Chapter 7

I sat in the laundry room playing with my phone. I didn't want to risk going back to the room to get yelled at by Leo again.

"Why are you hanging out in here?" I heard Easton's voice as he sat next to me and draped an arm over my shoulder.

"I don't really want to talk about it," I sighed.

"I heard you ended up being roommates with Leo," he said. I only sighed again.

"It ended up that way," I confirmed.

"Tough break. I hear he's even harder to get along with outside of practice," he retorted.

"We're also desk mates," I muttered. He sighed and stood me up.

"Let's go to the lounge. I'll introduce you to some more people," he offered. We went to the lounge where I was introduced to more people. There were two swim team members, three fencing members, and five track and field members.

"I don't mean any offense by this, Sky, but has anyone ever told you that you look kind of like a girl?" One of the track members, Nathan said to me. I chuckled uncomfortably.

"I get told I have androgynous looks all the time," I tried to brush it off. I talked with them for a while but I couldn't help being worried about Leo. He acted tough but I could tell that he was broken on the inside. I changed my laundry over to the dryer before grabbing a few snacks from the snack hall. I grabbed a few bananas for Leo as well. When my laundry finally finished drying, I put the clothes back in the basket and took them up to the room with my snacks. When I entered the room, Leo was sitting on the couch reading a book. I sat next to him and set my basket down before holding out the bananas to him.

"The potassium is good for restoring energy," I said timidly. He glanced at me then to the bananas before he took them.

"Thanks," he muttered. I got up and went to put the rest of my snacks on my desk.

"Help yourself to any of the snacks on my desk," I said over my shoulder as I arranged them neatly. When I went back to the couch, Leo was examining my seamless cheeky underwear. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Personal preference, or panty raider?" He asked. I snatched the underwear from him as I blushed.

"P-personal preference," I stuttered. He shrugged before turning back to his book. I took my clean laundry to the loft and put it away before getting ready for bed. I pulled my blanket back before getting in the bed. It was already pretty late. After a moment, Leo turned the lights off and went to his own bed. I set my alarm and put my phone on its charger before relaxing in my bed.

"Hey Sky," Leo said after a moment. I poked my head out of the loft window and looked down to see him already looking up at me.

"Yes?" I prompted.

"Why are you so nice to me?" He asked. I sighed and relaxed a bit.

"I know I've only known you for a day, but I see through what you're doing. Even though you push everyone away, you still need someone by your side. You act all tough, but you're traumatized. I don't know what happened and I won't ask, but you need a friend. Bottling it all up and dealing with it yourself will only make it worse," I answered at the risk of being yelled at again. He sighed before he turned on to his side.

"Thank you," he said softly. I found myself smiling before I laid back down in my bed. Maybe tomorrow would be a new start.