f o u r t e e n ;

After their get together in the lounge, Scarlet suggested that the girls have a girls night sleep over there. She and Ivory had instantly clicked and became fast friends, which came as no surprise to Roseanne. Two seconds on their team and she was already sitting next to Raven every chance she got. At some instances, she had been so close to him that she was practically sitting on his lap, with the captain of the squad scooting further and further away whenever he could. Honey thought it was a good idea too, since there were more boys than girls on the team and they never got to bond. That, and the fact that she was always hanging around with Seville to notice the other girls on the team. But she was a nice girl and had a noble heart, which made Roseanne question why she associated with someone like Seville. Still, Roseanne felt like it wasn't her place to judge. Sometimes people were different with friends than they were with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Perhaps that was the case with Seville Orange.

The boys left the lounge around nine, to give the girls an extra hour to gossip before the lights went out. They could still stay up longer. But it wasn't as fun if there was nothing for them to do. The boys had helped the girls bring their twin mattresses into the lounge as well as their covers before saying goodnight and closing the door to give them some privacy.

The moment they were gone, Ivory rushed to the door to make sure they were actually gone and not just listening on the other side of the door. She them came back with a mischievous smile on her face. "I've got some juicy gossip for you ladies." She said as she squealed with excitement. Honey and Scarlet followed her lead too. They hardly ever had nights like that before Ivory came along. That was mostly because they had a lot of training or assignments to do. And whenever they had any free time, Roseanne spent it with Raven and Honey spent it with Seville. "But first, I thought we could play a little game." She looked around at the girls sitting on the mattresses which had been set up on the floor. Honey and Scarlet waited with curious eyes, but Roseanne was cautious. She wanted to give her a chance. Perhaps she wasn't as bad as she initially seemed. But then again, she just got a bad vibe off her. "Let's rank the boys on the team from hottest to ugliest. I'll go first."

She sat down on the mattress with her legs crossed and pretended to ponder about it for a moment. But it was only less than half a second before she replied. "I think Raven and Cedar take the top spot." Roseanne felt her heart drop into her stomach when she heard the name Raven, if only because it proved that her suspicions were right. She did find Raven attractive and she was making moves on him by sitting uncomfortably close to him and poking him all over whenever she got the chance.

Immediately Honey protested. "Hey! What about Seville though?"

Scarlet nudged her with a grin. "Honey has a crush on Seville."

To which Honey responded by going red in the face. But you could barely see a hint of a blush against her mahogany skin. Ivory then gave a shrug of her shoulders. "Difference of opinions. Let me continue though." The other girls stayed silent and the girl with white hair continued. "Then I think Ciel, but Indy's a close fourth. And then last would be Mauve and Seville. They're just not handsome enough in my opinion. But I'm surprised by the amount of hunks we have on this team. Last team Cedar and I were on had a bunch of ugly boys who were always trying to get at me." Looking to Roseanne who was seated to her left, she asked. "What about you?"

Roseanne gave a shake of her head. "I don't think I want to say..."

"Pfft." Scarlet scoffed and swatted her on the shoulder. "Roseanne's main is definitely Raven. They're always together and everyone thinks they're dating. Then probably Ciel since he's the one she was crushing on before Raven joined the team--"

"Scarlet--" Roseanne tried to intervene with embarrassment. 

But her room mate kept going. "Then I'd probably say she thinks Indy's third. And then the rest are probably tied for last place."

Roseanne felt like she wanted nothing more than for the ground to open up and swallow her. But the girls quickly moved onto the next person, and that was Scarlet. She ranked them with Seville first, though she assured Honey she loved him like a brother. Roseanne was actually convinced of this, since the two acted like siblings. Second she picked Ciel and Raven, though again she assured Roseanne that she only saw Raven as a brother. Third she picked Indy and Cedar, and last she put Mauve. Honey had only stated that she only wanted to rank Seville as her number one, and no one else because he was her best friend. But the girls knew there was something more going on with them.

When they finished ranking the boys, Ivory then proceeded to tell them about the juicy piece of gossip that she had for them. 

"So when I went to use the toilet earlier, Indy followed me out into the hallway and he basically told me I was so pretty and he wanted to get to know me better. Poor little dumb boy." She grinned like she wasn't even surprised. Like she thought it was only a matter of time before she would have all the boys on the team like drooling idiots waiting on her beck and call. A bellowing laugh escaping her lips, she continued. "So my plan is to string him along and mess with his feelings. I'm going to make him think he has a chance with me, and then break his heart into tiny pieces by kissing Cedar in front of him."

Honey gasped at the last bit of information, as though the first part of it wasn't terrible on its own. She had completely bypassed it. "You and Cedar are dating?"

Ivory replied with a nod of her head. "Yeah, the instructors did not like that. So we made a deal with them. Cedar and I agreed to break up if they agreed to put us on the next space mission out of here." She paused for a moment and Roseanne thought about how much of a horrible person she was for wanting to play with Indy's feelings. But another part of her admired the fact that she was smart and conniving enough to bargain her way into the most upcoming mission. "Once up in space, they literally and physically cannot stop us from being together. And then when we return, we're just going to run away together to live on the un-incorporated lands next to Province of Mines."

"That's genius!" Honey said, her jaw literally dropped.

"Okay, but going back to the thing with Indy, you're joking. Right?" Roseanne asked. Perhaps she was reading too much into it and the girl wasn't serious about actually doing it. She wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Ivory looked at her like she was the crazy one. She then laughed and clapped her hands together, almost reminding Roseanne of a seal. "I'm not joking. Imagine how hilarious it will be when he thinks he and I have a chance and then he sees me kiss my hubby Cedar."

Scarlet laughed like she had just been told the joke of the century. Realizing that she was serious, Honey didn't laugh. But she did smile a bit awkwardly since she wasn't exactly sure if this was real or not. She thought it was wrong, but she was only seventeen years old and it was normal for kids that age to want to feel included by their peers. The only one who didn't show any sign of amusement in that situation was Roseanne.

"I don't think that's funny at all." Roseanne said with a shake of her head. As soon as she said that, she saw the way Scarlet rolled her eyes. "I think that's horrible and just plain heartless. You can't do that to someone who likes you. I mean, granted he doesn't even know you yet, but still. If you do that to him, I'm going to have to tell him. He's our crew mate, we've all been like family." Despite the fact that she hardly ever talked to Indy, or had any contact with him, she still knew he didn't deserve being treated like she wanted to treat him. And all because he had a crush on her. How wrong he was for having a crush on someone who was pretty on the outside, but pure poison on the inside.

"I think its funny." Scarlet offered.

Getting back up on her feet, Roseanne said to them with a sigh. "Please continue with your sleep over. I'm going outside to get some air. I'll be back in just a moment."

The three other girls watched her as she left the room. She was sure they continued gossiping, Ivory and Scarlet probably saying that she was too sensitive. But Roseanne could only think about how cold hearted that was. She had to tell Indy what she was planning. She knew that if it were the other way around and a boy was merely playing with her feelings for her own amusement, she would want someone to tell her.

So instead of going outside to get some fresh air like she told the girls, she went to Indy's door and knocked on it. The person she had been hoping for came to the door and he smiled when he saw her standing out there in the hall. "Hey Rose." He greeted, though the smile on his face dropped an octave when he saw she was biting her lip nervously. "What's wrong?"

"Can you follow me outside so we can talk?" She asked him, looking up at him through rose colored eyelashes and pink irises. 

Inside the room, she could see Cedar sitting on his bed, looking at movies on his holo phone. He looked up when he felt her looking at him and he offered a big smile, waving at her innocently. She waved back slowly, her smile barely visible. Indy stepped out into the hallway and followed her out onto the outside tables. They were on a balcony that overlooked the hiking trails as well as the ocean in the far distance. It was a lovely view, but they never got a chance to really enjoy it because of all the time they spent training their whole lives. 

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Indy asked her after a long moment passed and she said nothing to him. 

Looking out into the distance, she began to speak in a manner that made her sound like she was in something of a daze. "I wanted to talk to you about the new girl. Ivory."

He immediately perked up like an excited puppy when he heard her name. That was when she understood that it was true. He did have a crush on her. "Did she say something to you about me? What did she say?"

Roseanne thought it was best to get it all in the open quickly. It was late, their curfew was about to start for the night, and they were about to be standing outside alone in the darkness. She also saw no point in beating around the bush. Though she always hated confrontation, she also thought that she needed to be a good person and a good friend to Indy. He was a nice guy after all. "Ivory told us girls just now that you told her you liked her." She paused to give him some time to respond. But she continued when he simply nodded. "Then she laughed about it and talked about how she was going to lead you on and mess with your feelings. She said she was going to kiss Cedar in front of you because he's her boyfriend. I know you like her, and she is pretty, but she's a snake of a person. I thought you should know so you won't fall into her trap."

The light in his eyes, that twinkle that had been there at the mention of Ivory suddenly disappeared and in its place was a look of hurt. "Wow..." He was speechless at first. It took almost a whole minute for him to say something more. "I can't believe she would say something like that." Taking Roseanne's hand in his and bringing it to his lips for a kiss full of gratitude, he told her. "Thank you, Rosie. You are truly a real one."

She smiled back at him. "You're like a little brother to me, even though we don't talk much. I care about you."

Without warning, he pulled her in for a hug. "Thank you. From now on, I literally owe you everything. You can some to me if you ever need anything."

-

another update because im home alone and i finished working out. so i had some time to kill. so this whole thing with indy and ivory actually happened.

when ivory started working at the restaurant with us, indy developed a crush on her. ivory found out and made a group chat with all of us -- seville, raven, scarlet, mauve, ciel, honey, herself, and me. she didn't include indy or her bf cedar. she made fun of indy's feelings in this gc and said she was going to mess with him for fun and then break his heart. EVERYONE and i mean everyone except me, replied with laughing face emojis. i remember i was so disappointed in everyone, especially raven. though tbh i wasnt surprised about scarlet and seville laughing with her about it.

so i had a talk with raven individually about it. i asked him if he thought it was right? or if he thought it was funny. he said he didn't, but that he thought she was joking. and since he's a pure boy, i believed him. i told raven i was going to tell indy who she really was. and i did that very same day.

that was when i didn't really talk to indy that much despite the fact that we had the same friends and we were friends too. he was hurt, but he was grateful that i told him. but yeah, ivory's a snake. and indy hates her now. he can't stand her and whenever we used to hang out and she was there, he wouldnt come out with us. 

-clary