Merry-Go-Round First Draft: Chapter Two

Chapter Two: Confrontations

The house built for six people appeared in Spirius’ view. Only until three years ago, the light blue-painted house was filled with people. Every room was occupied by his parents, sisters, and brother. Until three years ago. Now, it was as empty and as quiet as a graveyard.

The rusted gate creaked as Spirius opened it. He saw the same wrapped package on his doorstep that he found this morning. However, now, it was adorned with a cherry blossom, probably from the same tree that Spirius rested under every day. After all, it was the only tree of that kind anywhere near this area. However, there was only one other person that knew that Spirius likes cherry blossoms, and that was Deshael. However, the thought of Deshael giving him a gift, especially wrapped in pink, seemed extremely out of place.

Spirius picked up the pink-wrapped gift and walked inside his house. He proceeded to walk up the stairs, and into his room. He quickly dropped the pack onto the floor, and leaned his sword on the wall. He placed the gift on the table, and walked back down the stairs. He walked into the kitchen, to get food, when he unexpectedly saw each of his friends waiting for him.

“Surprise!!!” They all screamed out in unison.

Spirius, unfazed, said, “Hey everybody… Why are you all here?”

A look of disbelief spread on everybody but Spirius’ face. “It is… your birthday, right?”

Spirius answered, “Yeah… So?”

Frustration then appeared on Deshael’s face. “So? What the hell do mean by ‘So’?! You only turn… turn…”

Spirius laughed, and said, “15”

Deshael continued, “Yeah… 15… You only turn 15 once in your life!!! Why the hell don’t you care?”

Spirius, still unconcerned, replied, “I just don’t. It’s not important to me…”

Deshael, even more frustrated, yelled, “Well, jeez, I’m so sorry that your friends tried so hard to celebrate something you don’t even care about… God damn it—,”

His rant was interrupted by Oakley, who attempted to calm him down, “Stop it, Deshael… It’s okay…”

Spirius sighed, and said, “Don’t worry; I’m glad you guys did this for me. I’m happy people actually care for me. So, thanks… I just hate birthdays. Nothing really to celebrate… At least for me.” With that, he got up, and walked to a basket of fruit, and picked up an apple. He was about to bite into it, when Lumina, quietly, said, “We brought a cake for you…”

Spirius looked at Lumina, and said, “We do?”

Deshael, equally confused, also said, “We do?! Why didn’t I know?!”

Oakley sighed, as Lumina turned around to bring it to the table. When she placed it on the table, Deshael exclaimed, “Wow… that looks really, really good!!”

Spirius also commented, “Thanks, Lumina… It’s definitely been a while since I last celebrated a birthday.”

Oakley, looking at the others, then said, as he picked up a fork, “Are we going to eat?”

Deshael nodded, and also picked up his fork. Spirius and Lumina followed suit.

~~~~~

The cake was finished in half an hour, by the four of them. Lumina ate about three bites, before she said she ate enough. Spirius, also not very big of an eater, ate a bit of the cake. This left huge portions for both Oakley and Deshael, the most enthusiastic over the cake. As Deshael and Oakley were finishing the rest of the cake, Spirius asked Lumina, “Where did you get that cake, anyway?”

Lumina replied, quietly, “I… baked it myself…”

“Oh, wow… really? That cake was delicious… I didn’t know you were such a good cook!”

Lumina blushed, and said, “Thanks…”

Deshael then called out, “Okay! We’re done! That was an amazing cake, Lumina! Why didn’t you guys eat any more? That was delicious!”

Oakley continued on Deshael’s point, “Yeah… I think I ate way too much…” He held his stomach and groaned.

Spirius laughed, and said to Lumina, “Thanks for the cake… It was nice of you.”

Lumina blushed again, and replied, “It wasn’t a problem…”

Deshael then stood up, and said, “Well… It’s getting dark… I’m off to my house.”

Oakley also stood up. “I’ll be leaving too.”

Spirius also stood up, and began to talk, when Deshael said, “Why are you getting up? This is your house, isn’t it? You shouldn’t be going anywhere!”

Spirius sighed, “I need to go to the market… to buy some food.”

Lumina then exclaimed, in her soft voice, “Oh… That reminds me… I have to buy some stuff too…”

Each of the students stood up and walked out the door. Lumina and Spirius turned to the left, toward the market, and Deshael and Oakley to the right, back toward the residential area of the city.

During the walk, Spirius decided to start a conversation with the shy Lumina.

“Hey, Lumina… When did you begin cooking and baking?” Spirius asked.

“Um… I think 7 or 8 years ago… Why?”

“No reason… It’s just that I’ve… uh… never been exceptionally good at anything… I mean… you’re really good at cooking, and… so… I just wanted to know how much training you’ve gotten…”

“Don’t say that… You’re good at some things… like fighting…”

“Oh… Uhm… Sorry about today. I didn’t mean to… uh… fall on you.” Spirius blushed.

“It’s okay…I guess it happens…” Lumina also blushed.

“I guess… Anyway… when is your birthday? I’ll… try to get you something for your birthday… If I remember…” Spirius smiled.

“It’s March 11^th… Oh… And that reminds me… I still have to give you the birthday present…” Lumina reached into her skirt pocket, and pulled out a bracelet. It had blue gemstones in it, and in the evening light, it seemed to glimmer brightly and vividly.

“Where did you get this? It’s… beautiful. Did you know that my favorite color is blue?” Spirius questioned.

Lumina blushed again. “I made the bracelet myself… I’m glad your favorite color is blue… The gems aren’t real though.”

“I know… there is no way I would have accepted something like that if it were that valuable. But… still… it’s beautiful… Thank you.” Spirius smiled.

The wind picked up slightly, allowing Lumina’s waist long hair to blow slightly. Her silver hair reflected the last bits of remaining sunlight, allowing it to appear glittered.

She brushed the hair out from the front of her face with her hand, and replied, “It’s no problem. I’m just sorry you hate birthdays as much as you do.”

~~~~~

The conversation ended with that, and when they left the market, they went their separate ways. Spirius began thinking about the gift that he had gotten. Now… he was able to rule out both Deshael and Lumina. Deshael wouldn’t give him a gift at all, and Lumina’s gift wasn’t in the box. Oakley probably wouldn’t wrap his gift in pink, but he couldn’t be sure. His thoughts on the gift that he received captivated his mind so fully that he walked past his own house. He once again approached the cherry blossom tree, and that’s when he realized that he had walked too far.

He said to himself, “Argh… did I walk too far again?”

When he saw the tree, with its beautiful pink flowers almost glowing in the deep blue evening light, he decided to take another break under this beautiful tree. For some reason, this tree reminded him of his mother. Beautiful, but standing alone. He stared up at the darkening sky, feeling himself float into drowsiness. Avoiding the idea of falling asleep outside, he got up, and walked back to his home. He heard the creak of his house’s gate, but did not rush to see what caused it to open. As he approached his house, he saw a long, pink-haired girl, rather attractive, walk in an opposite direction as him. One thing that he noticed about her was her elaborate necklace. She only wore one, but at the end, it had an elaborate figurine of a dragon, and attached to it, an amethyst.

He turned to look at her, and she did the same. Their eyes met for a moment, and Spirius began to feel his face turn red again. He quickly walked toward the gate, opened it, and walked into his house. He walked up to his room, after checking everything to make sure that nothing was stolen. He finally decided to open the pink-wrapped box, adorned with his favorite flower, the cherry blossom. Inside was a bracelet, a silver bracelet, with a figurine of a dragon attached to it. He quickly realized that it was the exact same figurine as the dragon on the pink-haired girl’s necklace. As he laid down on his bed, his thoughts were plagued by this idea that a girl he never knew gave him a bracelet as a gift for his birthday.

“What’s with the bracelets?” Spirius asked himself, now wearing a blue bracelet on one wrist, and a dragon-figurine bracelet on the other wrist. They were both well crafted, and he liked both of them. He fell asleep with the two bracelets on his wrists.

~~~~~

He awoke in the same slow speed as he did yesterday. He yawned, and saw both bracelets on his hands, and smiled. He was glad that somebody cared for him. He once again got out of bed slowly, and picked up his books and sword. He left his house on the same route he always did, the crowded dirt path, lit by the light yellow sunlight of the morning.

He once again passed the cherry blossom tree that he always saw, every day, in the same place. He, like always, stopped to look at the beautiful tree, and was ready to take a long break under its shaded branches, when somebody walked into him.

A rough voice said, “Why the hell are you in the middle of the path? Move your slow ass!”

Spirius chose to ignore his antagonizer, and walked under the tree. However, the other, dark green-haired boy said, “Don’t ignore me! Apologize, you bastard!”

Spirius once again chose to ignore him. This time, his assailant tried to punch him. He stepped out of the way, and said, “Leave me alone. I’m sorry, there. Okay?”

Despite his apology, his attacker once again attempted to punch him in the face. He once again stepped out of the way, but would not take another punch. He readied his sword, and his attacker mirrored this move.

Now in his battle mindset, Spirius would start, like always, with a rush at his opponent. Not as weak or slow as Spirius anticipated, his assailant blocked his slash, and said, with a smirk, “Oh… now you’re trying to fight me?! Hmph, idiot. You should care more for your damn body.”

Spirius chose to ignore the green-haired boy for the third time, only slashing at him again. He took a step back, off the grassy plot that contained the cherry blossom tree, and onto the dirt path once again. Their fight got into the way of many other passing students, and their slashes almost hit others.

Deshael, who was walking up, saw the fight, and ran toward the two combatants. However, he arrived just as Spirius slashed at his opponent’s head, who ducked under it, but fell backwards, into a short-white-haired girl. The girl also fell backwards, and Deshael ran up to catch her.

Deshael screamed at the green haired boy, “Araschaun!!! Why the god damn hell do you always pick fights with people?! Just… just walk away, will you?!”

Spirius walked up to Deshael, and asked, “Do you know him?”

Deshael spoke aside, “Kinda. Not really.”

Araschaun did not say anything, but pointed his blunt sword at Spirius, and walked away.

Deshael then turned around to the girl that he had just caught. As soon as Deshael turned around, she blushed.

In the quietest voice, much quieter than the quiet Lumina, she said, “Thank you…”

Deshael, still concerned, asked, “Are you okay, Miss…”

The girl said, “Snow… Yes, I’m fine… thank you.”

Deshael began walking toward the school, and said to Spirius, “What happened between you and Araschaun?”

Spirius replied, “I don’t know. He walked into me, and got all mad… By the way… who’s she?”

Deshael shrugged, and said, “I don’t know… I just caught her when she fell. Although… I have to admit, she’s kinda cute. Don’t you think?”

Spirius pointed to the opposite side of Deshael, at Snow, who had just overheard Deshael’s comment. Deshael turned around, and saw Snow blushing deeply.

Throughout the walk, Deshael tried multiple times to start a conversation with Snow. However, she was extremely quiet and shy. At almost anything Deshael said, Snow blushed, and it seemed that she was unable to continue a normal conversation. The walk continued this way until they reached school, when Spirius confronted Deshael.

“It’s so obvious!” Spirius said.

Deshael, confused, said, “What’s obvious?”

Spirius did nothing but laugh as the call for the first class was sounded. Deshael looked at Spirius and frowned and walked to his class. Coincidentally, Snow was in all three of Deshael’s classes, and followed him to each class.

~~~~~

During the first break after the first class, Spirius stayed in the school courtyard. As if by destiny, just as he was thinking about the bracelet with the dragon figurine on his left wrist, the same girl that he saw the night before, with the necklace with the same dragon figurine on it.

Spirius attempted to walk up to her, but the call to the second class was sounded. Spirius sighed, wanting to find and identify the sender of his gift, the beautifully crafted silver dragon, with a sapphire, instead of the amethyst like the pink-haired girl’s.