The Art of Love (TPN High School AU)

~Chapter 2~

I know, this is the last update until Friday. I wanted to get two chapters out ASAP :3. Any questions about the book? Feel free to ask me!

Ray's POV

That dumb smile of hers.....

I bet she's the one from my memories of when I was like 9....

Same hair, same personality, and of course, same obsession with giraffes.....

Before I knew it, the day ended. Another end to a depressing day to a depressing life. You might ask me, with Isabelle and Leslie as my parents, who are known as the nicest people in town, and with me being raised as if I was gonna die tommrow, and with my mental state, that day can be any day.

Depression can be crazy. It's annoying, it can drag you down, it can make a life full of light and color seem very dark and evil. That's my life in a nutshell. Boring, depressing, and just having my ass in a book all the time.

At least that's what I thought

Then Orangey happened. I fell on her.... and suddenly, it felt like a brand new world opened up for me. It suddenly felt amazing... and I dunno what this feeling is, but hey, at least I've got a childhood friend whose parents aren't assholes!

Finally, I can hopefully see the light in this world....

At least I hope so

Time flies by fast in this cruel world. Before I knew it, it was 3:00 pm. It was now time to finally get home and nope all day about today. Thus has been this way for 14 years....

"Ah time flies by quickly doesn't it Aiden!"

"Sure does, Norboy!"

I sighed as I looked at Emma, knowing both of our best friends were stolen from us just because they exist. Norman deserves more than one friend, anyways... so yeah.... like I care.

I sighed as I lounged down on my seat, feeling the jerk of the school bus as we finally move along to find our homes. Knowing the bus ride will be boring if I don't somehow make use of it, I grabbed a book and began reading. It wasn't long until Emma decided it was time for a conversation.

I fucking dread conversations..... unless of course it's about life with a fellow suicidal  fellow, Norman....

Guess he has someone more cheerful to hate on life with....

"Sooo Ray! How has your first day of Upper School been?"

"We call it high school, number one, and it was okay. Boring as hell tho."

"Same here! I wish that we could instead of sitting on our asses all day and doing schoolwork, we could socialize and actually chat about it!"

Ew, socializing. Not my style

"Oh okay. Well... what are both of our best friends like? You should start."

The truth is, I didn't really want to open up about Norman's home life, even if we have had known them for years. It was so dark and depressing, it makes my coffee seem like heaven in comparison.

"Well, Aiden is depressed. Not really, since he is full of hope, but.... he has attempted to h-hang himself though. I remember the day as clear as glass."

"I've had to prevent Norman from doing that multiple times. How did your story go?"

"Well..."

Emma was standing there, at home, like any other day. She was working on her really boring homework, when suddenly, she got a call. She was still new to a phone, so she looked at it confused until I picked up, and figured out out.

"Hey there Aiden!"

"Yeah.... I just wanted to say, I love you and I wish you luck on life."

"Oh thanks! I love you too, you're the best friend I could ever ask for!"

"No problem! See you... tommrow..."

The call ended there. Emma suddenly got an urge to go to Aiden's house. She grabbed her backpack as a crash of thunder frightened her. She was thinking of the spooky mood when she yelled at her uncle,

"Uncle Yuugo! I'll be back, I'm going to Aiden's house! I'll be back later!"

"Okay Antenna! I think it's for the best... if you're not wrong, your best friend might be in a really bad spot."

She rushed over to his house as quickly as she could. She arrived just as Aiden was about to kick the chair to using himself. Suddenly, Emma started breaking down. Aiden looked concerned, and seriously began questioning his choice....

"I'm so glad I came here in time.... I-I wasn't sure what my gut feeling meant!"

"It's okay, I found out today my other best friend besides you died. I'm tired of life....."

"No! Don't suicide just because Alex died! He may have been awesome, but you're just as awesome!"

"Nah, I'm not worth you. Let me husky myself...."

I listened on in shock as she started breaking down in tears. It reminded me of when I found out Norman was suicidal, but I had predicted it unlike Emma. I did what any sane boy would do; I hugged her. She really needed it after telling me probably one of the hardest moments in her life.....

"Emma, I'm so sorry that happened to you... I'm glad he's happy now."

"Yeah! He seems to be happy with Norman!"

We both looked at Aiden and Norman, laughing, making jokes, and also talking about their lives with their own best friends. I wonder what embarrassing story Norman had to share with Aiden....

Better not be that day when I accidentally slept with a book and peed on it.

I listened in closer, and of course, it was that memory. That damned memory.... that I wanted to forget. I heard Aiden dying of laughter, and I felt my face growing red. I heard Aiden talk about some stupid time Emma decided to run away from some things she was clearly imagining and ran into a tree. I snickered under my breath. Suddenly, I heard Emma say,

"You actually did that?"

"I ALWAYs try to forget that memory. Norman always brings it up."

Before I knew it, it was my stop. Ah, how time passes when you're spending time with good friends.... I sighed as I got off at my stop with all of my friends. Aiden and Emma walked home together, and I couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy.

But why?

I decided to chat with Norman along the way.

"So you're staying at my house?"

"Ray, of course. Anyways, is Emma the last of the trio we had at the orphanage owned by your mom?"

"Confirmed it. Acts just the same, especially about how strong she is in emotional intelligence."

"Huh, what an odd coincidence..."

Haha... from now on, updates will be Wendsdays and Friday's! Hope ya'll have a fun day, and do ya'll wanna see Aiden's POV in his own life? I wanna know!