The One

1

"Today was so much fun!" Diane exclaims, clinging to my arm. I laughed, smiling and patting her hands with one of my own.

Diane is my very best friend in the entire world. We've known each other since we were really little, having gone to the same school since kindergarten. We got along and became friends almost immediately - my own sisters had said they think Diane is my real sister and not them.

And it's funny to think about, since Diane and I have never really fought and I see her as a sister. But Margaret and Veronica will always be my sisters.

Right now, Diane and I walk down the sidewalks of my neighborhood with King, Elaine and Ban; King being Diane's crush, Elaine being King's sister and Ban being Elaine's boyfriend.

We met these three when we all started middle school. We're all in the same grade, going onto twelfth grade - our senior year. They say the last year of high school would be the most fun, and I hope it will be. School has stressed me out enough as it is.

"It was!" Elaine says, agreeing with Diane's statement. "We should do it again! Only next time, let's go to the beach then have a movie night!"

"That sounds like fun," I smile. Diane grabs my hand and links our fingers together, swaying our arms back and forth. This was something we always did, a habit we never dropped since we were five. "Whose house though?"

"Yours, duh," Ban chuckles. "Ya got a two story house and it's massive! We're not rich like you are, princess~"

Ban always calls me princess. He said it's because of how rich my family is and because I act like some sort of regal princess. I don't think the whole princess thing is true, but Ban has been calling me
princess for years... There's no stopping him after so long. And it's not a bad nickname either, I guess.

I laugh. "Okay. But I don't know if we'll have time when school starts again. Think Mr Dreyfus will be less strict this year?"

Diane giggles and I can see her roll her eyes from the corner of my eye. "Yeah right. Mr Dreyfus loves you because your sister is engaged to his son! And not to mention your oldest sister is marrying his nephew in the winter..."

"That's not true," I argue. "I'm just a good student!"

"Another reason why he loves you." It's King adding to the conversation this time, and I can't stop myself from laughing. "He always gives the rest of us a hard time! I might cry if we have him again this school year."

I can hear it when Elaine smacks her brother in the arm. "Well, if you stopped sleeping in his class so much, maybe he wouldn't give you such a rough time!"

"But you never even had his class with us!" King groans, likely rubbing his now sore arm. Elaine can hit pretty hard. "How do you even know I dozed off?"

"I'll give you two guesses."

I look over my shoulder to see King glaring at Ban, then shooting Diane a somewhat hard gaze too. I grin to myself, knowing he has a crush on Diane, too.

"You two blabbed off to my sister?" King cries.

"It's what ya get for bein' so uptight all the time, slacker~" Ban teases, really aiming to strike a nerve.

"Sorry King," my best friend says sheepishly.

King sighs and I giggle, turning my head forward to look at where I'm going. "It's... fine."

About a minute passes where we just walk. Eventually though, we reach the street where my house is at and I stop everyone at the corner of the street.

"Welp, this is where I part ways with you all!" I say. Everyone smiles at me and Diane pulls me into a tight hug.

"Bye, Ellie! I'll see you tomorrow!" She tells me. I nod and hug her back before letting go.

Diane likes to show up to my house uninvited sometimes, but I guess it's always been like that. We'd have playdates pretty often when we were little. Some things just never change.

I wave everyone goodbye and I walk down the street to my house. I'm about to walk up to the front door before I notice something strange.

To the left of my house, there's an empty home that no one has ever moved into. It's been like that ever since I could remember, but now... Now there's a moving van outside of it and two older men stand by the van. One is somewhat short with odd green hair and the other is taller with long pinkish hair.

I can't hear anything but they're talking to each other, smiling and laughing and nodding their heads. I see two other boys hop out of the moving van, one of them with jet black hair and green eyes, and the other has golden blonde hair that's really messy and his eyes are the same color as the other boy's, only the blonde's seem a little less bright.

They're carrying boxes out of the van and I suddenly connect the dots - they're moving in. They're actually moving into the house that's been empty for all of the eighteen years I've been alive!

The blonde boy somehow notices my unrelenting stare; because he's looking over at me, his lips parted before he smiles, teeth and all. My heart stops in my chest for a second, the sight of his smile making me blush.

I should probably wave at him, maybe return his smile, but I can't. Instead, I made a run for it and bolted into my house.

The front door closes behind me and I sigh out in relief. Why was I acting like this? I can't help but try to catch my breath as I lean against the front door. There was something about him... Something about him that made me heart pound erratically.

I try to shake it off. I enter the living room, seeing my father and my older sisters sitting on the couch, a board game set up on the table.

My father is the first one to see me. "Elizabeth honey!" He says and Margaret and Veronica look at me with wide smiles. "How was hanging out with your friends?"

"It was fun," I replied to my father. I walk over to where they're playing and I give each of them a kiss on the cheek. "What are you guys playing?"

"Monopoly," Veronica says. "You wanna join, sis?"

"And mop the floor with you guys?" I joke. "Not tonight; I'm pretty tired. Tomorrow is a new day though!"

My father laughs and pats me on the shoulder before going back to his game. "Alright, sweetheart. Did you have dinner already?"

"Yup!" I say, going towards the stairs, since my room is upstairs. "Good night everyone!"

"Good night!"

When I reach my room, I sigh softly. Today was a good day but I'm still so confused about that boy I saw outside. He's gonna be my new neighbor I'm assuming.

I shake my head, wanting to think about something else. I decide to take a shower before I ultimately go to bed and sleep until Diane barges into my room. Again, it was another thing she did when we were younger.

Old habits die hard, as they say.

After my shower and putting on a pair of pajamas, I lay down in my bed and close my eyes, eventually drifting off into a deep sleep.

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hi!! I've once again decided to start yet another story. It's another school au because I just cant get enough of them!!! I hope you guys enjoy this one as much as I will 💕