"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."
— Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

We walked together the rest of the way in silence. I didn't care, I was still processing the fact why I was Mary.
When we reached the theater auditorium, Luke runs down towards the stage even though it's black out, leaving me behind the entrance doors. "Luke!" I cried out.

I heard his footsteps stopped. "I'll just get up here!" He shouts with carefreeness.

"But it's dark!" I protested, shivering.
I added quickly, "let's get some flashlight at my lockers first."
Why didn't we think of flashlights? Clearly it'll be dark. How stupid of me.

I saw him nearing the stage when a light from his hand flashes. "I'll use my phone!"

I looked around my surroundings, feeling like the dark is eating me up. "Wait for me!" I told him nervously, running towards him.

"Quickly, Gwen!" Luke shouted in an exciting manner.

"Where do you want to go?" I asked, when I'm beside him.

"Just climb up the stage." He said, pushing me in front of him.

"I wanna know how the spotlights work. Where the worker climbs up to manipulate the lights." He said, eager to know where, eyeing his surroundings when we were in the middle of the stage.

He sounded like me. I was this eager the first time I had the courage to explore the campus. I kept asking Esme to come with me all week until she gave in. When the whole school was celebrating the English Month, in the opening ceremony, I was so curious how the spotlight kept moving, how and where were they controlling it. Curious enough, that it kept me all night thinking where the heck they climb.
So after a few days, I thought of a plan to find out where it is, I just needed an alibi. Good thing that before, every Thursday, we had three periods of free time. So Esme and I told our sub-teacher that we were going to the library however we headed to the auditorium. Then we finally knew where the hidden door is.

"Wanna guess or should I tell you where it it?" I asked him, grinning.

"You know where?" He gasped  in excitement.

"Yes." I uttered softly.
I continued, "come on, we gotta turn on the lights first."

While we were walking, Luke kept on playing with his breathing.
"Do you ever catch yourself thinking rude things about someone or judging them, and you're like, "hey! Stop that! That's not nice, don't you think of that." ?" Luke suddenly asked me.

His sudden outburst of statement made me think of a day I was reading in a park and I saw a girl "reading" while taking a selfie. Or the day my sister and I went to the dentist and I saw someone wearing ugly clothes so I judged her and stopped quickly, because she might hear my thoughts.

I giggled absently so I cover my mouth like a child who shouldn't laugh out loud.
"To be honest, yes." I informed him.

Scraping the cold wall, I heard Luke chuckle. "You know, the funny thing about life is that everybody is trying to find the right person, but no one is trying to be the right person." Luke said, thinking out loud.

I giggled, again, not meaning to. "Sorry." I uttered quietly. What's with me and giggling?

I frowned at him. "What's up with you with all the jazz?"

"Jazz?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"With all your sudden thinking out loud state." I answered him and he shrugs.

"To be fair," I said, breaking the silence between us, "l'll tell you a thought of mine too."

There were so many light thoughts to share but I shared a dark thought of mine abruptly. "I tell myself I don't need anyone, but the truth is, they don't need me." I honestly told him.

I feel Luke frowning at my sudden thought. He made me stop walking and said, "you are the most wonderful, dumbfounding girl I've ever met. Don't ever say that to yourself! People don't know what they're missing." What he told me made me smile. We continued to walk together again.

"You know I love books," I said and I heard Luke murmuring a 'yes' in a 'duh' tone.

I continued with my statement, "you already know that it's my escape pod but, it's just that, the moment you open one and sink into it, you can escape from the world, into a story that's way more interesting mine will ever be." I said with astonishment.

I heard him chuckle and I saw him close his eyes. "If only I could feel what you feel when it comes to reading. That feels nice."

"It does." I agreed with him.

"To be honest, when I was watching you read, it was really satisfying." He said, not clearing his point.

"What was?" I asked. I feel like I should be creeped out that he watched me read earlier yet his words made me smile.

"When I watched the left side of your book gets thicker and the right side gets thinner." He smiled, genuinely.

"A little creepy that you watched me read, and yes. That's actually the most satisfying thing in reading," I said, dreamily.

"Found it!" I said loudly when I found the light switch, minutes later.

"Let there be light!" Said Luke, playfully.
He continued, "The spotlight too!" He says when there was light in the stage.

I murmured an 'okay' and tried the other switches, with Luke still standing beside me.

"There!" He said and pointed out where the spotlight came from.

"I know that you know where it is, but I wanna guess first." He stated determinedly. After a few guesses I groaned out loud, being impatient.
He frowned and tilted his head a little bit, thinking. "Oh, if the light is over there, where—", I interrupted his thought by getting his arm, tugging him to come with me, "—fine! Just," I didn't let him finish, I pulled him and ran towards the hidden door.

***

"I cannot believe that the hidden door was in—" He said in disbelief but I interrupted him with a hush.

"Do you know why it's called a hidden door?" I asked him the obvious.

"Well hidden means kind of a secret?" He asked me like a child.

"Yes, Captain Obvious." I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

He chuckled and smirked. "Your welcome Sergeant Sarcasm."

I sneered in return. "Indeed, Comrade Comeback."

"Thank you Senior Smartass." He said and glared at me, daring me to make another comeback.

"Anytime, Dictator Dickhead." I said and glared back at him.
I cannot believe I just said 'dickhead'. I gasped and covered my mouth quickly, embarassed by my words. Luke started laughing hysterically.

"I can't believe you said dickhead." He said. Or he tried to say but it was unclear because his voice was muffled by his laughter. It all sounded like he was having an asthma attack and trying to tell me to get his inhaler.
"I ca—" inhales deeply, continued his statement, "lieve you—" inhales deeply, laughes loudly, tried to continue his statement but it was kind of muffled. "head!"

Therefore I blushed, tomato red blush, maybe apple red blush. "Oh my God! You're blushing!" He pointed out, still laughing hysterically.

I punched him to make him stop laughing. Not playfully, I punched him strongly. I was aiming for his arm but he moved so I accidentally punched his stomach instead.

"Ouch!" He whined, the hit surely made him stop laughing.

"What am I? Your piñata?" He asked me, rubbing his tummy on the part I've hit him.
Esme said that too, she said that she's like my living piñata and she doesn't want to be it anymore. She told me that I punch, slap her in her arm too hard even though I was aiming for playful.

I started feeling guilty for punching him but rather than show him affection, I did otherwise. "You deserve it. Laugh at me again and you'll end up in a hospital." I said, trying to sound firm and convincing him, at the same time, myself too.

Instead of getting mad at me he chuckled. "Who taught you to punch like that?"

A/N: So what do you think? :) I'll update every Monday for now and forever. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please kindly leave a vote and a comment. See you in the next updte!