English is not my first language. Please bear with grammatical errors.

Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.

Girl of Summer

Hey, we are already at the gate. Where are you?

After typing it on his phone, he stopped his finger, wondering whether to add You didn't oversleep, did you? Since his friend liked to stay up late, there was a high chance of it. Before he made the decision, someone bumped into him.

"Oh, sorry."

"Sorry. I wasn't..." His voice trailed off as his eyes met a pair of amber eyes.

The girl who had bumped into him looked back uninterestedly while adjusting her backpack and soon shifted her gaze in the direction she was heading. Her steps were wide and energetic; there was something in the way she walked that made him believe she was an athlete.

"Athrun?"

At the voice, he hurriedly turned his face from the back of the girl to his friend standing next to him. Nicol was looking at him quizzically.

"Do you know that girl?"

Nicol turned his eyes in the direction the girl had left and Athrun looked that way again. But she had disappeared into the sea of students and families of freshmen who had come to attend the entrance ceremony.

"No." He looked at Nicol. "I thought she looked somewhat familiar. But probably I was mistaken."

He couldn't place her and there had been no recognition on her face when she looked at him.

Looking back down at his phone, he quickly sent the text before apologizing to Nicol. "Sorry Kira's late. I told him not to several times, but apparently he wasn't listening."

Kira was already nearly ten minutes behind their scheduled time, which Athrun had set as late as possible at the brunet's request.

The green-haired boy gave him a reassuring smile. "It's okay. We don't have much to do anyway. The entrance ceremony won't start in another thirty minutes."

Athrun nodded appreciatively and looked around again. But there were so many people around the school's front gate and he couldn't find any familiar face.

"Such a crowd, isn't it?" Nicol said in an amazed tone.

The high school was one of the most famous and largest schools in the area, larger than their middle school.

"It is," Athrun agreed, a little wearily. He didn't like crowds.

At least, the weather was sunny and warm exactly like the spring weather should be, and not unsuitable for standing outside, waiting for someone, though it wasn't a huge relief with all those people around.

He was wondering whether he should send a text to Kira and meet him somewhere else when he felt his phone buzz.

Just got up. Can't make it to the ceremony.

Reading the text, he sighed. "It seems your meeting with him should be postponed."

He was planning to introduce his two friends—Nicol with whom he had gone to middle school and Kira who was from a different middle school—to each other since they were all going to the same high school now.

Another text from Kira came in. "Kira is coming to check the computer lab and look around anyway. Do you have a plan this afternoon?"

Nicol thought a little. "I'm planning to go talk to the music teacher. Otherwise, I'm free."

"Good. I'll introduce you two later then."

Nicol nodded with a smile.

"We probably better go to our homerooms now. Or do you like to wait for your mother? She is coming, I suppose?"

Asking Nicol, Athrun moved his finger to write a text and tell Kira which homeroom the brunet was assigned to. He knew it because he had seen Kira's name while looking for his own. But then, he changed his mind and deleted the text. Kira should face the consequence of his actions and find it out on his own, which hopefully would help him learn his lesson and prevent him from making the same mistake.

"She is," Nicol answered. "But she has something to take care of before she comes and probably won't be here until right before the entrance ceremony."

Putting away his phone, Athrun nodded. "Homerooms, then."

They started to walk toward a building where their homerooms should be. For some reason, Athrun gave one last glance at the crowd, looking for the sight of the amber-eyed girl, who wasn't to be found.

Turning his face forward, he unconsciously touched the red tie of his uniform. He remembered the girl's ribbon tie had also been red, which meant she was a freshman like him. Probably he would see her in his homeroom or during the entrance ceremony. Though he wasn't sure why he would care.

Straightening his shoes he had just taken off, Athrun stood up and turned around. Several students—who he assumed were upperclassmen—and teachers were clearing the gym, stashing away the folding chairs that had been used in the entrance ceremony. In order not to disturb them, he kept to the perimeter, slowly walking along the wall and scanning the place for he had not really been able to look around during the ceremony.

After the homeroom meeting which followed the entrance ceremony, he had gone to the library to kill time while Nicol was meeting the music teacher at the music room. A few minutes ago, Nicol had texted him that his meeting was over and they had agreed to meet at the gym which was located about midway between the two places. He seemed to have beaten Nicol.

The gym looked fairly new and large. There was a mezzanine floor and he took several steps away from the wall to see what was above. He caught sight of a few students there, but couldn't see much.

He looked around to see whether the stairs were nearby. His gaze stopped at the students still working and he wondered whether he should go and lend a hand. He didn't mind helping but felt shy for he didn't know any of them and he was new to the school.

He took an indecisive step in the direction of the two students nearest to him.

"Watch out!"

Instinctively, he stepped sideways. Something hit the floor next to him with a thud, barely missing his shoulder. With widened eyes, he stared at a blue gym bag. It might have hit his head if he had not stepped away. The bag wasn't very large or didn't look full, but still, getting hit in the head with it must have been quite unpleasant. He might have injured his neck even.

"Sorry! That's mine!"

A voice, the same as before, came from above as he thanked his instincts that had moved his body in the right direction.

He looked up to find a blonde girl leaning over the railing of the mezzanine. She waved at him and shouted, "I'll be down there in a second!" and disappeared from his sight.

Still in shock, he dropped his gaze at the bag again. There was something red swinging against the blue surface, which caught his eyes. It looked like a charm made of leather. As he stared at the smiling crab, amusement gradually replaced the bewilderment inside him.

A smile was tugging his lips when he heard running footsteps and turned around. But it disappeared as he got a good sight of the blonde running toward him.

"I'm really sorry for the bag." The girl stopped in front of him and gave him an apologetic smile. "I was just turning around and somehow my bag got caught on the railing and I dropped it."

Speechless, he just stared at her. The girl's face grew worried.

"Hey, are you okay?" She waved her hand before his eyes. "You didn't get hit, did you?"

"Um, no, I'm fine. I'm just...surprised," he replied with an uncertainty in his voice.

Before he regained all his composure, a familiar voice called his name.

Nicol was walking down toward them with quick steps. "Sorry for making you wait."

The green-haired boy smiled at him before shifting his eyes to the girl. Nicol tilted his head wonderingly, but soon smiled.

"Oh, you're the girl earlier. So you two know each other after all?"

The girl looked at the brown-eyed boy with a puzzled face. "What do you mean?"

Nicol looked at Athrun quizzically, which the girl imitated.

Not really knowing how to explain the situation, Athrun decided to start with the only thing he knew how to do. He bent down to pick up the blue bag and held it out to the girl.

"Here you go."

"Oh, thanks." Still looking puzzled, she took the bag from his hand.

"She dropped it from up there and came to collect it," he explained to Nicol, motioning toward the mezzanine, then turned his face to the girl. "And what he said earlier... You may not remember, but we kind of met this morning. We bumped into each other at the front gate."

She regarded his face for a moment. "Ah, yes, I think I remember that."

He nodded. "And then, I thought you looked familiar though I don't remember where I saw you. Or whether I actually did."

As he had taken a better look at her, though, the feeling that her face was familiar was getting stronger.

"Hmm..." The girl studied his face, her brows furrowed in concentration.

After a while, she shook her head. "I don't think we met before."

"Do you mind my asking where you live?" Nicol politely chimed in. "Maybe you two live nearby and he saw you at a station or something like that."

"I live in Archangel, South Heliopolis. Well, the southeast side, actually. I'm from Archangel Middle there."

Athrun exchanged a disappointed look with Nicol. It was nowhere near Athrun's home. In fact, he and the girl went in almost the opposite directions when they went home from this school which was located near the border between Heliopolis City and PLANT Special District.

"Athrun and I live—" Nicol broke off as realization spread over his face. "Oh, I'm Nicol, by the way, and..." The brown eyes turned to him.

"Athrun."

"It's nice to meet you." Nicol smiled a friendly smile which the girl returned.

"You, too. My name's Cagalli."

Athrun slightly frowned. Just like her face, her name sounded somewhat familiar. He must know her from somewhere. But he still couldn't remember where.

"We're both from ZAFT Middle in Central PLANT," Nicol told Cagalli.

Her face lit up. "I've been to your school once for a game. I play volleyball."

Half-heartedly listening to the conversation, Athrun tried to figure out where he had seen Cagalli. He didn't like this uncertainty and wanted a clear answer.

"Have you? Then, maybe you and Athrun met at that time."

"Yeah, it sounds likely. Though I still can't remember him."

Unlike the two, Athrun wasn't so sure that it was then he had seen her. In fact, he was beginning to doubt he had actually met her in person. Although her face and name were familiar, her voice wasn't, and he didn't think he had seen her moving and talking. Maybe he had seen a photograph of her.

But before Athrun said so, Cagalli spoke. "Hey, is it true there was a teacher who always wore a mask in your middle school?"

"Mr. Klueze, yes," Nicol replied. "He wears a mask and, as far as I know, never takes it off in school."

Having lost a chance to speak up, Athrun went back to silently listening to the conversation. He focused on Cagalli's voice to make sure he had never heard it before today.

The voice seemed lower than most girls', which he found was pleasant to his ears. He wasn't a fan of the high-pitched voice many girls seemed to use. It made him feel like backing away and leaving as soon as possible, though unfortunately, those girls were almost always too friendly and eager to continue the conversation, giving him little chance to escape.

Cagalli didn't seem like that type, and he felt he might enjoy having a conversation with her. Just listening to her and watching her was a kind of fun. She used many gestures and her expressions kept changing, which made her appear childish, and adorable.

A peal of laughter escaped her lips as Nicol told her about a prank their friend Dearka had played on Klueze. The blond had hidden a machine that made fart sounds under the teacher's desk in the front of their homeroom and, with a remote controller, made a sound at the moment Klueze leaned against the desk during class so that it would look like the teacher made a fart.

"Seriously? Your friend seems to have a lot of nerve. The teacher sounds a bit scary."

"Well, yeah, Mr. Klueze was quite intimidating. And I didn't think it was funny at that time," Nicol told her with a half-smile.

Athrun remembered the deadly silence that had filled the room as all students desperately tried to hold in laughter. No one, even Dearka, had been stupid enough to laugh out loud. Not at Klueze.

Unlike Nicol—or some of his old classmates who had treated Dearka like a hero—Athrun still didn't find the prank funny or impressive, especially since Klueze had given them an impossible amount of homework to finish by the next day. Being a good student, he had not been able to allow himself to leave homework unfinished and ended up staying up all night. It wasn't a pleasant memory to him.

But Cagalli seemed to be enjoying listening to the story. There was a big smile on her face, which somehow reminded him of the sun. Then, it clicked.

"Sunflower!" he blurted.

After a moment of stunned silence, both Cagalli and Nicol stared at him blankly.

Athrun felt his face warm. "I mean, there were sunflowers with you in the picture I saw. Kira showed it—"

"Kira?" Cagalli cut him off, blinking. "You know Kira?"

"Yes, that's what I wanted to say." He nodded with relief. "We met in a summer camp when we were kids, and became friends." He turned his face to Nicol. "She is Kira's twin sister."

Cagalli clapped her hands. "Oh, you're that Athrun! The one who made Torii."

"That's right."

Five years ago, he and Kira had joined the same summer camp where they honed their robot-making skills. He had made a bird robot as an assignment and given it to Kira when they left the camp. They had maintained the friendship, keeping in touch through the Internet and occasionally meeting up and joining the same camps again. He didn't have any other friend he could talk about robots with and Kira had become a close friend to him even though they had gone to different schools.

"Last summer, Kira showed me a picture of you with sunflowers. That's why you looked familiar," he explained, feeling good that the mystery had been solved.

He might have figured out her identity sooner if he was the type to pay a lot of attention to social media. But he cared little for the services and usually just scanned through his friends' posts, rarely writing his own, even if he had an account.

Then again, unlike many of his friends, Kira didn't upload a photograph in which his own face or his family's faces were visible online. For a generally careless person, he was cautious about it; he had explained that his family was careful with their private information because his maternal grandfather was a politician.

Therefore, Athrun had known Cagalli's face only from the photos Kira had on his phone and had shown to him when they met in person. And before last summer, he had not taken much interest in those photos.

Still, he could have realized who she was if she had mentioned her family name when they made the introductions. However, it was more common to call other people by their first name in PLANT than in other areas.

And ZAFT Middle School especially encouraged its students to focus on first names rather than family names. Many of its students had famous and influential parents since the school was at the center of the city; the school didn't want the parents' statuses to interfere with friendly interactions among the students. Thus, the students in the school often used only their first names when introducing themselves to each other.

Nicol seemed to have done so out of habit earlier, and Cagalli had replied in the same manner probably on reflex.

"You have a good memory," Cagalli said in an amazed tone before adding sheepishly, "Kira showed me your pictures several times, but I didn't remember your face."

"I remember the picture because it looked so...summerlike. I actually told Kira, maybe you could be a poster girl for summer," he said, and then scratched his head, a little embarrassed.

Cagalli let out an amused chuckle and he gazed at her. That smile again. Bright like the summer sun.

"I like the idea. Summer is my favorite season," she said, still smiling.

He smiled back. Her words weren't surprising. "It's a good season."

Truth be told, he had not really liked summer. The season had always seemed too intense to him. In fact, he had been resting because he had nearly collapsed due to dehydration when he saw the photo of Cagalli in question. He had been sick of the stifling heat and felt he hated summer. He had felt he hated life in general even, probably mostly because he was still struggling with his mother's death early in the year. Keeping Athrun company, Kira had talked about his family's trip to visit their relative, and shown Athrun some photographs of the trip he had on his phone.

In the photograph of Cagalli, she had appeared to be spraying water with a horse, the blue sky and sunflowers behind her. Under the dazzling sun and surrounded by flying water drops, she had looked like she was having such a good time, bright and full of energy. He had even thought that she could be not just a poster girl for summer but something like a goddess of summer even, though he had refrained from voicing such a sappy thought. Looking at the photograph, somehow he had felt better, less antagonistic toward summer or life.

Although the season was still far from his favorite, he didn't dislike it anymore.

"You look like a person of winter."

Cagalli's voice snapped him out of his reminiscence and he blinked. "Winter?"

It sounded like he was cold; it didn't seem like an appropriate thing to say to someone, much less someone you had just met. Yet, the way she had said it wasn't rude or mean.

She nodded, her face nothing but friendly. "You seem like a quiet person and you somehow seem...sharp. So I think winter suits you." Her eyes flickered to his dark blue hair. "Winter night, maybe."

"A girl of summer and a boy of winter, hmm?" Nicol said in a singsong tone, then flashed a mischievous smile. "You two make quite a pair. I may be gonna write a song about you."

The words somehow brought a faint blush to Athrun's face, and he sent a quick glance in Cagalli's direction. But Nicol's words seemed to have attracted her attention in a different way.

"You write songs?" she asked curiously.

"I do. I'm a pianist, actually."

She looked impressed. "Will you play me some of your songs someday?"

"I'd love to." They exchanged a smile.

"It's a promise then," Cagalli said happily.

Athrun moved his eyes between them. For some reason, he felt like joining the conversation instead of just listening to it like he had done earlier. But he wasn't sure what to say.

His phone buzzed to let him know he had received a text. He quickly read it and looked up.

"Kira's here. He is already at the cafeteria."

Before he finished saying it, a sound came from a pocket of Cagalli's jacket and she fished out her phone.

"He texted me, too. He wants me to come to the cafeteria so I can meet his friend." She tilted her head. "Do either of you know where it is?"

Athrun pointed his hand in the general direction. "It's that way and it's not far from here."

Nicol and he had been planning to go to the cafeteria for lunch. After the homeroom meeting, he had texted Kira to meet them there, then checked where the cafeteria was and how to get there on the school map.

"Let's go then," Nicol said and the three started to walk toward the main entrance of the gym. Athrun was in the middle, Cagalli on his right and Nicol on his left.

"By the way, why did you and Kira come to school separately?" he asked Cagalli.

If the twins had come to school together, Kira oversleeping and arriving at school this late probably wouldn't have happened.

"I came early to watch the girls' volleyball club practice."

"They already had a morning practice?"

He was a little surprised. Granted, Kira and he expected some of the members of the robotics club they were planning to join to be working on some project at the computer lab or the room next to it which was assigned to the club this afternoon. Still, having a morning practice on the first day of school seemed like a quite busy club.

"The members must be dedicated," Nicol said.

"The team has a game this Saturday. With Astray Girls' High, which is kind of our SEED High's arch-rival in many sports. So they decided to practice this morning as well as afternoon," Cagalli explained.

"You know a lot about the team," Athrun commented as they stopped at the entrance to put their shoes back on.

"I know some of the members. They are from my middle school. They told me about today's morning practice. I was very excited and woke up early and couldn't wait to come to school. So I decided to come and watch." Cagalli's smile became wider. "And the coach even let me join the practice. Though mostly we did running and fitness training and that sort of stuff since we couldn't use the gym because of the entrance ceremony."

Starting to walk again, she patted the blue bag hanging from her shoulder. "I left this at the locker room when I changed clothes and went to the front gate to meet my mom after the practice."

"I see," he said. Then, a question popped into his mind. "Won't you join the afternoon practice?"

She seemed enthusiastic enough to join both the morning practice and the afternoon one. But then, she might have some errands to take care of.

"Of course I will." She looked at him as if wondering why he had to ask such an obvious thing.

He looked back at her with puzzlement. "If so, why did you come to get the bag?"

"Ah, my wallet is in it. I need it to buy my lunch at the cafeteria," she said.

He raised a curious eyebrow. "Then, why didn't you just get the wallet? I suppose it would be easier than carrying around the whole bag."

She stopped and stared at him with her mouth half-open. Her eyes moved toward the bag, then back to his face.

"Oh."

A chuckle escaped his mouth. "It never occurred to you, I assume?" he said, suppressing more chuckles.

She stuck out her lower lip before begrudgingly admitting, "No, it didn't."

"Do you want to go back to the locker room and leave the bag?" Nicol chimed in. "Athrun and I can wait here."

It didn't take her more than a couple of moments to decide.

She shook her head with a shrug. "Nah, it's okay." She lifted a foot. "I already put on my shoes and it'd be troublesome to go back. Besides, it's not much of a bother to carry around this bag," she said matter-of-factly.

Athrun supposed it was mostly true. She didn't have her backpack she had had before the entrance ceremony, probably having left it in the locker room. She had just one bag with her, like Athrun and Nicol who had only their backpacks. Then, carrying the gym bag shouldn't be a big inconvenience to her even though she was doing it unnecessarily.

Cagalli resumed walking. "Come on."

Athrun and Nicol complied. As his shoulder came side by side with hers, Athrun studied her face to check whether she was annoyed that someone had pointed out her silly mistake. But it didn't seem to be the case. Noticing his gaze, she just tilted her head with a casual expression. He felt relief, then an urge. He hesitated a little, but gave in to it.

"Speaking of the bag," he said in a light tone, "now it makes sense that you dropped it on me."

Her face turned puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Kira told me some stories about how careless you are."

She scowled. "I can't believe he was talking behind my back. He's careless himself. In fact, I often take care of him as his big sister."

"I'm sure," he said, though both his face and voice contained amusement with a hint of teasing.

He didn't often tease people, let alone someone he barely knew. But talking with Cagalli was somehow easy, and fun. He couldn't help his mischievous side from showing itself.

She narrowed her eyes. "I do," she emphasized. "For example, I made sure Kira's alarm clock was set before I left home this morning since no one would be there to wake him up." She let out a huff. "Though he still managed to oversleep. I can't believe he missed the first day of high school. Our mom was at work last night, and I bet he stayed up late to do something with his computer. Programming or chatting or whatever."

He released a sigh. "That's what I was afraid of."

"Well, at least my first day of high school has been good. I'm already somewhat familiar with the club and made some friends. And..." Cagalli looked at him and then at Nicol before beaming. "Two more new friends."

Her words and smile brought a warm smile to his face.

She turned her face forward and lifted a hand to point at a building. "Hey, that's the cafeteria, isn't it?" She proceeded to change speed, now trotting.

"Hurry up!" She looked at him and Nicol over her shoulder, her face full of mischief. "I can't wait to see Kira's face. He's going to be totally dumbfounded that we're already friends!"

Her excitement was contagious and his face melted into a smile again. "That sounds fun." Exchanging an amused look with Nicol, he picked up speed to catch up with her.

It seemed his high school life was going to be louder and busier than he had expected. And filled with many troubles, if the stories of his sister Kira had told him were any indication. He normally liked a quiet and peaceful life, but somehow he wasn't feeling disheartened. On the contrary, he was looking forward to seeing what the future held for him.

He pressed a hand against his chest, feeling like something was bubbling there. A feeling maybe. One he had never had.

Today was the beginning of something new, he felt. Something that was strange but exciting.

And she was the one to bring it to him. Falling in line with the golden-haired girl, he shared a smile with her.

The girl with a radiant smile. The girl of summer.

The End

A/N: This fic is set in a Japan-like country called Orb. In Japan, high school isn't mandatory; as a general rule, students take an entrance exam in order to be accepted by a high school. So usually, your schoolmates in high school are from various middle schools; your schoolmates from middle school go to different high schools according to your grades.

That's why Athrun and Nicol go to the same high school as Cagalli and Kira even though the two pairs didn't share a middle school or don't live near each other.

And they are fifteen years old.

···

I love the picture of Cagalli I used for the cover of this fic. The picture just seems so...Cagalli. I wanted to use the picture for some time, and I'm happy I finally did it!

And writing an AU fic was such fun. I hope you enjoyed reading this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it.

I'm thinking about writing a sequel, a fic called "Boy of Winter." But it won't come out for a while since I feel I should wait to publish it until winter.

Thank you for reading. If you've reviewed my fic, thank you for that, too.

*revised 08/14/20*

*edited 08/30/20*