Under The Moonlight

Chapter 5

Routines. Everybody had them in some form or the other. It had been two weeks and Raven and I had created a routine that neither of us expected. The first time it happened had been embarrassing on my part and amusing on his but it marked the beginning of our friendship. The alarm was blaring and there was a faint tapping noise coming from the window which seemed to get louder as the moments passed. I threw a pillow towards the window (Hopefully) and the tapping stopped. There was slight rustling and then a dull ache spread through my back.

" What the actual fu-" I was cut off by a kick against my already bruised back and I rolled to side. 

"Wake up! Your alarm's been going at it for about half an hour! I do not want to rush to school!" 

"That does not give you the right to abuse me. Also how did you get in?" I groaned as I sat up and chucked another pillow at Raven, who was extremely sparkly considering  how early it was. He chucked it back, smacking me in the face and what was supposed to be a wake-up call turned into a full blown pillow fight. We were gasping for air, laughing at how disheveled we looked when  we heard a shout.

"Raven, what are you doing in there? It's almost half past six! You need to do a daily review for an hour before school with the tutor. Come out in five minutes or you're grounded." Mrs. Smith's voice was painfully loud and shrill. Raven's face had darkened, the playfulness sucked out of him.

He was out the window, jumping across the picket fence that separated our houses and in his room within a minute. With a last glance towards me, he shut the window. Man, living with parents like his would have sucked my soul out within a day.

For the next two weeks, this had become a daily occurrence. I would be woken up in different ways ranging from the classic 'being pushed off the bed' to having water poured on me. There was this one time he tried to tickle me awake which resulted in him getting kicked in the nuts. It truly was an accident, I swear. He never tried that again.

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Raven had a committee meeting. He was made the class rep within a day without second thoughts from his class. Social butterfly. That's what he was and I was envious of that particular trait. He had managed to enrapture the twenty people in his class in a day and within a week, everyone knew who he was. Even our seniors knew him and that took considerable amount of talent. 

He had given me a heads up that he would be late via text and I had texted him that I would wait for him in the library. 

"Not heading home? I'm pretty sure that the swimming club does not have a practice session today." Leah had her hand against her hip, her head cocked to one side. Right behind her was Mark and Liam. 

"No. I'm waiting for Raven so I might as well get some studying in. There's a test on calculus in a week and I need to get a good grade, first test and all."

"Do you want us to wait with you?" Leah's voice was laced with concern and Mark and Liam nodded with agreement. They knew I couldn't stomach being around large groups of people but I doubted that I would have problems in the library. People generally kept to themselves and it was peaceful most of the time. 

"No. I'll manage not to shrivel up and die. You guys should head home. It looks like it's going to rain." 

"If you say so. Also hasn't it been like two weeks? I'm glad I did not take advanced classes. Imagine having to sit through multiple tests. I pity you, Seb. I really do." Mark said, giving a somewhat comforting pat on the head.

"It's not like you would have gotten in, muscle-head."

 Ah, it had started again. The comment made Mark tackle Liam and Leah sighed at the sight of the boys rough-housing each other.

"Guys, seriously grow up. We need to leave and Seb needs to study. Let's go!"

With one more apprehensive look towards me, they left me alone and my thoughts wandered. Meeting them turned me from being an eternal loner to having friends who were extremely persistent, not to mention passionate. They were extremely kind, all three of them. In conversations which normally made me feel left out, they would do their best to include me, either by asking for my opinion or by making a statement about how it would be if I was there as well.

I considered myself lucky. 

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The library was filled with a bunch of students, some from my class. I avoided meeting their gaze by planting mine on the floor as I walked up to the seat near the window away from any sort of disturbance. 

After setting up my 'work space', I roamed around the library in search for the books I needed. With my hands full, I returned to the desk nearly dropping the books when I saw a girl sit in the seat right next to mine.

'I'll just have to deal with it' I said to myself. I couldn't avoid social interactions forever. Maybe this would be my chance to turn over a new leaf and actually make a friend by myself without the prompt of others.

She saw me approaching and smiled. Oh, she knew who I was. 

"Hey, I'm Laurie. I sit beside you in Physics class."

"I'm Sebastian. Nice meeting you." I gave an awkward smile and opened my notebook. She kept quiet after and I resumed my work.

"I like you. Would you like to go on a date sometime?"

Now, this was going be extremely embarrassing I thought, facing the blushing girl. Very, very embarrassing.