Leviathan

Prologue

Prologue

It is the unofficial first day of senior year.

Raising my head from its comfortable position at 7:30 in the morning, I blearily glanced at the time.

“Hunter, wake up! Orientation is today!” I groaned, lurching up from the bed and stumbling through my morning routine. Before you think anything, just let me clarify—Hunter is my best friend. We don’t do anything, he just spends the night sometimes. My parents reckon he’s safe enough to have around.

“See you later, Ems,” Hunter said groggily as he walked out the door and headed home, which was basically next-door.

How did Hunter and I become friends? Well when I was in kindergarten, there was a kid named Tyler who would not stop picking on me. It went from my pigtails, to my outfits, to my glasses. I was the little girl who no one was willing to be friends with. But, one day, when I was sulking off by myself by the swing sets, Hunter came up to me and sat on the other side. Back then, he wasn’t the dashing sports star he is now, and he didn’t have many friends either. I don’t know what instinct told him to come over and talk to me, but I’ll always be grateful that he did. Because, that day, he and I became inseparable best friends. Later on, he hit puberty well, and got into rugby, and bish bash bosh—we have a hottie and popular guy on our hands. I kind of stayed the same though, but he still stuck by me.

Normally, I would have worn something blue to bring out the color of my green eyes, but instead I put on a pair of cutoff grey sweats which reached midway up my calves and a plain, pale blue t-shirt for the 'occasion', and then left home.

I’m a senior at Sertia Forest College. It’s located near the outskirts of Hong Kong, which is why there’s lots of space on the grounds, and we seniors are allowed to board weekly there. You could imagine it like the Muggle version of Hogwarts. Except cooler.

Since its senior year, I want to take this chance to start over. In the past, I always melted into the background like the shy nerdy girl with the long brown hair and a gold streak in it. I was never outspoken, I didn't even raise my hand in class. But I wasn't friendless either. I was outgoing with them, just not at school. But everything could—and would change this time round. I was no longer the shy girl with the unique glinting emerald eyes. I was Emerald Grace, and I would not melt into the background again. Guess who I was inspired by? Hunter!

I knew my life would change. But not that drastically.