“Hey, Taozi, let’s get married when we’re old enough!”

  Six year old Tao looked up from the book in his lap to blink at his best friend, Kris, in surprise and confusion. “What?”

  Overhead, long branches covered in bright green leaves that rustled in the gentle breeze stretched high into the sky, casting a cool shade broken only by the sunlight that streamed through the gaps in the leaves. And in the shade of the tree they had claimed as their own, sat two young boys as they watched the world go by together.

  “Let’s get married when we’re older,” the smaller of the two, Kris, repeated, grinning widely at Tao.

  “Why?”

  “Because my mum said that if I ever meet someone I love so much that I would die without them, I should hurry up and marry them. And Taozi, you’re my best friend and I would die of boredom without you around, so you must promise to marry me.”

  Tao stared at Kris, studying his all too serious expression and trying to find the twinkle in his eye that meant he was joking. But when he found nothing, he held out his pinkie and linked it with his friend’s outstretched one, a small smile gracing his normally expressionless face.

  “Promise.”

~

The uncompleted sketch of a squirrel gazed up at Tao, its one crooked eye seeming to mock him as he huffed in frustration, grabbing the eraser and rubbing at the paper with more force than necessary. Closing the sketchbook, Tao gently set it down, sighing in defeat as he leaned back to eye the tabby that lolled lazily in his spot in the sunlight a few feet away.

  How he hated the very tree he was lying under. The stupid tree and all the memories it held for him. He wanted nothing more than to set fire to it, but there he was, trudging up the hill it sat on, day after day, spending hour after hour sitting under it, filling his sketchbook with drawings and trying not to think about how hollow he felt without his best friend sitting beside him.

  Screw that, Kris was not his best friend anymore. Not after he decided to up and leave for Canada after breaking Tao’s heart.

  Tao narrowed his eyes as he imagined, for the nth time, the fun Kris was having over there, while here he was, living a boring loner’s life. Hell, he was pretty sure, judging from the lack of communication, that Kris had already forgotten all about him.

“I hate Kris,” Tao told the cat. “He’s a ing selfish, stupid and disloyal prick and I want him dead."

  The cat simply cocked its head, staring at Tao and letting out meows that sounded suspiciously like laughter, before padding down the hill back where it came from.

  Great, even the cats seemed to enjoy his misery. Muttering an “” under his breath, Tao picked up his sketchbook. Flipping back to the half completed drawing of the squirrel, he poised his pencil above the paper, trying to decide where to continue from, when-

  Splat

  Tao gasped in horror at the patch of red blossoming on his paper. His drawing was ruined. Anger flooded him. But it soon turned to fear when the part of him that had watched one too many horror movies kicked in. What if it was blood? What if there was a body swinging from the branched above him? What if the killer was still around?

  His heart thudding painfully in his chest, Tao looked up nervously, only to gaps in relief when he saw no body. Instead, he saw a dripping cherry popsicle dangling high over his head, clutched loosely in a grip that belonged to a boy that lounged midway up the tree. Tao had not noticed him because of the leaves that obscured the stranger from view.

  Squinting, Tao tried to make out the features of the boy, but his face was hidden in the shadows and a mop of brown hair was the only thing that could be seen.

  “Excuse me, but do you mind? My drawing is ruined thanks to you and you popsicle. You should at least apologize,” Tao yelled, irritated that hours of hard work had been soiled thanks to a careless stranger.

  For a few long minutes, silence reigned, and just as Tao was about to launch into a tirade of very choice insults, a reply was heard. A reply that came in the form of a snore.

  Tao’s jaw dropped. Had the boy above really fallen asleep in a tree or was he just pretending? Either way, Tao was beyond pissed.

  “Fine. Be that way, you rude idiot,” he seethed as he shoved his belongings into his bag and stormed away.

  Unknown to Tao, however, a pair of brown eyes glinted with amusement as they watched him stomp down the hill, their owner’s lips curved into a grin, a low chuckle escaping them.

  “Still as easy to annoy as ever, huh, Taozi?”

~

  News always travelled fast within the student population, especially if the news was about a potentially good looking new student. And that was how, ten minutes within stepping in the school building, Tao came to know about the newest addition to the student body.

  “I hear he’s really tall!”

  “And that he looks like a super model!”

  Tao rolled his eyes as he pushed his way past the group of squealing and giggly girls that blocked the corridor. Couldn’t they find somewhere else to fantasize about the new student?

  With some difficulty, Tao finally managed to squeeze his way to his classroom. Making his way to his usual spot in the back, he flung his bag on the ground and sunk into his seat, laying his head on the table. He closed his eyes, trying to block out the chattering of his classmates, and was halfway to dreamland when he heard the chair next to him scrape backwards.

  “Is this seat taken?” a husky voice asked, and damn if Tao didn’t recognize that voice. It was the same voice he heard over the phone during the rare times he got a call from Canada.

  A feeling of dread settled in Tao’s stomach as he slowly and reluctantly looked up, clinging onto the slim hope that it not who he thought it was.

  But that hope was dashed when Tao finally lifted his eyes to the face of the boy before him and took in the familiar features. Yep, he was staring at none other than the person he had not expected nor wanted to see for at least another hundred years. Kris.

A/N

There, first chapter up! Hope y'all liked it, and, once again, if you're interested the link to the contest is here ---> Make Me Happy Writing Contest