Chomp

Biting a piece off my bar of a milk chocolate Hershey's bar, I turned the page of my physics book. I let the delicious goodness melt in my mouth, savoring the taste. I sighed as I thought about how good the Recchiuti Confections kind tastes. How its rich taste is one of the only things that can calm me down. How great it was with some vanilla bean ice cream. Suddenly, my Hershey's didn't taste that great anymore.

Grunting from frustration, I got up from my chair at my small desk, and dropped the rest of the chocolate in the trash. I took one look at the book and practice test on my desk, and groaned. How much longer will I have to do this? Staying up all night studying isn't really the best way to keep healthy. But, if it helped me beat HIM, and get to be #1 in the ranks…it was worth it. Okay, I admit that even though I did spend most of the time studying, I'm still not that good when it comes to tests. Which is why I started making up practice tests for me; maybe I won't be #2 now…I hope. All I want is to be #1, and to beat that little white-haired devil. My mood immediately changed. Just thinking about him made me sick. That white hair of his, those light-gray pajamas he always wore, those dark eyes that reminded him so much of L, and that personality. He gritted his teeth. His personality is what pissed him off the most. He always has that same bored, blank expression. And he doesn't have emotions either, it seems.

The blonde frowned as he remembered the first time he met the white-haired one. He had just been meeting everyone, and he saw the white-haired one in the corner playing with some stupid robot toys. He went to say hello, and the white-haired one had not even looked up.

"Hey," said the blonde. "What's your name?"

The white-haired one looked up. "I am not allowed to announce that bit of information." The look on his face showed no emotion.

"What do ya mean you can't tell?!" The blonde's blue eyes looked like blue fire as his anger began to pound against the wall of control in his body.

"We are not allowed to reveal our real names. However, you may call me by my alias."

"…Well?" He said, getting impatient. "I'm waiting!"

"It's Near."

"What's Near?" He looked around to see if anything was coming.

"My alias." Still no emotion. Just that blank expression.

"You want me to call you 'Near'?" The look on his face was incredulous. What kind of name was that?

"Yes, now what shall I call you?"

The blonde thought for a moment. Well I guess real names aren't allowed around here, he thought. So I can't say Mihael. Good thing no one had asked for his name yet. Searching his brain, he tried to conjure up a name that sounded good, but not a normal one. He still wanted it to begin with M. He put together the first and last letter, M and L. Hmmm, he thought, kinda sounds like Mill. And mill kinda sounds like Mel. But Mel's a girl's name. But what if I added another L and O? Mello? That flowed nicely, and he liked the way it sounded. But it's still a little girly. Oh what the heck, no one will care. His name's 'Near' for God's sake. No one's gonna mind if his name's a little weird.
"You can just call me Mello." He smirked. He liked that way that sounded when he said it too, not just in his head.

Near said nothing, and still showed no expression. He simply looked back down at his toy robots and resumed playing. Mello didn't like this one bit.

"Hey," He said. "What's your problem?!"

Near looked up. "What, Mello?"

This guy was really starting to piss him off with this weird behavior. "You aren't doing anything after I talk! Don't you ever not respond to me again, or you'll get it!"

Near said nothing, and didn't show any response to Mello's threat. Mello grabbed near by the pajama shirt, and pulled him up to his feet. "Listen, you don't wanna mess with me, or I'll rearrange your face, you got that?"

"Mello put me down. I must get back to my room, it's almost bedtime."

That was it. Mello's self control snapped like a twig. He pulled back his fist and slammed it into the pale boy's face. He smirked. That oughta get him to react. But as his fist fell back to his side where it was before, Near's face was frozen in a look of boredom, despite the bloody nose he now had. Mello gritted his teeth in pure fury. What the hell was this kid trying to do?

Suddenly Roger, the head of Wammy's as it seemed, came rushing over. "Excuse me young man, but fighting is strictly prohibited in this establishment." he gave Mello a stern look. "Now let's hurry to our rooms now. It's almost bedtime." Roger pointed down the hallway. "Mello, your room is at the end of that hallway." Mello took one last look at the boy sitting in the corner, and shot a threatening warning glance at him before spinning around on his heel to face the hallway. He walked down the hall to his room, the same one he has now.

He broke from his memory. He and Near had many fights after that. Well, I guess you couldn't really call them fights, since only Mello attacked, and Near never fought back. Glancing at the clock, he saw the neon red number blinking on the rectangular digital clock. 3 am. Wow. He's been up for 5 more hours than he's supposed to be. His bedtime's 10 pm. Letting out a long sigh, he realized just how tired he was. He spun around lazily, and slowly made his way over to his dresser to get some pajamas. He stopped halfway. To hell with pajamas, he thought as he turned and started toward his bed. As soon as he was close enough, he flopped down and closed his eyes. Soon after, he fell into a deep sleep.

Mello awoke to the sound of Roger banging on his door. Without moving, he shouted, "what is it?" He heard the muffled response of Roger behind the door.

"You have a new roommate. So let us in."

Mello bolted upright. Roommate? He'd never had one of those before. He put on his black fuzzy slippers and trudged to the door. He put his hand on the handle and turned it, revealing the old man and the boy next to him. This must be my roommate, he thought. He gave him a look-over. Red hair, a bowl cut. Must be dyed. No one can have hair that red. He moved his eyes down a little. Goggles. Gray outsides' and orangey lenses. He couldn't see the eyes behind the lenses. No freckles, but very pale. Black and white striped long-sleeve shirt. Not too big, not too small. A perfect fit. How unusual. Dark-blue jeans, with a few tears. He noticed a cigarette box and a lighter poking out of his pocket a little. And in his hands was a silver Nintendo DS. The gaming device was making various beeping noises. Great. My first roommate and he's a techy drugee. This day was just getting better every second.

"...Mello...?" Roger said to him.

Mello broke out of his trance. "What?"

"You've been staring at your roommate for a while, and I've been trying to get your attention, too."

"Oh. Sorry." he wasn't sorry at all, really.

"Well," he said tapping the redhead on the shoulder. "How about you say your name for your new roommate."

The redhead looked up as the beeping on his game stop. He looked at Roger. "You made me lose. Don't distract me. Ever." He pocketed his game in the one without the cigarettes and picked up his bag. He strode into the room and placed his bags on the top bunk, since the
bottom was obviously Mello's. Roger closed the door and left. Mello peered at his clock. 6:30, which meant 15 minutes until breakfast. He could definitely get some study time in before then. He sat down in his desk chair and began the test he created for himself. Everything was peacefully silent, except for the scratching sound of the pencil on the paper.

"Hey."

Mello stopped writing long enough to respond. "Uh, yeah? What do ya want?"

"Isn't it time for breakfast soon?" the redhead had an...Interesting...voice. It was...Almost like smooth caramel flowing out of the jar. Kinda soothing too.

"Yeah why?" Mello responded.

"Well don't you wanna eat?"

Mello thought for a moment. "I'll be there in a little bit. You can go without me. Don't' worry."

"Oh...Okay I guess..." the bed creaked as the redhead climbed down the wooden ladder on the side of the bunk bed. As soon as he had left and the door closed' Mello realized he' never asked for his name.