Whisperlude

Chapter 1

In a small town within the green hills of United States of America, California, really in the far country, there were two people. Well...there were a lot of people, but two stood out the most. Carlos Pine and Crystalle Leafe were very interesting together, even though they had only talked once. Carlos remembered that day. They were both Freshmen in Highschool...

Carlos was talking to his friend, who's locker was beside her's - of course she didn't see him.    Then, she turned with her arms full of books. She ran right into him and all the books fell.   Carlos turned to look at her. He was like a wall. She just looked at the books in shock.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't see you there!" she exclaimed in her beautiful voice as she fell to her knees and started picking up her books. Carlos just looked at her.
"Your skin is like milk!" he said softly, joining her.
"It shouldn't be, I spend every day outside!"
"Wait, don't you live across the road from me?"
Crystalle looked up at him.
"Yeah...Hi, I'm Crystalle Leafe," she replied. She held out her hand for a hand shake as she smiled warmly. Her long hair fell in her face and beside her glasses. He just stared at her with his eyes twinkling. He shook her hand. She quickly let go and went to class. Her hand was so small, cold, and boney. He has been watching her from a distance ever since...

Back to present day. Carlos went to lunch and waited for his friend, Robert, or as Carlos likes to call him, Roberto. They talked and talked, and then Carlos looked over to where Crystalle and her small friend group sat. It was empty...?
"Is everyone gone today?" he thought to himself.

The school day ended with lunch.  Carlos walked home. He took out his phone when he crossed the dirt road, took out headphones, and listened to his music. It was actually breezy today...and it seemed like...

"Is that a hot air balloon...?"

Carlos saw it above him...it was indeed a hot air balloon. It seemed like there were five people in it.
"That's one giant hot air balloon...," he thought to himself. As he looked closer, he saw that it almost looked like they were waving. They were. Carlos found himself waving and laughing at how almost ridiculous this was. He saw the balloon was getting closer to the ground towards his house. Where he and Crystalle lived, it was a little far from everything else in town. There was still a dirt road leading there, but no life for miles. Yes, Carlos walked miles everyday. Crystalle rode her motorcycle, so usually he would see her in the distance for a couple of minutes. To tell the truth, that's why he walked home everyday.

Focusing back on the hot air balloon, it seemed to be landing about three miles from where he was. It...was. As a matter of fact, it just did.
"That thing truly is huge..." he said aloud. He started walking faster at the moment to see who could be in it. A short girl jumped out like a little rabbit with long, chocolate brown hair, and glasses. As he got closer, he could tell it was Crystalle's best friend, Toriel. She was also Spanish, but she was "mixed" and shorter than Carlos. As he got even closer, he saw three more people jump out. One was about medium sized, had short, curly hair, glasses and light skin. Another had shoulder length hair - hazel colored - purple glasses, and was a centimeter taller than Toriel. The last one that came forth was from the Philippines with very dark, almost black hair, and was as tall as the first one.
"These are her friends that weren't at school...that must mean..."he made his steps even faster.

"Um...who is that boy who is practically running towards us?" Toriel asked, looking at the other three. The Philippine's name was Celestrial - Celest for short. The short one with curly hair's name was Sky and the hazel hair'd one's name was Haven.

"Oh! That's Carlos Pine! He always walks home from school," Celest chimed in.
"Oh! He lives across the street from you, doesn't he Crys?" Haven asked, looking in the balloon.
Carlos walked up, now in the middle of the group, and looked in the balloon.
"Yes, yes he does." There was that voice again. "Hola senior, what's up?" Crystalle said, still invisible. Carlos was just a little terrified.
"You apparently..." he replied, still trying to find her. She finally came out and greeted him with a smile. She held out her hand. "We haven't spoken in a while. I'm-"
"Crystalle...Crystalle Leafe. I know you," he replied, shaking her hand. Cold, small, and boney.
Oh, well...you need a 'lift' home? I'm taking them home, might as well take you home, too," she beamed as the other four climbed in. Carlos didn't say anything. He just gazed at her. He hadn't been this close to her in two years. He always looked at her from a distance. Getting up close and personal with her was truly scary. What if he accidentally fell onto her? He would probably die inside...

"I think he is dead inside..." said Sky as the others giggled under their breath.
"Well?" Crys asked, waiting patiently.
Carlos just nodded and walked on without even thinking. Then, all the sudden it hit him like a truck.
"You guys...have a flying permit or something?"
Crystalle held up a small piece of something. There was her picture, date of birth, an expiration date, and it said, "Air Balloon Permit".
"Is that fake?" he asked.
"Gravy, boy! You ask a lot of questions!" Haven laughed.
"Gravy...?" he tilted his head like confused creature.
"Yes, yes it is real," Crys said as her eyes seemed to shine like her name suggested. He almost got lost in them, but then he looked over the edge. Oh my stars, they were already high above the town going towards Haven's house.

"This is so much better than driving everywhere," Toriel finally said, seemingly staring at the people below.
"I can't believe you made us skip school to fly around in a hot air balloon," Sky laughed at how almost ridiculous this was.
"Yes, um...Mrs. Pink missed you. She really likes your writing skills," Carlos chimed in. He realized he was with a bunch of girls and all of a sudden, his face got super red. They all had beautiful body shapes, some more curvy in some areas more than others.
"Awe, now he's blushing!" Toriel gushed.
"Why am I already getting teased?" he said, feeling the heat along his face now. He honestly couldn't believe he was hanging out with a bunch of girls in a hot air balloon. What he couldn't wrap his head around was that one of the girls was Crystalle Rose Leafe. There he goes again, gazing at her as she trails off into her own world as usual.

As time went by, Haven, Sky, Celest, and Toriel were off and safely home. Now it was just Carlos and Crystalle. As Crystalle looked out into the sky, Carlos did too.

"I have a question, Carlos."
"Huh!? Oh, um...okay."
"Why did you get on this hot air balloon without hesitation?"
"Because you were on it," is what he wanted to say. But, instead...
"I don't know. I guess I have a sense of adventure maybe," he blurted out. She smiled.
"Come over tomorrow after school. I wanna take you somewhere. It's one of my favorite places..." she finally said. He nodded. He didn't want to say anything in fear of his voice showing that he was secretly excited.

As they landed in Crytalle's back yard, she made the flame go out and the balloon started to fall over, slowly. She rushed out and grabbed Carlos' backpack to drag him along. Of course, he was in shock, so he just let her.
"Well, that was fun, now, wasn't it?" She smiled and put her hands on her hips, her hair fluttering in the soft breeze.
"Not every day you get to do that," he replied.
They just looked at each other smiling for merely a moment...when-
"CARLOS!" a voice called. For a second, he thought it was the voice inside his head. Reality check! Crystalle turned her head to see Carlos' mom walking and looking very angry.
"Where have you been? Who is this girl? Why are you late? And why on Earth is there a giant hot air balloon?!"
"Mama! Calm down, please! I'm safe and this is Crystalle," he replied, waving an arm for Crystalle to wave. She looked very confused and this was noticed by the mama of this poor boy.
"Hello, I am Jewel Pine. Nice to meet you, Crystalle," the mother, now Mrs. Jewel, said.
"Hello! I am pleased to meet you," Crystalle nodded and looked to Carlos. He was blushing.
"Mama! Erm, I'll be home in a moment."
"Okay, you better." They had been speaking in Spanish for the last few sentences.

Carlos turned to Crystalle and smiled nervously.
"That was fun."
"Yeah yeah. Go home," she smiled and waved. Carlos just waved and walked away, so calm on the outside.

When Carlos first walked into the house and shut his front door, he threw his backpack then caught it and shouted, "YES!!!!!"
"What are you 'yes'-ing about?"
"Ma! That's the girl! Crystalle!"
"Oh the-"
"Yes!"
"OH! That's awesome honey!" Mrs. Jewel exclaimed. Carlos talked a lot about Crystalle, except he never mentioned her living across the street.
"Ma! I'M SO HAPPY MA!"

Later that night, the moon was a waxing cresent and the sky was overflowing with stars. The breeze was gentle and cooling. Carlos was laying in his bed, his bedroom door closed. He was reading a book about hot air balloons. His window was high off the ground, slightly opened, and there was a dim light coming from his lamp. A light knocking started to sound...
Carlos looked over to the window where it was coming from...TO SEE A PERSON!
"AHHHH!"
"Don't scream! It's just Crystalle!" she said queitly.
"Crystalle!?" he whisper-yelled. "What on Earth are you doing here?!"
"I wanted to ask a question," she said, opening the window and managing to sit on the window sill.
"BE careful! We are, like, fourteen feet off the...wait, how did you even get up here?"
"Nevermind that," she smiled.

"Want to go on an adventure?"