Petals on The Moon || Reyna Ramirez-Arellano x Fem!OC

LII

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Dear Diary,

I found Suki sitting calmly in a plastic chair towards the end of the hallway, removed from everyone else preparing for debate night. Many of the teams were practicing or signing up last minute for their pros and opposition opinions. Essentially, all they had to do was vote pro or opposition on the topics present on a list, and they would then be paired with a counterpart to make the debate reasonable.

I waved at her, and she quickly looked up. "Hi." She moved her small white bag out of the seat next to her, and I sat. "Done training?"

"Yeah. I saw your play this morning, by the way. Is Jason that nervous during rehearsals?"

"No," Suki said, shaking her head. "I think he just has stage fright." She fiddled with her hands uncomfortably. "Can I ask you for some advice?"

"Sure." I tilted my head. "What's going on?"

"Claire invited me to a sleepover at her house," Suki explained. "Just the two of us. She wants to bake and braid hair and listen to music... girl stuff, I suppose. I think it's weird for me because you and I don't really do those things. I don't know anything about how to bake, and frankly, I have no idea how you braid your hair as nice as you do. Nobody has ever taught me before."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," I promised. "Claire seems nice. I don't think she would do anything bad to you."

"Right. See, she said she stopped being friends with those other girls because they said those hateful things, so... it will just be me and her."

"Me and you have sleepovers all the time."

"But, it's different. I don't know Claire."

"There was a time you didn't know me, either," I said to her. She nodded, seeming to understand this. "What's the advice you're looking for?"

"Whether or not I should go," Suki said, staring at the chair across from her. "She wants to- to share a bed for me, and my bed isn't big enough for us to share- ever before- so me and you have only ever done that once in a hotel. And I sleepwalk sometimes, especially when I'm nervous. And I don't know her house, so I worry about my leg."

"Well, why don't we make a list?" I suggested. Suki pulled out her diary and ripped out an empty sheet of paper, closed it, and used her pen to begin writing. "Pros; you get to hang out with Claire. You get to bake. You learn how to braid hair." She nodded. "Cons..."

"My legs makes me fall off the toilet." She wrote this down quickly.

I pursed my lips. "Suki, in what world would that happen?"

"You never know," she mumbled, shrugging. "What if her toilet is really low and my leg kicks out and I fall and bust my head on the counter? What if her toilet isn't close to the counter, so I don't have my grip to grab when it's time to get up? And then maybe I pee everywhere or something?"

"Do you often pee all over the place?"

"Well, no, but what if-" I took the pen from her, and scribbled out that con. "Well..."

"What else is there?"

Suki thought deeply. "I sleepwalk."