Happy summer to all!

               I've been trying to update more frequently now that it's summer, but it turns out summer can be just as busy as the school year...with a lot more fun involved of course. Anyways I hope you all enjoy. We've reached 4k reads!!!!!

               XOXO,

                     PaintMeAPicture.

"You two look awfully different from each other," I squint up at Khloe and Ava, who both will always tower far above me, heels or not.

"Incest isn't our thing," Ava shrugs, reasonably.

"Pardon?" I raise an eyebrow, not realizing the connection between incest and matching couples.

"It'd be weird for us to dress as twins while we're dating," Khloe elaborates, clearly only pretending to agree for the sake of love.

"But all the cute couples do it." I protest, only arguing for Khloe, knowing she will never stand up for herself.

"All the cute couples support incest," Ava corrects me, giving me one final chance to understand her mind is made up.

"I guess..." I sigh, suddenly feeling quite awkward in my costume that corresponds with Luke Solton. Then again, Luke and I are far from a couple, and will most likely remain that way. Can you even imagine it? A guy like Luke Solton going after a girl like Adriann Rowe. It would be catastrophic.

"I've got math in a few, I'll catch ya later." Ava gives Khloe a big kiss on the cheek, and drifts off into a sea of people I have most likely never spoken to.

"Yeah see you later," I wave, knowing it was only addressed to Khloe.

"That was meant for me, Adriann."

"You guys do make a cute couple, despite not supporting incest." I admit, not at all acknowledging her protest.

"Why thank you," Khloe smiles. "Now, why you are still with me...?" I always do seem to have an agenda, don't I?

"Well since math was brought up, I figured----" She cuts me off, frustration dilating her pupils.

"You're kidding me? Again?" She slaps her face gently with her palm, further exaggerating her dissatisfaction, as if it were necessary.

"Just this once," I plead, prepared to go as far as my hands and knees, hands pressed together in prayer formation.

"This once?" Khloe lowers the disapproving hand from her frowning mug.

"That was more of a heat of the moment promise," I lean against the wall of the corridor, preparing to whip out my math sheet, fairly sure that she will give in to my request as she usually does.

"Are you positive you cannot equate two plus three?" She joins me against the wall, teasing my stupidity when it comes to the dreadful, traumatic subject. She allows me without resistance to start unzipping my backpack before even answering.

"Please, Khloe, it's two times three."

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"Partner up," Mr. Antili instructs the class, dismissing us with a hand that drips of boredom. He leans forward in his recliner, resting his head on his desk.

Mr. Antili is definitely an interesting adult influence. From what I can see, and from what I can smell his coffee mug tattooed with science formulas, is not filled with the black coffee he insists on refilling every half hour.

While a terrible example of a sober leader, he remains in my top three teachers. I must admit, I am also quite amused by his recliner, as that is one of the most unique forms of seating in teaching. He has an abundant lack of effort and sleep. The sleep deprivation is a win for all of us, because he utilizes class time to catch up on his zzz's.

"Goodnight?" I ask, at a little below average volume, laughing to myself as Mr. Antili begins to snore.

"Hey there, Rowe." Luke Solton hops onto my desk, out of nowhere. Had I known Luke Solton would be in my robotics class when I began sophomore year, I would have chosen a seat behind him, so I could more easily steal a glance. Being in row two of the class, exactly three rows in front of him made it a much more difficult task.

"My robot sits there, not you." I grit my teeth, trying to ignore the sparkle you only see in a commercial on his.

"What robot? Last time we got a similar assignment, you couldn't get past the first page." He smirks at me. Last time was different, I have matured intelligently since.

"This time I will prevail," I assure him, confidently.

"We both know you absolutely shan't." He surprises me with his vocabulary.

"Shan't?" I raise a startled brow.

"I bought a dictionary to keep up with you." Luke points to his desk, where indeed a small dictionary basks in the glow of our classroom's plentiful emergency lights.

I may not excel in many courses, but when it comes to vocabulary, you can bet I will always have a long and hard to decipher synonym.

"Okay then, why don't we build our robot together?" he proposes. Goodness, I have been receiving quite a few invitations from him lately.

"Since when was it our robot?" I push back my seat to get a better view of his expression.

"We are expected to have a partner, are we not?" His sentences have certainly matured.

"You're no good at robotics," I open the plastic box of supplies under my desk.

"And you are?" The left end of his lip tugs upwards, all twitchy, as if he isn't used to smiling...which of course, he isn't, although his ratio of grimace to grin has been altering as of late.

"Fifth grade, top twenty in my robotics class." I open the instruction booklet, expecting the conversation to end there. I will never finish this project if that chiseled dreamboat is my partner. I can't help the small bits of estrogen that course through my bloodstream.

"I'm going to guess that there were twenty people in your fifth grade robotics class?" Well, maybe there were...what's it to you?

"That's way besides the point," I read over the first page.

"Face it Adriann Rowe, you need me." He winks when I look up from the manual. Our eyes are locked, another thing I have been noticing to happen more often lately.

"No, but I could use you." I admit, gesturing to the mess of objects I don't know how to use.

"Alright let's get your grade up." To this I do not reply. That devil probably knows my exact percentages in every single class.

"I need two of those long pieces, a screw, and an allen wrench." I snap my fingers at Luke, trying my best not to look at him.

"Do you even know what an allen wrench is?" He chuckles down at me.

"I don't know a damn thing about building robots, but I do know how to program them, so let's finish this up." Again, I snap, praying the sound will somehow push past his ego.

"Oh, well then I have a perfectly fitting settlement." Luke removes the manual from my hands, and places it gently in his lap.

"Which is?" I look up from the table, grabbing for the manual.

"I'll complete the heavy, manual labor that you are so clearly incapable of, and you can do the simple technical stuff." He shoves my hand away.

"Excuse me, coding is anything but simple." I move my hands to my hips.

"Is it a deal or not?" He gives me a push me to convince me to lend him my chair, so that he can get down to building my robot. I won't really get a chance to program the bot if someone does not help me...

"I guess I can do that." I agree.

"I can multitask, so feel free to compliment me while I'm working. Work ethic, biceps, etcetera." I rise from the chair, scrunching my face and furrowing my brows at his narcissism. He takes my place, and like me opens the manual, the only difference being our two understandings of the instructions.

Already he is in the midst of completing step one, with mentioned allen wrench.

"So a wrench is used to tighten and loosen a screw," Luke explains to me, as if I'm an idiot.

"I know what a freaking wrench is." I remind him, slapping my hand down on the table, disrupting his---I hate to admit---successful beginning.

"Well sure, now you do." He smiles at the up and coming bot on my desk. "Do you think our matching outfits are giving off a twin vibe?"

"I think the sign was a little ambitious," I look down at my chest, where a piece of string allows the signs Luke and I expertly made in thirty seconds to hang. "I am a photocopy" the signs read.

"How else will people know we're twins?" He asks me, moving on to step two.

"Maybe the blue jeans and navy t-shirts?" I suggest.

"Coincidence." He explains.

"It could just as well be a coincidence that we are wearing matching signs across our chests," I counter.

"Except it could not just as well be..." he shakes his head.

"I give you a headache, don't I?"

"You really do, Rowe." He nods.

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"Hello," Ari greets me from behind, wrapping his arms around my waist, something that immediately sends my heart up into my throat.

"You scared me!" I yell, twisting out of his cocooning hold. When I'm with him now, Luke Solton barely exists. It's the opposite when it comes to Solton.

"Sorry, didn't mean to," he holds his hands up in defense. I want to keep yelling at him. If I scare him away, then maybe he won't run through my mind as much. But how could I give up my best friend?

"I will only forgive you if I can have a piggyback ride to the cafeteria," I look to the ceiling and impatiently tap my foot. I can't look at him. When I see his grey eyes, I have to restrain my knees from knocking together. They are deep pits of mystery to most, but I know everything about him. He knows everything about me. We act like a couple...we kissed like a couple.

"Easy," he bends over, inviting me to hop on. His warm smile is something I can always find him wearing. He isn't so dark and brooding. He isn't a narcissist. He isn't Luke. Why do I like someone who is so risky? Ari is safe. I know what I'm getting, what I could get is perfect.

"Your unspoken apology is accepted." I nod at him, trying my very hardest to forget about my pending decision. They can't like me forever, and I don't even know if Luke likes me.

"Split our lunch?" He offers, knowing that as usual I probably won't have brought money for lunch...and as a new usual, Khloe is too busy with her girlfriend to open her wallet for me.

"The cheaper the better." I smile, hopping onto his back, and wrapping my arms around his chest.

Together we burst through the cafeteria double doors, and waddle over to the lunch line. No one gives us more than a second glance. My piggyback-riding is a regular occurrence in the halls and classrooms of our school.

The same lunch lady who once pulled out her phone to laugh at a photo of me is on duty today.

"Jesus could this line be any longer?" I lean over Ari's right shoulder, trying to get a better view of the distance between me and my slop.

"Could you be any heavier?" Ari raises a hand to wipe sweat from his forehead. You'd think he'd be able to carry me longer.

"Ar, I'm like a hundred pounds." I sigh in exasperation.

"Maybe it's that photo copy sign," he theorizes.

"Right, because paper and string must add on an extra fifty." I roll my eyes, even though he cannot see them.

"I detect high levels of insincerity."

"You are correct in that detection," I giggle.

"Also, one hundred pounds is a lot to carry around on your back for more than five minutes." He points out, fairly. But I cannot let him win any battle, whether it be my weight, or a tickle fight.

"Maybe you're just a weakling," I explain, moderately sure that statement will frustrate him.

"You're going to pay for that later," he looks over his shoulder, trying to make eye contact with me.

"Oh yeah?" I test.

"Oh yeah." He laughs, deviantly. There is a pause, and then, "So are you going to homecoming?" He inquires, changing the subject to something much more complicated.

"Yes," I reply with a simple, one worded answer, doing everything I can to avoid discussing Luke Solton in front of Ari Sheppard.

"Do you have a da---" I cut him off.

"Hey what are we getting?" I can feel him tense up, and sense the disappointment radiating from his figure. I wish I could just decide. I've been pining for Luke since I go to this school, and I have the slightest of chances at getting him. How could I throw that away over some confused feelings for my best friend? I wish I was only capable of attraction to only one person. Just one.

"Something that resembles chicken fingers," he sighs.

"Sounds good!" I try to brighten the mood. But the mood is ruined, and I know I don't have a chance at lifting it right now.