The events of that stormy night had occurred when Andrew was the tender age of six. He found himself pondering on them again ten years later, perched lazily on the edge of his desk. He swirled his wrist and tiny stars danced about to the circling movements. A pair of eyes followed the stars with great interest before abruptly jumping to try and catch one. The stars disappeared and he pouted at the offender.
"Bad cat," he chided. The cat simply cocked its head to one side and gave him an innocent look. He tried to hold his ground but eventually gave in and offered her a hand. As she came closer, he picked her up onto his lap and petted her soft gray and white fur. "Scar, you're the only one I'd forgive for doing something like that."
Scarlet purred in satisfaction. His other cat, Madelaine with her black fur and yellow eyes, crept up and rubbed herself against his leg, seemingly upset at the blatant favoritism. Andrew patted her on the head and she bit his index finger. "Hmph! And she wonders why she isn't the favorite!" he muttered under his breath. She looked up at him with a victorious glint in her crisp yellow eyes.
A dull sound reverberated around the room as Andrew's phone vibrated on his bed. He lifted his hand in its direction, palms facing bed-wards. The phone wobbled a bit as it lifted in the air and floated slowly towards him. "Hello...?" he said cautiously.
"HOW COULD YOU MISS SCHOOL TODAY-"
Andrew groaned loudly into the receiver. "I don't feel like talking right now."
"Well, that sucks. And here I was, waiting patiently by your front door. Your one and only friend-"
Caroline Harley was the closest thing Andrew had to a 'childhood friend', or rather even a 'friend'. He sighed and sprung off the desk and ambled over to the front door. He peeked through the peephole and assured that it was indeed her. Then he unlocked the door without bothering to open it and trudged over to the kitchen. She pushed open the door and stalked after him, chattering away without missing a beat.
"Why are you here?" Andrew sighed, exasperated. "Why didn't you just ring the doorbell?"
"Why didn't you come to school today?" she asked, more annoyed than worried.
"Didn't feel like it," he answered simply, as he covered a slice of bread with peanut butter. He had to do things manually when she was around.
"Don't you even want to know what you missed?" she asked after a short silence. "No need," Andrew yawned. She cocked her head to the side. "You know, you're being awfully dismissive... your grades aren't even that good..."
"Don't really care," he mumbled.
"UGH!" I don't know why I even bother with you!" Caroline fumed.
Andrew continued to butter the toast in silence. Why did she bother with him, Andrew wondered. He most certainly didn't want her to. Andrew had never gone out of his way to seek out her friendship. He was somewhat appreciative of the fact that she went out of her way to show concern for him and play the part of the 'childhood friend'. Perhaps as an ode to his now deceased parents who were friends with hers. But he felt that at one point, she started pushing herself onto him of her own free will.
Andrew didn't quite understand what people saw in Caroline. She was considered attractive by most people but nothing about her sparked any sort of emotion in him. Caroline was one of the more popular girls at the high school they both attended. Because she was so close to Andrew, people tried to befriend him to get closer to her. Because he rejected such advances, people considered him stuck up. There were many who were just plain jealous of their friendship. Andrew's social skills were mediocre at best and that only served to hinder his attempts to get people to cease their unreasonable dislike for him. All in all, Andrew decided to give up all hope of finding even one good friend, and to instead use that energy to concentrate on practicing magic. Caroline, of course, knew nothing about it. He grimaced at the very thought of telling her.
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Many people had often mistaken him for her boyfriend. He didn't think they even looked very good together. Andrew and Caroline were around the same height. She had light skin, while his was darker. They both had black hair, black eyes, and other equally ordinary features. Caroline wore her hair up in twin ponytails just above her ears (which Andrew thought were too big for her face). He also thought that her eyes were rather intimidating.
Of course, one might still wonder why Andrew didn't fall for her. The reason was simple; he thought that she was annoying. Andrew knew that she wasn't interested in him in a romantic sense either. She probably stuck to him because it bothered her how uninterested in her he was. Several times he tried to throw her attention onto someone else by pointing out several of their classmates who also showed little to no interest in her. Some such examples would be Benjamin from the math club, Izu from the chess club, and Zen who was one of the more famous delinquents in their school.
She merely waved them off, claiming she could befriend them if she so wished it. In a further attempt to lose her interest, he asked her to prove it but she didn't seem to find it necessary to accept the challenge. There was no doubt that she was confident that she could do it. It's just that she did not want to and she was self-indulgent.
"You know, we had those career counselors come in today. Then Mr. Brown was telling us to start thinking about which college we want to go to. School's going to be over before you know it..." she said.
"I suppose so. Would you like something to drink?" He was certainly not an ungracious host.
"Juice is fine. You know which I like. So, any plans for where to go after? I heard most of the others already decided. I've got some colleges shortlisted out for you as well since-"
"I'm not planning to go."
"WHAT?" she screeched after a short pause.
"More specifically, I'm planning not to go." He grinned as though that had been a choice he put a lot of thought into.
"WHAT?" she screeched a second time.
Andrew poured some orange juice in a bright red mug and offered it to her. She took it (or rather, clutched it out of his hands), gulped it down in one go, and began bombarding him with questions. "Why?! What do you mean you're not going to go?! How can you not?!" then paused, "...I know your grades aren't that great but I'm sure you can manage to get into one of the affiliated colleges if you-" She was shaking him by the shoulders. He crossed his eyebrows in blatant irritation, hoping it would send the message not to inquire further. No dice.
"You can't take your future this lightly!!" she yelled as though she, of all people, could change his mind about it. He decided that he'd had enough. Softly, but firmly, Andrew pushed her hands off his shoulders. "It isn't as though I'm taking my future lightly. I just have other plans." He paused, and then continued, "And they have nothing to do with you." before she could bombard him with several more questions.
"I see," was all she managed before finally leaving.
He almost felt slightly bad about the whole thing. Annoying as she was, at least she pretended to care. Madelaine scratched his ankle and stared expectantly at him with her round glowing eyes, her pupils sharp black slits in a sea of yellow. Normally, he would have gotten mad but this time he supposed he'd deserved it. Sighing seemed to be all he did those days. He took a bit of time to actually ponder on his future as he dropped two more slices of bread into the toaster. He picked Madelaine up onto his lap and rocked her back and forth as he considered his options.
He had no plans to continue with this foolish education nonsense, that was for sure. His parents had enrolled him in school so that he could enjoy a normal life, after having deprived him of it for the first few years of his adolescent life. They were a tad too late because by that time he was beyond it all. It all started a few years ago, when his Grandma came back after her grand disappearance.