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꩜ .ᐟ CHAP SIX . . .
THE EARLY MORNING light filtered through the thin dorm curtains, casting soft rays over the small, cluttered room. Lila stood by the mirror, dabbing lip gloss on her lips, the light catching the glossy sheen as she frowned at her reflection. "Who the hell plans a math class at 8:30 in the morning?" she grumbled, clearly annoyed, her voice muffled as she spoke around the tube of gloss. "What kind of sadist thought that was a good idea?"
Behind her, Kate chuckled, pulling her hair into a tight ponytail, her uniform neatly laid out on the bed. "You complain about this every Tuesday," she said, amused. "You could always switch to an afternoon class."
Lila rolled her eyes, snapping the lid of the gloss shut. "And mess up my entire schedule? No thanks. I'll suffer through it." She turned, taking in Kate's calm, focused demeanor as she tightened her ponytail in the mirror. Kate had a way of making early mornings seem effortless, which both impressed and irritated Lila.
As Kate secured her ponytail, she glanced over at Lila, her brow furrowing in thought. "Hey... I've been thinking," she started, her tone casual but with an undercurrent of something deeper. "We've got to sell this a little more. You know, the whole... 'us' thing. It can't just be PDA."
Lila paused, eyes flicking to Kate's reflection in the mirror, her hands stilling for a moment. "You mean telling your team that we're a thing wasn't enough?" she teased lightly, but there was a curiosity behind her words. She could tell Kate had something specific on her mind.
Kate shrugged, trying to act casual, though her thoughts raced. "Yeah, but people are going to catch on eventually if we don't do more than just... hold hands or whatever."
Lila hummed thoughtfully, going back to her lip gloss, tapping the tube idly against her chin. "Hmm. Well... I could post something about you on Instagram or something." she suggested, her voice nonchalant as she met Kate's gaze in the mirror. "Kind of like a soft launch. Let the world know that you're not just some random girl i live with."
Kate hesitated, her ponytail now perfectly in place, though her mind seemed far from calm. "Your Instagram?" she repeated, her tone cautious. "You mean... where all those girls that obsess over you hang out?"
Lila turned to face her fully now, leaning casually against the desk. "Yeah, why not? Let them know i'm off the market... at least in theory." She shrugged, her demeanor easy, like this was all part of some game she'd mastered long ago. "They'll freak out for a bit, maybe send a few weird messages, but i've got it under control."
Kate's brow furrowed, clearly thinking it over. "I don't know... What if they start bothering you? Or us?" She didn't want to admit that she was more concerned about how they'd react to her specifically, about what kind of backlash Lila might face for pretending to date someone like her.
