You and Me and One Spotlight

Chapter One.

How do we meet the people we come to love? Sometimes, we meet them in the strangest of ways. I fell in love the first time I watched someone cry, under the shade of an oak tree, but it's too early for that.

I was born in London. My life was basically a boring one and I'm pretty sure nothing ever happened in my toddler years. As I began to grow older, though, my mother was becoming sicker. I could do nothing about it, and with us being poor, I had to search for all the answers myself. I don't know why, but before my father had died, he'd left behind a few medical books. I learned to read from these, at only four years old. When my mother became sick, I was always searching for a cure for her sickness. I even prayed, though I wasn't sure if I really believed God was there to listen. After a whole year of searching, my mother began to die. Each day, she died more and became more passive too. When I thought I'd found her cure, she'd already left me.

Just like any other five-year old would have been, I was scared. I sheltered myself from the outside world as best as I could…until the day Quillish Wammy found me. After my mother died, I needed to be cured, and I think he was the beginning of it. At first, I didn't trust him. He was a stranger after all. He took me to his orphanage he called "The Wammy's House", and introduced me to its children. I didn't like any of them in the beginning. I especially hated Near, but I don't think I ever grew to like him. I didn't like Matt or Linda, Jake or Rian; they disgusted me. After a while, I grew to like most of them. Near and I were still rivals, but that couldn't be helped. Unless Near became stupid, which was unlikely to happen.

As I went to sleep each night, I'd think about how much I hated him. I wanted to reach out for something, but each something was something he always beat me to. I never knew how Near was ahead of me. He never beat me by more than a couple points, but I ached for answers. No matter how much I tried, I lost.

I remember one summer, far too long ago for it to be clear, when Near and I had finally gotten along. I'm still not sure, being eighteen, what made me do what I'd done that summer. It could have been that I wasn't thinking, or it could have been that I just wanted to truly live my life for once.

-

The weather outside was deadly the evening I was called into Roger's office. I'd been outside, not doing much of anything besides watching the boys play soccer. I saw Linda stride out of the orphanage and noticed she was about to approach me, so I threw my chocolate down. She was panting when she'd finally reached me. I laughed at her flushed skin, causing it to become more flushed than before.

"Roger needs you in his office, Mello."

"Sure thing," I replied, not bother to look back at her as I headed for the orphanage door.

In Roger's office, I saw Near, scrunched up on the floor in his usual position. He put the last piece of his puzzle into place before dumping the pieces onto the floor.

"Mello, Near. I have a project for you."

We waited patiently for the information on the project, and when we found out what we were being asked to do, I wasn't really up for it.

"You two will be working together, somewhat. Please don't try to mess this up, Mello."

I couldn't refuse to this project unless I wanted to lose my place at Wammy's, so I agreed to work with Near.

"And…how long will this take?" I asked, eager to know.

"It hasn't been decided."

I groaned, "I'll be in my room if anyone needs me."

Truthfully, I wasn't going to enjoy working with Near, but it would be something I'd have to endure. I got little sympathy from Matt, so I think he believed I could survive it. I hoped so, but I'd find out when the project ended how I really felt. I doubt Near even cared that I was working with him, because he never showed much emotion, let alone talk to anyone.

I went to bed that evening with a million thoughts running through my mind. If I received much more, I would explode. I prayed that I wouldn't have to wake up in the morning, that I could just lay there and dream the days away. The sooner I finished working with Near the better. I got dressed and grabbed a chocolate bar from my desk before leaving my room that morning. Matt was still asleep when I left. He'd miss class if he didn't wake up, but I decided to let him sleep. It's not like he ever did anything in class anyway. I shut the door lightly behind me before going on my search for Near. He had to be somewhere…

Not long after I'd left my room, I found Near. He'd been hiding in the library all morning, I suspected. He was curled up in one of his positions, twirling his hair between his fingers. Apparently, it had become a habit for him. He straightened his neck at my entering, smiling briefly as I sat down across from him. Books were piled high above our heads, which gave me the impression that Near was working very hard.

"Have you been here all morning?" I asked, worried about what kind of answer I might get.

Near only nodded and turned back to the book on his lap. I stole one from the top of the pile and began to flip through each of the pages. After all, I barely knew what our project was about. That day, Near and I had put together notes about what could go into our report. Near studied mine as though it might be dysfunctional. His glance was quick before he replaced it to its original spot on the table. I sighed and gathered it back with my pile. I told Near I was getting hungry, though it was really an excuse to get away from him. To my misfortune, he followed me to lunch. "I'm hungry too," he'd said. It almost felt like he was purposely trying to aggravate me.

We ate lunch, for the most part, in silence. The first one to speak was Linda, who I don't remember having been there to begin with.

"Hey, boys!" she said, giggling.

Near returned the greeting, not really looking at Linda when he did. I suppose he was too focused on playing with his food to pay much attention to her. Or maybe Near was just great at multitasking. I can never be sure with him.

Linda continued to grin widely and asked, "Soooo, how did the project go!?"

Neither Near nor myself said anything; it wasn't much of an interesting topic. Linda frowned and stomped of to sit with the other girls in her class. I was relieved when she was finally gone. The moment of relief was broken when Near turned to me. He only stared into my eyes for a moment and didn't speak. I was a bit freaked out, but I returned the stare he was giving me.

"What?" I asked.

He only shrugged, beginning to twirl his hair again.

I was beginning to think that I'd have nightmares about this day for many years to come…

-

Back in my room, I found Matt waiting for me. He was so much like a pet to me sometimes, preferably a dog. He was my best friend, and as scary as it sounds, he'd licked my face before. He ate a lot and always loved to play. In my vision, he fit the dog description perfectly.

"Mello! You're back!" He shouted, forgetting about his DS that lay on the floor for a moment.

He asked me how my day had gone and I gave him pretty much the same answer I'd given Linda. With him, though, I wasn't annoyed the entire time I spoke to him. I replied with asking about his day, but I wasn't given much of an answer. The most interesting thing he'd done that day was play his new video games. That was usually what he told me when I asked about how his day had gone. I could see his eyes beaming up at me through his green-tinted goggles and couldn't help but smile. It was funny that he seemed so young. Another reason for him to be my dog. I imagined Matt as a poodle, which sent me into a worse fit of laughter. Matt stared at me, wide-eyed, as if to ask, "What the hell is so funny?" And truly, I didn't know.

The entire evening without Near was great, but I ran into him in the night. My heart had been racing when I first saw him. In only the moonlight, he looked like a ghost, haunting the halls at Wammy's orphanage. He told me he was headed outside and I decided to join him. I forgot that I'd had to use the bathroom as I sat there looking into the moonlight with him. He seemed to be counting the stars, maybe even talking to them, but I wasn't sure. I just loved to watch the silly things he did. I probably would have acted the same way had I been as lonely as him. As I sat there watching him, I wondered, Why am I sitting here? And why with him?

None of it seemed to matter, but I wasn't about to let my rival try to become my best friend. I excused myself and went back to my room. The entire time, I got the feeling he was following me, watching me, but I refused to look back.

Matt was already asleep when I returned, his goggles pressed to his skin in an uncomfortable looking position. I took them off his face and sat them gently on his nightstand before returning to my own bed. I yawned before drifting off to sleep.

I was in Near's bedroom after class, but I didn't remember waking up for my much needed sleep. Near was on top of me, his hand on my cheek…

I woke to find the weight across my stomach was actually Matt, and he was slapping my cheeks as an attempt to wake me up. I resisted to get up until I could take it no longer. I screamed Matt's name at the top of my lungs and he finally moved back to his own bed.

"Mello! Classes start in, like, five minutes."

That was my signal to get out of bed.

"And by the way…what were you dreaming about? You were making some strange noises…"

I bit my tongue trying to come up with an answer and finally said, "I don't remember."

I truly did, but didn't say so, for fear I may want Near…

A/N: Say hello to the longest chapter I've ever written! I know how horribly this sucks, but it sparked in my mind when I listened to the Yellowcard song, You and Me and One Spotlight. I hope you enjoyed this, and I'll try to write more soon.