PRESENT DAY...
"Ryder!" Mr. Martin shouted.
The class giggles as the only kid who finds history boring in that class wakes up.
"Oh! I am sorry sir. I...I really didn't mean to fall asleep."
"Detention, young man, nothing less." Mr. Martin has already started trembling with anger as this was the third time he had to wake Leo Ryder in the last period of the day.
Leo just shakes his head and watches the rain falling on the windows of the four-storey high building.
"Hey!" he heard a female voice from behind.
Leo turns to see Ashley fidgeting with a pen.
"Try not to fall asleep Leo, only five more minutes." she said.
"Um... okay. What is your plan after class? Its weekend."
"Yeah. But I don't feel like going out with the weather like this. And the Halloween party didn't end well for me." She said with an expression fo disgust.
"Miss. Valentine, please lower your voice. Unlike you both, the others are trying to study." Mr Martin seems to scream less towards the girls according to Leo's observation.
"Sorry sir." Ashley replied, lowering her head.
The ripple of giggling started again...
"Silence!"
... But it died down quicker this time.
When the bell finally rang, Leo quickly started loading his books into the backpack. He ran down the long staircases to the large front gate of the academy where Ashley was waiting.
Just as he was going to step out of the school campus the loud speaker came alive. And through it came Mr. Martin's voice, "Leo Ryder! If you are in the campus grounds, report to the principal immediately."
Leo looked at Ashley and they both smiled. Two minutes later they were walking down the road, laughing.
Through the speakers they could hear Mr. Martin, 'Come back here Leo. You do know that we have CCTV cameras right?'
"You only live once." Ashley said as they sprinted out. They ran a little and then Ashley pops a question, "Want to study together today? My mom is going to make pancakes for the evening." she said, almost knowing what Leo's answer will be.
"Yeah, you know that I really love pancakes and you also know why I am a little bit scared. Last time I came there I destroyed one of your mom's favorite plates."
"It's not a plate. It's called Tojiki. And yes" Ashley pauses for a moment before continuing "she still hates you for that. But she thinks you are a good influence on me, even though I doubt that. So she is not going to kick you out."
"Not yet?"
"Not... yet." Ashley replied, giggling.
They parted to their respective homes as they live one or two miles away from each other.
That evening Leo was enjoying his pancakes and telling Betty, Ashley's mother, peacefully enjoying the late evening when Nick came home from work .He motioned Betty to somewhere away from Leo and Ashley's ear shot and talked. betty seems to be shocked for a moment before Nick calmed her down. He then looked at Ashley and said "Can you both give us moment?"
"Yeah sure." Ashley replied and looked at her empty plate and then at Leo. "Well I was waiting for him anyway." Ashley said, tilting her head in Leo's direction, happy to find a reason to stay.
Leo looked up and even though he wanted to enjoy the pancakes, he hurried and finished it up when he saw a frightened look in Nick's face. Nick and Betty patiently waited for Leo to finish, and as Leo left the dining room, he could catch words like, "He is back... up to something... might find you here."
Ashley was waiting for him on her bed by the time Leo reached upstairs. And to him, Ashley looks like she is in the need of a friend right now. She sat there like a damsel and gazed at the star with moist eyes. The moon light passes through the window and sheds light on the only part that his eyes is resting upon in the unlit room, making her more beautiful. Leo had never thought about her like this but the way the moonlight softly highlights her face made him think of all the days he believed that true love never exists even though it was right in front of him. She is his first love, after all. Ashley stood up and walked towards the window and her brown hair reached down all the way to her shorts. 'Damn you Leo. Stop thinking about her like that. She is your fucking friend!" Ashley seemed oblivious to the fact that Leo had been standing there for the past couple of minutes. She is having a lot of things on her mind and Leo seems like a perfect guy who could rescue her right now.
He approached her, slowly but steadily. He was still confused from where all those feelings for her came from. He touched her on her shoulders as casually as he could but his hand failed him and he felt it shiver a little, and she felt it too.
She nearly pushed Leo off balance as she leapt, and even though he wanted to do something, his body failed to obey him as he stood there, all still and motionless as she jumped into his arms. He lost balance and fell onto her medium-sized bed.
"She is going to leave the town Leo, my mother. I know it.", She was crying in his arms, holding him tightly. He looked down but all he could see was her long brown hair. He inhaled deeply. 'Almond? Really?'
"Can you at least pretend like you are hearing me? And stop smelling my hair, it feels so weird." Ashley said, looking a little annoyed by Leo's behavior but still held him close.
"Oh sorry Ash. But it's too late. I already like the smell of almonds on your hair." Leo said looking at her brown locks and smiling mischievously. Ashley looked at Leo a little amazed.
"You are unbelievable."
She rested her head on his chest and said "I missed you..."
Due to some complicated reasons, Leo took two weeks of sick leave and didn't contact her at all. She was disappointed but didn't complain.
Ashley began to fall asleep. But she hadn't noticed that Leo is asleep as they cuddled together not hearing the commotions downstairs.
Betty does like Leo. She finds him to be a good company and one knows how to cheer a person up in no time. And she also knows that they both are perfect for each other. The only thing that is needed here was for Ashley to have a little courage to tell him what she feels about him.
But what happened to her Japanese Tojiki is still bad. So she acted mad when he came by but he know his ways to cheer her up and within minutes, all three were laughing and then Leo and Ashley went upstairs to study.
They had almost finished packing and now Betty wanted to know what was really going on. So, she zipped the travelling bag and double checked everything before acting angry and goes to the room were Nick was calling
"Nick, we need to talk." Betty said, trying to sound less anxious.
"Yes, I know", Nick replied ad he sat down on the black cushioned sofa beside the 72-inch long plasma screen. Betty sat opposite to him, and in the middle of them was a small coffee table.
"You know my brother is in a high position in military now after the little Chinese problem he fixed for the government. He found it weird for the president to be joining hands with the private companies and so he decided to do a little research. He found something a little too scary. You know that China had been trying to find the most dangerous disease even known to mankind, the zombie virus. Even though they failed many times a recent incident shook that country to its very own core." He said pausing and gulped some water from the jug.
"The bio weapon was leaked and even though it was still on early stages an infected person took down 12 people before being captured. The virus didn't spread through bites or scratches, but the sheer strength of the affected was enough to scare the president into calling off the operation. The company behind it is know as NRT, full form unknown. But now Rainbow hospitals are taking over NRT and their executive is Sean Everett, son of …"
"I know." Betty interrupted.
"Well he-" Nick tried to continue but was interrupted.
Nick heard a knock on their front door. Betty stood and went back to packing things. Nick slowly moves towards the door and looked outside through the peephole to find a tall muscular figure with a bald head and wearing a black suit and black sunglasses and holding a white closed umbrella waving at him. He also have his phone outside his pocket as he held it on the other hand, maybe a little too tight. Nick know who this man is and just like he feared he had already found them. Nick reluctantly opens the door to find this man just little distance from him. He has a frightening aura surrounding him and a scar running through is left eyebrow.
"Nick Valentine, I presume. I am sorry for this unexpected interruption but this is important. I was sent here because your wife..." he pauses for a moment, trying to remember, and says, "...Betty Valentine need to accompany me immediately."
Behind him was the military.