Ten Steps With You

Chapter 1: A Day No Different From The Other

Why is she so close yet so far away?

Sitting from afar, Oliver asked himself a rhetorical question.

Every day after the lunch bell rang, one can find Oliver sitting by the window of his empty classroom surveying the perimeter below him.

The crisp morning air, the many students chatting and going about on the school grounds.

Nothing was any different from what Oliver would see on any other day.

From the reflection of his phone screen, Oliver saw his face.

With nose indents from his black glasses, his bangs shadowed over his light brown tone as well as his slight eye bags from last night's gaming session. His school jacket hung neatly on his shoulder. 

Putting his phone down, he tilted his head to see another view.

On the side away from all the normalcy, away from all chaos, is his friend Summer.

Sitting ever so nonchalantly and unaware of time, she turned another page from the book she was reading.

Despite being so far away, Oliver could notice much about the unaware Summer.

Keeping up a straight posture, the ends of her hair brushed her cheek while she played with a paper bookmark in her other hand.

The shadow of the mango tree above her darkened her Caucasian complexion yet her green eyes and her small lips seemed to sparkle as she took occasional glances into the sunlight. 

Oliver had met Summer during their early elementary days.

Ever since then, the two would be frequently seen together. Only recently, however, the two had become slightly distant since the beginning of their 4th year in highschool.

Now almost halfway into the school year, Oliver still could not pinpoint why. 

"Hey, you coming?" Someone called out from the classroom door.

"I'll be there in a moment, Miguel."

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The school's designated eating area was filled with its usual smells and disorder.

As Oliver stepped in, the aroma of soy sauce hinted at a chicken adobo, and the sound of an egg being poured into a wok of fried rice only helped to rumble his hungry stomach even more.

As millions of unintelligible conversations of all sorts of different topics roared in the background, Oliver and Miguel strolled around the food selection. 

"What should we get?"

"I think I'm craving a pizza."

"Out of all the options here you go for pizza?" Miguel scratched his head while he laughed.

Miguel was an old friend of Oliver. With his white polo uniform worn with a few buttons undone, the way he walked made obvious his carefree nature. 

A sunburn on his arms and bruises on his elbows, the slight smell of sweat mixed with his cheap perfume.

Smiling, he threw an arm over Oliver's shoulders, making the contrast of his rather dark skin compared to Oliver's lighter shade plain as day. 

"Yeah, why? Also, get your arm off of me. You reek of football." 

As Oliver opened his mouth to talk more, his vision suddenly blurred. Slowly losing consciousness, his body fell backward.