AN: This is the rewrite. Which is just as shitty since I can't be bothered to write something better. I'm sick, okay? Anyhow, the title holds no true relevance and the story is a bit more polished up. Overall, the letter is the same and the events are alike. Still, it's better if you read this too.
Ch1. Tonight
Utau,
Do you still remember me? It has been long, right? I'm not even sure of how many years have passed since those days - those blissfully simple days. All I know is that while Nagihiko was cleaning up our attic, he found one of those old pictures. You didn't want to take a photo, and neither did I, but Kuukai, your dear boyfriend-at-the-time Kuukai, wanted nothing more but to test the camera and make some 'memories'. Even now, I can still picture that moment in my mind, I was scowling and you had a smirk on your face - a heritage of your father, you would always say. You had a tight grip on your water bottle, the contents of which would soon be dunked over his head, while I tried to kill something - anything - with my always-present glare…
"Rima, is there something wrong?" I slowly shake my head at my best friend. She's the kind of girl who always worries about everyone, often neglecting herself in the process. I think that it's that precise personality trait that made us become friends in the first place. I'm not too social, you see.
She bites her lip, probably trying to think of something to say. I make it easier for her by speaking up myself, "Is it okay if I go to that coffee shop across the street?"
Amu, that's her name, gives me a vivant smile in return. She's busy juggling around with the clothes she wants to buy and her bag, so it's probably better for her too if I already left the store. It's one of those days where everyone decides to go out shopping and you have to fight to get something. I'm not exactly the tallest girl around, so I sometimes find myself getting pushed around. In return they get an angry glare, but I doubt that most care enough to look at the person they just shoved.
The coffee shop that we go to on these days is a quiet one. It doesn't have any flashy advertisements, and it seems very small from the outside, so not a lot of people actually know it. They brew the most fabulous coffees, though, alongside the perfect chocolate milk. The man who owns it is a friendly, old guy who loves chatting about his children and grandchildren. Also, the pictures of his family really do give the place a familiar feel, and that's just one of the many aspects that make it such a brilliant place to be.
The reason why I've been feeling off the complete day is the recent divorce of my parents. It's basically all I can think of lately, not that I'd ever tell Amu that. She'd lose sleep over it herself. Like I said, she gets concerned a lot.
Suddenly, the world tilts around and I can feel something hard beneath me. I can hear someone yell out in pain, so I assume that it's that person's fault that I'm on the ground now. I stand up and dust off my skirt. Or at least I fake it; all I want is an excuse to rub my backside. Who would've known that concrete hurt that badly? Well, no, I did, I just didn't expect to touch it anytime soon.
Now that I'm on my feet again, I finally take a glance at the person. It's a girl, a tall one at that. Just like my fall, it hits me unexpectedly. The girl is Hoshina Utau, who is popular in my school. She's known to be cruel to everyone who isn't like her, and not only that, she's also supposed to be very rich.
"Oh, sorry!" She's also a bit of a bitc- Wait, did she just? The frown on my face mirrors the one she has as she sees my face. She scrunches up her nose, as if I was dirt, as she tells her friend to come with her. That's nice to hear.
"A tall bitch. I was right after all," I mutter lowly, but obviously loud enough for her to hear. I don't care that she'll threaten my school life; I never cared too much about anything like that. After all, I have friends like Amu at my side.
She turns around briskly, more than just vexed at my words. "What did you just say, shorty?"
I hold back a snort. "I may be 'short', but at least I'm not deaf." She seems far more aggravated than she should be, it's not like I'm actually insulting her. I stayed quite tame, really.
I can hear her yell something else at me, but I walk away instead of listening. Amu should almost be ready with her purchases, and I want to be at the shop before that. I know that she'd be pleased to see that I already ordered her favorite drink. Now, don't think that I'm addicted to my best friend or anything, she's just so amazing. I smile inwardly as I think of her.
At that point, I didn't realize that I had forgotten all about my parents during that argument.
…
"So you actually ran into Utau and even insulted her? I knew you had it in you, Rima-chan!" Amu laughs brightly, taking a long gulp from the cappuccino that stands on the table in front of her. It seems to taste close-to heavenly, but she doesn't say or do anything but close her eyes. She's considered to be 'cool' (not that she isn't) by everyone, so doing something like moaning because of some coffee would only be filmed, or something strange like that.
I nip at my own cola, but it doesn't taste as good as usually. I do like coffee, and chocolate milk, but it costs too much for me to afford at the moment. I couldn't possibly burden Amu with this, so I keep quiet and order the cheapest thing on the list. Maybe she suspects that I'm having problems, but she luckily hasn't said anything about it yet.
I take my phone out of my bag and check the hour. Curses fill my head, although I voice none. "I have to go, mom wants me to be home early tonight," I tell Amu. I can see that she understands me, but I still mutter an apology to her.
Autumn isn't forgiving, so I pull my scarf closer to my mouth as I walk my way home. The shops and streets don't look as pretty, and the road feels so much longer now that I have no one to talk to. I wonder how I was able to keep this up before I met Amu and the others. Was I really so accustomed to being lonely?
…
The lights in my apartment aren't on, that much I can see as I twist my key around in the hole while turning at the doorknob at the same time. The door creaks as it opens; revealing to me that there's no dinner cooked, nor is there a middle-aged woman around.
Mom broke her promise again. Since Dad left us, that seems to happen a lot.
I sigh and sit down on the couch. I'll prepare a sandwich or something like that later on, but now I just feel so tired… As I am about to fall asleep, sounds reach my ears. My neighbors are fighting again, a lot louder than usual. Ever since we started living here, such occurrences became normal. In our villa, we didn't even have neighbors, while now we have hundreds of them. At least, my aunt used to say that living in an apartment means that everyone around is a neighbor.
After a while of snoozing, someone punches the wall. I get up, irritated and groggy as hell, and open the front door again. I go to the apartment next to mine and knock on the door, ready to yell at the people living there. However, as the door opens, all I can see is someone who I never expected to live there.
AN: Review if you want. Although, I am wondering, is this better than the original? Considering that this is first person (which I barely write in) and the other was third person... Well, you get the drift, I'm wondering about it.