- I've updated more times this week than I have in a week oops -

Aleigha's point of view

"Your room is so cute." Michael said and I looked at him. "It's absolutely adorable. How long did it take to decorate it?"

"Not too long. I um, I just strung up white Christmas lights on the ceiling, placed all my records on the wall, and painted the wall a light shade of blue." I told him as I sat on my bed. "My laptop is over there, vanity mirror, dressers, it's nothing big."

"No, no its not big, but it's adorable and seems so cozy." He said and I shrugged. "I wish I could do something with my room, but we're not even there long enough to. We live out of suitcases honestly. We don't stay anywhere long enough to do anything like this."

"Must be nice though, being able to see different horizons, meet different people, learn different lessons. You're able to grow, eduate and be educated. Just seems great." I said and he nodded.

"If you don't throw in any of the bad, then yeah, it's the dream life." He said and I nodded as I leaned my head on the headboard. "We're never at one place long enough to really look around and explore."

"You can always go back whenever you're on break."

"That's rare." He said and I shrugged. He tapped his fingers on the desk and I crossed my legs. "What's this?" He asked as he picked up some papers.

"It's a school assignment for my creative writing. We had to uh, as silly as it sounds, write a fanfic. A short one, no more than five thousand words." I said and blushed heavily.

"I see my name."

"Don't read it. It's not that good. I'm no author." I said but he read them anyways. "Michael!"

"I'm curious!" He defended and I huffed, unable to stop my cheeks from turning redder as he read it. "I'm in awe, it's so cute and romantic. I wanna vomit."

"Good, then you have a reason not to read it." I said and he laughed as he flipped a page. "I'm a hopeless romantic."

"You play guitar?" He asked and looked up from the papers. "That's right, you do, kind of. You said you learned one of our songs."

"Yeah, learned a couple. I can play Vapor, and uh San Francisco by you guys now. I'm not that good. I still use open chords." I said and he laughed.

"I do too sometimes too, don't worry. You only learn more." He said and set the papers down. "What grade did you get on the paper?"

"I haven't turned it in yet. At most, I think that could be a B." I told him and he shook his head.

"I think an A."

"Only cause you're in it."

"That, and because it's written really well." He said and I shook my head. "You should tell me what grade you get on this."

"If I get a B, you owe me." I said and he nodded.

"If you get an A, you owe me." He told me and I nodded. That was fair. "Does it matter what I have to give you?"

"I mean, not really. As long as it doesn't matter for me." I said and he looked at me.

"If I'm right, you have to go on a date with me." He said and I looked at him. "We'll play it out just like this on my next day off or something."

"Deal." I said and held a hand out. "If I get a B, we forget about the story and it never gets brought up again, ever." I told him and he stood up, sitting on my bed again he shook my hand.

"Deal." He said and I chuckled. "What's all those?" He asked and motioned to my slightly opened drawer.

"It's a bunch of journals and sketch books. It's nothing." I said and he hummed. "It's not special. It's kind of just what I do when I'm bored."

"Can I see?"

"I mean..." I looked at the drawer and then at him. "Alright. Fine." I said and opened it, grabbing a thick black and white notebook, flipping to a page.

I handed it to him and he took it, looking at it. "That's... That's when I thought everything was getting better. I tried believening myself and it worked for awhile. Then it came crashing down."

His eyes scanned over the page and I felt a little uneasy. No matter what I wrote, no matter who reads it, it's always a scary feeling. Someone being able to know what goes on in your head, it's just a reminder that they can take that knowledge and run off with it, maybe spill it to someone else.

It's just a bit frightening.

He looked at me after finishing it and smiled smally. "That's actually really inspirational." He said and I shrugged. "Do you have other things like this?"

"I mean..." I trailed off, bringing a total of five journals out. "What do you think?"

"This one says music," he said, pointing at a thick white and blue journal. "That one says sad poems," he added, pointing to an all black one. "This says stories... and this one has my name on it." He said, pointing at a purple journal and then red one.

"Yeah, I quite like writing. It's a great... a great pastime I guess." I said and he nodded as he grabbed the one with his name on it.

"May I?" He asked as I collected the rest of them. I hesitated but then nodded after he already flipped it open. "What's in here?"

"Everything I wanted to tell you in my letters but didn't." I said, setting the notebooks aside. He smiled softly, turning pages as he read through it.

I swear to god I saw his eyes water after awhile.

"I'm..." He looked up at me after scanning how many pages were written in. "It's nearly full."

"Yeah..." I said and he closed it. "There's a lot of things I wanted to say but didn't."

"Would it be too much if I took it home and read it? After all, it's for me." He said and I blushed as he laughed lightly. "I'm actually really touched. This is sweet."

"Alright " I said softly and nodded. "Yeah, you can. Just don't show anyone, if you do, don't say it was me." I told him and he nodded.

"Of course." He said and there was a knock on the door. "Are you gonna go get that?"

"Yeah, I am." I said and stood up. "Don't break anything, please."

"I won't." He said and nodded. I thanked him and he continued reading the red journal.

I went to the front door, opening it a bit to reveal my friend Jackie. "Hi Lee, do you happen to know where Krystal is?" She asked as she walked in, this house being like a second home to her.

"No I don't um, have you tried calling her?"

"I got voicemail every time." She said and there was a thump from upstairs. "Who else is here?"

"I uh-"

She went to my room before I could stop her and I followed her. I saw Michael awkwardly picking up my journals and he blushed when he caught us staring. "I um, accidentally dropped them. Nothing broke though!" He said and I laughed a bit.

"You're Michael Clifford."

"Yeah-Yeah I am. You're um..."

"Jackie, your best friend fucked my sister over." She said and I pinched her. "Lee! What was that for?" She hissed.

"Be nice." I whispered hissed at her and Michael looked between us, seeming to catch on.

"Twin sister? Krystal right?"

"Yeah, how did you know? Does he talk about her?" Jackie asked and I face palmed, sitting down on my own bed.

"Sometimes um, they're hanging out right now. He texted me and said they're at a club." Michael told her as he set the red notebook down.

"What does he say about her?"

"Nothing much really. She's fine. She was great. She won't reply to my texts. Do you think she hates me?" Michael said, mimicking what I'm assuming Calum would say.

"So nothing bad?" Jackie asked and Michael shook his head. "Alright. Good. Good. What are you doing here?"

"I um, just wanted to talk. I can leave if you want." He said, looking between me and Jackie.

"No, it's alright. I just wanted to talk about prom and stuff." Jackie said and looked at me. "You need a prom dress."

"I don't wanna go." I said and crossed my arms. "Michael, make her leave me alone about this."

"Can't." He said and I frowned a bit. "I didn't go to my own prom cause I dropped out, you should go to your's." He told me and Jackie pointed at him.

"Even a member of that dumb band agrees with me!"

"Hey," I said and she crossed her arms. "Not nice. They're not dumb." I pressed and she rose an eyebrow at me.

"I mean..." Michael trailed off and I rolled my eyes. "We're kinda dumb."

"You need a dress and heels. We also gotta do something about your hair, it needs to be dyed again and and not straightened as much." She asked and I shook my head.

"Alright, first you want me in a dress and heels. Then you want me to not straighten my hair? Are you mental?" I asked, swatting her hand away. "That's like asking you not to wear makeup."

"Michael isn't her hair dying?" She asked and Michael when wide eyed as he looked between us.

"I can't talk about hair, I'm going bald."

"You're no help." Jackie said and sighed. "Jesus, so useless." She muttered and when Michael looked down at the journal on his lap, I instantly felt bad.

"Hey, that's rude." I said and she set her hands on her hips. "Watch it alright? Just cause you're irritated doesn't mean you have to be so mean."

"Yeah yeah alright. Look, we're going to the mall this weekend and you're gonna pick out a prom dress and some heels. No wandering off to Hot Topic." She said and I sighed.

"Fine." I said and ran a hand through my hair. "I'm dying my hair soon though so don't hold your breath on be staying brunette." I said and Michael perked up.

"What color are you dying it?" He asked and Jackie gasped.

"Don't encourage her! She's gonna really kill her hair!" She said and I rose an eyebrow at her. "Jesus Lee, why do you hate being pretty?"

"Why do you hate who I am?" I asked and I could see Michael trying to bite back his laughter.

"I'm not! I'm just confused as to why you want your hair to look like coloured dead grass!" She said exasperated and I laughed although it was making me slightly more insecure.

"Jackie, I think it's fine, alright? You're making it seem worse than it is." I said and she rolled her eyes.

"I try being a good friend..." She said and Michael nudged me with his foot. I looked at him and nodded as Jackie sat down on my desk chair.

"What color are you dying your hair?" He asked me and I laughed. "You never answered it."

"Burgandy." I said and he bodded. "I've dyed it and lot and now I want burgandy."

"As much as I have?"

"I don't think anyone has dyed their hair as much as you have." I said and Jackie just had to butt in.

"Some people actually value having hair and don't want to be bald at twenty-three." She said and Michael laughed.

"Good thing I'm twenty." He said and I smiled as I leaned my head on the wall beside my bed. "Oh yeah, um, Leigha, I have to give you something."

I furrowed my eyebrows together in confusion and he pulled his wallet out. He handed me money and I shook my head. "What do I need that for? I-"

"You gave me money and I don't want it. I bought the shirt for you because I wanted to. I didn't want you to pay me back." He said and I shook my head.

"I feel guilty, I can't take it back."

"Aleigha take the m-"

Jackie grabbed the money and then shoved it into my purse. "That works too, thanks." Michael said and she nodded as his phone rang.

I looked at him weirdly since his ring tone was his own song and he grumbled lowly. "Fucking Calum, I'm gonna kill him." He ssid with with a slight blush.

I laughed and he answered his phone, tugging on his bottom lip sith his teeth. "Yeah?" He asked and I pulled my own phone out. "I gotta third wheel you guys too? Ashton, come on. I'm always third wheeling. First it's the rat and his cat and now it's prince charming and Cinderella? Come on."

"You called Ashton prince charming." I said and he nodded.

"Have you seen the dude? He's everything." He told me and I laughed lightly. "Hm? It's Aleigha, I'm at her house. What? No! Who do you take me as?" He asked as he stood up. He held a finger up and then stepped outside of my room.

Didn't help, we could still hear him.

"So, you got Michael Clifford in your bed, how was that?" Jackie asked and I blushed. "Krystal got the bassist and you got the guitarist. You're both official groupies now."

"I didn't get him in my bed, we just hung out." I said and crossed my legs. "I'm serious Jackie."

"Mhm." She said and I rolled my eyes. Michael came in and then asked if he could talk to me.

"Yeah sure." I said and Jackie just winked at me as she typed on her phone. I left the room with Mikey and he smiled smally.

"So uh, I know we've been like everywhere today, but Ashton was wondering if we could go with him and his girl around town. Luke and Arz will be there too, a couple more friends." He said hopefully and I checked my phone.

"Um..." I read the text from my parents and then nodded. "Yeah, I'll go." I said and smiled.

He thanked me and gave me a hug, which I was more than happy to return. "You're welcome." I said and couldn't help but feel as if I would be intruding. They're all friends, those two members despise me, so it couldn't go that well, could it?