ETHEREAL | H.S

chapter 2

the sound of knocking on the door woke me from my sleeping dream, who else but Aaron did it.

yes, he woke me up to go to campus. because he always drove me and then he went to his campus.

We're not in the same college because I don't want to. It would be very embarrassing if I went to the same college as him.

"Wake up Arie!"

"I'm awake, wait I'll shower quickly. " I shouted and heard him coming down the stairs.

.

"Here, bring this sandwich for your breakfast. Be careful you two" my mother said, giving the sandwiches.

Aaron and I kissed her on the cheek and we ran to the car.

.

"You know? My first class is still around 3 hours away and I still have time to sleep well!"

"If dad lets you drive yourself, I don't have to bother driving you like this, idiot" he said

I leaned my head against the window and guessed that Marcie hasn't woken up at this time. It's still so early, and there's nothing I can do but be alone in a deserted cafeteria. I want to drive myself but dad is so scared to let me drive.

"Very early morning class?" I turned to Aaron by pulling up my eyebrow.

"as you can see"

"huh"

.

When I got to campus, I took the time to pass through Marcie's dorm room, at least to check if she was awake.

but not yet.

.

So I went through the hallway to the cafeteria, which I knew was definitely no one there.

but I'm wrong,

there was one boy who was sitting in the corner, opening his rose gold macbook. I'm not concerned with his presence there, so I sat at my usual place. Started eating my sandwich made by my mother. I opened a notebook and wrote down something that was on my mind.

just scribbling on paper while waiting for the day to grow brighter. thinking about what will happen today in my college days.

.

In the midst of my obscure busyness while biting into a sandwich, I heard footsteps walking toward me. The corner of my eye had guessed that it was the lone boy in the corner of the cafeteria.
I quickly glanced at who he was.

And turns out it's lilac boy,

I mean Harry Styles.

"May i join you?" he said, carrying his rose gold macbook.

"y-yeah sure, why not?" i stuttered as he stared into my dead eyes.

"I'm Harry Styles" he gave his hand to shake me.

"I'm Arielle Davie" i smiled and shook his hand.

"glad to meet you" he said showing his delightful smile which made me speechless for a few seconds.

"oh yeah, me too" i replied.

.

after that we were silent for a few minutes. I continued scribbling vague things on the paper, and he scrolled through his macbook. until suddenly no one pushed me, and I said "So you moved here? or is this the first year you started college?"

"more precisely i'm back to this town, and this is not my first year starting college. I've been in college since New York." he explained and his eyes turned to mine after he finished the sentence.

"what's your reason for coming back here? isn't New York a great place to study?" I asked and put the pen on top of my notebook.

he crossed his arms on the table preparing to answer my question.

"Yeah it was. but.. but i want to come back here, i guess. Meet up with old friends, playing football with them, parties, yes the excitement of the high school days when I had with them." he said with affiliative smile.

why did he say 'it was'?

Come on Arielle, is none of your business, and you know that you really hate taking care of other people's business.

"oh i guess highschool friends are fun, right?" I answered smiling with a shrug and he laughed while agreeing to my words.

I've never seen a heavenly smile like this.

wait, am I overreacting? no, he's very charming.

.

"So you're Marcie's high school friend?" I asked breaking the silence that filled the space.

"Yes I am. But not only her, you know them all for sure" he said while typing something.

"Yeah, but not really all of them." I responded and he chuckled but then he fell silent again, this is really awkward.

.

All of sudden, he played a voicemail, but he quickly turned it off.

all I heard was a very soft female voice, saying "you'll be happy, i l-" and after that it stopped.

I froze against my awkwardness not to look at him.

however, I did.

Stupid me. Why do I want to know so many things about him? he looks mysterious and contemplative.

"Sorry if it startled you, I didn't mean to" he closed the macbook and shook his head, hiding his face behind his palms.

"it's okay" I replied.

he looks frustrated, I guess?

what happened to him? oh god stop, Arielle.

.

The hour of awkwardness passed, Marcie was awake and I rushed to her room, along with Harry who returned to his dorm room. Cold grew between the two of us as we walked through the lonely hallway. He was like a stranger to me. Maybe it's because we just met. he's very introverted i guess, even though he looks like a nice person. and it's great to chat with him.

.

"For God's sake you haven't showered? You stink" i said to Marcie while she was still lying on her stomach on the pillow.

"So you were with Harry earlier?"

"As you can see" i shrugged

"Okay, now what do you think about him?"

"Nice"

"Is that all? You know, during high school I was idolizing him like crazy. but not only me, so many girls are crazy about his good looks. They've also competed to get him, but he didn't give a shit about those girls at all." Marcie told me while turning around and staring at the ceiling of the dormitory. I lay beside her and then stared at the ceiling the way that she did.

"I think, the first impression when we saw him was like 'oh he was really charming'. like your world stopped and your eyes only looked into his eyes. but when he looked away, you felt like you just woke up from a dream" I stated

"Yes I agree with your words. But now, I look at him as Harry. Just Harry." she said

"I guess you're feeling the same feelings of those girls from high school" she added which made me turn to her.

there is nothing wrong with her words,

I guess?