#wasted summers

The halls of school were buzzing as kids pushed past each other to get to their respective classes, some were standing in the halls chatting and others were sitting down, trying to keep their heads low to not be noticed. In the middle of the hall, there was a head of (H/c) shuffling through, that was you walking around with your head up high, your rather intense (E/c) eyes scanning the halls to look for the room number you were assigned to for the first period.

Despite having the room numbers memorized, you couldn't stop thinking of the numbers obsessively- it had to be right. Letting out a soft sigh, you pushed through a group of students who gathered in the front, probably just trying to catch up. But you were in no rush to see your classmates whom you'd been with since elementary school, so you passed through them.

(Y/N) (L/N), your name was known around the school as the top student, you were always the club president and the student body president, and of course the overachiever, to say the least.

Who knew how you did it...

But you seemed like the perfect student to all of those who knew you.

You let out a soft hum of pleasure as you pulled out a brand new notebook, of course you were excited as you ran your fingers over the top of the clean paper. You sat up straight while pulling out your pencil case and digging through to find that one favorite pencil of yours. The peace you felt at being back to school was unimaginable, and thus the focus started once you heard the familiar ring of the bell. So there you were, not hesitating to take down all the notes the teacher wrote down, and that's how it was until the middle of the day.

You were walking with your classmate and long-time friend, Tachibana Hinata. You two had met in elementary school and had been neighbors at one point, though unfortunately you had to move once middle school came around. But that didn't stop the two of you, in the moment you couldn't help but let out a soft laugh as the pink-haired female threw her arms around, talking about her boyfriend.

"I'm serious, (Y/N)! He showed up at my door crying... I think he got into another fight, and he defended me earlier..." Hina pouted before she stopped, causing you to stop as well. With a raised brow, you waved a hand in front of Hina's face. "Hello? What's wrong?" You waved your fingers more as Hina blinked and looked away in embarrassment. "I... I accidentally slapped a friend of his..." she admitted and that caused you to snicker, causing you to earn a glare. "Hina! How did that happen?" You started to pester Hina for details. It was only the first day of school, both of you still had the entire year and your usually calm friend had managed to create a strained relationship with a stranger.

The pinkette admitted that she thought Takemichi was getting bullied by these delinquents, and she ended up slapping the leader (causing you to immediately swear you were going to catch them and report them) but the pinkette assured you multiple times that it was a misunderstanding and Takemichi was defending her.

What a surprise.

You sighed before stopping in front of Hina, "Hina... don't you think it's dangerous that Hanagaki is hanging around those... boys?" You clearly seemed salty about the thought of those kids coming around and causing trouble, but you weren't going to stoop that low to call them names. Hina tilted her head, "Huh? Well yeah... but he's a good guy, and I trust that he picks good influences to be around..." her friend reasoned, which slightly satisfied you- for now.

Hina and you continued to your classes and separated. You both promised to meet up at the end of the day to walk home together since your house was on the way to her apartment. When you got out, you were gripping the straps of your messenger bag nervously before you noticed Hina.

Without thinking, you immediately waved before running over, "Hina!" Your voice happily called out, yet you didn't notice that two delinquents were standing close by. "(Y/N)!" Hina greeted before motioning you to look over to the two boys who were standing with Takemichi. "(Y/N), this is Draken and Mikey, these are Takemichi's new friends," she introduced and you bowed your head in a greeting. "Hello, I'm (L/N) (Y/N), it's a pleasure to meet you," you smiled at first, but then your smile tensed up once you finally recognized who was in front of you.

You took in no time in absorbing their appearance; Jackets that clearly didn't belong to school, but to a gang; tattoos, nikkapokka pants, and don't even get started on the unbutton oversized shirts!

What a mess!

"Ah... Ken-Chin... isn't this the class president?" the shorter blonde yawned before the taller one confirmed, "Yeah... the same one since middle school," he answered. You cleared your throat, you weren't acquainted with these two, nor did You have an interest in staying around them for too long anyway. "Well... good to meet you two," you eyed the blonde's. Hina let out a soft yet nervous laugh at sensing your wary attitude. "Well... let's start walking home, shall we?" the overjoyed pinkette grabbed your hand, "Right, (Y/N)?" she tugged you away from the two. Takemichi suddenly panicked and stopped his girlfriend, "Hina! W... Wait!" he stood in front of you two, "Let us walk you! It's getting dark fast you know..."

You wished you never went up to Hina... or agreed to Takemichi's insistence on having the gang members walk you home.

Takemichi ended up staying with Hina and the other one known as 'Draken' ended up leaving early because he got a call. Now you were stuck outside of Hina's apartment with the other gang member... Mikey was it?

"Say (Y/N)... you're quite the boring one," Mikey drawled out as the two of you walked down the stairs,  you immediately whipped your head towards the blonde with an annoyed expression. "Huh!?" You stammered and stopped walking, but Mikey kept walking. "Hey!? You can't say stuff like that? I don't even know you," you didn't realize you sounded aggressive as you quickened your pace to catch up with the delinquent, clearly not appreciating his childish attitude! "Hmmm... but you don't do fun stuff," the boy pointed out and you rolled your eyes.

Sure... you didn't participate in the dangerous activities that these delinquents did but you loved your clubs and your hobbies. "That's not true... studying is fun and I can ice skate," you argued, but later became aware that you did indeed not have much to say, or rather your nerves prevented you from doing so.

You had to admit that despite your fiery attitude and your ability to voice your opinions in certain occasions, you just felt somewhat self conscious about what the delinquent would say in response to your rant. You were quite nerdy when it came to the things that you loved, and you felt that he just wouldn't care and tease you or something to that extent.

"Whatever... I'm walking home... you can leave... Mikey," you finally huffed, deciding that it wasn't worth to spill to someone like him before turning around to walk in the direction of your house. But you then heard Mikey's footsteps beside you, to which caused you to stop walking. "Hello? Don't be creepy, go home," you had to gently urge him but he shook his head, a lazy smile on his face. "Nah... it's fun seeing you get upset..." he then looked up ahead to the night sky. "Plus... it's dark, there's always creeps. It's Toman's responsibility to make sure that no girls get hurt..." he seemed proud to say while standing still, but soon found out that you were already walking ahead. "Hey!" he pouted before catching up to you, which didn't take much effort.

The walk was quiet, you didn't have anything to say and Mikey seemed to be enjoying the silence and the view of the town at night. Suddenly, Mikey decided to speak, "Oi...(Y/N)... what exactly do you do for fun?" he asked, sort of going back to the conversation they had in the beginning. It seemed that he had noticed you had wanted to say something. He wanted you to elaborate on your response from earlier, this caused you to tense up before turning to face him, "Well... I started to get into ice skating, not really much but I compete sometimes," you cautiously replied. "What about you? Do you go around beating up kids?" You asked, trying to sound sarcastic but it was easy to tell you were kidding around.

Mikey let out a small laugh, "Only if they deserve it, I mostly spend it with my friends or sister..." he shoved his hands into his pocket. They continued to talk, mostly about what they did for fun or things from the past that they found funny.

You closed your eyes to enjoy the warm breeze that flew past you for a moment, you loved the summer more than anything. You hated the cold and loved seeing the flowers and the different animals that came out. "I see... so we went to the same school but never crossed paths... that's funny," you admitted, you were sure you had never seen him around school or even heard his name.

"I don't ever remember seeing you... or ever hearing your name." You added, which caused Mikey to jokingly pout. "Huh? Surely you would have remembered this handsome face!" he bragged, to which you simply giggled. "Huh... I guess that's why you're not the smartest of the bunch... you always skippped." You teased him, your posture relaxing the more the conversation continued.

You suddenly stopped in front of your house, turning to Mikey and looking up at him, your eyes holding a gentler gaze. "Um... thanks for walking me home, Mikey," you bowed your head in gratitude and you flashed him a small smile. Mikey chuckled and shrugged his shoulders, "No problem... I'll see you around," he had a cocky grin on his face, "Don't miss me too much..." he waved before walking away. "Bastard..." you muttered but you didn't realize you were smiling and headed inside…

{Chapter two}

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