Something Peculiar

6

A figure was crouched out my window, my second story window. Admittedly, there's a small roof right outside of it, but that's still not exactly the thing you expect to see. On top of that, it wasn't just anybody. It was Lalisa Manoban, looking hopeful, but not at all ashamed or frightened at having been caught peeping into my room. In fact, she knocked gently at the glass, and belatedly, I realized that's what had woken me up. She hadn't been peeping intentionally; she'd been trying to sneak into my room. So that was slightly less creepy, I supposed.

For some reason, I got up and went over to the window. I caught sight of myself in the mirror, and I did not look good. My pajamas were of the sad, comfy variety, and not the sexy negligee type. I would've liked to wear for a midnight rendezvous. My hair was a total mess, and my eyes were red and puffy. On top of that, I knew I shouldn't even let Lisa in my room. She was clearly psychotic and probably a sociopath, and she didn't make me feel good about myself. Besides Tae would kill us both if he caught her in here. But I thought would that rule still apply for Lisa, or for a girl?

So, I stood in front of the window, my arms crossed and glared at her. I was pissed off and hurt, and I wanted her to know it. Normally, I prided myself on not getting hurt, let alone telling people if they had hurt me. But this time, I thought it would be better if she knew that she was a total bitch.

"I'm sorry!" Lisa talked loudly so her voice would carry through the glass, and her eyes echoed the sentiment. She looked genuinely remorseful, but I wasn't ready to accept her apology yet. Maybe never would.

"What do you want?" I demanded as loudly as I could without Tae hearing me.

"To apologize. And to talk to you." Lisa looked earnestly at me. "It's important." I chewed my lip, debating between what I knew I should do and what I really wanted to do. This was the first time anyone had ever snuck up to my window or apologized to me after I had slapped them. "Please."

Against my better judgment, I opened the window. I left the screen in so she could mess with that, and took a step back so I was sitting on the end of my bed. Lisa pulled the screen out easily, and I wondered how much experience she had with sneaking in to someone's windows. Carefully, she climbed into my room, shutting the window behind her. She glanced over my room, making me feel self-conscious. it was rather messy, with clothes and books strewn about. My computer was on my desk in the corner, buried beneath water bottles and either random garbage. I had posters on my wall for Labyrinth and the Cure, but the rest of my stuff sat in two large cardboard boxes and a trunk on one side of my room.

"So what did you want?" I said as curtly as I could, trying to drag her attention back to me instead of inspecting my disarray.

"I'm sorry," Lisa repeated with that same sincerity she had outside. "Tonight I was cruel." She looked away thoughtfully before continuing. "I don't want to hurt you."

"So why did you?' I asked sharply.

Licking her lips, she shifted and exhaled deeply. She had intentionally been mean to me. It wasn't some accident because she was cocky or unaware of how he treated people. everything he did felt meticulous and purposeful. Even though she claimed she didn't want to hurt me, the simple act of her having hurt me proved that that she wanted to. But she hesitated on telling me the reasons.

"I don't care if it seems appropriate or not!" I snapped, then remembered that Tae and Jessica were sleeping down the hall and hastily lowered my voice. "I think I have a right to know what's going on."

"I came here to tell you," Lisa assured me. "To explain everything. This isn't the way we normally do things, so I had to make a phone call before I came to see you. I was trying to figure things out. That's why its so late. I'm sorry."