Otherworld

Chapter 1 the beginning or the end?

"BEEP BEEP BEEP" sigh.. another day, another nightmare. Three long weeks of this repeated terror, but if he went to his parents, or more-so foster parents, they'd do as they always have and brush it off. "BUMP". Tch, falling off the bed and rolling under it does one no good, as when the boy reached up to shut up the alarm, he hit his head. Luckily this wasn't the first time, nor does it seem to be the last. After finally untangling himself from his bed sheets and crawling from under the bed, he was able to quickly prepare for the unwelcome, yet waited for school day. Going back to his foster parents, if he was in fact to tell them of these nightmares, he'd have no choice but to listen to his father's "suck it up" speech, and his mother's "oh pity you" pep-talk that ends with a "let's not take you to a shirk now" dramatic ending. As the pale boy left, his mother figure made sure to say something along the lines of "See you after school Jarl," finished with his father figures wonderful words of wisdom; "and not a second sooner McFarland, do I make myself clear?" Followed by Jarl's not of acceptance. By all means, Jarl didn't quite like his home life.

His one guilty pleasure, however, was meeting up with his old companion, a girl named valerian O'Donnel. He waved at her and sighed, "I hate my foster parents. And don't get me started on my foster siblings." O'Donnel just rolled her eyes at him and gave him her signature look that she only used with him, a look that said "again and again, yes I know blah blah blah, get over it." It was the same look she gave him about seven years before; at this time they weren't friends. They met in Mrs. Rajveer Mohan's second grade class, and Jarl was always made fun of for being an orphan. One day though, those nasty bullies had him hung up by is coat, given to him by his grandfather. The coat happened to be an old trench and undoubtedly came from the sixth war, which was one none seemed to remember. Once recess ended, O'Donnel had sat by the wall and was reading a book, luckily right beside the coat rack. She heard a small whimper come from beside her, she spun a coat around, which turned out to be the coat where a snotty nosed, crying kid hung who obviously was having difficulty staying up off the ground. He was one of the shortest second graders in class and she had no doubt that it had been one of the fifth graders who had done this to the poor kid. Once he saw her he slowly calmed down, and soon he stopped crying. She stood there looking at him and could see the fear in his eyes, as if he was scared she'd hurt him. She was shocked it was the type of school where anyone could do anything to anyone, and yet this kid could have innocence. His hazel eyes stared at her, practically asking her "why? Why would this happen? Why me?"

That's what sent her into a fit, she had to find those boys and take them down, but as if he had read her mind he stopped her "p-p-p-please don't I-I-I'm fine with this . . . this is my life on a daily basis."

Although he tried to soothe her, it didn't work.She couldn't help but think "who could do such a thing to such an innocent boy on a daily basis? Sure he may sit and take whatever come to him, and has a big jacket, but it's still wrong!" Sure enough, that was the beginning of a very long and confusing time for her. She had started feeling for him in a way she wouldn't understand for another five years. She looked at him now and couldn't help but smile. He was the same quirky kid she had fallen for seven years ago she loved his hazel eyes and white with a brown streak hair. She also loved the coat he always wore, however now that he's grown into it and after years of it being stepped on, they decided to turn it into a half trench coat, half biker jacket. And just as she lived things about him, he loved things about her, such as her eyes, which were a beautiful blue that complimented all the black shirts she seemed to wear especially with her slim build and jeans. He loved her red hair with one blonde highlight as well. After she smiled, "I am utterly useless at times, I feel like I've failed everyone." she quickly retorted with "BULL FREAKING CRAP! YOU GIVE UP TO QUICKLY, DARNIT! KEEP TRYING! FRICK WHOEVER SAYS OTHERWISE!! YOU ARE AN AMAZING PERSON DARNIT! SHUT UP! DO BETTER!!"

she said sternly. Jarl replied with a soft smile saying, "Ya really think so? I thought my writing needed more passion." She just gave him a somewhat annoyed smile, rolled her eyes and replied with "And I'm supposed to be the narc." She smiled, leading him to their first hour. As they walk in Mr. Medlon, their 36 year old culinary teacher, smiles and shouts "My two favorite students, how are ya?"

Jarl replied with, "After the pep talk I just got?, I'm absolutely great sir."

Mr. Medlon looked at O'donnel and asked, "Pep talk, Miss O'donnel? "

Immediately she retorted, "Nothing happened Mister Medlon! I don't even like Jarl."

She started to blush a little, making Jarl smirk, but he knew better than to mention it. He just stared off until class began. In culinary that day, they made rose apple tarts. O'donnel and Jarl were paired up and, as usual, they screwed around for most of the period. O'donnel did most of the work because Jarl was a hopeless cook, at least she thought he was. It was obvious he asked for the class because O'donnell was his best friend, and he wanted at least one class with her. She loved his failed attempts at cooking, for the most part he tried to act like he could do anything anywhere else, but in Culinary class he wasn't as confident. he made mistakes that were simple which also gave her a reason to hold his hand, and show him how to do it correctly. She hadn't realized that the real reason is because he liked her. he was actually a great cook, but if he didn't make any mistakes how else would he get closer to O'donnel? Cooking was the one thing he was good at. nothing could stop him when she was around as the years had moved forward his innocence was obviously lost