Epoch

Chapter 1

Fresh from my defeat earlier that afternoon, my pride may have been going in the direction of my grades, but like my attitude towards my decline in school, I was willing to ignore it. So what i may not be the best at go karting, i didn't hate it, I just didn't feel the need to almost annihilate everyone else in my path, putting the lives of every other person on the line, with high-speed near misses and the occasional, frowned upon by the spiritless staff, ram into the back of another's vehicle. Sadly both Ariel and Ash did not share this view on go-karting, this became evident by the heart attacks i experienced every time they passed me, I guess i had to forgive Ariel though since the only reason we were there that day was for her birthday. Ariel had been one of my best friends since year 7 and there we were at the start of year 9. We survived two years together of passing through periods of time of finding each other insufferable but for some reason we were inseparable, ever since she moved to Melbourne from Amsterdam. Ariel is the type of girl that would always stand out in a crowd, as odd as its to say, she was born like that, it was natural for her to just not conform with others. She had blonde curly hair, it defied all laws of physics. Her skin was pale through winter but an olive brown in summer, her lips were a perfect pout and her eyes a light grey. Ariel was rather small but her presence always felt.

The night of her go karting party, a couple of her close friends slept over afterwards. This exclusive list included Dylan, a punk from my school, Ash, a close friend of Ariel, and then there was me, Keely. In year 8 Ariel left my school, Dessem High, to go to Tailswood college. Which was an understandable move really, Dessem High is terrible and Ariel was miserable there, we all were when we attended that school. At Tailswood she met a new world of people, one of them was Ash. Everything really began for me when i met Ash at Ariel's party. He was a scrawny boy but tall, he was pale, you would probably think he was the reason they invented sunscreen he was so pale. He had longish ginger hair and piercing blue eyes. For me Ash was a catalyst, meeting him was a point of change in what used to be a mundane life. That night we covered the trampoline in blankets and stayed there till early hours of the morning. it was early March and there was still a tinge of summer in the air and the nights were still warm, the blankets were there mainly to add to the ambiance of the scene and to make the trampoline more comfortable. What happened that night was unforeseeable to me.

On the trampoline as we were laying down wrapped in blankets, i had to one side of me Ariel and to the other Ash while Dylan was on the other side of Ariel. " If you were to ever straighten your hair, i wonder what'll happen." Ash remarked to Ariel. "Obviously the world would just stop turning, i mean theres something seriously wrong if that was the case" Ariel sarcastically replied. " Have you ever wondered how weird stars are? I mean to us there beautiful sparkles lighting up the sky at night, but really there just hazardous and huge balls of fire." I pondered looking up at the celestial bodies in the sky. " God its like you two are fucking stoned tonight or something" Ariel said exasperatedly. " I think Keely has a point in all honesty, I would not wanna get any closer to the stars than i already am." responded Ash. I smiled warmly at Ash in that moment, its nice to have someone agree with you occasionally.

Dylan was quiet most the night, I've never really heard him say much in all honesty, he always kept to himself. I felt shit thinking this at the time but I was 14 and not as wise as I am now, Dylan in my mind was always the scary hard metal fan, his build was large but strong and would be the last person anyone would want to start a fight with. When Dylan finally started to talk my hand was overcome by a sudden warmth as I felt Ash's hand become tangled in mine, I was pathetically abstinent from boys till this point so him trying to hold my hand was like a fly getting tangled in a spider's web. Under blankets he was holding my hand and no one else knew the only clue was my bright red cheeks. Ash told the rest of us about his ex girlfriend Portia, i was a little let down when he said he still had feelings for her, which then proceeded to throughly confuse me as to what was happening now but then he squeezed my hand and said, "In the mean time, I'll just focus on other girls". This made it perfectly clear what was happening but i was fine with it, i just wanted to get my first kiss over and done with, I'd already waited too long.