Chapter Two: Melodies Of The Past

"Cieari Daaé!"

The red head jerked up immediately, shaking her head and rubbing her eyes. "Wha?"

Mr. Leto crossed his arms and gave the girl a harsh glare. "Well, Miss Daaé, since you find it perfect to sleep in my class, you obviously know on how World War I started." He said with a sarcastic tone, awaiting for the girl to reply.

Ciea goraned quietly as she leaned against her arm. She head quiet giggles from the other side of the room. They probably thought she didn't know. "The four things that started the war were growing military, alliances, countries taking over other countries, and people having a ridiculously excess amount of national pride. But what sparked the war to start was the assassination of Archduke Franz Fernand in Sarajevo, Serbia." She simply said before laying her cheek against the desk.

Mr. Leto arched his brow. "It's either you can remember things you hear when you sleep or you just already learned it. Either or is good, just don't fall asleep in my class again."

"Probably both." Jae randomly replied, causing her red-headded friend to giggle.

The next two classes seemed like they were nothing to Ciea, but that was mostly because she fell asleep in the last two periods. Especially since after sixth period was P.E. and the teacher wasn't there today, she just slept on the bleachers. But each time she dozed off, there was always a memory that came back to her head from that five-day convention from over the summer. The memories had her and a bunch of people she met over there, but most of them were about Andy. And every time they involved Andy, Ciea's face was always as red as her hair. Most people wouldn't notice since she has naturally light pink cheeks, but Jae could tell the difference very easily.

"Hey, Ciea." Jae said to the drowsy female. "Are we still heading to eat?"

The red head sat up. She had forgotten that classes ended a few minutes ago. She must have been stuck in her thoughs. "Yeah. Let's head to that place by the waterfront?"

"The Japanese cafe?"

"Yeah. I'm in the biggest mood for sushi and bubble tea."

"When are you not?"

"It's pretty rare that I'm not, being that I'm Japanese."

Both the girls giggled for a moment. Ciea then stood up and took a moment to stretch. Jae, on the other hand, sat on an empty desk as she waited for the red head. She knew it would take at least two minutes for the red head to wake up fully.

"You good now, Ciea?" The tanned female asked.

"Yep. Now all I gotta do is grab my guitar from the music room." The red head replied to her friend, throwing her bookbag over her shoulder. "That classroom and the instruments are collecting dust, man."

Jae got back on her feet, then replied to her thought. "I know. They have a music room, but no class. It's pretty dumb. Plus, this school is literally on the foundation of music. I mean, do you hear the lunch room?"

"Exactly! These dudes are making beats here and there, I bring my guitar, and the others bring a whole bunch of instruments. Not to mention the instruments already in the music room. Seriously, they should have a music class." Ciea blurted out.

Jae shook her head and quietly laughed at the red head's reply. "When it comes to music, you could keep on that topic for hours." she pointed out before picking up her bag. "Anyways, let's go."

By the time the two girls got off the light rail, it was already past four. Jae was one who always kept track of time, so she had to tell her red-headded friend.

"Holy crap, Ciea. It's four o' five." She stated.

Ciea looked over at her. "Yeah, so?"

"Well, what time do you have to be home?"

"Any time. Why?"

Jae gave her the look. "Yeah, right. You're gonna get in trouble."

"So what? My parents don't need me around unless they need me for something. Like do their slave work or something. They wouldn't even care if I came back the next morning."

"They wouldn't care if you were dating someone who was almost twenty?"

At that, Ciea's face flushed to a light pink. "You gotta bring Andy in?"

Jae smirked and nodded. "Hell yeah. If I mention him, you'll end up listening. You'd do anything for him~"

"...No I wouldn't..."

"Stop lying to yourself, girl."

Jae didn't know that voice, but Ciea did. Both the girls turned around. There stood a male with blonde hair flipped to the right. A surprised gasp came from the red head.

"SEBASTIAN!" Ciea literally yelled out as she put her guitar down and ran up to the blond, jumping on him to give him a tight hug.

Sebastian knew the girl had a sudden hyperness, so he was expecting that. With a chuckle, he hugged the girl tightly. "Hey, red! It's been a while." He said, then placing the girl down.

Ciea giggled. "Yeah! I didn't expect you to be here. I thought you would be in Arizona or back home in Pensylvania. What are you doing here?"

"Well, me an-" The blond was cut off there by another male speaking.

"Seb. You see Cieari and you don't tell me? Some friend you are." He said.

"Sorry, you were over there being an idiot and walking on the rocks of the waterfront. Dumbass. You could get fined for that." Sebastian replied with sarcasm.

Ciea rolled her eyes. "Barley any cops are around here. Plus, I do it all the time." After speaking, she then turned to look at the other male. "Hi to you too, Vincent."

The elder looking male rolled his eyes and gave a light chuckle. "'Sup." He simply replied.

"Uh, Ciea?" Jae said to catch the red head's attention. "Introductions? You, like, left me hanging here."

Ciea laughed as she looked back at the felame she traveled with. "Oh, sorry. Jae, this is Sebastian and Vincent. I met them at DexCon when I met Andy." As she spoke, she pointed to the two male teens.

"Yeah." Sebastian said. "By the way, we're both a year older than you guys."

Jae blinked. "Woah, woah, woah, WOAH. Hold up. so this guy-" She pointed to Vincent. "-is also sixteen?"

"Oh my god. Here we go." Both Ciea and Sebastian said at the same time.

Vincent rolled his eyes. "I know. I look like a freaking grown man. We went through with this when we met Ciea back at Dex."

"And how did she take it?" Jae asked.

"I flipped out like shit, man. When I met him, they were playing Capture The Flag, and he did a jackass bullcrap move, so I called him a jackass." Ciea giggled.

Sebastian leaned on the red head. "And I met her because of that. She should have gotten an award for that."

"Yeah." Another giggle came from the red head. "Anyways, the next day, we were hanging out in the parking garage and he had me guess his age."

Vincent rolled his eyes. "Oh god. You guessed me to be twenty-eight, then nineteen, then Sebastian told you we were both sixteen."

"You do not look like you're a year older than us. Jesus christ, man." Jae only said.

Sebastian and Ciea both laughed at the girl's reaction. Vincent, on the other hand, decided to change the subject. "So guys," He started. "Let's do some illegal shit!"

"You're crazy, aren't you?" Jae asked Vincent, who only gave a fearless laugh.

"Hah! are you kidding me? I lost it a long time ago. Looooong before I hit the teen years." Said the elder-looking male with an eaqually fearless grin.

"Oh my god, you're just like Ciea." The tanned girl replied.

Ciea blinked, then shaking her head. "Oh nonononono. No, ma'am. You don't know Vincent. I am literally nowhere close compared to Vincent. Fives days of only knowing him at that time, and I found how his mentality."

Jae arched her brow at the red head's reply. "There's such thing as crazier than you? Holy shit, this world is gonna end!"

"How about putting them together?" Sebastian suggested to Jae.

"Wait, what?" The blue-eyed girl asked. She then saw Sebastian point to where Ciea and Vincent were walking the waterfront railing like a tightrope at a circus. "HOLY FUCK. CIEARI. YOU ARE GONNA DIE." She yelled, then adding, "YOU HAVE NO SENSE OF BALANCE, WOMAN. GET OFF THE DAMN RAIL."

Vincent laughed. "Hey, she's good. I think it's the rocks to our right that makes her keep her balance. And the solid ass concrete to our left."

Ciea, after walking a good yard or so, jumped down from the railing and landed on her feet. "'Kay, guys. I'm getting hungry. I want my Asian food. Take me to my Asian food, sir." As she spoke, she walked up to Sebastian. She then jumped on him, which made the blond catch her and carry her bridal style.

"Shouldn't Andy be doing this to you?" Sebastan said jokingly as he looked down at the red head.

Ciea's face literally turned beet red at the mention of Andy's name and she couldn't even give a reply. It made Jae laugh. as Vincent jumped from the railing and laded on his feet, he walked up to the little group, picking up the red head's guitar along the way. "Just get the girl some food before she goes mute because of Mr. Tunnels."

"Yay, food." Was all that left the red head before she zipped her lips again.

"Hey, guys. Look at that sunset." Jae said as she pointed towards the window of the cafe. It was now close to seven o' clock, and the brightness of the sun was fading from red to orange to a light purple. Vincent, Sebastian, and Ciea all looked at the window and let out some kind of reply of amazment. But all Ciea could think about is the Saturday during DexCon from over the summer.

Midnight blue fabric swayed and black satin pushed back as she was taken up the stairs. Ciea and Andy were currently at a Live Action Role Play session that was a Masquerade Ball themed. But Andy had pulled the red head away from the party and to the stairs.

"Andyyy! Where are you taking me?" Ciea asked with a smile, letting the male take her away. Under her black decorated mask was a blush as bright as her red hair. But thankfully, the mask covered her cheeks.

Andy smiled as he slowed down his pace up the stairs. He then turned around and began to walk up the stairs backwards slowly. "Our Special Place. Where else, sweet cheeks? Plus, I heard more fireworks are gonna be lighted in the square. And our place has the perfect view." He moved his mask to red on his head. "How many men told you how beautiful you looked tonight?"

The red head blushed even deeper at his words, but just made it not obvious with a light giggle. "None yet. My dress is just a simple midnight blue high-low dress. That's all." She replied to his question. Her dress may have been simple to her, but the skirt was silk, ruffles, and beautiful reflective beads. The sweetheart bustier was also decorated with the reflected beads. Light satin gloves hugged her arm perfectly, giving the whole look a touch of royal elegance. And her mask had black glitter all over it, along with a black and silver feather attached to the side.

The male couldn't help but stop and admire her. All the times she was with him, she always said something bad about herself. But he didn't like that. All her imperfections were perfections to him. With a light cluckle, Andy took a step down and leaned over, placing a soft kiss on her lips. "Well, you look beautiful." He said softly before taking her hand back in his.

Ciea was taken off guard when she recieved his kiss, she didn't even get the chance to kiss him back. But nevertheless, she still smiled up at him. Andy then began walking again, making sure he didn't let go of her hand. Then, they reached the door to gain roof access. The tall male opened the door and held it open by leaning against it. Ciea then walked out onto the roof then turned around to look back at him.

"C'mon." He said with his deep voice showing his emotion that couldn't be explained in just a facial expression. He took hold of her hand again and lead her close to the edge of the roof. The parapet was up to her waist, so it wasn't dangerous to get close to the edge. But what Ciea saw was completely amazing. Over the suburbian area, the sun could be seen setting behind little houses in the distance. Orange, red, and light purple hues colored the sky in a way than an artist could never ever copy. It was simply beautiful. But the time she spent looking at the sunset in amazment seemed shorter than she wanted to be. soon, the sky was decorated with dark purple and dark blue hues, and a little light from the lower area. But little did she know, this was the best part.

Fireworks set off into the sky as soon as the night was complete. Andy was right, this was the best view for a firework show. To think that a simple convention and just meeting a complete stranger would changer her life this much in literally three days, Ciea couldn't believe it. And this just made her whole convention experience perfect. It's like the trouble with Ryan was literally erased like nothing.

'Maybe that's why I miss Andy so much.'

"Ciea?" Sebastian asked as he poked the red head on the cheek. She had dazed off for at least five minutes.

"Hmn?" A reply finally came from the girl.

Jae giggled. Since she was mostly with her, she knew why she dazed off. "She's okay. She probably had another memory run through her head."

"Whaddaya mean a memory run through her head?" The blond asked as she leaned back in his seat.

With a smirk, Jae looked over at Ciea, who gave the 'don't-even-go-there' look. But she decided to anyways. "So, listen here, kiddies." She started. "Everything is a memory trigger to this little red head here. So, she must have had a memory come back to her head when she saw the sunset." The smirk on her face grew. "She probably thought of Andy again when she dazed off this time. Everything seemed to remind her of him recently."

"JAE." Ciea said loudly with embarrassment. "No need to tell them all that.."

Vincent stood up. "Every other time we talked on facebook, all you ever asked out of random is 'Oh, do you stay in touch with Andy?' or 'do you have Andy's number?' Jesus, girl. You really do like the guy, don't you?"

"And everytime, 'Are you going to Dex? You better be. I wanna see everyone again. Especially Andy.'" Sebastian added.

"She's just waiting for that one day to come already. But she'll have to wait another three months." Jae also added. Mentioning the months would always make Ciea pout, and that's why she put it out there.

"OKAY, OKAY. I wanna see him again because I really like him. What's so bad about that?" Ciea said loudly with a sad pouty face.

Jae gasped at what the red head just said. "FINALLY, SHE ADMITTED IT." She literally yelled out.

"YES I DID. OKAY?" Ciea shot back.

"DO YOU ADMIT THAT IS A ROMEO AND JULIET SCENARIO, TOO?"

"OH, HELL NO. I WOULDN'T KILL MYSELF."

"I DOUBT YOU."

"YOU DARE DOUBT THE ASIAN?"

Sebastian looked over at Vincent and chuckled. "I'm guessing these two are like this every day? I dunno."

Vincent also chuckled then nodded to the blond's assumption. "Probably. They're yelling like it, so yeah."

"Trust me, we have way more outbusrts like this. And they're worse than this." Jae said, not breaking the concentration of seriousness in a stare towards the red head.

Ciea held the stare also, putting an equally serious face. "A lot worse. Especially when we argue about anime, or roleplay. Or LARPs."

After a few moments, Jae's eyes gave out and she broke the stare. "Ah, crap! My eyes hurt. So much seriousness. But, yeah. It's a lot worse when we're on those topics."

"It could be worse. You should see me and Sebastian when we play video games together. All hell breaks loose." Vincent said with a laugh.

Sebastian let out a groan as he leaned back and threw his arms back. "OH MY GOD. It is fucking horrible when we play and have ragequits. Oh. My. God."

The girls giggled. Then, Ciea spoke up. "Today was a good day." She said with a smile. "first, me and Jae got to go out, then you guys randomly came about, oh my god, this is a good day."

"Andy, what the hell are you doing?" Daniel asked the other male as he slouched back in his chair. "Don't tell me you're already planning for the convention in July. We still have at least a month left."

Andy, who was sitting at the kitchen table with a pile of papers, looked up at the other male. "I know, but there's something I gotta make sure as a LARP mod. And I know I might forget it later on."

Daniel then straightened up his posture and leaned on his elbows that rested on his desk. "You weren't like this last year when planning. You literally planned your sessions the week before. Did something happen while you were there last year?"

"...No." Andy said in a hesitated voice, obviously lying. "I just wanted to plan ahead this year. because last time, some things weren't planned out."

"You are the worst liar ever. You know that, right?"

"Fuck you sir. Don't you have papers to grade, Mr. Deleon?"

"I do, Mr. Bokan. And don't use such language to a teacher."

"I'm not a student. Hell, I'm the same age as you." Andy chuckled and stood up, then walking over to his roomate's desk. He leaned down to look at his laptop. A picture was on it. "Hey, what's this?"

Daniel leaned back again in his chair. "A picture for the yearbook. This is the Anime Club."

"Nerd." The hazel-eyed jokingly said. But then, Andy saw a certain girl with red hair kneeling on the floor with an anime uniform on. "Hey, who's that?" He asked, pointing to the girl in the picture.

"That's Cieari. She's a freshman. And the life of the club. Why?"

"...That's the girl I was telling you about. What's her last name?"

"Daaé. Like the girl from The Phantom Of The Opera."

"Miss Christine Daaé! Do you not care for your cloth in an area as dirty as this?"

"Dear Phantom, I would not care just as long as I am with you."

Andy laughed. "You really did take drama last year."

"I told ya~" Ciea giggled.

"Yeah." Andy only said.

Daniel looked up at him. "You okay, bro? You were quiet for a good minute."

"Yeah, I was just thinking."

"About?"

"If I could work as classroom help."