1 Before the Start (1)

I get down beneath the tablecloth and look at the floor, searching for the fork that I accidentally dropped. And kicked, far enough for me to have to fully crouch under the table in order to get it. Ugh, I'm so embarrassed! I briefly wonder if I should regret succumbing to that apple pie, but immediately deny the outrageous thought. IT'S AN APPLE PIE! A single sentence is all the justification and explanation I need. I continue to silently curse my clumsiness in my mind.

I find the fork and reach out to it, with that thought being the last thought of my normal life before it ends and my story begins, in 3,2,1...BOOM!

My brain only manages to register the ear-deafening sound and heatwave from the blast for a brief second before the shock knocks me into something and the whole world turns black.

But first, let's start from before my story begins, which is earlier today, the last day of my normal life and the start of it all.

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I'm awake. And no, not opening my eyes like some kind of typical MC. I mean, seriously, do you actually open your eyes when you're awake? You do? Well, that's just not supposed to happen, and right about now is the time for me to officially start suspecting that an alien had taken over your brain. But then again, I don't think my brother's an alien... Oh well, I'll never know, and frankly, it doesn't bother me.

Anyways, I'm awake, and as always, loving my warm and perfect position tucked inside my blanket and not wanting to do anything, I start to drift off back to dreamland until an upbeat ringtone of the alarm in my phone brings me back to reality. It takes a few more seconds until I give in and open my eyes to search around and close the alarm. Afterwards, I return back to sleeping, of course.

Five minutes later is the second alarm, which spurs a similar scenario to repeat itself. The same happens 2 minutes after that, and 15 minutes after the first alarm I get up. Out of bed, into the cruel world which daily commits the grave sin of forcing me out of my little perfect heaven. I mean, couldn't school be in the afternoon or somethin'?

The thought brings me to my more complex theories, which consist of wanting to live in the night and sleep in the day. And not because I'm crazy about vampires (although I do love vampires.... hehe...), but because the night is when I feel really excited and very awake. Idk why.

By the way, if you're thinking about how lazy I am, well, I don't care, you're not supposed to be here anyways. I mean, I'm just a regular, ordinary 15-years-old girl living in the small country of Klaesmon which consists of one small island. Hey, although Klaesmon is small, the technology here is very developed and it's just like America but quiet, not so dramatic and safer, so don't look down on it.

I greet myself in the mirror (again, whatever, judge me for all I care) and proceed to the bathroom, completing my morning routine until I'm dressed and ready to head out to the school bus station at the top of the street. I eat an apple, stuff a couple of sandwiches and a banana into my backpack and hug my cousin John, my aunt, Helen, and my uncle, Jack, saying goodbye and heading outside.

The cool morning breeze lifts my spirit and I smile while running up the street. As usual, I wait a few minutes after arriving at the bus station until the bus gets there and get on with the rest of the kids. The school is close by, so we reach it in 5 minutes, which is a relief because I have a sensitive nose which sometimes doesn't... umm... get along well with the smells in the bus. Especially if the driver smokes.

I get off with the rest of the kids and walk through the gates, following the familiar way until I reach my classroom, 10th grade's first class, also known as the scientific class. Yep, you guessed it right, I'm a nerd, how very observant of you, I'm soooo impressed. Well I am a proud nerd, and a proud bookworm.

And bisexual, if you were wondering (goodbye narrow-minded homophobes that don't belong here :D). Well I don't make a big deal out of it anyways, not like I'm looking for love or anything like that. I mean, I'm fifteen, I'm not that bored yet, not horny, I haven't fallen in love (not that my friends aren't cute, but no) and it's not like we're in the 16th century and my only purpose of existence is marrying and giving birth.

Did I mention that I'm a proud feminist? No? Well, I am. And again, being a feminist doesn't mean I hate men, if that's what you thought. Being a feminist means believing in the equality of men and women, as intelligent living beings who can think, understand, discuss and feel.

So yeah, let's take a break from this exhausting (that is, for you) self-introduction the author forced me to make. Then again, although I'm a bit grumpy about it, I'm not really complaining. I mean, authors are the source of books and novels and mangas, basically almost all of the most wonderful things in the world. What would a novel-loving bookworm like me do without them?! So I agreed to cooperate. And who knows? Maybe you readers are just as weird as this novel's author -_-.

[A/N: Sorry about that Ashly, but I just think this might be fun >w<... Maybe my taste is weird *sulky pout*.... Oh well, no use thinking about it. You can just leave a comment! Yeah! That way I'll know! :D]

...I kinda wonder if this author's the dumb type.

[A/N: Hey! .....well...]

I sigh and open the door to my classroom, getting morning greetings, one of which is a hug, from my five friends. I love hugs! :D.

And yeah, I know, impressive right? A half-introverted person like me having five friends is indeed quite the feat. Actually, throughout elementary school I only had one close friend, but she moved away and since then we only occasionally text each other, it's fun talking sometimes. When I got to middle school, there were more kids from farther towns, so in my nerdy class we recognized each other as a group of fellow bookworms and became friends.

I mean, my whole class is filled with nice kids. Really, none of all the big differences between popular and unpopular kids nonsense you see in a common, cliché American teen tv series. I'm just closer to my group of friends, that's all.

We chat for a bit, until the teacher, who's always late, comes in. It's a biology lesson, so I listen happily when the teacher explains the new material we're learning. When the questions start, I get bored since I understand everything.

Well, I guess that I should continue with the stupid self-introduction then. The author really writes with too many details and too much nonsense, if you ask me. But you're the judges. And I'm curious about your opinions too.

([A/N: Please put a 'When a character in a book is trashing you and you're the godly author-sama of that book' meme here for me])

So, let me officially introduce myself. My name is Ashly Rosenwoods, and I'm 15-years-old. I live in a small town in the country of Klaesmon which consists of a small island near America. I like singing, rock climbing, cats, reading books, novels and mangas (bl and gl mangas very much included), watching anime, eating, sleeping, sweets, chemistry and biology. I don't like programming, seafood, eggplants, mushrooms, being forced to do something and I hate geometry. I hate geometry very much.

If you asked my friends to describe me with two words I have absolutely no doubt that they would say daydreaming and disconnected. After that you can say I'm cute and often smiling. If you know me then you'd know that behind the goody-two-shoes exists a rebellious, excited side which is my core. Other than that, I'm cynical at times.

My best points are that although I fantasize about magic and stuff I'm very realistic in everything I do, I'm positive, calm and creative, I know myself well, I only need to understand in order to learn, I'm open to learning and listening to opinions and when I get excited about something I will do my absolute best to do it.

My worst points are that I'm terrible in long-term, slow-and-steady-improvement types of things, my self-discipline is bad with no framework (like school) because I tend to follow my desires (being lazy and reading) and when things get a bit uncomfortable I usually just avoid them completely.

And when I say completely, I mean like shutting my phone to not have to answer a message or a phone call, for days. After all, I only need my computer to read novels and be content and happy. I'm a simple girl :D.

My last worst point is my poor communication skills:- for example, I once tried to tell my class that I learned about their various unique and awesome talents during the project we did together.

Guess how that went. It went- "I learned that you can do things".

Really, me? You put your awed and happy feelings and it became a snobby and insulting sentence? How did I even do that? And why do my classmates make me at least a thousand times more nervous than teachers and adults?

If magic existed in this world as we normally know it, I would be exploring and researching it as much as I can. Since it doesn't, I chose the closest thing as my future career- science! In particular, genetic engineering. And yes, I knew about it from before the covid-19 pandemic.

Oh, if you're wondering, it's 2024 now, 1 year after the complete return to normal. Well, as normal as things could be.... Some of the bigger, more hidden crime organizations that started to become restless even before the corona have become quite loose and daring, taking advantage of the chaos and confusion to execute their plans, wreaking havoc on the world. It's horrible, to say the least.

Yep, my world has become pretty fuc#*d up.

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