The Truth Hurts

41 │falling for you

All of the noise fades out and the only thing Morgan can hear is his heart throbbing against his chest. He continues to stare down at Kandice's body, not quite sure of how long he has been standing here. He ignores all the teenagers, some his so-called friends, staring up at him as well as the sirens growing louder in the distance.

He slips away from the railing and backs into the patio door—the one not broken—and slides down it to hit the floor, not caring about the glass beneath him. He pulls his knees up to his chest and begins to sob, crying into his arms as if he were a heartbroken child.

"Okay, no!" Kira laughs as she playfully reaches over to block Paige's paintbrush, already dipped in yellow paint, from hitting the banner. "No way. You can't mix blue and yellow!"

Laughing, Paige bites her bottom lip as she glares up at her. "Why not?!"

The banner is near complete, although it's obvious that each side was painted by a different person. One side has gentle, soft strokes of dark purple and light blue. The swirls at the bottom are perfectly even and precise, looking as if they were carefully calculated before the brush even touched the paper. The other side, however, has rough strokes of dark red and some blotches where the paint accidentally dripped from holding the wet brush over it.

"Because our homecoming theme is not Spongebob Squarepants." Kira smiles, snatching the paintbrush from Paige's hand and sets it in a nearby tray. She looks back at Paige to see she has a small dab of yellow paint at the corner of her chin. She touches her own chin, signaling to her. "You got something..."

Paige wipes at her face but on the wrong side. "Did I get it?"

"No, the other side."

She tries again, missing the paint. She glances back at Kira, smiling. "What about now?"

"Here, let me." Kira laughs as she leans over the banner, her face stopping inches short from Paige's. She uses her index finger to slowly graze against Paige's skin, wiping the paint off, and looks up into her hazel eyes. "There."

Kira, still touching her skin, moves her fingers over to her cheeks. Paige's smile fades as she gazes back at her and, without even thinking about it, she leans in to plant her lips on Kira. The two kiss passionately as Kira leans even more forward, accidentally knocking over a canister of paint.

"Crap." She gasps, pulling away as she quickly picks up the canister. Red paint spilt over the middle of the banner, covering at least one forth of their hard work. She lets out a disappointed sigh and throws her arms out, pouting. "Oh no!"

Her eyes gaze up to a smiling Paige and the two burst out laughing. Paige reaches over for a nearby towel and dabs at the paint. "It's okay. I think it is safe to say that I destroyed that banner long before that happened."