Because: Everything for You

Chapter 1

         In the pit of darkness a single voice cried out. Begging and pleading repeatedly, over and over, he spoke the same words. He shouted even after his voice went hoarse, hoping he could reach those who rested deeper in the unknown world of pure lovely black. He wanted to see her. He wanted to see her. He wanted to see her.

~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~

         The halls were empty. One pair of footsteps echoed, the sound bouncing off the sterile walls. The dim white light cascading through the windows, particles of dust and pollen evident from the sun’s transparent rays. A thin shadow walked side-by-side with its master, coloring the pale white tiles gray while red-striped Nike shoes began to scuff them.
         A young male brunette in navy blue jeans; the knees fading to almost pure white; and a pearl shaded long-sleeved button-up shirt that was lightly tickled by black tips of hair at the shoulder; stopped outside a maple wood door with a silver handle. He inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled before grasping the round knob firmly. Hesitantly, he twisted the ball in his hand and pushed forwards, splitting the door from its frame and stepping in.
         He froze mid-step, dozens of eyes staring at him. All gazes came from the left; starting from the middle to the back of the room; save for one pair of glasses-covered eyes that belonged to that of an adult man who stood before the others, teenagers. The elder male seemed middle-aged, blonde hair nicely shaved. Collar of his white polo-shirt slightly sticking up on the right side, his gray trousers were decorated with a black belt and matching shoes.
         A smile slowly formed, light wrinkles beginning to circle the curve of the blonde’s lips, and he spoke as he stepped away from a whiteboard behind him, red scribbles of numbers and words, names, scattered around like a disease.
         “Hello, do you need something?” the man asked in a polite, expecting tone, setting his red marker on the metal rim of the board.
         Whispers and giggles spread through the room, gossiping about the brunette who promptly ignored their banter. “This is room 3-109, right? Mr. Heinzburg?” he questioned, voice calm, low and cool.
         There was a nod, “Yes, are you the transfer student?”
         “Yes, I am.”
         “Well, then, please, close the door and walk up to the front, here,” Mr. Heinzburg ordered as he turned, allowing the young man to do as he was told and shut the door, before following to the center-front of the class. “Well, say ‘hello’ to the class and introduce yourself,” he said with an outstretched hand to the group of students.
         The brunette stared at his new teacher then out to the crowd of teens, young adults, like himself. As he stood there before them, his eyes roamed as if in search of something and as he spoke, his voice sounded distant. “My name is Sebastian Anderson,” he began. “I’m seventeen and I recently moved from another country.”
         “Where from?” another brown-haired boy, a heftier one, asked.
         “Canada.”
         “You don’t sound like it.”
         “I was born here, in New York. I moved when I was a bit younger and now I’m here.”
         “Why did you move?” a girl asked, seeming delighted with her question.
         “Personal reasons,” Sebastian answered with a sigh. “Now, may I please sit down? I’m tired and disrupting class was not my intention.”
         Most of the class remained silent, besides the giggles and whispers from the back. The teacher pointed to a seat in the back right corner of the room and Sebastian quickly took it, settling down easily.
         “Just observe for today,” he said. “I’ll give you a few days to get your supplies. I’ll hand you a list after class.”
         “Yes, Sir,” the brunette replied and Mr. Heinzburg nodded, turned and began to speak. It seemed as though his first period was English, they were reading Othello and now interpreting it. Sebastian smiled to himself at the thought of Shakespeare before his eyes once again roamed across the classroom. However, they combed through the students - his eyes - once, twice, three times, and what he hoped to find was not in this room at all.
         Though his heart began to race, his face remained blank and calm. Thoughts fluttered through his mind. They promised. Why? She’s supposed to be here in this class. His thoughts went deeper and deeper into the back of his mind.
         “-ian! Sebastian! Sebastian!”
         “Ah, yes?!” the young man stuttered being thrown out of his reservoir and back into the classroom. Eyes were once again upon him, some with grins, he did his best to ignore them. “Wh-What is it?”
         The teacher sighed, “Are you all right? I’m sorry if this is confusing you or-”
         “Oh, no, no, no! I’m sorry! I was only trying to understand something.”
         “And, what would that be?”
         “Ah, my…schedule.”
         “You’re schedule?”
         “I’m really sorry,” Sebastian apologized sheepishly, pulling a piece of paper from his back pocket. “I know I should be paying attention but I hadn’t gotten a chance to take a good look at it yet.”
         “Oh, that’s fine. It’s better now than later,” Mr. Heinzburg smiled a bit as he walked over to Sebastian’s desk. “Now, what are you confused about?”
         “The number, here. It says building six, for my physics class, but there are only three buildings.”
         “Oh, yes. The system at this school is a bit different. The number doesn’t mean ‘building’ six, it means ‘level’ six.”
         “‘Level’?”
         “Each building has two floors, two levels. The first building has level one on the bottom and level two on the top. So, you’re looking for building three, the upper level.”
         “I thought this was building three?”
         “No, this is building two. I know it sounds a bit complicated, but no worries, eh? You’ll get used to it in a few days.”
         Sebastian gave a nervous smile as he nodded to his teacher, and Mr. Heinzburg replied with a toothy grin of his own as he pat the teen on his shoulder, then returned to the front of the class. The brunette slid down in his seat with a barely audible sigh. It seems he would have to wait to get what he came here for.

~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~

         Throughout the rest of the morning, Sebastian sat in any far off corner he could. At lunch, he roamed around the school. Whenever he got caught by security he would simply explain that he was a new student. Saying that he had lunch but instead chose this time to find the rest of his classes and the best routes so he would not have to be late to any of them. Of course, this was a lie. He just had no need to eat and he wanted to search. Search for her. Sebastian peeked through every door he could, into every class to see if she was in them.
         Unfortunately, his time ran out and he was forced to cease his hunt and go on to his next class. How irritating, he thought. Like finding a specific piece of hay in a hay stack. Once again, Sebastian was stuck in the same place, not one step of progress, and now it was time for his physics class. I’ll never find her.
         In a small corner of the room, the brunette young man sat with a blank look on his face, hand resting against his cheek as he paid little attention to the lesson. All the others, save for a few who slept, scribbled down notes loudly and hurriedly, diligently. If asked, Sebastian wouldn’t be able to tell anyone what they were learning, but when the teacher paused and looked over at the door, he took a sudden interest and turned his gaze over as well.
         “Sorry,” a young woman with dark red hair down to her shoulders spoke. Her voice rang and her face, pale and decorated with freckles, was as thin as she, both so familiar that Sebastian straightened with shock, his voice caught in his throat. Her brown eyes sparkled as she smiled, handing the teacher a note.
         “Hey, Ally, where’ve you been?” a girl in the front row questioned.
         “I had a doctor’s appointment.”
         “For half the day?”
         “Well-”
         “Ladies,” the teacher called irritably, “please, discuss this outside of class.”
         “I’ll tell you later,” Ally rushed, a giggle in her voice as she made her way to the back of the class.
         Sebastian began to fidget, trying to remain calm as she walked in his direction, attention on her as the lesson continued. To his surprise she sat diagonally to the right, in front of him. His mind went into a frenzy, he wanted to say something, anything, and then he had an idea. He looked around him and tapped the blonde boy next to him on the shoulder. “Sorry,” he whispered, “but do you have a piece of paper and a pen I could borrow?”
         The young man stared at Sebastian for a moment in thought before hurriedly shuffling into his backpack. “Yeah, yeah, sorry!” he whispered back. “It took me a moment to understand what you said.” He sat up and turned to hand Sebastian several pieces of paper and a new ball-point pen, “Here.”
         “Thanks,” Sebastian smiled with a nod of his head, taking the supplies with gratitude. “Sorry for being a bother.”
         “Oh, it’s no problem,” the teen smiled back and waved his hand in a sheepish manner before looking back up at the board and continuing his notes.
         Sebastian was quick to go back to his business and he earnestly scribbled something down onto the top piece of paper, folded it several times and tapped “Ally” on the shoulder with it, with a great stretch of his arm and torso, practically lifting out of the seat. She turned only slightly, her eyes quickly meeting with the paper before looking over at Sebastian who mouthed the words “For you” before nudging it more into her direction.
         There was a look of anticipation on the young brunette’s face that made Ally giggle to herself as she took the note. She turned back around to face the board and unfolded the mysterious paper, hovering over it as she read it:
         
“Hi Ally, I’m Sebastian. New.”

She smiled to herself and picked up her pen, which Sebastian noticed from his seat and fidgeted anxiously as he watched her.
She folded it back up and snaked her hand behind her in the other’s direction, and Sebastian quickly snatched it up. He sneaked a peek up at the board to make sure the teacher wasn’t watching as he unwrapped the response:

“Hi Sebastian New. I’m Allison Fisher.”

At this, Sebastian felt a tiny bit of heat enter his cheeks momentarily as he scratched down something else before tossing it over onto Allison’s desk, it landing on the edge of the corner.
         As she opened it, she read it and held back a laugh:

         “Sorry, that’s not what I meant. I’m Sebastian Anderson and I’m new.”

Allison shook her head and folded the paper once more, handing it back to the young man.
         He could hear his heart beat as he read her reply:
         
         “Well, I’m still Allison Fisher. Hello Sebastian Anderson, is there something that you needed?”

Was there something that he needed? He handed it back to her:

         “Just introducing myself since you weren’t here earlier. It seems nice to be able to talk to you though.”

Allison couldn’t help but to stare at the answer for a moment before replying:

         “Mr. Anderson, are you trying to pick me up?”

Sebastian quickly responded:

         “Well, it’s not exactly like that. Sorry.”

         “Not ‘exactly’ like that? So, sort of like that?”
         
         “Well, I would really really like to be friends with you, if you wouldn’t mind. I mean, it would be an honor to even be a friend to you.”

Allison peeked over her shoulder after reading Sebastian’s answer. His leg was nervously moving up and down as he glowered down at his desk.

         “You’re a bit strange, has anyone ever told you that?”

         “Is that bad?”

         “Not exactly. It’s just a bit strange. What you’re saying.”

Sebastian started to gnaw on his thumbnail as he tried to soothe her thoughts in his words:

         “Please don’t think anything ill of it. I mean…I’m new and you’re so pretty, beautiful, as well as your voice. You seem very nice. I guess I just really want to be friends.”

         “Well…” Allison had to pause for a moment to mull over her words. “I’m really flattered, thank you. But, this is really very sudden. I feel a bit uneasy to tell you the truth. If you want to be friends with someone, then it’s best to talk to them for a while and see about interests. Maybe we’ll actually talk and maybe we’ll get along and maybe we’ll become friends but I can’t really promise anything, you know?”

Sebastian read this over and over. He didn’t even know how to reply, or even if she wanted him to. Maybe he had jumped the gun. Maybe he should have actually gone up to her or something instead of seeming like a psycho with notes? He sighed, folding the paper up and tucking it into his back pocket. He picked up the pen once again and started writing.

~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~          ~~~

         “Here,” Sebastian said as he stood in front of Allison’s desk, handing out a piece of paper with words all over it. “It’s a list of my interests.”
         Wasn’t exactly what I meant, the young woman thought as she took the paper and watched as the boy awkwardly scurried away, out the door for their next class.