Palas

15. "I'm sticking with Lexie."

"Are you almost done?" Harry asks while sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Almost," I repeat while still layering my mascara, one of the few things I can't live without. If I don't wear it, people question my health.

"Everything okay?" He wonders and I peak my head out of the bathroom to watch Harry. Like last time he's fumbling with some clothing. I'm stunned that he even noticed that I'm on edge because of Rosie.

"Yeah," I lie and clean my side of the sink.

When I return to my room, Harry surprises me by standing next to the door, looking me directly in the eye.

"Don't lie," he deadpans.

"Okay," I sigh feeling weird that he knows me well enough already to pick up on my lies. "Rosie got mad at me because you're taking me to diner."

"She got mad at you?" He raises his eyebrows but doesn't look surprised. It's more in the 'I told you so' way.

"Yup, she stormed out of here. I had no clue that you were her buddy last year."

"I was," he says glim while throwing a shirt of mine on my bed. "But that doesn't give her a reason to get mad at you."

"I think it had more to do with the fact that I passed the test and she didn't," I tell him.

"We should ask Zeno tomorrow if she got given another chance to become a real lifeguard. She came to the pool but disappeared after your race."

"I know. I'm worried that I took her spot Harry." I look to the ground when I tell him my fear. Because if I did took her spot, I can't change it. I'm not giving up on it.

"Don't worry about her please." He looks as if he swallowed a lemon. "She's not worth your time."

"She is Harry, I have to sleep next to her. The way you make her sound she might kill in the middle of the night."

Harry starts to laugh and his dimples show in his cheeks making him look cute and carefree. The total opposite of how I feel.

"Maybe you should find a new roommate," he jokes but I know he means it.

"No, I'm going to apologize for whatever I did," I say firmly.

For a moment I thought I had found a place where I fit in without much of a hassle. My reputation isn't clouded by my father's. Usually I wouldn't even try to make up for something that isn't my fault but this is different. I want Rosie to like me, I want to be friends with her.

"Whatever pleases you." Harry rolls his eyes as he walks to the door. "Ready?"

"Yeah." I shake my head to clear my mind. I should at least try and have fun with Harry. Something occurred to me when I found out that Rosie was his trainee last year.

"So where are we going?" I ask him once we're settled in his car. I had hoped the place was within walking distance.

"A restaurant in the city." Always so vague.

"Aha... and you do this with all your trainees?" I raise my eyebrows to him.

"Only the ones who get in," he answers dryly.

"But Rosie must have been your first trainee, since the year before you were a trainee yourself," I point out the obvious.

"True." He nods while he keeps his eyes on the road.

"So, you have never taken a trainee to diner. It was all a lame excuse to get me to diner."

"True," he repeats and his lips curl up a bit.