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"He's just got gorgeous brown hair and dashing blue eyes," Sophie gushes, and I can practically see her deep blue irises turn to bright pink hearts. "And his face is so sweet! He's tall and he's got broad shoulders, and look at his muscles... Have you seen his cheek bones? And his lips are so hot!"

"If I have to hear this for another excruciating second I'm hanging up on you," I groan over the phone.

"I'm stalking his Facebook. Did you know his eyes have a little bit of grey in them? Those little lines? He had a picture where someone pointed it out in the comments and even asked if they were photo-shopped. But they're not! It's hard to look at someone with his fascinating eyes and not notice how blue they are, save for the little bit of grey."

"Yeah, but—"

"Don't argue! You're just jealous because your boyfriend's eyes are uglier."

"Logan? That's fair. But he's my ex."

"No silly, I'm talking about Pierce! He has brown eyes. I mean, they're really not ugly, brown eyes are gorgeous, but his aren't as vibrant as—"

"They're hazel," I interrupt, "and they're much prettier. They're light brown on the inside but as it nears the edge of his irises they're a deep forest green. And it mixes so beautifully, it's so smooth. The brown looks amber in the sun, and the green just accents the center and it gives his eyes a lot more contrast and color. Are we not going to even discuss how deep they are? And those 'lines' are the muscles that control the size of your pupil. On the outside they're a darker green and on the inside they're like this glowing honey... And then to finish it off, there's a black ring surrounding his irises. But what was that, about Julian's eyes being pretty again?"

"Chill out; I was joking, Iris. And you didn't even deny you were dating Pierce! Anyway, I'm going to Amelia's party and I'm just reminding you that you're coming with me. If you can ask Pierce if Julian is coming, that would be fantastic."

"You're exhausting."

✾

When I hear knocking on the front door, I quickly go to answer it. After opening the door I see Pierce, standing with a big smile on his face and a packet in his hands.

"Is that the test?" I ask him, my eyes wide. It also explained why he wasn't at his house right after school, since he was retaking it. "How did it go?"

"I only missed a few questions, mainly because of sloppy notation," he informs me. "But I answered the extra bonus questions and that gave me more than what I missed, meaning I got the highest score on this test than I have on... any other test in my life. 104 percent."

I raised both eyebrows, my expression matching his. "That's awesome, you did so well! A little studying can go a long way, Pierce. What's your grade now?"

"A 72. But hey, passing is passing."

"That's really good. I'm glad you practically breezed through that test, math is hard. Do you want to study some more today or do you think you should take a break?"

He stays silent, eying a picture of something behind me. I don't want him to point out how bad the house might smell or how messy the house is, so I quickly walk out and close the door behind me. "We can sit on the porch right now," I quickly decide aloud.

He shakes his head as if to snap out of some trance. "Right," he agrees. "Um... I don't know, whatever's fine. I just wanted to let you know how I did on my test, at least."

"Oh, so Amelia's party on Friday, are you going to go to that? Sophie's dead-set on me going with her, but she normally gets distracted anyway and I end up awkwardly waiting to leave. They're not particularly my favorite so I try to avoid them, but Sophie likes it when I come with I guess."

"I can see why," Pierce nods. "I mean, you're too sarcastic for your own good and most of what you say is hateful, but it's all in good fun. And I know you're just the opposite of what you pretend to be," he says nonchalantly. Which he shouldn't be, because it makes me feel really anxious.

Something drops in my stomach after thinking about it for too long. "W-what?"

"Nothing, doesn't matter. But yeah, I'll go to the party. There's not really any reason I can't I don't think."

"Awesome, I'll let Sophie know that. How about Julian?"

"Probably him too."

"Awesome! Oh, and how's Ruby been?"

I changed the topic because partying isn't something I really like talking about. It's everything I don't like in one place — dancing, drinking, people, another evil word I refuse to say... And to combine it all, you get drunk people dancing. And doing that other evil thing I refuse to say.

"She's been getting into a lot of trouble lately."

"Oh?" I raise an eyebrow. "What kinds of trouble?"

"Well you know how she got in trouble for cutting a kid's hair?" I nod in response and he continues. "She got into a fight with him Thursday, and Friday she got dress-coded for wearing my mom's shirt that said 'F*CK OFF.' So right now I'm just hoping she didn't get her phone taken away."

"Man, I wish I had the guts to do that when I could get away with it," I laughed. "Is she grounded or anything?"

"No, but I said if she gets in trouble one more time she'll be grounded when she comes to the apartment."

"That's fair. Why do you think she suddenly started acting like that?"

"I dunno. Sometimes she gets obnoxious and gets in trouble but it hasn't been this bad. She's got some years to straighten out though."

"What about you in elementary school? What were you like?"

"Um... hateful. Similar to Ruby's recent behaviors except I didn't get like that till later on, when life actually started processing. Third grade and below I was pretty typical though."

"Gotcha."

"What about you?"

"Me?" After a moment, I realize I'm the only other person around, so obviously he means me and I need to stop using that word as a buffer. "Well, boring," I add.

After my mom's death in first grade, the doctors decided I had severe anxiety and PTSD, so I had to go to counseling. My PTSD got better, but the anxiety never really went away and I just lied about it after a while so the doctors wouldn't ask anymore. Before her death, I had been like any other little kid, with my own small group of friends (including Sophie). After it happened, Sophie was the only one who stayed friends with me.

"Oh," he said with a laugh. "I can see it."

"Anyway, I have a lot of homework to catch up on but if I can finish it soon I'll come over later if you need help with anything."

"Alright, later."

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