“Ahh” Lumine sighed, waking up quickly as her alarm rang out annoyingly, trying to hammer her skull but right now, nothing could hurt her. Stretching her arms outward and feeling her joints give a satisfying crunch, she gets out of bed, ready to bring her day.
She tapped the alarm off and stretched again, popping her leg joints, and feeling another satisfying crunch. Now she felt invincible, ready to take on anything that comes her way. She headed to her dorm room’s bathroom and began to wash her face, etc.
She looked around her dorm bathroom, grateful her high school gave out private bathrooms to the students for every room. It wasn’t the best of quality, with its broken faucet handles that flung off if grabbed too hard or the mirrors that were too small to examine yourself, she still enjoyed the privacy.
She reached for her glass cup and took a sip of water, refreshing her parched throat and making her feel even more confident. She left her private bathroom and got changed, wearing jeans and a loose white shirt. The blonde-haired girl grabbed her school supplies and headed out of her small dorm, containing only a bed, a desk, a wardrobe, and a connected bathroom.
“Oh, hey sis,” Aether said to her, having gotten out of his dorm room at the same time. He gave a small wave and Lumine noticed her twin wearing the same thing. Usually, she would’ve gotten mad about it but right now she couldn’t give a shit.
“What, ugh sorry,” a deep gruff voice said, leaving Aether’s room in a hurry, wearing a giant black jacket and what she had to guess would be minimal clothing underneath. Lumine took a glance at it and realized it was Arataki Itto, Aether’s prom date but now hook up buddy? Lumine was unsure and she didn’t feel the need to pry, so very much happy to even care.
“Bye,” Aether says to him, giving a wink that the buff dude didn’t notice. Lumine giggles, mind clear to make meaning of the situation. “FYI, you’re glowing, and seem very happy,” Aether said to her. Lumine just gave a shrug and a smile.
“Alright, anyway…” Aether said, leaving Lumine and heading down the same path Arataki Itto took.
Lumine took the opposite path, leading to another set of stairs, and made her way down to the first floor. On the first floor of her dorm building, there was a common area for the students to lounge in, filled with couches and a few TVs.
The TVs weren’t provided with the cable though, so it was mostly used for people to hook video game systems and play them as a group. There was even a club now for a specific multiplayer combat video game.
Lumine wandered through the lounge, waiting a bit for a specific somebody. She stood idly by in the center, wobbling on the balls of her feet as she waited for someone. She eyed down the three stairway exits, seeing other students begin to leave and head to the school. Then a familiar tuft of ginger hair made stars alit in her eyes.
“Childe baby!” Lumine called out, waving her hand. She heard a giggle that made her heart flutter and saw the beaming sunshine of her life, Childe. His cute, freckled face and loving handsome smile made her weak to her knees but yet also gave her strength to just jump up and hug him.
“Hey cutie” he replied, saying the pet name he gave her one night out and about the islands. She still could remember the gleaming stars above her as they kissed through the night, the memory still keeping the feeling of Childe’s lips on her intact.
“Hey” she lazily said, grabbing his hands and swinging with them. The blonde-hair girl just stared at the ginger’s face, admiring his rugged but boyish looks that made her butter on a hot pan.
“Hey” he leaned in, whispering. Lumine eagerly leaned in closer, hoping for a kiss. She was about to close her eyes and fill the gap before Childe whispered, “we need to go to school you know,” causing her to pout. She didn’t want to learn, she just wanted to be with Childe, and be in his loving embrace.
“Why” she drawled out whiningly. Childe laughs and drags her hand, taking her outside the dorm building and down to the shore. Lumine follows as guided, moping a bit, but she lightens up as even the sight of Childe’s head fascinates her and makes her feel warm and gooey inside.
“God I truly love him,” She thought, having come to terms with this fact for a while. Though she hasn’t said to Childe, she does hope too soon. She could already imagine seeing the rest of her life with the boy, going to whatever college he goes to, graduating, marrying, and raising children altogether. When she wasn’t with the boy at night, she would be awake for hours, imagining all the lovely details of their potential life together. It always made her heart bloom when thinking about it.
“Alright, the ride is here,” Childe said. Lumine nodded and entered the Waaverider. Childe instructed the boat driver to head to the school and the vehicle began to whir, swimming its way to the large giant school that stood in the center of the archipelago.
“Anyway, are you excited for the game tonight?” Childe asked. Lumine looked lovingly to him, excited to cheerlead for the first time at the football game. This year, Lumine saw that Child was in football and wanted to support him, so she went ahead and tried out for the cheerleading team. By a margin, she made it in, and she was super ecstatic, wanting to support her boyfriend in new ways.
Now she gets to work hard at cheering her boyfriend on while also watching him do practice and getting small bits of time where they can share a kiss or a quick conversation. Practices after school began a fun time for her, always being lovey-dovey while short, so teasingly sweet.
“Yes! I can’t wait!” she exclaimed. Childe chuckled. The two stared at each other eyes, and as Lumine began to close the gap, the boat driver stopped the vehicle, announcing they were at the school.
“Oh okay, let's go in cutie,” Childe said, holding onto Lumine’s hand and taking her off the Waaverider. Lumine again pout, sadden that they didn’t kiss yet. Childe noticed this and gave a quick peck to Lumine, making Lumine’s frown go upside down.
“Alright bye cutie,” Childe said, giving a wink and a wave as he headed to his first period. Lumine stood for a moment, blushing and giggling. She loved having a boyfriend.
School continued as normally that day, with her classes and then having lunch, and then it ended. The football game came and went, her supporting her very best for Childe and cheering him on. She also thankfully avoided getting a broken leg from a pyramid and was able to successfully pull off a few front flips.
Now walking alongside Mona past the school, heading off to the party at Keqing’s.
“Did you see Childe, he looked so
handsome, catching that ball and everything” Lumine said, absolutely adoring her boyfriend.
“Well Scaramouche looked handsome as well, being linebacker and more,” Mona said. The two girls were both very whipped for their handsome boyfriends, something they held in common nowadays.
As they continued to walk around, they passed a dark alley.
“Yeah, and then his cute hair- wait do you hear that?” Lumine said, stopping mid-sentence as she heard yelling and grunting in the dark alley.
“I do, uh should we find out?” Mona
asked. They looked at each other, feeling nervous. But Lumine had a boyfriend she loved, and the world could not harm her at the moment, so she took a step of courage.
“Let’s just take a look and find the source of it,” Lumine decided, heading quietly into the alley. Mona gulped and followed behind. The pair got closer, hearing yelling and other noises from deep gruff voices. They used the giant dump to cover themselves and peaked over it. Lumine arched an eyebrow, seeing a group of tall and pale boys. She didn’t recognize them from her school.
“Oh, they might be Snezhnayan,” Mona said, the thought now occurring to Lumine as well. With the football game, there was a bunch of Snezhnayan kids at the school for the day, wandering around and doing archons knows what.
“I wonder what they’re doing?” Lumine whispered, confused. She saw them floundering with something, weird dark boxes on the alleys. She assumed it was some kind of prank they were doing on the school. Feeling a sense of pride and courage, she got up and yelled out to the group of boys, “HEY! Don’t do that!”
The group of Snezhnayan boys went frozen, surprised.
“Who’s there?” one of them said. Lumine made a dumb decision and walked out with Mona following, the poor girl being nervous and trembling a bit.
“Us!” Lumine exclaimed. The group of boys scoffed, laughing at them. Lumine felt a course of shame, annoyed at the boys’ reaction. Then she also realized the situation she was in, being one of two girls against a bunch of older-looking Snezhnayan boys from a military school. She gulped, her voice telling her she need to leave ASAP.
“Well do you know what happens to snoop little girls in our country?” one of the boys said, the tallest one, his voice riddled with an accent. Lumine gulped, fearing the response. “They get punished,” the tallest said menacingly and then the group of boys began to dash for them.
Lumine jerked and dashed forward, heading out of the alley. Mona followed suited, screaming for her life. Blood rushing and heart beating fast, her adrenaline kicked in, as she tried to think of a solution. Yet she was still in the alley, being chased by a bunch of military dudes that were likely stronger than her. She wanted to cry, scared of the potential danger as fear overwhelms her. She just wanted to be with her strong boyfriend.
“Lumine!” a familiar voice cried out. She gasped, her mind clearing of the foggy fear as she saw a lovely shade of ginger hair, big arms outstretching for her. She began to speed up, desperate to hurry to her boyfriend.
“Baby!” she croaked out, reaching into his loving embrace. Arms tight around her, Childe puts Lumine quickly inside of the car behind him that Lumine didn’t even notice. Mona followed suit and the car began to drive away.
“Huh,” Lumine said, then seeing that Scaramouche was driving, affectionally petting Mona’s knee.
“Are you okay?” Childe asked, worry glinting in his eyes. Lumine gulped, feeling better than ever.
“Yes, thanks to you,” Lumine said. She was responded to with a warm smile and hug from Childe, both she cherished underneath the twilight sky.