Knowing Better

It was a regular Tuesday for Mark, as things went normal since he heard those whispers the day before. He was still curious yet worried. He wondered how did he hear whispers through his earphones. It was a weird experience for him. Thoughts flew through his mind until a call alerted him.

"Marcus?!" The teacher called him. He stopped and looked around. He saw Nathan sitting next to him, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. He then remembered he was still in class.

"Y-yes, sir?" He replied, stuttered. He gave the teacher an awkward grin.

The teacher glared at him. "What's the answer to number 6?!" The teacher exclaimed.

Mark panically searched through pages to find the answer quickly. Luckily, he did.

"Umm...is it option B sir?" He answered, giving a small grin.

The teacher glared at him a bit until he calmed down and continued the lesson. "Correct, it is option B. Please pay attention, Marcus! This is just the second day," He warned.

Mark grinned again, sheepishly this time. "Y-yes sir, I'm sorry," He apologized. The teacher nodded and went back to the writing board.

Marks P.O.V

HOLY SHOOT! That was close. Phew! I don't want to get detention on my first week here. I can't believe I got lost in my thoughts today. Yeah, I'm still thinking about yesterday's event. The whispers were clearly heard, I tell you. Me wearing earphones at the time made it creepier. I'm still going to think it was an earphone error, but that didn't stop me from thinking about it. I'm currently in my third class of the day if you're wondering.

Suddenly, I heard whispers, calling my name.

Marcus~

Shoot! There it is again. I froze after hearing them. This is getting creepy. I looked around without turning my head. Why are there whispers all of a sudden? F****. I'm starting to be worried, scared, crept, having shivers through my spine. HELP.

*Thud*

Ow! The heck was that? It hit my head from my right. I looked down to see what hit me. An eraser. Huh. I looked up and saw Nathan giving me a worried yet confused look. Yeah, I'm currently having a class with Nathan.

"Dude! What was that for?!" I whispered as I picked up the eraser and gave it to him.

"Hehe, sorry. I was calling but you seemed like you were lost there," He answered. Oh, so those were his whispers, then. Hehe. Silly me.

"Sorry, I was just thinking, things..." I replied.

"Ahh..." He nodded. "So anyway, I want you to meet me at the soccer field after school," He told me.

"Why?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. Just then, the bell rang, meaning it's lunchtime.

"Okay, class, don't forget about your homework which is due this week," My teacher told us. We all got up and took our stuff as he left the room, with us soon followed behind.

"I want to introduce you to my friend. I originally wanted you guys to meet at lunch but she's practically busy at the moment so she said she can meet us after school," He told me as he got up and picked up his things.

She? must be a girl, then. "Busy? At lunch?" I chuckled a bit.

"Well, she's a member of the student council and there's a meeting during lunchtime soon. So, yeah," He explained. I nodded in response.

Oof, missing lunch? What a bummer. We immediately went to our lockers, put our stuff in, and went to lunch.

Third Person P.O.V

Somewhere on the hills, out of nowhere, a circle-shaped thing appeared on the ground, soon followed by a blast of light coming out of it. As the blast disappeared, a hooded figure appeared, with 3 creatures behind him. Weirdly, all of them had yellow outlines.

"Is this the place?" The figure asked. One of them nodded in response. "Do your thing, then." They nodded again before it ran or flew away. The figure soon followed walking behind.

-

-

School has ended and Mark is sitting on the bleachers. He is currently at the soccer field, just like Nathan told him, waiting for him and his friend to arrive at the field. He looked around and saw several students just hanging out on the field, chatting, talking, some even were playing soccer. They all looked happy and were enjoying their time with each other. Mark smiled and was enjoying seeing this, just a happy and calm environment. He was glad that he was seemingly in the right spot, in the right place for him.

He was grateful. He's not back at home, he's away from his old friends, away from the problems, away from everything.....

"Look at this coward!!"

"You're a disappointment."

"HAHAHA! Is he gonna cry??"

"Why don't you just go away?"

"I HATE YOU!!"

Those words immediately came into his mind and he instantly shook them off. Remembering them was the last thing he wanted to do in his new life, with his uncle, with his new friends he wanted.....

"Mark!" Somebody suddenly called him. He looked up and saw Nathan by the school entrance, waving at him. He waved back as he smiled

"Finally..." He mumbled. As he stood up, he saw someone behind him who he assumed is the friend Nathan was talking about. A girl. Mark saw her and to him, she looked familiar. He remembered seeing that girl yesterday he thought. Mark immediately ran to them.

"Hey, Mark! Glad you're here," Nathan moved away and Mark saw his friend. She was wearing a dark blue outer shirt and an orange t-shirt and a dark blue skirt to match the outer shirt. Mark's eyes widened as he immediately recognized the girl.

"I would like to introduce you to my best friend-"

"Amelia..." Mark immediately cut him off. "Right?" He said as he pointed at her.

Amelia smiled. "You got that right!" She exclaimed. She reached out her hand to give him a handshake and of course, Mark received it. "It's nice to see you again, Mark."

"Same goes to you Amelia," Mark replied.

Meanwhile, Nathan's just standing there, looking confused about their interactions. "Wait, you guys know each other?!" He asked feeling a bit surprised.

"Well not really, we bumped into each other yesterday, and boom! We met for the first time," Amelia explained.

"I guess I can say that it wasn't really a good first impression, to say the least..." Mark mumbled the last part.

Surprisingly, Nathan was aware of the mumble. He heard him mumbled that last part. He gave him a confused look after that.

"What do you mean by that?" Nathan asked with a raised eyebrow. Just before Mark can answer, Amelia immediately cut him off.

"Heyyy, Nate...Didn't you say you wanted to show something to Mark in the city? You know, since he's new here of course," She said as he turned to Nathan with a grin.

Mark was aware of this and to him, it was more of a nervous grin than just a normal grin. He gave her a confusing glare of sorts.

"Oh right!" Nathan exclaimed as he turned to Mark. "So I was thinking of showing you a place that I think you'll find interesting to see," Nathan told him before he grinned. "And Amelia's thankfully free for the rest of the day. Therefore, she can come so that you guys can, I don't know, talk, know each other more..."

Mark turned to Amelia to see her reaction and saw her shrugged with a small smile. He thought about it for a second and...

"Yeah sure, I can go, even though I planned on doing my history homework when I get home, but I think I can just do it tomorrow. I'll text my uncle to let him know that I'll be home a bit late," Mark answered as he took out his phone from his pocket.

"Great!! Come on! Let's go get some drink first," He said as he turned around heading back to the building entrance.

"Come on, Mark!" Amelia said as she turned around walking back to the building. Mark nodded and followed behind as well while texting his uncle.

*

*Mark: Hey uncle tyler, is it okay if I hang with some friends I just made?*

UncleTyler: You made friends already? That's nice to know, but are you sure they're 'friends'??

*Mark: Yeah, they seem nice to me. Besides, I know one of them already. He's the one that pretty much showed me the city last Saturday*

*UncleTyler: Really? well if you're sure, then go ahead, but again, are you sure these friends of yours are nice?*

*Mark: They are, uncle tyler....don't worry ...*

*UncleTyler: Well, okay, then. Just be careful, okay?*

*Mark: Yes, Uncle Tyler*

*Mark: I will *

~Time Skip~

Amelia's P.O.V

Nathan and I are heading to the cafeteria to get ourselves a drink. Right now it's just me and Nathan since Mark said he wanted to use the bathroom real quick.

"So how did you and Mark meet?" I asked.

"Eh, long story. We basically met when we were helping a kid being picked on. I was protecting the kid and then he suddenly showed up. He distracted those bullies and I quickly knocked them out and ran away with him and the kid. It was quite adventurous, I should say," He told me. I nodded in response.

"What about you?" He turned to me and asked. "Mark said it wasn't a good first impression for you both,"

No. I can't tell him. I can't tell him the truth. I can't tell him I was with them when I met Mark. I just can't.

"Well, as he said, we bumped into each other. That's all," I half lied.

"Hmm...If you say so," He said. Oh good, I'm glad he's not suspicious. "I just thought that you were hanging with them again..." Wait, never mind.

I nervously chuckled. "What makes you think of that?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, my brain made me for some reason. You weren't though, right?" He asked as he turned to face me with a raised eyebrow.

I just faced him with an innocent smile. "Nope, I wasn't," Deep down, I'm actually worried he'll find out. I took a glance at him and saw him shrugged. Okay, I guess he took it.

As we were walking, I saw 2 girls who were just talking at the lockers with one of them leaning against it. Just then, they noticed us walking by and one of them greeted us.

"Heyy, Nathan~" Well, apparently only Nathan that was greeted. Sheesh.

"Hey, girls!" He said as he grinned with that confident grin of his. He also did that finger gun expression to them. Heh. Classic Nathan. I slightly heard them giggled as we started to leave them. I rolled my eyes in the process.

"Seems like girls here are still going on about you, huh?" I teased him.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Heh, that's what you get when you're the popular kid," He said as he tidied up his hair to the back with his cocky grin.

I chuckled and punched his shoulder. "Ow, hey!" He responded with a smile.

"Typical of you, Nate," I said to him. He chuckled again.

"Shut up..." He said jokingly.

"So what is this place that you wanna show him?" I asked him

"Oh, I can't tell you," I was confused.

"What? why?"

He answered, "I want to show you as well!"

I raised my eyebrow feeling a mix of confusion and surprise. "Really?" He nodded in response.

"Well technically, not showing, it's more like venturing the place," He said.

Venturing? I have mixed feelings about where this is going.

I shrugged. "Well, if you say so, Nate."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, my mouth blurted out these words. "You know I assumed you wouldn't be here by now..."

He then gave me a confused look. "What do you mean by that?"

Dang it. Looks like I have no choice but to answer him.

"Well, you're so popular here, and I just thought that you would...you know," I paused for a bit. "Started hanging out with the cool kids, the other popular ones, and... I'll be left alone," I said with a slightly sad tone as I mumbled that last part.

Nathan's P.O.V

What?! Why would she think of that? Why would she believed that I'll leave her in the future? I mean I don't blame her for thinking like that. It's just weird, you know. Did she forget? I saw her looking down at the floor, rubbing her left arm.

"W-what? Amy, why would you think of that?" I put my hand on her shoulder to get her attention. Unfortunately, it didn't work. She still looked at the floor.

"Hey, umm...do you remember that promise we made when we were in fifth grade?" I saw her immediately looked up to me. I saw her face. She looked slightly scared. She then nodded to answer my question.

"We promised to each other, that if one of us is famous or successful already, we will still be there for each other, to support each other, to help each other out. Apparently, it's happening to me, so I'm basically doing what I promised to you..." I told her. "You're my best friend, Amy. I will never do that to you," I gave her a warm smile after that.

Just after a few seconds, she smiled. "Y-yeah, you're right. I-I can't believe I forgot about that. What was I thinking? I'm sorry."

"You were just worried. I don't blame you. I would do that if it happens to you, to be honest..." I half-joked. She chuckled and instantly, she hugged me. I smiled and hugged her back.

"I'm glad we're friends..." She said as we still hugged. I smiled in response.

"Me too," I replied.

After a few seconds of embracing and calming each other, we let go. "Now let's get to the cafeteria. I'm thirsty," I said as she nodded.

As we continued walking, I realized something. "Mark is taking quite a while in the bathroom, by the way," I said. He said he wanted to take the bathroom earlier.

Amy looked around the area, probably hoping to find Mark somewhere. "Oh yeah, I wonder what's taking him so long?"

Huh, maybe he's at the cafeteria already?

Mark's P.O.V

*Flush*

Finally, I'm done. That took a while. Maybe I should drink a lot of water more often. My butt slightly hurts. I got out of the toilet and went to wash my hands. As I washed them, I looked up to see myself in the mirror. Me, Marcus careen, the boy who just moved here to start a new life. I sighed. I then thought about the 2 people I just met. Amelia, Nathan.

Nathan, he's been quite close with me since we first met like 3 days ago. I'm not complaining, I'm actually grateful that I have a friend here. It's just, we don't really know each other, yet he's quite enthusiastic to show me the city we're living in. I mean I know that I'm new here, but isn't this too much? he's pretty much doing me a favor. I'm basically a stranger to him from another city.

'Maybe I should just be grateful.' I thought to myself. Maybe I should. He's basically helping me fit in here. I could really use that.

And Amelia seems like a nice girl, though I'm still curious about her behavior yesterday. So is she actually a nice girl or those bratty, bully girls? Is she hiding something?

'You're thinking too much, relax,'

I guess I am thinking too much. I shook my mind off, forgetting what I was thinking. I better head to the cafeteria so that I won't keep both of them waiting. I turned off the tap, dried my hands, and went out of the restroom.

-

-

We already got our drinks and right now, we're following Nathan behind to wherever he wants to show me. He's on a call with someone ahead with me and Amelia behind him. I asked her where we're going, but for some reason, she too didn't where we're going exactly, which is weird. I assumed Nathan would've told her where we're going.

"I kinda find it weird that he didn't tell you where we're going, to be honest..." I said.

She shrugged. "Maybe he wants to show me as well? Who knows?" She gave me a small grin. I nodded in response.

"Soo..." I continued. "How long have you guys been friends?" I asked her.

"Let's just say we've been friends since 5th grade," She answered. "I moved here at the time and we met at the park. We played and played and talked, and we became friends!" She exclaimed. I nodded in response. "You said you live with your uncle?"

"Yep. He's a cop," I told her.

"Oooh, really?"

"Yeah. What about you??" I asked.

"My parents? Well, my mom's a dentist, and my dad...." She paused for a moment. "My dad's a pilot...".

"Oh. That's nice..."

"Y-yeah..." she stuttered a bit.

There was a brief silence afterward. I tried thinking of something to talk about. I looked around hoping to find something as I hear the cars zooming by us on the road, mumbles from Nathan with his call, the sound of our footsteps on the sidewalk. I glanced at her to see her looking at her right as I took a glance at Nathan as well.

"I assumed you two are close friends, huh?"

She turned to me. "Me and Nathan?" I nodded. "Yeah, we're close, so close to the point where people thought we're dating..." She slightly chuckled.

I decided to tease her a bit. "Are you though?" I smirked.

I saw her eyes widened immediately. I think I saw her blushed slightly there, hehe...

"W-what?! NO! We're not dating!" She exclaimed as she slapped my shoulder. I laughed a bit. "We're just close friends, that's all!" She said as she rubbed her shoulders.

"I'm just kidding, Amelia," I chuckled a bit. I saw her still rubbing her shoulders with a pouty face. Heh.

"Hey, I think I haven't got your number yet..." I told her.

"Oh yeah, let's exchange numbers!" She exclaimed. We then add our numbers to our phones.

"Great!" I exclaimed. She grinned in response.

As we continued walking, I saw Nathan stopped in his tracks, still in his call. We stopped as well.

"Can't I just do it tomorrow?" I heard him say, along with some mumbles through the call. I heard him sighed afterward. "Fine, this better worth my time!" Soon, he hung up and immediately pinched his nose. He looks annoyed.

"Arghhhh..." He groaned. "Welp, sorry for wasting your time, guys. Apparently, I got a call from work and they said it's important..."

Work?

"Work? You have a job?" I asked slightly surprised. He nodded.

"Man, your job won't leave you alone, huh?" Amelia chuckled.

"It's annoying at this point, honestly..." He shook his head. "Sorry I wasted your time,"

"Nah, it's okay, Nathan. I mean, you didn't see this coming so it's not really your fault. Besides, I get to know Amelia better so I guess it's a win?" I shrugged after I said the last part. I mean I don't see this as a waste. Now I know he has a job which is kinda impressive and I get to know Amelia better.

"Yeah Nate, it's okay. Go and take care of that job of yours," She said to him with a smile.

"Oh, good. Thanks for understanding, guys. Gotta run!" He said as he started to run and waved goodbye. Amelia and I waved back.

"Welp, I better get home. I wanna do my history homework. It's nice knowing you more, Amelia," I turned to her.

"Yeah, it's nice knowing you too, Marcus," She smiled.

"See you tomorrow at school...Amy" I winked at her.

She giggled in response. "See you later...Mark," She waved back as she turned around started heading to her house. I soon started walking towards home.

I walked as I watched the sun starting to set behind the tall buildings of the city. Hearing the wind blows as the trees danced along following the direction, feeling them as it blew across my hair. Cars passed by quickly on the road beside me. I saw people in the area just enjoying the evening. I saw some were walking home from work, hanging out with their friends, or just sitting on the benches enjoying the scenery.

I decided to listen to some music on my way, so I took out my earphones, plugged them into my phone, and played a soft song. I only put one on my right so that I can hear my surroundings. And when things were already beautiful, it just had to be ruined.

"Marcus~~"

(*immediately plugs out earphone*)

Okay. I need to fix this.

PART 6 COMING SOON