TIWIS

PROLOGUE 1.0

There I was, standing in the middle of Sands Street, alone in the night, staring at nowhere in particular, getting impatient and tired. He had promised. He had said he wouldn't be late this time, he promised...
My real name is Dmitri Ambrosia Alphares. I know. It's a weird name, but I guess my Greek LOVING parents just couldn't decide what genders to stick to when naming their only daughter out of three boys. Anyways, I call myself Amber and so does everyone who needs to use my name - well, except my father and my two eldest brothers.
Today was supposed to be the day I'd do one of the most daring things I will ever do, in my life, but it's all ruined now. I had finally gathered up the courage to tell Axel the truth he had so much been bugging me about, and he just had to be late. He was always LAte, so I guess this shouldn't be as annoying, but it WAS.
Still, I somehow found myself pacing around the street, not even thinking about going home.
I had taken the last bus here, to save him the trouble of having to see my dad, who by the way was a teensy bit OVERPROTECTIVE (who could blame him though? After all, his only female child was in her teens). He had said he was going to be passing through Sand's Street on his way home, so I told him I'd be at the street's bus stop, and he should meet me there. This was annoying, we had agreed on the time, and he was supposed to be here at least three hours ago, I wouldn't know exactly how long since my phone battery had run down from calling him all this time. I should have listened to Cleo; she had warned me not to become optimistic for nothing.
Everyone had misunderstood what I was about to tell Axel tonight. They all had their different opinions on what I was about to tell him, and THEY WERE SO WRONG.
As I kept pondering, I could literally feel the courage slipping out of my body - precisely - my fingers. Just when there was about fifty per cent left, I saw him. Well not him exactly, his car. He pulled up in front of me, and walked out looking as lovely as ever, a bit unsure, a bit apologetic, but the rest? The rest was just sheer excitement.
I must have looked annoyed because he paused for a moment before starting his usual apology. Next, I didn't even know what I was doing. I just found myself asking, "Where the hell have you been? Do you know how long I've been waiting here? Have you even checked your phone? Do you -".
I had stopped between my questions not because I wanted to but because he smiled. I looked at him with a look mixed with confusion and annoyance and his smile grew wider. Believe me, that smile almost made me forget everything. For heaven's sake, why did the gods have to make someone so beautiful?
"I'm so sorry -", he started watching my face carefully before going on with his excuse "I know I promised, I know, and really I didn't forget, I didn't -"
"- so why are you late", I asked interrupting him.
"Well..." he started watching my expression again, "Jenny called, and she said she wanted to talk about... us".
I saw the excitement overshadow all the other emotions I had seen earlier on his face before. Jenny is the girl he had been crushing on for about a month now, so I should have understood this was important for him, but instead of understanding him, I got unnecessarily angry. I heard myself blurt out words I would never have dreamt in my worst nightmare of uttering and then went to sit in the back seat of his car.
He stood there looking surprised for a while before walking back to his car, and we sat there in silence for about fifteen minutes before he finally broke it, "you're probably mad, right?"
"No", I said sarcastically. "Really. I'm not. I'm just happy for having to stand out in the cold, for approximately three hours. Oh! Where are my manners? Congratulations by the way. It was perfectly noble a cause to leave me waiting here. You and Jenny are officially a couple, right?"
I looked straight into his eyes as I said this since he was turning his back to face me. Then I continued, "And hurry let's go, I'm really hungry. Better still... there's no need for you to feel too obligated. You can just drive me home. At least, I wouldn't feel so sore, and I'll get something to eat there."
He had started to say something but stopped before the words came out. I could see the excitement slip out of his face, and all the courage I had gathered, slip out of my body, this time not through anywhere in particular. He stared at me for a few more minutes. I couldn't bring myself to look at him. I had said things I didn't mean.