"There are darknesses in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights."

-Bram Stoker

I never understood the barrier between darkness and light. I never understood why someone could be so cruel, look so cruel in a way that makes you completely unaware of how nice they could be.

I never bothered to ask, to understand the real person behind the shadows and drapes. I shut out the world and everyone in it, because that's who I was. I wasn't tortured or misunderstood, I just wanted to be alone.

Why didn't anyone understand that?

"(Y/N)~chan! Wake up sleepy-head!"

I lifted my head slightly, squinting as the light slowly adjusted to my pupils. When my vision returned, I saw a figuring shadow that seemed to be pacing back and forth in front of me.

"-the cooking club? How about the martial arts club?" Saki asked me, jabbing her finger into my shoulder while I gave her a sleepy gaze. "No and no" I mumbled, wobbling to my feet before grabbing my bag, which was lying closely against the leg of the table I was sleeping at.

Saki followed me around a corner. "Come on (Y/N)~chan! I know you don't want to join a club, but it helps you get college credit! It's the easiest way to get it, so just go and pick one!" She pushed me against the wall and pointed towards the cafeteria. "Go!" She demanded.

If you haven't noticed already, I don't really enjoy joining clubs, or joining anything in general, so I wasn't ecstatic about having to join for college credit. Hey, one step closer to getting out of here.

In the cafeteria, there was a tons of rows stacked with different decor and advertisements, each listing pros on why you should join. Each station was manned by the club's leader and a few tag-along members.

The Drama club and Sports club were the most packed, for reasons I couldn't even start to explain. They were manned by two extremely tall boys, one of which seemed too eager to let everyone sign up. The Gardening, Photography, and Art clubs seemed interested in each other's presentations, mostly because the Gardening were admiring the pictures drawn by the Art, which were modeled after the Photography's original photos.

Yeah, I was confused too.

Light Music and Computer club were both severely lacking the interest of most of the students lingering around the area, but they didn't seem too bothered by the population. Science Club was fiddling around with another mechanism that could possibly either blow up the school or save it from intimate doom, and the Martial Arts Club were staring scarcely at the people going by.

I was bombarded with different questions from different members and leaders, mostly consisting of "Are you interested?" or "Do you want to join?"

Or in this case, "Aren't you just the sweetest thing~"

Is it weird for a boy to be stroking your hair?

"Uh, thanks" I replied, slowly pinching the boy's wrist away from my hair, smacking it right down at the table. He smiled in response, picking up a chef's apron before wrapping it around his waist. "Sorry about that, I just get so excited about new faces! I understand you need to join a club, yes?"

I nodded my head. "Perfect! Than the cooking club is the best way to enjoy your time as well as earning credit! You'll never be bored!" He smiled again, man he really likes smiling, and started to reach for his pen and paper. "Now where did I put it?" He asked himself, getting an eager reaction from one of the other cooking members. "Here you go Amao!" A girl popped out from under the table and handed Amao his notepad. "Why thank you Yui!" He glanced at her and than back at me. "So, interested?"

I looked around the room, looking at all of the other clubs. There was a small banner hanging up that read, "2 more days to pick a club!"

"Um.. no thanks. Maybe I should think first."

I walked off before saying goodbye. Hopefully I'll decided soon.