☆~ L - A 【Short Story】~「Ongoing!」

☆~ L - A

Leo, a 19 year old boy who doesn't understand emotions studies in a design school, hoping to become a game designer in the future. He meets Artemis, an 18 year old girl who studies in the same school.

In the school he deals with understanding emotions, but there are things that conflict with it. He would need help understanding them for his own safety, and the safety of others.

Spoiler: A little background information about the story

This story represents my early childhood, when I was 12, where I "matured" in a house, with my ever loving grandmother, playing games, and doing nothing but games. It is true, I never understood emotions until I learnt what they were when I felt them. Games doesn't expose me to emotions. I had help through school, life experiences and ever supporting friends.

0.5 《Prologue》=>

Spoiler

You are curious to find out who the best player of your game was, so you researched it. Many names popped up, some being KennyS, others being LeP. You decide to look more into LeP because he isn't a very known player worldwide, but he is very famous on the internet because of an unknown and unclear reason. You haven't heard his name once too which made you even more curious. A website dedicated to him was found and you look at his About Me Page.

"I am alone in the room. I like being alone. Being alone calms me, because I can focus only on escaping reality. I've been doing this for a very long time, ever since I was little. I know no emotions, I have no clue who famous people are, I don't know anything concerning Social Media, and being sociable.

"My name is Leo. Leo Pharaogh. Yes, it is spelt like that. I'm an 19 year old male who has been playing video games, and stayed away from people since I was 5 years old. I like video games, they help me escape reality. They relieve my stress and problems, and entertains me too. I wasn't really sociable, I'm an anti-social. I didn't like talking to others until I reached 13 where I was involved in a famous gaming group in the school. There we discussed gaming and whatnot. Of course we did, it's a gaming group.

"I always keep the so-called emotions in myself every time. I hate talking about it. It makes me feel strange, powerless. I don't like that.

"Then it all changed when I started Secondary School. Especially on my last year."

You began to wonder, why was he so famous? Why is he like this? And is he truly a good gamer? You think back, remembering the name 'Leo Pharaogh'...

《Chapter 1》 =>>

Spoiler

"Hey, Leo. Will you help me out," someone asked. His name was James Ramirez. He was Leo's friend since he started talking to people. He's a pretty chill guy to be honest. Also a great gamer. "Huh? What is it," Leo said in reply. "I don't understand this question," he says while pointing at the equation with a pen. Leo starts explaining to James how to solve the equation.

Leo Pharaogh is a 19 year old boy who studies at Spencer's Design School. He has emo-like hair which nearly covers half his face and usually wears all black or gray and he is fairly fit. Leo is a really smart kid. He's only really anti-social and most of the time he keeps to himself, even when stressed or feels any emotion.

His friend, James Ramirez, is a 19 year old boy who also studies in Spencer's Design School. He's an above average 5'9" tall Filipino boy, tanned and fit, and wears a red hoodie with a black shirt and navy blue jeans. He is Leo's childhood friend ever since Leo played his first game, since his first game was Tekken Tag Tournament, against James. They both grew up playing games, but James understood emotions since he was 13, where he had his first crush.

The final bell goes. School's done for the week.

"Thanks for helping me, Leo," says James. Leo simply nods and waves at him while packing his bag and readies to go home.

He gets these random thoughts. Most of them are about people he cares about. He likes helping people out, so much that he sometimes doesn't help himself. He thinks of his friends. Then parents and family. Then this one dream he keeps getting. He really likes the dream, because it makes him feel happy. It makes him feel useful somehow. "I wish I get that dream again," he thinks to himself.

In the dream is a girl. She always comes by, greets Leo with a warm and cheerful "Halluu!" and they both go out adventuring the dream world. Usually they enjoy themselves, have laughs and giggles. He always feels sad when waking up from the dream though.

Leo walks home, and was stunned. He thought the girl he sees was only in a dream, but she turned out to be a real person! He stares at her, feeling a deep emotion in his chest, what is this feeling? I feel weird, thought Leo. The girl crosses to the sidewalk he was in and greets him with a "Good Morning" like a courteous passerby. He couldn't help but smiled and greets her back. She giggles.

He doesn't understand emotions. He feels them but he keeps them in himself because he doesn't know how to express them towards another human being. It's probably the result of escaping reality through gaming.

"Would you like to walk with me," the girl asks, and almost immediately he responded with a yes. "My name is Artemis Close. Nice to meet you!" she says. "Nice to meet you too. My name is Leo Pharaogh." They both walk to the bus stop. "So, you go to that school too huh," Artemis asks him. "Ah, yes I do. Where do you study," he says in reply. "I study there too, but I only have classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. How about you?" "Ah, same here."

They both study at Spencer's Design School, a very well known school in their region. The school is known for having very high quality equipment and very intelligent and creative design students, varying from Architecture to Computer Graphics design. Knowing Leo, he's obviously a Computer Graphics design student

"Which course are you taking in the school," he asks her while looking for his bus ticket. "Ahh, I take Computer Graphics. How about you," she asks. He says the same thing. "Haha, I never see you around the campus though," Artemis while she checks her watch. They both began talking about their courses, with Artemis talking most of the time. The bus came and they both sat together, continuing off their conversation until the bus stops at Artemis's stop. "Well then, I'll be heading off here. It was really nice meeting you, Leo! I'll try to see you next week!" The door closes.

Leo locks himself in the room as usual. "I thought I was only dreaming of meeting her. She turned out to be real," thought Leo. He thinks back on what happened earlier and wonders what he felt when he first saw her. "It was a sudden oompf on my chest." He feels his chest, feeling his heartbeat beating faster that usual. "I don't understand this. It feels like...I was injected by an adrenalin boost."

He begins to play his video games after thinking hard about it, which continues on for two days, with proper sleep and diet.

The next morning, he feels really eager to go to school for once. He quickly packs his bag, took a shower, ate his breakfast and left for the bus stop. For once he was awake really early. It was probably the meeting with Artemis on Friday. He remembers where she went off the bus, and gets off there and waits for her. He listens to instrumental music while waiting, and reads blogs about games, and ratings of new games.

Artemis comes to the station 10 minutes after Leo got off the bus. "Oh, Halluu! Good morning Leo!" Artemis greets him cheerfully, almost as if they were brother and sister. "Ah, good morning Artemis," Leo said. His chest felt the same 'oomph' feeling when he saw her cheerfully smiling.

Oh where are the manners of this narrator. Artemis Close is an 18 year old girl who studies in the same school as Leo. She wears a leather jacket most of the time, and slim fit jeans. She has mid-length light blue dyed hair, sometimes tied in a Ponytail with her white ribbon, sometimes in a bun with a fancy looking stick piercing through the middle of the bun. Today her hair's in a bun with a fancy stick. She's a very cheerful girl, and really likes making friends, and doing well in school to become a successful Designer. She is the most well known, and the girl with the most guys who has a crush on in the school.

"Hey, you look like something really great happened to you. Your smile is really wide," she says to him. His chest feels another 'oomph' as she leans on him slowly. "Ahh? It's nothing really," replied Leo. The 'oomph feeling strengthens. What is this feeling in my chest, Leo thought to himself. "Mmm, are you sure it's nothing, Leo?" His heart beats faster. What's up with my heartbeat? It's so fast. And that oomph feeling in my chest is so strong. What is this feeling?

"Anyway, I had this really nice dream last night. I was lying down on the plains, stargazing with this mystery guy beside me. He's a lot like you, 'ya know," she says as she leans on him lightly, and once more Leo's heartbeat goes faster. "It was a really calming dream. It relieves the stress I have at school." Leo tries to speak, "Oh, that sounds great." He doesn't know what else to say other than that. He's lost for words, he hasn't been interacting with anyone much, let alone someone with the opposite gender. "You sure you're fine, Leo? You seem like you're seen a stunning girl outside the window, and you were at a loss for words." He says at an instant, "Ah, no no." She frowns a bit and sits back.

Does Leo ever talk to her like both of them can go on for days without having a really big pause in between?

The bus comes to their school's stop. "Hey, we're here, Leo," Artemis gently bumps him, since he was focused on looking outside. "Oh, here we are." He grabs his bag, and her bag too, while she was looking for her ticket. "Ah, thanks Leo!" They walk together in the campus, Artemis being cheerful as always and Leo being...well...Leo. He sees many guys looking at him, shocked, because he was the first guy who walks together with her. He didn't understand why they were looking at them though. He thought it was something in his face.

"Aaaand here's my locker! I'll see you soon, Leo!" Artemis cheerfully says to him as she grabs her things. Leo casually bids farewell. Artemis looks as if she was rejected by the perfect person when he left, but still remained cheerful a moment later when her friends arrive.

Leo's locker is at the corner, his favourite spot. He like the tight spaces, where you can squeeze yourself in easily. He opens it, and out comes a massive mountain of loose sheets, books and notes. The only clean and organised part of his locker was the bottom, where his Alienware Laptop and Razer Kraken is kept, along with other gaming equipment. He grabs the laptop, headset, mouse and mousepad along with an A4 sketchbook with all his drawings and designs are located. They're mostly drawings of games, game characters and game ideas though.

Behind him comes one of the school's popular kids. He was one of the people looking at him when he was walking with Artemis to school. He taps at his shoulder and drops his books on the ground. "Just so you know, Artemis will never like you. We've already planned out our engagement," says the bully.

His name is Rafael Gregorio, 19 and muscular. He is one of the biggest bullies in the school and has a massive crush on Artemis, and keeps trying even after she already said 'no' last year. He is at the same class as Leo, and always picks on the smartest Designers in his class because he is also one of the lowest scoring students at the school. He wants to inflict fear and hysteria on the smart kids so that they would eventually lose it and drop out, causing his rank to go higher.

Leo didn't really care what he said. He did feel another 'oomph' in his chest though, but this time it also went to his brain. He felt afraid and he didn't realise it. He just picked up his books as Rafael went away.

Artemis came soon after. "Oh my goodness, let me help you out," she offers help to Leo, and picks up his books. "Are you alright Leo?" He didn't know how to respond. He doesn't know how to express what he felt back then. "Yeah, I'm good," he says in reply. "Who did this to you," she asks. "Rafael came here and slapped my books. I have no clue why to be honest." She felt concerned for him. She was worried of what would happen to him if Rafael keeps this up. "Don't worry, I'll talk to him," she says as she organised his books back in his locker. "If anything like this happens again, you can tell me okay," she says to him in a very caring tone, and Leo nods back as she catches up to Rafael.

Artemis expects another cheesy line from Rafael. She's already sick of hearing them, she tries not to listen to him. "Raf," she starts. "Hey babe, you look dang fine today," he replies while attempting to grab her by her sides, but she moves back to avoid it. "You slapped the books out of Leo's Locker. Why?" He laughs. "He's a loser, Artemis. Why do you hang out with him when you can hang out with me," he mocks Leo. "I recall rejecting you last year, because of this same reason." Rafael was angered now. He didn't want to hear this again, and he slaps her. "You do not remind me of that. I won't take it-" he was cut off as Leo comes in to punch him in the face, and he falls to the ground. Leo then helps Artemis up, gently holding her and supporting her. "You do not hit a kind lady such as her," he says to the fallen Rafael. "You alright, Artemis?" She felt the same 'oomph' in her chest when he asked. "Ah, y-yeah. I'm fine now, thanks Leo," she says while hugging him, making Rafael more jealous of Leo.

Rafael was really surprised when he was punched by Leo, because Leo wasn't the guy who looks like he can hit hard.

The fallen bully stands back up and tries to punch Leo back, but somehow Leo felt like a Punch was coming at his back, and involuntarily parried and retaliated. "That's sneaky, pulling off a sneak attack," he said while readying himself. Apparently, Leo knows how to defend himself and his peers. Artemis was standing behind him, holding her cheek where Rafael slapped her.

The fight began, with Rafael throwing many punches, while Leo dodges and parries them, strikes back when he knew his opponent can't block it. As soon as Rafael drops to the ground, he stops and apologised, both to him and Artemis for causing harm to others.

"Oh it's okay, really," she says in reply. "But thanks again for helping me out back there. It makes me feel like you care a lot for me." Both of them felt that same 'oomph' again. "Hey, Leo. I have a question." Both their hearts beat faster. "Do you like me?" "Yes, I like you a lot as a friend." "No, not like that. I meant do you love me?" He was speechless. He says something, but it was almost inaudible, "Yes, I do." She heard it and she reaches for his face.

《Chapter 2》 =>>

Spoiler

Love was new to Leo, and he quickly knew what it was on that day. He felt it, when he saw her being treated badly by Rafael, he felt in in him. He felt fear, he felt love, he felt happiness afterwards, when he feels that she was safe. It was his first time doing things like this, and his first time understanding emotions.

As she reaches for his face, they kiss. "I felt it when I first saw you on Friday. It was a sudden 'oomph' in my chest," he says to her. She was really happy to have heard it. "I've actually had my eye on you when you first came here, Leo." She says as she leans on him. The bell goes for their first period in class. "Ahh, school's started. I'll see you later, Leo! Take care," she cheerfully says to him and gave him a farewell kiss. He picks his supplies up and went straight to class.

Now, although this was a design school, you are also allowed to take classes other than a design subject. Leo's first class for the day is Math. He was one of the three people in his class who has had straight A+ since the start of the term, which was a month ago. James was also one of these people. He sat beside Leo in the class as the teacher starts her lesson.

They studied probability even further, the teacher gave them work to be done and both James and Leo helped each other out when they were stuck, unlike other students who ask the teacher for help. They were possibly the smartest students in the class. James starts a short conversation with Leo, "I heard how you beat Raf up. Is that true?" Leo's expression was fairly serious, "no, I was merely protecting myself and Artemis." James was surprised when he heard it, "Artemis? Isn't she that really cute and cheerful girl?" Leo's heart felt the 'oomph' when he heard her name. "Yeah, she is. He slapped her, and I just went in to protect her." James felt proud, " that's really sweet of you. I never knew you can defend yourself like Bruce Lee though. I mean, you were up against one of the biggest bully in the campus."

The conversation went on, and as soon as the bell went, they bid farewell and left for their lockers. Leo was thinking about Artemis as he walks to his locker. He sees her waiting with her packed lunch in her hand, looking at it like it was some unusual thing. "Hi Artemis," he says. This was the first time he said hello to anyone first. "Ahh, hi Leo!" she said cheerfully as usual. "How was your class," she asked him as he opens his locker. "It was alright. Me and my friend finished the work together. How about you?" Artemis looked at her lunch. "It was good. We cooked sushi, finally. I've been waiting for the day they taught us," she said with a laugh. "Would you like some?" she offers him the freshly made sushi. Leo accepts, takes one and eats it. "Is it good?" Leo was stunned. She can cook so well, he thought to himself. "Yeah, it's really good!" Artemis felt overjoyed when he complimented her, "Thanks! I put a lot of effort into making them," she says.

They both had Artemis's sushi for lunch since she made quite a lot. Mostly because she wanted to share it with him. They sit on the same spot they sat when they left the fight scene. "I've been having recurring dreams since last month," Leo starts, "where a girl who looks like you and acts like you knocks on my door and greets me, and asks me to go on an adventure." Artemis leans on him, "that's funny, because my dream last night where I heard a knock on my door, and the guy asked me to go stargazing with him."

Leo has had these recurring dreams since last month, remember.

"Haha, that sounds exactly like mine except the roles swapped," Leo says to her, smiling. He felt really happy when she was with him. It was the feeling he felt in his dreams. For the first time in his life he is talking actively, and talking to the opposite gender. It was still a new thing for him and he feels that he's getting better at interacting with others already.

"Y'know Leo," Artemis lies on his lap, "I never thought you would be a loving and caring guy. I first thought you were just a cute anti-social emo." Leo pets her hair, "I am. I'm getting better at talking to people, thanks to you. You're a very helpful person in my life, Artemis." She smiled at him. She reached for his face and kisses him. Both their hearts beat faster once more. "Thanks, Leo. If there's ever anything you don't understand, you can always ask me." The alarm Artemis set goes off and she stood up, with Leo helping her up gently. "Alright, see you after school, Leo!" She gives him a goodbye kiss and goes to her locker cheerfully. "She's always so happy. It makes me happy."

Rafael couldn't help but push Leo when he was walking towards his locker corner. "I'm warning you, ******," he starts, "if you ever go out with Artemis, I will find out and I will beat you up. I'd beat you up right in front of her for all I care," while Leo slowly gets up, like nothing happened. The sudden 'paaf' feeling in his chest and brain comes. He's afraid but he doesn't realise it. "Please don't," he says to the bully. "Oh now you're begging me to stop. I thought you were the strong one," Rafael mocks him, although Leo doesn't feel anger. He didn't understand what he said. "Fine, I'll let you go today but you better watch your back." Rafael leaves.

"Leo!" James shouts from a short distance, "did Rafael pick on you again?" Leo didn't know what to say. "I think he did. I didn't understand what he meant. He looked like he was really mad at me though," Leo told him. James was worried, "alright then," then he asks, "do you want to report it to the coordinators?" Leo nods and they both walk towards the coordinator's' office which was a short distance away from their locker area.

"Dude, you shouldn't let him pick on you like that," James said to him. Leo didn't seem slightly worried at all. "If he didn't make me feel threatened then I think I'm fine with it," James shakes his head to Leo's response, "no, you got it all wrong," he continues, "he will never stop if this goes on. He might do something really bad some day and you might feel really threatened and afraid, and possibly go in a panic attack, or even worse.

They reach the coordinator's office and knocks on the door "Come in," the coordinator says as they enter. Their coordinator, Michael Osborne, is a young 29 year old male and is fairly tall at 6'2". He has different coloured eyes, one being green, and the other being dark yellow, which requires him to wear glasses all the time because he can't see well.

"Sir Osborne," James begins, "Leo has been bullied by Rafael Gregorio recently and I'm really worried it might go wrong in the future." Osborne was worried, disappointed and thinks of possible solutions for the problem. "Alright," he starts talking, "Leo, what has Rafael done to you?" Leo hesitates to answer the question, but figured that it would be necessary to tell him for his own good. "He has thrown my books out of my locker earlier today, and after Artemis tried to help me, he slaps her. I quickly ran over to them to protect someone I care for, and causes a fight between both of us." Osborne and James was both really shocked to hear him speak a lot. "Oh my, were you hurt?" Leo shakes his head, "I know how to defend myself, sir. I'm fine." Osborne was glad to hear he was well. "Ah, okay. I will call his parents, and ask them to come to my office later today. I'll talk to them for you, alright?" Leo simply nods, thanks him and leaves the room with James.

His friend wonders for a long time how he managed to speak a lot. "Hey, you're usually really silent and straight to the point," he starts talking, "you feel less anti-social now." Leo initially thinks of Artemis when he said that. "Yeah, I've been talking more lately. It feels good letting your feelings out to people," he said calmly. "That's true," his friend gave him a pat on the back, "letting your feelings out feels good. It's like putting a heavy object off your back." Leo sees Artemis from a distance and he smiles. "Huh? I've never seen you smile before," James wondrously says, "what are you smiling at?" He looks behind him only to see Artemis and her friends from afar. "Ah, them. They're a cheerful bunch." Leo couldn't help but keep smiling as Artemis looks at his way and smiles at him back. "Seeing her smile makes me very happy," Leo said. James initially thinks of one of Artemis's friends when he said that. "Seeing Artemis smile," he asks. "Yes, Artemis's wonderfully happy smile." Leo's heart beats faster and James kept thinking of that girl beside Artemis.

His crush's name was Jasmine Annabel. She's a cute, short girl at 4'9". She wears a sailor uniform, similar to what an anime girl would wear, and usually styles her hair in a cute pink ponytail with a red bow. She's a very well known singer and actress in the campus, and most guys like her for that reason. They usually fall in love with her cuteness alone, and with her amazing talent they want her even more.

James starts blushing when Jasmine looks at him and smiles. As he smiles, Jasmine giggles and waves at him. He feels really happy, his heart starts pounding. "Oh my, she's so beautiful..." he was at a loss for words. "Who is," Leo asks him. James was embarrassed to say it, but he eventually did, "Jasmine."

Over to the other side of the hallway, Artemis, Jasmine and another friend of hers, Louise Lee, were giggling.

Louise Alkira is a fairly tanned aboriginal girl, and were childhood friends of both Artemis and Jasmine. She stands at 5'6" and wears a silver necklace with a heart shaped locket. Inside it are pictures of her family and hometown. She wears a leather coat and stylish pants with expensive earrings. She is very well known in the school for her designing talent, and artistic skills. She used to get bullied because of her background, but as soon as she was recognised for her talent, people respected her.

Jasmine starts a conversation, "James has a really cute smile." Artemis initially thought of the day she first met Leo, where he was stunned in place, staring at her because she was the girl of his dreams. "Oh yeah! How was your first day with your little cutie, Artemis," Jasmine
asked her. Louise wonders who she was talking about. "Leo's a really, really kind guy! For someone who has never interacted with almost anyone, he knows how to kiss," Artemis says cheerfully, while thinking back to her first kiss. Louise on the other hand, felt jealous because she's had her eye out for Leo since she saw her when she was a child. She was too shy to tell him that she liked her.

Jasmine was surprised, "Oh my," she said, "you two just met like 3 days ago, and became official today. And you already had your first kiss together! That's a really quick move by you two." She sighs at the thought of Artemis and Leo kissing. Her thought went straight to her and James kissing on top of a hill, watching the sunset. "Ahh, anyway how is your day so far, Louise?" Louise didn't seem that energetic, "I'm doing alright. I've finished another design for my folio so that's good." Artemis looked at her, "Are you alright," she asks, "you don't seem too well." Louise shakes her head, "I'm fine. I'm just not feeling it today." Artemis pats her back, "Just remember that if you need someone to talk to, we're always here for you!" Louise thanks her and gave her a hug.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Please give feedback! I will update as soon as I finish a chapter! I'm aiming for at least 5, and no more than 15 chapters so hopefully this won't be too short and too long. Sharing a story that alludes to my life feels good. It's like leaving a heavy weight off your back.