Seven Years of Adventure: Year One
The Beginning
Aaron took a small bite of the rice he had cooked earlier that evening. He liked cooking, and he could admit he was really good. If he had more supplies, he could set up a small fast-food store on the street. He could get more money that way, but serving for sbarro was already good. He got 250 dollars a month. And added to his inheritance, he got close to a billion dollars, but life was too long to be able to save enough money for his education and everything else. He took an apartment that he had to pay about 2700 dollars to get the apartment, and he never needed electricity, so he could save more money by just buying candles, a lighter and a few boxes of matchsticks for fire. He bought secondhand clothes and only little amount of food.
Aaron Cooper was an only child, son of Alexander and Hillary Cooper, who died in a bloodbath massacre when they were out of town for business. He didn't know them very well, for he was only a small child when they had passed away. All he could do was look at himself in the mirror and try to recall their faces from his features. Rarely, though, he could imagine them. He was an albino, making him sickly pale and his eyes a permanent glare. Due to his sickness, he had purple eyes. With no time to buy sunscreen, he would have already had skin cancer, but his godfather politely bought him tons of them. He knew that his mother was lucky to be skipped by the genetic cycle of having albinism. He ran a hand through his almost white hair. It had a still had a bit of blond, so his hair was a bit of platinum pale blond hair. It was about a few degrees lighter than his skin.
All his childhood, happiness and eagerness had left right when his parents had died. Now hes just a silent boy, standing in the corner and smiling politely and the person in the limelight.
He sighed and closed his textbook. In a few days, he would already turn nine. He liked being young and smiling at people. Especially during work. He was lucky that the manager of the restaurant of sbarrowas his godfather, or else he couldn't get a job. Aaron fixed his plate, cleaned it and got up, placing the small plate on the clean table and its food utensils. He grabbed the candle and made his way to his small bed. After blowing the candlelight, he took a deep sigh and collapsed on his bed, awaiting his birthday.
"Good morning, mam, sir, miss," he greeted the family. "May I take your order?" he smiled at them. The family consisted of a black haired man, a brunette woman, and a girl with mad hair. The woman looked at Aaron with pity. "Yes, please," she smiled afterwards, getting the menus and passing it to the two other people on the table.
"Would that be all?" Aaron asked, double-checking their orders. "Yes," the man smiled. "I'm Aaron, by the way, and please do not hesitate to call me if there are any complaints or problems," he told them and left as they nodded.
"Its wrong for someone like him to work at that age," the girl frowned. "I bet hes being forced," she said, shaking her head. "Hermione, dearest, did you see his eyes?" her father asked. "Gordon," the woman scolded him. "Please, Annie, let Hermione learn," he smiled. Hermione, confused at this, just shrugged and answered yes to her fathers question. "What was the color?" he asked. Hermione furrowed her eyebrows. "Purple. Which makes me wonder, do people have purple eyes?" she asked. Gordon shook his head. "No, we don't, but he's special," he said. Hermione looked at Aaron, who was glaring at everything he looked at. "How?" Hermione asked, thoroughly confused. "There this sickness called albinism.."
Aaron walked towards the family and smiled, contradicting his permanent glare, and served them their food. "Enjoy your food," he said and walked away afterwards, cleaning the dirty tables on his way. Hermione frowned at the sight of Aaron. "Its a pity he was cursed just like that," she said sadly. As the family finished, Aaron brought them the bill.
"Aaron, we need a favor," Gordon spoke up. "Yes, anything for a loyal costumer," he smiled. Annie couldn't help but give a hearty smile at his friendliness, despite everything he was going through. "Well be going to a meeting here at the mall. And minors aren't allowed," he started. "I was wondering if you would kindly take care of Hermione here. Seeing as you two are almost the same age, we thought it'd be better if she was to stay with you," he said.
Aaron furrowed his eyebrows. "Forgive my rudeness, sir, but if you were going to a meeting, why bring her here?" he asked. Gordon smirked at Aaron's suspicion. "Well, our house is currently being done. Our old one was destroyed by the storm the past week, do you remember the Hurricane Andrew? Well, our house was in Bahamas at the time, and then we moved to London, where we originally come from," he explained. Aaron nodded and asked no further.
The two adults left soon after.
"Hermione, right?" Aaron turned to her. She nodded. "You already know my name," he said. "Do you have any communication with them? They will have to know where to find you," he said. She nodded. "Ill go get changed, then we can go around the mall and talk about stuff." he said and got changed in the locker room.
"What about your parents?" Hermione asked.
"They died in a car crash a few years ago,"
Hermione gasped. She just found out that this boy was deadly sick, and now no one was there to take care of him! "Nobody insisted on adopting you?" she asked, concerned.
"Nah. It would be too much trouble. I finish about two cans of sunblock every week. And the stocks getting high, I would be too embarrassed,"
Hermione frowned. "You're just a kid, you don't deserve this," she said. Aaron's face remained blank and impassive. He was always like this. "It doesn't matter. Ive gotten a lot of inheritance and I have a job. Everything is s fine," he assured her. Hermione sighed. But then a thought came up. "We can adopt you!" she practically beamed. Aaron looked at her blankly. "I'm fine on my own," he said, shrugging it off. "No, Aaron, I want to help you, you need it," she said.
Aaron stared at her. His eerie purple eyes darting into her chocolate ones. "You've known me for a span of two hours. What makes you think I'm a good enough person to have your help?" he asked in a serious tone. "Because everybody needs help, and I'm not just going to ignore you," she blushed. Aaron flinched. "You're what, 9 years old? You're just a girl, you haven't even spent half of it yet, and then you go like you know everything," he shook his head. "I want to get you out of hell," she said quietly, looking down. Aaron leaned on the metal railing. "I was born to live in it," he said, finishing the conversation.
Aaron smiled a few seconds after. "But I'm glad you're concerned." he said. "Aaron, I can talk my parents into this," she said. "No, you cant. Jeez, girl, youve only met me!" he growled. And I already care for you, she thought sadly. "If you leave now, you wont ever see me again, and this weight will decrease over time," he said. "No, no it wont! It'll just increase since the older I get, the more I understand what a stupid mistake Ive made! The wiser I'm going to be, the more regret will devour my entire being!" she hissed. She took a deep breath and declared she had to go to the bathroom.
Aaron couldnt help but act normal around her. He was always distant around people and the only time he smiled was when there was a costumer. Beyond that, his glare was sinister.
Yeah, a bit crappy, isn't it? I'm really bad at writing relationships, especially before friendship. I cant even think of what they're to talk about! Well, I tried my best, I hope you like it. Oh, by the way, sbarro belongs to whoever owns it, and Harry Potter characters are not mine. Aaron and Alexander, and Hillary are all my imagination. So are Hermione's parent's names, so I'm a disclaimer. :(