Diamondback

4: Don't Look At Me

Roseorn City.

How horrible can my luck be? Roseorn is the same city that I spent the past few months of my life protecting from imminent danger. And now look. I'm back where I started. Life sure can be funny, huh?

The smile on my face faded completely.

I was scared.

Scared of the people. Scared of what they would do to me. Scared of being social. Well, I've never been a very social person to begin with, but a bustling city like that has never seen something like...me. I couldn't say that I was an expert cosplayer and I doubt that anyone would think that I'm dressing up for some spooky event in the middle of June.

When I was alive, there weren't any trees that surrounded my house. At all. Again, it's been a while since I've been here, so maybe there were and I just forgot, who knows? In my past life, the walks to the city always seemed like they took forever.

From here, I could see the surface of a flagpole.

Roseorn High.

The agonizingly long commute to go to school here is something I could never forget, though. By the time I made it to the entrance, I'd already be covered in sweat. And let's not even talk about summer school. Well, I only ever made it to high school before I kicked the bucket. Granted, I mostly kept to myself and hung out with groups of people, so I never had any particular excuse to be in the city often enough to be super familiar with the layout. I was invited to parties by some people and sure, I went to them, but all I ever did was play with a family dog or stick by the food table. Actually, let me rephrase that. I was "popular," I guess, but I never wanted to be, if that makes any sense. I did extracurriculars and I had friends, but I've always been a homebody and a family man at heart.

One of the only friends that I stuck around most was Antoine Gotō.

Toni and I met through track and though he was a year older than me, I got along with him better than anyone else in my grade. He was always looking out for me and made sure I wasn't left out. Girls liked him a whole lot too. I mean, it was for good reason. Toni was always regarded as the "cutest guy in school" since he resembled a lot of the famous young teen heartthrobs on social media with curly dark hair, charming moles, and a "hot body" to boot. He was obviously visually striking and confident but his gentle, worrisome eyes communicated otherwise. Toni's a bit of what I like to call a parent friend or, more accurately, a handwringer. If you're out of his sight for even a second, his brain automatically assumes the worst. It makes sense though since he was the oldest of his family. He always said something along the lines of how I reminded him of his little brother, Oliver.

I remember Olly too.

He had these big, beautiful dark brown (nearly black) eyes that were almost always hidden under his wavy black hair or thick, round glasses. His face was pretty with high cheekbones and a slightly upturned, button nose with freckles so light, you'd have to squint to see them. He was quiet and jittery and would barely speak more than two words to anyone without turning red in an oddly endearing manner. Except me. I so happened to be his special exception. Pushing past his guarded walls, I discovered he was thoughtful and tender-hearted with a very hit-or-miss sense of humor. An absolutely perfect person in my eyes. I still don't think I was anything like him, but what Toni says goes, I guess.

I think they had another brother too? His name was Theodore or something? He was just a baby, so they called him Teddy all the time. It's not like I saw him around much since he was always in a different maid's arms by the hour.

Their parents were super rich, which was a huge plus for me 'cause visiting Toni's house was always like going on a trip to the Mission Inn. From what I remember, their dad was a rising politician in the city and their mom was a young, "hot" model. Their dad was, like, 20 billion years older than their mom, but hey, that's none of my business.