Alfred awoke in his bedroom, and rolled over to pick up his light blue cell phone. Surprisingly, he'd awoken before the alarm had gone off. The star shaped phone charm glinted as he put the phone back down, getting out of bed as he went. Alfred placed his glasses on his face, and smiled. Time to start his first day of high school.

He got up, brushed his teeth, and got dressed. He padded down the stairs and into the kitchen, where his mother was cooking bacon and eggs on the stove.

"Good morning," she said with a smile. "My, aren't you up early!"

"Yeah," Alfred said as he set the table. "I woke up before my alarm went off."

"Now if only you would do that every day! Now, go wake up your brother and tell him it's time for breakfast."

Alfred did as he was told, heading back up the stairs and into Matthew's room. Matthew was twelve years old, three years younger than Alfred.

"Come on bro, wake up, or else you aren't getting breakfast."

Matthew didn't move at first, but finally brought himself to rise out of bed. He yawned, and slowly went down the stairs, where Alfred was already eating.

Quickly, Alfred finished his breakfast, and ran upstairs, grabbing his school bag and his charged cell phone as he went.

"Bye, mom! Bye, Matt! Love you!"

See, Alfred had a place he wanted to go to before he took the train to school. There was a hill with stairs to the top, and you could look out over the railing and see the whole town, the mountains standing proud up in the distance.

It took Alfred about fifteen minutes to finally get there, but for him it was definitely worth it. After gazing out for a few minutes, the blonde American pulled out his phone, and took a picture. It was then he noticed the time, and then proceeded to hurry back down the hill, and towards the train station.

The train ride to school seemed to take forever, and Alfred had no one to talk to during the ride. After a while, it finally stopped, freeing him as he walked the rest of the way to school.

Alfred walked towards the entrance when he noticed a pale boy with blonde hair getting out of an expensive, fancy car. A few other students turned to look as well, and the boy looked a little embarrassed as the car drove away. He quickly walked inside of the building, and Alfred decided, out of curiosity, to follow him.

"Hey!" Alfred's shout caused the boy to turn, and Alfred got a really good look of his emerald green eyes. They were shy and sweet, yet there was an underlying fierceness to them. "I saw you came in a car," Alfred said.

"Yeah, my father wanted to make sure I made it safely on my first day," the boy said. "But starting tomorrow I'll be taking the train."

"Really? I take the train too!"

"Do you want to walk to the opening assembly together? Let me see your schedule…"

The two sat through the assembly together, and discovered that they shared the same class. After the assembly was over, they walked back, talking as they went.

"I'm sorry I never introduced myself. My name's Alfred F. Jones."

"Arthur Kirkland. I moved from England a few years ago."

Alfred almost walked right by the classroom as they went together. Arthur smiled to himself as he beckoned Alfred inside.

Days passed, and soon the two found themselves slowly becoming best friends. Every day in class together, eating lunch together, comparing progress reports; Alfred had good grades, but Arthur's were always better. They would go over to the other's house, talk on the train, compare heights; Alfred was always a little taller than Arthur.

One Friday after school, Alfred and Arthur clambered onto the train home.

"Iggy, Iggy! There's a place I want to show you today!" Alfred exclaimed as the train lurched to a stop. Before Arthur could protest, Alfred took his hand and pulled him along jogging a little.

He and Arthur went up the hill, and finally got to the top, puffing.

"Arthur, look!" Alfred said, pointing out at the scenery. Arthur looked on in awe, the sunset illuminating his face. He turned to Alfred, who was pulling something from a pocket in his backpack.

Arthur took the proffered item from Alfred, and opened his hand to take a look at it. It was a star phone charm, similar to Alfred's, a very pale blue, and instead of a wrist strap, there was a chain.

"See, now you can keep it on your phone, or wear it like a bracelet!" Alfred said with a laugh. Arthur laughed too, and hugged Alfred. The sunset in the background caused a glint in the star, sparkling in the light.

Alfred started basketball practice the next day, Arthur watching from the sidelines. Arthur then saw the volleyball team, and felt something well up inside of him. He wasn't good at basketball, but maybe…!

He came over to Alfred after school as they walked to the train station together. "I'm going to try out for the volleyball team, I think. I want to do a sport like you."

"That's great, Arthur!"

Thankfully for Arthur, he made the team, and quickly became one of the top players.

More time passed, and summer came. Arthur and Alfred began to have more sleepovers, whereas during the school year they had only a few, because of homework.

"You're house is huge, Arthur!" Alfred's voice echoed through the entrance. "This is so neat!"

Arthur blushed a bit at that statement, but smiled. "Thanks."

"No, thank you for letting me stay over."

Poor Arthur, his blush grew brighter. He helped Alfred take his overnight stuff into Arthur's bedroom, a somewhat large room with a queen sized bed, two large windows, a chair, its own bathroom, and other furnishings. It was larger than Alfred's quaint little living room.

Alfred set his belongings down on the floor, looking around. "I like your room."

Arthur smiled. "Thank you. I'm sorry that my parents aren't home now. It's just us and a few of the servants."

"That's cool by me!"

That was one of the things Arthur liked about Alfred. Alfred just rolled with things, never making small things into a big deal. Not to mention he was always there for Arthur…

Before the two teens knew it, summer had passed them by, and they began their second year of high school.

"We're not in the same class anymore…"

"Aww, Arthur, it's okay! We'll still have clubs together, and lunch, and after school, and the train rides, and hanging out on the weekends."

"You're right. Nothing can stop us."

Sports started up again, and one day from his side of the court, Arthur noticed Alfred talking to another buy, Peter. It wasn't until lunchtime that Arthur got to see Peter in person though.

"Hey, Arthur, come over here! This is Peter, he's on the basketball team with me."

Arthur smiled at Peter, who grinned back, but Arthur couldn't help but feel something inside of him retreat. From then on, talk was always about basketball with Alfred and Peter. It wasn't that Arthur disliked Peter, he thought Peter was rather nice. Unfortunately, though, he was left out of many conversations because he wasn't in basketball, and the in-school rivalry between the basketball and volleyball teams wasn't helping.

One day on the train ride home, Alfred turned to Arthur. "Hey, are you okay?"

Arthur's eyes, which had blanked out, snapped back to life. "Oh, I'm fine. Just a bit spaced out is all."

Arthur was like that again the very next day at school though, as Alfred noticed. What Alfred failed to notice however, was when Peter came up to talk to him, how Arthur slipped out of the doorway. In a kind of trance, Arthur walked into the empty school corridor, a black mass consuming him. In a green flash, he vanished.

Alfred was putting his school things into his bag when his phone vibrated. Whipping out his phone, Alfred checked to see what it said. His eyes widened in fear when he read the message. His mother wanted him home as soon as possible, because something urgent had happened.

The journey home seemed to take a lifetime, and Alfred finally came home to his anxious mother, and two policemen. Arthur had gone missing.

That night, Alfred lay on his bed, feeling hollow inside. His phone lay beside him, the star twinkling in the pale moonlight. Tears slipped out of his blue eyes and down his face, soaking into the quilt.

Suddenly, his phone buzzed; a message had come. Quickly, Alfred reached for his phone, sitting up. It was from Arthur! He eagerly opened the message, only to find that it said nothing.

"Arthur…"

Alfred glanced at the star hanging off of his phone. An idea came to him, and he knew what he had to do. Arthur…!