One Less Broken Heart

Chapter 6

SEPTEMBER 5

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LEVI

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Thanks for tonight. 

Is the text from Scarlet I receive. Those three simple words is all that I need. It could've been anything. It could've been nothing. I am grateful. It's already past eleven and the beep from my phone woke me up. I didn't expect her to text me tonight. Much less around three hours after dinner. But I am grateful.

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"You'll find your class schedule, locker number, and all other essential things inside the envelope," the secretary says as she handed me a long, brown envelope. "Oh, I almost forgot!"

She rummages through a drawer and takes out a lock and key. "Here's the lock and key for your locker which should be just near here." She smiles and nods at me, bidding goodbye silently as the person behind me, so eager to get her things, is already saying stuff to the secretary that I couldn't understand.

Locker #4328, east wing of the northwest building, the Senior Hall.

Parkway High has four buildings, one in the east - the Freshmen Hall, one in the west - the Sophomore Hall, and two side-by-side in the north - the Junior Hall on the right, and the Senior Hall on the left - and the big campus park - the Parkway Courtyard, in the middle of the four structures. 

Across the school is the parking designed for students with cars. I finished my first three years of high school in Rhyburn, and I'm taking my senior year here in Parkway. Such a strange move, right? You can tell my parents that.

But obviously my parents have already made up their minds.

The courtyard is so vast it would take you around ten minutes more or less to cross it from building to building. Imagine lots of trees, making the breeze cool and fresh. Imagine lots of benches, and people sitting next to each other, studying and doing God knows what. Imagine the green grass beneath your feet, swaying gently with the wind.

It's nice to be able to feel free outside and not condensed inside the school hallways.

Each building has its respective school office with the main post in the Senior Hall building, where I am currently in. I make my way out of the office and proceed to find my locker. Students are already roaming around the halls, creating uproars to alleviate the tension of second-week classes.

This is my first day and they're more nervous than I am, which could be either a good thing or a bad thing. I walk down the hallway while counting the locker numbers.

4310... 4315... 4320...

That's when I see her.

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SCARLET

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Waking up after a nice dream like that should be punishable by law. It's my stupid phone that woke me up. It's like in the middle of the night. The room is still dark and a little bit freezing. I turn to look at the curtains and see little flickers of light trying to shine through.

Wait... what time is it?

I rub my eyes and reach for my phone. The screen reads 7:15am. I blink once. I blink twice. Classes start at 8am.