"I know who you are," came a mellow voice from behind Lysandra who stood at her locker, dumping her books in.
It was the next day and she had gone to school, having nothing better to do at home. Classes were her distraction for the day and she was more than alright with that.
She turned around at the interruption to come face to face with a petite girl whose pale blue eyes twinkling with mischief. When Lysandra looked at the stranger with perplexity-filled features, she rolled her eyes and repeated her statement.
"I know who you really are."
"Okay," she said, nodding her head and gesturing for the stranger to make way.
"I know what you did as well," she murmured.
"Cool."
"I'm afraid it'd be better for you if you talk to me and settle things like the almost adults that we are than risk the exposure of your rather dark past."
The girl shrugged, pushing the cropped blonde hair off her shoulders and smiled sadistically.
"You know nothing about me," Lysandra defended, crossing her arms over her chest.
"As a matter of fact, I do know quite a lot about you, Lysandra Mikhael."
Lysandra, who was almost about to dismiss the outlander's lame antics and leave without prolonging the conversation, had a whiplash at the new reveal. She turned to face the girl who was then smirking dubiously and twirling a lock of her light blonde hair around her fingers.
Playing a clever trick and deciding not to give anything away, she feigned confusion, tilting her head to one side.
"I reckon you've got the wrong Lysandra," she smiled.
"Isn't your name Lysandra Mikhael? I might've made a mistake then," confessed the girl, playing along and looking straight at her hazel eyes. "Oops, my bad."
Lysandra gave nothing away even though her heartbeat skyrocketed and sweat coated her forehead and palms. She grit her teeth and offered her a solemn nod, ducking into one of the classrooms in the end of the corridor.
"Made new friends, huh," Theon commented as soon as he spotted Lysandra sketching while sitting in the last desk of the class.
"I don't think so."
"You were talking to some girl back there, weren't you? Quite chummy, the both of you were."
"Huh?" she furrowed her eyebrows for a couple of seconds before her eyes widened as realisation hit her. "Oh, the blondie. Right. She was just being a bother."
"Who isn't a bother for you, Lysandra! You hate living beings in general," he snorted.
Lysandra offered him a sharp glance before averting her concentration back to her book.
"That sketch looks awfully familiar!" Theon piped in again, tapping Lysandra's shoulder.
"Such a dumbass," she breathed to herself. "It's our locality, Einstein."
"Yeah, right," he said, raising his fisted hands up into the air. "Was Kenna good to you, by the way? When she dropped you off the other day."
"Yeah. She was really sweet."
"Strange," Theon mused. "She doesn't really warm
up to new people so quick."
"Looks like I've got the charm then," declared Lysandra dryly.
"I bet Laurent would agree to that. One hundred percent."
"Shut up. Please."
Theon had spent the whole hour teasing the hell out of Lysandra while she shot back all of his attempts with a sly comment or two of her own, all the while moving her pencil on the paper, the graphite moulding into a beautiful masterpiece.
Pacing back and forth in her room, Lysandra fisted her hands and looked up at the ceiling cursing herself for being so incapable and dumb. A bruise coloured her cheek, spreading to the corner of her lips. Her ribs and stomach had their fair share of discoloured areas littered all along but, her problem was with her face as she had a gathering to get to and she was not too sure if the family audience would prefer her roughed up appearance.
She had bought a concealer on her way home but, owing to her utterly bad knowledge of beauty products, she had picked the wrong shade. She was used to lining her eyes perfectly with black kohl, suiting her grungy appearance and that was that. She never needed any other extravagant makeup skills to go on with her life. Her antisocial persona had not allowed her to go to the store's workers for help either.
Lysandra was stuck, unable to think of any solution to get out of the trouble she was in. She had almost considered calling up Laurent and making up and excuse that she could not come with. Her pride, however, stopped her as she convinced herself that she would not break her promise no matter the circumstances.
Lysandra had thought of asking Jade for help but, she called home informing them of her additional work hours that day. Adrianna was out of question if she ever wanted a person to ask for help. That was a matter of great conflict and it had been an hour since she had been doing nothing but walking back and forth the four walls of her bedroom.
"Fucking hell," she groaned and grabbed the bottle of concealer, pacing down to Adrianna's room and knocking on the door.
"Jeremy, I swear to God, if you are at the door with another stupid video game of yours, I will gladly throw all of them off in the trash!" Adrianna snapped through the closed door.
"It's me," Lysandra said just as the door opened and her sister stood right in front of her, scowling. I am just as elated as you are Adrianna, she thought, facing the caramel eyes.
"To what do I owe the pleasure, sis?"
"Do you reckon you could— "
Lysandra paused, looking at the glass bottle in her hands. "You know what, nevermind."
"I know precisely what you are asking for, dude. Come, sit," she admitted as she eyed the wrong toned concealer. She opened the door wide open for Lysandra to enter and then gestured towards the little couch sitting before her vanity table. "I'll help you out, considering the klutz of a person that you tend to be sometimes."
Lysandra laughed out nervously, taking a seat in front of the mirror. "I wouldn't have asked, you know. If not for this- this thing on my face. I suppose his family wouldn't approve of a girl appearing like some junkie."
"Definitely not," Adrianna chuckled, clapping her hands excitedly. "I'd rather you not go and make a fool of yourself over there. Leave it to me and Laurent is gonna have a hard time keeping his hands to himself."
"Really, Adrianna? I don't want his filthy approval. I just don't want to scare his little cousins away."
"Either way, you are going to look bomb," she winked. "Can you show me your dress? If you actually plan on wearing one instead of your ripped jeans."
"He bought me one," Lysandra confessed, tucking a strand of her wild hair behind her ear.
"Such a gentleman," gushed the brown-haired girl, sighing dreamily. "Too bad you don't deserve him."
"Could you get on with the work, please? I am on a time crunch, really."
In a matter of minutes, Adrianna had brought out her vernacular makeup palettes out, choosing the perfect blend of colours to paint Lysandra's face with so that it coincided well with her black dress.
"Don't cake my face, you witch. Just cover whatever I don't want to be seen."
"Couldn't you play nice considering the fact that I am the one pulling your out of your misery?"
"I could've done it myself," Lysandra shot in a defensive tone. "I just didn't have enough time."
"Oh, I am sure you could've managed perfectly fine on your own," Adrianna jested, shooting the other girl a sarcastic grin as a response to her glare.
"Adrianna have you seen— Oh!" Jade called out and walked towards Adrianna's room, peeking in and coming to a stand still as she stared at the two girls getting along perfectly fine.
They seemed to be in their own world, bantering and shooting playful glares at each other. Jade stood there for a couple of minutes before Lysandra's head faced the door and acknowledged the woman standing right beside the doorway.
"Can you stay still for two seconds at least? What are you looking at— " Adrianna queried, shifting her focus towards to the door. "Oh. Hey, mum!"
"What are my two favourite girls up to?" Jade laughed.
"I am just helping Lysandra with stuff," Adrianna said, looking around.
"Yeah," murmured Lysandra looking at Jade who tsked as she stepped into the room.
"Already keeping secrets huh, little vixens."
"There's no secret, Jay. Adrianna is just helping me cover up the bruises. I didn't feel like it would be a good choice to scare Laurent's family away with those nasty things."
"Right you are! There's no way you could afford to do things like that when there is family involved," Jade agreed.
"Didn't I do a good job?" Adrianna giggled, smacking her lips. "Laurent would be so pleased!"
"For the last time, Adrianna, impressing him is the least of my concerns," Lysandra seethed making Jade and Adrianna laugh as if there was some sort of an inside joke.
"Keep telling that to yourself, Lyss," Adrianna affirmed, fixing the fiery haired girl with a teasing leer.
"This is precisely the reason why I don't like you," Lysandra barked before pushing past the mother and daughter and heading straight to her own room.
"Get off your damn high horse. It's not as though I like you any better!" called out Adrianna to a stomping Lysandra.
Jade shook her head and walked out of the room, sick of their constant bickering. Just as she felt elated that they were getting along, she thought.
"Lysandra! Get your ass down. Your boy toy is here!" announced Adrianna just as Jade smacked the back of her head, warning her to be accommodating and also to cut down on her swearing.
Just as the door opened and Laurent stepped in wearing a black shirt, Lysandra got down the stairs, struggling to walk with the wedges adorning her feet.
"You know what, my Doc Martens are way better," she murmured to herself and rushed back up, leaving a gaping Laurent behind her.
The second time she came down, Adrianna and Jade had cozied up to Laurent, engaging him in a conversation which seemed rather interesting when Lysandra had found them in the living room.
"Done with your little chat, Cirillo?" she greeted. "I think it's time we leave."
"Jealous, are we, Verlice?" he taunted.
"In your obviously airheaded dreams," she scoffed motioning towards the door.
"Always such a grumpy cat, you are."
Promising Jade that she would be back home by midnight, she got into the car after thanking Adrianna for her irreplaceable help in an embarrassed whisper.
The vehicle waded through the dark ocean, pushing past lamp posts, houses and trees and Lysandra felt tranquility grappling her. Admiring the world revolving around her, she sat still, appreciating the warmth of peace that surrounded her as her head, for a change, decided to shut itself and let her tune her night how ever she desired it to be.
a bit of a filler, really. anyways, do let me know your feelings regarding this. follow me for more updates.
are you a pro at makeup or do your suck at it?
(i cannot even get my eyeliner right. that sums it up, doesn't it? — on which category i belong to.)
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