Complicated You; Sophisticated Me

Dylan Sparks.

Hearing his name was enough to make girls giggle like a bunch of high-pitched chipmunks.

Dylan Sparks wasn’t a football star, and he wasn’t student body president. In fact, he was a pretty laid back guy, living his life normally and boringly. There wasn’t anything special about him, so why the hell did girls flock around him?

He wasn’t that drop-dead hot. Sure, he had the looks, and he passed the ‘handsome guys test’ but he wasn’t the kind of guy a girl would commit suicide for the moment she sees him.

He had layered brown hair that was always in a mess, no matter how many times he combed them back. His eyes were a round pair of odd ashes. He had an ear piercing on his left ear. His body wasn’t really lean and muscular like martial artists, and he certainly didn’t look like Leonardo DiCaprio back in ‘96 when he played Romeo.

So what is it about Dylan Sparks?

You really want to know?

It’s a mystery, to be frank. The only thing one could say is that he’s a charming sixteen year old who had a way with words that could make any girl fall head over heels for him.

A minute with him and you’re off to dreamland, honey.

But of course, everything about him was out of politeness. Everything he did, everything he said, was out of politeness.

And that changed when he saw her.

Mikayla Jaden Trace instantly caught his attention.

Her smile was enough to stop Dylan’s world. That one smile melted his heart like ice cream under the blistering heat—as corny as it may sound.

She wasn’t his classmate, but he knew who she was.

~

It happened two years before.

“Dylan!” A group of girls he didn’t know called him. Dylan looked back and smiled out of politeness.

“What’s up?”

“Wanna join us for lunch? We would love to have you there at our table.” Giggling. Batting eyelashes. Cheerleaders. Pouty lips. Heavy make-up.

For a guy, being surrounded by cheerleading, pretty girls would be heaven. Dylan thought these girls hit their head way too hard.

Kip arrived just in time to save Dylan from explaining why he had to decline, “Sorry ladies, Dylan’s eating with moi.”

Kip Hendrickson, the dude who mixes foreign languages with English and makes everyone else suffer from guessing what the hell he’d meant, was Dylan’s best friend. He had a slightly curly auburn hair, and chocolate brown eyes.

Guys did have best friends, even though it seemed weird.

“Thanks, Kip,” Dylan muttered as soon as the girls were out of sight.

“Nihil est,” he answered with the smile.

“What kind of planet did you come from?” Dylan punched Kip playfully on the shoulder.

“No problem, in latin.”

“Spare me from that, please?”

“Oui.”

Dylan rolled his eyes, “Kip.”

“Okay, okay, Mr. Hottie. Sheesh,” he raised his hands in resignation.

They took a seat on a table with five other guys whom they were friends with as well—Brad Curtis, Earl Fletcher, Dennis Craig, Mitch Roth, and Lyndon Gray.

Brad and Earl were swimmers, Dennis was a game addict, Mitch was a silent but cool guy who liked money and Lyndon was a total man-whore.

If you had to brand Dylan, he would be the happy-go-lucky guy who didn’t really care about the world. As for Kip, well, you know how to describe him.

“…and I was like, whoah dude! You’re hitting on my mom!” Brad was saying. The others fell into laughter.

“What can I say? His mom was hot,” Lyndon grinned smugly.

“Yeah, I’ve seen Mrs. Curtis during the Parent-Teacher conference.” Earl put in.

“Okay, okay, guys,” Dylan began. “Hitting on your friends’ moms is not cool.”

“You should check her out for yourself.” Earl scoffed.

“I’ll do that,” Dylan grinned.

Like hell I would, he thought.

Dylan was resting my chin on both palms while he was waiting for the guys to finish eating, when he saw her.

Mikayla Jaden Trace.

Her long black hair which was neatly trimmed straight at the ends seemed to follow her every move. Her bangs were tied neatly, revealing her almost-serene face.

“Mika!” One of her friends called her.

Mika. She liked being called Mika.

Dylan followed her with his eyes and caught sight of the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.

Her smile. Her beautiful smile.

Oh hell, I’m starting to sound like a lovesick lunatic, he sighed.

But…

It was true.

Of course, he didn’t know yet that it’d be the last time he’ll ever see her breath-taking smile.

~

Two years have passed like a bullet train.

Sixteen year old Mikayla Jaden Trace woke up to a fine, fairly cloudy Saturday morning. She still had two weeks of vacation before school begins again.

She liked being called Mika, because she thought it was a name that didn’t stand out much. And in case you didn’t know, Mika always kept to herself.

She looked out of her bedroom window and watched as life moved on around her. No matter what happened, life never stopped going.

But for her, it’s as if life stopped dead in its tracks.

People would label her emo, because she always, always wore either black or baggy clothes. Her black curtain of hair was longer, and was not as maintained as it was the previous years of her life. Her bangs almost covered her deep blue eyes, but she didn’t care.

In fact, she didn’t care anymore about other people’s thoughts about her. Why should she? She could do this all by herself.

Mika went outside her bedroom and went to bath.

She’d been living in an apartment building since that day. She decided not to depend on anyone else. She was on her own. She did things alone.

And Mika never showed emotion.

She didn’t cry even when she’s in pain, didn’t laugh even when she found something funny, and didn’t smile when she’s happy… It was almost as if she were an empty shell.

She didn’t have friends anymore. There were, however, people who had tried to befriend her before, but Mika shoved them away.

Friendship = weakness. Weakness = vulnerability. Vulnerability = inevitable pain.

The fact is, everything always comes down to her being hurt the most.

After successfully taking a bath, she put on a plain black shirt and a long skirt. She slip her flat boots on before she walked outside.

She did this routinely every Saturday. Of course, she had to buy groceries—that’s what living alone throws you: you do everything by yourself, with no one to help you.

Mika didn’t know yet that that day would be the start of something crazy, yet could change her life in many different ways.