Chapter 22: 13|Let the games begin!-1

"God! This is driving me insane." I glared at Rose when she laughed at my expense. "Not helping, Rose." I looked down and scrunched my nose in absolute disgust. A sudden urge to hurl rose and clawed my throat as I took in the sight of dead and dissected frog, given to us for Biology experiment. "Let me do it." She gently took the instruments out of my hand and started doing...whatever she was doing. I couldn't believe that someone as sweet and fragile looking as Rose, is able to do this nasty stuff without throwing up. Looks can be deceptive, after all. "Are you coming for Alex's fencing tournament, today?" I smiled and gave her an excited nod. "I am." "I wish Aiden and Asher were able to make it too." "I don't know about Aiden but I have a feeling that Asher will be deeply missed." Her cheeks tinged red as I teased her. I was honestly very excited to see Alex fence and I would be lying if I say that I didn't cross the date every day since he asked me to come. He asked Asher and Aiden too but dad sent both of them to nana's house because of some emergency. I wanted to go too. I never met her after accident and I have absolutely no memory of her from before the crash but somehow, dad convinced me against it. He discreetly pointed that I don't remember her at all and it will be totally awkward if I go all grown up as she has Alzheimer's and secondly, I myself didn't want to blow Alex off. I was also worried about Liam. He was getting decent sleep for past few days and surprisingly, he was very thankful for that. I honestly enjoyed pillow talks with him. He was like my personal diary. I ranted every detail about my day to him and that somehow helped me relax. He never opened up to me though and the thought made me sad. We were really close to being caught on Saturday when Aiden barged in my room to demand a movie night, just in time to actually find me in my room. The rest of last week was uneventful if you exclude the barbeque dad organized for us kids and Williams on Sunday. Alex and Rose were taking my little desire to learn archery and fencing, seriously and planning ahead while I had no intention to embarrass myself in front of the pros, any time soon. Felix was absent almost whole week and when he did came, he was sporting a huge black eye along with a bruise on cheeks. I have a feeling that the eye has something to do with Liam. Felix glared at me at every chance he got and made it clear to not follow my orders during practises. Such a child. Neal seemed a little distant but we spent a lot of time together. He has next to no friends apart from me in new school and I really feel bad for him. Ryder joined us occasionally too and I suddenly realised that my feelings for him were purely platonic now as he introduced me to Lizette for the first time. I used to flinch while listening her name but the connection we made in our first meet, helped me draw the conclusion that I was officially over Ryder. So that was my last week and that...wasn't uneventful like I said. "You still with me?" Rose chuckled as I blinked furiously when she pulled me out of reverie by snapping her fingers. "Yeah? I zoned out. Sorry." she shook her head and smiled. "It's okay. I was saying that I will pick you up at 6?" I nodded and gave her a thankful grin. "Wear something formal. There is a formal party afterwards." "There is?" "Yup!" I cheered. Formal or not, this will be fun. We worked in silence for a while and ultimately wrapped up the work before the next period bell. Slinging my backpack, I bid goodbye to Rose as I started walking towards gym class. It's not even a day and I already miss my brothers to death. I sighed. Gym will be boring without Asher getting under Coach Sanchez's skin. Oh! How am I going to survive this week? ~~~~ "Why am I getting the feeling of being a FBI agent right now?" Liam rubbed his face in frustration. "There must be something we are missing here!" I groaned and dived my nose into the report we made, again. "I am sure that Cedric is dead." Neal piped in, indifferently. I looked up at him in confusion. "How are you so confident?" "Wikipedia knows it all." He shrugged. I hit him with my binder. "Shut up!" And he shut his trap. I looked at Liam for any help but he shook his head. "That's all for today, I guess. It's already 5 and I have to be somewhere at 6." I sigh. Liam nodded his head, mildly confused but Neal narrowed his eyes. "With Alex?" "Yeah." I smiled in excitement as I brushed off the venom in Neal's voice. He begrudgingly started packing up his stuff while muttering something under his breath. "See you at night?" I was surprised when Liam actually made an attempt to remind me. Not that I will forget but this was definitely a first. "Yeah." I smiled up at him. From peripheral vision, I saw Neal studying us with scrutinising eyes. I doubt he would have heard Liam's whisper. I bid them good bye and locked the front door. Hopping upstairs, I threw open my closet. What to wear? I studied my whole wardrobe and found nothing but Aiden's old shirts and a few of mine along with a few jeans and shorts. I sighed and dialled dad. "Am I dreaming or did my princess actually graced her old man?" I rolled my eyes and chuckled at dad's dramatic choice of words. "Dad! I am in middle of a fashion crisis right now!" I huffed and heard him choke on whatever he was drinking. Concern overpowered me. "Are you okay, dad?" He coughed for a while before he cleared his throat. "I am sorry. You're in middle of what?" "Fashion crisis, dad!" "Okay...?" he drawled, clearly not buying it. "Dad, I have to attend Alex's fencing tournament in an hour. There is a formal party afterwards and I don't know what to wear!" "Crap! It's today?"