Abby and Violet, Vol. 1: Abby and Violet, #1

By Jasa Null

 

A new Yuri light novel! Book 1 in the Abby and Violet series about opposites attracting.
When they first meet right before an exam, Violet, who is quiet and introverted but easy to read, doesn't know what to think of Abby, an extrovert and playful girl with seemingly no filter. When they are reunited in high school, a strong bond is forged from their need of human connection, bringing out the best in one another. But while Violet learns how to be a friend, Abby is in internal conflict over her feelings for her while also keeping a dark secret hidden. Will Abby's dark secret come between them? Or will their friendship survive and develop into something more?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jasa Null
• Release date: Jun 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223158400

Jasa Null

Born and raised in Portugal Jasa had been searching for something that made him buzz his whole life. Finally, after being bored to death in a class on a Hotel Management course, the story of Abby and Violet came to him.

Book preview

Opposites Meet

Sleep is such a sweet reprieve, but one I so rarely got.

Once again, I was being awakened by a drop of sweat tickling my face after what felt like a very short period of light sleep. I had a fan at full blast in my bedroom, but it did little to placate the vicious heat the walls were emitting after having been bombarded by the summer sunlight.

Only thirty minutes, I grumbled after squinting at my phone.

My house was like many of my little town. Small, white walled, two story high and with a diminutive walled backward for hanging clothes and maybe have a few plants. My neighbourhood in particular had been built almost sixty years ago and intended to be cheap housing, so insulation wasn’t something ever remotely considered. In consequence, it got stifling hot during the summer and frigid when the winter came.

We were in the middle of July, but the heat had still to reach its peak. People my age, like my classmates as an example, didn’t seem to mind the heat though. They were all going around town during the day, now free from school, to hang out with their buddies. That constituted mostly going to the pool, camping, or going around the recently build mall. Like I said, we are a small town, so there really isn’t all that many activities to choose from. At least, that was my uneducated opinion.

Maybe if they went to the city next over, but that would mean a full hour trip by train and double that if you took the bus. With this weather? Yeah, no.

...Tsk. Who cares anyway...

I couldn’t care less about what my classmates were doing in their free time. No, I had more pressing matters to worry about. Or maybe I should be saying, previous classmates?

Again, who cares?

Like I was saying, there was something more important in my mind which was also taking its toll on my rest.

While all my past classmates were having the time of their lives, I was stuck with having to study for the second phase of exams since I failed the first. This was the last chance I had to graduate into high school. Failure would mean I’d have to repeat the nineth year, and that terrified me.

Math... why did it have to be math?

I wore glasses, but unlike the stereotype, I wasn’t particularly smart. That was part of the reason.

As it might be obvious by now, there was the matter of my nerves. It frustrated me to no end how weak they were.

And the coup de grace? My grandmother passed away a week prior to the first phase of exams and that hit me harder than I’d expect. We weren’t even that close, but it still messed with me. Maybe because she took care of me when I was too young to take care of myself? That, and perhaps also because it was all so sudden.

...Ah!

I was about to fall asleep for maybe another thirty minutes, but then the thought I hadn’t set the alarm stormed into my brain, jolting me awake more than connecting me to a battery ever could.

Are you stupid? You’ve already checked it a thousand times!

I knew it very well, but my idiot brain was a whole other subject.

And speaking of subject...

Haah... might as well just get up and study some more.

There were only a couple more hours I could sleep until it was time for me to get up anyway.

A yellow sunflower with black background Description automatically generated It was barely past six when I woke up and sat on my bed. As I stretched my arms and wriggled my toes, I got into thinking how I’d spend my free time until I had to go to school to take my exam. It was at nine o’clock, so there was a lot to choose from to pass the time.

There was studying, of course, but I neither needed to—thanks to the tutoring lessons my mother forced me to take every day ever since I was six, nor did I like it. In fact, I hated it. I could see equations dancing in front of my eyes every time I blinked because, as a punishment for me having failed math, I was forced to study the whole day every day.

No, I had a better plan. Today marked the first I’d enjoy some freedom, so I was going to enjoy it to the fullest.

Going for a run would be nice... then, a bath... some slices of toast with jam for breakfast, and then, off to the exam. Yeah, that was the plan.

A purple flower with a yellow center Description automatically generated Somehow, I made it in time. I still couldn’t believe I had fallen asleep partway through my last-minute study session, shut the alarm when it rang the first and second time, and only woke up on the third.

I was always like this. If I wanted or needed to sleep, I couldn’t do it, but as soon as I wanted to stay awake, then I’d be out cold in a blink of an eye. You’d think that was an overstatement, but trust me, it was truer than it sounds.

I’d think my eyes are a bit tired, let me shut them for a sec. More often than not, that second turned into long minutes, hours even.

As a result of my lack of sleep, my head was now hurting something fierce, and if I had my eyes burning when I fell asleep, they felt like peppers had been rubbed on them as I sat on what would be my seat.

Always the screw up, huh?

To try to get my mind out of such thoughts, I started looking around to see if I recognised anyone. I didn’t.

We were six in total, but they were all from different classes. Still, there was one person in particular looking out through the window she stood by who caught my eye.

She looked completely out of place. I was sure she had either walked in by mistake or she was accompanying somebody else.

She was tiny, and I mean proper tiny. I stood at an average height of a meter-sixty-three, but if we stood together, she’d barely clear over my shoulders. Her hair was a nice golden-brown colour cut slightly above shoulder length with a flower pin on one side, and was seemingly damp. As for what she wore, well, it was... quite childish to tell you the truth.

A yellow t-shirt with some kind of mascot printed on the front. It had petals around its face, so...

Is that supposed to be a lion?

Under her denim shorts I could see tight fitting running shorts and her shoes were kinda in tatters. She did have an average sized chest, so I was split between thinking she was a thirteen-year-old, or someone who was actually my age who was just short and had a... particular taste in clothes.

She was also very jittery. I mean, we all were, but she was a whole other level. Most of us tried to stay calm, or sell the illusion of being calm, but not her. It was petty, but that made me feel better about myself. I mean, if she was that nervous, then at least someone could possibly get a worse result than me, right?

All my staring wasn’t without consequence, however.

We locked eyes for a moment, until she looked around her, confirming I was in fact observing her, and gave me a huge grin after meeting eyes with me again with a deep curiosity shining in them. It would have been amusing how she reminded me of a cat which got excited with a new toy, but it actually terrified me because I was the toy.

Oh no. Please, don’t!

My silent plea went unheeded as she came to me almost skipping.

You look terrible.

I was... dumfounded? I think that’s a good way to describe how I was at that moment. She also had a bit of a dark circle under her eyes, and I had been bracing for a greeting, but that was so left field, I forgot to even get mad at her. That’s a weird way to say hi, was the only thing my stunned mind could articulate.

Didn’t get any sleep, huh?, she carried on.

Not really, I stammered.

Hmm, yeah, I can see that much. What’s your current math score?

Nine.

Oh! Same as me, she said, putting a hand on her chin as she looked up.

I was thankful for the break in eye contact. She had gentle brown eyes, but those were probably the type I had the hardest time dealing with.

I just hoped she wouldn’t ask anything I’d regret answering next.

I had the bad habit of answering mechanically, you see. Get me distracted, bored or stressed enough during a conversation, you could ask me something incredibly private and I’d answer in a heartbeat without even realising it until too late. I’d even dare say I’d answer three or four before finally catching on.

Anyway, my image of her was getting muddier and muddier during that conversation. She kept moving her body, shifting her weigh around, rubbing her knees together, tapping her waist with a finger, and bobbing her head side to side, but her voice was so cheerful and carefree. I on the other hand, was having a bit of a hard time talking coherently and was completely frozen on my seat. And yes, I’m aware, all my answers had been as basic as they could be.

So, did miss sleepy head study anything for today?, she asked, going back to have her eyes fixed on me.

Her casual way of talking was irking me, and I wondered if we actually knew each other, impossible as it was. I would have remembered if I had ever seen her around my class. I tended to avoid the crowded places in school and I also would only talk with other people if talked to first, or if I needed and there was no other way around it.

Even so, I asked whether we had previously met or not.

"Nope. First time I’ve ever seen you. Or talked. Anyway, did you?" she said, bobbing up and down on the tips of her toes.

Such a weird girl. Extroverts are weird.

Well, yes... since I saw my test score, I said, sounding more sheepish than I’d like.

She didn’t seem to notice—or care, how I sounded though, and kept staring at me. I felt like she was trying to see if I was lying or telling the truth.

My face was starting to feel warm and I was about to look away when she spoke again.

Just short of a month, huh? In that case you will be fine. You look smart to me!

It wasn’t enough that I was already boiling from the weather, but now she also had to light up a fire in my face.

Oh... Erm... t-thanks, I said as I looked away.

Because of my glasses, right?

Pfft, hehe, she giggled, further enhancing my embarrassment. Well, I should go and sit down. Best of luck to you.

I tried thanking her, but the only thing coming out was the weirdest sound I had ever produced.

My god, that was horrible!

Not as much the conversation in itself, although that was still bad, but the way I dealt with it. How socially inept can a person be?

Ah! W-wait! The exam! I thought when the teachers walked in with the closed envelops containing the question sheets.

I had to admit, that girl had been such a distraction I forgot for a moment I was about to take the most important exam in my life. My head even felt a bit lighter. Or at the very least, I wasn’t noticing it as much.

Maybe I should have introduced myself, but the thought never occurred to me as we talked. Not that I believed we’d meet again anyway, hopefully enough.

The Second Meeting

A purple flower with a yellow center Description automatically generated A week later, and I was proven wrong in my assumption about me and her ever meeting again.

I was at school, this time to check if I had passed or not.

The school was going through renovation as a result of a government decision to modernise every school building nationwide. Since my school was built in the eighteen hundreds, it meant only the interior would be rebuild while the exterior would simply be restored.

All of this matters because instead of having the scores posted on the billboard outside, they had been moved to the inside, close to the teachers room, that section being left for last as they still needed to work there. I was deep inside the building.

I hadn’t had a wink of sleep again, so my head was hurting once more, the sound of working men and machines echoing in my skull, and my vision was a bit blurry even with my glasses on.

We were only six, couldn’t they have used a bigger font? I grumbled once I finally got there and had to locate the particular sheet with my name on it amidst the other sheets of paper.

Oh, it’s miss sleepyhead after all! Hi there!

I gave a tiny jump, startled by her sudden appearance behind me. Embarrassment rushed blood to my head as I wondered if she had heard me talking alone under my breath like some crazy person while I walked down the corridors. I hadn’t even heard her approach or follow me, but then again, with the construction going on, that wasn’t unexpected.

She was looking at me with her head slightly canted and smiling, so if she had heard me, she wasn’t showing.

Is this the way she greets anyone?

I wasn’t annoyed or anything, at least for now and in comparison to the school board. I just found it weird.

She looked practically the same, except her shoes seemed more battered somehow, and her shirt was a light blue and had the words FUN! printed on it with big cartoonish letters.

I greeted her with a very coarse and tired sounding hello. I had only muttered to myself until that point, so I was surprised by the way I was sounding out loud.

Hmm... not a morning person, are you? Or did you not sleep again?

Erm, both.

Between commenting about she looking the opposite or keeping quiet, I chose the latter.

I was in a bad mood, so attempting a conversation was even less of an attractive prospect than usual. I just wanted to go home and sleep. Or cry. It depended on the result of the exam.

Now that I think about it, the result was irrelevant to me crying or not. The reason behind my tears would be the only difference.

Pfft, hehe. Sorry, I just realised we haven’t introduced ourselves yet.

She extended me a small hand for a handshake, but by the way she had to look up for us to meet eye to eye, it looked more like a dog extending a paw.

I shook her hand, growing very self-conscious once our skins made contact and I realised my hand was sweaty.

I’m Abbigail. Abbigail Gardener, but you can just call me Abby.

H-hi... Erm, Violet... Evergreen...

Oh, you have such a pretty name! she clamoured, shaking my hand enthusiastically. Violet Evergreen, huh? I’ll make sure to remember it!

I nodded, but I doubt she saw that. She had let go the moment she finished her remark to stand by my side, staring at the board.

Ah-ha! There! she said, pointing at the board with a gleeful smile. Congrats! You passed with a score of thirteen point five!

I squinted and followed her finger. With her help I had finally managed to locate my name, and like she had told me, I had passed. I passed, and I had somehow performed better than I had expected.

Hmm, I need to go. I hope we meet again, she suddenly told me before scampering off to somewhere else.

Seriously, such a weird girl, I thought as I watched her disappear around the corner.

I looked back to the board. Watching that thirteen and the five with the dot in the middle in front of my name was making me feel stupid for having worried so much. That day, when I had to give back the question-and-answer sheet, I felt like I had done ok, so what need did I have to put me through so much stress this past week? Utter foolishness.

Wait... did she check her score?

Something told me she hadn’t.

Abbigail Gardener was it?

The names were organized in alphabetic order according to our last names, so hers was below mine.

Nineteen!?

You meant to tell me, that girl, who looked like a sixth grader and couldn’t stand still, almost had a perfect score in that exam?

It was mindboggling, but it was the reality.

My astonishment aside, I was feeling a moral dilemma.

I was arguing in my mind whether I should go after her or let her be. On one hand, she had helped me twice, even if her helping me calm down before the exam was completely just her being... her.

On the other hand, we didn’t know each other, so why should I rush after her in this heat?

No, but... what if she lives far?

I had to take a twenty-minute ride by bus to get there, not exactly a long ride, but more than I’d enjoy. For all I knew, she could live at the opposite side of town in relation to where the school was.

What if... I try get to her until I reach the school gate?

If I caught up to her, it was all fine and dandy, but if I didn’t, well, at least I couldn’t guilt myself for not trying.

I ran. At least, it was what I called running.

I wasn’t athletic at all, so it was more of a flailing of my body to propel it faster forward. At least in these cases it helped my legs being so freakishly long compared with my body. They made up for my lack of skill, even if just for a very little bit.

Still, I was unsuccessful in finding her. Regarding almost coughing up a lung, in that I’d say I was successful.

I saw you run past me as I was leaving the toilets. Are you ok? a worried voice sounded from behind. Once again, she stood behind me and I had no idea how or when she got there.

So that’s what she meant when she said she needed to go?

That was too much information, but still not enough for me to not embarrass myself.

She took us to a bench under the shade by the school gate.

I sat there, huffing and puffing while she fiddled with a vending machine.