Chapter 1
The 16 year old glanced down at his notebook, written on it “Giovanni Pisano.” He huffed impatiently, waiting for the bell to ring, signaling the end of the school day. Once hearing the tone, Gio stuffed his notebook into his backpack and began to walk towards his locker. Fumbling with the rotary combination lock, he cursed under his breath. God I hate these locks, I never understand how they work.
Finally opening the locker door, he gazed at the polaroid photos featuring his best friends, Vikki and Corey. Just as Gio finished picking up the textbooks he needed to bring home, the latter strode around the corner of the hallway.
“Gio! Hey, you ready?”
“Yeah, just let me lock this real quick” Gio replied while looping the lock back through the locker door. Gio slung his backpack over his shoulder and trotted behind Corey through the hall. Reaching the school exit, the two boys spotted Corey’s sister, Vikki. The three of them met a few years ago in some summer camp.
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Gio strayed from the hiking trail and had been sitting in a small clearing, overlooking the lake. He heard rustling somewhere behind him. As he turned around he noticed a young girl around his age, sitting a few feet up in a tree and sniffling. She had short blonde hair and bangs, tied back into a ponytail. She was wearing a below the knee brown skirt and sneakers, and the common orange camp shirt that was given to everyone the day before. Gio attempted to quietly leave, but the noise from him standing alerted the girl in the tree.
“Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t think anyone would be out here” the girl apologized in a soft voice between sniffles.
“No no! Don’t be sorry!”
The girl stared at him for a few seconds before asking.
“What are you doing out here? Isn’t everyone supposed to be back at base?”
“Well, yes, but it was just so crowded and-” Gio sighed “I- I don't know, I just… I just had to-”
“It's alright” the girl started gently. She began to climb down the tree, branches creaking beneath her shoes. “I get like that too. Sometimes I just need to get away from all the people and loudness.”
“Is that what you're doing out here?” Gio asked
“No, it's, uh” she fumbled over her words for a second “I had a fight with my brother, so I ran out here.”
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Gio thought fondly about the memory. He met Vikki first, that day in the woods. Later he met Corey, and eventually the twins stopped bickering long enough for the two of them to adopt Gio as their friend.
Snapping back to reality, Gio realized his friend was talking.
“-tta see this video, it's so cool. I bet we could totally do something like it.” Corey rambled.
Too tired from the day to question what Corey was talking about, he let him continue rambling as the three of them walked to the bus stop together.