Restart My Heart

Chapter I: I Met You On A Wednesday

AUGUST

August Holstine hated Wednesdays, he hated everything and anything about it.

He hated the halfway finished feeling of it, as if you've climbed a mountain and realized you must go all the way back down.

He hated the assignments or lack thereof in school, and how you felt there is nothing to do at home.

He hated it because he always felt like nothing good ever happened on Wednesdays, that maybe it was his bad luck day or something.

He hated the very energy of Wednesdays. He couldn't very well explain that though.

Overall, August can't stand Wednesdays. And this Wednesday was to be possibly the worst one yet, it was the first day of tenth grade.

At a new school.

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August had woken up to a screeching alarm on his cellphone that morning, and it had been turned off with a grumble and a few taps on the screen.
He yawned and stretched and appreciated the quiet and dark morning before standing up and shuffling over to his laid out uniform on a fold out chair by the bathroom.
The uniform was simple enough, just a button up long sleeve shirt with the complicated logo of his new prep school in the corner near his breast. If it was up to him however, the color would be a lighter blue or a soft shade of green instead of the rather bland navy blue it currently wore.
He slipped it on over his bare chest and buttoned it up, but there was no mirror to check himself in. In fact, his whole dorm was empty besides his bed, a desk, and his crappy fold out chair. Damn, he really needed to go to Ikea or something, he just hoped they had stores like that in Manhattan. He found some clean khaki pants in a suitcase and pulled those on and strode into the bathroom.
He found a mirror to his delight, but it quickly turned to dismay as he saw his hair. August had bouncy, curly brown hair that just barely covered his eyebrows and it was a nightmare to take care of.
He stood in that bathroom for nearly thirty minutes, fixing his hair, putting in the contacts that he was kinda sorta blind without into his green eyes, brushing his teeth, deodorant, and just a little bit of cologne. He emerged from his marble prison and looked at the clock. It was 7:06 AM.
His first class was 7:20, and it was nearly a ten minute walk from his dorm to the school.

Shit.

August ran around the dorm like a crazy person, pulling on his socks and shoes and slinging his leather book bag over his shoulder, unplugging and grabbing his phone, and rushed out of the room, snatching his room key on the way out.
He considered the elevator momentarily, and then flew down the stairs instead. He ran down 3 flights of stairs, into the lobby, and out the exit.
Into a freezing and heavily raining morning, without a fucking coat.

Just your average everyday Wednesday,

at least for August.

He sighed and brought his bag over his head to protect his hair and began walking on the cement pathway towards the school. The path was surrounded by wide expanses of grass and copacetic rows of trees carefully set apart.
August scoffed at the thought of the damn perfectionist who built this school, whoever he was, August did not particularly want to meet him.
He shivered violently out of the blue and realized how wet he already was. He would be drenched before he was halfway there. Truth was, August wanted to go back to Arizona, where it was always relatively warm.
He sighed again and tried to keep his arms under the book bag to keep them dry and was careful of where he stepped so he wouldn't step into a big puddle.
But alas, he still was very wet, and very cold. He watched the distorted reflection of himself and the raindrops hitting the cement as he walked, and suddenly he saw the reflection of someone's face other than his own, slowly creeping up on August.
He turned around in a sort of panic, and made the stranger jump a little. He was holding a bright red umbrella and wore the same uniform as August, except his was dry. He had light brown hair, freckles, and blue eyes? August couldn't tell from the darkness.
"Jeez! You scared me dude!" The stranger chuckled, "I was just about to ask if you wanted to share my umbrella."
August breathed a huff of pure relief and closed his eyes for a moment,
"My prayers have been answered." he said.
The boy laughed and August did too, and he ducked under the red umbrella. He let his bag hang at his side now, and he looked the boy up and down again. He definitely had blue eyes, it was easy to tell now. He was several inches taller than August, but not enough that he loomed over him. He wore a black expensive looking jacket over his uniform and grey jeans, along with deep red socks peeking out from the also expensive looking black shoes. He had some natural highlights in his milky brown hair, and it was a little longer than August's and swept to the side. His freckles dotted all over his face and were very noticeable on his tan skin.
"What's your name?" The boy asked, looking at August.
"August Holstine. You?"
"Evan Turpend." He grinned at August with pearly white teeth and he knew immediately that the girls must swoon over this guy.
"Is this your first year?" He asked.
"Yea, sent here from Phoenix, Arizona. Where it's actually warm-ish this time of year." He smiled back at Evan.
"That explains a lot. I've been here since kindergarten."
"Nice."
By now, August could see the school clearly, instead if a blob in the distance.
"What's your schedule? If you can remember that better than remembering a coat." Evan snickered playfully.
"Oh shut up, I was rushing." August rolled his eyes. "It's advanced biology first, french second, math third, debate fourth, english fifth, lunch, gym seventh, and AP Human Geography eighth." He took a deep breath after the mouthful of words.
Evan's eyes went from wide to squinted and he was quiet for a moment, thinking of his own classes along with August's. Then he smiled and said, "You're in luck Auggie, we've got gym and human geography."
August chuckled and said, "Only my grandma calls me Auggie. Do you want me to call you Evie?"
"Hell no!"
"I didn't think so."