Clouds become Water

Dear readers,

we understand that you want to start with the story straight away, but we think it’s very important to mention, that this story is told in the CHARACTER’S POV, but there IS going to be a NARRATOR, who will be making comments throughout the story and showing you what the characters are thinking or feeling at that moment. What the narrator is saying will be written in cursive writing.

Soooo....without further ado, let’s get on this rollercoaster. Hold on tight and we wish you a great ride (there will be a lot of ups and downs, surprises (aka plot twists) and many more muahahaha!)

Chapter 1

Hey guys! It’s so nice to meet you all! My name is Rafael, Raf and from time to time expect me to interfere in the story, explaining things that sometimes our characters miss to mention. Accept me as an omniscient narrator slash savior. Although I do prefer the second one, it’s a matter of taste.

You may not know that everyone including you, reading this right now, has a personal storyteller that at some point in your life will decide that your life is worth sharing. Either that or they will be forced to do their job by The Storytellers service - “You live your life we tell your story.” That’s the motto we live by.

Anyways let’s just start over.

So since I have nothing better to do with my life at the moment and they basically forced me to ‘finally’ do something productive - pff hilarious - I will be telling you Via Asher’s story, a 17-year-old, troubled teenager, who by some terrible coincidence got assigned to me. It’s an understatement to say that she likes to get in trouble and by that I mean, really likes to get in trouble. Just like that one particular time...

And... ACTION!

I was left all by myself. Again. Truth be told I didn’t really have anything against spending time alone. But lately I’ve been doing that a lot. Sitting on my bed all day, a mix of tears and mascara running down my face and having no idea what was happening outside my room. And all that for a person that doesn’t even give a fuck about me anymore.

Just as I curled up into a ball and started pulling my covers up to cover my head, my door opened wide, revealing—No, no, no, no, no! Wrong moment, sorry...let me just...rewind a little...uh yeah, it should be around that time.

Now... ACTION!

That’s when he leaned in and as if everything around us slowed down: the rain falling, the cars passing through the puddles and the people on the sidewalk doing everything possible not to get sprayed with the muddy water. It was like a scene straight out of a movie. I put my hands on his chest and closed my eyes, already feeling his hot breath on my lips...- Sorry, I’m so sorry, you have every right to hate me. I really should organize these pages... Give me just one second to find...Ah, that’s it!

Okay, now for the last time...ACTION!

Finished. Finally! I’ve been doing this thing for two hours straight and I’m already tired of looking at it. The only thing I want right now is to go home, fall on my giant bed and just sleep for the rest of my life, most probably like every other person awake at this ungodly hour. So would you please remind me why I’m not doing that, but kneeling here, on the exact same spot that I’ve been kneeling since the past ten minutes, covering a part of my school’s outer stone fence with cheap graffiti.

Yeah sure, it’s fun and all but there are a few downsides that come hand in hand with vandalizing someone else’s property:

Always having to watch out for cops, basically having eyes on your back.

Having to be quiet obviously, or the cops will come.

Having to be fast, or someone could see me and call the cops.

Pretty much anything involving cops.

And last but surely not least, having to give up my sleep. My precious.

Let me just say that point number 5 is a lot to ask for from a still-growing teenager. Then why am I still doing it at 3:27 AM you may ask? Definitely seeing the reactions on the next day make it worth it. The pale face of Mrs. Evans, our principal, signaling that she would faint any second is my all time favorite. And the best thing about it: these retards that rule our school still haven’t figured out who’s behind all this. I’m such a professional.

Stepping back to look at it for the last time before leaving, I get startled by the sound of the walkie-talkie lying next to my foot, which is connected with one that we hung on the underside of the fence a long time ago, and surprisingly no one has found it yet.

I heard the front gate open, followed by the heavy footsteps of the guard. I quickly packed all cans, no matter if full or empty, deciding on sorting them out later and put my black cap on. How secretive of me, I know. I closed and then swung my backpack (also black) around my right shoulder and bolted to the parking lot behind the school. I ran as if my life depended on it, even though the guard was so far away that he probably didn’t even hear me throwing the cans into the bag like a crazy caveman. Plus, there was the difficulty that his weight would be causing him, if he actually decided to chase after me. Who cares though, I felt like a ninja, gliding through the dark alleys. Until I tripped and landed on my face, that is. Fuck.

Ouch. Although it is to mention that her brother did warn her to tie her shoe right before she left. But did she listen? Oh well, you already got the answer to this question.

I stood up as if nothing had happened, ignoring the throbbing pain in my chin and mentally scolding my hands for having no reflexes at that moment, like come on, is that even possible? And with that I continued running - elegant like a swan, fast like the wind and quiet like a shadow. Nobody and nothing could stop me at that moment.

Lies. Via was limping down the sidewalk, panting, like she had run miles and with the speed of a slow snail. Only one word could describe her...miserable. And again, she didn’t tie her shoe. Does this girl ever learn from something?

I threw my bag over the fence of the back parking lot and after hearing the crash, that the cans inside it caused, I started climbing without caring if the school guard heard me. I lost him a long time ago...I think. As soon as I reached the top, I pushed myself off with both feet and landed on the ground, the pain already forgotten. I headed straight to my car, the McLaren 720S Saros that blended beautifully with the darkness, as I thought of the three things that I was thankful for in that moment: firstly, that the security department of our school is so stupid that their brains can’t even come close to the idea of putting recording cameras on the fence and not only on the inside of the school, secondly, that I had parked close to the entrance and at last, but again not least, that I lived a fifteen-minute-drive away from here.

I started digging into my bag, searching for the car key, and when I felt it in my hand, I pressed the unlock button and opened the door, which as always flipped so satisfyingly up. I slid into the seat that immediately formed along every curve of my body and turned the radio volume up.

“Let’s show ’em how it’s done baby.”

*10 minutes of driving like a maniac later*

I entered the gates of our mansion, which at that moment was robbed of any light except that of my car headlights. I drove slowly to my part of the outdoor garage and parked my beloved among our other cars, right between the matte black ones of my brothers. Jayden’s Lamborghini Aventador S and Alec’s Mercedes G Wagon. Now, if you ask me, my car overshadowed theirs by any criteria. However, not everyone can appreciate true art, which my car for instance is.

I then headed for the front door and the only other light source – a candle that we always lit before going out at night, except that tonight I went alone.

I probably need to clarify that, just in case of misunderstanding. The candle mentioned above is their way of showing that there is someone in the house - they light it when it gets dark, that is if they remember at all and put it out when they go to bed. In a nutshell: Does the candle light - they are awake, if not - sleeping.

So you see, they are waiting for me again...They obviously don’t value sleep like I do. Complete idiots, I’m telling you.

Shortly after I inserted the key into the lock, I turned said candle off and closed the door of the lantern. The warmth from the house enveloped my body as soon as I stepped over the threshold of the door.

Home, sweet home, how I’ve missed you. Seconds later I had already kicked the black shoes off my feet, after which I had stopped and waited in the dark.

“Well, well, well. Look who finally showed up.” And with that all the lights turned on, just as rehearsed, and the first idiot of a brother came out of the closet clad in our father’s Versace gold bathrobe and holding Coconut, our Ragdoll cat in his hands while stroking her slowly on the back, creating exactly that dramatic effect that they had not been able to perfect until now. It was definitely because of the bathrobe – that I had not seen before.

The cherry on the cake.

And as to the so-called “idiot of a brother” that we just got the pleasure of meeting - it is no other than Via’s older brother Jayden. Jayden Asher is, as Via and basically everyone describe him: a male whore. Believe her, even I, who tell the story for the hundredth time, and have learned to know Jayden more than necessary, even for my own good, can assure you that she is right this time.

He has dead-serious never been with only one girl for more than a few days (usually no more than three). Jay does not, I repeat - never miss an opportunity for a one-night stand with a “hot girl” he just met at a random party. And then? He cuts them off, or one of his brothers, or his sister even – depending on who’s at home, ready to receive a message from the guards. It’s usually something between “Should I open the gateway, there’s a girl who claims to be Mr. Jayden’s girlfriend.” and “Excuse me for the trouble, but a girl demands on seeing Mr. Jayden immediately. Claims to be an emergency.“.

Apart from all that has been said so far, “Mr. Jayden” is a complete sweetheart, especially to his little sister. It should also be mentioned that he’s topping the Asher children’s ranking by being the oldest one of them, born only one minute before his twin brother Alec, who you’ll meet just about...now.

“Ah, dearest sister, would you mind telling your brothers where you have been, why you’re coming home at this late hour and why I wasn’t a part of what you have been up to?” My other idiot of a brother said as he walked down the staircase, dressed in an identical robe to the one Jay wore, just not golden, but black and smaller (probably because it was my mother’s). And yes, it looked like he was about to rip it any moment now...

Believe me when I say that the view was as funny to Via as it is to you now imagining it.

He was carrying our Labradoodle, Peanut in his arms. And no, it definitely did not look good, let alone cute, or whatever he was aiming for. Considering that our dog is not a small dog, actually quite the opposite, Alec had a hard time coming down without tripping and falling over. This fool looked absolutely ridiculous. I did not ever think that I would see a teenage boy holding a dog almost as big as him, while walking down the stairs, trying to keep his balance. Best. Night. Of. My. Life.

Well you just got to meet Alec Asher. He’s one very, uh...special child, if we can call him that. At least that’s how his sister often likes to refer to him when introducing him to someone since really there wasn’t a word to describe him. Not yet. We can only leave it to Via’s wide imagination to think of one.

But back to the point: he’s the second oldest member of the Asher children, right after Jayden, his twin who’ve we already met. It is very important to note here that they look exactly alike, literally like two drops of water. They have almost imperceptible differences, at least until you get to know them that is. In the character column they differ radically from each other – complete opposites. But during their “activities” with girls this doesn’t play an important role – a reason why too many misunderstandings have formed in the past and basically the main reason why Alec now avoids talking to his brother’s “exes”.

Poor him and his girlfriend for always having to suffer from the problems his brother keeps creating.

Nevertheless, as much as he tries to avoid his brother’s “girls”, he cannot escape his own twin, especially given that they live in rooms next to each other, go out together all the time, and even work together - all day long. Yes, they work at Via and Noah’s high school, which is the twin’s former school, as assistant-coaches: basically being their “coach’s little bitches” – Via’s words, not mine.

“Shut up, I’m trying to watch something over here.” He made a pause, when his eyes landed on me and as if a light bulb went off in his head, his face lit up and he started ranting from excitement.

“Hey, V! You won’t believe it! Season four of “the 100" just got released! I calculated everything and if we wanted to watch all thirteen episodes before school starts, which are about 40 minutes each, making it a total of 520 minutes, meaning nearly 8.7 hours, we had to have started...” My brother stopped his ranting to check the time on his Apple Watch and then continued, nobody daring to cut him off. “...around 4.9 hours ago. So since this is mathematically and overall impossible, we are very, very, on the verge of death sick tomorrow so we obviously can’t go to school, got it?”

And that ladies and gents is when you know it’s the real deal. When Noah is ready to skip even one day of school. The nerd standing on the second floor and now leaning over the railing never skips school. One time he even went a day after he had broken his leg, when the doctors specifically told him not to get out of bed for 24 hours because the fracture was serious. What did he do? He sneaked out and went to school. I’m not shitting you, he seriously got up one hour earlier so that he could leave before we notice him.

Yeah I remember that one! We don’t really have time for this story though, maybe later. So...Noah Asher. Truth be told, he’s actually my favorite one of the Asher children, I wish I got assigned to him, but no, my life just had to be harder and miserable. Thank you, moving on.

However, don’t tell the others, especially not Alec. He’s very sensitive.

Noah is the youngest one, who just like all of them has his own unique characteristics. He’s a freshman in high school, following the steps of his sister, who’s a senior, who followed the steps of their brothers, the graduates. A long chain, I know. Never mind, he’s a member of the math club and the Development Committee, which makes him responsible for the fundraising and development of the school, he’s also a part of the school’s baseball team and along with that has a perfect 4.0 GPA. Beat that. I really don’t know how he does all this either, so don’t ask me.

“You my brother are a very complicated and unusual human being. Half-nerd, half-troubled child.” Jayden said looking at him and shaking his head, smiling.

He is not wrong, he really got both, the troublemaker genes from his mom and the scholarly ones from his dad. Kind of like in Via’s case. I have a hard time describing the other two individuals. A weird mix, that I still can’t explain very well.

“He’s got more of a nerd than a bad boy kinda vibe though.” Alec commented on Jay’s statement.

“Just because I have more brain cells than you don’t doesn’t make me a nerd, fucktard. I’m going back to my room V, if you want to join me, I’ll be waiting. If one of you decides he wants to watch it, the price for entering will be food.” My little brother said in a serious tone and turned his back on the two morons now standing next to me and walked toward his room.

After the sound of a door opening and closing I turned to them.

“To answer your previous questions: Firstly, I was at school. Secondly, I was busy doing something very extraordinary. And lastly, you, my dears weren’t invited because I wasn’t in the mood for company. Although you can join me next time if your cars are fast enough to catch up.” I smirked while saying the last part, knowing that their cars, just like mine, are extremely fast.

“Oh, so you’re saying that you don’t remember that one time? When I overtook you and both of you breathed my gas fumes?” Jay said, meaning the time when he forgot where we were headed and managed to get lost somehow.

“That’s because you didn’t turn where you had to, you troll.” Do you see the brother-brother love that’s going on? Me neither.

They do love each other, just deep, deep, deep down. But like, very deep.

“Did you just call me a troll? We look the same, you dumbfuck.”

“I’m seriously losing brain cells when I stay too long around you two. I’ll go pay a visit to the nerd instead.” I said jokingly, a little bit louder on purpose so he could hear me.

“Hey! I heard that.” Noah yelled from his room.

In the meantime, I had already run up the stairs and was now poking my head through his door, smiling like a creep.

“That was the point.” I made my way to his cinema corner and flopped myself on the gigantic bean bag right in front of the ‘Titan Zeus’ 370-Inch 4K TV that my parents gave him last Christmas. Spoiled dork.

I think it’s time to mention that the Asher family is crazy rich, if you haven’t already figured it out yourself. In fact, their whole neighborhood is. Even if Via and her brothers are currently living on their own due to their parents moving to Europe, specifically France, to grow their business (I’ll give more information about that later) on that continent as well, they manage to celebrate the holidays together, see each other every other month, etc. But don’t worry, everything is in the terms of legal since Jaden and Alec are both 18 years old, they play the role of guardians.

But most importantly, the kids are able to take advantage of the guilt their parents are experiencing for leaving them alone, ordering them before every return, something that each of them wants. Like the movie theater in Noah’s room: a popcorn machine downstairs, was Alec’s wish. The giant TV, of course, was thanks to Noah. The abnormally huge bean bag was Via’s idea and Jayden is about to order even bigger sound speakers, the MOON Audio’s new “Opulence” speakers to be exact - there are only 10 of them worldwide and they don’t even need new sound sets, but does that stop them? Why should it, after they can afford it, right?

“Now, bring it on baby.” I squealed from excitement, patiently waiting for Noah to bring Bellamy Blake alive.

“Shall we begin?” He said in an aristocratic British voice, making me giggle. Alec and Jay also joined us, holding their sorry-bowls filled with popcorn, just on time before the big Netflix logo lit up the screen.

“We shall.” I mimicked his voice as we all drowned in a world of strategies and wars.

*9.5 hours later* ...the people have needs after all.

“No no no no no, did it seriously have to end like this? Are you fucking kidding me right now?” I cried. Literally. And I, Alec Asher rarely cry. But this!? What the fu--

Wrong POV. I’m sorry, I got a little bit distracted by the series too. And FYI that was a huge lie, he cries a lot. All the time. What did he even mean by ‘rarely’?

Anyways...back to the story.

“What the fuck! That’s not how it ends, right? It’s a joke, right? Right?! I need the next season Noah, now! Do your hacking shit and download it! Just ‘bibidi bobidi bu’ it. Please Noah, I need it!” I cried along with the others. Literally. And I, Via Asher almost never cry.

She was telling the truth.

“Okay, crybabies. It was good, it ended, but it’s not the end of the world. Suck it up and stop crying. Now get out of my room please, I have to get ready for school.”

“School? Now? You have not slept for God knows how many hours and yet you are ready to leave the house and go somewhere where they will oblige you to use your brain? Are you mental, or is some kind of a nerd thing?” I fully agreed with Jay, although I also considered going to school for lunch period to see how people perceived my masterpiece.

Not for the education they provide, of course.

“I can drive you.” I suggested and Noah smiled at the thought of my car. It’s that awesome, yeah.

“I wasn’t thinking about sleeping anyway and I still have a few things to do in school. I’ll pick you up after and we’ll come back in time for dinner, okay? I’m going to my room just to take a quick shower and change. It won’t be bad for you to consider doing it as well, I can smell you from here.” I let out a soft laugh at my joke and left his room, heading for mine, but not before hearing the twins mutter something about us being crazy.

“Be ready in 15 minutes.” I yelled from the hallway as I pressed down the door handle to my room.

As I entered, a wave of light hit me and I hissed like a vampire, covering my eyes with the back of my hand.

“Holy!” I had forgotten how much time I had spent in the dark. When I think about it, it was more than 9 hours. Well that doesn’t sound healthy at all.

Actually scratch that. 17 hours of binge watching doesn’t sound healthy at all too. And we’ve done that. One summer day 15-year-old me got the genius idea of re-watching the first two seasons of “Friends” and bam. Totally worth it.

I let the shower run until the warm water came and in the meantime I started undressing. After I managed to remove the remaining stench of graffiti, I brushed my teeth and did all my other business in the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, I was standing in front of the mirror, green eyes staring at my dressed figure. My hair was wrapped in a towel so as not to wet my outfit, which consisted of slim black jeans and a black, somewhat see-through loose shirt that I had casually tucked in the front. The school’s symbol red tie hung loosely around my neck, representing my uniform for the day.

I would only be there for half a day anyway, they would hardly notice, right? Who am I kidding? If I’m being honest I don’t give a flying fuck anymore. You can say I care as much about it, as I care about what Kim, Khloé or whatever-the-other-one-was Kardashian is doing right now. Oh right, I don’t.

Regarding the outfits that I wore to school, they were either super fancy or not at all. By that I mean either tight and bitchy or an oversized t-shirt with simple jeans, a hoodie when it’s chilly. These I either stole from one of my brothers, or bought specifically for that purpose. Usually the former. I try to do it more often these days and go back to what I wore before, because I seriously start despising those tight clothes that tend to squeeze the life out of me. Even if I look good in them. I still hate them.

Taking a look at myself for the last time, I let my wet hair down and touched it up a little, after which I left my room, heading for the stairs. While I walked down I decided on getting something to eat from the kitchen before we went out. So instead of going straight, in the direction of the door, I turned right to the kitchen. I reached into one of the drawers and grabbed a pack of recently-bought Oreos.

“God bless whoever bought these.” I murmured while opening the pack. I began walking toward the front door, grabbing the key for my car and the wallet from the small retro drawer at the entrance. I love it mainly because it’s vintage and extremely cute.

Standing on the porch, I stared at the greenery surrounding our house. It was so beautiful - magical even. I used to spend more time here, either sitting at the table in the garden and drawing or lying on the grass with my brothers and the animals or simply just dancing barefoot around. I used to do a lot of things outside, whereas now I prefer to stay inside my room. I still paint when I get bored, but somehow in my paintings there is always a window in front, which I’ve noticed makes the painting less interesting and unclear. Now even if I wanted to, I couldn’t go out and start painting like before. I can’t seem to remove that window. Not that I don’t want to.

I put an end to all the sad thoughts, starting to form in my mind and turned to our apparently empty house. Where is my brother? I said fifteen minutes and it has been seventeen. So where is he?

Via is one of the people who neither loves to be late nor loves people who are late. She prefers to be ten minutes early than one minute late. And Noah? He’s two minutes late now.

And yes, she is like literally going to school in the middle of the day, but she had a valid reason: it’s hard to say no to Noah. Bellamy Blake is not even up for discussion. That’s another level of obsession that shouldn’t be mentioned. Even I have no idea what this girl is capable of doing for him.

Here I am, seventeen minutes later, patiently waiting for my brother to come down.

Yeah, not really. What actually happened was more like this:

“Noah! Where the hell are you?” I yelled as loud as my sleepless state allowed me. He should know by know, that when I say fifteen minutes, I mean exactly fifteen minutes.

“Coming!” I heard his cry coming from the second floor, so I started walking to my car and just as he came running out of the house, carrying a bag bigger than me on his shoulders, I turned the McLaren on. Seconds later he tucked the giant bag into the trunk in the front and got into the car panting, as if he had just finished a marathon.

“You know very well that I don’t like to wait. So what do you do about it? Make me wait. What took you so long anyway?” I asked when he closed his door.

“I’m sorry V, I swear I was down at forty-five, but then I remembered that I had practice in the afternoon and went back to get my gear. This is why I got the bag by the way, I couldn’t find mine, which slowed me down even more. Anyway, I went down, but suddenly I felt hungry, so I went to the kitchen to get the Oreos I bought yesterday, but they were gone, so I had to look for them. I didn’t find them and got some granola bars instead. And just when I was walking to the door, I remembered that I had left my bag in the kitchen, so I went back, picked it up and ran out. It was a lot of running, which reminded me of the study I read last week about— ”

“Noah. You’re ranting again buddy. You could’ve stopped after the first sentence and it still would’ve been enough. Thanks for the detailed explanation though.” By the time he had finished telling me what delayed him, we were already a third of the way. And I wasn’t even speeding.

“Is it bad? My ranting I mean. Because there’s this one kid in my psychology class, that like, legit doesn’t stop talking, which gets annoying quickly. Even I can’t stand it sometimes. I talked to him on Friday and--” I gave him just one look and...

“I’m doing it again ain’t I?”

He usually rants only when he’s excited about something extremely interesting that he has learned and wants to share it with someone. Either that or he’s nervous.

“Noah, what is wrong?”

“Nothing. Why should something be wrong, I just like talking. That way I can exchange knowledge, express feelings and stuff. You hate talking because of that, remember?” I’m so not believing that. He rarely talks that much and he always knows what to say when. Something has to be up.

“Why are you nervous?” I asked and turned to him when we stopped at a stoplight.

“I already told you, nothing’s wrong and I’m not nervous.” Does he realize that him not looking at me won’t help me believe him?

“If you’re going to lie to me at least put some effort in. You make me feel bad about what an example I am setting for you.” I laughed a little and then looked at him seriously. “Don’t tell me you’re worried because you skipped the first three periods?” Just then he turned his head and looked out the window. And even so, his faint smile did not go unnoticed by me. What do you need your wing mirrors for, if not for situations like this?

“Yeah, that’s probably it, I just don’t like skipping school.” He said rather slow, turning his attention back to me to see if I believe his lie. I faked a relieved smile and saw him move his gaze to the road yet again. “But it was worth it. I would totally do it again with the next season.” It was a little too obvious what he was trying to do and that he wasn’t telling the whole truth. I decided on letting it slide this time, because if he wanted to, he would’ve told me.

But even if I tried, I couldn’t stop the thought forming in the back of my head, making me wonder if it was about a girl.

Sue me and the books that stand on my shelf.

It’s their fault what she did next.