Single Beauty

Chapter 8

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Leo's point of view:

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I hear laughing outside and sigh. They're all so noisy.

Ivy walks in a second later. "Hey Leo, listen." I look up at her. She has a terrible habit of interrupting me when I'm reading the best parts of the damn book. 

She fidgets a little. "Umm... do you know Kiri?'

Why did she want to know? I nod and look back into my book. "Yeah."

She shuffles a little. "Is she nice?" I almost burst out laughing. Kiri's nice only to people she wants to be nice to. And they're too few. Instead, I shrug.

"Do you think I can be friends with her?"

Probably, but I don't know. She changes her mind faster than a computer processor. I shrug again.

She flails her arms in frustration and I'm amused. I don't think she likes me. She noisily grabs a few things I don't know the names of and storms off into the shower.

I've never seen someone storm off into a SHOWER before. A grin breaks out on my face.

I read the last line of the page before flipping it. The constant noises from the shower are distracting me. When the sound of the shower stops, I can finally read my book again. Just one line and the sound of the hair dryer disrupts the silence. I let out an annoyed huff. When will she finish- She walks out.

I look up at her. She looks at me. And we're just looking at each other. It's like a staring competition. She doesn't look away so I don't look away either. She suddenly realizes what she's doing, clears her throat, and looks away. I frown a little, thinking. Why was I staring back-

She awkwardly goes to her bed and starts... I don't even know what she's doing. I shut my book, about to get up for a glass of water. I stand up and take a step forward when Ivy suddenly turns and crashes into me. "Ow-" I stumble and trip, my arms just stopping me from falling on the ground.

Someone moves under me and I look down at Ivy. She's sprawled on the floor below me. She pulls open an eye and gasps when she sees me. I smirk. She stutters. "Uh, Uhm- Uh I need to uh-" I'm so amused, for a second I consider not moving. But never mind. I shake my head and roll off, standing and holding up my hand for her.

The smirk is plastered to my face.

She looks at my hand, eyes widened. She takes it eventually and scrambles to her feet. "Um..." I remember her jab from earlier when I'd ignored her constant questions. She'd said I changed personalities quickly. Well, "I can't help it, I have double personalities."

She gasps when she realizes, and satisfaction runs through me. She's about to say something when the lights suddenly cut and everything goes dark. I can feel her nervousness. It's hilarious. When she gulps, I lose it. I burst out laughing. "What happened? Are you scared?"

I hear her stutter out a laugh. She sounds like a broken engine. "No, no, why would I be?"

Sure.

I move aside from her, heading to my table to get that water I stood up for. I hear shuffling and creaking noises from behind me but ignore it. I look at my watch. It was pretty late. The lights were out anyway. 

I get the stuff off my bed and lie flat on my back. The room was so silent that I could only hear Ivy breathe. I narrow my eyes. Someone needs to tell her she breathes loudly. Suddenly, she switches on her lamp. I squint and tilt my head to look at her. Shut up and sleep-

She sees me and flinches. "What the hell? Why aren't you asleep?"

Because it's barely been ten minutes, I want to say. But I ignore her because I know that if I did it would piss her off.