red is the color of love and anger.

red is the color of anger and woe

it was the morning after welcoming day.

chloe and I had been so tired from the day that we were plopped on our beds all evening and night, mindlessly scrolling on our phones until we fell asleep. we were too exhausted to even eat dinner, as we were still stuffed from all the treats we ate at the party.

chloe's alarm went off around 6 in the morning.

"GOD, CHLOE TURN THAT SHIT OFF!" I shouted in a tired, raspy voice.

"sorry," chloe said while groaning and stretching her arms up in exhaustion. "guess I forgot to turn that off, haha..." she spoke nervously.

I glared at her in annoyance. "can I go to sleep, or are you the type of person to make me get up?" I said as chloe walked over to me.

she sat next to me on the edge of my bed.

how does she still look charming, even this early in the morning. she had white and baby blue striped silk pajama pants and a matching long sleeve buttoned shirt. her curly blue hair was at the top of her head, like the shape of the top of a pineapple. she took off her makeup the night before, but it didn't look like it. her face is so beautiful it just glimmered, with or without makeup.

"come on, sleepyhead." she whispered in a joking voice. I glared at her, slowly sitting up to face her. I leaned slightly back on my hands, my legs stretched out, softly laying against the side of chloe. she stared at me in awe, her sight flickering from my eyes to my lips, then all over my body, up and down.

how could she look at me like that when I was glaring at her?

how could she look at me like that casually?

was that casual?

was that just friendly?

I think not.

my glare softened every second I looked at her, the annoyed face melting away, my body slowly feeling less and less tense. looking at her felt different than looking at anyone else.

it felt weird, but also... it felt marvelous.
magical, even.

no.

this is silly, red

snap out of it.

and I did. I snapped out of whatever trance I was in. but chloe's eyes still studied my eyes, as if she was trying to read everything going on inside my brain.

I hope she can't read any of this.

I finally spoke to break the silence that started to become awkward.

"so..." I said awkwardly smiling. "I... uh- uhm- I... do you want to get an early start on the day? if you get ready now, we can be the first to breakfast!" chloe said nervously. I giggled at her. was she stuttering? because of me? it couldn't have been because of me. how could I have possibly made her stutter?

"uhm yeah, sure I guess." I said, trying to brush off any tone of joy in my voice. she still sat on my bed, watching me walk over to my closet like some excited puppy dog. I pulled out a pair of black tights and a black pleated skirt to go over top of them. I then found a red comfy sweater and some gold, black, and red bracelets and necklaces to match. I looked at the outfit laying on my bed in front of me, wondering if it needed anything else. I decided it was fine as it is. that's when I looked up at the blue haired princess sitting in front of me, now almost touching the sweater that was spread out on my comforter. her gaze was still locked on to me, smiling like I was the only person in the world. she realized I was now looking back at her, and quickly looked down at the outfit in front of her. "uhm... it looks great- I mean uh... it'll look great on you!" she nervously started looking me up and down, twirling her necklace. I grinned at her, quickly picking up my clothes to bring to the bathroom. as I swept my sweater off of the bed, I accidentally brushed her hip. neither of us said anything, but her facial expression spoke for her.