Dancing in the Rain (The TUSH Duology-Book 2)

Week 10

Sunday, October 25

Nothing much happened that weekend. Well, nothing after the obvious. No attempts from Brianna to kill Circe or anything like that. Er, Cetera. Brianna had no idea about the split, and it was better that way. If she knew there was a second Circe staying at my house, she might even go after her, too.

Cetera wasn't too sure about this sudden dip in activity. Was Brianna waiting for the most opportune moment to strike? Was she building up some super-attack? Either way, she knew there was no way that Brianna just up and decided she didn't want Circe's life. We was way too tenacious for that, and Cetera had to be prepared for her eventual strike.

Goddammit, why did Saide have to shove her through the portal like that? Both of them knew my place was the safest place for them right now. Saide had just sent her to her death, banished her to the place she couldn't stand to be.

Cetera was in bed right now like she usually was. She looked over at Early Bird Kora blessing her microwaved breakfast for the umpteenth time. Kora was pretty cool. That's not why Cetera didn't want to be here. It was Brianna she wanted to avoid, but that wasn't all that surprising anymore.

"Sorry again," Cetera heard Saide's voice in her head. Saide was a bit more talkative than Cetera and way more excited about having telepathic powers. "It's just that you wanted me to die."

"That's basically what's going to happen to ME," Cetera thought back. "You happy?"

"Whether I'm happy or not doesn't matter. Naughty girls who wish death upon their clones get put in the Penalty Campus."

"You know what, I don't need your shit right now."

"And I don't need yours either."

"Goodbye." Cetera hung up the imaginary phone in her head. She really needed to stop talking with Saide.

"Still afraid of getting jumped by Brianna, huh?" Kora asked.

"What?" Cetera furrowed her brows. "I don't get scared of things."

"Then why all this to avoid Brianna? Why go so far as to make a magic decoy to throw her off despite the risk of being split into two different people?"

"I didn't know that was a risk! I didn't even know it was possible."

"You're not going to lie in bed all day like this." Kora grabbed Cetera's arm and tried to tug her out of bed. "You're going to be ready when Brianna comes to attack."

"You said 'when' like it's actually going to happen," Cetera muttered, also very tired because she was not an early bird and she had been woken up by this girl every day for the past month.

"That's the spirit! Now, lemme get you some breakfast."

"Kora, for the last time, I'm not eating your Insta-Meals," Cetera assisted. "I have access to Mabee like a person who's actually allowed to live here, and I will take advantage of it."

"Geesh, you weren't always this grumpy."

"Well, all the non-grumpiness went to Saide. What do you think of that?"

Kora shrugged, "Makes sense, but I've never seen someone be split into two before. I wouldn't know how their personality would be divided. I wonder what Saide's up to now."

I decided it was finally time to tell my parents that Saide was living with us. She was going to be here for more than a bit, so I figured that hiding her would be more trouble than it was worth. I vouched her and said that she was a great roommate, omitting all the parts about how she had already stayed here once 'cause how would Mom react to that? I also removed the part about her being a witch 'cause both of my parents would freak, and I didn't mention Cetera because that would only make things more confusing.