For Now | Dreaming Trilogy | Book 1 (HEAVY CONSTRUCTION)

Shane | O'Rins Man

"Open your eyes."

"Wake up."

My internal monologue began pestering me and the blackness of my eyelids about how school was starting soon. I groaned at my own encouragement and rolled over.

A loud thump thundered through my ears and my body, and I quickly realized I'd rolled straight off my bed.

I didn't really want to get up. I lay on the floor for a couple seconds, staring up at the white ceiling. Beige walls met the pure white ceiling, but the color of the walls was mostly covered by posters from older bands like Green Day and Blink-182 and Nirvana, and my favorite, My Chemical Romance.

I dragged my eyes up to the clock on my nightstand. 6:02 AM. Sighing, I covered my eyes with my arm. Mom and Dad hadn't even come home yet. Their night shift at the hospital didn't end until 6:30, and it was a half hour home from there.

A familiar, impatient knock rang through my ears, igniting an early-morning headache.

"Shane!" A feminine voice called through my door. "Shane, for Christ's sake, get up! I don't wanna be late again because of you." My baby sister, Kayla, was half way through her eighth grade year, and treated everyday like it was graduation day. She was far more studious than I was.

"Good," I grumbled, just loud enough for her to hear as I sat up. With a glance to my side, I noticed the empty pizza box on my floor, beside a notebook full of messy biology notes. Far more studious. "Maybe I want to skip school today."

Kayla shoved open the door, walked in, and hauled me off the floor. "Well, I'm not about to head into high school next year with everyone knowing my dumb big brother failed senior year just cuz he wouldn't get his lazy ass off the floor," she snapped. "And what is this?" She accused, pointing at the pizza box before picking that up too. "You really should take better care of your bedroom." She turned and marched out of my room with purpose.

I rolled my eyes and grumbled to myself as I stood. With a crack of my neck, I rummaged through my drawers for something socially acceptable to wear. The disorganized drawers produced a pair of jeans, a white T-shirt, and a blue jacket inspired by the one worn by My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way in the Fabulous Killjoys music videos.

The real leather jacket was probably the most expensive thing I owned. Mom bought it for me in freshman year, saying I needed something original to wear to my first day of school. I hadn't taken the thing off since then.

Wandering to the bathroom to relieve myself, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror. "Shit," I muttered, realizing I looked like I'd just been hit by a bus. In vain, I tried running my fingers through the sandy curls on my head. This only made it messier. "Fuck it," I finally conceded, giving up.

"Shane!" Kayla yelled from downstairs.

I sighed. "Coming!" Hauling my pin-covered bag onto my shoulder, I stumbled down the stairs to the kitchen, where Kayla was trying to swallow an orange whole. "Helps if you peel it," I mused.

"Maria says all the vitamins are in the skin," Kayla replied, continuing to violate the fruit. I stared with an arched eyebrow for a while before grabbing a banana for myself. Kayla's big blue eyes flitted over to me a few times before she finally said, "Shane, you know what time it is?"

"Hmm...," I faked. "I dunno." I absolutely did know, and the smile on my face absolutely showed it. My little sister and I developed a sort of tradition when she started going to school at the same time I did. We always ate our breakfast over a good old My Chemical Romance song.

Kayla laughed. It sounded like Mom's laugh, all light and bubbly and ever-so-slightly annoyed. Dad and I had that effect on everyone we met, including family members. I had that, too. O'Rins men were always the most annoying, according to all the O'Rins women.

"Shaney!" She yelled. "My Chemical Romance time!" She jumped up onto the counter and reached for my phone. I held it just out of reach, grinning.

"Ooh yeah," I faked some realization before shuffling all the My Chemical Romance songs I owned - which was all of them. What else could come on but the iconic, the painful Welcome to the Black Parade.

"Aaaggghhh!" Kayla pretended to die, dropping off the counter and then onto her knees. "The pain!" She shouted, holding her heart. "Fuckin' G noted!"

I laughed and jammed out to one of my favorite songs. "When I was a young boy, my father took me into the city to see a marching band. He said 'Son, when you grow up, will you be the saviour of the broken, the beaten, and the damned?"

Before we knew it, we were both air-guitaring around the kitchen, screaming "And though you're dead and gone, believe me your memory will carry on!" God, I love my little sister. Don't tell her that, though. It's a big brother's job to annoy his little sister to death.

I caught sight of the clock glowing over the oven and realization dawned on my marble head. "Fuck!" I shouted. "I've gotta go!"

Somehow, I'd completely forgotten that I'd crashed my junky car last week. It was a crazy incident involving a banana peel, cartoonish stereotypes, and science. My hypothesis was proven correct, but my car was proven to be an absolute piece of cheap ass shit with horrible breaks. It was totaled.

Long story short, the crashing of my car meant I needed to take the bus for the first time since last February. Thankfully, I made it to my stop just in time. Kayla's bus wasn't due for another fifteen minutes, the lucky middle schooler.

The bus pulled up, and I jumped on. "Mornin', Frank!" I said with a smile as I made my way to the back of the bus. I waved to Kayla through the window as she waited for her bus.

The cheap automobile jolted as it started, sending me sprawling into the lap of a girl holding a book. "Sorry," I said as I pulled my nose literally out of the book.

Glancing up to apologize more eloquently, I found words caught helplessly in my throat. Blue bangs shadowed a pale, round face with a silver nose ring and a matching pair of snake bites on her bottom lip.

What made me truly speechless, though, were her eyes. Wide, almond shaped, and bordered with dark mascara, her irises glowed with fiery determination. Silver. Her eyes were silver. Not grey, or blue grey, or whatever. They were as silver as a newly polished sword, and the look she gave me was almost as sharp.

She glowered, a near snarl curling her lip.

I sheepishly smiled. Talking to such beautiful women came about as naturally to me as a chicken giving live birth, but I tried nonetheless.

"Move," was all Silver-Eyes grumbled.

"Can I sit here?" I asked, nodding over to the empty seat next to her. "The bus already started, and Frank's gonna-"

I never finished my sentence, because she held up her soft, pale hand and nodded. She moved her things, and someone threw something at her and called her a slut. Ironic, considering the whole school revolved around who wore the shortest skirt and she was wearing ripped jeans and a tank top.

I squinted at the letters on the sleeve of the black hoodie over the thin straps of the tank. Phoenix - 2013. It must have been some sports sweatshirt.

"That your name?" I asked, gesturing to her sleeve.

She hardly looked up. "No," she said in monotone. "I stole this sweatshirt off of the corpse of my last victim."

I smiled. "That's pretty badass."

She rolled her eyes and finally looked up at me again. "Of course that's my name," Phoenix snapped.

"Mine's Shane. Shane O'Rins," I replied, holding out my hand to shake. She rolled her eyes yet again and turned her attention back to her book.

Great. I bit my lip for a moment, searching for any other conversation points. It finally struck me. "Whatcha readin'?" I asked, trying to sound genuinely interested. Books weren't really my thing.

"It's called, Please Shut The Fuck Up by Phoenix Lucis," she replied in a sassy tone.

I raised my hands above my head. "Alright, alright... I get the point." I sighed, clearly getting the point. I was annoying her. Hence, an O'Rins man.

And so, my morning began with My Chemical Romance and a sexy, mysterious woman. Kinda fun.