New cover~~~

Jay's POV

"Come on, Kai, get up already!" Gosh, I hate roomates!

He only groaned, burying his face in his pillow. After a moment, he stood up on the bed, yawning.

"Shut up, Jay... It's a Saturday..." he rubbed his eyes.

"Uh, no, I won't shut up when your history exam's today!"

"Ah—" His words were followed by a string of curses I wouldn't dare to say in front of my parents.

I got out of the room as he got dressed up and panicked about, well, everything.

There was only one other person I had to wake up.

I waltzed towards the living room with a defeated smile. It was—I think—the 16th day of us two fighting over our sleeping places. Kai just told her to sleep in my room and get over it, but she would just sneak out in the middle of the night to go sleep on the couch; well, except for the time I was already asleep there and well... that's a story for another day.

I looked over the couch, but no one was there. I went to say something, but then I heard water running, followed by a loud smash.

"No, no, no, no," I heard faint whispers coming from behind me.

Turning around, I saw her crouching down on the kitchen floor, almost desperately trying to clean the broken plate from the floor.

I walked over to her, but she fell back, sinking against the counter.

I offered her my hand, but she didn't take it. She got up by herself, wrapping her arms around her body while rocking back and forth.

"Nya?" I waved my hand in front of her face and she slightly flinched at the gesture. Right...

She didn't say anything.

"You okay? Come on, it was just a plate." I knew that Wu told us to be more gentle, but it was really hard for my blabbermouth to keep quiet for once.

"Okay... I'll leave now..."

Just as I tried to move away, I heard a quiet voice. "Thanks."

I smiled. "No problem."

Finally feeling comfortable enough, I sat down at the table, fiddling with the empty glass. "So, it's a Sunday."

"I suppose so."

"Kai's going to a party..."

"Again," she was quick to point out, rolling her eyes. She wasn't wrong, really.

"The others are going too..."

"Good for them," she said, "I'm not going."

"No, no, I didn't mean that," Kai would kill me if I as much as thought to bring his sister to a frat party, "Just, you know, that maybe we can have fun on our own while they're gone."

Okay, that sounded so wrong.

She raised an eyebrow, taking one step away from me as she closed the water, drying her hands. "What kind of fun?"

"Y'know... Maybe we could go somewhere together. Like the arcade or something?"

She bit her lip, grabbing the glass from my hands. "I'll think about it."

"Morning, Nya!" I heard a voice behind us. Lo and behold, the human porcupine himself. His hair more messy than anything along with his backpack, which rained books all over the floor.

He quickly zipped it back up, running out the door. "See ya at night! Don't break anything!"

I walked out the door, shouting at him in the hallway. "I thought the exam was like one hour?"

"Well, duh, I'm going to be out all day. I'm not just a party-goer, I'm a party organiser."

And with that, he disappeared down the stairs.

So that just happened.

I headed back inside, seeing Nya put down a plate on the table right next to a warm glass of milk. I waited for her to grab the toast from the plate and eat it, but she didn't.

"Check inside," she told me.

Confused, I grabbed the top slice of bread, turning it over.

I saw the smiley face and laughed. Hard.

"Im glad you like it," she said shyly, coming to sit down with me with her own food.

"I think it's great," I said, taking a bite, "and it tastes really good."

"I learned from the best," she smiled.

My face lit up. "You think I'm the best?"

"No, not really..." Ouch. "But I think you're pretty alright."

"That's good enough for me."

As we quietly finished our plates, I picked them up and put them in the sink before joining her on the couch.

She scooted away from me, as always.

"So, how has it been for you here?" I asked her.

"Fine, I guess... I've been catching up with some old friends from Ignacia and Stiix."

"Ignacia? I haven't been there in a while."

"You haven't been there ever."

"True... But I'd like to go there sometime."

She sat back in silence, her face slightly pouty as she crossed her arms and legs. She held her brother's jacket close, a bit too close.

"What happened at the teashop?" she blurted out, her chin burried in her arms. "What happened with Morro?"

I cursed internally. She knows? I mean, I know I'm not the tallest guy in the world, but I must have covered up at least something of what was going on in there!

We haven't even seen him ever since the teashop incident! Wu told us he escaped to Stiix to avoid charges, but I still feel... unsafe knowing he's still out there. And I'm not even the one he abused.

"Who's Morro?"

She glared at me. "You know what I'm talking about. I got a breakup text from him a few days ago."

"Really?" I said a bit too happily.

"Yes, really," she hissed. "Congrats, you ruined my relationship."

"I... what? We both know very well that that guy was an abusive prick. That's why you've been going to Wu, Nya!"

"I do know he's a jerk, but I should have been the one to deal with him. I'm not in need of rescuing, Jay."

I ignored her actually saying my name for once—which honestly felt way better than it should have—as my heart skipped a beat.

"Look, this is my fault, Nya. If you just let me help you—"

"Don't touch me," she yelled, yanking my hand back. She looked at the ground, her voice becoming softer, almost like a child's. "I don't need any help."

I thought for a bit. "Okay then..." I said. "Then I won't be doing this for you. I'll help you in order to help me get over my regrets."

"Jay, forget that night ever happened, okay? Just get over it."

"I won't get over it, Nya. And we're gonna talk about it at some point, whether you like it or not."

"Leave it."

"I won't."

"Fine, then forget about today. We aren't going anywhere."

"Come on, Nya, do it for your friend."

"You're not my friend," she stood up, making my heart sink.

"Why?"

"You know why. We're just acquaintances, that's all."

Acquaintances?

"I thought you said not to talk about that," I bite out.

"Well, you're the one who brought it up!"

She stormed off, slamming Kai's door shut as I was left there confused. Man, girls are complicated. How did my dad get my ma to marry him?

I sank back into the couch, staring blankly at my laptop on the coffee table.

The first time my pa told me about my parents' first date was when I was ten, I think. He had taken her to a fancy restaurant that cost him half of his income that month. They went out to look at the stars afterward and just stayed there all night.

What really surprised me, though, was when he told me that that specific spot had always been important to her. She used to hang out as a kid on that hill with her friends. It made me wonder why they moved to the Sea of Sands in the first place.

But I mean, he gave her the time of her life by taking her somewhere that interested her...

I opened my laptop, ignoring my buzzing phone. Then again, it might be Nya.

Missed calls from Lloyd. Great.

I dialed up his number and luckily, he answered quickly.

"Hello?"

"What is it, Lloyd?"

"Jeez, we just wanted to say hi."

"We?"

"Hello," Zane's voice sounded over the speaker.

"Oh, uh, hi Zane. Why are you calling me again?"

Lloyd took over the phone. "Well, we just wanted to see how Nya's doing. And maybe come by later?"

"She's doing fine, I guess. We just had a small fight."

I heard him groan. "Great, now I own Cole ten studs. Thanks guys."

I decided not to question him on that... for now. I typed in something to my computer, hoping to get at least one good result.

Yes!

"Maybe you could come later in the evening? Kai will be at a party and we have plans."

"What kind of plans?" Jeez, I can feel him wiggling his eyebrows from over the phone.

"You know... plans," I awkwardly hovered my cursor over the cartoony fish on the website.

"Uh-huh, yeah, okay..."

I looked at the logo on top of the page, smiling. I haven't gone to an aquarium since that octopus incident if I'm being honest.

Another question popped up into my head, one only two people would know the answer to.

"Hey, uh, Lloyd?"

"Yeah?"

I gulped. "What are Nya's favourite flowers?"

Get ready to hear my random marine biology facts next chapter. 😈

C ya!