A crack of sunlight managed to seep its way in through the drawn curtains of a bedroom. As it streamed into the room, it hit the face of a sleeping teenager, making her shift a bit in her sleep before slowly opening one green eye. A soft groan came from the girl's lips as she slowly sat up. Her shaggy brown hair was a rather frightful mess at the moment. Rubbing her eyes, she squinted as she glanced at the window.
The teenage girl got out of her bed and groggily walked to the window as she stretched. Gripping the curtains, she pushed them open and sunlight streamed through the open window, making her squint again and shield her still adjusting eyes from the bright light. She recovered from the brightness and opened the window, leaning against the windowsill as the gentle morning breeze blew through her hair. With a yawn, she closed her eyes and felt the breeze. It was so calm, so relaxing, so quiet...
"HEEEEEY, ANNIE!"
Well, almost quiet.
Fifteen year old Anne Marshall let out a sigh as she glanced down from the window, seeing a teenage boy about a year older than her with dark brown messy hair. His skin was a bit tan, but also a bit pale. He was wearing a black jacket lined with green over a white shirt with blue jeans and also wore a big grin on his face as he waved to her from the ground. "Good morning!" he called. His name was Chase Enheart, one of Anne's friends. He was sixteen years old, as well as a total goofball. Sometimes, he acted like he was the younger one.
"Hello, Chase." Anne sighed as she rubbed her eyes.
"Hey, how'd ya sleep?! Your hair is a mess!" Chase called.
"Oh really? You should see yours!" Anne retorted.
Chase crossed his arms. "Ha ha. Well, better hurry up!"
She was about to turn to get ready, but then noticed the time. "School doesn't start for another hour!"
Chase just smiled from where he was. "I know! I just wanted to wake you up early!" he grinned. He knew that Anne was not a morning person, so today, he thought it would be a good time to mess with his friend a little bit.
Shaking her head with annoyance, Anne called down, "Whatever, just let me wake up and eat my breakfast, okay?!"
"Whatever you say, Annie!" Chase grinned. "I'll be waiting here."
With a sigh, Anne closed the window and curtains to get dressed. She slipped on her favorite outfit, a simple black t shirt underneath a denim jacket with blue jeans and black boots. She placed her favorite set of black headphones around her neck and put her music player in her pocket. Once she brushed her messy hair down to its normal level and positioned her bangs to their usual position, which was slightly covering her right eye, she headed to the kitchen, finding her father sitting at the table eating breakfast. Her mother sat across from him once she set Anne's plate down. "Good morning, Anne." she told her daughter.
"Mornin'..." Anne uttered as she sat down and dug into her pancakes.
"You ready for the day?" her father asked. He had black hair and brown eyes and he was wearing a brown, buttoned up shirt with a pair of jeans.
"Just praying that there won't be any surprise tests." Anne replied as she quickly ate.
"Whoa, slow down, Anne. You'll choke." her mother warned. She had short brown hair and green eyes, which Anne had inherited from her, though her hair was more messy like her father's.
Swallowing, Anne told her mother, "Sorry, it's just that Chase is outside waiting for me."
"Again?" her father asked, looking up from his own plate as he raised an eyebrow.
Anne sighed. "Yep." she answered before polishing off her pancakes. Quickly washing them down with some water, she called, "Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad! Love you both!"
She rushed out of the kitchen, leaving her empty plate on the table as she grabbed her bag, which contained some notes, a bit of homework, and a couple of her favorite mangas to read, and stepped out the door, finding Chase waiting by the fence outside. "'Bout time." he smirked as he slung his bag over his shoulder.
"Hey, you were the one who came early." Anne retorted as she and her friend began to walk away from her home. "Where's Dylan?"
"I'd say he's still eating breakfast right now." Chase shrugged.
"So you didn't wait for him?"
"Yeah, maybe I should have..."
Anne merely sighed and looked up at the sky as they walked. It was a beautiful blue color. She loved to look at it before going to high school. It made her feel a bit at ease. At least it was better than the inside of the school halls.
However, Chase's voice snapped her out of it. "Oh, there he is!"
The girl took a glance to her left and saw a teenage boy her age with slightly spiky black hair and tan skin, as well as blue eyes. He was wearing a black long sleeved shirt with simple blue pants. His name was Dylan Enheart, Chase's younger brother by a year, but sometimes, Dylan acted like he was the older one instead of Chase, a fact with slightly annoyed him. The teenage boy looked over his shoulder and smiled seeing his friend after swallowing the last of a donut he was eating for breakfast. "Heya, Anne!" he called.
Anne smiled softly as he approached them. "Hey, Dylan. You ready for today?" she asked the black haired teen.
"Yeah." he answered as they resumed walking down the road. "So, what do you think lies in store for us today?" Chase asked, earning a shrug from Dylan.
"Who knows? Surprise tests, really difficult homework, listening to nonsense from popular kids..." he listed.
Anne groaned at the last part. "If Josh starts saying stuff like that again today, I'm gonna chuck my boot at him!" she promised, earning a chuckle from Chase.
"It'll be worth losing a boot." he joked.
"That dude made me fail my math test when he stole my notes!" Dylan groaned. Chase's smile fell at that. Josh was, to put it mildly, a troublemaker. He would always try to find ways to ruin somebody's day just because he was bored. The trio of friends agreed that he was most likely going to be in jail by the time he got out of high school if he kept it up. No other student bothered to stop him, because they knew he would somehow weasel his way out.
Anne let out another sigh as she placed her headphones on over her ears and began to listen to some music. "Honestly, why don't they just suspend the guy?" she asked as she turned her music down to 'low' as they walked.
"My thoughts exactly, Annie." Dylan agreed. "Though with how he acts around certain people, they're bound to fall for his tricks..."
The trio were so caught up in their conversation that they didn't notice that they had reached the school. It was then Dylan pointed out, "Oh, we're here."
Anne looked forward, seeing the large red, blue, and yellow building. Welton High School... one of her least favorite places to be on beautiful days like these. It was at least three stories high, looming over students as they approached it.
She breathed through her nose, sighing. 'Well... time for school.' she thought as she and her two friends trudged forward.
Students chatted with each other rather loudly as they approached the entrance. One group of students had a teenage boy about sixteen with dirty blonde hair that was rather unkempt. He wore his favorite outfit, a zipped up dark green jacket with blue jeans. This was Josh Harrington, the self proclaimed 'big-shot' of the school. He had a big ego and saw others as beneath him, a trait which led most students to dislike him, and also fear him.
He looked over his shoulder and smirked seeing Anne, Chase, and Dylan step through the entrance. "Well, look who it is, boys! The reject and the loser brothers!" he smirked, earning some laughter from his lackeys.
Anne rolled her eyes as she kept walking. "Just ignore him, guys..." she whispered to her two friends. Josh merely kept smirking. "Hey, Enheart! Heard you failed your math test!" he laughed.
Dylan glared at him. "That's cause you made me fail it! I didn't have my notes to study since you took them!"
"Aww, too bad, so sad." Josh chuckled. His lackeys laughed along with him. Josh then set his sights on Anne. "Oh, hey, you reject! How was your 'trip' the day before?" he asked laughing.
Anne froze in place and growled, forgetting about 'ignoring him', and started to storm towards him ready to knock his lights out, but Dylan and Chase pulled her back. "No, Anne. He's not worth it." Dylan told her as he and his brother gently pulled their friend away.
"What happened to 'just ignore him'?" Chase added.
Around that time, a police car started to roll by, slowing down as it was passing the teens. The window rolled down as it revealed a man with slightly dark blonde hair in a police officer uniform. He appeared to be slightly older than Anne's parents, maybe in his early to mid 40s. Josh's demeanor immediately changed from a cruel one as he put on a false smile upon seeing the man. "Hey, Dad."
Officer Marcus Harrington gave his son a smile, not noticing what had happened just before he rolled the window down. "Hey, Josh. How are things going? Is... something wrong?"
"Just fine. Nothing at all." Josh lied smoothly. "So, what are you doing here?"
"I just thought I'd stop by and tell you have a good day. I didn't have the chance to do so earlier today."
The bully continued to keep up the act, giving his father another fake smile, which the trio could see through. It was clear that his father was buying the act, oblivious to what had really happened. Josh's friends chose to keep silent, averting their eyes to avoid suspicion from the officer. "Well, thanks. Good luck at work, dad."
"Thank you. Have a good day at school. You too, everyone." Marcus said to him, as well as the others before he began to drive away. Josh's fake smile vanished as he rolled his eyes. That was just too easy...
He then turned back towards the three. "You heard him. Have a good day."
Anne glared at Josh as the bell for first period rang.
Josh waved mockingly. "Now, you don't wanna be late for your class, do you?" he smirked before walking off. Anne glared at his back as he left with his cronies.
"I hate him." Dylan grumbled.
"You're not alone, pal." Anne sighed. "You're not alone."
Surprisingly, the day went by rather quickly for them. It was the usual routine for the trio since they each had the same classes together: do gym, listen to the teachers drone on, take notes, eat lunch, talk, make sure to avoid Josh and make sure he didn't steal anything of theirs in the process... that was basically the routine they had almost every single day.
Chase placed his arms behind his head as they left the high school together. "Man, today was boring." Chase complained once they were heading down their usual path home.
"Not as boring as yesterday was." Dylan told his brother with a shrug. "Ugh, did you hear about what the second period English class had to do?"
"Yeah, I feel sorry for them. They'll be having a LOT of homework tonight." Chase replied.
Anne kept her hands shoved in her pockets as they headed down the road leading to their homes. "So, who's up for some Pepsi?" she asked after a moment, craving the soft drink.
"Again?" Dylan chuckled.
"Okay, then how about a race, instead?" Anne challenged with a smirk, crossing her arms.
Chase leaned in. "Ooh, a race, you say?" he grinned before taking off running without warning. Anne and Dylan's eyes widened as he darted off, doing a double take as they saw him racing away.
"What the- Hey, we didn't say 'go', yet!" Dylan called in protest, darting off after his brother.
"Whatever, the race has started already! I'm gonna beat ya!" Chase laughed. Anne rolled her eyes at Chase's antics, but smiled and shook her head as she ran after him with Dylan. She definitely wanted to prove him wrong here!
As they ran throughout the area, weaving their way past some obstacles, they almost ran into some people, earning some rather angry shouts from some bystanders. Anne ended up nearly tripping over a man's foot as Dylan almost bumped into someone.
"Watch where you're going!" a grouchy man exclaimed.
"Sorry!" Dylan called over his shoulder. Chase yelped out as one looked ready to run after them himself, so he picked up speed, not wanting to find out what were to happen if the guy really did go through with that.
In the end, Chase managed to beat them to Anne's house. He panted a bit, catching his breath as he leaned against the fence, then pumped his fists in the air with triumph. "Whoo!"
Anne and Dylan screeched to a halt, hunched over and panting. "No fair, Chase. You got a head start..." Dylan groaned, giving him a slightly annoyed look.
"Aw come on, Dylan. Don't be such a sore loser." Chase teased, placing his hands on his hips.
"I am not!"
"You sure sound like it."
Anne merely smiled at her friends' antics and shook her head. It was so typical of them to be like this.
Just then, her mother opened a window and poked her head out, having noticed them arrive. "Anne! Come in! Dinner's just about ready!" she called.
The teenager let out a sigh as she looked over her shoulder. "I'll be there in a minute!" she called before looking back at Chase and Dylan. "Sorry guys. Don't think I can hang out tonight... So, usual spot tomorrow?" she asked.
"Yep! See ya, Annie!" Chase told her.
"Talk to you later, Anne." Dylan smiled, giving a wave to her before he and his brother walked off. Anne nodded and walked up the steps to her house. Tomorrow was the last day of the school week for them, then it would be the weekend. She actually looked forward to tomorrow. At least after, they could just hang out without much to worry about.
However... tomorrow would also be the day that her and her friends' lives would be changed forever...
Chase and Dylan Enheart belong to I heart Lyoko. Thanks, buddy!