Prologue
My name's Summer. A typical 16 year old trying to figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life. Rather…trying to pass high school. I honestly didn't care much for what was going to happen afterwards, I was trying to survive the present more than anything.
I live in the semi-small town of Natsumi City. Where…literally NOTHING exists to do. Somedays you look outside and think '…damn…nothing' It wasn't the biggest city, nor the smallest. I'd say the middle. I mean, come on we have two colleges within walking distance of each other. We are built, literally, around the highway I-70. It's wonderful when students aren't here though.
I attend Gardenbrooks High School, one of the two high schools here. So basically: KIDS EVERYWHERE. Jammed hallways, people yelling…and all you want is to get to your next class so the damn day can be over with.
Honestly my sophomore year is not one I'll remember, rather I want to forget this year more than any year of high school I've ever had. Life wasn't being kind to me, and I was beginning to grow sick of it. Everytime something good happened, another bad thing would come along and break me down. I was learning to just deal with it, but sometimes it was really hard.
So honestly how was I too even begin to think life would change so much in a month or two? Like, seriously. My life changed and suddenly everything was better.
And I suppose it mostly had to do with him…Cloud Strife
Chapter 1
"Have a good day sweetie"
"Yeah right" I muttered shutting the car door behind me. Another day, same routine, same old sleepiness hanging over my head. I hated school so much. It prevented me from getting so many precious wonderful hours of blissful sleep…
…only with all the annoying and messed up dreams I was having even sleep wasn't that great.
I walked up to the building and pulled open the door leading into the commons. The commons was basically just a center for kids to chill and talk. A bunch of tables off to the right side for eating before, after and during lunch at school. Huge, and I mean HUGE, steps leading upstairs and little steps leading to another hangout. My area of hangout
…which meant that's where all the dorks were. Literally. I was the type of person who got along with anybody, as long as I could tolerate them. So far there wasn't a single person to hate me. And I think I'd flip out if someone did hate me.
"Summer! You're here!" I looked to the ground to see two of my closest friends, Riya and Debra
Okay before I continue, allow me to explain my friends are all very different. A common taste for all of them however is music or video games.
Debra was loud, hyper, and an attention whore. I'm deathly serious. She would do, rather will do anything to get attention or someone to accept her. Sometimes it was hard to love her, but I've known her since the 6th grade.
Then there's Riya. She was one of my best friends in the whole wide world. I'd only known her for a year but she and I clicked together. And…well…she loves Yaoi. A lot. It's her life. For those who don't know what yaoi is, it's simply gay guys. She loves gay people in anime and manga. At first it was hard to get a grip of this, but now I don't freak out as much.
"Anybody got a pillow?" They shook their heads "Fucckkkk" I said letting my bag drop to the ground. I crossed my arms and leaned against the pillar "You guys need to bring me pillows…" I said sighing.
"Dude. I am so tired. Don't whine." I glanced at Riya and put on my whiny voice
"But I want toooooo" Debra began cracking up as Riya shook her head. "I love you Riya!" She laughed a little
"Love you too. OMG so last night I was watching this Hetalia episode..." I zoned out as she and Debra went crazy over their anime. Don't get me wrong, I liked it but I never went crazy over it. Only a select few did I go bonkers over. But I wasn't so into it that I let it consume my life.
"Summer!" I turned to see Karen, another good friend of my mine come over and grabbed my arm, yanking me as I let out a cry
"Ack! Karen! Where are we going?" I laughed
"I want mountain dew!" I sighed as Riya looked sad to see me go. I couldn't exactly help it though, Karen was…very overpowering.
Karen is someone I've known more since 8th grade, but I heard of her in 6th grade from my best friend since I was five years old. She was SUPER loud, and annoying, and never shuts up. Sadly it was seriously hard to love her, but then there was that side of her that I love, the caring side.
"So Seth made me soo mad this weekend! He and I were hanging out and…" I made some yeses, no ways, damns, and others while she talked. She honestly never listened to anything but herself.
All I know is that Seth, her boyfriend who is a year younger which I find disgusting, was being either annoying or an asshole…I didn't pay much attention. She kept going on, even when we got back and I kept hoping Riya would pull me out, but she was talking with Debra and Miranda, a somewhat friend of mine. I was hoping I'd get saved but it was late start Tuesday, so I was screwed to wait and listen to non stop chatter and hardly say anything…not something I'm used to.
So she went on and on about her boyfriend, and I just looked around to see who all was here
…well a bunch of people I hated that was for sure
"SUMMER!" I felt someone jump on me from behind and laughed
"Morning Fillomina!" Fillomina. A girl I'd known for about ten years. She was crazy, fun loving…and flirty. But super pretty too. I can't blame her for flirting. I was pretty damn sure she knew how pretty she was "How are you my sexy little thing?"
"Fabulous darling! Have you seen Cece?" Cece. Known as a whore from hell to a lot of people, but the reality is was NOT that. She was very nice and kind, unless on her bad side. THEN you worried (Hell I was on her good side. What the fuck did I care?)
"Yeah she went that a way" I said pointing past me towards the stairs
"Okay! Thank you love! See you later" She headed off as I shook my head
"Love you too Fil-fil!" My little nickname for her. At least it was nice to see her in the morning.
Time pass slowly…which means ten minutes of wanting to shoot my brains out. Slowly the school building was full of kids, all tired and excited to see their friends. Not for school. Even me, a dork, hated it. What did that say about those who loved it?
"Burta! Hello!" I felt heaven come and gave my tall asian buddy Marie. Marie…well yes she's asian, and tall, but also super smart and pretty and seriously amazing.
"Kairin!" I said happily. "Herro!" She leaned over so my shoulder was now her pillow. I felt bad and tried to stand on my tiptoes. Karen of course began to laugh. "Ahhh damnit! I wish I was taller!" I whined. Marie giggled
"It's okay." She stood upright again "You're a good height"
"Don't lie" I said, being totally seriously. Okay, I wasn't THE shortest person, but outta my friends who I'm ALWAYS around…
…I kinda sorta was. 5'3". Everyone else was taller, even if by an inch, they were taller
It sucked ass.
"I need some sorta miracle growth thing! That way I can just grow, even a couple of inches! I need height!" I said whining. Marie was laughing now, along with Karen
"It's seriously not that bad"
"Put yourself in my shoes, it's bad!" I stated "Kinda like how I'm also you know…super sheltered and shiEEEEEt" I squeaked and spun to see Minerva smiling at me.
Minerva has been my best friend since I was five years old. She's half black, super smart, and…well she's my exact opposite. Literally
"…I hate you" I stated laughing slightly
"Aw! Me too! Thank you"
"I love our hatred for each other" I said as we held each others hands
"…okay this is weird let go" She stated letting go. I was cracking up
"I can't keep straight faces!" I said laughing. "It's impossible"
"So why do you try?" I paused for a second
"…good question…" I said with a laugh. Everyone went back to their own conversations. I glanced around as it was hard to see portions or the walls now. Kids were everywhere. I bent over and yanked my heavy bag onto my shoulder. Within the bag…well there was a lot. A geometry textbook, Japanese textbooks, and a ton of folders.
Yes. You heard me. I'm in Japanese. I'm quite proud of it too. I'm in year three of four possible levels of it. It was one of the few things I took pride in, other than my math. Like I said, I'm a sort of a big dork. Although it was quite fun to say I love math and watch Riya groan over it. That always got me grinning. I happened to glance down and saw Riya holding her hands out to me.
"Need something there?" I asked grinning
"Help me get up! We go soon" I grasped her hands firmly and yanked her up. I sometimes worried about yanking people…because I'm not exactly the weakest, nor the strongest. In the middle somewhere due to how often I played tennis as a child. "I feel old"
"Hey! I'm older than you!" I said putting my hands on my hips with a little hmph.
"Yes but your short" I felt my face drop as she laughed "I love you Summer"
"I love you too" I said. Right then the bell rang and it was off to first hour. I followed behind Marie and Minerva, not trying to join their conversation because I honestly didn't really care. They headed up the first steps after you turned a corner to go to biology. I headed down the hall, looking ahead and trying to avoid as much eye contact as possible. It was time to go be bored as hell in a study hall for 45 minutes…yay. All I was going to wind up doing would be writing random letters, writing out about how much I hate life, or study for tests
…I usually did more writing though. I honestly don't get how I'm an A student sometimes. I got down to the basement, to which there was a massive change in temperature (The school really needed to learn it's hot and colds) and set my bag on the floor. A couple of people were already in so I wandered out to get a drink of water. It was time for another boring day.
"WOOT! Outta here!" Brian, my little Irish friend as I called him said happily. I let out a laugh.
"Yes. Now you get to go ride home in the pouring rain! Fun times!" He sighed
"I wish it'd stop raining…" He and I both had Geometry 7th hour together, and nowadays he followed me to what I called 'the corner'. It was right next to a set of steps going upstairs. It was here that I stood and waited for Minerva, and another somewhat friend of mine. Brian glanced around before holding his arms out for a hug. I happily hugged him, loving how he gave me actual full hugs and not just some stupid one arm crap like some of the people I knew. "See you tomorrow Summy"
"Bye Brian! I'll spam you!" I said jokingly as he disappeared and another appeared.
"Hey what's up?" I felt so many mixed emotions enter me when I saw him, Gon. One of my closest guy friends for over two years. I pushed away feelings and hugged him.
"Not much! Dude I'm soooo fuckin' tired!" He laughed and pulled out his iphone. Silence fell over us as people ran past trying to get out of Gardenbrooks, can't say I blame them either. I was looking around for Minerva, desperately wanting her here so I could talk like a maniac and soon enough she appeared.
"Let's go" She said, stopping for just a split second before I quickly reached her. Gon was walking with his so called swag walk in front of us, still glued to his phone. I instantly began talking about all the stupid things I got to enjoy watching Brian and Noah, another friend of mine, do during Geometry. Minerva talked about her creative cuisine class and how she does shit in it. We arrived outside the building to see Dimitri and Lance…let's just leave it as they're insane
"I can't wait to pass out…I hope I get some rest"
"You still having those weird dreams?" I stretched out my back.
"Yeah…each time I have it things look clearer in it…it's starting to bug me a little"
"It seems like you've had them for a week now…" I raised an eyebrow
"I thought it was a few days…"
"You're always complaining about being tired"
"Doesn't everybody?" She sighed
"Okay yes but still" I giggled and we watched our entertainment from the men. They were very entertaining, especially when filled with emotions. I checked my phone to see it was nearly time for Minerva and I to begin our walk back to the fine arts building. I wobbled over to Lance and basically fell onto him.
"Byeeee Lance!" I said hugging him. He laughed
"You fell on me!"
"Sorry!" I said laughing "Lost my balance!" I then went to Gon and gave him a big hug as well.
"See you later Summer" He said and went back to talking to Dimitri and Lance. Minerva and I headed out the doors leading from the gym to the track and walked.
"I have a lot of homework…" She said sighing "Mr. Southfield suckssss" I laughed
"I'm sorry! I'd offer to help but I don't think I'd get any of what you would tell me"
"God damnit! Learn how to do my homework!" She said while I laughed.
"Sorry! I'll try harder!" We ended up back by the fine arts building when my mom, with my brother in the passenger's seat, pulled up. I hurried around the back so I wouldn't keep anyone waiting while Minerva climbed in behind my brother.
"Hey sweetie" My mom said upon me entering
"Yo" I replied simply. I got to listen to Ian, my brother, complain about the idiots while Minerva and I whispered in the backseat about how our school was full of idiots. Which it really was, don't even think I'm lying because I'm not. Just WATCHING people in our schools…it felt like you were just losing brain cells each second. It was pretty bad.
"Talk to you later Minerva" I said as she gathered her bag into her arms.
"Okay. Bye bye" She said shutting the car door behind her. I watched her walk up to her house and disappear into it. Mom backed out while I spaced out, just staring at anything out the window.
…which basically meant I was either staring at cars zipping by or houses. None of that scenery crap that places are supposed to have. Heck the best thing we got was the parking garage recently built. I'm serious it's the tallest building in Natsumi, which is quite sad too.
The ride home was somewhat interesting, mostly because of Ian arguing with mom the whole way and it gave some form of entertainment to me. The car came to a stop and I saw my house come into view. At first glance it looks like it's a one story house, but it was two stories, and I've lived in it since I was about 6…maybe 7 years old. Our garage was the most dominant feature, other than the green Subaru that was always parked there. The garage was broken a few years back but to fix it we needed one new panel. So now we had three black panels and one cream colored panel. I liked it and finally convinced my family it was good because it made our house easier to spot.
Ian nearly bolted to get inside, and I couldn't blame him. Coming home always felt like such a relief, no matter where I had been. I glanced over the couch to see a black blob lying across the gray carpet and smiled.
"Hey sweetie!" The blob moved and looked up to me, my eyes meeting with gold.
"She was on my bed this morning, beginning for food"
"Well Gabi must've been very hungry then, right baby?" Gabi let out a meow and I smiled. Nothing like my favorite kitty to cheer me up. I wandered through my kitchen and headed down a two, three to four at the most, person hallway. At the very end was my room, off to the right side. I opened my door and let out a sigh. It felt good to be in my room, my sanctuary as I jokingly called it. I was the only person in the house with an awesome room, although it took me a year and three months to get it…I'll explain that later.
I tossed my bag down by my dresser. My room wasn't the biggest room ever, but it was cozy. I fell over onto my bed with a big sigh and stared to my ceiling. I felt something move by my feet and glanced to see Gabi staring at me. I smiled and sat up to pet her
"Your such an attention whore" I said rubbing the sides of her face with my fingers. She began to purr loudly and rubbed my hands, curtains, basically anything she could touch with her cheeks, which included a pile of papers balancing carefully on the end of my bed. Of course they fell over instantly to which I groaned "Gabi…you need to learn to stop-" I stopped in my daily basis of talking to my cat, only because I saw papers I'd been looking for. I picked them up, while leaving a hand for Gabi to rub, and skimmed. Scribbled across the pages were words about the dream I had mentioned to Minerva, the one I'd had several days in a row now. One page had dates then descriptions beside them, another had a silhouette drawn pretty badly on it. I hit the space bar of my computer to boot it up while reading over the notes.
"Black figure…scared me…voices…yada yada" I mumbled to myself while my computer slowly loaded. I leaned back in my card players chair, I think that's what they're called with a sigh. "Who is he…" I muttered while my screen glowed blue. I felt I knew the person from my dream…somewhere. I knew he existed.
But that was for later! It was time to listen to music for the rest of the night!
I opened my eyes to white all around me. Pure whiteness. Nothing else. I glanced around, surprised by how I wasn't squinting by the brightness. It reminded me of me in a way.
"…it's time…" I turned around to see a black figure moving towards me. With each step I could feel my heart quicken. As the figure came closer I could clearly outline its body. Not that much taller than me, maybe at the most 5'9". Spikey hair from the looks of it too. As it came closer, I could tell much more of it.
For one thing the so called it was a guy. You'd think after having the same dream multiple times I'd know this but of course I didn't. He was well toned from the look of the one uncovered arm I saw. He had on a black vest with a zipper down it, and a shoulder guard for his left arm. A cloth was flowing out of the guard. On the same side a half long skirt thing was flowing, armyish boots and somewhat baggy pants. All black too. Finally he stood right before me and I felt my heart speed up more than it ever had before.
His face was amazing. It was perfect. His hair was blonde and spiky, one spike leaning more to the right than the others. And his eyes…oh those eyes. All I could do was stare into them. They were so crystal clear in their color…it was honestly amazing. It felt like he was looking into my soul.
"It's good to see you up close…" He said. His voice sounded so emotionless, just like his face. No emotion at all…if anything it was annoyance.
"What do you mean?" I asked, not taking my eyes off his eyes.
"Soon…we'll meet…" He said. I could feel a breeze come and it moved his hair ever so slightly. I could care less if it had moved mine.
"Who are you?" I tried another question, wondering if he heard me. He stared into my eyes before closing his.
"I'll see you soon…very soon" He began to walk away. I clenched my fist up. I could understand not hearing me but first off, I had a loud voice and second I was nearly two feet away before he moved away. So I decided to scream it this time
"WHO ARE YOU!" I demanded. He froze in his place. The breeze came back, stronger than before. He turned his head around to me and I saw his eyes were glowing…
Like snake eyes
"You'll know soon" He said, with the smallest hint of a smile. The wind picked up and he was gone…then everything turned black and I began to fall. Just falling…not stopping…not
"AHHHH" I shot up panting. My room was pitch black, and I felt a lump by my foot, most likely Gabi. I felt immensely sweaty even though my fan was spinning. I tried to control my breathing and slowly fell back down onto my bed. It happened again…the same dream again…this time it was by far the clearest I'd had. "…why…why does he seem so real?" I said breathing heavily. I glanced to my window "…and why in my dream…and why is my sheet not on me?"
Authors Note: Well um hello if you're reading this! This is something I've been working on for awhile, and my friend really wanted me to put it up. So I stopped being a chicken and thought I'd give it a try. I changed a lot of things around though, so heads up! Anyway this is sorta an intro to the actual story later on! So please review I guess? That would be nice. Sorry first time. Not sure what to say! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it :)