*growls*
Fine, because both of you are asking for it, here it is. I've decided not to make this the prologue, so it's chapter one, incomplete.
Chapter 1: The Way Things Are
The girl stepped out of the car with a frown on her face. It was early damn, she’d have to get used to waking up at this time now that holidays were officially over. No more sleeping at 4 and waking up at 1 anymore. More like, get used to late nights with coffee and more fucking projects.
Stifling a yawn, she shuffled over to the pedestrian crossing that connected the curb where she was standing on to her school. The lady traffic controller who was supposed to be directing traffic (what traffic?) waved her the go ahead to cross.
She winced. She’d forgotten how brightly orange the stupid jacket the lady wore was. Frown darkening on her face, she marched across the road, dreading the moment where she would finally have to enter her classroom. She hated school. School was such a distraction, she had more important things to tend to, especially pertaining to a certain organization. Plus, she didn’t have any real friends in school anyway. Surface friendships that were of little importance to her and wouldn’t hurt her if any backstabbing took place. Whatever.
The school building loomed up in front of her, huge and imposing, with beige walls and blue-tinted glassy windows. Classroom blocks were scattered off to the side, while the entrance to the grand auditorium welcomed and intimidated any who arrived at the porch. That place was freakishly clean and white, with the statue of the founder of the school gleaming at all times of the day. Surrounding the entire school building was green, well-kept grass, with red paths cutting through it.
The girl took as long as she could to go up the straight path which led to the classroom block, up the steps, along the corridor past the science labs and then up a winding staircase to the 2nd floor and finally turned left to stop at the 2nd classroom. Great. As usual, she was greeted with a whole corridor of black, with students milling or sitting around outside the classrooms. Conversations were muted, as most of the girls seemed to be more asleep than awake.
She glanced at her watch. It wasn’t 7 yet, which explained why the classrooms were still locked and everyone was stuck outside.
Her father had this thing for beating the traffic. Therefore making it was absolutely necessary to leave as early as possible every day in case they got caught in a jam and he was late for work. She would have liked to tell her father to his face that he was being bloody paranoid, but that would have started another fight, and she told herself she had matured.
So now, she heaved a sigh and was just proceeding to drop her bag against the wall and settle for a good long wait, when the class monitor appeared, grinning and jangling the keys. Thank god. Carrie had a weird habit of opening the back door first instead of the front, and that suited her just fine since she sat at the back. Marching to her seat, she dropped her bag and collapsed into the seat, leaving somebody else to switch on the damn lights. Then she calmly put her head on the desk, tried to ignore everyone in the classroom and closed her eyes. Getting up early just wasn’t her cup of tea.
Time passed. The classroom got more crowded and the noise level went up. Bloody hell. Couldn’t a tired soul get some sleep? Mandy sauntered past her seat, patting her on the back on the way. “Wow Ash, first day of school and you’re tired? Didn’t you get any rest?”
Shut up, she wanted to snap. Instead, she raised her head and retorted, “Of course I did. Only I’m not used to waking up this early, geez.”
Mandy raised an eyebrow. “Bad mood? You coulda warned me. It could be contagious.”
Ash refrained from rolling her eyes, just barely.
“So what were you so busy with during the holidays? I haven’t seen you in almost two months.”
I am so not telling. “That thing called slacking?”
Mandy did roll her eyes at that one. “Fine, whatever. I was busy studying. You do know this is our last year right?”
Ash did know. She also didn’t care. Her future was secured already, anyway. As soon as high school ended, she was so high-tailing it out of here. While the rest of her peers trotted over to the affiliated college across the road to do more studying, she would be kissing good-bye to school life and going out into the world. Finally.
She would also be getting away from pesky parents and nosy girlfriends, hanging out with her real buddies and of course, her lover, Kil. Ash missed her already. Holidays had been much too short in her opinion.
Of course, her parents never ever knew what she was up to, all those trips abroad were supposed to be learning trips with her cousin. Said cousin also happened to be the one to introduce her to the organization in the first place, being a member himself. Really, she had to thank Dan for giving her a getaway from this festering hellhole called life, before the organization. That had been three years ago.
And Dan was a really good friend in the country now. Or should she say, the only good friend? With the exception of Kiba, of course. Kiba and Dan saved her from going insane between the long waits for the school holidays. And yes, she was meeting Kiba today after school, wasn’t she? Good reason to be happy.
A light smile grazed her face as she thought of Kiba, before she was abruptly brought back to her present situation by a prod, courtesy of her deskmate.
“I swear, you haven’t listened to a single thing I said in the past minute!” Mandy mock-glared at her. “What on earth is up with you?”
Her mood lightened with the thought of meeting Kiba after school and Ash smiled. “Nothing much, really.”
Alighting from the bus-stop at the mall that was a 5-minute walk from her house, Ash entered the comfortingly cool air-conditioned place, and turned right straight to Starbucks. As usual, Kiba was waiting with two cups of ice-blended cappuccinos and whipped cream on top. And a big smile. Ash walked over to him, smiling brightly.
“Hey.”
“Hey yourself, princess,” Kiba grinned.
Ash settled into the seat and took a deep slurp of her ice cappuccino. She gave an appreciative sigh. “So how’re things back here? Haven’t seen you in a week.”
Kiba shrugged. “Y’know, classes and all that shit. Tough day for you?”
Ash stared. “You can tell?”
“You forget I’ve known you for three years, princess. How’s it going at that elite school of yours?”
Ash scowled. “Shut up Kiba, you know I hate it there. Bitches, every one of them.”
“Ahh, getting tired of all them girls? Bit boring ain’t it?”
Ash gave him a look.
“Oh, I forget. You swing that way. Miss Kil yet?”
“Understatement.”
“You could always go out with me.”
“Sure.”
Kiba gaped at her. “What, really?”
“Yeah, to the arcade and movies. What did you think?” Ash poked at the whipped cream with her straw.
Kiba sagged slightly in his seat. “Well, we could always… fool around y’know… blow off some steam-“ he was cut off as a purple straw poked him in the eye. “OW! Goddammit that hurt!”
Ash smirked at him faintly. “That’s for sprouting rubbish, Kiba.”
“You didn’t have to do that, princess. I was joking. Kil would murder me if I laid a finger on you.”
“Again, that’s an understatement,” Ash said, twirling a strand of hair.
Kiba winced. “Yeah, actually it is.”
“So, you up for some Time Crisis II? I need to shoot something really bad.” Ash said.
“Didn’t bring a change of clothes.”
Ash looked him over. With his dark brown messy hair and dark eyes, Kiba was pretty gorgeous. His school uniform consisted of an untucked white shirt over navy trousers. Every bit of him screamed juvenile delinquent, and it didn’t help that he had so many piercings either. Kiba also happened to love his cigarettes way better than any thing else in the world.
Ash, on the other hand, had to take note of her image. Being in a top school, random nosy people liked to take pictures of girls from her school doing something wrong and complaining to the school or putting it in the newspapers. And the school management raised hell whenever it happened. Ash didn’t want to get reprimanded for doing something that everyone else was fucking doing, just because of her school uniform. So she’d always made it a point to bring a change of clothes with her. Arcades never let any one in school uniform in anyway.
She sighed. “Give me a break, Kiba, you don’t even look like you’re in school uniform. Plus you know everyone there.”
Kiba grinned. “True. I take it you really need to blow off some steam, huh?” Standing up, he grabbed the remains of her drink. “Get changed, I’ll wait.”
An hour later saw Ash and Kiba shooting away at Time Crisis II. They’d only spent one buck each so far.
“Damn, I’ve forgotten how easy this was,” Kiba muttered.
“Who’s complaining?” Ash muttered back.
There was a small crowd behind them. After all, it was a Monday. Everyone stared, transfixed, as the two of them went at it, shooting with precise accuracy.
Ash felt the awe-struck gazes eating into her back, and she grinned slightly. It was always fun to show off a little. With her experience in America, this little shooting game could only be described as lighthearted. She would even go so far as to call it a comedy. But it still proved a good distraction, anyway.
She lowered her gun as the screen blanked for the final stage. And then the Boss popped up and she started shooting again. Minutes later it was GAME OVER. And they’d completed it with zero loss of life, 98% accuracy and the shortest time limit ever.
Ash allowed a self-satisfied smirk to grace her face as she watched the guys’ behind her jaws drop. Didn’t think a girl could do it? Eat dirt, people. They looked torn between kowtowing to the girl and asking her for tips while their girlfriends were busy scowling at her and turning up their noses. Ash could have told them that she wasn’t interested in guys, but then thought the better of it.
She glanced at Kiba, who was already surrounded by an admiring group of boys and swapping pointers with one of them. There were also a couple of hopeful girls straying far too close to him. Ash laughed inwardly to herself. I could tell them Kiba isn’t interested, either.
“Hey.” A male voice behind her said. Ash looked over her shoulder to see a tall guy with blonde highlights towering over her. “You’re really good.”
I know, right? “Yep,” she grinned.
“So… you come here often?”
“Not really, no.”
“I’d figured. Wouldn’t have forgotten someone like you.”
“Really.”
“Yeah. Look, you with that guy?”
“You mean Kiba? Naw.”
“Well, then, can I have your number?”
“I’m attached.”
“Ditch him.” The guy gave her a dangerous smile. Admittedly, he was devilishly good-looking, and even resembled Kiba a little.
Unfortunately for him, Ash took orders from no one. She was about to say No chance and it’s a her, when Kiba appeared at her side.
“She’s not interested,” Kiba said.
“Oh yeah?” The guy smiled coolly.
“Yeah. Back off, buddy.”
“She just said she wasn’t with you, pal.”
“I know.”
Ash rolled her eyes. Kiba was always so damn protective of her. Like she couldn’t take care of herself. Like some damn girl. Oh wait, she was. Looking up, she caught Kiba and the other guy trying to stare each other down menacingly. At that point, Ash decided to break up the potential fight. Stepping between both guys and ignoring the killer vibes emanating from them, she grabbed Kiba’s arm.
“It’s late, let’s go.” She smiled sweetly at the still-nameless guy, then pulled Kiba, who was allowing himself to be led, out of the arcade.
As soon they were out of hearing distance, she said, “What the fuck were you doing back there? Picking a fight?”
“C’mon princess, that guy was hitting on you!” Kiba looked frustrated.
“So?”
“So I got pissed!”
Ash decided not to answer. Kiba was a really cute guy, once you got past the intimidating exterior. There was a reason why he was her best friend, after all.
Chapter 1: The Way Things Are
The girl stepped out of the car with a frown on her face. It was early damn, she’d have to get used to waking up at this time now that holidays were officially over. No more sleeping at 4 and waking up at 1 anymore. More like, get used to late nights with coffee and more fucking projects.
Stifling a yawn, she shuffled over to the pedestrian crossing that connected the curb where she was standing on to her school. The lady traffic controller who was supposed to be directing traffic (what traffic?) waved her the go ahead to cross.
She winced. She’d forgotten how brightly orange the stupid jacket the lady wore was. Frown darkening on her face, she marched across the road, dreading the moment where she would finally have to enter her classroom. She hated school. School was such a distraction, she had more important things to tend to, especially pertaining to a certain organization. Plus, she didn’t have any real friends in school anyway. Surface friendships that were of little importance to her and wouldn’t hurt her if any backstabbing took place. Whatever.
The school building loomed up in front of her, huge and imposing, with beige walls and blue-tinted glassy windows. Classroom blocks were scattered off to the side, while the entrance to the grand auditorium welcomed and intimidated any who arrived at the porch. That place was freakishly clean and white, with the statue of the founder of the school gleaming at all times of the day. Surrounding the entire school building was green, well-kept grass, with red paths cutting through it.
The girl took as long as she could to go up the straight path which led to the classroom block, up the steps, along the corridor past the science labs and then up a winding staircase to the 2nd floor and finally turned left to stop at the 2nd classroom. Great. As usual, she was greeted with a whole corridor of black, with students milling or sitting around outside the classrooms. Conversations were muted, as most of the girls seemed to be more asleep than awake.
She glanced at her watch. It wasn’t 7 yet, which explained why the classrooms were still locked and everyone was stuck outside.
Her father had this thing for beating the traffic. Therefore making it was absolutely necessary to leave as early as possible every day in case they got caught in a jam and he was late for work. She would have liked to tell her father to his face that he was being bloody paranoid, but that would have started another fight, and she told herself she had matured.
So now, she heaved a sigh and was just proceeding to drop her bag against the wall and settle for a good long wait, when the class monitor appeared, grinning and jangling the keys. Thank god. Carrie had a weird habit of opening the back door first instead of the front, and that suited her just fine since she sat at the back. Marching to her seat, she dropped her bag and collapsed into the seat, leaving somebody else to switch on the damn lights. Then she calmly put her head on the desk, tried to ignore everyone in the classroom and closed her eyes. Getting up early just wasn’t her cup of tea.
Time passed. The classroom got more crowded and the noise level went up. Bloody hell. Couldn’t a tired soul get some sleep? Mandy sauntered past her seat, patting her on the back on the way. “Wow Ash, first day of school and you’re tired? Didn’t you get any rest?”
Shut up, she wanted to snap. Instead, she raised her head and retorted, “Of course I did. Only I’m not used to waking up this early, geez.”
Mandy raised an eyebrow. “Bad mood? You coulda warned me. It could be contagious.”
Ash refrained from rolling her eyes, just barely.
“So what were you so busy with during the holidays? I haven’t seen you in almost two months.”
I am so not telling. “That thing called slacking?”
Mandy did roll her eyes at that one. “Fine, whatever. I was busy studying. You do know this is our last year right?”
Ash did know. She also didn’t care. Her future was secured already, anyway. As soon as high school ended, she was so high-tailing it out of here. While the rest of her peers trotted over to the affiliated college across the road to do more studying, she would be kissing good-bye to school life and going out into the world. Finally.
She would also be getting away from pesky parents and nosy girlfriends, hanging out with her real buddies and of course, her lover, Kil. Ash missed her already. Holidays had been much too short in her opinion.
Of course, her parents never ever knew what she was up to, all those trips abroad were supposed to be learning trips with her cousin. Said cousin also happened to be the one to introduce her to the organization in the first place, being a member himself. Really, she had to thank Dan for giving her a getaway from this festering hellhole called life, before the organization. That had been three years ago.
And Dan was a really good friend in the country now. Or should she say, the only good friend? With the exception of Kiba, of course. Kiba and Dan saved her from going insane between the long waits for the school holidays. And yes, she was meeting Kiba today after school, wasn’t she? Good reason to be happy.
A light smile grazed her face as she thought of Kiba, before she was abruptly brought back to her present situation by a prod, courtesy of her deskmate.
“I swear, you haven’t listened to a single thing I said in the past minute!” Mandy mock-glared at her. “What on earth is up with you?”
Her mood lightened with the thought of meeting Kiba after school and Ash smiled. “Nothing much, really.”
Alighting from the bus-stop at the mall that was a 5-minute walk from her house, Ash entered the comfortingly cool air-conditioned place, and turned right straight to Starbucks. As usual, Kiba was waiting with two cups of ice-blended cappuccinos and whipped cream on top. And a big smile. Ash walked over to him, smiling brightly.
“Hey.”
“Hey yourself, princess,” Kiba grinned.
Ash settled into the seat and took a deep slurp of her ice cappuccino. She gave an appreciative sigh. “So how’re things back here? Haven’t seen you in a week.”
Kiba shrugged. “Y’know, classes and all that shit. Tough day for you?”
Ash stared. “You can tell?”
“You forget I’ve known you for three years, princess. How’s it going at that elite school of yours?”
Ash scowled. “Shut up Kiba, you know I hate it there. Bitches, every one of them.”
“Ahh, getting tired of all them girls? Bit boring ain’t it?”
Ash gave him a look.
“Oh, I forget. You swing that way. Miss Kil yet?”
“Understatement.”
“You could always go out with me.”
“Sure.”
Kiba gaped at her. “What, really?”
“Yeah, to the arcade and movies. What did you think?” Ash poked at the whipped cream with her straw.
Kiba sagged slightly in his seat. “Well, we could always… fool around y’know… blow off some steam-“ he was cut off as a purple straw poked him in the eye. “OW! Goddammit that hurt!”
Ash smirked at him faintly. “That’s for sprouting rubbish, Kiba.”
“You didn’t have to do that, princess. I was joking. Kil would murder me if I laid a finger on you.”
“Again, that’s an understatement,” Ash said, twirling a strand of hair.
Kiba winced. “Yeah, actually it is.”
“So, you up for some Time Crisis II? I need to shoot something really bad.” Ash said.
“Didn’t bring a change of clothes.”
Ash looked him over. With his dark brown messy hair and dark eyes, Kiba was pretty gorgeous. His school uniform consisted of an untucked white shirt over navy trousers. Every bit of him screamed juvenile delinquent, and it didn’t help that he had so many piercings either. Kiba also happened to love his cigarettes way better than any thing else in the world.
Ash, on the other hand, had to take note of her image. Being in a top school, random nosy people liked to take pictures of girls from her school doing something wrong and complaining to the school or putting it in the newspapers. And the school management raised hell whenever it happened. Ash didn’t want to get reprimanded for doing something that everyone else was fucking doing, just because of her school uniform. So she’d always made it a point to bring a change of clothes with her. Arcades never let any one in school uniform in anyway.
She sighed. “Give me a break, Kiba, you don’t even look like you’re in school uniform. Plus you know everyone there.”
Kiba grinned. “True. I take it you really need to blow off some steam, huh?” Standing up, he grabbed the remains of her drink. “Get changed, I’ll wait.”
An hour later saw Ash and Kiba shooting away at Time Crisis II. They’d only spent one buck each so far.
“Damn, I’ve forgotten how easy this was,” Kiba muttered.
“Who’s complaining?” Ash muttered back.
There was a small crowd behind them. After all, it was a Monday. Everyone stared, transfixed, as the two of them went at it, shooting with precise accuracy.
Ash felt the awe-struck gazes eating into her back, and she grinned slightly. It was always fun to show off a little. With her experience in America, this little shooting game could only be described as lighthearted. She would even go so far as to call it a comedy. But it still proved a good distraction, anyway.
She lowered her gun as the screen blanked for the final stage. And then the Boss popped up and she started shooting again. Minutes later it was GAME OVER. And they’d completed it with zero loss of life, 98% accuracy and the shortest time limit ever.
Ash allowed a self-satisfied smirk to grace her face as she watched the guys’ behind her jaws drop. Didn’t think a girl could do it? Eat dirt, people. They looked torn between kowtowing to the girl and asking her for tips while their girlfriends were busy scowling at her and turning up their noses. Ash could have told them that she wasn’t interested in guys, but then thought the better of it.
She glanced at Kiba, who was already surrounded by an admiring group of boys and swapping pointers with one of them. There were also a couple of hopeful girls straying far too close to him. Ash laughed inwardly to herself. I could tell them Kiba isn’t interested, either.
“Hey.” A male voice behind her said. Ash looked over her shoulder to see a tall guy with blonde highlights towering over her. “You’re really good.”
I know, right? “Yep,” she grinned.
“So… you come here often?”
“Not really, no.”
“I’d figured. Wouldn’t have forgotten someone like you.”
“Really.”
“Yeah. Look, you with that guy?”
“You mean Kiba? Naw.”
“Well, then, can I have your number?”
“I’m attached.”
“Ditch him.” The guy gave her a dangerous smile. Admittedly, he was devilishly good-looking, and even resembled Kiba a little.
Unfortunately for him, Ash took orders from no one. She was about to say No chance and it’s a her, when Kiba appeared at her side.
“She’s not interested,” Kiba said.
“Oh yeah?” The guy smiled coolly.
“Yeah. Back off, buddy.”
“She just said she wasn’t with you, pal.”
“I know.”
Ash rolled her eyes. Kiba was always so damn protective of her. Like she couldn’t take care of herself. Like some damn girl. Oh wait, she was. Looking up, she caught Kiba and the other guy trying to stare each other down menacingly. At that point, Ash decided to break up the potential fight. Stepping between both guys and ignoring the killer vibes emanating from them, she grabbed Kiba’s arm.
“It’s late, let’s go.” She smiled sweetly at the still-nameless guy, then pulled Kiba, who was allowing himself to be led, out of the arcade.
As soon they were out of hearing distance, she said, “What the fuck were you doing back there? Picking a fight?”
“C’mon princess, that guy was hitting on you!” Kiba looked frustrated.
“So?”
“So I got pissed!”
Ash decided not to answer. Kiba was a really cute guy, once you got past the intimidating exterior. There was a reason why he was her best friend, after all.