DDLC: Our Time

Chapter 3: Side Note

Friday. Last day of the week. It had taken all week, but Alex was finally going to do it. He was going to visit the Literature Club and check it out.

He had to admit, it made him nervous. Based on what Sayori had said, there were definitely more girls than guys in the club, so that was already something he'd have to prepare for. And if they were to find out that he liked to write, they'd want to read something, so he'd most likely have to swallow his pride and share something if he joined.

He hardly took his own writing seriously, but it still meant something to him. It was personal and fun. Whether or not people liked it online was one thing, but to have someone physically in front of you judging your work sounded so uncomfortable.

Alex sighed to himself and shook his head. He was already getting ahead of himself. There was no reason for him to join, but he'd already told Sayori that he would think about it. It would be rude to just leave her hanging like that...

With his headphones on and his thumbs hooked underneath the straps of his backpack, Alex made his way up the stairs and around the corner towards the Literature Club. He was already zoning out to his music as he brushed past a few other students, but he snapped back to attention when he saw someone already standing at the door.

It was another girl that he hadn't met yet. She had long, light brown hair that was mostly tied in a ponytail. She also wore a white hair bow on her head. As he came closer to her, he also realized that she was a little short: perhaps a good 3 or 4 inches shorter than him.

How tall are you?

Like 5'6 or 5'7.

...yeah, that's accurate.

"Hey," Alex greeted her, pausing his music and sliding his headphones down around his neck. "This is the Literature Club room, right?" He asked. The girl quickly turned to face him, looking him over before giving him a welcoming smile.

"Yep! You must be the guy that Sayori was talking about, right? I'm Monika. I'm the club president." She introduced herself, offering a handshake to him.

"Oh, so you're in charge around here," Alex commented with a chuckle as he shook her hand. "My name's Alex. Nice to meet you. Sayori said a lot of nice things about the club, so I figured I'd at least come by and check it out, you know?"

"Well, we're happy you stopped by!" Monika smiled brightly. Alex nodded and looked around.

"Yeah...so, you gonna get the door?" He asked.

"Right! Yeah!" Monika giggled awkardly, turning and opening the door up with her key, "No one else has arrived yet, but they should be here soon. We all meet here right after school gets out." She explained as they walked into the classroom.

"Gotcha. How long are the club meetings typically?" He asked as he removed his backpack and set it down on top of the nearest student desk.

"30 minutes. Well, 30 minutes if you count from right after the last class ends. Usually by the time everyone gets here and we officially start, it's more like 15-20 minutes." She answered with a chuckle.

"Gotcha. That's not too bad."

"Are you planning on joining us, or are you just visiting for now?" Monika asked, turning and leaning back against one of the other student desks.

"Just visiting, but I'll stick around for a whole...session, or whatever the word is."

"Meeting. Club meeting." She corrected him with a giggle.

"Meeting, gotcha," Alex chuckled a little, rubbing his hands together and fidgeting. "And what do the meetings consist of?"

"What do you mean?" Monika asked, tilting her head a little.

"Like, um, what do you do?"

"Oh! Well, we mainly discuss things. I'm still trying to plan out club activities and stuff, but we talk about things we've been reading. Sometimes Sayori needs help on a school assignment, so we do that too. It's pretty relaxed, but I definitely wanna start focusing on new activities!" Monika clumsily explained.

"Oh, alright, that sounds nice. Pretty relaxed." Alex commented with a nod.

"Yep! I think you'll like it." Monika said with a smile. Alex chuckled and nodded, looking to the side.

There was a bit of an awkward silence between them...

"So I-"

"What kind of-"

They both tried to talk at the same time, interrupting each other.

"Oh haha sorry." Monika giggled.

"It's alright, you go first." Alex offered with a shaky smile.

"I was gonna ask what kind of stories do you like to write?" She asked.

"Oh, uh, I like fiction stuff. Fantasy adventure stories. Coming up with problems and solutions, getting from point A to point B; that's what I have the most fun with." Alex answered.

"That sounds interesting! What're they about?" She asked.

"Uhh..." Alex froze. He was dreading this question, and he had no idea how to answer in a way that would make him sound normal.

"Oh haha sorry, that's kind of a broad question!" Monika realized, sensing Alex's discomfort.

"Haha, it's alright. Let me get back to you on that." Alex said, indicating that he needed time to find an answer to the question.

"Sure! Sure. Now what did you want to say to me?" Monika asked, reminding him that he was going to say something too.

"Oh! I had kind of a side note that I wanted to tell you about. This happened recently." Alex said with a chuckle.

"A side note? Lay it on me." Monika smiled, propping herself up to sit on one of the desks.

"Uhuh. I, uh...had a dream recently, and you were in it." He revealed.

"Oh really?! I didn't know you had dreams about me." Monika commented teasingly with a giggle. Alex rolled his eyes and smiled.

"It's the first time you've been in one actually. But it was a very cool dream. I think that I'm going to make an actual book out of it." Alex revealed.

"Really?! Oh, that's so exciting! What's it about?" She asked.

"I'll show you when I'm a little further along. How about we go through it together?" He offered.

"Oh, Alex, I would absolutely love that!" Monika clapped her hands together excitedly, "I can't wait!" She giggled delightfully. Alex smiled at her.

"It'll be fun. Anyways, I just wanted to put that out there before we continued. Are the others gonna arrive anytime today?" Alex asked in a joking tone, turning to look at the door.

"Ahaha, well..." Monika blushed. "I may have sort of...cheated a little bit." She admitted.

"Hmm? Wait..." Alex stepped away from the desk and turned around, looking towards the clock on the wall. Sure enough, the clock wasn't ticking. All of the hands were stuck in place. Furthermore, only a few minutes had actually passed.

"Monikaaa." Alex looked back at her.

"Ahaha, well, we were having a nice conversation and I didn't want it to be interrupted!" She said defensively, holding her hands up.

"Interrupted?" Alex asked.

"Yeah. Yuri's right outside the door," Monika said, pointing towards the classroom door. "I wanted to...well I...you know." She stuttered a little, but Alex knew what she was trying to say.

"I gotcha. I'm only teasing. I don't actually mind." Alex clarified with a laugh.

"Really? Oh, that's good! I didn't mean to take you out of the experience or anything! Besides, you said 'side note' so I figured you wanted to pause the scene anyway!" She explained herself.

"It's cool! It's cool. Well, I'm ready to jump back into it now if you are." Alex said.

"Yeah? Well, the chapter is starting to get a little long, don't you think? I know you're a bit of a stickler for keeping your chapter lengths roughly the same." Monika pointed out.

"Yeah...how do you know that, exactly?" Alex asked suspiciously. Monika smiled and blushed again.

"I may have been...doing some light reading." She hinted with her answer.

"Oh boy. Just don't corrupt my files, please." Alex joked.

"I won't! Promise! I'm just opening and closing!" Monika laughed.

"Good. Good." Alex chuckled.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing how Wandering Firebender goes, by the way. I think your readers are really going to love the finale you've got planned." Monika encouraged him with a grin.

"Heheh, thanks. I appreciate the plug." Alex joked.

"Plug?" Monika repeated, not knowing what that meant. Alex shrugged and waved it off.

"Don't worry about it. So I guess we'll just pick this up next time?" He asked.

"Yep! Let me just slap this here..."

To Be Continued...

"Perfect! Can't wait for the next chapter, Alex! And hey, I went ahead and named the chapter for you! Let's do this again soon, 'kay?" Monika requested with a cute giggle...