Note: This is still in draft form. It could change, but I just wanted  to give you guys a flavour of what the story is like so far. I’ll welcome any comments (as long as they are constructive), and I hope you guys will enjoy! ^^

Chapter 1 – Sleepless nights

“Ugh… What time is it?”

Anthony had once again been unaware of the time, as he realised he had stayed up until the early hours of the morning. He looked at the clock, and just shrugged. It was normal for him to be up that late anyway, so he didn’t mind. He let out a sigh, and looked back at his conversation with a certain someone on his laptop. She still had not replied to his previous message. He let out another sigh.

Anthony Wilkins was a perfectly average person. He was liked by many people, did well in his studies, and overall, no one could find a fault with him. However people viewed him, he still thought lowly of himself. Ever since he met her.

Beth Thompson. He had met her once, at a friends’ party, but he couldn’t forget her. She was always in his thoughts, and he had always wondered whether that was… weird. He never really had the chance to go out and do something with her, and he had only seen her once since the party. But that one time was enough to last him a lifetime.

“I think I will go and make myself some tea… Should help me get to sleep…” Anthony muttered.

Slowly getting to his feet, he then quietly crept towards his bedroom door, opening it ever so slowly to avoid waking anyone up. He tiptoed out his room, and he eventually made it downstairs. Silently making his way into the kitchen, he got himself ready to make a cup of tea.

As he put some water in the kettle and turned it on, he turned towards the window and turned his gaze to look outside. It was still quite dark, and he could hear the unseen birds in the far distance. It was a quiet and peaceful time, which is partly why he loved the early hours of the morning. It provided him bliss, as it gave his mind the wonderful freedom to wander. There were so many thoughts buzzing through his mind, it tried to make sense of it all, to with no avail. However at that precise moment, the kettle let off a shrill whistle, snapping him back to reality.

Having finished what he came downstairs to do, he carefully made his way back to his bedroom, taking care not to spill the hot cup of tea on the carpet. He put it down on the desk next to his laptop, and saw that he had a reply.

xBethyx says: I think I’m off to sleep now! Night Anthony!

Anthony sighed. He felt his heart sink that she had gone whilst he was away, but he quickly typed a response.

That Ant Guy says: Take care, and sweet dreams! ^^

He then proceeded to switch off his laptop, and he sat down on his chair, slowly finishing off his cup of tea, lost in deep thought. Did she have any idea that he liked her? Is it even possible for her to feel the same way he does? He shook his head as he tried to rid himself of these thoughts, which seemed to plague him. With a groan, he finally lay down on his comfortable bed, eventually drifting off to a light slumber some time much later, with her still in his mind and dreams as always.

Several restless hours later, alarms on various clocks went off in a deafening unison, but Anthony did not stir. His younger brother, Paul, groaned as once again, he was woken up by the deafening alarms of his still-sleeping sibling.

“This is getting annoying now…” grumbled Paul. “I’d better get ready for college, and make sure that dufus of a brother is up! If he’s still asleep after all those alarms going off…”

Groggily, Paul sat up in his bed and squinted. The early morning light trickled in through the slits of his bedroom curtain, and he could hear the unseen birds singing in the distance, like his elder brother had heard earlier. He stood up, and steadily walked out of his room, and headed directly towards Anthony’s room, opening his door gently and peered inside. Anthony was still sprawled out across his bed, his room in disarray. Paul also noticed several cups of what appeared to be tea, and lots of text books scattered around his sibling’s room. As Paul continued to survey the small room, which was in disarray, he then heard Anthony mumble something completely unexpected.

“No…Not Be…” was all he said. Paul gazed intently at his brother, and noticed a tear slowly run down the side of his face.

“Was it just me, or was Ant about to say what I think he was going to say?” Paul thought to himself. This wasn’t the first time he caught his sibling muttering her name, she must have been important to him. However, Paul realised that time was running against them, as it does, and they had half an hour before their bus to college arrived. Sighing, Paul gently shook Anthony to try and wake him up, to no avail.

“Ant? Dude, wake up! Do you know what time it is? The bus will be here soon!” Paul said in a slightly raised voice. Anthony finally stirred, and opened one eye sleepily.

“Oh… Go ahead and get ready, don’t worry about me. You can use the bathroom first, and thanks a lot for waking me up!” he sleepily replied.

“You really do sleep too much!” laughed Paul. “Sure, try to wake up earlier next time, alright? We don’t want to miss that bus, especially since it is our first day back to college!”

“I know, I know. Just chill, will ya?” replied Anthony. “Please hurry up when you’re using the bathroom, by the way! “ He then gave Paul a smile.

“Look who’s talking! And I will if you promise me that you will hurry up!” grinned Paul, and he left the room in a hurry. His mind was in a flurry, now lost in deep thought, wondering what his brother was dreaming about, and what he might be thinking right now, and with that, he finally set off for the bathroom, preparing for the long and eventful day ahead of him.