2012, December 18^th

“Krys, come on!” Alice hissed, trying to push Krystal outside the doors.

“You know I like taking long walks! So no!” The younger girl shout back, but not too loudly; their grandma was sound asleep, like most of the time they got ready for school. Right now Tiffany has come to pick the sisters up, and even though they knew how the younger one always refused their offers, both seniors tried their hardest. The snow has piled up all the streets, not to mention the small ways out of the forest, where Krystal and Alice lived.

Signing, Alice dropped her sister’s arm and stuffed out her tongue. “You’re late anyways. You won’t make it in time.” Krystal only bit her lip and took her phone out of the pocket. Twenty three minutes were left before her first lesson starts. Her normal routine this morning will take her about forty minutes to get to the town. Frowning, she opened the car’s door and got in. With a victorious grin, Alice took the passenger’s seat.

“So… How was yesterday?” Tiffany broke the silence that had settled in. Since Victoria and Tiffany were really close, the older girl probably knew of what happened in their little hangout journey. Even though Krystal specifically told for Victoria to keep shut.

“Very… memorable.” When passing through a big crowd of workers, Krystal eyed what they have done already. To her surprise, they were already doing ground works. ‘The new boys have really a lot of money, huh.’

Letting her heavy eyelids close her eyes, Krystal slowly moved her upper body to find a good, comfortable zone. Setting her head on the window, even if that way her head bumped into the glass every few seconds, she relaxed her muscles and placed her headphones into her ears. For the next twenty minutes she didn’t listen to her sister’s and Tiffany’s rambling, nor little gossips about some girls and boys. But even if she didn’t intend to, she caught one particular name.

Taking her earphones out, she interrupted the conversation. “Daniel? What about him?”

Both girls turned around to Krystal, surprised that she was listening. Well, she wasn’t, but she happened to hear this part. Straightening herself and looking straight ahead, Tiffany chuckled.

“Well, he caught my eyes. So mysterious. And supposedly stupid.” Alice only nodded a few times, looking all serious.

“Well, he’s distanced type of a person, but being this kind of an air head like that…” Alice also chuckled, probably remembering something. “You know, yesterday he appeared in the class really late, like, half of the lesson was already over, and when the teacher scolded him, he just turned away and left. Everyone was left stunned, even the teacher. Our literature teacher immediately wrote a bad mark on his results page. Most of our classmates laughed a lot after the lesson was over.”

Krystal was shocked by the small story. Was he really that dumb? Probably being that wealthy has gotten into his head. However, Gabriel looked a lot more approachable and normal. Even if she got to know them just recently.

“It surprised me too. Nevertheless, at least he’s handsome.” Tiffany giggled like a small girl, making both Alice and Krystal to roll their eyes. ‘There she goes again…’ “I mean, really handsome.”

A not-so-comfortable silence broke out in the car. Soon they came to a stop. After parking the car in the tiny parking lot, the girls separated in their different ways. Krystal’s first lesson was arts, so she’ll pass Victoria’s first lesson, which was Psychics. Spotting her older friend from afar, Krystal started running through the hallway, therefore, not noticing her surroundings well. Two minutes left until the lesson. She couldn’t catch up to Victoria quietly, so instead she came to abrupt stop and let out a sign. Unexpectedly, someone bumped into her from behind. In instinct, Krystal turned around only to see a tall figure shadowing her.

“Oh, it’s Krystal,” Gabriel smiled, fixing his shirt. Krystal returned a smile.

“Hi new boy. Excited for another day at school?” She tried to joke, and to her huge amusement, the boy responded with an audible grunt. Smirking, she straightened her back, to look at least a bit taller. Seriously, how can these brothers be so tall?

“Ha ha, nice one. So, anyway, is your lesson somewhere here?”

“Yep, right there,” she pointed at a classroom next to Victoria’s.

Gabriel’s gaze trailed to the pointed room and grinned. “I have Psychics right now. With Victoria, I think.”

“Is that so.”

Krystal didn’t have anything else to say, so she was relieved when the bell rung. Even if it’s loudness hurt her ears a bit. Waving Gabriel goodbye, she went to her class.

 

 

Tuesdays were probably one of the calmest days in Krystal’s busy weeks. True, she had a lot of activities after school, but she liked the lessons at least. Her day at schools started with arts, and then she went to IT lessons and many easier ones afterwards. Well, she had only three lessons so far today, and it was break time already. After the third lesson was dismissed, Krystal immediately gathered her utensils and ran straight to the cafeteria. Today there should be freshly baked pancakes, her favorites.

Krystal was one of the first students to get into the cafeteria, so once she bought her food, she went to her usual seat. She wanted to wait for her friends before starting to eat, but five minutes went by and no one showed up yet. Feeling a bit like an outsider, she bit her first pancake and eyed the entrance. Only after eight more minutes came her group of friends, and the girl was already done eating.

“Hey, where have you guys been?” She pouted as Jason slid his arm around her waist, once seated. To them, it was a common and usual gesture, but it probably looked differently to Gabriel, who kept looking at the two.

“Wanna ask us something or what?” Jason rudely asked the new boy, freeing Krystal from his hold. The latter one, just like the rest of the group, glanced to Gabriel, waiting for his comeback.

“You two are dating?”

And with that, Krystal’s mouth was left hanging low; it shocked her to no end how absurd it sounded. Her and her best friend? No way in million years. Some of the group had the same reaction like her, while Victoria, on the other hand, couldn’t stop laughing loudly.

“You misunderstood. We’re just really good friends,” Jason calmly responded. Gabriel could have sworn that Jason was asked about that a lot, but Krystal’s reaction made him wonder a bit more about that.

“Eh… well this is awkward.” Starting to giggle, Jinnee put her hands on her belly since it hurt laughing while having no food in her belly. Alice just scoffed at Krystal’s reaction and gave a glare to Jason.

“Jas, it’s not the first time people misunderstand you two. You shouldn’t act like that around her, at least not in public.” Before he could retort though, Tiffany interrupted him.

“It’s starting to get on my nerves too. Do you know how hard will it be for Krystal to find a boyfriend if you’re around her all the time?”

Since Krystal couldn’t believe where the conversation was going, and neither could Jason, she tried to end the small chat.

“Geez, you all know we’re best friends. We would never fit together as a couple.” However, she noted how Amber wanted to say something ‘funny’ so she needed a bit more confirmation. “There’s nothing more, right, Jason?”

“Of course there isn’t.” To prove his saying, he even showed a disgusted face and took his seat a bit further from her, to what she responded with a playful slap. “I couldn’t ever imagine her getting married. Look at her behavior!” To that, Krystal responded with not-so-playful punch in his lungs. Soon, the whole group was laughing, even Gabriel.

After checking his phone, the new addition to the group informed others that his brother is coming. Some of them didn’t mind the news at all, while Tiffany made sure she looked okay, to what Alice responded with a sarcastic phrase.

Walking towards the full table, Daniel could feel someone’s eyes burning his skull. He didn’t have to look up from the ground to know who the person was.

“If you glare at me like that, your eyes might pop out anytime,” He said clearly to Krystal, while setting himself on the seat in front of her, next to Gabriel’s.

To his delight, the younger girl couldn’t come up with a smart retort and just sat in her place, quiet and almost obedient looking.

“How strange for you to join us,” Alice spoke up when she felt a sudden change in the atmosphere.

“Didn’t have anything better to do anyway, so thought that I might as well join your table for the break. Hope you don’t mind though,” Daniel smiled to Alice and Krystal didn’t like it-- a smile didn’t quite fit his whole bad- image. At least she imagined him like that in her mind.

“Nah, the bigger the group, more the fun!” Aaron was the ice breaker, trying to bring the good mood. Daniel smiled wider to him, not really knowing what to talk about. They were all strangers to him, after all.

“So…” Alice tried to come up with a topic to talk about, however it was quite hard to do so. “…What are your plans for Christmas?”

Gabriel and Daniel exchanged gazes, full with confusion.

“I guess a normal dinner will do.”

Alice just nodded to Gabriel’s response; a silence engulfed the lunch table once more.

“You’ll be celebrating with your families, I believe?” Gabriel asked, feeling uncomfortable all of a sudden. Krystal and Alice tensed up a bit. Besides the old grandmother, who can barely walk, they have no one else besides each other.

“Actually, now that you brought it up…” Jinnee delightedly spoke out, trying to gather everyone’s attention.  “I was thinking about it for a while. How about our little group does a meet up for the holidays? I’m too old to hang out with my parents.”

Krystal could have disagreed with the last statement though. She had no parents, her whole life. She would have given up almost anything for the chance to spend any holiday, any day with them.

Alice looked over to Daniel. Both him and Gabriel looked quite uncomfortable right now, probably thought that they wouldn’t be invited. “Well, you two could join us, right?” Jinnee smiled at them both, trying to assure them of her friendliness.

“Heck, we only met recently, it wouldn’t be a big shock if you excluded us from your list,” Gabriel lightened up.

“That won’t do,” Tiffany smiled. “We gotta give you a chance. Such big day like Christmas is a good chance to get to know you guys better.”

“We’ll think about it,” Daniel couldn’t help but wonder whether it would be a good idea to come. Since, he had some work to do.

An evident pout on Gabriel’s face brought out a chuckle from Krystal and Alice.

 

 

After not-that-boring Geography, Krystal found herself going to the cafeteria again. In the last ten minutes before the second big break, she started thinking about various milkshakes. And now, it irked to no end if there were some in the cafeteria. She just wanted a damn milkshake.

Since mostly loners or teachers went to eat in second break, the cafeteria was almost empty. However, she noticed a figure sitting on their table, near the windows. Smiling to herself, Krystal quickly bought some apple juice (there were none milkshake drink after all) and dashed towards her seat.

“Why alone?”

Looking surprised, Gabriel didn’t respond for a few seconds, then, he smiled.

“Have a free lesson now. Hence I don’t know school that well yet, decided to come here.”

“Quiet, isn’t it?”

The boy chuckled. “Feels like sitting in the library.”

Still smiling, Krystal opened her carton of juice and sipped a bit.

“How many lessons do you have today?”

Gabriel’s question came out of nowhere. Suddenly feeling embarrassed for looking surprised, Krystal took out her notebook and looked at the lessons list.

“Three more. You?”

“Same, if you count the next period, which is free for me.” Krystal nodded, not sure what else to say. It was natural for them to feel awkward around each other; however, Gabriel didn’t look quite lost. “Wanna go home together then?”

Almost choking on her juice, she widened her eyes. “But you’re staying somewhere else now, aren’t you?”

Laughing at her reaction, Gabriel shook his head a few times. “It’s not that. Daniel asked me to look at the house progress today. Since soon you’ll be my neighbor, I thought of keeping your company on the way.”

“Ahh, so that was it.” But remembering something, Krystal tapped her finger on Gabriel’s hand, since he was looking at his phone. “It will be impossible today. At four o’clock I have piano lesson. It’s not worth for me to go home and then come back here again. Sorry.”

“You play piano?” Gabriel’s gaze locked onto Krystal’s eyes; he looked really serious all of a sudden. He also seemed deep in thoughts.

Shaken by his intense gaze, the girl stuttered lamely. “Y-yes. Why?”

As sudden as he was serious, now his eyes softened and he let out a sign. “Nothing. Just remembered something really important. Are there a lot of people playing the piano?”

“Not particularly. In this little town, at least. Besides me, there are around sixteen other students that are learning how to play.”

“That seems a lot. How many are playing classical pieces?”

Narrowing her eyes, Krystal straightened her back. “Almost everyone. It’s in our yearly program.  What’s up with the questions?”

“Nothing. I’m just a bit curious about playing the piano.”

“I can see that.”

After another awkward silence, Krystal decided that it’s time to go to her next class.

 

 

“Can I listen to you play?”

“No way.”

Currently, Krystal was walking in front of Gabriel and Daniel, who were following since they popped up once her last lesson ended. The younger brother asked to come to her piano lesson over and over again, and it got on her nerves too much.

“But I’ll be quiet!” Gabriel placed his arm around Krystal’s shoulders, to what in return she just shuddered.

Stopping in her tracks, she swayed his arm away. “Oh alright, fine!” Looking back at the quiet Daniel, she pointed at him. “Besides, why are you tagging along?”

“I dragged him here, really,” Gabriel answered, receiving a glare from Krystal. “Our mother loved to play the piano. I just thought it would bring nice memories to us.”

Krystal felt sorry for them for a moment.  “Just don’t make any noises. The concert is coming soon.”

Gabriel nodded enthusiastically, smiling.

“What concert?” Daniel asked.

“The one I’ll be performing in. For celebrating Christmas, of course. It’s next Friday.”

“We’ll come.” Krystal’s mouth was left hanging as Daniel passed her. He sure didn’t seem like the type to enjoy classic music. So why would he come?

 

 

“Now the part after the repetition,” Krystal’s teacher instructed, walking around the grand piano.

On the other note, La’cre brothers were sitting a bit further in the huge hall, where the performers were getting ready for the upcoming concert.

“I was right, after all,” Gabriel smirked at his older brother.

Daniel scoffed in response. “It was merely a lucky try.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m pretty sure she’s the one we heard playing.”

“If it’s true, we’ll be able to find her sooner than expected.”

“What do you plan on doing? You clearly don’t seem to like the idea of bringing her to him.”

“We were together, I cannot abandon that memory. I just want to know her reasons for running away. If her answer pleases me, I’ll help her.”

“That’s a death wish. The almighty one is going to be here sooner or later. She has no chance of escaping him with little power she has left. Her human girl doesn’t seem to notice her either, which means only one- her time is almost over.”

“That’s more of a reason to help her,” Daniel smirked to himself, trying to imagine all the possible trouble he could get into.

“Don’t even ask me to help your sorry later. He and I are some sort of friends. We won’t be able to keep him in the dark for too long. He’s going to find out.”

“He’s looking for her already. I can feel it in the air. He probably knows we’re here too.”

“This is a mad game, brother.”

Daniel didn’t respond. Instead, he carefully watched Krystal from afar, listening intently as if she’s going to appear at any note. While it didn’t happen, the rehearsal ended and somehow Krystal managed to escape from the waiting brothers.

Running into the park, Krystal thought of how she despised being followed. Sitting on the bench, she caught a glimpse of a happy kid strolling beside his parents, right across the street.

Soon the rain started to fall. Not only the sky was crying.

 

 

 

 

-

Sorry guise about that random part. Or those random parts.

You know full well which parts I have in mind.

Right, the ‘is Jackson your bf?’ and ‘out of nowhere it rains’ parts.

Sorry ‘bout that. I just want to show how depressed Krystal is, whenever I get the chance to do so.

On another note…

Thank you all who were anticipating the continuation!

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