Life as I Knew It

Disclaimers: Yeah, these aren't fun, but I guess they're necessary. If you're under 18, or if hot gay sex offends you, or if it's illegal to be reading this where you are, you probably shouldn't be reading this. I guess. Or you can, you know, you don't have to listen to me, lol.

This is fiction, so yeah, people and the events that occur are all fake. I may use the names of real places, but other than that, this story is completely made up.

And also, I'd appreciate it of you DIDN'T take this story and post it somewhere else without my permission. That's called stealing, and it's not cool.

Note to Reader: Here's part 2 of the prologue! I know it's real lame of me to split up the PROLOGUE into 2 parts, but I'm just not tech savvy. At all. But ahwell.

Oh and one more thing. Please send questions, comments, or a simple "Hello!" at crazyturtule90@yahoo.com

Oh, and also, here's a special shout-out to Cy! :D If you ever read this... uh, HI! ^_^ lol.

Off to part 2!

Life As I Knew It

Prologue: Three Years Ago (part 2)

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I just bent down to pick up my wallet and -- Oh gosh. I'm so, so sorry," I apologized profusely.

My hands were shaking and I was blushing furiously. I hated myself for doing something so stupid, yet, deep down, I was doing cartwheels at the thought of me even making contact with this gorgeous boy's penis. It was only for a millisecond, but I held onto the one feeling that overcame my body in that small moment. Heat.

Heck, I was even convincing myself that it twitched a little when I touched it. But I knew that was impossible.

He was laughing nervously, and a little flush was coming over his face. I attempted apologizing some more, but he quickly waved it off and just chuckled a little. He tried to play it cool, but I could tell that he was bothered by what happened. I wouldn't be surprised if he was completely grossed out by me. He probably thought that I even dropped my wallet on purpose to feel up his dick. I was disgusted with myself so I apologized once more, stuffed my wallet into my locker, shut it, and quickly went out to the gym.

The moment Coach saw me, he yelled at me to hurry and join the others for stretching. The tardy bell rang just before the boy from the locker room could get here on time. I thought he would've been right behind me, but he took a lot longer in there than I thought. I looked up at him and his face looked a little flushed. His eyes met mine while he passed by on one of his laps. I tried a smile, but he quickly looked the other way. He didn't make eye contact with me for the rest of P.E.

When the bell rang, I hurried into the locker room and tried to get my stuff out before the boy got back. I was trying to avoid any awkward conversation over what happened earlier. I was too late though, and he showed up just as I opened my locker. I said a quick "Hello" to him, but he didn't acknowledge it. I think he actually ignored me on purpose, because right after I said it, he turned and started talking to the guy on his other side. I really wanted to apologize, but I guess he was already too weirded out as it was. So I just grabbed my things and left.

I knew Ethan would swing by to walk with me to lunch, so I just waited a little outside the gym doors. I watched kids from my class pass by, but I didn't see the boy from the locker room. Suddenly I felt a pair of fingers poke me in the sides once again. I yelled out loud and whirled around and saw Ethan snickering to himself.

"Can you stop doing that?" I scowled, rubbing the side of my ribs.

He pouted, "Aww, but it's too much fun!"

I just rolled my eyes and started to walk away. He laughed and ran to catch up, slinging an arm over my shoulder when he got beside me. As we turned the corner, I thought I saw the boy from the locker room watching me with a kind of scowl on his face. I wasn't really sure, so I shrugged it off and continued walking to lunch.

The lunch room was kind of what you'd call a madhouse. There were kids all over the place, laughing, talking, yelling. Ethan could probably see the terrified look in my eyes, because he said, "Just stick with me," and then grabbed my hand and led me through the sea of students. It took forever, but we finally managed to make our way to the lunch line.

"You make it out okay?" Ethan asked, his round face red and dripping with sweat.

I laughed, "I should be asking you the same question."

He laughed along while wiping the sweat off of his face with a shirt-sleeve.

We made our way through the lunch line and began picking through things to add to our trays. I reached out for a fruit cup, but Ethan's hand grabbed my wrist.

"I wouldn't get that if I were you," He warned.

"Why not?"

"Because just last week, someone found a dead fly in their cup. Then they blew chunks all over the lunch room table," He explained.

I quickly let go of the fruit cup. "Then... what do you recommend I get?"

"Hmm," He said thoughtfully, "Get an apple. And maybe a pizza or something. Everything else is a little sketchy."

I gratefully nodded and then grabbed an apple and a slice of pizza. Ethan got pizza, fries, and a burger. We payed for our stuff and looked for a table. Ethan spotted someone he knew and led me to a table that was surprisingly empty. The only other person sitting there was a girl with... white hair. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but I could've sworn that her hair was white. Ethan sat down on the other side of the girl and pulled me down next to him.

"Hey, Ethan." The girl greeted. "Who's this?"

Ethan slapped me on the shoulder, kind of painfully. "This is Riley, the one I was telling you about last period."

"Ahh," She nodded in understanding. "So you're the boy genius I've been hearing so much about."

I shyly nodded, which made her laugh. "Oh, don't look so scared. I won't bite. My name's Isabella."

"Nice to meet you," I said quietly. She just laughed again and then continued eating.

I smiled a little and began to eat my food. I tried really hard not to, but I couldn't help staring up at Isabella's hair in between bites. I thought I imagined it at first, but her hair really was white. Not the whitish gray that old people had. It was more white in a snow-like way. Couple that with her pale face and piercing blue eyes, and you got a girl who could either capture you with her beauty, or destroy you with those eyes. I caught myself staring at her for almost a long while now, so I quickly resumed eating.

"You're not very discreet about your staring, you know." Isabella said nonchalantly.

I was swallowing my food when she said that, and I ended up choking at the shock of being caught. I thought I was being pretty sneaky with my glances, but I guess not.

"I'm really sorry!" I apologized, my throat still kind of raspy. "I didn't mean to stare. It was completely rude of me. I'm sure you receive unwanted attention all the time for your looks, you don't need me doing it as well. I--"

She cut me off, laughing. "Hey, hey, don't give yourself a heart attack. It's all right. I'm used to it, you know? And I'm sure you're only curious, so." She placed both hands on the table, "Let me put your mind at ease."

I brought my hands up and shook my head quickly. "No, it's -- I'm good! I mean, you don't have to. It's none of my business."

She laughed, but started anyways. "I know it may seem like I dyed my hair to get this color. I mean, not everyday you see a girl with white hair, eh?" She waited for me to respond, but I was already listening so closely, my ears were straining. Ethan didn't seem interested, as he kept shoveling food in his mouth. I gave him a look and he sheepishly lowered the volume of his chewing. I urged Isabella on with a nod of my head and she continued.

"Despite what you may think, this is actually my real hair color. Oh don't look so surprised, I'm telling you why. Anyways, I was born with this disease called albinism. It's where not enough pigment is added to your body; like your skin, your eyes, or in rarer cases, even your hair doesn't get enough color. For me, it was both my hair and skin that were affected. My eyes are kind of weird, but the doctors say that they're normal. I guess I should be glad I didn't turn out too bad. In all the other cases I've seen, everyone else turned out... How do I say this.... um, ugly."

She looked at me for a response, but I was just nodding intently, my mind a thousand miles away.

"So, uh... yeah. That's kind of it. The story of the freak that is me," She chuckled lighty.

I snapped out of my thoughts in an instant. "You're not a freak!" I insisted.

She looked taken aback by my outburst.

"What?"

"I said," I emphasized each word, "You're not a freak! You're completely normal. Every single human in the world has a genetic mutation of some kind. Not one person can be classified as normal or not, because it's impossible to have a perfect structure to compare them to. Some people may look or act a lot more different than others due to these mutations, but that's what makes everyone so interesting. Diversity."

I was breathing out quickly by now. I looked at Isabella and Ethan's faces, but shock registered on each of them.

They didn't seem like they were going to talk anytime soon, so I also added, "Besides, I think your hair is beautiful. I think you're beautiful. You should be proud of what you look like. So please don't put yourself down."

I cautiously looked back at them and instead of looking shocked, they both had smiles plastered on their faces.

Isabella was beaming. "That is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me." She leaned over and placed a kiss on my forehead, causing me to blush furiously. Ethan grabbed me and started ruffling my hair. I laughed and tried to break free.

"No, really. That was very sweet. Thank you. I just wish ETHAN was as kind as you are." She said pointedly.

Ethan stopped messing with my hair. "Hey! I said that it was 'interesting,' didn't I?"

"A three-legged dog is 'interesting." She dead-panned.

Ethan chuckled, "Oh, whatever. You know what I meant. I think your hair is 'beautiful' as well." He placed both hands on his cheeks and had a dreamy look on his face when he said the word "beautiful."

"Hey!" I cried indignantly. They were both sniggering to themselves and I couldn't help but join in.

All of a sudden, a kid walking by 'accidentally' dipped his tray towards our table, spilling most of the salsa all over Isabella's hair. I was shocked, and I half-expected her to turn around and beat the kid up. I was waiting for some kind of reaction, but Isabella simply closed her eyes to avoid having the mess enter her eyes.

The boy walking by snickered to himself, "Whoops, so sorry about that. But hey, maybe that'll add a little color to all that white."

He laughed even harder at his joke. I was still expecting either Ethan or Isabella to say something, but neither of them looked like they were going to say a word. The boy's obnoxious laughter increasingly started to make me mad. So I gathered every ounce of courage that I had, stood up, and faced him.

"I know you didn't do that on accident," I said confidently, or what I hoped sounded confident.

"Oh, yeah?" The kid sneered, "What makes you so sure, Twerp?"

"Twerp" was one of Carter's favorite new nicknames for me, and hearing it from someone else triggered an anger in me that I've never felt before.

"Because, Ugly, it would take an abnormally stronger weight on one side of your body to create a loss of equilibrium, dipping the tray in our table's direction. That, or a force bigger than your own would've had to come up against you on your side, resulting in a transference of kinetic energies, consequently causing the tray to spill its contents onto my friend. Neither occurred. But what I did see was you purposely spilling food all over my friend. This leads me to the conclusion that you're just a jerk seeking attention from his little friends. A jerk who owes MY friend an apology."

Almost all of the kids sitting in the cafeteria were either cheering, shocked silent, or laughing uncontrollably at this point. The bully, however, looked far from happy. His face was dark red from anger and embarrassment. In a flash, he pushed Isabella over, reached across the table, pulled me by my shirt collar, and prepared to punch me square in the face.

I felt Ethan jump across the table to lunge at the bully, but before anything could happen, the boy's fist was yanked back down and pressed painfully against his back.

I looked up to see my brother's looming figure behind him, twisting the boy's arm more and more.

Carter whispered menacingly into the boy's ear, "I know you weren't about to hit my little brother, were you?"

The boy quickly shook his head. Carter twisted the boy's arm even more, causing him to yelp. "Good. Because if you EVER lay even a finger on my brother again, I'm gonna kick your ass so hard, you won't be able to walk for a week. Am I clear?"

The boy nodded his head. Carter twisted the boy's arm even more, causing the boy to start crying out in pain, "Yeah, yeah! I'm sorry, please let me go!"

Carter eased his hold on the boy a little and said, "All right. But first, you gotta tell me something. I heard from a friend that someone put you up to this. Point and tell me who it was."

The boy didn't look like he was gonna say anything, but Carter twisted the boy's arm even more and he yelled, "Okay, okay! It was Aaron. Aaron Summers. He's over there." He pointed to the popular table full of other sixth graders, and straight at the boy who I met at the locker room earlier.

Carter released the kid, but not before warning him, "If you or your friends ever touch my little brother again, there's gonna be shit to pay, got it?"

I giggled a little at his use of swear words, but I immediately shut up after Carter gave me a warning look. The boy nodded and then ran off and out of the cafeteria. I was gonna thank Carter for sticking up for me, but he left, already heading towards Aaron's table.

I warily watched him, wondering what he was going to do when he got there. But Isabella was bringing herself up, and rubbing the shoulder she landed on when the bully pushed her down.

"What a bastard," she muttered.

"You alright?" I asked.

"I'm fine. Hey, um, thanks for that, you know." She said, her face going red. "I try not to give them the satisfaction, but sometimes it's a little too much. So thanks."

I grinned, "It's no problem. It was kind of fun, actually."

Ethan leaned back into his seat, with a mock sad look on his face. "Aw, shucks. Don't worry about me. I didn't just launch myself across the table to save you or anything."

I quickly leaned over and have Ethan a hug, which he seemed to want to hold onto for a little longer.

"Not like you actually did anything..." Isabella muttered. Thankfully, Ethan didn't hear it, but I shot her a look anyways.

It seemed like Ethan was genuinely concerned for me and Isabella's safety. I guess he just isn't much of a fighter. Kind of like the gentle giant type.

Kids around me suddenly started to point, and gasp, and cheer. A lot of them stood up and crowded around the middle of the cafeteria.

"C'mon, c'mon!" Ethan urged wildly. "It's a fight! We can't miss it!"

"I'll pass," Isabella said, too busy removing bits of tomato from her hair. "Tell me about it when you get back."

I gave her a pat on the arm and joined Ethan. I'm not usually one for violence, but lunchroom fights have a certain appeal to them. I don't know, maybe it was the thought that adults were nearby to stop it if it got too rough comforted to me.

It was hard getting through the circle of students, but when we did, we were faced with Carter and Aaron shoving each other around. Even though Aaron was two years younger than Carter, he was only just a few inches shorter than Carter. He seemed to be holding his own, which surprised me because Carter downright terrified me when he was angry.

They were whispering harsh words to each other, but no one could hear it from all the shouting going around. But I saw Aaron say something that seemed to cross the line, because Carter roared and then delivered a nasty punch to the side of his face. The cafeteria erupted into cheers or boo's, depending on who they were rooting for.

I saw teachers trying to see what all the commotion was about, but the students firmly locked them out with their bodies.

When I turned back to the fight, I saw Aaron on his knees, clutching his face in pain. Carter walked up to him, maybe asking if he was all right. Suddenly, Aaron just jumped up and delivered a punch of his own straight to Carter's cheek. I heard a loud thud and saw Carter go down. People cheered for a bit, but then murmured in concern when they saw that Carter wasn't moving.

I instantly snapped. I screamed and pushed my way through the kids, who by now were deathly quiet. I rushed to Carter's side and tried to wake him up, but he still wasn't moving. There was blood seeping out the side of his head. I felt panicked and scared at the thought that he might not get up, that he might actually be dead. The blood did nothing to ease my fears.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Aaron. His face was white as a sheet and he was apologizing profusely. He kept saying how sorry he was and that he didn't mean it. But I didn't hear a word of it.

My vision turned to red and I lost control of all my emotions. I screamed and then jumped onto him, throwing him down onto the floor. I just pummeled into his face as best I could. I let out all my anger and pain through each punch. I was expecting him to fight back, hoping that he would give me something, but instead he raised his arms to protect his face and he just took it. He took every beating my small arms could give him.

I felt arms suddenly wrap around my middle, pulling me away. I turned around to give him a punch too, but it turned out to be Ethan. He had a sad look on his face and he just shook his head as if to say, "No, he's not worth it." How could I ever hit Ethan. Sweet, innocent Ethan. I just gave him a tiny smile and slumped out of his grasp and onto the floor.

I didn't know I was crying until I felt the tears fall on my arms. I saw Aaron sit up across from me, staring at me with sad eyes.

"Why?" I asked him between sobs. "Why do you have to be so mean?"

That seemed to shock him more than anything else I could've said. He didn't answer. He just kept saying, "I'm sorry," over and over again.

"I thought you were nice, you know..." I whispered.

Something flashed across those beautiful brown eyes of his. I couldn't place a finger on it. Regret. Hope. Sadness. Joy. I didn't know, and at this point, I didn't really care.

"But I don't think so anymore. I don't know what I did that made you want to do those things. Beat up my brother, mess with my friends. I don't know, really. But just... stop."

He looked like he wanted to say something, but I cut him off.

"Stop apologizing. Stop talking to me. Stop hurting my friends. Just stop everything. I don't want to get to know you anymore."

I didn't think what I said would have this much impact on him, but the last part seemed to hurt him more than anything. He started to speak, but I turned away and crawled over to Carter. I tried to wake him up, but he still wasn't moving. I leaned down to listen to his chest, and thankfully I could still hear the beating of his heart.

The students finally made way for the teachers and they all rushed to the center, trying to take in everything. From the blood all over the floor, to Aaron crying and rocking back and forth, to me clutching Carter's limp body.

They seemed to be in shock, so I told them, "Call for help." That seemed to bring them into action, and before I knew it, the police and medics were all here.

They shooed the police away, probably trying to avoid any bad publicity for their school. The medics wheeled Carter away on a stretcher. I tried to join him in the ambulance, but the stupid doctors told me I was too young.

I joined Ethan and Isabella and they consoled me by patting my back and telling me everything would be all right. I was glad to have been lucky enough to meet friends like these.

The kids filled all the teachers in on the story, some a little farfetched in their tales than others. But they all made one thing clear: that it wasn't any of my fault. I was expecting at least one person to point their fingers at me, maybe one of Aaron's friends, but they all said Aaron threw the first punch, that Aaron started the fight, and that I was just defending my brother. And I guess in some way, that was true.

It was probably me remembering those animalistic feelings from awhile ago that tried to convince me otherwise. When I was beating Aaron up, I wanted to hurt him. I think I even wanted to kill him. I'm glad I didn't. The thought of killing any living thing, much less a person, sent shivers down my spine.

I don't know what happened the rest of the school day, I was too out of it. But by the time the final bell rang, I found myself walking home with my backpack slung over my shoulder.

I occupied myself by kicking a pebble down the street, seeing if I could keep kicking the same pebble all the way home. I didn't hear Ethan calling my name until he was right behind me.

"Hey Riley! Wait up!" He yelled, finally catching up with me. He was leaning on a picket fence, trying to catch his breath. I looked down at him smiling, trying not to laugh out loud.

"You okay?" I asked, rubbing his back.

"You... bitch." He gasped.

I laughed and helped him up. "Sorry. What's up?"

He regained his composure and we both started walking.

"Nothing much," He said, "You were walking down the same way I was and I thought I'd say hey."

"Hey," I said, grinning cheekily.

He bumped shoulders with me and we continued walking.

"Soooo," He said.

"Soooo, what?"

"How're you holding up?" He asked, his face filled with concern.

I laughed, "I'm fine. I just want to get home."

"Yeah, I know. It was just kind of... scary... seeing you like that."

"I know," I sighed. "I don't know what came over me."

He just nodded and we kept walking. We reached my house a little bit later and stood facing each other.

"Well," I said, "This is my stop."

"Yeah. Uh, hey," He said, sounding kind of nervous. "I just live three houses away. That big brown house over there. If you ever want to stop by, and you know, hang out... that'd be cool."

I smiled and gave him a hug, which he seemed a little surprised to receive. He held on a little longer than necessary, and I kind of had to pull away from him.

He blushed. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay," I giggled. Ew, I giggled? Okay, Riley, that's a little too girly.

He just chuckled and started walking down towards his house. I watched as he turned towards me and kept walking, but this time, backwards.

"Tell Carter that I hope he feels better! He really got pounded." He shouted, a teasing smile on his lips.

I laughed and went inside the house. I looked around for Mom but she didn't seem to be home from work yet. I'm guessing she dropped Ethan home from the hospital and went back to work. I didn't even bother looking for Dad. He came home strictly at 6:30 PM every day, except on Sunday's. Well, not that I'd want to talk to him much, anyways.

I dropped my bag by the door and ran upstairs to Carter's room. I was about to run right inside, until I remember what he told me about coming in unannounced.

I accidentally walked into his room without knocking once and I caught him on his bed with the covers over his body. There was a bump under the covers moving up and down, but it stopped the moment he saw me. His face was really red and he screamed at me to get out. I never did find out what he was doing underneath those covers.

I tentatively knocked on his door. "Carter? Can I come in?"

"Sure, buddy." He called out, so I walked in. He was laying in bed with a DS in his hands. He had a bandage wrapped around his head, with one side lightly tinted with blood. I almost threw up at the sight. I never was good with blood.

He looked up at me and must've seen the worry all over my face, because he smiled reassuringly and patted the space beside him. I ran to him and jumped into his arms. He grunted when I landed on him, but I just hugged him tightly.

"Aw," He teased, "Did someone miss me?"

I slapped his arm. "Shut up..." I muttered.

He grinned. "Gimme a hug. Big hug." I smiled and hugged him again, tighter this time. He used to say that to me when I was little, and I always rushed into his arms. I felt safe and secure when Carter had his arms around me. Like the world couldn't touch me as long as I was with Carter.

"You feeling okay?" I asked, my mouth nestled into his shoulder and my leg thrown over his waist.

He chuckled, "Yeah. It's just a little scrape on my head from when I landed."

"You scared me, you know..." I whispered, "When you didn't wake up, I mean. You scared me so badly. I know you don't like me anymore, but I was still afraid I was gonna lose my big brother..."

He sighed and hugged me tighter. "Sorry for treating you like shit, Lee. You know I didn't mean it."

I looked up at him. "Then why did you?"

He looked away from me and stared up at the ceiling. He muttered something under his breath but I couldn't really hear it.

"What'd you say?"

He sighed. "I said I was jealous... Because Mom's always comparing us. Telling me how I should be smart like you, and that I should do better at school. And when she found out you were skipping a grade, she started to nag me even more. And it just bugged me."

"Oh..." I said quietly.

"I wasn't mad at you, Lee, I swear!" He said hurriedly. "I was mad at myself for not being as smart and... I don't know. I was just jealous."

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "I hope we can be like before. I miss this."

He pulled me closer with his arm. "Yeah, me too." He leaned down and kissed me on the head. We laid there quietly for a few more minutes.

"You know," I said, breaking the silence. "If it's any consolation, Dad nags me all the time. He says I should be more like you."

Carter snorted, "I don't care, Dad's an asshole."

I let out a loud laugh, but I didn't deny it. Because it was true, you know, my dad was an asshole.

Suddenly, Carter's phone rang, saying he got a text message. He reached over and read it. He immediately shot up and read it again, like he couldn't believe what he just saw.

"Lee, you beat up Aaron Summers?" He yelled.

I immediately shrunk down and put my face into his pillow. He asked me again and I had no choice but to nod. I kept my head on the bed and refused to look up at him. I was expecting him to yell at me and criticize me for not being careful, but it never came. Instead, he jumped on top of me and gave me a big hug.

"I have the best brother in the whole world," He said, a proud smile on his face.

I was still embarrassed at what I'd done. "Why? It was stupid of me..."

"No, it wasn't!" He quickly interrupted. "It was awesome. Man, I wish I could've been awake to see that. Gabe said that you just jumped on him and punched him over and over again. Is that true?"

I shyly nodded and he laughed again, giving me a noogie.

"Well, thanks for avenging me little bro. I swear, the next time I see him, I'm gonna kick his ass."

"Don't." I said, placing a hand on his chest. "Don't fight with him. It's over and done with. I don't want to see you guys fighting anymore. Besides, Isabella told me that his parents are transferring him to a private school for the rest of middle school."

"But Lee! I can't let him get away with messing with you! I can find out what school he's in! It's no problem!" He insisted.

I just shook my head. "No, Carter. I don't want anything to do with him. And if you get into a fight with him again, I'll never forgive you."

Those last words shut him up, and he just grumbled in complaint.

"Fine. But if he lays a hand on you, I'm knocking him out." He growled.

"Deal!" I grinned, and then leaned over and gave him a sloppy kiss on the mouth. He laughed and wiped it off with his arm. I nestled into his arms again, while he wrapped an arm around me. All I could hear was Carter's pounding heart, and the rhythmic beating was comforting to me. I let it fill my ears and leave me to my thoughts.

I was trying to forget what happened today. I was trying to forget Aaron. But my mind always kept drifting back to him. His voice, his smile, his laughter, his touch. As much as I wanted to forget everything about him, something inside me was refusing to do so. Something inside me was telling me to remember every aspect of him that I could. I didn't know what these feelings meant, but I held onto them as I slowly drifted off to sleep, thinking only of him.

Well, there you have it! That's the prologue. I'm still writing the 1st chapter... And I'm just now figuring that I should've waited till I had a few more chapters under my belt before I sent this in but... screw it. I'll try to get it in soon! Till then :D