Mark Waterman: The Sun In All Its Glory (Completed) Alternate Story

Prologue: The early months

The moon rose up in all of its glory above the sombre household of Mark Waterman. It was late and he would have had no problem getting to sleep, had this been two years ago, but lately all he could think about was her. Luna. She was the sole thought in his mind, all day long. He would give anything to be hers, even if it meant giving up on his dream of becoming a pro football player. Endless nights lost to sleep deprivation over the desire and necessity of being hers. His life was falling apart. Climbing into bed, he drifted off. Numbing the excruciating pain had become somewhat of a normality to him.

It all started in September of 2017, though Mark would not yet know it, when she came into his life in the first year of A-Levels.

At first, Mark barely noticed her and only talked to her because she hung out with his friend Paul. This was due to the fact that Mark had his sights set on another newcomer by the name of Christina. He found it easy to talk to her as she was in most of his classes and sat next to or near her quite a bit due to seating plans. They got along really well and could take the micky out of each other, even the teachers said that between the pair of them they were just adorable and they would make the cutest couple. However, things never materialised and Mark wasn't too upset as it meant his friends, like Paul, would stop teasing him about the fact that he liked her. His friends could tell that he wasn't too bothered by the non-relationship so all just accepted that it hadn't resulted in anything.

During this time, months had gone by and they were now in the new year, Luna had already gone out with and cheated on one of Mark's mates from the football team, Barry. Luna and Barry had never really sparked to one another, which had led to Luna's unfaithfulness. However, with her unfaithfulness, she had now found love with Sol (a boy from the upper year) and they were perfectly happy together and would hang out constantly and do anything for one another.

Mark was still close to Christina but never acted upon his feelings and they began to fade away. It was around this time that Mark had mixed feelings about many girls in his year that were close to Christina or himself. Given this, Mark started to collapse without his knowing. He ended up spending less time with his friends, doing extra work so he could just sit there in lessons, staring emptily at the wall. His teachers noticed this change but thought nothing more of it, his grades just kept on going up and up, that's what they really cared about. Mark and his family didn't even notice that anything was wrong, as he was his usual bubbly self and was still focused on achieving his lifelong dream of becoming a footballer.

Luna began to hang out a lot more with Paul and therefore with Mark after February had passed, but Mark still hadn't developed feelings for her and was clueless when it came to her life. The three of them talked endlessly during their shared biology classes and would often joke and laugh around than finishing the work. But it was maths that finally alerted Mark to his underlying feelings for her. By chance, the strict teacher (who was fed up with her students talking) had sat Mark in the corner by himself, with no one else on his row. The closest people that he could talk to was a boy, who was also in his physics class, called James and his friend, Luna, who sat directly in front of Mark.

This was the start of his realisation in his unconscious mind.