the distance.

I peered back at Alex who was looking at his phone; texting.

"Are you even listening?"

He looked up with a dissatisfied expression, relaying information: "My mom said you and Emma can't come over tomorrow either."

"What? Why not?" I asked in shock.

He shrugged and said in a loud tone, "I don't know! She didn't say; I asked, but she just said no."

"Well, what are we going to do tomorrow then?" I questioned Alex and myself.

"I'll figure something out, don't you worry. I'm not letting tomorrow or Friday go to waste! Man, why does there have to be a storm coming on Friday? Of all the days!" He yelled, throwing his hands up into the air.

"Gah, whatever; let's just find Olivia and think about this later. I'll have to tell Emma when I get home," I said sadly.

He let out a sigh and we both walked closer to the crowd, hoping to spot Olivia. I then noticed two people all the way to the right of the field alone. I squinted my eyes and was sure that was her or at least assumed it was. I walked a bit closer to the two; we were about 70 yards away from them, give or take. Taking a few more steps I could definitely make out the two figures; it was Olivia and… Danny?

"No way, it can't be! Why would she be with him? Hasn't Greg told him off enough? Ugh...Persistent nuisance..."

Alex saw the surprised look on my face and scanned over to where Olivia was, then quickly realized the reasoning behind my feeling. We both walked over to the two, gripping the umbrella firmly, not knowing what to say or do.

"Hey, you two! What're you guys doing all the way over there? Your team's back there, Olivia." I called out to them, my hands cupping around my mouth, imitating a tunnel.

They both turned their heads to me, but Olivia seemed more startled. Danny was smiling, but Olivia seemed to be red in the face; most likely a blush, knowing that's how Emma's face looks when she does. We finally reached them.

"Oh, what's up dudes?" Danny asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing much, but you didn't answer the question Olivia," I responded quickly, brushing Danny off.

"I'm, um, just talking; that's all. Why are you guys here?" She seemed to be shaking a little; was she anxious about something...?

I lifted my hand showing her the umbrella; "Greg asked me to give this to you because he thinks it's going to rain. You guys got into an argument so he wanted me to do it for him. He didn't want to get you all worked up again."

She grabbed it and thanked me with her face looking downwards. Before I could say anything, Alex asked, "So, why are you here with Danny?"

"I asked her if she wanted to come hang at my house on Friday. Gonna have some real good fun," Danny replied with a chuckle.

We gazed at Olivia, wondering what the hell is going on with these two. I then asked, "So, is she going? If so, with whom?"

"She said, 'hell yeah!' Haha, just me and her at my place! You guys should totally come! You can bring the rest of the gang; we haven't been together for ages!" He said wobbling around...he was probably high... Alex quickly looked at me with a smile and whispered, "It's the perfect opportunity! We can still hang with each other and still look after Olivia. It should be fine if we bring the rest of the group; besides, we haven't been together since last year! It could be a good thing for all we know."

I thought about the situation for a little bit; "I don't know about this; we can just skip Friday and hang out another day."

Alex slapped both of his hands on my shoulders, "I'm sure of it! This could possibly bring us all back together again! Besides, what could go wrong with all of us in the same house?"

I scratched my chin; oh boy, a myriad of things can go wrong, but it is a good chance to be with everyone again. A little nostalgia trip I'd like to call it.

I eventually gave in, "Ok, ok, I guess we can-" But before I could finish I felt a raindrop; another came slowly after, and then suddenly a volley of raindrops. Olivia quickly opened the umbrella and we huddled together underneath it except for Danny; yep, definitely high. Danny didn't care about the rain pelting him and instead just laughed, while holding his belly and pointing at the rain.

I looked at Olivia sternly, but she quickly turned away once we met eyes.

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It was silent for a couple of seconds except for the sound of the rain pounding away at the earth. I saw someone running towards us, but couldn't make out who it was because of the blinding rain. After a few more seconds, the figure was 50 yards away; I then realized it was Chloe. She slowed down to a walking pace once she reached us and asked if she could try to fit under there. We welcomed her into our little fortress of solitude, bunching up altogether like a big fat guy. We all began laughing at how stupid we probably looked.

Danny looked at Chloe with dilated, blood-shot eyes, and asked, "You wanna come shoe?"

She tilted her head and asked confusingly, "Come...what…?"

"He meant to say, "Too." We're going to hang out at Danny's place on Friday; you wanna come?" I restated.

She chuckled a little and smiled, looking at me, "Yeah; that would be nice. I'll ask my mom if I can go."

I smiled and gave a slight nod. As the day pressured on with more rain, and more of a mindless Danny, I began to think about the upcoming event. Honestly, I'm starting to like the idea of all of us getting together again. It'll be great to reminisce on some old times, and I'm sure a good amount of us have been too busy to really communicate with each other freely due to school. Ah, there we go; a nice feeling of excitement! Can't wait for Friday! Gotta hurry and tell Emma! But...Why do I have this small, eerie, feeling that not everything is going to go so well...With that final thought, a huge thunderclap came, causing the girls and Alex to shriek, and Danny chanting out Zeus's name.

Friday...

 

5: Chapter 5: A Cluster of Droplets: Gregory

Chapter 5: A Cluster of Droplets: Gregory

The rain continued to pour heavily against my umbrella as I walked home. I could barely see it in the distance with the wall of rain surrounding me. The huge gusts of wind would blow at my umbrella causing me to increase the grip to prevent it from joining the wind in its journey. I was wet, but not soaked; well, at least not yet. The blackness of the sky wasn't aiding me in any way at all as well.

I texted Olivia beforehand and she said she was already home, so I didn't have to worry about her in this storm. I approached my house slowly as the wind pushed me back. I tilted the umbrella forward to act as a riot shield to battle the pushing; I advanced closer to my house. I eventually reached the door and struggled to get the keys out from my bag. Once I had opened the door, I shut it, and hung my umbrella; I then called for Olivia. I slowly patted off some of the rain from my coat, waiting for a reply, but received none. I called for her again as I hung my jacket onto the hook next to the front door. Curious now, I took off my shoes and went up the stairs towards her room. After reaching the top of the stairs, I took a left to where the front of her door was; I knocked, but no answer. I was getting a bit worried thinking that something was wrong:

"Why isn't she replying back to me? Is she still mad at me?" I thought through my head. I knocked once more hoping for a reply, but once again there was nothing. I stepped back for a bit and wondered: "What if she's still mad and this is making it worse? Maybe she wants to cool down more and not see me…"

Depressed, I slowly backed away from the door and turned for the stairs. I went down to the kitchen to make myself something to eat.

There wasn't much in the fridge since our mom hasn't done any grocery shopping yet; she does it on Saturdays. I took a deep breath and sighed as I picked an apple from the fruit basket. I washed and dried it. I took a bite. The sweetness only accelerated my worries.

I went into the living room and sat on the worn-out black couch in front of the TV. I couldn't help but think about Olivia and what I'm going to do to try and fix this problem. Before I could take another bite of the apple I heard a creak from the front door and then the sound of it closing. I looked behind me with joy to find Olivia walking towards the kitchen with her ear buds in.

"Maybe that's why she didn't answer!" I told myself quietly. She was there for only a moment before returning back to where she came from towards the bathroom. I walked into the kitchen and noticed her phone on the counter; it was unlocked. I looked back where Olivia had went, but she was gone for now. I quickly put the apple down and picked up the phone. I looked at the screen in surprising disgust to see that she was texting Danny!

"What the hell?" I whispered as I scrolled through the texts. "What is going on? 'Can't wait to come over your place on Friday ;)' I told her not to talk to him! Why doesn't she listen to me?"

I continued to repeat this question in my head, thinking I'd get an answer doing so. From all of the anger I didn't realize Olivia had come back already to find me searching through her phone.

"What the hell are you doing, Greg?!" She yelled, pointing to her phone in my hands.

I froze for a second in shock and my heart began to beat furiously like a war elephant. I slowly put down the phone back onto the counter and turned to her, "I, uh, was just looking…"

"Greg, that's my phone you're looking through with my private stuff on it! Private! Did you not care about what I said in school?!"

I calmed down, straightened myself, "Look, it was an accident; I'm sorry. I'm more concerned about why you're texting Danny! I told you not to talk to him and here you are doing exactly that!"

"And I told you to leave me alone; I can take care of myself. Here you are, not taking any of my words into consideration, and doing what you please!" She retorted.

I didn't know how to properly answer her since I was caught red handed: "I just… I don't know, but I said I'm sorry! Just tell me what's going on here with Danny! Why are you so defensive about this?"

"Sorry? You think that's going to cut it? A little sorry and everything's better, right? As long as you say you're sorry, you can look through my phone all you want! It's my privacy; would you want me to look through your phone without your knowledge?! " She yelled without answering my question about Danny.

I knew I wasn't going to get an answer to my question or even move forward with this argument unless I calm down and give her a proper answer, "I'm sorry, Olivia. I was just wondering what you came to the kitchen for and decided to check. I found your phone here and noticed it was unlocked; quickly took a peek at what you were doing, but got really angry when I saw you were texting Danny. I'm sorry and shouldn't have looked through your phone. It's your privacy..."

She took a deep breath and let out a sigh. She gulped and said, "Fine, okay? I forgive you for now. Just don't go peeking through my phone like a stalker."

"Okay, but can you at least tell me what's going on between you and he when I told you not to do so," I persisted, seeking a real answer.

"I just have his number and was talking to him about teenager stuff."

I leaned against the counter, "I just want to ask one more thing. What did you mean by 'Can't wait to come over Friday'?"

Her face turned red, "You even read my messages? Who do you think you are?"

"I'm your big bro- Look, just…" I sighed, "Tell me the truth about it," I said, feeling a bit glum.

"Ugh, yes, I'm going over his house on Friday… I'm not alone of course; I'll be with Chloe and Emma as well if it makes you feel any better;" She had her hands on her hips and her face emitted an aura of dissatisfaction.

There we go; Olivia is a feisty girl in any type of argument and it's hard to win against her. You just need to make her feel like she won and in a way affected by it. You need to make her feel bad for what she said and she ends up opening up her sensitive side. I have to stop screaming at her and be composed against her in order for her to calm down. She may seem like a really bad girl, but deep down she is an innocent, perfect, little girl. When she mentioned Emma and Chloe, I felt a bit more relieved since she wasn't going to be the only person going, but I told those two about telling me anything that happens between Danny and Olivia...

"Why didn't they tell me about this? Do they just not care? They obviously don't understand what it's like to be an authority figure..."

"Oh, so it's not just you then?" I asked.

"No, they'll be coming with me to his house," She replied.

"Why didn't you listen to me about not talking to Danny?"

"You may think he's a bad guy, but he's not all that bad really. You might hate him, but I think he's cool."

My blood began to boil a bit after she had said that but I knew I couldn't make another scene.

"You know what? Fine, you can go…" I clenched my fists, "I don't want her to go, but everyone's been saying I'm too overprotective. Olivia hates it when I don't let her do anything and I just want what's best for her. Even though I hate the thought; I'll let her go over. What's the worst that can happen, right? If Olivia thinks he's a cool guy, then maybe he actually is...Yeah, and she won't be alone. She'll be alright. She'll be alright..."

Her face began to glow and her smile expressed a rainbow of happiness. She jumped for joy and bombarded me with questions, "Really?! You're not going to get mad at me or anything?! Are you joking with me?!"

I smirked, "No, this is no joke. I'm not saying I'm not mad, but I don't want to upset you again. I hate getting into arguments with you and I'll just trust you not to do anything wrong-" Before I could finish she ran up to me and gave me a big hug, sinking her head into my chest. I put my hand on her head and slowly rubbed her head. It's gotta be alright...

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"SHIT!" I yelled in frustration, "Why did I say she can go?! It's Danny for fuck sake! He's going to put his shitty little hands on Olivia and God knows where they've been! What the fuck was I thinking of…"

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down, Greg. She's going with Emma and Chloe right? They would never let anything happen to Olivia!" Connor reasoned, putting his hand on my shoulder.

I grabbed and pulled at my hair, "Still; I should have said no! Then maybe this wouldn't be happening! She got the best of me; she looked so sad and I just hated seeing her so down. I wish I could go back in time to yesterday and just say no…"

Connor took his hands off of my shoulder and onto the lunch table. He leaned in closer, "Listen, you have to let her do things by herself sometimes. This is one of the times where you start to get used to letting her do what she wants! She's not a little kid anymore. If she never learns to be independent, imagine how her future may be."

I closed my eyes and put my head on the table, "I dunno; I mean, I really don't want her to be with Danny even if she is with Emma and Chloe."

"Well, how about us three go? You said he would let you come over whenever you wanted to yesterday, so we can go as if we were just hanging out with us three while you still keep an eye on Olivia," William suggested out of nowhere.

I raised my head up and happily answered, "Yes! That's perfect! She can't get mad at me if I was invited to come and since you guys are there, it won't seem like I came there just to watch over her! You're a genius, William!"

His face became slightly flustered, "Well, it was just a thought…"

"Are you sure you guys wanna do this for me? Would you go through the trouble to help me with this?" I asked curiously.

"Of course!" Both Connor and William said simultaneously.

I felt lifted; I smiled, "You guys are the best. I'll just find Danny and tell him that we're coming!"

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It was the end of the day and I still couldn't find Danny. It was strange since he didn't come to class even though I saw him this morning. I searched the entire school twice and even asked some people I didn't know if they knew where he was, but no one knew. I had given up on the hunt for him and began to walk home alone since Olivia was already gone before I got to her locker. I looked up to the dark sky as if it's about to unleash another storm like yesterday. It's probably just preparing for the big squall tomorrow which is that day. I need to find Danny or something; never thought I would ever look for him. I would call him if I didn't delete his cell phone number and basically everything thing that reminded me of his existence. The gale intensified and I zipped up my open jacket to keep warm. As I passed by the corner deli store I noticed someone oddly familiar sitting on a bench in a very small park, (it's hard to really call it a park, but that's what the sign says), smoking; the jacket and hairstyle (granted it wasn't much of a style) definitely looked like a person I knew. I walked a bit quicker with my head turned toward the guy's direction just to identify the person's face. My eyes widened when I realized that the face belonged to Danny.

"What the hell is he doing over here and not in school…? Wait, this shouldn't surprise me to be honest."

I shifted into his direction and approached him with ambivalent feelings. I didn't have time to sort my feelings once I reached Danny who then looked up to me after releasing a puff of smoke into the air.

"Hey, Danny…" I greeted him hoarsely.

"Oh, hey, dude! What's up? What're you doing here?" He asked.

"I was just walking home... um, where were you in school today?" I asked.

"I left; didn't want to be there so I just ditched the place," He replied as he inhaled into the cigarette again.

"So, what have you been doing this entire time?"

"Um, nothing much to be honest. I've been smoking as you can see," He replied, chuckling as he lifted the cigarette back into his mouth.

"Oh, that's cool I guess…" I had nothing else to say.

"Why are you talking to me? Since when have you ever cared for a 'dick' like me?" He suddenly inquired.

"I wanted to talk to you about that offer…" I lowered my eyes, a little embarrassed that I'm even thinking about accepting this invitation.

His cigarette suddenly dropped out of his mouth as he got up and placed his hands on my shoudlers, "Seriously, dude? Woah, man; didn't ever think you were ever going to do it. I always thought you were just to pussy to do it, but damn!"

His breath reeked of smoke and I felt disgusting at this point, but there was no other option. There was no way he would let me come to his house when he has three other girls coming over. I had to give him a good reason to let me over on Friday.

"Can we do it on Friday? I want to bring two of my friends as well."

He stepped on the cigarette that was on the floor. He raised his hands in the air, "Yeah, sure, man! This is gonna be sweet! Yo, some of your friends are already coming over my place! We can all be together and have a party! Just us! It'll be like the good 'ol days!"

I scratched my head and nodded, "Yeah, I heard. We can do that for sure. Anyways, I gotta go so I'll see you there!"

I walked away feeling like trash. I turned my head to look back at him once more. I was presented with him pulling out another cigarette from his back pocket. He lit it and began to smoke. I slowly rotated my head, facing my original way. More thoughts aroused...

"I need to keep an eye on him on Friday. I can't let him get his way with my sister. I'll be there for her...Even if she doesn't know I'm there…"

Images of tomorrow began to flood my mind as I trudged back home. This eerie, negative anxiety for tomorrow was constantly present for the whole way back. I know something is going to happen, and it's not gonna be pretty...I know it...I just do...