Present- 5 yrs later
It was snowing as always. I boarded the snow train and waited for my stop. Today we were going back to school. That morning, the train wasn't too crowded. The air was comfortably warm as the sunrays peaked through the windows.
I was half asleep dreaming of someone holding their hand out to me. I heard wedding bells ring, until my head crashed into the window before me. Are you the type to fall asleep anywhere or whatever position your in? Yeah, that's me. I fell asleep standing.
"Next stop, Aurora University!" the speakers called out with an annoying grunge as more people boarded.
I was still half asleep. I had spent all night playing games with Leah and Ashton since they were visiting for a week.
The speakers called out," Aurora University, Aurora University coming up, Aurora University!"
As I struggled heading to my exit, I noticed someone with the same uniform as me. He was asleep sitting against the glass window. His hair was a sunny orange, fluffy like a lion's mane.
We were almost at our stop. I'd feel guilty if I didn't wake him up and he missed class. So I headed his direction and squeezed through the crowd.
His hair glistened in the sunlight like gold strings and his breath smoked hazy clouds. Not that I was purposefully smelling him, but he smelled like a gentle breeze of sweetpeas and apple blossoms. I'm a little nervous waking him up. It's kind of an awkward attempt to wake a stranger and it would be weirder and more embarrassing if he woke up to me staring at him, so let's just hurry up and get this over with.
Are you the type to substitute words for you know, cussing? Well yeah... I frappuccinoed.
The train jolted to a stop and my head went straight, pummeling him in the face. He woke up alright. But not only did we take a damage to the face, our lips were smacked into eachothe- You knowwwwwww..... Holy mother of cheese crackers...
I could feel my face heating up with utter disbelief and embarrassment. His nose was bleeding and his bottom lip was cut a bit. He looked annoyed and angry, ready to attack like a thug. So, I instinctively stood up awkwardly," That was an accident. I'm sorry. We're gonna miss our stop," I said showing him the University's golden logo on my coat and he continued to glare at me," Oh-kay. Bye." And I zipped to the exit.
"Hold on just a moment there," he said as he picked up his bag.
I'm not waiting to get killed. No thank you. Bye bye," BYEEEEE!" I yelled out as he chased me to to the exit. " OH MY COTTON CANDY CANE!" I screamed out as I watched him chase me. He was like a cheetah ready to pounce on his prey. I rushed into the building to find my classroom number on the board and jetted through the hallways. But just as I was about to sit down, my backpack jerked me backward. I was being dragged out of class into the hallway. I looked to see who it was and the orange head gave it away so I stopped looking back. Oh Shimmeny graham crackers... Why me...
I was struggling to pull away from him. "Hey, earlier, what was that about?" he asked. I just kept staring at the ground," Earlier..? I was just trying to wake you up so you wouldn't miss the stop." "Head up, look at me in the face and tell me," he said. I looked up. His eyes were a pretty deep violet, addicting you might fall in...except that his glare was super intimidating. I felt that pool of darkness was dangerous. It kept hitting my radar of death that I could see the signs saying, "You're so dead".
I just gave up resisting," Honest. It's the truth."
And he just gave me a smug smile and said, "Liar."
That irked me. I slipped out from my backpack and turned to him.
"What are you? Some bigshot or something? You think you're all that or something? That you hear Buddha or God telling you what's a lie or not?" I said. He slowly dropped my backpack onto the floor.
"Hey! It's Jayden Celios!" a student said.
"Woah, it's Jayden!"
"Oh my gosh, Jayden is back? Since when?"
"Since last summer, dude. You needa get out of that rock of yours."
"Hey, Jayden!"
"Yo Jay! Can't believe your back, man! Good to see you!" a teacher said and shook his hand.
"Good to see you too Mr. Allister." he said.
What. Just happened. Who the snapples is he? I've been to this school since I was in kindergarten and I've never seen this guy, like EVER.
"Who's Jayden Celios?" a student asked.
Yeah, I'd like to know that too!
"Ah, right you're new here. He's the great great grandson of the academy's founder and the principal's nephew," said another student.
"You were saying," he continued that smug smile.
What the Jimeny crickets...
"If you have nothing else to say, can I go back to my class now? School's gonna start soon and I need to pick a seat before everyone chooses theirs," I said nervously.
"Hold on. What're you gonna do about this?" he points to his cut lip.
"You straight up punched my face with yours and stole a kiss from me. Don't I deserve some sort of... apology? Aren't you going to take responsibility for almost taking me out?" he says, his face growing closer to mine. I was annoyed. "Augh!" he bit his tongue as I head butt him in the face.
"Leave me alone you jerk! Stop acting like I stole your dignity! I owe you nothing!" my shout grew softer. His cheek was swelling purple and his nose was bleeding again. Just how fragile is this guy? It felt good to head butt him, but I feel a little guilty... He looks like a delinquent who just got into a fight...
He put his hand to his nose and saw the blood.
"You were saying..?" he glares back at me with his hand covering his nose.
"Okay, that was really my bad, and I'm sorry. I got too carried away!" I said.
"UH. HUH. CARRIED. AWAY." he grunted.
"Hey! You kids gotta head to class now! What the hell happened to you, Jayden? Got into a fight or something?" a teacher said.
"Yeah, that girl beat me up," he pointed at me.
What? This guy... I mean it's kinda true but...
"Quit blaming people for your stupidity and go to class," the teacher said.
You go teach! Let him have it!
"What classes are you guy's in? I'll walk you over so you won't get into trouble," the teacher asked.
"2B-3" we both answered and glared at each other.
"Perfect. You're in my class." he smiles.
"Alright everyone, in your seats now. Call me Lero. I'll be your homeroom and philosophical teacher. Let's make it a fun year guys, by NOT getting into fights, AHEM Jayden cough cough!" the class laughed," If it's an ethical fight, I don't mind, but do it where another adult can supervise before things turn to the worst," he said.
"What's an ethical fight?" a student asked.
"Good question. That's why you have me for. To answer all your questions. An ethical fight is an argument or retaliation to defend yourself or whatever it is you want to defend. A fight where no one is physically, emotionally, lawfully damaged, except for collateral damage since it involves compensation. So let's go over what's ethical. I mean it's probably ethical to everyone or to certain people, but we gotta open up our minds guys, make it so we can think WIDER thoughts."
It was lunch now. I went to meet Karen in our usual spot. It was a bench corner in the outdoor hall way near the garden. I met Karen at Leah's and Ashton's wedding and found out she was Ashton's bestfriend's little sister. Turned out she had a major crush on Ashton. That night we got along so well. She cried about losing her crush and I cried about losing my bestfriend.
I told Karen everything that had happened that morning.
"Pfffttttt hahahaaha so you stole a kiss from a hot guy and beat him up for it?! Pwahahahaha Julia you're just so... Pftttt"
"Yeah, yeah keep laughing. One day you'll meet a hot guy too and experience the horrors of embarrassment I experienced and you'll regret making fun of me," I sighed.
She gasped for air, "Haahhh.. haah.. When that day comes, you can laugh at me too. So was that all you wanted to tell me?" Karen continued to eat.
"Hmm.. You're gonna laugh at me some more so swallow your food first," I said as she gulped it down.
I said, "So last night, I was gonna grab some snacks for me, Leah, and Ashton since we were gonna stay up to play games. And when I went to get some-" "Cookies, but the jar was left open so your Mom and Dad must be planning some scheme ladidaa. Just how many schemes do they have? Are you sure it's not just a coincidence that they were just hungry for cookies?" she asked.
"Karen! You know that my mom and dad scheme hardcore, like that one time you said you wanted to go haunted house hunting? They made a haunted house surprise birthday party just for you and you thought that we were in some type of apocolypse," I pointed out.
"Yeah! That was super awesome! Your mom and dad are like super great! I love em, but you gotta give em a break. They're just parents who want to have fun watching their children grow up to be successful and happy," she says.
"Mm, yeah I know that, but... It kinda bothers me.. You KNOW they sometimes go overboard. Remember. YOU thought it was the END of the world on your birthday," Karen rolled her eyes as I continued," Anyway, last night I went to go check on them, but they were talking to someone over the phone saying stuff like, 'can't wait to meet my third son-in-law' and that they wanted him to 'choose anyone because everyone would be happy' or something," I said.
Karen just gave me a blank stare," Yeah, so?" I stared back at her and said," Well, only Marie and Leah are married so like what if they're making an engagement with someone to one of my sisters? Sarah's secretly dating someone and Hellian isn't interested in men! So what if they get forced into an engagement? Sarah wouldn't be able to live without her boyfriend and Hellian might kill the guy. They'd live unhappy lives.. Plus! Layla is still underage and Alice is just a baby!"
Karen pinched my cheeks and said," Okay, calm down! First of all, the world isn't ending and your parents would never do something to make you or your siblings unhappy. Second of all, Layla is legally old enough to decide for herself if she would wanna get married and Alice is not a baby anymore, she's in first grade now. Third, you're panicking over nothing, so just calm down and eat your lunch and go back to being a happy student."
"I guess..." I moped," Sorry, for overthinking... I can't help it." Karen pats my head," It's fineee. Just be yourself, it's fine to overthink, just make sure I'm there before you do something crazy."
"Yeah.." I sighed.
Once I got home, everyone dressed themselves up for the party.
We drove and only took a left of our street, but all we could see was fields of snow and trees until we entered the automatic gate.
"Dad? We live here so how come we never knew this place existed?" I asked
"Hm? What do you mean? This place has always existed," he said.
"Yeah, we'd see the garden from the train," Layla said.
"Haha, well before you and your bothers were born, your sisters would come here to play sometimes. Especially Lia! She'd disappear to this place and me and Mom would panic looking for her. She loved playing here," Dad said.
"I don't remember that?" I said confused.
"Really?" Mom gasped," I'm surprised you don't remember. You always said you wanted to come live here one day," Mom chuckled.
"I did?" I said.
We got out and entered the palace.
"Henry! Kayla! We missed you so much!" said the fine lady with autumn colored hair. The lady hugged Mom and a built man hugged Dad.
"How'd you know? We're wearing masks," Mom asked.
"We've known each other for years. Please, you think you can fool me with your Sailormoon mask, Kayla?" the lady giggled," And they must be the new babies I've heard so much about!" she kissed their cheeks and foreheads," Ah and Julia! Wow, you've grown so fine! Give me a hug darling," she hugged me," It's been so long since we saw you, I'm sorry I wasn't able to visit you since we left," she hugged me again.
"You look so confused. Ah! You probably don't remember me, huh? You used to always come and play with Jay. Ohh, you were so adorable. I'll show you some pictures after the party darling. The event is gonna start in a bit, so go ahead and enjoy yourselves. I'm just going to borrow your parents for a bit," the lady in the red mask called out," Jay! come show your guests around!"
A young man in black came to greet us. Wait.
That hair. Those eyes.
"Lionhead?!" I blurted out. Whoops. No brain filter to shut my thoughts in.
"Hahaha lionhead? So you remember Jay?"she asked.
"Oh, no it's just, we met at school and I noticed his hair..." I said hoping the mask would hide my blushing.
"Come this way, I'll show you guys around," he said.
Hmm.. he's being quite polite.
He cleared his throat and wiped his lips with his thumb then made a smug smile at me.
This Jerk. What's he up to?