With Our Last Words We Lie

Butterfly

Leo harnessed a curious hatred for his roommate. Jude was arrogant and cocky. He was overly tactile and dominated any space he was in – including their joint bedroom. He was everywhere.

Something about Leo seemed to have captivated his roommate and there was simply no escaping him.

Luckily, shortly after accidentally levitating all their bedroom furniture and sticking it to the ceiling, Jude had to leave and attend classes.

It turned out that the collection of buildings Leo had seen was in fact a campus, and he'd be attending his own classes there starting Monday.

Ten minutes after Jude had left, Leo had managed to levitate everything off the ceiling and back to where it belonged. He didn't know what he was doing and as items crashed down around him, he could only hope that nothing would be too damaged.

The envelope on his bed had contained a birthday card signed by all his new flatmates, who he'd still not met. Jude's signature took up a half-page.

When he'd removed the letter from his pillow, another had appeared in its place, this time from Terra:

Leo,

Your lessons start on Monday. Report to the Discovery Suite at 10am for your test.

Please find your spending card enclosed.

Terra

Today was Friday, meaning Monday was still a few days away, so Leo pushed the terrifying thought of starting a new school to the back of his mind and instead focused on the spending card.

Did that mean he had money? He could do with new clothes, seeing as he'd only packed the few items of clothing that were still in relatively good condition.

Terra hadn't mentioned money or shops or... well, they hadn't explained much of this new world that Leo had been dragged into. And while Leo had had independence thrust upon him at a young age, going out alone into foreign territory filled him with dread.

But he couldn't rely on Jude to show him around. He couldn't depend on anyone – except perhaps Terra. But even if he knew how to get hold of Terra, he couldn't exactly pull them away for a spot of clothes shopping.

Just as he had summoned the courage to leave the apartment and go out alone, the bedroom door swung open and Jude swaggered in, that stupid grin plastered across his face.

'Right then,' he chirped. 'Time to show you around.'

'I'm quite capable of showing myself around,' Leo grumbled, barging past the older boy.

Jude laughed.

'It's not like I'm offering out of the goodness of my heart. Terra's orders,' said Jude.

'Well tell Terra I don't need your help. Piss off,' Leo replied.

He was being unfair, he knew that, but taking unsolicited help wasn't something to which Leo was accustomed.

'Fine,' Jude shrugged, exiting the room.

Oh. He'd expected Jude to argue more – at least until Leo felt obligated to go with him – but now Leo was left standing stupidly in the middle of the room, with no clue of where he needed to go.

After almost half an hour, Leo skulked into the living room. Jude was sprawled across a sofa, a book covering his face.

'Come on then,' he muttered. 'I could do with some new clothes.'

Jude lowered the book and looked Leo up and down.

'Yeah, you could,' he drawled.

He deserved that but Leo held up his middle finger regardless, Jude laughing as he tossed his book aside and led the way across town to an enormous shopping centre that wouldn't have been out of place in an 80's American film.