SZNS SERIES 1: Summer Read online

  SZNS SERIES:

  SUMMER

  MARIAWRITES

  For my dad. My first supporter. My rock. My anchor.

  My life.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Meet Chloe and Caroline

  Oh! What About Him?

  We’re Having a Spring Wedding

  The Beautiful People

  Bound to You

  Makeup, Make Out

  May the Ground Swallow Me

  Keeping Distance

  Do I Look Like I’m Joking?

  Let the Magic Begin

  Underneath the Moonlight

  I’ve Got a Dream

  Oh, Paris!

  Rain Doesn’t Last Forever

  Selena or Selene? Or Maybe Both?

  Always

  Forever

  Don’t Provoke the Witch

  Worlds Apart

  New Leaf

  Thanksgiving

  I Gotta Get Out of Here

  Look Who’s Back

  So, It Was You?

  Underneath the Spotlight

  He’s MIA. Again!

  Truth be Told

  Feeling Nostalgic

  New Chapter Begins

  Epilogue

  PROLOGUE

  You gave light to my dark world.

  Just the right amount of light to hide the chaos.

  Chaos that makes up the world.

  You make me see things little by little.

  So little that it's almost only you that I can see.

  Only you that I can feel.

  You shine upon me up in the sky.

  Together with your stars.

  You guard me when it's dark.

  You give light when I lose hope.

  You're always there for me.

  You're all I have with me.

  We're million miles away.

  But you still manage to make me smile.

  Smile that reach my eyes.

  All these is because of you my moonlight.

  This is the fifth letter that she will give him and yet he never showed his self. She is already losing hope that he will really notice her. It has been a month but they are still not having any progress. Maybe it's better that way, just focus on your upcoming play this week. I swear if I see him again, I will not be swoon by his baritone voice or even his ocean eyes. I will not play nice with him anymore. That's a promise.

  Chloe is comfortably sitting on a bench in Heighfield University Park while listening to the music blasting through her ears. Next week, the university will showcase its best musical play for this year.

  "I have to focus on that more since I will be the one directing it." she said to herself with a nervous sigh. No, she's Chloe effing King, she must never feel nervous. She was born to hit the stage and that is what she will prove next week.

  Yes, that's it, Chloe, focus on more important things than dwelling on some douche-b's who never gave a damn about you! Chloe was about to stand up from her seat when someone threw a crumpled paper on from her back.

  Tuesday. Auditorium. 3pm

  That is everything that is written on the paper. That's weird, no one was near the bench where she was sitting, but there was a tree a meter behind the bench.

  Without thinking twice, she immediately ran the distance between her and the tree and search for anyone suspicious. No one was there as well. She also checked the wall behind the tree and there he is, the culprit, a douche-b running for his dear life. I wonder who he is. She never got the chance to see the idiot's face because he already crossed the street and she has no plans on sacrificing her outfit just to climb the wall and follow him.

  "Hey, Ginger" a guy from behind her said.

  That husky baritone voice is very familiar. Of course, how can Chloe forget that voice, she used to admire that voice during the audition months ago.

  She remembered having her mouth opened the entire time he's singing. And how dare he call me ginger? It is so irritating, yes, she has a very gorgeous red hair but for him to call her ginger, that is so irritating. It makes her blood boil.

  She calmed herself and prepared herself to face the douche-b with a sweet smile on her face. Bitch, didn't you just tell yourself not to him a few minutes ago? With one swift move, she turned around with her iconic flirtatious hair flip and smiled.

  "Hey, Jesse."

  CHAPTER 1:

  Meet Chloe and Caroline

  2014

  Heighfield University. An institution made for the most talented and most artistic students in town. Today we celebrate the university's foundation week inclined with its school year opening. Banners are everywhere as well as club booths which each represents the artistic clubs this university has to offer.

  And at the end of the line stands HFThespians' booth. Heighfield universities best actors and actresses group together to form a tight-knitted organization.

  "I cannot believe only 5 people came to our booth; we have to gather at least 30 people for the play on December." Chloe said in a worried tone.

  Chloe is a senior student in the university, but unlike other students she never graduated, her reason, she wants to stay in HFThespians for as long as she wants. Chloe stands 5'3 in height. Pale skin, natural red hair, and natural rosy complexion. She is one of the well-known actresses in the university because of her iconic performances since her freshman year.

  "Relax, Chloe. By the end of lunch, I assure you we are going to get all the people that we want. And besides, it's just 8 in the morning, we just put up this booth half an hour ago. And we have a week to display this booth. Just chill, we are going to held the auditions successfully. Just like last year." Caroline told her.

  Caroline Reed, Chloe's best friend and assistant director, has been her companion since her first year in the university. They both came from the school during their elementary days and they also auditioned at the same time for HFThespians.

  Caroline in a tall gal, with a pretty long blonde hair, and like Chloe, she is a bit pale.

  Both of them are partners in crime if people are going to ask. Caroline and Chloe are inseparable. Chloe without Caroline is blunt and vice versa.

  A few hours had passed and no one came to their booth. Now both Chloe and Caroline are losing hope. They never experience such problem for the past three years. If they don't have the right number of people for this year, they will be forced not to push their play.

  Chloe is now hyperventilating because of nervousness when Caroline rubbed her back to calm her down.

  "Calm down Chloe, it's already past lunch, let's just go back to our dorm and come up with a strategy to persuade people, we have four more days to gather people, okay?"

  She sighed hearing Caroline's words because she was right, nothing will happen if I'll just sulk. I have to be smart in coming up with my plans, and I have to be laser-focus to execute this play well.

  Chloe gathered herself together and head to her dorm. Caroline and her are staying on-campus to avoid any hassles, they are sharing the same dorm room and quite benefited them with the arrangement. As they entered their room, Caroline immediately turned on her laptop and make something while she just laid on the bed, thinking of ways on they should do tomorrow. Today really exhaust her. She was filled with stress and frustration. She has to make this year's play a success. She doesn't know what to do if their organization failed to have their play this year. She was a legacy to held high. She cannot fail her mother.

  Her mother, Katherine King, was HFThespian's best director during the 80's. Her mother insisted her to join the organization and she cannot say no because she's the only child, she must do everything her mom says. And besides, she's gifted when it comes to performing. Thanks to her parents, she i
nherited her acting skills from her mom, and her singing and dancing skills from her father.

  Yep, she's a complete package.

  Just as she was about to talk about tomorrow's strategy, Caroline speaks as well in a voice she never hears unless she's stressed.

  "We should print flyers to disseminate tomorrow. In that way, they can find us if their interested in joining us. I'll do the layout and I want you to go to the library to print a hundred copies. Understood?" Caroline said with her eyes wide open.

  She just nodded without saying a word. She knows Caroline will just burst into emotion if she says a word. Caroline being Caroline is so bossy when she's stressed. Whether she admit it or not, Chloe knows that her friend is stressed as well, she is just good in hiding it. That is her dilemma with Caroline all these years, even if they're friends for years now, it is very hard to read her emotion because she is really good in hiding it.

  The thought made her sigh and got up from her bed to sit beside Caroline. She was busy doing the flyers layout when Chloe gave her a hug. She just felt like hugging her friend, she knows that she has been a burden to her today that she hasn't even noticed her being stressed as well.

  She just stayed hugging her while Caroline is busy on her laptop. A couple of minutes later, Chloe talked.

  "Just give me everything I need to do today for the booth, I'll do it. I will also go back to the grounds later when the sun sets, I will decorate the booth as well to make it more appealing. I promise, we are going to be successful this year."

  Caroline just handed her a flash drive and without saying a word, she stood put and laid on her bed. She must be really stressed today. Thanks to me who has been a real bitch.

  She pushed herself to work hard tonight to make everything perfect by tomorrow. Everything must be according to her plans. First, print the flyers and decorate the booth. Two, tomorrow morning, we must be at the grounds at exactly 8 AM to make everything in place. By the end of the day, we must have the right number of people we needed.

  That's it, she must take this seriously, because aside from failing to executive the play, she will also fail her parents and she doesn't want that.

  With everything almost done, Chloe placed the last piece of décor on top of the booth and let out a sigh of relief. Finally, she finished decorating their booth. She looked at her phone for the time and it's already past 10 pm. She has to go back to her dorm to finish the script for the play. She entered her dorm building and started climbing up the stairs to her room.

  Chloe has so much stuff to do before the week ends. And by next week, they have to held the auditions. But before that, she has to finish the audition pieces she wants the people to do. And she only has less than a week to accomplish everything.

  You can do that, Chloe. You're Chloe King. You are born strong. You can handle anything.

  Finally, she reached her room but when she tried twisting the door knob, it's locked. Did she really lock me out of the room? That bitch! She scrambled through her purse to look for the keys. When she finally found it she quickly inserted it to the knob, and juts as she's about to enter the room, she heard noises that her virgin ears couldn't handle. What the heck!?

  Are they...? NO DON'T GO THERE CHLOE!?

  She quickly skedaddled away from their room and when to June's, her cousin, room. She knocked as many times as she can because she can still hear the moaning from her dorm room. I can't believe she really did that in our room. I am so gonna kill her tomorrow. Finally, after thousands of knockings, the door finally opened.

  "What the --" before June finished her sentence, Chloe already barged in her cousin's room and quickly laid on her bed. June already knows the drill. If something magical is happening inside her room between Caroline and her girlfriend, she will spend the week on her cousin's room.

  She is not against the relationship of the two but, it grosses her out to think that they are doing some weird stuff inside the room where she sleeps.

  She needs to rest because she will be facing a very stressful day tomorrow. Good thing after a couple of minutes, Chloe finally drifted to sleep.

  It is indeed a tiring day.

  CHAPTER 2:

  Oh! What About Him?

  7: 30 AM

  Chloe pounded her hands on the alarm clock and got up from the bed, she immediately went to the bathroom to get ready. Today is going to be another exhausting day, she's sure of it. She quickly took a bath, shampooed her hair and soaped her body. After doing that, she went out of the bathroom, just as she's about to grab some clothes to wear, she realized that is not in her room. And the towel she's using is not hers.

  I am so gonna kill Caroline because of this.

  The door popped open and June entered with clothes and a pair of shoes in hand that she believed were hers. Life saver. She even brought my make-up pouch. I really have the best cousin. Ever.

  "Here, clothes for you. Caroline is still sleeping, but I picked the door lock. And who ever she was with last night is not there anymore." June passed her what she got from her room. It was a complete supply, from her clothes to her hygiene kit. She even got her script folder!

  Chloe went to the bathroom to put on her clothes and fixed her hair. She's doing it in a hurry because she is already 10 minutes late. She can already hear the commotion happening on the university grounds. She took a peek on the window, and she's right, people are already scattered on the grounds looking for clubs to join. She checked on their booth and saw a couple of people standing there.

  Oh my god! Caroline is not yet there.

  She quickly finished fixing herself and head out of the bathroom, she saw her cousin jotting some notes on her pad while listening to music, probably, with her headphones. She rushed to June's seat, removed her headphones and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Thanks for the clothes."

  From that she jugged the distance from her dorm to the grounds on her dress and heels. It is a five-minute run to get to their booth and when she finally got there, Caroline was already their talking to people and giving out flyers.

  She's fast.

  "Hey Caroline" Chloe greeted while catching her breath. That was an exhausting run.

  Caroline faced her with a shocked on her face and gave her a quick tight hug. "Oh my god, Chloe where have you been last night? I was waiting for you the whole night. You missed the movie, I ordered us pizza but you never came back to our room. Where did you go last night?"

  Wait what? Movie? Pizza?

  "I went to June's room; I slept their because I heard moaning from our room and I immediately whooshed away from it because my ears cannot take the sounds. Why is your girlfriend our room anyway?"

  Caroline's faced became confused. "What girlfriend? Britany is not in our room last night, and correction, we're done. And the moaning you hear, it's from the movie." she said half-whispering, half-shouting.

  And then she noticed that people around them are watching them bickering. That was embarrassing, but at least she got everybody's attention. She quickly stepped on the makeshift platform she borrowed from the library last night.

  "Everybody! Come here to our booth and check out Heighfield University's pride and glory, the HFThespians. Here you can can't just enhance your acting skills but also have a spot on the limelight and be internationally famous."

  Okay well that was a joke, because no one from the alumni were internationally successful.

  Most of the alumni of the HFThespians became directors here and there, some became television actors, and the others, she doesn't want to talk about it. But still, none of them became internationally famous. But a girl can hope. Maybe someone from this year will be.

  People are coming to the booth and asking about the auditions. She and Caroline enthusiastically engaged with them and gave out flyers. This is so heartwarming. She can feel her heart popping out of her ribcage because of so much joy.

  She cannot imagine that people are coming to their booth asking for the auditions. Maybe yesterday was just a bad d
ay after all. She took a glance at Caroline who are still talking to some people. As the minutes passed by, more and more people are coming to their booth. All asking how to join the organization.

  People these days really just want to be famous. Or maybe some of them are really talented.

  After two hours, the number of people surrounding their place finally thinned out. So far, they already have 30 plus people on their list ready to audition. And that was great, she was grateful that she stopped sulking last night and started doing something useful. Caroline rushed through the library to print more flyers while Chloe stand on the platform to call more people.

  "Did you know that most of the people on the list are girls, we also need guys for the play Chloe. Guys who can sing, dance, act, and handsome. To make it more appealing to the audience." Caroline said, she didn't notice that her friend got back from the library.

  Thinking about what Caroline said, she quickly looked around hoping that she sees someone fit for the group their making. Then on her left, she saw a man wearing a navy-blue sweater, looking around the booths that surrounds him. He stands 6'3 in height maybe, dark brown hair, tan skin. He's perfect! He can audition for the group. "Oh! What about him? He's handsome, very appealing, he can be an actor, I guess." she told Caroline while pointing at the guy she saw.