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( CHAPTER TWENTY ! )
( QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS )
°
Most people asked questions because they wanted to answer them.
It sounded super egotistical when it was put like that but it was the truth. What is your favorite movie? Oh, mine is... It always went like that. People liked talking about themselves which was not inherently a bad thing. If there was an argument going on, instead of listening to the others, people tended to think about what they were going to say next. It was what it was.
Surely Colin did those things sometimes but in a larger scale, he differed from ordinary people when it came down to basic small talk. Colin did not enjoy sharing facts about himself and when there was a person he was not entirely comfortable with, he became awfully quiet. He usually asked questions to take the spot light off of himself, he enjoyed listening more than speaking as well.
He felt exposed when he spoke too much. He constantly wondered, are they actually intesrested? There was always doubt as well, the fact that any knowledge can be used against him. Since he was quiet and mostly gloomy, people tended to talk behind his back anyway. He did not bother to change their minds.
That was before, though. Midtown High had proved itself to be different.
For the first time in a long time, Colin had proper friends other than his little brother. He went out sometimes, he had Sam and Flash. He had Gwen. He even had Michelle, to some extent. And of course, there was Peter- who may or may not be something more than friends, at least in Colin's eyes.
Before Queens, if Colin had a bad day, he would just walk around with a blank face and he wouldn't talk. He would stay in his room, Cory would try to check in but would leave him alone eventually.
Now, he wasn't able to do that.
Its been awhile since he had locked himself in his room. Since they had moved here, he was either too busy or he was in a good mood. Cory picked up on his distress in no time and trying to talk Cory about their sister might have been the hardest conversation Colin ever had to have.
The worse part was that Cory was happy that Cassie was back. It sucked that he was not able to share the enthusiasm and he was not able to bring himself to ruin Cory's happiness with the reality of the situation either. His anger was right under his skin, ready to tear him apart but he had to hold it together for Cory.
He felt abandoned and betrayed, he felt remorseful and he felt angry. He felt all of those things for the sister he had missed and resented so much for years.
It was natural that he had a lot to process after meeting with Cassie with Cory in tow. He had spent all of his weekend in his room after that, only coming down to eat and check up on Cory to disappear again. After isolating himself for too long, even staying away from his phone to only watch old episodes of Doctor Who to keep himself entertained, he got an immediate headache when Cory stepped into his room with a sheepish smile.
