The City of Lights

Chapter 1: How We Met

(Sorry for such a long wait yall. I've been dealing with some stuff school-wise and haven't had the chance to write. For the most part, all chapters will have pictures to indicate whose POV it is. If there are multiple then I'll clearly state that. If it's italicized that is what they're thinking of.  Anyways now on with chapter one)

Hera POV

"Ugh, another long day of school with the same annoying people and the same annoying hallways." I

 I was genuinely thinking about skipping today and heading straight to The City of Lights but I knew if I did my parents would kill me, bring me back to life and then kill me again. They don't know about the city none of the adults do. It was created years ago before I was even born. I never went when I was younger. Partially because you cant go into it until you're around 14 or 15. I also didn't want to ruin how my parents thought of me but at this point in my life, I couldn't care less about what they thought about me. I didn't start going till this year. 

I should probably introduce myself. Hi, I'm Hera, I'm 16 years old and bisexual. My pronouns are she/they and I don't really have friends. I'm not exactly popular or liked but that's not important. 

I hate school and I mean hate. It's a place for kids to judge people and no one cares about it. It's finally the end of the day and just as I'm about to make it out the door, I bump into someone and that someone just happens to be Perseus Sutherland. He's the Mr. Perfect at my school meaning every girl is in love with him either for his money or his looks. No one knows why he goes to public school instead of private if he can afford it but it's not our business in the first place. As I get ready to apologize to him and help him grab his books he rolls his eyes at me picks his books up and walks away. 

I decide to ignore it and go to the city. The only thing on my mind is the city. The reason it's called the City of Lights is that people only really come at night and that's when everybody has parties and there are just thousands of colors shining brightly.

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I can finally escape this hell hole of a town for the weekend. My parents wouldn't notice they'll be too busy with my siblings to notice until it's too late. There are multiple ways to get in and out of the city. Everybody says the city and the tunnels just appeared one day. No one really knows how it was found but a lot of people just say it's alien. 

Getting there can be a hassle but it's worth it. There are kids all over the world who are like me, meeting in one place and it's amazing. I don't know anybody who goes here so I normally go up to one of the hills and sit and draw. Sometimes I draw the people I see and other times I draw whatever comes to mind.

A few hours past and it's now night which means parties are going to be thrown especially since it's Friday. I go as high up on the hill as possible and stare and all the flashing lights. 

"Aren't you going to the party?" I look around for the voice. This is the first time anyone has talked to me here.

"Hello! Can you hear me?" I see two figures walk up to me. One looks to be about 18 and the other 16. One looks fairly familiar.

"Perseus is that you?" I asked surprised to see the school's quarterback off the field.  

"Do I know you?" Seriously! I've been going to school with him since middle school and he doesn't even know my name. I guess that is my fault considering the fact that I never talked to him and that I'm always in the back of each and every class. 

"I'm the girl you ran into earlier. You know when you rolled your eyes and walked away." He looks at me cluelessly and I turn my attention to the other guy.

"Hi, what's your name?" I ask trying to sound friendly while thinking of a way out of this horrible and awkward situation.

"I'm Tominaga Yushushi. And you are?" He asks I almost blank out for a second while trying to process what's happening. 

"Um, I'm Hera Hunnington. Nice to meet you." He nods his head in agreement and looks at me expectantly. Does he really think I'm the type of person to party? He looks at Perseus and then back at me and they both pull me up.

"Come on it'll be fun." He says pulling me in the direction of loud annoying teens. I try to pull away but can't. I decide to escape when they've both forgotten about me. 

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An hour later and I'm still hanging out with them. They're not as bad as I thought they would be but I still don't want to be here. I rather sit on the top of my hill and stare from afar. As I look around I notice someone staring at me. Embarrassed from making eye contact I look away but it's too late they make their way over.

"Hi! I couldn't help but notice you from across the room and thought I should introduce myself," they smile shyly at me "My name is Satis Evergreen, and those two back there," she says as she points to two of her friends "are Lycus Smith and Gwynedd Prichett. My best friends." I smile at her and decide it's my turn. Tominaga and Perseus look at me expectantly basically telling me to speak up.

"Hi, I'm Hera Hunnington, this is Perseus and Tominaga," I say trying not to get flustered up from her gaze. She directs her friends to come over and say hi. As they do I realize that I could've just made my first friend group ever. All types of people having one thing in common and we didn't even know it.

We all decide to leave the party and go somewhere more quiet to talk and get to know each other. We all truly introduce ourselves and find out each other's pronouns, ages, and a little bit about our lives. I found out Pers (he lets us call him that) is questioning but is too scared to tell anyone. We all knew what that was like for the most part well everyone besides Tominaga. We just sit and talk for hours until we all fall asleep one by one.

Hi guys! I hope you enjoyed this very long first chapter. I will try to write more often but with my school schedule changing every week because of COVID and winter break starting in two weeks, there's a lot I need to focus on. Hopefully, another chapter will be out next week so keep your fingers crossed. Bye guys and I really do hope you enjoyed this chapter.