RINGGGGG!

"Ahhh, damn… I'm still sleepy, why did I have to finish that shitty game last night. I must be crazy." I yawned as I crawled out of bed. I turned off the annoying alarm on my phone and walked to the bathroom to take a quick shower.

"Hooo, nothing beats a cold shower after you wake up in the morning. Hummm~" I hummed my favorite song while scrubbing my body. Gotta stay clean and dirt free, girl doesn't like dirty boys. In a literal way. Dirt as in filth, god why am I explaining myself again? Anyway! Gotta stay clean and fresh!

After showering, I wiped my body with a clean towel and dried my hair. Man, I gotta wear something decent today to add some points to my charm. How about this shirt? Not bad, me! Looking good! Let's partner it with my new jeans and kicks. I walked in front of the mirror and checked myself out.

"Oho. Not bad, not bad at all. But I think I would look so much better without my glasses. Nah, I can't see shit without them. Whatever."

The smell of eggs, bacon and coffee that mom made drifted into my bedroom. I rushed down the stairs, walked to the dining room and grabbed a seat for myself. My sister Juliette is already eating and dad is sipping his coffee. Juliette is two years younger than me and is currently a 10th grader. She looks mature for her age and people even say that we look like twins, but I refuse to be paired with this animal! She is rude, sadistic and smart. I hate smart people!

"Hey sis, you're up early. Is the world ending or something?" I teased Juliette while stuffing myself. All I got was a dirty look and a middle finger. This kid is getting ruder each day. One day I will discipline this asshole. I will do this and that… I grit my teeth in anger as I daydream about things such as winning an argument with her and stuff.

“Julianne, finish your damn breakfast! Are you having one of those inner monologues again? I told you to stop, that’s weird and creepy!”

You old hag, you didn’t have to say it like that. It sounded like I have an incurable disease or something. And don’t say creepy, I’m still your son you know?

Anyways, today is my first day in college. I took multimedia arts as my major to take advantage of my overly active imagination. Also because the male to female ratio of this major is 50:50-ish, but that's not the point. While I’m having this internal monologue I’m wolfing down my breakfast, afraid that mom will start to nag me again.

“Thanks for the food, I’m off mom, dad! I gotta hurry, Vi texted me last night. She said that there will be an orientation for freshmen this morning. You too, stinky Julie! Bye!” I said as I bolted out of the door. I can vaguely hear mom yell something but it’s not really important.

I took out my phone and checked the time on the screen. The front door of the house directly across ours opened abruptly and a cutie came out. Her name is Vivianne. She has short silky black hair. Her skin looks so pale like a vampire, or a typical shut in. Coupled with her punk-ish outfit and frowning but hella cute face, she looked like a cold beauty. But you can't deny that she is quite a looker, too bad she's as flat as a washboard. Sigh, what a waste! If she were a bit more sexy then...

"Damn bastard! You're thinking about something rude again aren't you!?" A hard kick on the shin woke me up from my daydream. This girl is violent as usual, and what's up with her 6th sense? Scary!

"You barbaric woman! Would it kill you if you were a bit more gentle with me? This is why you're still single Vi."

"Your grandma is barbaric! You don't deserve kindness, dickhead. And I don't need a boyfriend. Besides, everybody assumes that we are a couple. Why did I have to get stuck with an idiot like you!" Vi complained while stomping her foot in annoyance.

"Fuck, who asked you to hang out with me? You always complain about getting stuck with a weirdo yet you never leave! I'm not thanking you though!" I spat and sneered at her.

It's true though. We grew up together since we are neighbors. From kids to teens, we stuck close like glue. At first I'm still cool with it because we were young and clueless. But as we grew older, I realized that someone like her should be hanging out with better people. Not someone with issues like me. It's not like I don't like her company, I just wanted the best for her. Come to think of it, isn't this the legendary 'childhood friend route'!? Maybe there is a chance? Since she didn't say anything to deny the rumours about us, then maybe she's not against it? Oh god! But wait, I better not get ahead of myself. I don't want to assume anything.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Hey idiot, pay attention when somebody's talking to you. I've been talking nonstop all this time and you're not even listening?" Vi pouted as she gave me a "loving" pinch on my side.

"Fuck! Are you trying to pinch off some of my tender meat?" I gave her a sidelong glance while rubbing the area where I got abused.

"Sorry, I was thinking about something. What were you saying again?" I asked her as I casually put my hand on her shoulder.

"I said, I bet the orientation will just be some boring talk about shitty rules and whatnot. Did they have to start so early, gosh." Vi rolled her eyes and shook her head exaggeratedly. Look at this dumb potato, she just wanna ditch the orientation. Typical Vi.

We chatted a bit about random stupid stuff on the way and soon we reached the uni. We passed the gate together with other freshmen and located the auditorium in no time. There were a lot of people already, we scanned the seats and sat on the empty spot at the back. As soon as we sat down I looked around for any potential 'candidates' in the crowd. Good there are a lot of pretty freshies here.

"You horny dog. Looking for pretty girls already?" Vi suddenly elbowed me and flashed a cheeky grin. Her 6th sense is scary as usual.

"Well, no. I was just looking around randomly. Why would I need to look around if there's one beside me?" I gave her a knowing look but all I got from her was a clearly disgusted expression on her face.

"Ew, are you hitting on me? Come on dude." She shook her head and pulled out her phone. She plugged in her headphones and ignored me afterwards.

What, it didn't work? Is it because I'm too abrupt? Huh. Maybe I should get closer to her before trying anything. A few minutes after that the orientation finally started. Vi was right, they only talked about boring stuff. But attending is mandatory so we cannot ditch it. After hours of boring talk the half dead person on the podium finally dismissed us and we hurriedly scurried away, afraid that the zombie will say another word.

-

"Man that was boring as hell! I thought my brain would melt. Do you have any plans after this?" Vi asked me while sipping on her coke.

We are now chowing down on some fast food junk, Vi made me buy her lunch. What can a poor guy like me do. Of course I got dragged by this punk and I paid for everything. Damn my wallet is crying.

"Me? Nothing I guess, we already checked out some clubs and orgs earlier. Are you really sure that you wanna join the game development org? I'll definitely join 'cos you know that I'm a game nerd." I raised an eyebrow and asked her skeptically.

"Why not? You'll be there anyways. I'll just hang around and do stuff or something. Why, you don't want me around? Huh?"

"I didn't say anything! And stop kicking me damn woman." This woman is really violent. I popped the last potato fry in my mouth and stood up. Vi, on the other hand, put her potato fries in the paperbag. God, she even bought takeout. Shameless! Clearly in a good mood, she hummed a song as we left the fast food restaurant.

"Hey, wanna hang out at my place? My brother is in his tattoo shop so we have the basement for ourselves. Also mom said she won't be home until 10 in the evening."

This girl just said some things that can be easily misunderstood. Inviting a boy over at her place? Nobody's home except them? 'Hang out' in the basement? Whattt? If I'm some other guy I might have taken advantage of her already. Vivianne, you gotta be careful you know? I'm still a healthy teenager you know?

"Eh sure, I'll just ask mom to make us dinner and I'll bring it over later. So Sebastian's not home huh. Good, that asshole is so annoying."

Vi's older brother Sebastian is 25, 7 years older than us. He used to play with us when we were still kids but he got so annoying when he got into college. Now that he is a functioning member of society he got even more annoying. Always sticking his nose in our business. There was this one time where he got all serious and advised me to treat her sister better if we want a happy marriage. That fucking bastard, I'm not even dating your sister. Yet. Anyways, he's not a bad guy but still! His face is so punchable.

"I know right. Last night he even told me to always stick with you in the uni because there are a lot of shady people there. As if you're better than them. He doesn't know that you are one of the shady people he described." she said in a very annoyed tone. Bitch who are you calling shady? Your grandma is shady!

The uni is just 30 minutes away from our neighborhood on foot so we got home in no time. We got in Vi's house and she went into the kitchen to grab some drinks. I just sat on the sofa and waited for her. Their house is nice, a bit smaller than ours but still spacious. After a minute she came back holding two cans of cola.

"Go on ahead in the basement and wait for me. I'll take a quick shower." She walked past me and tossed me a can as she climbed up the stairs. I opened the can and drank a mouthful while walking towards the basement. Their basement is refurbished into a mini studio by Sebastian. There's a bass, 2 electric guitars, drums and a synth here. He's in a band so they use this place to jam and chill. Well Vi and I moved a couch and a tv here too, so Seb's band and us are basically 'roomies'.

I laid down on the couch facedown, damn I'm tired. Wait what is it? It smells like Vi. No. I'm a decent person, no sniffing. I mustered all my willpower and sat up. As much as I would love to sniff the sofa, I can't do that. It's too weird even for me. While I am having an internal struggle Vi came down the stairs. Startled, my body tensed up and I looked around, trying to look as innocent as possible.

"Hey what's up? Anything wrong?"

Vi looked at me suspiciously, scanning me from head to toe. She was carrying some chips and the takeout we bought earlier. When she passed by me, I was able to smell her. No! It's not my fault, your honor. The smell of her soap and shampoo is just strong, I didn't deliberately try to take a whiff. I plead innocent! I glanced at her as she plopped down beside me. She's wearing pink shorts and a loose shirt. Oh god, I can see her nape and a bit of her shoulder from here. Her hair is still a bit wet and droplets of water slides from her neck down her collarbone.

"Amitabha buddha…" I chanted a mantra to purge my demons, praying to my ancestors to provide me with enough willpower. The girl in question is clearly clueless, she's currently munching on the leftover potato fries and a cheese burger. She saw me looking at her and maybe got the wrong idea. Because she slowly leaned into me and shoved the burger that had a small bite mark in my face.

"Want a bite?"

She said that while tucking her hair behind her ears. I took 100 critical damage from and almost had a nosebleed. Vi, have you always been this cute? I even told myself earlier that I would try to flirt with you. Now that there's an opportunity, this happens. Man, I wanna go home…