Tales From Heller

Pale Embers

CW: Non-graphic character death

Pale Embers, Chapter 1

Hi, my name is Mary Hsu (you can pronounce that like shoe or Sue if you want but it's a Chinese name, OK), and I am so excited because today is my first day of high school! So I woke up and went to my dresser and put on some clothes and looked at myself in the mirror.

I was wearing skinny jeans and this cute blue shirt and I combed my hair because I wanted to look great for my first day of high school and make a good first impression!

Then my friend Lisa called me (we have been friends for like so long you wouldn't believe) and I picked up the phone while putting on makeup and brushing my teeth.

"OMG Mary, my friend since kindergarten, I'm so excited for my first day of high school at Teller High School, the fanciest most competitive school in our district!" Lisa gushed vigorously.

"I know right! I can't wait to make so many friends!" I screamed voraciously. Then I went downstairs to eat breakfast while talking to Lisa on my phone (she is a very good friend and we have been friends for a long time, since kindergarten).

My parents told me to study very hard at school and I listened to them because I love my parents very much. I cried because I was sad but I was excited then I left the car and walked to the assembly. I saw Lisa who also was wearing skinny jeans and a cute blue shirt and we laughed because we were accidental twins!

(We probably dressed the same because we're very good friends and share a lot of things in common. That is because we have known each other since kindergarten.)

"OMG Mary, who's about the same height as I am (I think I'm 5 foot 4 which is how tall Britney Spears is), we're in high school! And we will be for four more years!" Lisa shared intensely.

But I did not hear what Lisa told me because there walking toward us very quickly maybe at a fifteen minute mile pace there was this hot boy walking in a tuxedo with gelled hair kinda like Leo DiCaprio.

And he looked at me (OMG I am so excited right now)! His hazel orbs bored into me with the force of a thousand suns.

"My name is Romeo," he purred deeply. "I would be most enthused if I could perambulate with you toward the assembly," he said in a sexy British accent (I like British accents) and held his hand toward me. I took it and Lisa screamed and fainted and Romeo and I walked toward the assembly.

"OMG Mary, I always thought your outfits were cute since I met you in kindergarten, and you meet this cute boy now and I wish I could be like you because you're so awesome," Lisa muttered enthusiastically.

But I didn't hear her because Romeo and I were sitting on the balcony with the assembly where we sat next to each other and held hands.

"My dear enchanting Mary, I am most enjoying this assembly with you. Which academic subjects are you enrolled in? I would be honored to tutor you after school and during lunch. I have three Nobel Prizes and speak ten languages and have an honorary degree from Oxford," Romeo explained intuitively (he's like the smartest person I've met even smarter than I am). And then he said something smart in Latin.

And then the principal on stage began choking on a piece of donut (he eats a lot and I don't like him because he is a bully and looks mean) and everyone in the theater was screaming!

Lisa fainted again.

Romeo jumped off the balcony and did a double backflip and jumped on stage and did the Heimlich maneuver and saved the principal. Everyone was cheering and I was cheering too!

Romeo blew me a kiss from the stage and I heard everyone say "OMG he's such a cute guy I wonder who he blew the kiss to" but since the theater was dark nobody could see up to the balcony where I was. Then he grabbed a long bamboo stick from behind stage that we use for tinikling in PE class and pole-vaulted to where I was.