Simple Sweetness

Chapter 2: The Very Beginning

Six years ago...

Darien let out a slow breath, absently spinning his cup of coffee. It would be his last one for a long time, as he just started at Cross Roads High School, and thanks to a guest speaker he had chosen a path for his future. His whole life from now on would be over hauled, no more junk food or lazy afternoons on the weekend. If he wanted to achieve his dreams he would have to work extremely hard as well as be committed and single minded in his pursuits or he would never make it. He could do it! He had nothing in his life but his goals anyway.

Summer had just ended and the new fall school year had just begun on a very appealing note for him. The sky above the downtown towers was a sparkling clear blue, the sun beating down on the sidewalk, heating the glass and warming the dark cotton fabric of his t-shirt on his shoulders as he lost himself in fantasies of a bright future.

A sharp knocking sounded against the glass beside his booth, drawing him from his thoughts. Darien lightly brushed some stray dark hair off his eyes as he turned to the sound, finding his best friend Andrew grinning like a fool on the other side of the glass. His face was boyish with soft, playful blue eyes and a head of short, dusty blonde hair.

Darien chuckled, pointing to the empty spot across from him in the red leather booth. Andrew nodded and dashed away down the street for the front doors. This was the hottest hang out for all Cross Roads High's students, a large arcade downtown known as Crown.

He watched the double glass doors slid aside with a hiss, ushering in the lanky form of Andrew. The boy was all legs with a long frame and broad shoulders, wearing baggy jeans held up with a wide black leather belt and untucked white t-shirt with a worn out ironed on image of a flaming basketball in oranges and reds. His best friend had been in love with the game since he was a young kid, finally being able to try out and making it onto the School team.

Andrew slipped into the booth, raising his eyebrows in playful inquiry.

"So what happened to you after assembly man? You skipped the whole day?" Andrew beamed, knowing damn well he had taken off with the lead speaker, an old Russian guy who had been a professional cage fighter in his day. He had come promoting wellness and good health to the school, but in reality he was scouting for fresh meat to train to be the next UFC Champion back in Las Vegas.

"He showed me his gym, and I met the other guys he's training. I'm going to do it, Andrew. I am so pumped, man!" Darien spoke with awe and an intense enthusiasm.

"So whats..." Andrew began, then his gaze drew away from his excited friend to some distant point threw the window further down the street. "Oh, man. Here comes Simple Sweetness." He chuckled, his face twisting from cringing to laughing as he watched the dreamy, clumsy disaster that was the girl known as Simple Sweetness, a nickname given by Darien upon their auspicious first meeting a week ago on the first day of school.

The Cross Roads Elementary was built right next door to the high school housing all the lower grades and also the junior high classes as well. They had been hanging out just off school grounds, lounging against the rosy brick privacy fence that framed the front grounds of both schools, chatting about their twisted weekend and all the drama and stupidity at the last summer beach party.

The final bell was just tolling, the crowds of faceless and nameless students of all ages milling past them like a herd of muttering sheep, heading through the gate and onto school grounds, when one young girl literally danced past him, her individuality and positive aura making her stand out from the throng. While the rest of the girls her age seemed to be in tight jeans and even tighter risque looking shirts that attempted to show off what meager cleavage they might have at the tender age of thirteen, this girl was in a flowing navy skirt that reached just below her upper thighs, accented with a pearl white slip with lace trim that extended the hem line to her knees. She was also wearing a frilly little pearl white blouse that had short puffy sleeves and tiny little bows down the front. Her outfit was so feminine and sweet compared to the little whores in training they saw entering the gates everyday.