"Okay, okay," Cassie began, thinking aloud. "I'm pretty sure you've broken six bones. That sounds like you. Er, I'm not sure about the pet mouse. I feel like you are petrified of spiders, but… okay, I'm going to say that the petrified of spiders is the lie?"
“It was a rat. They cause so much mischief and it scared my dad once. I am truly petrified of spiders.” Alpha shivered as she thought of the horrible eight legged creatures. She wasn’t sure if she blushed as she was sitting so close to Cassie or managed to somehow go paler at the thought of spiders. Whatever color it was must clash horribly with her hair. She never cared about what her hair looked like? Why did she now? Was it Cassie?
Cassie laughed, pushing Alpha's shoulder playfully. "That's cheating. Okay, let me think. I wanted a pet squirrel when I was small, I love ferrets, and I tried to kiss my best friend when I was 6," she smirked slightly.
“Well- you do have Carswell Thorne blood. I’ve heard that he flirts a lot- no offense. But umm- you don’t love ferrets? Maybe?” She laughed softly in case she got it wrong. She always laughed in case she got things wrong.
"Actually, it was the pet squirrel. I used to be terrified of squirrels. Had to spend the night in the woods once, and I stacked branches all around me like a hut so the squirrels couldn't get in," Cassie recalled, giggling.
Alpha turned the exact shade as her hair. “Really? You don’t seem like the person to be scared of squirrels. You seem really brave.” She managed to turn redder and looked down, biting her red lip as her freckles began to blend in with the redness that was still creeping along her face.
Cassie burst out laughing. "Why are you blushing? You're going to be a fire engine by the end of the day, at this rate. And anyway, I just don't scare easily. Bravery is different."
Alpha snapped her head up and responded quickly, “I’m not blushing! I was umm… uh…” she turned away and blushed again. She turned back to look at Cassie’s reaction, her emerald eyes flashing in the light. stars! Why is she so cute!
Cassie laughed again, covering her mouth with a hand. "Relax, I'm only joking," she assured the girl. "Are you going to keep playing?"
Cassie snorted. "Yet. Who knows, maybe Cinder's going to have some new traumatic event that leads to her deciding to take over the world. It happens, you never know."
Karina had come back inside shortly after Alpha had. The two girls seemed to have been happy and in a better mood. It was then that she overheard a piece of their conversation. They had moved on from their own families and onto gossipping about hers. Even if it was just a moment, it infuriated the princess. They joked about her mother wanting to take over the world should something bad enough happen. They forgot that she was the one oppressed for most of her life being a cyborg. She knew how bad that was. She freed her people from Levanna. There was an easy opening for her to take and continue the throne. But she didn't. Cinder changed the monarchy into a well functioning government with elected officials and meetings! It was the reason Karina never felt she measured up. But the two had made fun of her mother. After she had helped them. As they walked away with the Aytigin boy, Karina decided not to follow. Seating herself on the floor again, there was only one more person from the group in the room with her. What was his name though…?
Aquila flicked his right eye to the departing group of three with interest. They were joking, yet… Cinder had essentially taken over the world, hadn’t she? People played her to be the hero but in the end Cinder was always metallically shining and the front line of propaganda. Levana, Luna’s rightful queen, was the hot topic of slurs. It took him awhile before finally turning to Cinder’s daughter. Barely stifled rage simmered under his voice as he acknowledged, “Linh Karina. Have you ever tired of never needing to introduce yourself?”
Looking up, she glanced at the boy curiously. "You don't even know the half of it," she started, lips forming a small smile. "And uh, just Karina is fine," the girl added. She hoped that her tone wasn't commanding in any way. The boy seemed to be acting quite formal in front of her, acting no different than anyone else might. She was royalty. To be respected. Karina only wanted to be normal. It didn't help that the other girls had been joking about her mother in such a negative way. Right after a fight between them for the same reason. She couldn't speak up either. Not without seeming like a spoiled little princess. Literally.
The green eyed girl paled back to her normal skin tone of sunburnt ghost “Sure. Let’s keep playing. Umm. What’s some more. I’m gonna be kinda deep. I’ve never felt good enough. I can’t dance to save my life. And I can’t sleep at night because I’m terrified of monsters that only exist in my mind but I’m too scared to tell my parents because they fought in a flipping war and my dad had his genetics changed and my problems are just so insignificant and- you probably don’t want to hear about my issues. As if they matter enough to be called issues.” She looked down and played with the hem of her black short skirt.
“I really can’t imagine the other half,” he admitted, feeling a part of himself peel away at the words. He pushed away the grimace rising to his face. “But, I’ll listen, Karina.”
"Stars, Alpha, are you ok? Do you want to talk about it, or…?" She trailed off, biting her lip uncertainly.
Aloha glanced up at Cassie with emotion filling her eyes, confusion and gratitude for someone wanting to listen, but also hope. Hope that someone might care enough. “Yeah. Yeah I would. If you really want to listen.” A smile graced her lips and for the first time she completely let her guard down and let her emotions show. You could see the exhaustion that overtook her features that no but herself had seen- and now Cassie.
"It's fine. I had a sister around your age, so I'm a good enough listener," she assured Alpha, looking to the side.
(Keyword had)
(omg why)
(I’m sorry had it have)
(*or)
("I HAD a sister")
(It's had my friends ack I'm sorry that was part of the story not tryna be angsty or anything sorry ack)
(No no its ok, but my poor feels)
“I’m sorry. Had? You don’t mean to say…” Alpha looked at Cassie with concern flooding over and tearing away every emotion in her body and in her eyes.
“I really can’t imagine the other half,” he admitted, feeling a part of himself peel away at the words. He pushed away the grimace rising to his face. “But, I’ll listen, Karina.”
The girl raised a brow in response, but shook it off. "You honestly probably don't wanna hear about that. In short it does get a bit annoying," she replied. The boy before her was quite a refreshing change. He seemed a bit serious but caring. It was sweet, but no boy - scratch that, nobody in general came to a party to hear a girl complain.
"Oh, um, she died almost a year ago, but…" she was lost in thought for a moment before suddenly jolting up, wiping one of her eyes and looking up. "But this isn't about my tragic backstory, we were supposed to be talking about you."