✾

"You showed up awful early," I mumble, rubbing my eyes with a yawn. "I was sleeping, you know."

"That must be nice. I didn't get a blink of sleep," Iris says using a monotone voice.

"Must've been partying hard last night," I joke to try and ease the mood a little.

She gives me a flat look, raising an eyebrow. "Wouldn't that be easy?"

"Anyway," I change the subject awkwardly, "What's the plan for today?"

She groans, putting her arms on the table and resting her head face-down on it. I hear her yawn, watching her shoulders rise and sink as she shrugs. "I don't know. I'm tired."

"If it makes you feel better, Princess, you can sleep." Although it's sort of a joke, she nods gratefully.

"Thanks," she mutters, just barely audible. Iris curls up on one side of the couch, her brown eyes with dark folds closing — the curtains to her emotions. There are defined dark circles framing them, confirming her statement of having a sleepless night. Her lips are slightly parted as she lays her head on a pillow, her dark hair in a mess around her shoulders.

"You liiike her," Ruby sings teasingly behind me, "and you think she's prettyyy."

"You don't know anything about love, you can't say," I tell her. "She fell asleep. And I was just about to get a blanket for her. She didn't sleep all night."

"Why not?"

"I don't know, probably just insomnia."

"Oh. What does that mean?"

"You have trouble sleeping."

"Oh."

After getting a bowl of cereal for Ruby to have her sit down somewhere, I take a folded blanket on the couch and spread it out on top of Iris. Now that her face is relaxed — not pulled into some frown from over-thinking or being distressed somehow — it's easy to see how everyone thinks she's so pretty. Her lips are so unique.

Stopping myself from staring, I go back to Ruby who seems content while eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch. She kicks her legs mindlessly in her chair and holds the silver spoon which looks huge in her small hand, paying no mind towards me.

✾

"Wake up, Princess," I tell Iris quickly and quietly. She groans, moving from her side to her stomach and shaking her head.

"It's been a few hours, you should probably eat something," I continue. "Did you eat before you came over here?"

"No," she mumbles groggily. "I'm fine."

"I won't force you, but let me know if you change your mind." While my tutor is here, we're being very productive, as you can see.

Iris sits up suddenly, frowning again and looking at me. "What would it be like to be a homicide detective? You know, with seeing all the bodies and trying to talk to these grieving people to piece together what happened to them?"

"No clue," I easily dismiss. "Why're you thinking about that, Princess?"

"I was just wondering, I don't know. Do you know anyone that's been murdered?"

I get up and face away from her. "Princess, no. Why all the questions? Last time I checked you weren't the FBI," I say, remembering the last time I said that.

She thinks a little bit before going on a fast rant. "I was just wondering. I was... I was reading a murder mystery book, and I was thinking about who probably was the killer, and then I started thinking about the murder — murder, I mean, in general — in real life, and then I wondered if you had your own thoughts on it."

Ruby pipes up from her spot eating cereal, suddenly blurting, "A murderer? Like your d-"

"Yes," I interrupt, thinking quickly, "like that Dateline channel I watch. Anyway, I think it's time to start studying, we don't need to talk about this with Ruby around. Still not hungry, Princess?"

She sighs, thinking for another moment before nodding. "I guess I could use something to eat."

✾

"You remembered a lot more than I thought you would!" Iris says quite gleefully. "We'll just go over one more thing tomorrow and I think you'll really be ready for this next test. Speaking of tests, how's anatomy?"

"Fine, I guess. Not anything special."

"Are you failing any other classes?"

"Maybe. I dunno."

"You have 56% in Calculus, correct? By the end of this semester we could at least make sure you pass. You don't want that on your transcript."

"I've had worse."

"Well now's the end of that. You're not doing that this year."

✾

"You haven't heard from Sophie at all?" Julian double-checks, his blue eyes looking behind me.

"I figure it's kind of weird to bring your friend when you're tutoring someone, so no, I haven't. Now it's fair game since we're both here. Talk to her if you want to."

"It's not that big a deal."

"If you wait too long she'll hook up with someone else."

"They're over there," he points behind me. When I turn around, I see Sophie giving Iris a dirty look before laughing. Iris gestures for them to go somewhere, and while they aren't going to talk to us, they're headed in our direction since we're closer to school.

I turn to face towards Julian, who's looking at the ground awkwardly to avoid making eye contact with Sophie.

"We don't commit to girls," I tell him, without trying to hide anything. "If you actually like her then I don't see anyone else stopping you."

"Slow down, I saw her once. I don't like her."

"Whatever man."

"How about Ruby?"

"Dude," I sigh, "she's my sister. And she's seven."

"Oh sh*t dude," Julian laughs in his hand. "F*ck, why didn't you ever tell me you had a sister?"

"If you haven't noticed, we don't have the best rep. And Ruby doesn't need her older brother — who's supposed to protect her — to drag her into that. Get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah yeah, chill out. Hang out with the goodie-goodie too much and you start getting all defensive, too."

"Just saying. Sue me if explanation is a crime."

Just then, my phone starts vibrating in my pocket when someone is calling me. I see that it's Ruby and answer it with a quick, "What's up?"

"I got dress-coded," she tells me easily. "It's lunch now. They just made me turn my shirt inside-out in the bathroom and gave me a lecture. And they warned me if I get in trouble one more time this week, I'll get a two-day ISS."

"That's not good... What did you even wear?"

"I borrowed one of Mom's shirts, the one that says 'F*CK OFF' with big, blocky letters. Caps lock." She laughs at herself. "I thought it was funny, but the teachers didn't. I guess the kids didn't either, except this other kid Theodore, but the kid who called me pizza-face? He thought it was me talking to him. And it wasn't, but I told him it was anyway. And then I told 'im to f*ck off anyway."

"Ruby, don't talk like that. You better follow the rules, okay? Or else I won't only lecture you, and I'll have to do things like ground you when you're at my house. I'll make you start doing chores at my place and I'll give you extra math homework."

"No you won't!" She suddenly gasps.

"Watch me, Ruby, I will. Promise me you'll at least try harder to be nice, okay? I know you're not really bad and you're just trying to be funny, but school isn't the place for that kind of stuff."

"Okay..." Ruby lets out a long, dramatic sigh before the bell rings, signalling that my lunch is over.

"I gotta go, alright? Where are you at right now?"

"It's recess so I'm standing in a corner."

"Okay, well I'm gonna go. I'll talk to you later, Ruby. Bye."

✾

Ode to Sleep