Mr. Brightside {muke}

Prologue pt. 1

It's been 12 years.

12 years since I've met Michael Clifford.

I was five years old. It was the first year of kindergarten. I honestly remember that day like it was yesterday. I mean, why wouldn't I? Who in their right mind would forget the day they met him? Definitely not me. Anyway, that day, I made the biggest mistake I possibly could have made.

Well, it all really started the day before.

I, of course, being the forgetful lad I am, forgot my prized possession when I went to school with a big smile on my face-which soon fell and was bombarded with tears once I realized my fault. I had left my 64 pack of crayons-loaded with a crayon sharpener in the back-in my room.

The night before, I had set up all of my new, pretty supplies in my backpack. Well, technically my mum did, but that's beside the point. But, later that night, I couldn't sleep, my mind ridden with nervous thoughts about what was to come.

Even as a child I was anxious and worried too much.

Some things never change, I guess.

So, I, of course, to rid myself of my anxiety, crept over to my backpack-which was hanging on my door knob(it was a Spider-Man backpack, equipped with a matching lunchbox)-, pulled out my crayons, and made my way to my superhero style bed. I pulled down my drawing pad out from under my Thomas The Train pillow-I didn't trust people even when I was younger- and began to draw the usual little kid drawings; flowers, rivers, suns with sunglasses, that kind of stuff.

And it made me feel better.

But when I was done, I put my crayon box at the foot of my bed, too tired and lazy to put the colorful things back into my backpack. Sure, I regretted it the next day, but in no way shape or form do I regret it now. Sort of.

When I woke up the next morning, I hadn't remembered anything that had happened during the night. The thoughts, the drawings, the crayons being taken out of my backpack, nothing. I like to call it 'short kid short term memory'. I used to use it as an excuse for not doing my homework up until the point where I had my growth spurt, which put me where I am today. Tall as a Giraffe.

So I went to school with a giant smile on my face with Green Day blaring from the CD player. Did I fail to mention that my mum also drove my brothers to school? Well, she did.

I had walked into the bright classroom and admired it in awe. There were vibrant signs everywhere, some showed the alphabet, others explaining how to wash your hands. The teacher was by the door, talking to my mum and telling her about the class and reassuring her I was going to live.

There were kids my age running around everywhere, laughing and playing, and up until that point, I had never been in too too many social situations. Which basically explains my current antisocial personality. Go figure.

I was extremely scared and felt like I was going to wet my pants, but I proceeded to scan the various desks with decorated pieces of paper with students' names for my own; 'L-U-K-E'. It was the only thing I was focused on in thr moment. Finding my simply spelled name and finding my four letter word only.

Which goes to show why the human population should learn tom multitask at a young age. We should be able to have spacial awareness while at the same time being able to locate our assigned seats. 

But, because homosapiens were created with very little brain capacity, I, inevitably, smacked right into another body, who was probably looking for their name as well.

I stumbled a bit, grabbing the person's shoulders to steady myself. I mumbled an "I'm sorry."(my mum always chastised me for not being polite, so I tried to prove her wrong on my first day. She said I 'inconvenienced people.') It was then that I finally looked up.

It was a boy.

He was giggling and smiling wildly, ignorant to the fact that I had just bulldozed into him. He had deep dimples imprinted into the sides of his cheeks, a mop of dark blonde curly hair atop his small head, his eyes a nice hazel. After two seconds of looking at the boy, my face sprouted a gigantic smile and I erupted in laughter right along with him.

He stuck his hand out at me. "Hi! I'm Ashton." He said, glowing with pride, before going back into the giggling fit he was in before. 

I took his hand in my own and shook it in a rather immature, over-exaggerated fashion. "Luke." Was my simple reply. At that moment, my smile was threatening to split my face in two.

Little did I know, this blonde angel with the infectious smile would be my best friend. But despite my age and non-knowledge of life, I still had the feeling that Ash would be hard to get rid of.

"Let's be friends." He said to me, before giggling more. "Let's be friends, we can play with each other when playtime starts." He said, looking at me with such hope that I couldn't help but say a resounding 'yes'.

Ashton smiled in response, and went back to giggling and searching for his seat. 'He'll have no problem making friends.'  I had thought. 

And after another three minutes dedicated to discovering my desired sign, I had seen 'Luke' written in pretty writing on a laminated sheet of paper fit with black and yellow bumble bees on it. There it had been, my seat.

I had sat down with a sigh of relief. I was the first one at my table, surprisingly. Seemed that a lot of had been having as much trouble as I had, if not more, finding their name and desk. 

The next person to arrive at the table sat diagonal from me. He was rather nice looking, with a comforting type of look in his eyes. He had light brown hair and eyes that matched it.  He had a smile on his face, just as Ashton had, but his was a bit smaller, yet still held good intentions. 

The brunette was rather quick to acknowledge me. "I'm Alex. What's your name?" I smiled, waving a bit at Alex to show him I had heard him. "M' name's Luke."

[an: frick it's hard to talk like a kid] 

"'S nice to meet ya', Luke. Can I call you Lukey?" He asked hyperly, his eyes darting rapidly between me and a bag of animal crackers located behind me on the other side of the classroom. I nodded and smiled at him with all of my might. Alex giggled.

I spared a glance at the desk next to my own. On the name tag, there were six letters that I tried to decipher. 'A-S-H-T-O-N' I sounded the name out in my head, then out loud. I had known that name.

A giant smile took over my face, and I looked expectantly around the room o small children scurrying to find their seats before i spotted the hazel eyed boy.

"Ashton!" I called out, and the boy was quick to shoot over to the source of the voice, which was me. He bounded over, stumbling a bit, which caused him to giggle. Which caused me too laugh, too. Alex noticed that laughs and joined in. 

When Ashton reached my seat, I pointed excitedly to the desk next to mine. "Look, Ash! It says 'Ashton'! See?! A-S-H-T-O-N!" AShton's face brightened and he instantly ran to pull out his seat and immediately sat down, puttign his thing in his desk. His luchbox and backpack were in his cubby, though, just like my and everyone else's.

Then Ashon, Alex, and I began talking and everything that a kindergartener could possibly talk about, which pretty much means pokemon and dinosaurs. Two of my favorite things then and now.

About a minute passed before a shy boy walked over to the only empty desk left, which just so happened to have his name on it.

When the green eyed boy arived, I was quick to introduce myself. I hadn't known why at the time, but he intriuged me. I know why, crystal clear actually, today, though. It's kind of obvious.

"Hi! i'm Luke, what's your name?" I asked, thrusting my out for him to take in his own.

My actions surprised my two new friends, for it was quite obvious that I was a total introvert, yet here I was, openly throwing myself on this boy.

The boy took my hand, oh so timidly.

"Michael."