Tenacious Sky

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. ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

"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.