Chapter 3: A New Face

I stumble around my room for a bit. I try to wrap my head around everything that's going on.

"What, what day is it even?" I say aloud.

I look at my phone. Monday. The date is a week before the festival.

"What the hell happened?" I say.

"Its alright, everything will be fine"

I look around my room. I swear I heard a voice, but I don't see anyone.

"Listen, to some it up you 01110011 01100001 01110110 01100101 01100100 00100000 01101101 01100101 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110111 01100001 01111001 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100110 01101001 01111000 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01100010 01110101 01110100 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01110100 01100101 01101100 01101100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00101110"

I get a splitting headache. I swear I'm going insane.

"Hello is anyone there!?" I say.

Silence. I really am going insane. I wait a few minutes but don't hear anything. I gather some clothes and take a shower. I grab my phone and wallet and head out for school. I walk to the crosswalk and stand there for a bit.

"Mhh, why did I stop?" I say.

"Because your waiting for me right?"

I turn around and see a girl with o/;r43a79n5ge5/:w465g5 pink hair. God my head is gonna kill me today. Luckily I know this person. Her name is Natsuki. She's been my neighbor and close friend for a while. Wait why am I saying this.

"Yeah I sorta got lost in my thoughts sorry." I say.

"Well I wouldn't expect anything else from you Ethan." Natsuki says.

"Excuse me?" I say.

"What is just a you thing." Natsuki says in return.

"No, what did you just call me?" I ask.

"Ethan, your name dummy." She says a bit confused.

"No my name is..." I studer.

Whats my name. Its defiantly not Ethan. Was it Dan. No it started with an L I think. Wait why can't I remember this.

"How late did you get to bed last night. Seriously your so sleep deprived you can't even remember your own name." Natsuki says.

I pull out my wallet and look at my school ID. Ethan M. When did I even start bringing my school ID with me in my wallet.

"I'm just out of it to say the least." I say.

"Really I could tell." Natsuki says sarcastically.

"Lets just go to school I'll worry about myself later." I say.

"Alright whatever you say crazy." Natsuki says.

I ponder while we walk. What happened before I woke up. I saw someone. A girl I believe, but I can't remember what her name is or anything. Who or what was I even looking for this morning. Someone with an M I think. But I don't know anyone with an M. Well I don't know anyone personally that starts with any M.

"Hey have you thought about what I said yesterday?" Natsuki says.

"What did you say again?" I ask.

"C'mon it wasn't even that hard of a question. Seriously did you hit your head this morning." Nastuki says.

"Apparently." I say.

I can't even think of what happened yesterday. Was, I even here yesterday?

"Well sense you are so stupid to not even remember an important question then I guess I'll have to repeat it." Natsuki says.

"Please go a head." I say.

"Are you gonna join any clubs or continue to be a doomer like the 5% of kids in our grade?" Natsuki says.

"Clubs huh. Never really gave it much thought." I say.

"Well you should they are extremely important." Natsuki says.

"Why?" I say.

Why did I say why? I should of just agreed. I'm gonna get my ass kicked for this one.

"WHY!" Natsuki says flustered.

"Because clubs help you get to know more people. Share what you have in common." Natsuki says.

"Interesting coming from you of all people Natsuki?" I say.

Why the hell am I arguing. Its like I'm saying words that don't belong to my to me.

"And what does that mean Ethan?" Natsuki says right up in my face.

"You hate the mass majority of people at our school, you hate sharing your thoughts about things, and no offense but you literally have like two friends one of them being me of course" I say.

I take it back. I got some flame.

"What?!" Natsuki says, "I have so many friends other than you."

"Oh really, are they in your club" I say.

"I told you its not my club I'm just a member dumb ass." Natsuki says.

"And how many members does that club have?" I ask.

"4" Natsuki says.

"Ah." I say.

I almost fall to the ground. When Natsuki said four something happened. I felt a pain not only in my brain, but in my heart. I don't know what kind of drugs I took but they couldn't of been good.

"Watch where your stepping idiot." Natsuki says.

"What are the..." I stop myself.

Why was I about to ask the names of the club members. I don't know why but I have an weird feeling in my gut."

"What was that?" Natsuki says.

"Can, can I come with you to your club Natsuki?" I say.

"I mean it would kill the atmosphere," Natsuki says, "It has all girls in it."

"Please just for a day." I say.

What the hell am I saying. Why do I need to go so badly. I give Natsuki a look of pleading and awkwardness.

"Well, if a bring in someone then I'll look cool in front of them for bringing someone new in so. Fine you can come" Natsuki says.

"Thanks." I say.

"I'll meet you after the last bell goes off at your classroom" Natsuki says.

"Alright sounds good." I say.

"You seem off today." Natsuki says.

"Believe me I know, but I just need to go to your club. Even if its just for a day." I say.

"Alright whatever floats your boat man. You do you." Natsuki says.

We head into school. I question whether I should go to the club or not all day. Its stupid but something is telling me to go. When Natsuki said four something changed inside of me, but I can't tell what it was.

The day goes by quickly. The final bell goes off and I walk out of my classroom. Natsuki isn't standing there. The hallway is empty apart from some students leaving. I know Natsuki's last class so I head over there. I look in and see Natsuki sitting at her desk. She's just starring up at the ceiling.

"Natsuki!" I say loudly.

"Huh, What!" She says in response.

"You weren't outside of my class so I went to you." I say.

"I was gonna start walking." Natsuki says.

She hasn't even packed up all her stuff yet. I help her pack up.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Natsuki ask me.

"Sure I got nothing better to do." I say.

I don't really know if I can really tell Natsuki that I have to do this because of a gut feeling.

"When you asked me to go early you seemed confused. Like you where questioning if you even wanted to go." She says.

"Well I have to start looking at clubs anyway right?" I say.

"I suppose." Natsuki says.

"Alright ready to go?" I say.

"Yep, now lets hurry I don't want to be late." Natsuki says.

Natsuki starts almost skipping to the stairwell. We go to the top floor where all the 3rd years have their classes. Its a place I don't usually visit.

"Keep going no matter what"

"Did you say something Natsuki." I ask.

"Nope!" Natsuki says.

She seems really happy about this. We reach the club room. I can here three other girls in the room. They almost sound familiar. I read the sign next to the club room.

"The Literature Club."

Writer's Note- Sorry for coming out with chapters in the morning I just sorta screwed over my sleep schedule that's all. I can't promise they'll (The chapters) will come out every other day but I hope they do. Well have a good day/night.