Yo! As the title says, this story will be comprised mainly of vignettes. They may or may nor be out of order, so bear with me please. I figure doing this would be best because writing a story with an actual plot and timeline would be a tedious commitment. Anyway...
The first two chapters will be character introductions; each of these is divided into three parts. Afterward (if I get past the second XP), each chapter will be set on a single scenario.
Originally, it was supposed to be the characters' junior year. However, I figure that since I graduated recently it would be easier to center the story on the final year of high school.
I hope you will like the story.
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Anastasia Peralta's vacant stare falls upon on a random object outside of the moving vehicle. She holds her canvas bag tightly and hides the bottom half of her face; her scruffy, ginger-dyed hair somehow hides her eyes. Anastasia's mixed feelings of nerves, gas, and excitement churn within her stomach along with a Swiss jam sandwich and hydrochloric acid. As of now, Anastasia is running on her breakfast and six hours of sleep... as always.
It is the start of Anastasia's senior (also known as the most amazing, yet most stressful) year at Gladiolus Academy of Science and Humanities, a charter school made from the ashes of a defunct strip mall in the suburban district of Appomattox's watered-down version of Skid Row. She could count the prospects she most looks forward in one hand. The school received little recognition from the outside, not counting the flurry obscenities thrown around to describe it. Despite the negativity, it there is a great influx from students annually. This year, the number inflated immensely. Students having a plethora of cultural backgrounds boosted the numbers of the high school population.
Anastasia knows two of the people making up the statistics; she's riding to school with them. Her two neighbors, German brothers Ludwig and Gilbert Beilschmidt, had moved from Argentina with their parents into the apartment next to hers about a year ago. Although she has known them for quite some time already, Anastasia is not so close to them. Quite frankly, the two Germans scare the living shit out of her.
The car ride to school is "bipolar," in the words of the quiet girl. Ludwig's serious and Gilbert's narcissistic personalities radiating from their skin intimidate her even more; their shared commute was merely devised by the three's parents to bring them close and not any of their ideas in the least. It was as if they were trying to fit a round peg into a square hole.
Ludwig glares intently at the driver's headrest, wanting to skip the festivities. He was never one for socializing, though could end up making a friend or two or three. He organizes the summer homework he was assigned for the five AP classes he is to take this year, making sure nothing is out of its respective place and set to impress teachers. Ludwig will not fall victim to his troublesome brother's antics yet again, although subconsciously he knows they would follow him to his grave. He cannot lose respect from his teachers, not now and definitely not here. Junior year was important, and Ludwig just had to get into CalTech.
Gilbert, with silver Skullcandy earphones isolating him from the outside world, swigs his hot coffee secretly spiked with a shot of Pilsner lager for taste. He is way too awesome to have been interrupted from his sleep, now how will he be his amazing self with no rest? Whatever, he'll find a way. It'd be a waste of his ingenuity if he didn't. If only he could apply that quality to his school work, it would be his parent's dream come true.
The albino runs his hand through his platinum blond hair and takes in a deep breath to recover from the heat of his beverage. In need of a little fun, he jabs a long finger into the side of the Anastasia's torso to see what odd reaction he'd get out of the strange, reserved girl. She jumps and desperately tries to avoid any violent impulses that will get her reprimanded and give Gilbert a reason to retaliate mercilessly. Ludwig quickly extends his arm over to his brother and swats the back of his head.
The boys' mother, adamant about ruining a potential bonding moment, ignores the adolescents in the backseat and makes a right turn into the parking lot of the school. They arrive in the rear of the strip-mall-turned-secondary-school with a make shift dining area in the same parking lot. The soft morning sun shines down on the dew glazed plastic tables contained within a fenced area. Scarce amounts of people lounge with their friends after not having seen each other for what seemed an eternal two and a half months.
Ludwig opens the door on his side and gets out, Anastasia follows suit. Gilbert stays in the car and applies a final layer of sunscreen on his face and extremely pale arms. Finally, he slides on his school jacket and hood regardless of the warm weather. Gilbert joins his car mates and goes into the fenced off "dining area" which is so affectionately called the Cage.
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The black Mitsubishi comes to a stop in front of a convenience store several feet from its destination. Two of its passengers, Lucia Renteria and her younger brother, get out and watch their older brother drive away like a maniac.
The siblings enter the store, already having what they crave in mind. After setting down her shoulder bag on the floor near the entrance (the store's security measure to prevent theft), Lucia adjusts her Marathon Finisher sweater and walks over to the coffee machine. Her brother lets his giant backpack plummet to the ground and runs off into the section with the cookies.
Lucia grabs a medium-sized cup. She pushes her long, wild hair to the side and presses the green button on one of the machines to dispense cappuccino into the paper cup. Her commute to school was once quite short as her house was only a mile away. Since moving an hour away to Cedarvale, Lucia and her family have to wake up very early to avoid highway traffic. Maybe this cappuccino will wake her up.
"—and one of these. Hey Artie, make sure to get some of those Angry Birds gummies! They're so cute!" A disembodied voice loudly booms. Lucia lifts her finger off the green button and reaches for the hazelnut flavoring.
"Alfred, you realize the school is legally obligated to feed you? You won't… need this obscene amount of rubbish," a British accented voice remarks. He doesn't dare say Alfred cannot eat all of those processed foods; the git would most likely take it as a challenge.
"Actually," Lucia cuts in, feeling the need to address the unintentional fallacy of his statement, "the food there is bad most of the time. I don't know what they'll give today, but just get something to be on the safe side."
One of the owners of the voices, a shaggy-haired English boy holding a small-sized cup of tea, steps into view. A younger, taller bespectacled boy trails behind him. The bespectacled one holds seven packages of cakes, cookies, candies, and chips. Damn, what a fatass, Lucia thinks.
"Maybe your British friend is right, you won't be that hungry."
"English cousin, if you please." Arthur adds and turns back to Alfred, "Bloody hell, even a complete stranger can see that you're being a glutton."
"Hey!" Alfred called out to Lucia, "call a waaahmbulance for Arthur!"
"You're going to need one, the way you're going." Arthur retorts.
"Never! Heroes never get diabetes!" Arthur's annoying cousin goes up to the register.
"I believe we never properly met. My name is Arthur Kirkland and that prat over there is Alfred Jones." The Englishman extends his hand to politely greet Lucia.
"I'm Lucia Renteria." Lucia replies, taking Arthur's hand in hers. She suppresses a wider smile than she is wearing now, finally a foreign student!
"What brings you here?"
"My mom gave me money to buy something for me and my brother. You?"
"I was walking to school and was unfortunately dragged in here by my cousin."
"Ah. I can tell." Lucia's younger brother runs up to her, with a bag of mini Oreos. The three walk up to the register.
"Twenty-two eighty-one." The cashier says. On cue, the buyer pulls out his wallet and takes a debit card. Upon completing his purchase, Alfred takes his card and plastic bag. Arthur next pays for his tea with a crisp, neatly folded five dollar bill from his pocket.
Lucia takes her brother's bag of cookies and puts her drink on the counter to pay. As soon as they bought their desired items, all retrieve their backpacks from the floor to go off to school.
"You guys, I'm gonna go a separate way. I need to find my brother."
"Good riddance..." Arthur mutters.
"Bye!" Lucia calls out, leaving Alfred to commence his frenetic search for his brother.
~!~
A small Asian diner four buildings away from the dingy school catches the eyes and stomachs of the students of GASH, before, during, and after school. Their cuisine ranges from dishes and beverages fitting the tropical theme to diner items from everywhere else.
Enjoying a breakfast croissant and fending off his ravenous hunger, Matthew Williams makes a mental note to come eat here whenever he misses breakfast. It happens so regularly that he has grown accustomed to it.
It has been approximately two years since he's moved from Ottawa to Boston with his biological father, stepmother, and half brother Alfred F. Jones after the death of his biological mother. Initially, it was strange to finally be a son to his American father, and even stranger to cohabitate with Alfred. They were nice, but the whole situation was weird nonetheless. Although eerily similar in their appearances—with the exception of Matthew's blue-violet eyes and Alfred's darker blond hair—they have only a modicum of things in common. This past most month has been especially rough on Matthew, as the family had moved from Boston to Appomattox. Adjusting is a bitch.
Matthew takes another bite of his sandwich and observes the scenery: cars racing up and down the arterial road of Appomattox and kids with the same green-and-grey uniform walking to the school. He sinks into the table's mismatched armchair and enjoys this brief moment of serenity, because he cannot seem to get enough peace even with his "invisibility." Perhaps this year, his luck will turn.
The tired Canadian, strung out on egg, cheese, sausage, and bread, lets it all sink in until he feels the proverbial weight gradually lift from his extremely tense shoulders. A firm smack to his left shoulder shocks him back to reality. Matthew turns back and sees Alfred sporting a face akin to an anticipated puppy's. A petty thief or the pissed-off boyfriend of one of Alfred's latest conquests would be more pleasant.
"Mattie! I've been look all over for you!" Has he really?
"Have you?"
"Yeah, dude! Now, come on. I wanna go to school now!"
"Isn't that where you've been for the past 30 minutes?"
"Nope, I was at the convenience store across from here getting some snacks for lunch."
"Alfred, food is usually given to you at school. I'm pretty sure they won't starve you. Anyway, just go on without me. I'll get there when I get there." The impatient American has heard both stories before.
"But we only have 15 minutes!" Alfred whines. People usually think the sweating produced from Alfred's athleticism would have dried the poor guy's brain to the size of an electron. Such assumptions were far from correct, as he is quite academically accomplished. Matthew is smart as well, but usually more passive with his education.
"Please." Matthew silently begs, waiting for his boisterous doppelganger to give in.
"Fine, but hurry up. I don't want to be late for class." Alfred drops his persistent pleas to avoid witnessing his brother's wrath. It was an ugly sight whenever a calm and fluffy person gets angered. It's like when SpongeBob's Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy movie went horribly awry and he tore up the ground and ate the worms hiding under it.
The American sits beside Matthew and stares intently at him. Matthew tries his best to ignore him, to no avail. Alfred whistles, distracting his brother from a blissful daydream. Swiftly, he takes the remaining bit of Matthew's breakfast croissant and eats it.
"Alfred!" Matthew snaps.
"Can't catch me." Alfred teases, bolting up from his seat and quickly running out of the diner.
"You can't go with out eating my food, eh?" Matthew gathers his backpack and walks after Alfred. The Canadian shakes his head; the day he'll ever get a rest from his half brother is the day the world would end.
"Hoser…"
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Allons-y!