nerd.

quarante-deux

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Arielle Evans 

"Tell me this is just a dream, 'cause I'm really not fine at all." I sing the last line before I place my guitar back in its case, placing it in its spot behind my longest clothes in my closet.

"Ah, so the new girl can sing." Someone mocks from the door, and I instantly recognize the voice as Kyle's.

"Oh, so the asshat can eavesdrop." I snap back, and he smirks, clearly amused with my comeback.

"Never heard that song before." he says, coming into the room and plopping down on Delilah's bed.

"Delilah will murder you if she sees you on her bed." I smirk, and Kyle rolls his eyes but gets up, settling down at the desk instead. "Much better." I smile proudly.

"Anyway, we ordered some pizza, want some?" he asks.

I place a hand over my heart, gasping in fake shock. "Kyle O'Hara actually has a sliver of kindness in him? How nice."

"I don't even know why I bother with you." he rolls his eyes, getting up from the chair and heading for the door.

"Enjoy your pizza, Kyle!" I call after him, and he flips me off before slamming the door behind him. I giggle and turn on my laptop, powering up my Skype. I smile when I see a green dot next to Harry, and I click on it, hoping that he is actually online and that he didn't just log in and forget about it. He answers immediately, and I drum my fingers impatiently against the hard wood of the desk as I wait for it to connect.

His face finally appears on my screen, a dimpled grin playing on his lips. "Why hello there, Air-Bear."

"Hola, HareBear." I giggle.

"How's the college life working out for you, smarticle?" he teases.

"It's good. There's this one jerk in my building though, he's a total douchebag." I say loudly enough for Kyle to hear.

"I heard that!" Kyle shouts.

"You were meant to!" I screech back, and Harry covers his ears with a pillow, making me giggle quietly and apologize.

"Tell me if he's bothering you too much. I'll come all the way to Yale just to beat his sorry ass for you." Harry smiles, and I laugh, mostly at the fact that he would come out here just to call Kyle out for being rude, but a little part of me is only laughing at his protectiveness over me even though we are just friends now.

"No violence on campus, Hazza." I tease, wishing I could ruffle his curls right about now.

"You're worth breaking some rules for." Harry smiles, and my heart flutters although I will it not to. I smile back at him nonetheless, and when he tells me he has to go, I feel the happy bubble around me deflate.

"Alright, I'll talk to you later." I sigh, and he smiles one last time before hanging up. I sigh and shut my laptop down, placing it in the hutch above the desk. "Delilah!" I screech, and within an instant, she is at the door, out of breath.

"What?" she huffs.

"I dunno. I'm bored." I shrug. Delilah rolls her eyes, closing the door behind her and sitting down on her bed.

"Who was that guy you were talking to?" she asks.

"How do you know it was a guy?" I half-smile at her, chewing on the inside of my cheek.

"I just do. Now spill."

I sigh. "That was Harry. He's my...friend."

"Why was there a pause between my and friend?" Delilah questions, jumping off of the bed.

"It's complicated." I shake my head. "He used to be my boyfriend, and now we're on that friend/best-friend stage."

"Ah." Delilah nods in understanding. "Do you want him to be your boyfriend?"

I shake my head rapidly. "No, no way. There was way too much drama with him and Mason to start that all over again."

"Who's Mason?" she asks, grinning.

"You ask too many questions." I smack her arm playfully. She fake-pouts and returns to her seat on the bed, laying down on her side so that she is facing me.

"And you have too much drama to deal with and go to Yale at the same time." she points out, and I giggle softly although I know that what she is saying is true.

"I know..." My voice trails off as I cannot think of anything else to say.

"Are you going to eat dinner?" She finally changes the topic, much to my relief.

"Yea, I'll probably just make myself a sandwich or something." I tell her.

"We still have some pizza left, you know." she smiles.

"Jeez, how much did you guys order?" I joke, and Delilah giggles even though my joke wasn't all that funny.

"I don't even know, Kyle placed the order." she laughs, and I chuckle, rolling my eyes.

"Why is he such a jerk?" I ask, and Delilah freezes, clearly caught off guard by my question.

"I..I dunno." she stutters, gulping audibly.

"Delilah." I give her a pleading look. "Why won't you tell me?"

"There's nothing going on, I swear. He's not like a druggie or anything, don't worry." she chuckles lightly at her own joke but immediately stops when she realizes that I am not laughing. She sighs finally, and I actually have a sliver of hope that she will tell me what is going on with Kyle. "He's not rude to everyone, you know."

"Okay...then why is he so rude to me?" I ask, gesturing for her to elaborate.

"Uhm....you probably just reminded him of someone." She takes her lower lip between her teeth, nibbling at it anxiously.

"And who is this someone?" I ask, pinching the bridge of my nose in exhaustion.

"Hannah." she says finally.

"Alright, finally we're getting somewhere." I sigh. "Who is this Hannah you speak of?"

"Kyle's ex-girlfriend." Delilah sighs. "She was a new girl too, they fell in love, so on and so forth, and then she cheated on him. He was heartbroken; he literally sat in his room and sulked for three weeks straight."

"Right, but how am I involved in any of this?" I ask, gritting my teeth in utter frustration. "Why is Kyle rude to me and no one else?"

"That's the thing, Arielle. You look just like Hannah."

a/n//

idk i felt like we needed a plot twist 

anyway a pic of delilah and arielle to the side if youre reading and a laptop and on the top of the first page if youre reading on a mobile

ilyasm xoxo