That sun. That's the first thing I feel at the beginning of the day. It beckons me, asking me to wake up and maybe drink some coffee. I groan in my bed for about two minutes before I submit and get up for the day. Let's see the pluses: it's Friday and I get to hit the Literature Club today with my childhood friend and current girlfriend: Sayori. Wait, I think we're getting too far. Before we keep going, I'm Rivers. I'm a guy who goes to the crappiest high school under the palm trees, but hey, we're cool, at least. I'm a person of the Literature Club, and my girlfriend, who turned me onto all this, is our president. The last president, uh, kinda died. It was a problem involving video games and a time machine. But I digress.

I walk to the intersection Sayori and I always meet on. She's not here though. However, for a few seconds, I see a person walking away, toward the direction of the school. Before they fall out of view, I see a glimpse of red in the hair.

I immediately started booking it towards this person. I'm not that fast, only an 8:30 mile. But I catch up with this person. And when I do, there is only one thing I can say.

"Dammit, Sayori!" I say playfully, but still kinda annoyingly.

"You found me," she said, laughing.

You see, these kinds of practical jokes are among the basis of our whole relationship. It kind of keeps us sane. Especially since Sayori used to have, um, a problem (read: crippling depression). Hold up, Google says it's not okay to make these kinds of jokes yet. But I don't care. We keep it out of our minds, since she and I both nearly died. She seems normal, happy, without a care in the world. Like an 8-year-old walking in the streets of San Clemente, a tiny surfside city, without thinking of the danger. Wait, what am I saying? Anyways, we're here and I guess it's time to head off for class. Sayori pecks my cheek then walks off.

My day doesn't really get better. I end it at the Literature Club, like I do twice a week. There's four of us. All of us seems to have came from really difficult backgrounds (except me, yeah, I totally don't have a bad origin story).

Um... hey at least everyone's better! Even our friend Yuri, but she almost died of blood loss and everything, and it took two weeks for her to get better. They had to rotate giving blood and super-strong-ultra-only-for-medical-use type of heroin. All they had was heroin. Nothing safe. Just heroin. So that's Yuri. Then there's Natsuki. We're friends, but we had to fight 3 times: twice in the hallway, and once at the Taco Bell. We both got suspended for three days. That was the day Sayori was so pissed at me, she yelled at me and, in a rage, ran all the way home. We're still friends (me and Natsuki, that is, me and Sayori are still together, don't worry) Also, I guess her dad was a piece of crap. Six months ago, however, he got accounted with nineteen charges of child abuse and neglect, and now he's in San Quentin. I hope he gets molested in there. But, hey, now she lives with her mom and stepdad, who are super cool and awesome and feed her and don't beat her and all that. And she keeps a 6-and-a-half foot manga shelf with literally a thousand manga in her room. She still is an easy to anger person, but hey, she makes cupcakes most weeks, so I'm happy.

Then the two people so far you know and love, with a ship name so horrendous, I can't stand it. But I'll write it. It's Sayorivers. Kill me. At least the ends of her name match up with the starts of mine. We started going out around five or six months ago, after a whole mess we've affectionately called, something we should never talk about again. I still get chills every time I see a young girl that's not my little sister, Clementine. I don't know why she likes me, but I know why I like her. She was always the funny one, the one who put a smile on everyone's face. I guess I was the loud, obnoxious one, so we connected, and we've been friends since. She was sweet, and she's cute. Okay, story time's over.

I guess it's time to share our poems. I wrote mine like this:

You

The sun. The moon. The stars.

They all depict you.

It's not a Radiohead reference.

But wherever I go

I sense you.

When I hit the surf I see you.

When I go to sleep I hear you.

When I see your eyes

I'm finally safe.

Wanna walk on the beach?

Okay, it sucks. But everyone was confused. I told them it was about an estranged lover who finds his other in another's eyes. I'm not gonna lie, Sayori was an inspiration. Okay, fine, I basically wrote that about her. Everyone read their poems, and then cupcakes! Natsuki made strawberry cupcakes! With vanilla icing! She made five, one for everybody, and one of her boyfriend, who is just as short and pissed off as she is. A match made in heaven. Kinda like someone you know (cough, cough..me..cough, cough...Sayori...cough, cough.)

I was about to jack the last cupcake, when Natsuki's boyfriend came in. He comes by from time to time, and he wrote a poem once. I can't tell you on a PG-13 story what he wrote. Let's just say, the poem was about what Nat and the guy do when we're not around, (read: they did it in the closet). And that's why Natsuki was the very first one of us to lose their virginity! She didn't win any cookies, but hey, good job, I guess? Sorry, I don't really get horny, but sometimes when me and Sayori are together in a car... um, okay, those thoughts are for another time. Anyway, he caught me literally reaching for the cupcake. I'm not gonna lie, that guy freaks me out.

"Haha, gotta go fast!" I said, as I bolted out of the room and down the hallway. I parked myself near the bathroom where I found Yuri eating some cupcake.

"Hey, Rivers. These are good!" she greeted.

We had a conversation about food, and how to cook stuff. She learned to become a cook and she makes great food. Hey, at least now she uses knives in the right way. She left. I just sat there, scrolling at my Instagram, when suddenly Natsuki's boyfriend walks around.

"Hey, I got something to tell you!" he told me.

"What?" I said, freaking out inside.

Then he said something that surprised me.

"Want my cupcake?"

"Yeah, hey, thanks!"

"Hey, sorry, dude. It seems like you were scared of me."

"Yeah, honestly, I kinda was."

"Well, hey. We're cool."

Then he just walks off. I feel safe enough to come back to the club. Where Sayori is reading her poem. It went something like this.

Waiting to Sublimate

I wait in the sun

In the back of my car.

To sublimate.

To reach the unknown depths in the world.

To know who and what I am.

To find out where I want to be.

In the back of a red Altima.

With a cup of coffee.

With Sublime on the stereo.

And a friend to keep me company.

It's good. Call me biased, but ninety percent of the time I like Sayori's poems the best. They're really intricate, and it makes you think and imagine. And we both really like Sublime. This one was weird, though. I don't know what the word sublimate means. I heard it in science class, but I was too busy texting Sayori and Instagram scrolling. But, coffee tastes good.