"I want to show you something," Alicia says as we stop in front of her room.

Well, duh. I followed her all the way from my room, my building to this room, risk getting caught by Mr. Snickle. Of course I know she wants to show me something, she doesn't need to tell me formally.

But I don't say anything. This is her moment and I'll let her have it.

She opens the door to her room and step aside for me to enter. O... Kay. I walk inside the room but I can't really see anything because it's dark in here and outside. Alicia enters after me and closes the door.

"Hey, is your sister around?" I ask out of curiosity because I can't make out anything on the other bed. Alyssa hates my guts, so I need to be prepared for her wrath when she wakes.

"Nope, she's having...well, issues at the moment, so she spends so much time in the restroom," she answers as her side lights up when she turns on the bed lamp.

She goes on her knees and pull her bedspread up before bending down to reach for something. A small purple velvet box.

That's odd. I was expecting something a lot bigger.

She goes to a sitting position, resting her back against the drawer beside her bed. She opens the box and brings out a necklace, not a necklace per se. It looks like a necklace with balls of crystal pendant. Five crystals to be exact. Oval shaped and the sizes decreases downward. I'm no fashion expert but I think those crystal are out of date, they're vintage.

I move closer to her and slowly take my seat on the floor without taking my eyes off the crystals. I've never seen anything like it before, it is beautiful.

"What is this?"

Alicia looks from the crystals to me and answers, "This is a Lan Degar."

I raise my eyebrows and tilt my lip upwards before saying, "Alan De what?"

"Lan Degar. A shower or revealer, which ever is better suited for you."

I nod like I understand what she's saying but I've got no clue. "Oh... A what?"

She rolls her eyes and chuckles before placing the necklace on the floor, using her forefingers to spread the crooked piece. "It's basically a truth revealer or shower. If you have this on you and you ask anyone a question. It will reveal if the person is lying or telling the truth. I was thinking you take it with you." She explains but I don't get the last part.

"Take it with me where?"

She raises her head to look at me, she moves her eyes to corner before settling it back on me like she can't believe I just asked her that and expecting an invisible force to share the laugh with. "On your date with Caleb dummy."

Oh, yeah, right. I wasn't thinking.

"Sound like a perfect idea. Thank you."

I keep underestimating this girl. Who would have thought about this? Certainly not me. Having the crystals with me gives me the upper hand in our conversation. That way I'll know when he's telling the truth or lying, then I'll be a step closer to finding out if he's the real Caleb or an imposter, and if he turns out to be the latter, then I'll know what to do next.

"You're welcome," Alicia says with a smile, "I'm glad I could help."

"Help? Alicia this is more than helping, thank you, really," I reply with a smile.

She nods and packs the necklace back into the box, she covers it and gives it to me. I collect it and put it in my pajamas pocket.

"Now that that's over, can I go back to be bed? Can we–?" I don't get to finish my question as the door open and Alyssa slides in. She stands by the door and her gaze goes forward, resting on me.

Okay, great! The last thing I need.

Her hands find the light switch and turn it on. The florescent lights and the bulb comes to life, filling the room, giving me the perfect view of Alyssa, who is currently glaring at me. The glare didn't hide the fact that she looks unwell. She's lost weight and her face looks like it shrunk.

Is this the bathroom issue Alicia was telling me about?

"What the fuck are you doing here?" She snarls, I can feel her claws and annoyance in her tone.

I scoff and stand up. "I'm going already, no need to be extra." Dropping the surrender card early, I'm must still be sleeping but it's either that or punching her in the face and that would get me in so much trouble. "See you later," I tell Alicia with a wave before walking away.

I stop in front of glaring Alyssa, who is standing in front of the door with her arms around herself like she's cold or something. "Do you mind? I want to get out."

She keeps up the glare for about thirty seconds before stepping aside for me to leave. I roll my eyes at her childish behavior and open the door to let myself out but Alyssa comes right out after me.

"Cami, wait!" She calls behind me.

I stop and turn my head to side to answer her over my shoulder. "What? I'm leaving."

"Look, I don't know what my loser of a sister sees in you–"

That make me angry, I turn my back as I cut her off. "Call her a loser one more time and I will fucking end you." And I fucking mean that shit. Nobody calls my friend a loser especially not by her sister.

Alyssa waves as she doesn't care about my threats. "Go threaten someone who cares," her expression turns serious. "Anyway, listen, Penelope is my best friend and I care a lot about her like you obviously care about my sister."

Okay.

"Is this your way of threatening me?" I ask because I hurt Penelope and if someone did what I did to any of my friends, I would freak out.

She shakes her head sharply. "No. The headmaster said you guys will continue doing the dishes in the kitchen until you get along. Can't you, like, try getting along? You can pretend if you want to."

I mean, she makes a pretty good point. If Penelope and I can pretend to be civil, then we're both off dish duty and she's off the hook, leaving me with the stupid therapy session with Miranda.

"Have you talked to Penelope about this?"

The only way for this to work is if we both work together. She can't expect me to walk up to Penelope and try to be civil if she doesn't know anything about it. It would make her feel superior and make me feel like shit and played.

"She isn't as bad as you think if you get to know her. She's had a rough life and Roman leaving without saying anything to her just made everything worse. She doesn't have much going on and she was really looking forward to this House Contest because it makes her happy. It's not my place to tell you but–" she pauses to take a breath, "she's suicidal and she doesn't need all this pressure. I hate you but I know you can make this better, please."

Wow... I didn't know Penelope was... I mean I knew she wasn't really doing okay about Roman leaving but suicidal? Fuck!

Did I really think it was just me with issues?

"Oh okay."

I mean, I have to try. The last thing I want is something bad happening to her because of me.

Alyssa let's out a sigh of relief like she's been holding it for a while. "Thank you." She swallows and adds,  "tell anyone about this and I will kill you."

I roll my eyes. The words just rolls out of her tongue.

"Killing people isn't your speciality Alyssa," I joke. "I will do what you say."

"Good, now buzz off," she says, waving me off.

Okay, I need to ask.

"You look–"

"Don't fucking mock me!" Her tone is hard as she clenches her jaw in anger. I can guess why she might think I'm mocking her. Alyssa is a queen bee and everything about her is about her looks and she looks really awful right now, so me pointing that out hurt her.

I raise my hands up in surrender. "I'm not trying to. What's wrong?" I ask in a cool tone to convince her that I'm not mocking her.

"None of your goddamn business," the words carries the same tone, "but if you must know I'm pregnant."

My eyes goes wide as my lips parts.

"What? You're pregnant? As in actually pregnant?" My eyes drops on her stomach but I can't see anything because her hands are covering it.

She scoffs. "Of course not, who told you that?"

I frown. "You did, just now."

She chuckles and shakes her head. "I'm just fucking with you. I'm not fucking pregnant."

She is crazy.

"Please never say fucking with me ago," I warn in a joking way but it's time to be serious. "What's wrong? Maybe I can help."

"Nothing just my period being a bitch."

"Oh that, I'm sorry."

She raises her eyebrow in question. "Really?" Doubts dances in her eyes. Yeah I totally understand that. We aren't friends and here we are, joking and talking as as if we're old friends.

"I'm not all bad, Alyssa."

She scoffs. "Oh, you are. The baddest."

I try my best.

"Fine, whatever you say. Goodnight."

I return to my room and try to go back to sleep but can't. I keep thinking about what Alyssa said about Penelope.

Most bullies pick on people that they think are better than them. They plagues on other to make themselves feel better and I've learned that, that isn't living. I was a bully because it was easier for me. I've been afraid my whole life and I didn't know what caused the fear until recently. It was easier for me to pick on other people to make them fear me so I wouldn't be alone. It was stupid but what did I know then?

*****

Looking forward to doing the dish like never before. It's the only way I can think of talking to Penelope.

The day moves fast but not fast enough. The classes all go by in a blur and when lunch comes, I make sure to go late because I don't want to sit with the others especially with the strain relationship I have with Jessica, I'm not even sure what we are anymore. I don't want to sit on another table because they'll know something is up and I don't want to draw attention especially when Alicia and I are doing something in secret.

I stay behind after lunch and eat my food, making sure none of them see me before returning late to class. It's a little price to pay.

The rest of the day go by and when it's the time I've been looking forward to, I start to become nervous. I know I shouldn't be but knowing that stuff about Penelope just makes me pity her and it's not fair on her that I do. She doesn't even know I know and I'm not sure how to face her without imagining the difference ways she's tried to hurt herself.

"Hey, P." I stand at the entrance of the kitchen and greet her.

She pauses what she's doing and shrugs, probably thinking she must have misheard me. This means Alyssa didn't tell her.

I enter the kitchen and move closer to her. "Hey, P," I singsong.

She frowns. "Only my friends call me P," she raises her head to glare at me. "And we both know you are not my  friend Cami, you are just the person that wants to kill me."

"You don't really seem hurt about it," the words fly out of my mouth before I can stop it.

Her face grows hard as she asks, "what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

I shake my head. "Nothing."

"You've been asking around about me?"

I shake my head. "No, no, I didn't mean anything by it. It was a stupid thing to say."

She's getting defensive and it might lead to something else if I don't stop this now.

"Can't we just be civil with each other?" She scoffs in response and turns back to her chores. I walk past her to stand at her side. "Do you really like doing the dishes? Because I don't and I really need your help. I'm sorry for being bitch. I've always been a bitch to you and I'm sorry..." She doesn't answer, so I add, "it's not as if this is entirely my fault, you started this when you made me trip on my first day. You were a bitch to me, I just out bitched you."

She shoot me a look that says I shouldn't have said that and I instantly regret it. I want to make things better but it seems like I've just made things worse.

She reaches inside her pocket and bring out her earphones. I catch a glimpse of her shirt and notice the picture on it.

A picture of Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger.

This shirt just gave me an idea.