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P1 - Chapter Seven

September 30th, 2020:

Was it weird that I had recently been obsessed with my looks?

I mean, most of the time I don't even bother brushing my hair, but now...

I spent half an hour staring into the mirror after I woke up, wondering how I could tolerate looking like that. My dad poked his head in after a while, noticing me just standing there, already bathed and dressed.

"You okay..?" he slowly asked. I nodded, not answering with words. I fluffed my hair, wondering if it was curled enough. "Why are you just... staring at yourself?"

"Don't you ever look into the mirror and realize that's something terribly wrong but you just don't know what?" I asked, distancing myself from the conversion. Morrowseer stared blankly at me.

"W–well, now that you've put it like that." He thought about it for a moment before frowning. "Is this about a boy?"

How am I already about to get busted on day one?

I gave a weird look in the corner of my eye. "No?" I was a great actress. "I'm just saying. Isn't it weird?"

Morrowseer walked into the bathroom, a faint smile stretching across his face. "Felt the same way when I met your mom." The frown returned to his face as he sighed. "Hurry, now. You don't want to be late." He walked out of the bathroom, leaving me there staring after him.

Does he still love Secretkeeper?

"*"

"Hey!" Kinkajou called, heading toward me, hand-in-hand with Turtle. "Guess what!"

"You saw a unicorn?" I guessed skeptically, making Turtle snort. Kinkajou's face brightened. 

"That would've been pretty amazing, actually," she said thoughtfully before remembering why she was there. "Oh, right! They hung up posters for cheer tryouts! You should totally try out!"

"Cheer?" I mumbled. "You mean, where people flip around and scream all while people stare at them?" I thought about it. "No."

"What?" Kinkajou cried, pulling away from Turtle and grabbing my shoulders. "Why not? It'll be so much fun!" I shrugged.

"Not a fan of crowds," I said bluntly, patting her cheek. I walked past her and waved at Turtle, walking past him, too.

"No, wait!" Kinkajou said, running up in front of me. "Pretty please? I'll be doing it with you so it'll be less nerve-racking! If you don't like it, you can quit, okay?" I stared at my bubbly friend, considering my options. I guess she did throw me a surprise birthday party and still managed to make it awesome in only a span of a couple days.

And that cake was so good.

I groaned. "Fine!" I cried, throwing my hands up in defeat. "You won. I'll join, but only if I like it. If I don't, then I'll probably be gone before you can say... well, anything at all."

"Yay!" Kinkajou said, throwing her arms around my neck. She pulled away and bounced excitedly. "You won't regret it! I'll make it so fun that you'll worship me for the rest of your life, so thankful I convinced you to join."

"Unlikely," was my only response to that before a guy crashed into both of us, making me stagger backward.

"S-sorry," quickly mumbled a voice. I turned to see it was a boy, the same height as me, and had brown hair. He had freckles scattered across his face and an apologetic expression on his face. "I didn't see you."

"It's all right," Kinkajou reassured. "It happens to me all the time." I didn't say anything to that, silently unsurprised. I took a closer look at the boy before realizing he was in two of my classes.