Exchange Student- Louis Partridge

Chapter 25: Crush Culture

(Mina POV)

It had been weeks since Lila left for London, she ignored my calls at first but eventually she gave in and forgave me for lying to her. I knew I shouldn't have kept Dory's secret, but she was my sister and I knew she'd never forgive me for betraying her.

That promise ended the moment she betrayed Lila. Lila and I have been close friends for so long, it physically hurt for me to lie and ignore her texts. If she was here in person, it would've been even harder.

I'm not the best liar so ignoring her messages and calls seemed to be the best way for me to hide it.

Lila and I facetimed almost every day now, she said she was happy and content. We'd talk for hours about the randomest stuff, and I missed her a lot. A lot, a lot.

I tried begging mom to let me visit her, but she said I could only go with Dory. Of course mom didn't know what Dory did, and I didn't plan on telling her.

No one should have to think of their child as a bad person, and frankly I knew that Dory felt guilty. I heard her cry at night when Max wasn't around to distract her.

And I honestly didn't plan on consoling the girl, she should feel guilty. Her feeling the weight of her actions is exactly what she needed to help her come back to reality and be herself again.

Max fed her with lies like it was ice cream. He basically manipulated her into lying to Lila, and I have a strong feeling that she isn't with him because she wants to be. The Dory I know would never even look Max's way after what he did to Lila, let alone be with the guy.

Something was wrong, but I didn't have the energy or mental capacity to figure it out. If anything, Dory needs to figure it out on her own. I may be her older sister, but she's gotta get herself out of this one.

When Lila and I called, Dory would always be out with Max and I made sure of it. Mom sometimes asked me about Lila, and why Dory and I didn't want to visit. But like I said earlier, I didn't have the heart to tell her what Dory did.

I was still convinced she was in her teen angst phase, it should've ended a long time ago considering we're literally 17, but some people are slower than others and take longer to mature.

That's the excuse I used in my head at least.

Lila would go on about her adventures in the wonderful city of London, how fascinating the culture and architecture was. How amazed she was by the accents and how she really wished she had her own.

She would talk about how much more polite every one was here, she told me about the chavs and how they were the only exception to this. She'd go on about how their language was so different, and how the slang they used made her laugh.

How she wished everyone called a train a tube instead because it was so much funnier, how much she enjoyed her study breaks with Louis at the local cafe, and most of all she talked about Louis.

At first I considered it normal considering he was her only friend, and they literally lived together so most of her experiences in the strange city included him. But after a week his name began to pop up more and more in our conversations.

Maybe I was talking about how a kid at school fell asleep in class, she'd interrupt me and tell me a story about Louis doing that in biology and how they both got detention. Or that time I was literally talking about how weird the concept of cereal is, and she interrupted me to say that Louis poured the milk before it.

She was so full of life and light and emotion lately, the good kind that is. And I suspected it had quite a bit to do with him, and I was grateful she found someone to replace me.

He seemed to always be on her mind, and I don't think the poor girl even realized her crush on the boy, but it was quite evident to me by the way her face lit up when he was around.

She was falling in love.

zee speaks!

ok a little mina insight i guess, a different perspective that i havent shown before. thank u for this idea haha !! uhm also i feel like her *falling in love* is kinda rushed but im not gonna put them together for a while, and when they do get together conflict will occur like really soon or maybe conflict will keep them from getting together?? idk but if u still think its rushed, please lmk and ill change it !! i really do care about ur opinions. also i took this personality quiz and found out im a turbulent mediator, and it was SOOOO ACCURATE LIKE IT DESCRIBED ME AND IT SAID IM A WRITER LIKE WHAT anyways.. i published a book on my shifting experiences, i literally just started trying to shift but i wanted to kinda journal it if that makes sense so if u wanna read that and keep up on my attempts then yea <3