Written by Tsuyuki Arumaya

Edited by Carina Olvera Pérez

For Rayana,
You're the reason I started this book and one of the strongest
things that pushed me to finish it

Thank you for all of your support through November

   The idea that an individual is not in control of their own actions or emotions is one commonly described to be blasphemy, or a mental disorder. Society has reached a general agreement that every individual is in full control of what they feel and what they do at all times. Influence from other individuals is always a clear factor as to why someone would spontaneously do something unlike their character, but this is simply the idea of influence; not of control. Regardless of whom the person is, no one person has ever had total control over another human being. It’s a violation of our human rights and having those rights taken from us is the last thing that anyone would ever want to accept. Thus the idea that there is only influence; no control. But what if this idea were to be completely blown away? What if it turned out that every last one of us were under some sort of control by something, or someone, other than ourselves? After all, there’s no way to prove that we aren’t. We feel self aware, but there isn’t anything saying that we are. Everything in our world has been crafted upon our own minds; with nothing ever truly proving this is how the universe works. This has never proven to be a problem and more than likely never will, but the idea of parallel worlds is far from one that has never been thought of before and surely one that is just as far from being false.

    Daniel Wright was a normal average human being just like the majority of the population. He went to school, like a normal boy, passed his classes, like a normal boy, had a faint idea as to what he wanted to do in life, like a normal boy, and had fallen into love and into heartbreak on countless occasions, as would a normal boy. He had no special connections to anyone; no beyond outstanding achievements in life. His parents weren’t billionaires,nor were they bankrupt, and his siblings exercised the usual horrendous torture that all siblings put their brothers and sisters through. Daniel was one of the few outstanding ideas of what is commonly believed to be “normal.”
    On this morning, much like most mornings, he got up (unwillingly) to the sound of his alarm and began to prepare for a usual day. He got dressed, he ate breakfast, he brushed his teeth, he gathered his supplies for school, and then he left for the bus after shouting a quick goodbye to his parents as he went out through the front door. He then ran to his bus stop and waited with the small population of other kids from his neighborhood for the bus to arrive, and upon it doing so they all boarded and sat through a fifteen minute drive to the school which could be reached in that same time by foot.
    When they arrived at the school, Daniel and the plethora of other juveniles hectically left the bus in an extremely unorganized and somewhat chaotic fashion before being met with the sound of the first class bell and being damned to the task of making their way to the aforementioned class.
    This was normal, and normal was a perfect word to sum up the boy’s life, from day to day it was still just as boring. Daniel saw nothing to it, as it was his life; one that he had taken so much time to get used to, but to the audience (to you) doing this every day for five days a week then doing nothing, or the equivalent to that, for two days is something that seems like it would drive people mad, regardless of the occasional anomalies or hormonal ups and downs. But there was one common thing that would eventually bring this young boy’s life to a very interesting point, and that was Acacia Taylor. Now, romance was far from something uncommon in the life of a teenager and Daniel’s life was far from the exception, however the events that were to force the two together as well as the events that would surround the couple as they went throughout their day to day lives in 100% “unconditional” love are amusing, interesting, and confusing all at once.

    Now, just as Daniel was a very normal boy, Acacia was also a very normal girl. She followed the same exact criteria of normality that Daniel followed aside from being the opposite sex and having just moved to the same town as Daniel. Despite the first semester already having come to an end, Acacia had been forced to move to the same school abruptly by her father’s change in office due to his occupation.
    For her first day of school in her new setting, Acacia went through the usual morning routine of waking up when her mother came to wake her up like every morning then getting dressed, having breakfast, brushing her teeth, and gathering her supplies before making her way to her mother’s care and waiting to be driven to school. It didn’t take long for Acacia to be on her way to school and she was there fast enough to go to see her new counselor and get her schedule. She was then able to look around the campus and find her classes for a few minutes before the bell for the first class rang.    

    As Daniel made his way to first period and sat inside waiting for his teacher to start class, a new girl walked in and stood by the teacher’s desk at the front of the room. Daniel’s first class was biology and while it wasn’t rare to see a student come to his teacher in the morning, this girl was someone he had never seen before. The girl had short blonde hair with emerald green eyes and nearly perfect pale skin. She seemed a little short but there was no doubt that she was in the same grade as Daniel, especially if she needed to see his teacher for something. The girl had on a somewhat flat outfit, a moderately short skirt that was a dull boring colour of red, a blank white spaghetti-strap top, and a plain pink backpack. The girl stayed standing in the same place next to the front desk, looking around the room, until the teacher entered the room and spoke to her.
    While the two conversed, the Pledge of Allegiance was played over the intercom as the entire school unanimously pledged their devotion. As soon as it concluded, Daniel’s teacher stood in the front of the class to get everyone’s attention before beginning his announcement.
    “Everybody,” the man said firmly, “Today we have a new student joining our class who recently moved here. Why don’t you introduce yourself?” After asking this, the girl standing at the front of the class stepped up.
    “Hello,” she said with a bit of a shy tone, “My name is Acacia Taylor.” The girl’s voice was small and sweet. It was much higher than most girls her age and added to the cute nature that was felt about her due to her petite size. Despite how shy her voice sounded, her posture was nice and solid and she stood with confidence radiating off of her.
    “Miss Taylor has come here due to her father changing offices, isn’t that right?” the teacher asked as Acacia calmly nodded in agreement. “My name is Mr. Scott. You can go sit next to Daniel over there,” he said as he pointed towards Daniel.
    After her new placement was decided, Acacia nodded and calmly walked to the empty seat next to Daniel and sat down. After sitting, the girl turned to Daniel and held out her hand with a smile. Acacia’s smile took him by surprise along with her somewhat “old-school” way of introducing herself to Daniel. He looked at the girl in wonder for a moment before taking her hand and shaking it, “Hey, I’m Daniel Wright.”

    
    Throughout the class, Daniel couldn’t help but look over at his new partner on occasion. He convinced himself it was his curiosity of her, due to her sudden new arrival, that drew him to constantly look back at her but he could feel a boiling infatuation inside of himself, even though he pretended to ignore it.
    The class went as it usually did for Daniel, save for a few questions from Acacia from time to time as the class she was in before she moved wasn’t quite on the same level as her this one. As the rest of the day went on, Daniel didn’t have any other classes with the new girl and Acacia continued to be introduced to each and every one of her new classes, getting more used to saying hello to everyone as the day went on.
    When lunch rolled along, Acacia sat alone with a homemade lunch she packed for herself the night before and ate in silence at the corner of the cafeteria. Daniel met with his friends as usual, getting a school lunch of which he’d more than likely not eat any of due to the disgusting proclaimed inedibility of the meals given out. In the midst of conversation with his friends, Daniel quickly noticed Acacia sitting by herself. He was beginning to welcome the idea that he was truly infatuated with her, even if it was just for her appearance. It didn’t take long for him to decide to get up and walk over to Acacia and take a seat close to her. He ignored his friends calling his name as he was too interested in the grander objective of getting to more know Acacia more.

      
     “Oh, hello,” Acacia said as she saw him take his seat across from her at her small table, “You’re Daniel, right?” She was reading a small book and had her lunch kit nearly dispersed in a small area around her, holding her book with one hand and a plastic fork in the other, keeping the book a fair distance away from her to keep her from dropping any food in it.
    “Right,” Daniel said with a smile, “I couldn’t help but notice you were sitting by yourself so I decided to keep you company, if you’re okay with that.”
    “It’s fine by me,” the girl agreed with a bright tone as she closed her book, “How are you on this fine day?”
    “I’m fine,” Daniel answered, “Not much has gone on today aside from the usual. And you?”
    “The day has been treating me well,” Acacia said with a smile, “Everyone has been so nice to me and I really like all my classes so far.”
    “That’s great to hear. Hey, you said you moved here recently because of your dad, right?”
    “That is correct.”
    “What does he do for a living, if you don't mind me asking?"
    "Mmmm," she hummed innocently as she was evidently trying to think of a legitimate occupation that would require relocation.
    "It's alright if you can't tell me," Daniel said with a small chuckle after.
    "Then I suppose I shall take you up on that offer," Acacia conformed.
    "You have quite the large vocabulary."
    "You noticed?" Acacia asked shyly, "My apologies if it's off-putting, I can try to revert to a more informal speech if you wish."
    "No, no, it's fine. I like it," Daniel assured, "It's kinda cute."
    As he said this, a blush came to Acacia's face, "I-Is it really?" She was clearly embarrassed, but it didn't help the claim against her as this only supported the idea of her being cute in Daniel's mind.
    "Of course," Daniel said casually, "It's not the only thing that makes you cute, but it's definitely a contributing factor."
    "And what might the other supporting ideas for your claim be?" Acacia asked with embarrassment becoming more and more easily present in her voice.
    "It'd be no fun if I told you all the reasons now, would it?"
    "What do you mean by that?"
    "I have to keep some reasons to myself so I can continue to see that adorable look on your face whenever I need to," Daniel said. He was a bit worried he was coming in a bit too strong for a conversation with someone he had just met, but luckily Acacia took it well.
    "Now aren't you quite the malicious little imp?" Acacia said, clearly teasing.
    "Malicious is such a distasteful word," he said with a kid-ish tone.
    "What adjective would you rather me use to describe your Napoleon complex, then?" she said with smile.
    As she said this a grin grew across Daniel's face as he lightly laughed to himself. “You know,” the boy said, accepting defeat, “Why don’t we just drop the subject and move onto another?”
    “If you prefer,” Acacia said proudly.

    While the two spoke to each other, a boy from Daniel’s group of friends, Jackson Smith, approached the duo. He was fairly built to the standard where you could tell he was at least somewhat invested in athletics. He had short black hair, was taller than the rest of the group he hailed from, and had tanned skin. As he approached Daniel and Acacia it was clear that he was a bit displeased with something, despite the false smile he wore. Most likely the fact that Daniel left their group to talk to someone he had just met.
    “What’s up, man?” Daniel asked when he noticed Jackson, casually turning towards his friend.
    Jackson took a moment to gather his dissatisfaction, with his negative emotion beginning to shine even stronger through his smile. “Who’s the girl?” he asked, gesturing towards Acacia.
    “I’m Acacia Taylor,” Acacia said, reaching out her hand for an introduction. Jackson glared right through the innocent girl, making her slowly drop her friendly gesture.
    “Jackson, this is Acacia. She’s new around here,” Daniel said, trying to make the environment seem friendlier, “Acacia this is my friend Jackson.”
    “Nice to meet you,” Acacia said with a withdrawn voice and a clearly uncomfortable tone.
    “Likewise,” Jackson said, almost completely letting loose his spite.
    “What’s got your panties in a twist?” Daniel asked, “Someone getting jealous?” Acacia laughed at his questions, fueling Jackson’s anger further.
    “You just left us,” Jackson said, getting louder, “No warning or nothing, just got up and left.”
    “Alright, Jackson calm down. This isn’t something to get in a fuss over,” Daniel said, trying to calm down the kid, “I didn’t realize you were so attached to me. I’ll make sure to tell you guys next time I leave the group.”
    “You’re still eating lunch with us tomorrow, right?” Jackson asked. After his question, Daniel looked over at Acacia and thought for a moment.
    “Actually,” Daniel started, “I think I’m gonna hang out with Acacia for a few more days.”
    “A few?” Jackson asked, “How many days is a few?”
    “For fuck’s sake, man, what does it matter? Maybe a week or two, I don’t know. Hell, what does it matter to you to begin with?” Daniel snapped.
    With that note, Jackson took a few steps back. “You know, I guess it doesn’t matter to me. Whatever, man,” he bit as he turned and walked away.
    After he left the atmosphere between Acacia and Daniel tensed up. “Are you really okay with me keeping you from your friends? I really hate to get in the way of things,” Acacia asked, concerned.
    “You’re fine,” Daniel said, “I don’t know what threw him into a fit.”
    “If you say so…” Acacia accepted. The conversation between the two took a rocky start to reanimate itself, and when it finally did, the bell rang for lunch to end.
    After lunch, the two continued their day as every student should, going to the remainder of their classes and leaving when the bell called for it. Acacia continued to be introduced to all of her new classes and at the end of the day waited in the front of the school, where she was dropped off, for her mother to come pick her up and take her home. Daniel, much like the new girl on campus, returned to his home via the same transportation method he took to get to school.

    When the two got home they both did their homework, as good students should, and eventually went to bed after they finished and after they had their last meal for the day.

    Acacia Taylor woke on the morning of December 2nd to the sound of her mother waking her up and instructing her to begin her morning routines. In response to her mother, the young girl slugged out of bed, yawned, and officially began the day. Today was the second day of the semester at her school. Life seemed to begin to go uphill for the poor girl after constantly dishing out terrible slices of news. Her father recently found a new job after being fired from his previous one just days before and thanks to the new seating chart for her biology class, she was now put right next to her high school crush, Daniel Wright.
    Daniel was an attractive young man with short brown hair, freckled white skin, and a personality that was hard to hate. The boy had a somewhat good set of morals and was almost never one to do something out of spite or hatred. As far as Acacia was concerned, Daniel Wright was the definition of perfect. No matter how she looked at him she was incapable of finding a flaw of any kind in her image of the boy. Shocked with excitement that she would soon be able to be by his side for an entire class period, Acacia stood up and began her morning routines.
    She first picked out an outfit for the day, consisting of jeans and a long sleeved shirt along with a cotton overshirt to keep her warm in the cold weather, then went to go make breakfast. Breakfast today, as was almost every day, was a self-made bowl of cereal which Acacia finished quickly before brushing her teeth and getting her backpack. After she grabbed her bag, Acacia sat in the car, and waited for her mother to be woken up by her second alarm so that she would drive her to school.

    When she got to school, Acacia reminded her mother the time that she wanted to be picked up at then left the vehicle and began eagerly walking to her first class. Acacia was normally dropped off at school exactly when school was to begin, but she didn’t mind this as her one friend was normally late to school to begin with; leaving her with no one to “hang out” with before school started. Today, however, she had arrived a tad earlier than usual and being driven by excitement and natural tendency, she ended up sitting in her spot in biology minutes before the bell for first period even rung. The classroom was cold and quiet with Acacia being the only person in the room. Her spot in class was in the far back corner of the room. The room was divided into three columns of tables, making up the five rows. Each table had a black top much like every science room throughout the school.
    “What brings you to class so early, Miss Taylor?” Acacia’s biology teacher, Mr. Scott, asked  upon seeing her already sitting in her place when he arrived.
    “What do you mean?” Acacia asked, cluelessly, taking  a second to realize that the class had yet to begin for the day.
    “Acacia,” Mr. Scott began, “There’s still five minutes until the bell rings.”
    “Five…” Acacia started to herself before looking up at the clock in the room and realizing the time. “Oh my. My apologies, sir, I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings. I’m used to my mother always dropping me off at the last possible moment so I instinctually came to class,” Acacia said, slightly embarrassed.
    “It’s no trouble,” Mr. Scott said, chuckling to himself, “I was just surprised to see you here early is all.”

    With the leftover time that she had from being early for once in her life, Acacia took out a small paperback book and resumed reading from where she had last left off while she waited for the bell to ring. The five minutes left before class began flew by relatively quickly, as before Acacia knew it the bell rung. When she heard the bell ring over the intercom, Acacia casually put away her book and got out her supplies for class. It didn’t take long for students to begin walking in and, most importantly, for Daniel to arrive and take his place next to Acacia
    “Hey,” Daniel greeted quickly as he got supplies for the class from his bag.
    “Hello!” Acacia eagerly replied. It was clear that the girl was in a bit of a riled mood, whether it was embarrassment or excitement, Acacia hoped that Daniel wouldn’t be off-put by it.
    “Someone’s excited,” Daniel said, lightly laughing to himself, “What’s got you all hyped up?”
    “Oh, nothing in particular,” Acacia joyfully lied, “Today is but a good day.”
    “If you say so,” Daniel dismissed with a grin on his face. After he said this, Acacia took a deep breath to calm down.
    “Say,” she said, elongating the vowel in the word, “Are you by any chance free during lunch?”
    “I’m afraid I’m not,” Daniel answered, “Why do you ask?”
    “Oh, nothing… I just…” Acacia started, a little bummed out that her day wasn’t going to be flawlessly executed, “I wanted to ask you something in private is all.”
    “Well, tell you what,” Daniel said, clearly picking up on her freshly dampened mood, “If you’re free after school you can ask me then. Sound like a deal?”
    Acacia’s heart raced at the sound of the offered compromise. “Of course! Yes, that most definitely sounds like a deal,” Acacia brightly agreed.
    “Alright,” Daniel said, “I’ll meet you in middle of the courtyard after school, then.”
    “I shall look forward to it!” Acacia happily announced before Mr. Scott began the class for the day.

As the day went on Acacia was the paragon of happiness, she was incapable of thinking of anything but what was she was going to ask Daniel after school, which to a degree also affected her ability to pay attention to anything during class. As every minute passed the girl looked at the clock in her classroom, praying that time would speed up for this one day with no end, but never got the result she wanted.
    Soon lunch came and she sat in the usual spot in the corner of the cafeteria with the makeshift sandwich that she had made herself the night before that was accompanied by store brand potato chips. This was all she normally had for lunch, as it was all Acacia was capable of preparing for herself, but overall she didn’t mind the repetitivity since some days she had no lunch at all.
    She sat at the table by her lonesome as she waited for her one and only friend, Alexis Smith, to keep her company as she ate. Alexis was a fairly delinquent girl, as she seemed not to care for school much at all, a fact that was reflected extremely well in her grades and attendance. Despite that, she always arrived at lunch to give Acacia someone to talk to. Acacia had tried countless times in the past to talk her into improving her attendance rate and actually applying herself when it came to her school work, but Alexis always brushed off the advice with a lack of genuine care for the topic.
    Acacia hadn’t been sitting for long before Alexis showed up, earlier than usual, and sat across from her. The girl was wearing tattered jeans with a hole over one of the knees and a red short-sleeved t-shirt that was in much nicer condition than the jeans, but still slightly tattered up. Acacia had always wondered how Alexis was capable of wearing the clothing she did in weather as cold as it was around this time of year and not show any signs of being bothered by the wintry chill at all.
    “Someone’s early,” Acacia teased.
    “For once, huh?” Alexis joked, “How’s your day been going, girl?”
    “My day has personally been superb compared to normal,” Acacia eagerly answered, “Thank you very much for asking. How has life been treating you on this fine day?”
    “Same as usual,” Alexis answered, “Any reason you’re doin’ better than normal?”
    “I may or may not be confessing my love to Daniel Wright after school today,” Acacia happily announced in a quiet voice.
    “Damn girl, look at you,” Alexis said, impressed, “Hope it goes well for ya.”
    “Well it’s not like I’m asking him to go out with me or anything,” Acacia fibbed, “Just letting him know how I feel is all, and I shall allow for him to decide the rest.”
    “I dunno if it’ll work out like that fantasy you got goin’ on in your mind,” Alexis critiqued, “What if he gets all weirded out or some shit like that and never talks to you again?”
    “Honestly, if he hasn’t done that by now, I seriously doubt he ever will,” Acacia countered, “I’m a living freak with my vocabulary and after the way I reacted after knowing I’d be sitting next to Daniel, I wouldn’t be surprised if he agreed with that claim.”
    “Ah, fuck people who think that way ‘bout you. They’re a bunch of assholes. You’re a precious little angel if you ask me,” Alexis confessed.
    Acacia laughed a little to herself, “Thank you Alexis.”
    “I’m just speakin’ the truth, girl,” Alexis said.

    As the two sat and conversed, Acacia noticed Daniel sitting a few tables away with his friends. When Acacia saw him her heart dropped a little. She wondered if Daniel had been lying when he said he was busy, which was the first accusation that popped into her mind, or if he had finished whatever had kept him busy extremely early.
    “Hey, kid,” Alexis said, trying to catch Acacia’s attention as she seemed to drift away from the conversation momentarily,
    “What’s got your attention?”
    “Nothing,” Acacia lied, “I’m fine.”
    “If you say so,” Alexis conformed before resuming the conversation.

    The rest of Acacia’s lunch went as usual before the bell to return to class sounded. Acacia simply went through the motions for the remainder of her classes, trying to come up with a logical answer as to why Daniel would be eating lunch in the cafeteria towards the beginning of the lunch period, while still trying to say set towards the idea of confessing to Daniel.
    Eventually the end of the day had finally come. At the sound of the final bell, Acacia casually walked to the spot where she and Daniel had agreed to meet and waited. It didn’t take long for the boy to arrive with a smile on his face and a beautiful attitude which Acacia had admired. As he drew closer, Acacia took a deep breath to calm her racing heart.
    “Hey,” Daniel said with a smile, “So, what was it that you wanted to ask me?” As he asked this, Acacia thought deep and hard about what she was going to say. She questioned if it was really the right thing to do in the moment since, of course, she wasn’t necessarily best friends with the boy or in any other state of friendship to be saying what she was about to say, nevertheless she gathered up the courage and opened her mouth.
    “Why did you lie to me?”