| 25 |  

| 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐞 |

It takes me a moment to register Castle's gasp followed by a choked sound.

I stagger to my feet and move out my door, blindly searching for the light switch.

When I turn it on, what lay in front of me has me groaning in disbelief.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I mutter.

"Language, Holly," Dad tells me, hiking up his shotgun higher so that the muzzle of it is pressing directly into Castle's throat.

Castle's eyes are wide, and he's frozen in his place.

"Dad." I sigh. "Put down the shotgun."

But he doesn't even budge. "I need to know what he's doing here, coming out of your room, in the middle of the night."

"Nothing," I respond. "He dropped me home."

Dad glances at me briefly. "Why was he in your room?"

"Because I needed help getting up the stairs."

Castle's still frozen in his place; his eyes open wide in shock.

"Getting help?" Dad furrows his eyebrows. "What for?"

I nearly curse out loud again. "I'm drunk."

It's silent for a while.

"Holly?" Dad asks.

"Yeah?"

He gives me a pointed look. "You and I both know you're still perfectly steady even drunk."

"But I'm seriously drunk tonight. I'm wobbly." I reply.

"It'll take a lot more for me to believe that. So?" Dad asks. "What was he doing in there?" He presses the muzzle of the shotgun further into Castle's throat.

"Don't worry, it's not real," I tell Castle.

Dad immediately shoots me a scowl. "Of course it's real."

I roll my eyes. "It's fake," I tell Castle.

"Want me to press the trigger to prove you wrong?" Dad raises an eyebrow.

Castle's eyes widen further at that, fear in his eyes.

Before I can say another word, the muzzle of another shotgun presses into dad's back.

"Why don't I test this shotgun instead?" Mom asks, pressing the shotgun further into dad's back.

Dad's back snaps straight at that.

He looks behind his shoulder at mom, furrowing his eyebrows. "Now where did you get that from?"

She shrugs, before putting on a serious face. "Let the boy go."

A serious look comes on dad's face too. "He came out of Holly's room."

"Knowing your daughter damn well, you'd rather point a shotgun at this poor boy instead at your daughter?" Mom tilts her head.

"Wow, thanks for the support," I say, sarcastically.

"Let him go. He's scared to his bones."

Castle in fact did look scared to his bones.

His eyes are darting between mom and dad and the shotguns they held in their hands.

He probably must be regretting his whole night right now.

"Can we please drop the guns and call it a night?" I sigh.

"What was he doing in your room, Holly?" Dad asks, nudging Castle's neck with the shotgun.

At the same time, mom rams her shotgun into dad's back making him hiss.

"He did nothing!" I repeat. "Oh come on dad, you know Castle. What do you think he did?"

Dad stares at Castle, scrutinizing him. He looks at Castle up and down, as if checking for something that'd confirm his suspicions.

After a few seconds, his grip on the shotgun loosens and he reluctantly lowers it. "Fine." He glares at me. "I'm letting this go this once."

I hold back an eye roll.

Mom lowers her shotgun too after a while. "Finally."

Dad points a finger at Castle. "Don't let me find you in her room ever again."

Castle nods rapidly.

Mom swats dad away and walks towards Castle, grabbing his arm. "No threatening people in my house." She pulls him towards the stairs, turning her head back to look at me. "I'll see him to the door."

After mom and Castle leave, I raise an eyebrow at dad. "Shotgun, seriously?"

He points his finger at me. "This should not happen again."

"What shouldn't?" I exasperate. "Nothing even happened. He was literally in there for two minutes."

Dad continues glaring at me.

"If you're done scolding her, we can go back to bed now!" Mom calls from downstairs.

Dad's glare melts off a little. He looks in the direction of the stairs. Then he looks at me. "Fine. I'm letting this go."

"Thank you." I give him a smile.

"But it's only for this once!" He warns.

"I'll keep that in mind."

He looks at me once more before nodding and heading towards the stairs. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," I call after him and walk into my room and collapse on my bed.

First thing in the morning; talk to Castle.

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

The next morning, it's easy to find Castle in the biology lab as it's his first period here.

There are very few people in the class and no one's paying attention when I walk into the room and spot Castle sitting in the middle row, his head bent over a book. A few strands of his brown hair fall over his forehead.

I make my way toward him.

"Has anyone ever told you how hot you look with that little frown of focus on your face?"

His shoulders visibly stiffen then he raises his head to look at me.

I raise my eyebrows. "Good morning."

"What do you want?"

"Cheery as always," I comment.

He raises an eyebrow at me.

"I can't even wish my friend good morning now?"

He scoffs lightly. "We're not friends."

"Sure we are. We've done half the things that would come under the friend category."

"And what will those things be?" He leans back in his chair, looking up at me with a tilted head.

"I'll write you a list." I grin.

He stares at me.

I lick my lips before starting. "I wanted to ask if last night was...weird for you."

He raises his eyebrows. "Which part of the night to be specific? The fact that I went to a party to pick you up and got attacked by random girls kissing my face? Or the fact that you made me go to your room and then squish my balls? Or maybe it's the fact that both your parents own shotguns and one of them was pointed at my throat?"

I nod, wincing. "Seems like a weird night."

He continues staring at me before shaking his head. "I don't care. You can leave." His gaze falls down at his book.

"I got you chocolate."

He looks up back at me. "What?"

I pull out the big and long candy bar from the side zipper of my bag and hold it out for him.

He stares at it. "What's this for?"

"It's chocolate. It doesn't have to be for anything."

When Castle makes no move to take it, I place it on his book.

"That one's my personal favourite by the way." I point out.

"That information was really helpful." He nods at me.

A moment of silence falls between us. I bite my lip while he's still looking up at me, waiting for me to say something more probably.

Finally, his shoulders relax, and he shakes his head. "It's fine. After all, those kinds of things are expected when you tangle yourself with Holly Versace, right?"

An immediate grin spreads on my face. "You feel like you're tangled up with me?"

"Is there any way out?" He asks me.

I look at his blue eyes, the way he's looking at me right now, not with annoyance or distress. He's just...looking at me.

"I don't think so," I respond.

He nods.

"Sooo are we good after last night?" I ask.

He shrugs. "I don't know. I think I can use some grovelling."

"Groveling, huh?" I bite my lower lip, making a sweep of his long body with my eyes, making it look seductive without even having to try. I meet his eyes with intensity this time. "Better be specific in what type of grovelling. Because for me? There's a lot of moaning when I'm grovelling."

"Hrg!" He looks off guard for a moment before his surprise turns into a scowl within seconds. "Why do you always do that?"

"Do what? Give you small frequent boners?"

"I don't have a boner." He hisses.

"Won't' believe it till I see it," I say.

He immediately looks away from me. "Get lost."

A laugh comes out of my mouth. I walk around and flop onto the seat next to Castle.

I reach into my bag and pull out another chocolate bar.

"Here." I hold it out toward him. "Now this is for being a good tutor to me."

He looks at the chocolate and then back at me.

"And a friend," I add.

This time, he takes the chocolate from my hand, doing it very slowly as if I might suddenly smack him with it.

"Thank you." He mumbles.

"The test is in two days that will decide if I'm gonna be kicked out of the team or not," I say. "What do you think? Will I be kicked out?"

"It doesn't matter what I think. If you're capable, you'll do it. If not, then it's all on you."

"But you're the tutor." I nudge his arm with my elbow.

"And I've done my job." He looks at me. "Haven't I?"

I give him a nod. "You have."

He nods back at me. "You can do it. A few weeks ago, I'd never say this, but I can say it now."

"Say what?"

"You're not a stupid dumb blonde."

A laugh shoots out my mouth at the unexpectedness of his words.

"Are you fucking kidding me? You still think I'm a stupid dumb blonde?" I ask.

He shrugs.

"You're so fucking stereotypical, Castle." I shake my head at him.  "Just because I'm born blonde doesn't mean I'm dumb."

"It's not just the blonde hair." He says. "It's your status at this school. Popular, troublemaker, wanted..." A distant look clouds his eyes. It's like he's pulled away from me into his own world without even moving an inch.

I've noticed Castle doing this a lot. He just randomly zones out without meaning to and then a troubled frown bothers his brows. I sometimes wonder what he thinks about when he's in his own world.

"What?" I ask him.

"What?" He blinks at me.

"You just spaced out," I say.

He shakes his head. "Nothing."

"Tell me."

"It's nothing." He repeats.

"Bull fucking shit. You can't just be making jokes one minute then go blank all of a sudden and not expect me to question it."

He purses his lips, his hands forming slight fists on his table.

"Do you...really mean what you said?" He asks, hesitatingly.

"About what?" I ask.

"About wanting to be my friend?"

I tilt my head in confusion. "Why would I joke about that?"

He avoids my eyes. "I don't fit in the category of your everyday group of people, don't you think?"

I furrow my eyebrows. "What category?" I question.

He looks around the room, seeming as if he could point someone out. But there's barely anyone in class right now. "All your friends are popular...important. Always wanted by everyone. I don't exactly make that list, do I?" His voice turns bitter as if voicing that out disgusts him.

I'm frowning at him. "What the fuck, Castle?" I'm surprised at the anger in my voice. Maybe I'm angry because he's being stupid. "You seriously think your importance is valued by how much people want you?"

He remains silent.

"The friend group I hang out with? Yeah, almost all of them hate each other. We're just a bunch of people thrown in together because we want to uphold our status at this school. Riley and Sean are exceptional in that case. They're the only actual friends I have."

Castle's jaw tightens.

"The friend group I hang out with? We're all just a bunch of fakes, Castle." I shake my head to myself.

Sure, I love hanging out with those people despite the jealousy and hatred going on around. There's a lot of gossip, jokes that you can't help but laugh at, and so many people to chatter with. The extrovert version of myself needs a group of people to exert all my energy into.

But at the end of the day...

"With you though? I don't think I've ever felt fake."

The words are out of my mouth without me even comprehending them. I come to a startling realization that I actually mean it.

Was there ever a moment where I had to pretend to be someone else around Castle? I don't think so...

He's seen me sleeping in sweats with food crumbs all over me on the couch. He's seen me lose to my dad in games. He's also someone whom I text randomly at any time and didn't once feel embarrassed about it. Even though he doesn't reply at all.

But he hasn't blocked me yet like he said he would so I'm guessing he actually likes the daily dose of Holly's Marvelous Words on his phone.

"I want you to be my friend." I continue, then to make things less awkward, I add. "You better stop self-degrading yourself before I beat the shit out of you."

Castle stares at me, looking slightly astounded as if he's standing under the aurora lights or something.

"What?" I ask him.

He snaps out of it, shaking his head.

I pull out another chocolate bar from my bag, handing it to Castle. "This is for letting me call you out on your stupidity."

He frowns at the zipper from where I took out the chocolate from. "How many of these do you have?"

"I told you these are my favourite ones."

He's holding three of my favourite chocolates now, fiddling with them.

He bites his lip, still avoiding eye contact.

"We're friends, Castle," I repeat.

He looks at me.

Then nods slightly. "I think I can live with that."

Right then, the bell rings signalling everyone to head to class and since I'm not in the same class as Castle for biology, I need to get up.

A sigh comes out of my mouth. I wanted to stay here and talk a bit more with him.

"Guess I need to leave," I mutter.

He nods.

I stand up and proper my bag on my shoulders. "See you at my house by 8?"

"Yeah."

"Final revisions tonight, right?"

He nods. "You'll be prepared."

"Glad to know."

And with that, I exit Castle's class feeling quite satisfied with my morning.

The next morning though, I wake up with a high fever.

★・・・・・・★

I always end up getting a fever or getting sick while travelling.

Words: 2,400

Date of publishing: 19th March 2023