The storm outside knocked on his window with thunder, and the rain pattaered along, seeking access.
The little boy was certain it was out to get him. He shook under his covers and cried softly.
He screeched when his door opened, only to see his mother, a soft faced young woman with brunette hair and slightly one too many wrinkles for her age.
She silently strode to her son and wrapped her arms around him. "Shh baby it's gonna be okay. Shh." He still whimpered even as the thunder moved away and the lightning flashes ceased. "Do you want mommy to read you a story?"she cooed, wiping the hair out of his face. He nodded, his watered eyes growing bright.
She strode over to the door and for a moment the child feared she had left him, but she returned seconds later with a small notebook clutched in her hand. It was old, wrinkled and obviously worn.
The boy wrinkled his nose at the book but his mother gave him a reassuring smile. "I figured your old enough to know about your father. It's only fair."
The boy gasped. He had been asking for years about his father, but she had only told him the cliché "I'll tell you when you're older." He grinned in excitement and nodded rapidly, indicating for her to read it.
She smiled, "Now, like you, your father was a man of few words. He didn't waste his breathe, everything he said had importance. He kept a diary-" She indicated the notebook in her hands, "But he didn't like to write, so most of it will be from memory."
The boy nodded impatiently, eager for her to start.
"Now your father did not have a good childhood. His mother was dead and his father was in jail, so he was raised by his mean uncle. Because of this, he didn't know any better and did stupid things when he was a kid. He broke the law, and part of the required therapy was to go to Hollywood arts for an outlet for his natural music and acting talent."
The boy nodded, not quite sure he understood even half that sentence.
Without further ado, she opened the notebook and read the very first line,
"Life isnt a fairy tale.
If you get a happily ever after, youre one lucky son of bitch."
"Tsssssssss" The faucet cut the silence of the morning with surprising volume. A pair of hands reached down to splash some water onto their owner's face, and then the tap was quickly shut off before it would wake unwanted company.
He examined his face, staring at his angular features and bright green eyes, his jaw muscles twitching. His nerves where getting to him, he took deep breathes but he still had intrusive thoughts of every worst case scenario fluttering into his mind's eye. Changing school wasn't easy for anyone.
After quickly running a comb through his wavy brunnette hair, he turned on his heel and exited the bathroom. Murmuring too himself , he crossed the small hallway to his nearly empty bedroom and grabbed his red backpack, surveyed his room for anything he may have forgot, and turned sharply yet again.
The young man walked as quickly as he could through his living room, as to quickly be rid of the gross smell of puke, spilled alcohol and bean dip hat was emitting from the couch. He silently sidestepped one of his uncle's beer cans and slipped out the unlocked door to his tiny apartment.
Closing the door slowly, the boy jogged lightly down the steps of the complex and dissapeared.
"But Toriii. I just want to borrow 4 pairs of pants! None of mine show off my faboulous ass!"
Tori Vega was a generous, giving girl. But her sister was the polar opposite, and at only 6:45, she had already had enough of her.
"Oh, no." She snapped, reaching her locker in the very decorated halls of Hollywood arts. "I know how this goes. I lend you my clothes, you refuse to give them back when I need the, claiming they've been yours "since forever""
Trina stamped her foot and whined, "Is this about that green scarf? 'Cause that's been mine-"
"Since forever, yeah I know." Tori sighed, opening her locker and grabbing several notebooks. "You're not getting my pants, Trina."
Her elder sister hissed and slammed Tori's locker "UGHHHH! I hate you!" She turned and stomped down the hall, knocking poor SinJin's books out of his hands on the way.
Rolling her eyes, Tori twisted her combo back into the metal door and swung the door open again. She absentmindedly glanced to the right and noticed that the locker directly next to hers was now blank.
She momentarily wondered when the locker would be replaced with a new user. Lockers where never blank for very long at HA.
"New student, huh?" Tori glanced over her shoulder to see her good friend, Andre standing there, his trademark smile set on his face. Andre was a medium-height, well built African American teenager. Next to him was her other friend, Caterina. Cat was very short, and also very, well, absent-minded.
"Yeah! I wonder what they're like!" Tori said in a merry tone, shutting her locker and turning to face her friends. Cat looked up from playing with her skirt and smiled. "Once, my brother got a new student in his school!" She said in her out of focus voice, "My brother's school has the best uniforms! They're bright and orange! So colorful!" She squealed and jumped in the air, concluding her story.
Andre and Tori shared a quick look before he gently touched her shoulder. "Uh, Cat? I'm not so sure-" Tori let out a gasp and shut Andre up by pointing. "Look! It must be the new kid!"
Strolling down the hall was their guidance counselor Lane, and ambling behind him was a Boy slightly taller than Andre. He obviously wasn't listening to the ongoing tour given by Lane.
Walking past the trio, Lane stopped at the Blank locker next to Toris. "And this is going to be your locker! Now, school rules say you have to decorate it, so I'd get started on ideas during your free period!" He waited for a response but the boy was staring at the nearby vending machine, clearly wondering when they'd reach that during the tour.
"Chase?" Lane asked. He leaned forward and snapped his fingers near his face. "What? Yeah. Decorating.." Chase trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck and staring at his sneakers.
Lane sighed, fake enthusiasm drained, clearly not in the mood for this, this early in the morning.
He happened to glance over and see the small group of friends, all blatantly staring at the exchange. Clapping his hands excitedly, he grinned and announced "Chase, this is Tori, Andre and Cat!" and motioned to the friends.
The group, surprised by the introduction, where friendly nonetheless. "Hey!" Said Tori, quickly waving and swinging back and forth on her heels. "Hiiiiiiii!" Cried Cat, smiling hugely and grabbing her hair to begin twisting it. "Sup." Said Andre, Nodding his head.
Chase eyed them carefully for a moment, and then returned Andre's nod. Lane looked back and forth between the teenagers before clapping his hands again. "Good! Fast Friends!" He made a move to push Chase towards them, but thought better of it when the taller boy glared down at the him.
"Okay! So You three are his new escorts! I have a new bottle of lotion waiting for me!" and he walked off, rubbing his hands together in excitement.
Chase looked down at his feet again, not really sure what to do. Tori and Andre looked at each other, not really sure what to do. Cat, ever naïve, faced no such social obstacles and took a confident step forward and reached up to touch his ears. "I like your piercings!" she said with a huge smile. Chase slowly took her hand away. "Thanks." He murmured, face flushed.
Tori also took a step forward. "Hi! I'm Tori…which I guess you knew already…" She trailed off, not sure where to go with it.
"Um.." Chase said, not sure either. He then turned on his heel and walked away very fast.
Chase's face was stil' burning as he slowed down once he rounded a corner. How humiliating! He knew he was bad at talking to people, but that was because people where usually quick to shun him. But that had been a perfectly suitable group of people to make friends with, and he had blown it!
Just then, a very musical bell sounded over the intercom and the colorful halls where empty in a flash. Chase sighed when he realized that idiot counselor had neglected to give him a schedule. He groaned and made his way to the front office for the second time that morning.
"And he just ran off?" Beck asked
"Yeah!" Tori said, setting her backpack down and pulling up a chair in their acting class.
Her friend Beck and his girlfriend Jade, along with Robbie, Andre and Cat also pulled up chairs to form a circle.
"Well, of course he ran, he saw your face." Jade, the gothic girl, said matter-of-factly, not looking up from the nails she was filing.
Tori chose to ignore this jab, instead looking to Andre as he opened his mouth. "He seemed really shy. Lane probably just overwhelmed him by shoving him into a group of such good-looking individuals!" He grinned at his wit and leaned back.
They all looked up at the door, expecting their Tardy teacher, but instead Chase himself walked in.
He looked around as the classroom fell silent, looking at him as if they expected him to perform some sort of trick. He bit his lip nervously, feeling his hand fly back to the rear of his neck.
After a few seconds of silence, Toris voice broke the air. "Come sit with us, Chase!"
Chase Examined them for a moment in disbelief. They wanted to sit with him? He slowly walked over, lifting up a yellow chair on the way.
Tori and Cat scooted back and Chase set his bag down and sat,