Mr. I Don't Smile

06. hypocrites

06. hypocrites

Ciera

After receiving that email from Amélie, I could not sleep. I ended up moving to the third floor of the house after midnight. Most of upstairs was unoccupied and with no one using it besides during family events, I had allowed myself to paint on the walls.

My parents never noticed anyway as they rarely came up here. I had started painting a mural for my own escape, but now it would be what I turned into Amélie since I had a chance at a scholarship. I was going to dedicate myself to completing it.

I started to paint, losing myself in the art like I usually did. I only stopped when my lack of sleep was getting to me. I checked my phone to see the time. It was a little past three in the morning which meant I could get at least two hours of sleep before I had to wake up again.

That wasn't ideal but it was my fault for letting art keep me up. Or at least that's what I claimed was the reason I couldn't sleep. I wanted to play it off like that text didn't bother me but it did. Theo had a lot of fangirls and fanboys at school, but how could these people possibly get my number? And it wasn't like they had texted Clara, because I had gone to the lengths to check. This person was only targeting me, and I couldn't understand why.

This was all Theo's fault. Someone probably heard that he had rejected Mila to spend time with me, which wasn't true.

Okay, maybe it was. We did end up hanging out but it wasn't like it was planned.

Maybe it was Mila who sent that text after all. If it was, then there was no point in telling Theo about it. Mila didn't scare me, and it would be stupid to bring him into this. I simply blocked the number.

Problem solved.

My alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. and I reluctantly got out of bed. We had a track competition coming up and I needed to practice. So for the rest of this week, I was going to be doing some morning runs.

I was still tired so it was a good thing that today we had no school. Professional development days were a gift from heaven.

I changed from my pajamas into a long-sleeved shirt and some black leggings. I added my good running sneakers on top of my black socks. Then I went to the bathroom, fixing my hair into a high ponytail and brushing my teeth.

I tiptoed down the stairs as quietly as possible, but someone in the house seemed to be a light sleeper. "Ciera?" Rosalie's groggily voice said as she appeared at the top of the steps.

Sorry! I didn't mean to wake you."

"Oh, you didn't. I was up all night watching TV so I'm going to be sleeping all day. Where are you going?"

"For a run."

That was when Theo came into view too. "Ciera? What are you doing up so early?" Rosalie went back to her room and closed the door behind her, not even bothering to acknowledge her brother's existence. Sibling love at its finest.

Even though Theo had just woken up, he still managed to look good. I could understand why he was a model. His black hair was matted from sleep but made him look more attractive than usual. He wasn't wearing a shirt, but he had on gray sweatpants.

I pretended like I wasn't ogling his body that he was showing on display.

"I'm going for a morning run," I answered. "Go back to sleep."

"Too late. Whenever I wake up I can never fall back asleep. I'll just go with you."

"Okay, but I'm not sure if you'll be able to keep up with me," I teased. Even through the dark I could see him roll his blue eyes.