Mon Numero Un
By Li Lin

Chapter 1: And It Started Out Slow

They sat under the tree in silence, their backs pressed against the rough bark. He listened to the violent rustling of the leaves of the tree they were under as the wind blew its way through the leafy boughs. She looked down at her fingers which were nervously twisting around each other. He finally broke the silence by speaking in a voice that could barely be heard, “We’re still friends, aren’t we?”

“Of course,” she replied, her voice just as tiny. She was fighting back tears now. “You’ll always be my closest friend.”

“Even if I call you ‘carrot-head’ and ‘button-nose’?” He twisted around to smile bitterly at her.

She turned to glance at him, her eyes briefly flashing in annoyance before answering with a huff, “Yeah. Even though you call me stupid names.”

“Even if our relationship didn’t work out,” he added, waiting with bated breath for her reaction.

“Even if we decided to break up… Although we’re hardly of age to date,” she responded teasingly. “I’m glad we stayed friends.”

“… I’m sorry. I really am.”

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault,” she paused, taking a deep breath and blinking rapidly so that her tears would not fall. “We can always keep in touch through emails. That’s what the internet is for.”

He choked out a laugh, “I didn’t think it’d be that hard to say goodbye.”

She hit him lightly on his shoulder and smiled sweetly, “It’s not like you’re leaving for good. You’ll be back for visits, won’t you?”

“Well,” he began uncertainly. That choice would not be his to make. “I’m quite sure I will.”

They lapsed back into comfortable silence, their shoulders touching. The guy got to his feet and brushed himself off before holding a hand out to his companion. She took his hand and pulled herself up so that they were facing each other.

“I… I’ve something for you,” he stuttered before reaching into his pocket to pull out a small, crumpled paper bag.

“You sure know how to keep it in good condition,” she laughed before beginning to open it. He caught her wrist and shook his head.

“Open it after I leave, okay? Promise you won’t forget me.”

“What are you, five?” She snorted, although she quickly swiped a traitorous tear away. He looked at her intensely, his fingers still circled around her wrist. Her features softened and she pulled her lips into a sad smile. “I won’t forget you. I’ll miss you a lot, Gray.”

“And I’ll miss you too, Lachey.” He enveloped her into a warm hug and swallowed hard when he felt the tears welling up in his eyes. There was wetness slowly seeping through his shirt where her face was pressed against. “Don’t cry, you big baby. I’ll be back before you know it.”

She said nothing.

-

“Stop it!” The girl cried out in dismay as she watched her books hurtling onto the floor. She ran forwards and shoved the other girl aside. “What’s wrong with you?!”

“What do you think my problem is?” The person who had viciously swept all the books off the table sneered back. She took a step forward and slapped the girl’s flawless cheek in anger. “My problem is you!”

The girl clutched her cheek in pain and glared back at the person with eyes swimming in tears.

“Good!” The teacher sitting at the base of the stage stood up and clapped to get everyone’s attention. Abruptly, the two girls on stage dropped their furious expressions and grinned at each other. “That was a superb performance, you two. I’m very certain that the play will be a hit! You may all go now.”

The teacher waved her hand to dismiss the students who began pouring out from backstage and sat back down, rifling through her papers. On stage, one of the two main actresses was grimacing apologetically, “Shit, Rayne. Your cheek’s turned red now. Did I hit you that hard?”

“Nothing to worry about,” Rayne chirruped, beaming at her friend. “It doesn’t hurt that bad. I’ll have to get used to it for the real deal, won’t I?”

They proceeded to go backstage to grab their bags before exiting the hall. They had barely taken five steps when a loud voice called from behind them, “Rayne! ‘Manda!”

Amanda Burnell, Rayne’s best girlfriend and currently the prettiest girl in their level, turned around to glare at the figure bounding towards them, “How many times must I tell you to not drop the ‘A’ from my name? ‘Manda sounds affectionate coming from my best friend but it sounds like a curse from your tainted lips.”

The figure halted before them and blankly ignored Amanda’s chiding, beginning to babble, “How was rehearsal? The rest of the guys already went to the canteen, I came back to get the ball because stupid Jason left it behind in the gym and refused to get it himself.”

“Yeah, rehearsal went great,” Rayne replied as the three of them resumed walking down the hall, with the guy sandwiched in the middle and Amanda walking ahead of them. “How was basketball practice?”

He did not respond to her question, his gaze focused on someone else. Rayne sniggered, fingering the locket around her neck. His puppy-like crush on Amanda was way too cute. What a pity her best girlfriend only viewed him like an annoying pest despite countless other girls falling for him.

“… Bryant?”

The only guy in the trio blinked and slowly turned to look at her, “Huh?”

Rayne shook her head, “Nevermind.” They approached the canteen which was completely empty safe for four guys each occupying a bench. Each of them was lying on a bench with their eyes closed. Bryant ran forward to toss the ball at the table but Rayne pulled him back and held a finger to her lips. She crept up to the one nearest to them and landed her hand on his stomach with a resounding ‘thwack’. His howl of pain seemed to reverberate through the canteen when he sat upright and crashed his shoulder into the bottom of the table. The other three guys jerked awake and looked around wildly before noticing the newcomers.

Rubbing his shoulder and pouting, Jason glared at the girl laughing in front of him, “Not funny, Rayne. That hurts, badly.”

“Hey girls,” a quiet, gentle voice spoke. Its owner smiled at the two girls. “How did your rehearsal go?”

“Great,” Rayne grinned at the speaker. “How was basketball practice? I tried asking Bryant here but he was too preoccupied staring at my pretty best friend to hear my question.”

“Who’re you calling pretty?” The speaker teased while Amanda scowled at her, still ignoring Bryant’s attempts at making conversation. “Basketball practice was tiring. As usual, really. If you guys are ready to leave, we can go now.”

All at once, the other guys leapt to their feet and grabbed their stuff. One of them moved to stand next to Amanda and slung an arm around her shoulder, “Hi cousin, still rejecting poor Bryant over there?”

“Bug off, Luke,” she snarled and shrugged his arm off, walking towards a bemused Rayne. “Can’t you learn from Ed over there and be more of a cool, brooding guy?”

Upon hearing his name, Ed looked up from the ground and cracked a small smile. Luke turned back to look at his friend then shook his head, laughing when his cousin pushed him away with her file. Rayne cracked a smile at their foolish antics and turned to her other best friend, Ryan, who was watching his two teammates circle around Amanda. Jason joined Luke in teasing her while Bryant was cursing them for Amanda was glaring at him as though everything was his fault. Rayne nudged him and he looked down at her with a wry smile. It was daily routine and they had become used to it. They began walking away briskly from the bickering group with Ed by their side until Bryant noticed that they were leaving them behind once more. Together, the seven of them left the school.

Just a regular bunch of close high school friends.

XOXOXOX

A/N: I know I said I would put this up in June, but I started writing Chapter 1 and decided to upload it first so you can add it to your 'Story Alert' in advance. (: This is just a very brief introduction of all the characters who will be appearing in MNU, and as you can see, the way I write MNU will be vastly different from the way I wrote HM. One main reason would be because there are more characters to focus on instead of just two in the prequel. I'm working on Chapter 2 but since inspiration has suddenly left and struck me dumb, I probably won't put it up anytime soon. This is something to make you look forward to Chapter 2! xD

Yes, I'm such an egoistic bitch. Anyway, is anyone willing to help me search for photos of Rayne/Melvin/any of the characters? I've been hunting around Google for days but I can't seem to find any that fit their profile. D: If there's a kind soul out there who decides to do the aforementioned favor, I bestow upon you three years' worth of (cyber) cookies! :D

Anyway, y'know my usual line: LEAVE A REVIEW! (; Love youuuuuuu!