White. Smooth. Creamy. Paper. Greyson loved his notebook, which he filled with more songs, poems, potential lyrics. He scribbled furiously, clearly zoned out. Yes, he knew he shouldn't be walking while writing, but that was Greyson for you. He felt a sudden jolt along his elbow, and barely tore his eyes from his paper to see a girl picking up an array of papers. Greyson bent down, picking up a few of the papers, and handing them to the girl. He then resumed walking. Walking and scribbling.

((Failure. ;x I dunno if that was him, but I made it him. o:))

Scanning the floor frantically, eM searched for the remaining pages of her lab chart. Dangit, must have left them on my desk, she thought, and as she rose from a crouch she smacked her head on the missing papers, which seemed to be floating above her head. Confused and attempting to avoid the other schoolkids scrambling to their clas.ses as the bell rang, she grabbed the papers and saw the unknown boy walk away. He was writing something, eM couldn't tell what, but his looked like the notebook of some sort of musician.

"Thanks," she whispered, but he had already been absorbed into the crowd. She shook her head and rushed to find her locker.

((sorry, I fail at multitasking xD))

((Join the club. xD))

Sighing, Greyson tapped his pencil rapidly against his notebook, running out of lyrics. A new song he was working on, entitled "Why?", was mostly done. But it needed a strong finishing verse. Brrring! He clutched his notebook, grabbed another spare he took notes in, and hurried to his next clas.s.

Sliding into his A.P History clas.s, Greyson thought of the chick who bumped into him. Hm, don't know her. Not giving it much more time, he copied the notes off the board, and then spotted someone. Someone, who looked slightly, very slightly familar was sitting a row ahead of him. Shrugging, he buried his nose back into his lyrics. So far, all he had was:

Took a deep breathe, wallowin' in hate,

I saw your face, but that didn't bother me.

What shook my core {repeat 'core'}, was how happy she waaa*censored*s,

{Oh, Oh, Um}

Why, why did you do it?

Shatter my heart, cause the paaaain,

why, why did you laugh in my face,

call me a loser,

a shame, disgraaacce?

Everyday, another wave of hurt {Ummah}

swallows me whole,

stealin' my sooouuul,

all because

you turned out to be

a {crazy, hyped guitar riff}

Why, why did you do it?

call me a loser,

a shame, disgrace?

He glared at his lyrics. He hated him. He needed inspiration, besides his brother's heartbreak. With a great heave, Greyson push aside his notebook, furious that his songs had sunk so low.

((Sorry, had to come up with something that resembled a song, LOL))

Oh, come on, now. Please. Work with me here, she thought, as she desperately tried to cram her books into a locker overflowing with bits of rubber, lace and buttons she had collected from the corners of the art clas.sroom. A shoe and a half-eaten marshmallow diagram fell from the top shelf. "Ah, forget it," she mumbled, and kicked the stuff underneath her locker. She, as usual, was one of the stragglers left in the hall as she scampered to her next clas.s.

As she took her seat, she began to wonder if the school band needed a drummer, or perhaps a pipe organist.

((who was the someone that looked slightly familiar? :o ))

((-waggles eyebrows mysteriously- Let's call her trouble. ;D -suspense-))

Greyson was impatient. He needed to find inspiration. Inspiration, which, if you hadn't guessed, was found elsewhere. Like out of this boring clas.s. In seemed as though History lasted hours. Finally, gloriously, the bell sounded, which meant free period. Thanking God, Greyson scurried out of the clas.s, and outside. Now, usually he sat near a patch of flowers, staring up at the sky. A good clear-minding spot. But now, as he realized, he needed something fresh. Walking, he strolled around to the other side of the school, to find a "bad" place. Meaning graffiti, broken glas.s, you know, the usual. Only one other person was there, some chick, but she seemed to be in her own world, so he knew he could concentrate.

((Hmnah. We need to make them meet again, and have a partial-convo, rofl. xD))

There were so many of them. Hundreds, thousands of pawns and rooks and knights... why were they chasing her? Stop!! Stop, she commanded. I'm the leader of this realm. Now go make me a...

*RRRRRIIIINNNGGG*

"Sandwich!" eM announced importantly, as she sat upright at her desk. Several people turned to look as they packed their bookbags, but many just ignored the noctournal weirdo.

Uh. Oops, she thought, as she realized that she was still in clas.s. The bell was still ringing when the last few victims of Mrs. McCaughtry's clas.s escaped. 

"I don't want to go to 5th, we have a test today," she muttered. "I'll take it tomorrow. Say I had a migrane."

Slipping through the hidden door in the janitors closet, she escaped to her world of paint and color and broken, broken... everything... trees fell in the path of the Back. Gras.s would not grow in the constant shadow.

A familiar scene formed in her mind as she slumped against the brick wall... a place where the crazies danced in the rain and dogs had rubber teeth... and hens laid softboiled eggs... oh, what gentlemen the brakemen were, to tip their hats to her... but those poor, blind railroad bulls. She made glas.ses for them and sang and talked to the octopus in his garden...

((Okay, I officially love eM. xD))

Greyson stared endlessly at his notebook. Soon, the smudged words began to taunt him, mock him. Angry and frustrated, he threw he notebook in a random direction. Maybe this spot made him angry, he didn't know. What he wasn't expecting, though, was to here a loud THUMP as the notebook struck something. Or someone. He looked up to see the the notebook laying beside the chick, obvious he had hit her. With a slight gasp, Greyson walked over, and bent down. "I'm so sorry. I had no clue that'd hit you. Are you alright?" Then he recognized the girl. The same one who has bumped into him earlier.

Startled, she jerked herself upright, hit her head on the wall, fell sideways and began to giggle uncontrollably. She was vaguely aware of the presence of another being, but she still had the image of dancing chipmunks burned into her retinas.

As she collected herself, she turned around and saw someone gathering the pages of a crumpled notebook. He was still mumbling apologies, and she was still giggling. 

"Ahaha, ha, haa... no, it's okay, really. xD It's cool. Do you need some help with... WAIT! I know you!! Erm, uh. I don't... you're that guy in the hall. With the notebook. Um. Hi, I'm eM."

She thrust her hand forward, offering a handshake. With the other, she picked up a crumpled sheet of paper and scanned it discreetely, so that the frazzled boy might not notice.

"You're a songwriter. Aren't you? I mean, it would be weird if you weren't, 'cause I just said you were, and... here."

She handed him the tattered sheet entitled "Why?".

Greyson stared at the girl. She had just gotten hit with a flying notebook, and here she was, giggling. He blinked, then shook his head slightly, his multi-colored locks ruffling gently. He carefully placed his lyrics back into his notebook, hoping they weren't damaged. He'd pas.s out, probably, if they were damaged.

Then it struck him; she said something. Her name was eM. Gently taking the sheet from her hand, he used the other to shake her extended hand. "Hey. I'm Greyson." He stared at the sheet she handed him. It was "Why?". Sighing, he crumpled the paper up wearily, stuffing the paper into his back pocket, careful not to litter.

Then he turned his focus back to eM's question. Or statement. Whatever. "Yeah, I guess. But at the moment, I'm a failing songwriter. My bandmates will kill me if I don't have a song ready before opening night." He glanced at her, then said slightly apologetic, "You probably don't know what I'm talking about. I'm the lead singer in a band called Questions."

Greyson's eyes rose, looking at the side of her head. She had hit it pretty hard. "...and you're sure you're alright?"

As she shook the boys hand, she studied his hair. She had the same cowlick in the front, but she decided to straighten it that day. As her giggling receded, questions and ideas began to slip through her mind, exploding into fragments, more detailed questions, before she could voice them.

"Greyson, Greyson... Greys..uh.. mm.." she whispered as she realized that this was the first person she had ever actually interacted with at her school, besides her favorite teacher, Mrs. Bagwell. 

"Oh! Those lyrics... were you going to keep those? Can I, er, can I see that last one again?" she asked, and realized that she was still clutching his hand. She nervously let go, and her head began to throb. A bruise the size of Texas was clearly in her future. 

"And your band.. you're in a band? That's really cool. You know, I was in a band once.. well, kind of. With my brother. Michael? You know him? About 5'9", you know. Blonde hair.. I think... well, who knows what color it is now. Haha. He plays a little bit of everything.. mainly accordion and flute, though. Oh, listen to me, rambling on. I'm sorry. Here, let me fix that for you," she muttered, fixing the zipper on his satchel, which was jammed with ripped papers.

Greyson laughed, a rich, full laugh. eM was weird, really weird, but there was something about her that made him feel relaxed. Still smiling, he pulled the wadded lyric sheet from his back pocket, and smoothed it out. He noticed how she acted a bit jumpy, and thought it was a bit weird that she was trying to fix his satchel. He chuckled slightly, then grabbed her hands, moving them away from his satchel. "Uh, thanks, but I think my papers are ripped enough." He laughed a bit, then grabbed "Why?" and studied it, all serious now.

"I guess you can look at it. I'm stuck on the last verse, plus I'm not inspired. At all." He carefully handed her the paper, then began sorting his notebook. Tons of pages flew everywhere, and he just gathered them, and sorted them neatly. Folding them, he placed them back in his notebook.

((Short, now reply fast so I can go. xD))

eM worked methodically at the zipper, careful not to damage the caught papers, when Greyson took her wrists and forced her to abandon the task. She looked up, and resumed her butterfly-like giggles. His laughter was contagious.

She took the page carefully in her gloved hands and studied it. "You seem depressed. I mean, not you, but the speaker in the song. But in real life... well, I mean, I can't say that. I hardly know you. But.. lyrics don't speak unless they're inspired by something. Uhm, can I take this home? I have an idea."

((Sorry. It snowed, power crashed, then when it came on, ma wouldn't let me get on))

Greyson leaned back, closing his eyes. "Yeah, I based it off my brother. He caught his girlfriend cheating on him. I tried to convey the hurt I saw in his eyes, how depressed he became. Nothing could really comfort him, nor the tear she put in his soul.. It was really painful. But as you can see, my personality is too.....I dunno, point is, it didn't work." He smiled weakly, his eyes still closed. "Listen to me, going on about this."

He opened them, then looked at eM. "Sure, take it with you. Do whatever with it. throw it in the trash, step on it. Heck, eat it, I don't care." In the distance, he heard a bell sound. Getting up, he dusted off his pants, and helped eM up. ((as.suming they were sitting, rofl. xDD)) Without another word, he walked away, a wee bit quickly, trying to make it to his last clas.s on time.

((Faily fail post.))

((lol. s'ok. xD haha I'm totally going to do something with that song.))

"Oh... oh my. That's terrible," she muttered, frowning. "Perhaps, if you still wanted to write a song for him... I don't know. Try something a little more supportive, you know, help him move on."

eM continued to mumble about the stupidity of some girls while she absentmindedly dug through her bag for a piece of paper as a song formed in her mind. Piano melodies drifted through her head and dow her arms to her fingertips and..

*RRIIIIINGG*

"Blast. I do wish they'd install a less obnoxious bell of some sort." Pulling herself up by Greyson's hand, she glanced around quickly for her half-empty Monster can. Taking a step backwards, she heard and felt a loud "crunch" beneath her foot and felt the remains of the beverage soak through the felt soles of her boots.

"Eww," she mumbled, and kicked the can into the air, hacky-sacking it into a nearby garbage bin.

She turned around to ask Greyson about the guitar solo in his song but he had already left.

"Odd kid. Wonder if I could..write.. piano... maybe an acoustic..." eM completed her thought with a soft grunt and yanked the door to the janitors closet open. 

(( Lol, can't wait. O: And I know eM did not just call him odd. XD Fast-forwarding to tomorrow, if that's alright. ))

The next day, when Greyson's free period rolled around, he made his way back to the spot he was at yesterday. Getting comfortable on the hard pavement, Greyson switched on his iPod, scrolling through the tons of songs he had, all by a diverse group of bands and artists. He selected his band, Questions. You may be thinking that Greyson was self-absorbed, but he really listened to himself to critique himself, finding flwas to correct.

Turning to a fresh sheet, as the music began, it didn't take long for him to realize what sucked. Writing little notes down, his thoughts turned to the chick he had met yesterday. eM. She was...a bit strange, but for some reason, he felt comfortable around her. Unlike many of his peers that he avoided, he felt he could talk to her. It went against his usual-quiet tendancies.

Focusing back on his music, a new song played, and down went more notes. -Missed a note -high pitched in one area - voice warbled they just kept flowing. Unfortunately, Greyson had pulled an all-nighter to finish a project, and soon began to doze, falling onto the ground, pencil rolling freely along the ground, notebook sprawled open on the page he was writing on. Soon, soft snores broke free of the exhausted Greyson.

((Faaaaaiiiillll.))

((I feel like eM today xD I kit my head on the table and started giggling and I'm still kinda laughing xD))

At last, eM finished the last sentence of her 4-page essay test. She was an extremely fast writer but, because her mind continued to wander in the direction of a song she was writing called "Don't Fade Away", she had no idea if her lengthy paragraphs made any sense whatsoever. It was only 5 minutes into the clas.s.

She tripped to the front of the room, handed the teacher her paper and asked if she could go get a glas.s of water. Mr. Mingledorf nodded and she fled the room, a little too quickly, and by the time the door had shut behind her, she was halfway down the hall. Yanking her locker open, she dug to the bottom of her bag for a tattered piece of paper with half of the song scratched ontoit with a dried-up pen. Tearing a few fresh pieces of paper from her binder, she sprawled out on the floor and quickly wrote down the rest of the song, which, by then, she had memorized.

As she scanned the page to look for a suitable place for a violin solo, she recalled the folded sheet of paper that she had carefully tucked into the secret pocket of her sweater, which she had accidentally left in her locker the day before. Grabbing her sweater from the magnetic hook in her locker she jogged down the hall to the secret door in the janitors closet and stepped outside. Slumped against the wall was a dozing Greyson, snoring quietly. eM giggled and nudged him with the toe of her boot. 

"Hey, sleeping beauty. Wakey wakey. I've got something to show you."

She pulled a neatly-written sheet of lyrics from her pocket, and waved it in front of his face.

It read:

--------------------------------------------------------------

 Don't Fade Away

On the very day I met you there was

Some sort of connection

I just had to let you in my heart

My eyes just saw perfection, my mind was

Blown at every word you spoke to me

I couldn't do much more than listen...

Chorus:

It happened fast

I wish the moment'd last

Forever,

I wish the sky was pink and blue

Just as it was the very first time that I

Felt your loving hands

Upon my shoulders,

I wish the sun and moon and stars

Didn't have to fade away...

Well it's been a while but you know

My love for you has only grown a

Thousand times from what it was

The night we sat beneath the stars

You held my hand and I held yours

We stepped right through a thousand

Open doors...

[Chorus]

So, we kept in touch long after the

Departure from eachother's arms

400 miles really didn't

Seem that far at all

Until you called

I swear I felt your breath,

It took my own away

You know I miss you...

[Some sort of instrumental]

[Chorus]

My memory's been disappearing fast

And only reappearing

In my dreams where images

Fly through my mind like shattered gl*censored*

A precious shard left here and there

A tattered picture of you hidden

Somewhere....

[Chorus]

[Humming-type solo thing]

Don't fade awayyyy

------------------------------------------------------------

eM withdrew the page and re-read it as she plopped down next to the still-dozing boy.