The next few days were spent with me finding my way around the huge campus and the surrounding area whilst trying to ignore the comments about the fight, and, even worse, my scars. Things calmed down again after that, and soon I was just another face in the hall.
"Hey," greeted Katia as I sat down for breakfast on our table. It consisted of her, Ethan, me and another girl, Lily, who had honey blonde hair and hazel eyes. It felt like I'd known them forever and didn't want that to change. It had been so, so long since I had had friends like these.
"So, have you heard that Fight for Humanty has a videogame?!" Ethan grinned and the conversation decsended into mindless chitchat. I rested my head on one hand and gazed around the room. It was large with a dark oak floor and beige wallpaper. Rustic tables sat in seperate booths around the perimetre, seperated with stained glass and wood. It was in one such booth we were sat.
Beside me, Ethan sighed heavily, resting his head on one hand and tugging absentmindly on his lip ring, "Aww shit! I forgot to do my maths homework," he groaned, slamming his face comically into the table, earning a giggle from Lily, who took out her own maths book and passed it to him, causing his emerald eyes to light up.
"Here," she smiled sweetly, her face flushing slightly.
"I swear you're an angel, Lily!" he joked, causing her to blush further as he took the book and began copying answers. I smirked slightly at the performance and wondered how such opposites could ever get along so well. Katia was popular and stunning but had a dark and mysterious aura, whereas Ethan was a gothic gamer, not to mention always in trouble and Lily was kind, intelligent and shy. How three people like that came together I would never know.
I stared up at a particulary annoying strand of ebony hair that had placed itself between my eyes, and flicked it away, sighing inwardly, earning a curious look from Katia.
"Ryuuhei, you're thinking of something," she stated, and I nodded slightly. The truth was, I was thinking about one of my friends from before I died; I could only vaguely remember his name and what he looked like and that pained me, but I was certain we had spent many carefree hours together. My eyebrows creased as I tried harder to remember, but the image never came. Instead, I shook my head and met her gaze.
"Its nothing," I smiled, and she scowled and gave me a look that said, 'I know its not nothing,' before turning back to the others' conversation. Shortly afterwards I excused myself and walked out onto one of the many fields surrounding the school, as I had an hour before my first class.
On my second day I had found this place which I had since visited everyday. It was a bubbling stream in a large ditch that was invisible until you got within a few metres. The water was crystal clear and the grass was bright and healthy. I sat on the embankment and lay back, gazing up at the cloudless sky and wondering if Taiga was up there. His name escaped my mouth, my voice faltering towards the end of the short word. Rolling onto my side, I watched a rabbit hop a few metres away, its dark beady eyes watching me nervously before leaning down to nibble at the grass. The sunlight warmed my face and I felt I was unable to move, even if i wanted to.
It turned to face me again and I smiled at it as it hopped up to me, staring like it had never seen a human before. It probably hadn't; it was only young. I rolled back on to my back and listened to the sweet sound of birdsong. This tranquil enviroment reminded me so much of my first home, it seemed unreal, like a memory from the past.
Snapping from my daze I sat up quickly, scaring away the rabbit and causing my vision to fade slightly. When it returned to normal I stood, dusted any stray grass from my uniform and made my way back towards school.
Ethan spotted me and ran over, "Ryuuhei!!!" he grinned, tackling me so we both fell to the floor, "Come on we're gonna be late!"
He practically dragged me to our music lesson and we burst through the doors just on time, to see a man with grey hair and a bow tie at the front of the class. He looked a little shocked, but then laughed and smiled at us.
"Ah, Ethan, and you must be our new student Ryuu Davidson," in every new lesson the teacher had called me Ryuu, yet the effect never lessoned. A sharp pain twanged in my chest and I had to take a few shaky breaths before politely asking him to not call me that. His grey eyes widened slightly and he pushed his spectacles up his nose, "I apologize. My name is Mr Cole and I am the school's best music teacher," I didn't know if he was serious or not so decided not to question or oppose him.
The lesson ended and we began to walk to English. Ethan left for his seperate lesson and I met up with Katia. Her deep blue eyes narrowed slightly when she spotted me.
"Hi," I greeted half heartedly, to which she scowled.
"Are you gonna tell me what you were thinking about earlier or not?" she placed her hands on her hips, leaning forward slightly.
"No," was my monotonous reply, walking into the room behind her. As we sat down beside each other, she gave me a devious grin.
"You have all lesson to spit it out, you know!" she winked and began to do the task provided.
I thought about an answer that wouldn't arouse suspicion. I was thinking about a friend would be sufficient, but would lead to more questions. In the end, I decided to tell her a clipped version of the truth if she was persistent enough.
I once again tried to remember him, but to no avail. At the most, I could picture his short hair and dark grey eyes, but all other features were hazy and unclear.
"Davidson!" Ms Blake shouted, calling me from my thoughts and earning a few snickers. My head snapped up and I saw her cold gaze directed at me.
"Yes Ms?"
She walked towards me, "step outside with me for a minute,"
I nodded and followed her out, turning back to see Katia watching me with a confused expression. I shrugged and sighed as the woman closed the door.
"You have seemed quite out of it today, are you alright?" the question shocked me slightly, but I averted my gaze.
"I'm trying to remember someone but it won't come to me," I admitted, and she nodded understandingly.
"I see," she thought for a moment, "Do you remember the person's name?"
I shook my head, "I really want to remember, but my memory is fading,"
My words shocked me somehow. Surely that wasn't true. Did that mean that one day I would forget what Taiga looked like? I pictured him with his short spikey hair... or was it straight? I felt the colour drain from my face. Was I forgetting?! The very thought of it made bile rise in my throat, and I felt my knees give way. Ms Blake let out a startled cry and knelt beside me.
"Are you alright?" she asked. I bowed my head to stop the tears gathering in the corners of my eyes from showing.
"I... I think I'm forgetting them..." came my choked reply.
