He woke up, his vision blurred. Blinking a couple of times, he looked over at his alarm clock and sighed in exasperation. It was 7:00 am, time to get up and get ready for school. This was almost the worst part of his whole day – the anticipation of what was to come.
"Nikoru Amalfi! Get down here right now!" His mother was using his full name, so she was probably in a bad mood. No reason to make her angrier than she already was. Groaning, he turned over and sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes with his fists, then stretched and yawned. He stood up, his thin frame covered only by the white shorts that hung in place on his hips. He walked over to the bathroom and picked up his toothbrush absently. He was still too tired to really care about anything.
After he was cleaned up and dressed, Nicol headed downstairs. Slowly, he walked to the doorway, grabbing his backpack on the way. He paused at the door, where his mom was waiting for him. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek after he put his shoes on.
"Goodbye, mother."
"Have a nice day, honey."
In a few minutes he was walking down the street, the wind blowing softly through his light green hair. He was on his way to meet his last, best friend, Heart Cullen. Approaching her house, he saw her come out of the door and run towards him.
"Nicol!"
When she reached him, she threw her arms around him joyously. It was obvious that she liked him a lot, and that they were very close. Heart was usually reserved and quiet.
"I'm so glad to see you! I missed you at school yesterday. Were you sick?"
"…I guess you could say that." Nicol's eyes were downcast, and he frowned at the memory of school the day before yesterday. He had to leave without telling Heart, and the worry in her eyes only made him feel guiltier for running out on her.
She scanned his face, the worry growing even more exponentially in her eyes.
"Nicol, if something happened, you would tell me, right?"
"Of course." Nicol kept his eyes to the ground as he said this.
"Nicol!"
"Huh-!"
Heart grabbed Nicol's chin, forcing him to look her straight in the eye. The green-haired boy tried to wriggle out of her grip, but Heart only held on even more tightly. Blinking a couple of times, Nicol sighed and mumbled, "Heart, don't do this..."
"I'm not letting you go until you tell me the truth! Something's bothering you, I can tell!" Heart's soft brown eyes had hardened, but even though she was trying to act serious, Nicol still had to laugh inwardly. She was always doing this. It was like she was his mother or something.
"Heart, I'm perfectly fine. Trust me." And he smiled. The same smile that everyone was so quick to compliment, just like his piano-playing skills. Soft and gentle, and strangely enigmatic, but wholly beautiful in every way.
"Fine." Heart let go, still looking unsatisfied. "I bet we're gonna be late!" she said impatiently, stealing a glance at her watch.
"Don't worry."
And the two continued walking, Nicol wearing his ever-sweet smile, Heart laughing merrily. The two teenagers had no idea that the encounters they were about to face posed far greater problems than mere worry did.
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Okay! I finally have a new chapter up! --;;;; I'm sorry it took so long. My computer crashed and I ost the files, and then I moved, and then I moved again... And, in short, it's a long story. ;; But I hope you enjoyed this chapter! More is being written up as I speak!
And thanks bunches to my reviewers! As I promised, here are your free plushies.
throws free plushies everywhere
Next time it's pocky!