RETROUVAILLE

S1 C1: Dreams vs Reality

"Reia, we can still talk this out, I know there's something wrong!" A girl with raven hair says, making a determined face.

The accessories on her hair.. make her seem familiar?

"There's nothing to talk about, what are you even saying? There's nothing wrong." The voice within her says.

The raven haired girl answers back by staring at her, a concerned look on her face. She crosses her arms, not breaking the gaze.

This gives the opposing girl a strange feeling, it's not a bad type of feeling; she doesn't feel unsafe. Quite the opposite actually, she feels the warmth coming from this person, yet she cant seem to remember who exactly this is.

She just hopes she wakes up from this repetitive dream, or else she'll be late for Soleil's event.

The girl starts talking again. "Alright fine, but this doesn't mean that I'm convinced, I'm just saying that I wont press more." She grabs her bag, to fiddle with the strap.

"I'm here if you want to be open, Reia." Is the last thing she says before turning around, the afternoon light highlighting her figure, getting smaller and smaller.

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"Reia." A boy's voice says.

"Eia, get up." He repeats.

And then, there's pain on her back.

"Yikes! You didn't need to slap me, you know." She stands up, and takes a look around.

It's still afternoon, huh? She must've taken a nap.

"You've been sitting on that bench for so long." The boy with a jet-black-mullet says.

Reia blinks, utterly confused. He sighs.

"Let's go, we need to watch Soleil's performance. She'll smack us with the props she complained about making if we don't." He starts walking, no longer elaborating.

She's still confused, but she doesn't question it. Instead, walks beside the guy. The walk is silent, until the mullet guy starts speaking again.

"Did something happen with you and Mahsa?" His voice is lower than before. Not looking at Reia, just focused on the light coming from the school's window.

"What do you mean?" She says, confused once again.

The boy stops, she stops as well.

"You guys were just talking, a few minutes before I went up to you. It seemed like she was confronting you, yet, you seemed lost in thought." He's properly facing her now, speculating her facial expression.

Well, Reia feels unsafe now.

She thought that was a dream. It felt unreal, but also real? It's not like people ask her questions like that anyway, she doesn't want people to think she's a sad person. It makes her seem weak, pitiful even.

Yet, if she knew that it wasn't a dream, and if Mahsa really didn't believe her and just kept pressing a little bit more..

Maybe she would've told her.

Thankfully, the boy with a mullet and jet black hair breaks her train of thought.

"Let's keep going, we're going to be late. I really don't want to get smacked by Soleil." He says after checking his watch, picking up the pace which results in Reia having to speed walk.

She's thankful that the person she's talking to doesn't keep talking after that.

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As they came into the auditorium, they got tackled by a girl with chestnut hair adorned with pink bows.

"Nevis and Reia! I'm so happy you both arrived!" She says, wrapping her arms around both of them perfectly.

The boy with the jet black mullet hands her a box, breaking their hug.

"As an apology for being sort of late, and an advanced congrats for your performance." He says, flashing a polite smile.

"Oh goodness, you didn't have to do this, both of your presence is enough." She clasps her hands together. "You both have front row seats, Vesper and Mahsa have been waiting for you."

Soleil starts walking, beckoning for the pair to follow her. This gives Reia time to observe her surroundings.

She guesses that one could say that the auditorium was packed, as expected she thinks. Watching Soleil perform wasn't a joke in their school. If she continues this path, she'll be successful one day.

Nevis could've followed this route, but him and Soleil are like siblings. He doesn't want to do what she's passionate about, Reia knows how she would react.

This is why he chose to be a classical performer and figure skater instead, it pleases the people around him.

If you were to ask Vesper, he'd say that this was too selfless of Nevis and that he should think of himself more.

..Well, too bad! This was Reia's consciousness, not his!

She snaps out of her thoughts by the sound of her friends greeting them.

Vesper was wearing a formal outfit, much suited for this occasion. Nevis flops down on the chair beside him.

This leaves Reia no other choice but to sit beside Mahsa, real nice.

A person calls out and Soleil sighs, she looks stressed.

"As much as I would like to chip and chop, I need to go backstage for preparations. Please make yourselves comfortable, enjoy the show!" She says in her perfect public charm, elegantly walking away.

Vesper's eyes don't leave her until she's fully gone, making a skeptical look.

"It's funny how she acts like this even to us, just because we are in public. If you told an outsider that she was anything but elegant in private, they would ask if you were talking about the same person." He laughs.

Mahsa flicks him on the forehead and he stops laughing. "She has to keep this up because of her image. Don't make fun of her, bean stock maker."

"What does that even mean, you hairclip abomination?"

"Okay, brussel sprout."

"Mhm, coloring book that was colored by a two-year-old."

Suddenly, there was applause filling the auditorium. This stops the pair from bickering to start doing the same.

"What is happening?" Vesper asks sheepishly.

"Oh. It must've started already. If you both weren't so loud, maybe we would've noticed." Reia says.

"Do you wanna get an embarrassing nickname too?"

"Don't even try-"

"Okay, Reia Weia Alabama."

"Never say that ever again. You could literally do better."

"How about Reianold Webbington?" Mahsa chirps in.

"Okay, you also suck. How about you, Nevis?" Vesper says.

"Mademoiselle Reianna Anderson with-a-cherry-on-top Francias Jupiter."

Vesper almost turns into a water fountain from trying to tone down his laughing, fortunately due to Soleil's mercy, the play starts.

It says;

"Retrouvaille: the joy of meeting somebody again after a long time."