NEVER EVER

Chapter Six: Dawn

The brave rays of sunlight dared to bat against Roman’s eyelids. It was the crack of dawn. As if that wasn’t enough, his alarm went off like a singing cat without considering he’d been up late the night prior with his gang working on a miniature model of their project. He turned away from the light, opening his eyes he slapped the digital clock’s top and it shut up.
As if on cue, a minor headache began to brew in his cloudy and drowsy mind, which subsided shortly after, then he summoned his body away from the bed and began his morning ritual of attempted (and failed) push-ups, the brushing of teeth and a shower. After getting dressed, he brushed his orange hair, dawned his glasses and descended into the kitchen.
“Morning Mom. Morning Dad.”
“Morning Rome.” His parents chorused.
His father had deep black hair and a strong physic. His coffee mug brushed away from his dark moustache as his attention moved away from his phone to his son.
“How are you feeling this morning, kiddo?”
“Well,” receives a bowl of cereals from his Mom, “it hurts less than yesterday. The headaches are almost gone.”
“That’s good. Make sure to take your meds, honey.” picking up the medication he forgot in the kitchen last night, his mother brushed away her strands of orange, making way for her glasses to read the instruction on them.
“Yeah, I will.”

Roman sat opposite his dad at the table. He noticed him concentrate on his phone as he drank his coffee.
“No newspaper?”
“No,” Mr Curtis sighed, “the paper is late.”
“Again?”
“Again. So I’m just browsing, seeing what pops up.”
“Oh.” Roman began to eat his breakfast.
“Speaking of which, take a load of this. Your favourite inventor is on the headlines again?”
“Twoy?” he said with a mouthful then swallowed, “Ezra Troy? What’d he do?”
“According to this, his company has developed a very efficient green vehicle.”
“Let me see.”
“No, no. Finish eating Rome.” His mother patted his shoulder.

“Alright, bye.” bag hoisted over his shoulders, Roman made for the front door, “See you tonight.”
“What’s the rush kiddo?”
“Nothing Dad, I just want to catch Eve…ryone before class to… um… look over the project before we move to the next phase.”
“You sure you’re okay?” his mother clearly wasn’t buying it.
“Yeah. I took my meds. I’ll be alright.”
“Just give us a call if you need anything, alright?”
“Aright. Got to go, bye.” He vanished behind the door.
“What’s up with him?” she pushed her glasses back into her face, turning to her husband. He simply shrugged, baffled as well.

Rome walked quickly. In case he was able to meet Eve he had no desire to be out of breath or worse, sweaty. Other than that, he didn’t really care much for running, only doing so whenever he deemed it necessary and/or unavoidable. Frankly he was less athletic compared to Hansel and Loon. While they’d join in on soccer Roman would simply spectate. The main thing all three participated together in was chess. There were a lot of stalemates whenever any of them brawled against each other. They actually learned chess about the same time so they kept improving on generally the same level.
 
As he drew closer to Berk Street, Rome decided to slow down a little, in case he’d pass by before she did. He figured it would be awkward if he was just there standing outside her house, so walking slower would improve his chances of meeting her if she hadn’t already left.
This would be so much easier if I had her number.
To be honest, Roman wasn’t entirely sure why he was walking to school earlier than usual, hoping to talk to a girl he’d only just met, he just knew that he really wanted to do it.
He was still a bit far off as the Gordon’s residence came into view from across the street. He paused seeing the door swing open. It was her.
He inhaled, taking in her image, which a part of his conscience registered as being damn right creepy, but he couldn’t pull away.
She had on blue jeans and a black t-shirt, her purple hair in a ponytail. Over her ears were a pair of Beats headphones and her red backpack was hoisted over one shoulder. Her back was facing Roman’s direction as she’d turned to shut the door and then she just… froze. It was almost trance-like, just like yesterday.

Ring! Ring!
Rome turned towards the noise. A biker sped up the road tossing blurs of white to some houses. It was the newspaper. The delivery guy was late and hastily blurred through with a cuss accompanying every stroke of his peddles…and then hurled the paper at the Gordon’s front door.
“Eve!”
Too late. The projectile was loose and she was in headphones so she couldn’t hear him. He would never be able to stop it from how far he was and she was still zoned out.

When paper was about to hit her square in the back of the head, without turning she took a quick step to the right and open her palm. The paper landed right there, in her hand where her head was just a moment before. Though she had no idea Roman was there, his jaw dropped. She smirked and open the door, redirecting the projectile to the back of her brother’s head. Doyle never saw it coming and his bawl of cereals went down.
“What the hell Eve?!”
“Bye Doyle.” The smirk still playing at her lips, “You had that one coming.”
Then she headed down the lane off for school.

She didn’t see Roman so he jogged to catch up with her. With her still in headphones, he touched her shoulder to get her attention. He regretted that decision. Her elbow crashed hard into his diaphragm, ridding his body of air, though before his brain could catch what was happening, he was curving over her shoulder and crashing into the pavement.

“Ow…”
“Oh crap! Rome?”
“Uh huh.” he groaned. His hand was over where her elbow had struck. His backpack had cushioned his fall so his back was barely hurt.
“Oh God, I am so sorry. I thought you were a–”
“Ouch…” he groaned as he tried to sit up, his free hand padding the ground for his glasses.
“Here. I’m really sorry but you shouldn’t sneak up on people.” She passed him the glasses.
“Yeah, no. It’s on me. I should have gone in front of you. You should wear your black belt with all your clothes.”
“Green.” She helped him to his feet.
“What?”
“I’m a green belt.”
“I was only kidding. You’re a martial artist?”
She smiled sheepishly.
“I hope nothing is broken.”
“I’ll live... I think.”
“Hey,” she picked up a paper that had slipped out of Roman’s bag, “What’s this?”
“Oh,” he pushed his glasses back into his face, “That’s my project for the Inventers Circle.”
“The Tremor?”
“Working progress… what about you?” he scratched the back of his head.”
She stuffed the paper through his open zipper then closed the bag.
“Mrs Higgins assigned me to work with Molly Bands and Jane Grizzly.”
“Molly and Jane?”
“They’re nice. Showed me around campus.”
They talked as they continued down the road, a headache brewing at the back of his head.