Crimson/Silver
Disclaimer: You already know what I'll say. Please.
Runes and Windows
Alan watched as Erin began speaking.
"Hey guys. I'm Erin. I'm currently volunteering at a bunch of places. A pet shelter, a hospital, a food donation camp, you know. I'm also good at playing a Ukelele. Just saying." Erin finished.
"Where'd you pick that up?" Ajay asked.
"Wow, looking up from the notebook of your own accord. Looks like Erin managed to catch your interest." Trevor said, smirking.
"You wanna become a set piece, Trevor?" Ajay playfully threatened.
"Shutting up now." Trevor went quiet, eliciting chuckles from everyone.
"Well who wants to go next?" Erin asked, looking around the table.
"Oooh me. Okay, I'm Natalie. I am the proud owner of the Gold MewTwo collectible card." Natalie said.
"Wait what?!" Alex yelled.
"Yeah. Lucky draw from the Limited Time Pringles." Natalie said, beaming.
"You have to show me. Um… if you don't mind." Alex said.
"Of course I will!" Natalie smiled.
"I guess I'll go next." Trevor said. "You already know my name. As for something about me… let's see… I really wanna play video games, but I also suck at them."
"Oh lord it's true. He even tried to learn from Luis, the junior. And he's a top tier player in the country, but no good." Skye now joined in, although her expression remained neutral, with the tiniest of smiles.
Why am I making such an effort to notice that? Alan asked himself. Unfortunately, no brilliant answer full of wisdom made itself known.
"Clint vil go nezt." Clint began, and Erin burst out laughing.
"Now I know you did not just pull a Gollum." She wheezed out in her laughter.
"Shut up. I'm into accents, especially exotic ones." Clint replied, pouting.
"I think that means I should go now." Alan said, sighing, closing his eyes. After a moment, he opened them and looked at everyone. "Hey. Name's Alan. I'm an ambivert and I'm heavily into video games and anime."
"What games do you play?" Trevor asked. Alan noticed that Skye was curious too.
"Mostly League of Legends." Alan replied.
"Dude, wowser! I've heard it's really hard." Trevor said.
"It takes strategy and quick thinking, I can tell you that." Alan said.
"You also look kinda gothy. You wear black almost everyday." Ajay said.
"Worried I'll curse you, Ajay?" Alan smirked. "Don't worry, I only like Wiccan practices. We don't curse, we help."
"Wait you're into Wicca?" Skye asked, suddenly looking up.
"Yeah, a bit." Alan said. "Anyway, aren't we getting a little hung up on me? Alex, you should speak now." He said with an encouraging smile.
Alex timidly nodded. "Um, hi." He began, "I'm Alex Maxwell. I like cooking and acting. I've roleplayed and LARPed before. Also, my parents own the Golden Griddle."
"Wait what?" a bunch of them almost yelled out.
"Dude, those milkshakes are bomb as hell!" Trevor said.
"Seriously, we're going there with you now." Erin said. "We're paying though." She added, looking at the others who might have been getting ideas.
"Yeah yeah, but maybe at a discount….." Trevor began, but was met a stern stare from Erin. "Okay okay!"
"Better." Erin said, her face morphing back into a smile. "Skye, wanna go next?"
"Pass." Skye said, her monotone back.
"What are you doing, Ajay?" Alex asked, peeking at his textbook.
"Blocking." Ajay simply replied.
"Here? Are you some kind of workaholic?" Alex asked.
"Yes as a matter of fact. And look. Your character will be lying face down here." Ajay said with a smirk.
"Hey!" Alex said with playful shock.
"Ajay why are you blocking in the middle of lunch break? You should do it in the theatre with a proper view." Skye said.
"You know what? That's an excellent idea!" Ajay said, getting up and picking up his things.
"Wait Ajay, that's not-" Skye began, but in vain.
"Alright losers, guess who's headed to the theatre." Ajay said.
"Need some help? A stand in, maybe?" Alex said.
"Need is a strong word, but I would prefer it." Ajay said, smiling a bit.
"Alright." Alex said, standing up.
"Thank you." Ajay said. "Everyone, your characters will be taking Alex's place lying facedown on the floor." He added as he and Alex walked away.
"Wait a minute…" Clint said, as Erin just laughed.
"Relax, no one is missing you doing your accents." Erin said.
The rest of lunch break passed by with more conversations, and jokes. Skye of course, stayed quiet for the most part, but, as Alan noticed, she cracked a small smile every now and then.
Soon, the bell rang and it was time for classes.
"Alright, see y'all later." Erin said getting up.
"See you guys." Alan said, waving as he walked off.
He noticed that Skye was walking in his direction as well.
"So, what do you have now?" Alan asked, looking at Skye.
"Chem." Skye said.
"Me too." Alan said, keeping it simple. He knew Skye didn't talk a whole lot.
The two walked into the room, taking up a bench at the back, Skye taking the window as usual. It had only been a day, but it already felt like routine to him, and to her, he thought.
He took out his notebook and waited for class to begin as the teacher came in.
"Good afternoon, class. I'm Ms. Grant. Now, let's get learning." Ms. Grant said cheerfully. Alan smiled at her enthusiasm. She seemed like she actually loved both studying and teaching her subjects, unlike a few others he'd seen so far, not just in this school. He took out his diary and scribbled something in it again, and he noticed Skye looking at it.
"Can I help you?" Alan asked, smirking.
"No. It's nothing." Skye said, quickly turning away and looking out the window.
"If you say so." He said, smiling as he turned back to the classwork. He was bored out of his mind right now, though, as he was already way ahead of syllabus so far in most of the subjects. Especially sciences. He started doodling on the sides of his pages, starting out with simple patterns, then beginning to draw the runes he had drawn so many times before.
"What are those?" Skye asked, breaking Alan's trance. He looked at Skye, who looked incredibly curious, eyeing the symbols he drew.
"Oh, these are runes. They all have their own specific meaning and are drawn with a specific goal in mind. They can also be combined for new purposes." Alan explained.
"Oh… cool." Skye said, her monotone breaking ever so slightly, and Alan could tell she was exceedingly interested, but she was repressing herself and her emotions.
"I can teach you later, if you like. It's no big deal." Alan offered warmly.
"It's fine. I'm sure you have better things to do." Skye said, her monotone returning in full, as she looked away again.
"I'm already bored with my day." Alan said, as he quickly noted down something Ms. Grant said about covalent compounds. Even if he knew everything, he at least had to show he was studying in class. Otherwise, he'd get called out, and while he actually enjoyed teaching others about things, at this age, students would just not take him seriously, and either make fun of him or not pay attention, or just downright casually talk as if it was brunch time.
That's annoying, he thought as he analysed the information on the board.
The rest of the class flew by and it was time for Alan to head out home. Of course, he walked with Skye, as he was in almost all the same classes with her.
"Where do you live? If you don't mind me asking." Alan asked, nervousness leaking through his voice.
"Off Crestburn Hill." Skye simply said.
"Okay. I live by 72nd, near Crestburn Hill." Alan said.
"Cool." Skye said, getting on the bus. Alan followed, and they sat together as usual, Skye taking the window. Alan wondered if he'd made a proper friend, but decided it was too soon to tell. It was still his first day.
.
.
The next day, Alan got on the bus and took the window seat, automatically waiting for Skye. Sure enough, a couple stops later, the redhead got on the bus and came up to him. Alan shifted to the aisle seat, letting her get the window.
"No. You take the window. I take it the rest of the day anyway." Skye said.
"Huh, okay." Alan said, smiling. It was true, Skye did take the window seat the entire day, in class and on the bus on the way home. He could take it this time. "Thanks."
He put his on earphones, but then pulled one of them out, leaving one ear unimpaired. His music taste varied from time to time, so he had no fixed genre that he liked. He listened to whatever songs he thought were good. His head bobbed ever so slightly as the music filled his ears, his imagination running wild once again. The trees seemed to greet him, waving as he passed by. Buildings smiled, fire hydrants bowed as the bus went through the streets.
"What are you listening to?" Alan's stupor was broken by Skye's voice.
"Oh, Old Gods of Asgard." Alan replied.
"Oh… they're really cool." Skye said.
"Yeah." Alan said, both of them falling silent again. Alan, however, caught Skye glancing at the unoccupied earphone hanging over his shirt. He took it and offered it to her. "You wanna listen?"
"I don't wanna… bother you." Skye said, awkwardly.
"But do you want to listen?" Alan asked, a warm smile on his face.
Skye looked at him, her blue eyes seeming to soften, and she took it, placing it on her ear. "Thanks." She said, a small smile gracing her lips.
"You're more than welcome." Alan smiled back, sitting back comfortably as The Poet and his Muse played.
.
.
Classes were the same as always. Alan and Skye sat together, quietly taking in the information. Every now and then, the two exchanged glances. Alan was confused with himself.
Why is it that I want to look at her? is what he asked himself. No brilliant answer emerged from his mind as it was as mysterious as ever. Oh well.
He began doodling again, drawing his symbols with practised ease. Once again, Skye's interest was piqued, and her eyes travelled to Alan's notebook.
"What's that?" she asked, pointing to a symbol.
"This is a rune. Most of these are runes. This one means Energy." Alan explained.
"In what sense?" Skye asked.
"Well, right now, in the 'Please give me energy to survive this boredom' sense." Alan replied. He was surprised when Skye actually let out a small chuckle, and he couldn't help but smile at her. Of course, he soon got awkward and looked away, as Skye did the same, staring out the window.
Soon, classes were over and it was time for the first proper rehearsal in the theatre. Alan and Skye entered the hall, having grown used to going around together because of their similar schedules. Ajay was already there, going over his notes, but it seemed like no one else was there yet.
"Hello Ajay." Alan greeted. Ajay simply hummed and nodded, not even looking up from his notebook as usual. "Good to see you too." Alan added before following Skye, who'd already gone ahead, to the tech booth, getting everything ready. Soon the others trickled in, and the whole group was there.
Ajay clapped his hands before speaking, "Welcome to our first real rehearsal of The Enchanted Kingdom. I am looking forward to putting on a great performance with you all. Let's show everyone what we're made of."
Everyone cheered at that, while Alan just continued to calmly look on everyone.
"Today we'll be working on the first scene." Mr. Olson began. "Ajay already has a draft of how it should be blocked out…"
"Thanks to Alex's input." Ajay added.
Trevor looked at the block diagrams. "Okay, as head tech, here's what I think we should do with the lights…" he proceeded to point out the patterns he thought would go best.
"Alright, let's see how we can make this work." Skye said. "Come on Alan."
"On it." Alan promptly followed, getting to work on the lights with Skye. Once it was set, he stood up and looked out, watching Erin and Danielle get on the stage.
"We're not in this scene."
"Yeah. It's just the King and the Witch."
Alan heard Alex and Rory say, both of them holding up their scripts.
"You two can review the scene we'll be blocking out tomorrow. It's fine to do that at home though, so you're dismissed early if you want." Ajay told them, getting back to watching Erin and Danielle on stage.
"Hey, Alan." Skye called out.
"Coming." Alan replied, walking back, but not before seeing Alex and Rory leave together, a huge smile on Alex's face.
Oh he must be in love, Alan chuckled internally, before joining Skye. They spent the rest of the day tinkering with the theatre controls, Alan picking up everything quickly as time flew by.
After the scenes were over, everyone was wrapping up, picking up their stuff and leaving. Alan got his earphones ready, although he didn't plug them into his ear just yet. He waited till Ajay bid everyone goodbye, then joined up with Skye.
"Well the bus left some time ago. What are you going to do?" Alan asked Skye.
"I'll walk home." Skye replied. "Bye." She said quickly, starting to walk away.
"We're gonna go the same way, remember?" Alan said, walking beside her. "Only thing is I have to get some stuff from the store."
"What kind of stuff?" Skye asked.
"Some bread, some milk, eggs, whatever I feel like." Alan said. "Maybe I'll make myself some pizza today." He lightly said, mostly to himself.
"You cook?" Skye asked.
"Oh, yeah. I live alone." Alan said nonchalantly.
"Oh. So… your parents…" Skye began nervously. She was curious, but she also didn't want to pry too much.
"Never knew them. I had an aunt. Have, I mean." Alan said, correcting himself at the end.
"So why aren't you with her?" Skye asked, letting her curiosity get the better of her.
"Ooh curious, aren't we?" Alan smirked. Skye suddenly looked the tiniest bit sheepish, before putting on her monotone expression. "Sorry." She said. "Didn't mean to pry."
Alan sighed before speaking. "I chose to live alone. My aunt has her own family. I don't want to add more on her. Besides she sends me money every month and pays for my school. I'm not financially independent yet, you know."
"Oh." Skye said, her expression softening again. Alan looked at her, seeing her in deep thought. However, the discussion was over as he noticed that they were in front of the supermarket.
"Well look at that. Tempus fugit, eh?" Alan said, before turning to Skye. "So you can wait or go ahead. I won't stop you if you start walking. No worries." Alan said.
"No I'll… I'll wait." Skye said, clearly avoiding eye contact.
She gets so awkward at times I nearly forget how mature she looks most of the time, he thought to himself. "Alright, I'll be right back." He said, going into the supermarket.
Alan quickly got whatever he wanted, wondering why Skye wasn't already on her way home. A small part of her liked hanging out with him, he thought, and as he realized that, he also realized that he enjoyed her company as well.
So this must be what it's like to have friends, he thought.
Before long, he had paid the cashier and exited the supermarket with a plastic bag of ingredients. Skye was still standing there patiently, looking at a little cat nearby. When he walked up to her, she looked at him, and spoke in her monotone, "Find everything?"
"Yup. Sorry to keep you waiting." Alan replied.
"It's no problem. Let's go." Skye said. Alan nodded and the two started walking homewards together. Soon enough, they were in front of Skye's house. Well, more of a mansion.
"Whoa, that's big." Alan said.
"Yeah." She simply said. Alan looked at her and it was clear she didn't care at all about her mansion of a house. It wasn't home to her.
"Well, you're welcome to help yourself to some pizza at my place." Alan offered weakly.
"Thanks, but no. I gotta go. See you, I guess." Skye said, a tinge of sadness slipping through in her voice, before quickly walking away.
"See you, Skye-with-an-E!" he called out after her. Skye looked back with a light glare, before smiling for a second and going inside.
Alan sighed. Skye had problems, he knew that. But who didn't, he figured, and walked home.
.
.
Next day went as usual. Meeting Skye on the bus, classes, tech duties on the theater set, the works. Ajay thanked Alex again for helping him block out the scenes. Alan considered his current situation pretty peaceful. He'd made way more friends than he ever thought he'd make. But the theater people were not at all like he expected school people to be. They were surprisingly nice. Well most of them. Anyone with half a brain would work out that Danielle wasn't one for being nice. It seemed like she had a crush on Rory, so she was particularly hard on Alex, since he was cast as the Prince. That was a surprise in and of itself, a freshman as a lead. But thanks to that and his apparent crushing on Rory, he'd become Enemy Number 1 for Danielle.
Oh well, I'm sorry for you my friend, Alan thought as once again, Danielle was interrupting Alex and Rory's scene, thinking Alex wasn't doing well. Alan can tell that Ajay is getting tired of this as well, once again telling her it's perfect, and to stop interrupting.
The scene reset and Alex once again began speaking. "Kneel before this rock."
Rory went to kneel, when again, Danielle's voice rang out, "Shouldn't you look a bit more serious?"
Alan decided this needed an intervention. He got off his chair and went out of the booth, Skye and Trevor shooting him glances of surprise and confusion.
"Excuse me, but aren't you supposed to be a theatre student? Why are you continually interrupting a scene and being more disruptive than a construction drill?" Alan said with a calm but strict voice.
"Excuse you, I was just trying to make sure the play goes well, pointing out what I thought Alex was doing wrong." Danielle tried to defend, clearly caught off guard.
"You've been told multiple times by our director that it's perfectly fine. If you still have any complaints, make them after the scene is over, please. Unless the director thinks I'm wrong?" Alan asked, looking to Ajay, who had a small, satisfied smirk on his face.
He quickly erased with when Danielle looked, however, and nodded before speaking. "He's right. I would expect you to know better, Danielle. No more interrupting the scenes. You think you have a suggestion, you come to me, when nothing else is happening. Understood?"
"Yeah, got it. Sorry." Danielle said, defeated.
"Thank you." Alan curtly said before heading back to the tech booth.
"That was nice of you." Skye lightly said as Alan took his seat beside her at the controls.
"It was necessary." Alan said. "Thank you though." He said with a smile and a small nod. Skye sported a small smile for a second before going back to work, Alan doing the same.
Soon, rehearsal for the day was over, and everyone was packing up. As Alan was leaving, Erin stopped him.
"Alan. You're coming to the game, right?" she said.
"What game?" Alan asked.
"The football game, duh?" Erin said, as if it were obvious, but Alan shrugged. "Our school is going against Hearst. They're our main rival, have been for a long time. You're coming right? We'll all be there, plus Alex's sister, Annie is playing!"
"Oh, that's news to me." Alan considered for a second.
Ehh, what could go wrong. I'd be at home bored anyway, he thought.
"Alright, I'm in." Alan said.
"Great, I'll text you." Erin said, and walked off.
"Does she even have your number?" Skye asked from behind Alan.
"She'll probably ask Ajay for it." Alan smirked. Then he looked curiously at Skye. "Wait, are you coming to the game on Friday?"
"Yeah, I kinda have to." Skye said, looking uncomfortable.
"Oh, well, I'm not gonna press for details if you're uncomfy, no worries." Alan said, raising his hands.
"Thanks. Shall we?" Skye said, pointing at the door, a small smile gracing her black lips.
Wait, why did… never mind. He thought, shaking his head as he nodded. "Do let's." he said, walking beside Skye as they boarded the bus and went home.
!-!-!-!-!
Well, exams are over, and I think my block is slowly lifting. I'm back.
Switched up a few things from the main story, but it's mostly the same, so y'all know what to expect. See you guys in the next one. Peace!