Rest of Your Life Chapter 1: Impact
PROLOGUE
Matt was never one of the most popular kids in school, but he always managed to keep himself away from the torment of the gauntlet of bullies and assholes roaming the halls. It was probably that most people didn't want to mess with the muscular 5 foot 11 inch tall lion because of his intimidating black mane, but he liked to think it was his voice. Most lions pride themselves on their roars and Matt's was quite impressive, despite the fact that few had ever heard it. Matt was not a very talkative person for the most part, but he loved to talk and joke with his friends, whose numbers were not that great. Matt had never been an incredibly social guy, but the friends that he did have were good; ones he knew he could trust.
Social interactions were not Matt's strong suit. He was outgoing enough when talking to strangers, he knew when to smile, when to crack a joke, when to make some casual small talk, but he could never bring himself to get very close to the strangers; often ending a conversation that seemed to be going quite well with an awkward "Hey, I have to go now" and never seeing them again, not even asking for a phone number. He didn't quite mind the fact that he didn't make many new friends, he liked to know he could trust those that were close to him; but he was very bothered by the fact that it severely hindered his chances with starting a relationship with girls--boys too, for that matter. He only had one girlfriend in his 17 years and that was more lust than love, which inevitably ended in disaster and (despite all the passion) a distinct lack in the loss of his virginity. After a while, he was ready to give having a relationship with someone another try, but couldn't make himself ever ask anyone out. This is why he was so shocked when he met Beth.
CHAPTER ONE: IMPACT
It was a cold day in December as Matt parked his jet-black 2006 manual Ford Mustang in his school's parking lot. He looked down at the black beauty as he walked around to the trunk to pick up his backpack. It was totally covered in ice.
"Sorry for leaving you out last night, Betty." He said as he popped the trunk, hearing its frozen hydraulic hinges crack as he lifted it. He slipped on his backpack and looked to the far away school.
"Its cold....... fuck, this is gonna be a long walk."
He barely even started his first step when a blue Nissan Murano screeched into the parking space in front of him, the back door ramming into his arm in the process. The impact knocked him back onto his car.
"GOD DAMNIT, MAN, WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR-" he stopped mid sentence as he turned around and saw a beautiful Cocker Spaniel jump out of the car.
"Oh my GOD! I'm so sorry, are you okay?" Matt was taken aback by her beauty, not to mention the sweet rack that was popping out at him despite the heavy Pink Floyd sweatshirt the girl was wearing.
"Uhhhh......well....err.....yea....w-wait, who are you?" He asked, still stumbling to regain his composure after being hit by the sports utility vehicle.
"Oh thank God, I was so worried I might have hurt you. I'm Beth. Sorry I'm in such a rush, I'm running late today."
"Oh, ok...wait...You're new here, aren't you?"
"How'd you know?"
"Zero period doesn't start for twenty-four minutes."
"What?! I could have sworn... well shit."
"Its fine... well maybe I can help you out? You have your schedule?"
"Yea, its right here." Said Beth as she opened the back door of her car to get out her backpack.
"Shit, just think I could have spent 15 more minutes in the shower this morning."
"Well being early isn't all that bad, I like to get here early and make sure I have all my stuff ready. I have to walk around the whole dang school to get to my locker and get my stuff for the first half of the day." Matt said as he gestured for them to start walking towards the school.
"So you're always here this early?"
"Well yea, most nights I take my stick bag home to practice my drums and so I can have all the stuff I need for my lessons, so I have to put that in my locker on the band hall when I get here. After that I have to go to my regular locker, which is around 300 meters away on the opposite side of the school, and get the stuff for my first few classes, then I have to go down to the first floor and walk to my zero period class. I find that getting here early gives me time to socialize along the way, plus it's a lot less stressful than doing all that in five minutes."
"Oh, a drummer, huh? That's cool; I've always wanted to drum. I play guitar."
Matt was surprised "No shit? I just got a guitar a couple months ago, you should come over some time and show me some stuff?"
'Woah.' He tought, 'Did I seriously just invite this girl to teach me guitar? At my house?' He normally couldn't even bring himself to ask a girl for her number, let alone invite her over! He found himself shocked at how naturally it came, there was something about this girl that seemed so....right. So normal. He was so focused on how easily he just said it that he completely missed what she was saying to him.
"Sorry, what was that?"
"Oh....well....n-nothing...." she stammered as she glanced away and blushed, "...well, here's my schedule for ya. We have any classes--hold up, this that a Dream Theater shirt under that jacket?"
Now Matt was incredibly impressed, almost no one had heard of his favorite band.
"Yea, why, you like them?"
"Are you KIDDING me?! John Petrucci is a GOD among furs! He's like, the epitome of musical and technical perfection in the guitar world!"
'Damn' Matt thought to himself, 'This girl is awesome!'
"Yea, Mike Portnoy is my biggest influence as a drummer. The whole group are pretty much the best at their respective instrument that you're gonna find. Scenes From a Memory was by far the best album of the last two decades in any genre... Let's see...alright, here's the general floor plan of the school, the first number of each room is the floor its on. You're first class is... D hall first floor. Woah...it looks like we have a few classes together. Let's see...we have the on-line course for zero, band third, english fourth, lunch after that, then physics for sixth. What do you play in the band?"
"Cello." She replied with an interestingly matter-of-fact tone.
"Wow, looks like we just doubled our string section."
"Haha, well its nice to know I'm not the only one, at least. I always hated going to competitions at my old school because EVERYONE would know when I messed up."
"Yea, our band is pretty big though, so the judges may have to strain to hear you anyway. Woah, how'd you manage to get into AP Art 4 in your Junior year?"
Beth giggled, "Oh, yea, I've always been pretty good at drawing. One of my teachers at my old school was really impressed with my portraits and sketches in general that he bumped me into the second-year art class back when I was a Freshman."
They kept on talking until they got to their first class of the day. Everything seemed so amazing about this girl. She was into great music, she was a great artist, she played video games, she was funny, very smart, and she even told dirty jokes! She was one of the best looking girls he had ever talked to; and she was humble about it.
The rest of the day passed by quickly. Matt and Beth seemed to get along better and better with every minute they spent together. The day had ended before they knew it. Both Matt and Beth got off of school an hour early since they had a zero period class. Matt's last class was right next to hers, so they walked out to their cars together.
"I'm so screwed on that physics homework, you guys are so far ahead of where we were at my last school." Beth said with a slightly more feminine tone to her voice than normal.
"Just hit me up on Skype tonight, my friends and I always get on to help each other out when we're having trouble."
"I can't, they're still setting up the internet connection at my house."
"Well damn... You know the problems aren't that long, maybe you could just come over to my place and work on it with me for a while."
'Shit' he thought, 'I just did it again! What's going on?'
"Hmmm...I don't think my parents should mind, they're probably too busy unpacking everything to run me through the normal interrogation techniques, anyway."
"Just tell them we're having sex and doing drugs, they'll understand." Matt noticed that her ears perked up and the corner of her muzzle turned up a little when he said "sex." He knew he should have seen that as a sign that he might have a chance with her, but there was something about her that stopped him from being able to think about them doing that---at least for now, it seemed.
Beth chuckled as she opened her phone to read the text from her parents.
"They said its fine but they wanna know where you live."
"Tell them I live in one of the neighborhoods next to the school."
There was a pause as Beth texted her parents.
"They say its fine. Lets go!" Beth followed him on the quick route to his home. They were almost home when Matt noticed that she pulled into a driveway about four houses too early. "What the hell is she doing?" He parked in front of his house and got out of his car just in time to hear Beth say "Love you mom, see you soon!" as she walked towards him.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Matt couldn't believe his luck!
"Okay, this it too cool." She said, muttering something else under her breath.
"What was that?"
"Oh, nothing. Let's go inside! I'm really excited to see what your room looks like!"
The moving truck in front of Beth?s house released its brakes as Matt closed the front door to his house and flipped the dead bolt.
And so began the long adventure that Matt would remember for the rest of his life...in more ways than one.
Thanks for reading! I realize that it seemed like kind of a slow chapter and thats partially due to the fact that i wrote it over a few nights right before i went to bed, but also because im just trying to give myself somewhere solid to start from and leave all my options open so i can better develop the story when i have a little time to actually think about it.
Any comments would be greatly appreciated, mainly in the form of constructive criticism** : No trolls. :P**