Alrighty folks, here it is! Rewritten with new characters, new interactions and a new story line!
Some things to note:
1. NOT EVERY CHARACTER IN MAPLE STORY WILL MAKE BE PRESENT IN THE STORY. ANY CHARACTERS NOT IN THIS STORY WILL BE IN ANOTHER STORY I WILL WRITE.
2. AS OF NOW THERE ARE 4 OC's. I DO NOT KNOW WHETHER OR NOT I'LL ADD MORE. IF I DO, THEY WILL NOT HAVE A MAJOR ROLE IN THE STORY.
3. SOME CHAPTERS WILL INCLUDE READER INTERACTION! THAT MEANS THERE WILL BE CHOICES THAT YOU READERS WILL BE ABLE TO MAKE FOR SEVERAL CHARACTERS WHICH WILL AFFECT THE STORY WHETHER BIG OR SMALL. IF YOU WISH TO LEAVE INPUT PLEASE REVIEW OR PM ME! IF THERE ARE NO REVIEWS OR PM'S, I SHALL CONTINUE WITH THE INPUT OF MY OWN CHOICE.
Please read and review! You can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.
Disclaimer: I do not own any property from MapleStory. All of Maplestory belongs to Nexon and Wizet. All I own are my OC's.
"Trường, con có làm gọn mấy cái ghế sofa trong phòng khách chưa?" (Aaron, did you organize the sofas in the living room yet?)
"Dạ rồi" (Yes, I did.) I huffed, finally relieved that we were done with house decorations, the last step in moving to our new home. I took a deep breath and walked around our new house, taking in the surroundings. Two stories, clean, carpeted floor, large kitchen and a bedroom each for me, dad, and my little sister Rose. It was an infinite amount of times nicer than the other homes that we had lived in in the past, where sometimes space was scarce, kitchens were rusty, and sometimes there was only one bedroom to accommodate all of us. Speaking of Rose, I went to check on her in her room to see what she was doing.
Upon reaching her open room, I saw her lying face down on her coverless mattress. Heh, poor girl, she was probably tired from all the excitement of moving and travelling. I gave her a quick peck on the head before heading back down to see how dad was doing after lifting much of the furniture. To my lack of surprise, he was still in the garage, in his sweaty T-shirt while bouncing a soccer ball with his feet. Typical dad, he was never the type of guy to sit still if he had the opportunity to stay active.
Despite walking in front of him, dad still continued bouncing the ball without acknowledging my presence.
"How long have you been at that?" I asked.
"Không lâu lắm đâu. Khoảng hai phút thôi." (Not for too long. About two minutes.)
I stuck out my leg right above his to intercept the ball and bounce it on my own feet, but I guess dad anticipated my move, since he kicked the ball a little harder for it to fly higher and land on his head, only to let it down immediately after and continued bouncing it.
The process repeated three more times until I finally gave up on stealing the ball and just sat down on the floor and counted the bounces.
"With that attitude, you'll never make the soccer team at your new school, Trường!"
"Oh come on, con còn mệt vì con đem vô nhiều bàn ghế rồi! And who said anything about me joining the soccer team?" (I'm still tired from carrying all the heavy furniture into the house!)
"Oh don't complain, it's not like you're the only one who carried the heavy stuff. Anyway…" The bouncing ceased as dad bent his foot upward, trapping the soccer ball between his foot and leg. "Did you let Joe know that we've arrived yet? I'm sure he'll be happy to see us again. You especially."
"Chưa, chưa. Để con lấy điện thoại…" (Not yet, let me get my phone…)
I dug into my pocket and pulled out my Android. Tapping the name, "Emmie" , which was just a nickname and not his real name, from my contacts list, I started to type.
Hey man, just got done arranging the furniture. You around?
Less than a minute later, my phone vibrated.
Hey, that's awesome! I'll come over ASAP! Where's your house?
Joe had been my friend ever since kindergarten. We bonded over our love of soccer, which at the time was just us kicking a ball around until we had joined a youth team. We'd often go to each other's houses after school just to play some video games and soccer and even have sleepovers occasionally. By the time were were in sixth grade, because my dad had switched jobs, I had to move away, but Joe and I still stayed in contact through some phone calls, summer visits, emails, and finally text. This year, thanks to my dad's new job, we would be neighbors and attending the same school again.
"Yo, Ronnie!"
I sighed upon hearing that name from that voice again. Ronnie was the nickname I was given by Joe, taken from the "-ron" in my real name, which was Aaron.
"Oh! Joe tới rồi." Dad said, waving as he walked over to our garage." (Joe has come.)
"Dạ, con chào chú!" (Formal Vietnamese greeting to a male adult) Joe said in accented Viet, shaking dad's hand and giving him a one-armed hug.
"Hey, how are you doing? It's nice that you still remember some Viet!" Dad laughed.
"I'm doing good! Even better now, knowing that you guys are here. Sup, Ronnie?!" Joe wasted no time in approaching me as we slapped the front and back of each other's hands and fist bumped.
"Nothing much. Just settled in. You?"
"Haven't been doing anything much either. Just been playing soccer by myself on the fields and running around the neighborhood. That and I've been preparing for the orientation. Speaking of which, you ready? Mentally that is."
"Oh! Đừng quên nhe, tuần sau con sẽ có orientation cho trường học!" (Oh, don't forget that you have your high school orientation next week!) Dad chimed in.
"Yeah I got it."
"Oh you're going to orientation next week too? Awesome! So am I, and that's the first orientation session too! We'll be the first ones to select our classes!" Joe exclaimed.
"Really? Alrighty then, cool."
"Oh and while we're on the topic of school, why don't I show you the campus? It's pretty big, and the last thing you want to do is get lost. Is that alright, chú?" (sir?)
"Sure thing." Dad smiled at us. "Just be careful safe alright you two?"
"No problem." I said, while Joe saluted.
"Just let me change out of my sweaty T-shirt first…"
...
While I changed, Joe went over to his house and grabbed his own soccer ball. Once we were ready, we headed off to the campus, which was about a twenty minute walk away from my new home. Finally seeing a series of tall buildings behind two pillars, I couldn't help but marvel.
"Whoa…"
"Nice isn't it, Ronnie?"
"I feel like 'nice' would be an understatement…"
Fountains surrounded by women holding hourglasses, curved, tall lamps, several gardens filled with a variety of flowers and trees along with freshly cut grass, and stone walkways leading to several buildings several stories high all stood behind the pillars.
"Welcome to MapleStory Academy, home of the Maplers. Whatever 'Maplers' are…" Joe said.
"...Are you sure this is a high school?" I asked. "Seriously, never before have I ever seen a high school campus look this big. Heck, this looks just like a college campus!"
"Haha, doesn't it?" he laughed, "I had the same reaction when I saw it for myself. Apparently, a whole bunch of students from around the world attend this school because of its highly-ranked education and extracurricular activities programs. Most students who attend here come from wealthy families or have made it big themselves, but there are some students like you and me who have been accepted to this school through scholarships. Guess we're the lucky ones, huh? Commoners being able to hang around all the rich kids, hahaha!"
"You, a commoner? Give me a break. Your parents are super rich. Isn't your dad the CEO of El Nath Inc.?"
"Well yeah, but it's not like I make what he earns. I mean, sure we already paid off the house and all, but-"
"Yeah, you can stop right there. Your house has already been paid for. And seeing as how you've only lived here for...what, a year? Stop trying to act humble man. You're rich just like them."
"Me? Naaawwwww. I mean, my parents give me money monthly to buy food and water but not much else."
"Yeah, okay. Are we going to stop here or are we going in?" I asked.
Joe then dropped his soccer ball to the ground and started bouncing it with his foot.
"How about we race to the stadium of the school? It's where the football, lacrosse and soccer games take place. The one who manages to keep the ball for the longest time while running there wins. Aaaannnndddddd...GO!"
"Hey wait that's cheating! I don't even know the way there! Come on, man!"
The run to the stadium took longer than I expected. Numerous turns and long runs were taken before we finally reached the structure. By the time we had reached the stadium, both of us were already breathing hard with Joe arriving first and keeping the ball the entire time. He seemed to know the area more than I did of course, so I had no choice but to let him win.
"Whew! Good exercise! Come to think of it...you've never outrun me before...have you?" Joe asked, panting.
"No...but that was because I was fat and we were in elementary school then. I've been running more of course." I said, noticing that I wasn't panting half as hard as he was. Heh, guess all that exercise and weight loss paid off.
"Right...huuuuuffff*...well, here we are. The stadium."
Behind Joe was a massive oval-shaped building, bigger than any high school stadium I'd ever seen based on pictures, and probably as big as stadiums for professional sports teams. Inside was a big field that looked like it had been freshly cleaned. Around it were rows and rows of seats.
"Wow, what's the maximum occupancy of this thing?" I asked, taking in the scene.
"Not really sure. But one thing I do know is that the school has an average attendance of about fourteen thousand students including us, who are coming in next year so…"
"...This is a high school right? Not a college or anything?"
"Nah. Don't worry man, you're in the right place. Hahaha!" Joe laughed, "Anyway, wanna go for a game?"
"Huh? But I just changed my shirt!"
"Just change into another one after! I mean, you were already sweating when we ran here anyway!"
"Alright, alright…"
"Awesome! Let's let the football goal post be our net. First one to reach ten goals?"
"You're on."
...
"Whew! Nice game!"
The score was seven goals to ten, the ten belonging to Joe. I didn't know how long the game had lasted, but by the time the game was done, my shirt was covered in sweat and it was already becoming dark. We then sat by the goalpost to catch our breath before heading back home. While on our way back we reminisced about elementary school and talked about our middle school experiences.
"You asked her out to the dance? Did she say yes?"
"Believe it or not, yeah! I at first thought she'd reject me because we had a rocky start to our relationship, but she said yes and said that she wanted to do it again in the future! Crazy, right?"
"Did you guys get together afterwards?"
"Pshh, nah. Come on Ronnie, we were just eighth graders! Who gets together that young?"
"Trust me man, you'd be surprised."
"What about you? Did you ask anybody out to any dances?"
"Come on man. You know how I looked during my early eighth grade year. There's no way anybody would've said yes! I didn't go to any dances either."
"Well you lost a whole bunch of weight now."
"But that was then and this is now. Anyway, so where's that girl now. Is she attending the same school as us?"
"Actually she'll be attending Seoul's Private School for the Gifted, which isn't too far from our school."
"Ohh, so you guys still keep in contact, huh?"
"Oh stop it, man."
Good times.
"Alright Ronnie, I'll see you tomorrow and during orientation. You up for another game sometime?" he asked.
"Sure. It's better than just running every day. I'll see you later, Joe." I replied. Knocking on the door, it took a few seconds wait before Rose finally opened it.
"Hi anh hai!" she exclaimed as she hugged me. Seeing that I was able to get into the house, Joe walked home on his own. (anh hai= eldest sibling who is a brother, but for the sake of convenience, we'll just call it "big brother")
"Anh đó là ai vậy?" (Who was that?) she asked.
"Đó là Joe. Joe là bạn của anh hai khi anh hai còn nhỏ." (That was Joe. Joe was my childhood friend.)
"Oh, okay! Anh hai, I'm hungry!"
"Alright then, I'll make something…"
"Thôi đi con. Đừng nấu gì. We'll go out to eat later. We didn't even finish setting up the kitchen anyway." (Forget it. Don't cook anything.)
Suddenly dad came out from the hallway wearing nothing but an undershirt and a towel wrapped around his waist.
"Yay!" Rose cheered.
"Just showered?" I asked.
"Yup. Had fun with Joe?"
"Yeah. Anyway, I'll go shower then."
"Mau lên nhé. Đừng lam cho An Nhiêndợi. And try to avoid speaking English at home." (Hurry up. Don't let Rose wait.)
Oh typical dad. Always wanting me to speak the language of our motherland at home...
"Alright, alright…"
"Nói tiếng việt!" (Speak Vietnamese!)
"Dạ..." (Yes…)
Some info on my characters! (Will be posting one per chapter)
Name: Aaron Le
Gender: Male
Birthdate: December 24
Age: 14-15
Height: 5 feet 10 inches.
Interests: Sports, working out, video games, socializing, sleeping, reading manga, playing with his sister, internet surfing, finding new music to listen to.
Hobbies: Soccer, playing video games.
Strongest Subject: Science
Favorite Food: Bánh ướt
Favorite Bands: Orangutanz, Hyperventilate! at the Nightclub, Rise In Boy, Twelve Sailors, The Taxi, TWO OK ROCK.
More interesting info: When he was younger, his parents encouraged him to always finish his meals, so he always ate everything that was on his plate even if it was too much for him. Soon, he gained lots of weight and was often physically and verbally bullied by fellow students because of his huge size, although amounts of bullying varied between schools. One day when he came home injured, his dad decided to teach him how to fight and defend himself. Sparring sessions took place every day and eventually Aaron started developing more strength and faster reflexes. Because he began to fight back, bullies started to back off and he was able to live a more comfortable school life. His final confrontation with bullies involved pencils and pocket knives and it was only thanks to his reflexes and father's intervention that he managed to win the fight, although he received several scars on his body. His father also encouraged him to work out in order to lose weight and gave him meal plans and exercise routines that Aaron follows even to the present. A typical day consists of 50 push-ups, 50 sit-ups, 50 squats, a 5 km run, and sometimes a soccer game with dad. He eventually started losing lots of body weight and shrunk several clothes sizes, which made him more confident in himself and his looks.
He also really likes drinking milk.