Character Profile
Name: Joshua Carlos Smith
Age: 16
Appearance: shortish, dark brown messy hair, handsome features, defined jawline, glasses, slightly skinny
Likes: Sci-fi, horror, videogames, maths, girls, science
Dislikes: the popular kids, being short, sports, loud music
Hobbies: reading, playing videogames, watching horror films, maths
Lilac’s POV
The next week of school is like hell. I don’t really have that many friends, but there’s a small group of us who eat lunch together.
It’s the last week, so no one really notices my distant air. I’m glad. It would just fluster me if people spoke to me all the time.
I can’t get my mind off the events of Saturday. It feels like my world is crumbling around me. I stumble from class to class, unaware of my surroundings.
When the final bell rings on Friday, signalling the end of school for the rest of the summer, I’m not really sure how I feel. It’s kind of a sense of relief that I no longer have to get up at 7AM every morning-I’m the furthest you can get from a morning person-but slightly anxious that I no longer have a distraction from Dan and Phil; I’m going to have to face the music sometime.
“Hey.”
I glance up from my locker to see Joshua, part of the group of nerds I eat lunch with, leaning on the locker next to mine.
“Oh,” I say, “Uhm. Hey, Joshua.”
“You look nice today.”
That was a lie. I look like shit today. My hair is in a messy topknot and I have barely any makeup on. My hand rises to my nose and I fiddle with my nose ring anxiously. I’m not very good at accepting compliments.
“Thanks,” I say, “You uh, look uh, really nice too.”
That wasn’t a lie. Joshua always looks good.
“So, is there a reason you wanted to talk to me?” I ask.
“Well,” he says nervously, “I was wondering if you wanted to hang out at all this summer maybe?”
I’m taken aback. He wants to hang out with me? Is this a prank? Is it going to be like in Carrie when they pour pigs blood over her at the prom?
Okay, Lilac, you’re overreacting. Who says you’re not fun to hang out with? Dan and Phil like me. Elise likes me. Elise…
“If you don’t wanna that’s totally okay and I definitely understand,” he says quickly and starts to turn.
“No!” I say, “Joshua, I’d love to hang out with you this summer.”
I attempt a smile.
Joshua turns back around and gives me a shy smile. I like it when he smiles, like really smiles. He eyes look like they’re twinkling. His eyes are a chocolately brown, the same shade as Dan’s. Now that I think of it, he looks an awful lot like Dan. Is that why Joshua appeals so much to me?
He whips out his phone and gets my number.
“I’ll see you around Lilac,” he says with another cute smile.
“Bye,” I reply and watch him go. The corridor is now empty and a
Teacher bustles past me.
“Hurry on now, Lilac,” she says, “or else the summer will be over before you get all your books out.”
That snaps me out of my daydream and I shove the remnants of my locker into my schoolbag and run out of the school.
I’m free! At last, I’m free!
Dan’s POV
It’s been almost a week since I last saw Lilac. Phil and I are really worried about her. She just ran off on Saturday, I don’t even know what happened.
She hasn’t been returning any of our calls as well. If she carries on like this, I might have to go to her house.
I think a lot about her sister too. What was her name? Lisa? Ellen? Her parents had mentioned another daughter in college. She seemed to intimidate Lilac a lot. I know what it’s like to be bullied, and it’s not pleasant, but by your own sister? That must be tough.
I didn’t realise how much I needed Lilac. It’s strange really, we don’t have a particularly intimate friendship, but it’s something about her that makes me crave her presence.
Phil has noticed how worried I’m getting. He’s an easy-going chap, Phil is; doesn’t get too bad about anything. That’s a very idealistic way of being.
On Friday afternoon, I’m particularly worried. I perch at the breakfast bar, my head in my hands, thinking. Phil emerges from his bedroom and comes into the kitchen.
I look up from my hands. He’s so beautiful. I’ve always had a crush on Phil; he’s my senpai, really. When we moved in together I tried to control it a bit more, but seeing him so much has made it spiral out of control.
“Hey,” he says, “Dan.”
He walks over to me and puts my face in his hands. He closes his eyes and presses his forehead to mind. In this moment, nothing in the world seems to matter anymore. I’m thinking about nothing, yet everything is zooming through my mind all at once. All I can feel are his forehead on mine and his breath upon my lips and his hands on my cheeks and his body pressing slowly against mine. He traces my cheekbones with his thumbs. I can hear his heart beating, a calm, steady, rhythmic beat, contrasting with mine, which is beating faster than I thought was possible. I can smell his scent and his breath seems to calm everything in the atmosphere. I feel at ease. Phil is my sanctuary, my everything. With him I feel safe. With you I belong I say under my breath.
At as suddenly as it happened, he pulls away and turns, his tall figure bounding back into the refuge of his room. I realise what I had just experienced was love. I guess that’s the only way to describe it. No the mushy kind, or the loved up kind, just true, pure love. And now that I have felt it I’m offended how the word love gets tossed around so easily.
When you fall in love, you don’t really realise it until something like this happens, and you can feel the love and adrenalin coursing through your veins, and all the pain and anguish and sadness leaking out of you. All that matters is the connection you’re feeling, the understanding you have of the other person.
I’m not sure why Phil ran off. He couldn’t have heard me whisper, I could barely hear myself. I think maybe he seemed satisfied that he had shown me that everything is okay as long as I’m with him. The things I was worrying about seem petty now.
Everything’s okay now. I belong with Phil.
To be continued..
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A.N.
So uh, yeah. That was part 1 of chapter 4. I decided to have this chapter in two parts, because it’s too long to be one chapter yet it feels wrong to make two chapters out of it. This one was kind of a page-filler really; I didn’t intend it to go where it went. But this is my first fic after all, so please be patient with my undeveloped writing skills. I want to take turns with the POV’s, but it’s kind of hard, because we always have different events going on, and if we don’t, what’s the point of writing about them? The next part is probably going to be a bit like this, I just kind of want to describe what’s happening and really help you guys understand how each individual is feeling and how they’re linked. Oh, and yeah, I figured out how to make it into separate parts. Like, you know when you finish a chapter then you click on the next one? Now you’ll get notifications when I update. Anyway, thanks to much for reading, don’t forget to comment and favourite; it means a lot.
With love,
Cherry (Ellen) xoxo
