Monalisa

"Where have you been all day?" Anna asks me. She's laying on her bed, with her head hanging off the side of the mattress and her legs propped up against the wall. She has socks with pictures of the Monalisa printed on them overtop of wiggling toes and she's holding a book on debate open in front of her face. How she can possibly be reading it upside-down, I have no idea.

I release a sigh, pull my scarf off my neck, and drop it on the ground next to an assortment of other clothes that I have left there. "Um, I've been hanging out with my dad." I lie.

"Oh? Did you guys go eat anything nice?" She eyes me over her book.

I plop down on my bed, grateful for the familiarity of it. My legs are still shakey and my fingers are still tingly from my interactions with Luca. Every time I close my eyes I see him lying shirtless on his bed like some sort of freaking model. "No." I say, "Just pizza like usual." I lay down on the bed and consider smacking myself in the head when I think about Luca's abs again.

"You alright?" Anna asks. She flips over onto her stomach, and I notice her face is kind of purple from laying upside-down.

I shrug and stare at the ceiling. "I decided to start playing ping pong again."

She blinks. "Really?"

I sigh, "yeah. I kind of missed it"

"You're addicted to ping pong." She assesses. "Are you sure there aren't any hot guys on the team?" she gives me a suspicious look.

~You have no idea.~

"Nope." I lie, "They're all nerdy ping pong dudes."

"Well, I'm glad you decided to start again." She says thoughtfully, "I was happy that you were making some other friends."

I sigh ~It's not like I had much of a choice though.~

A silence falls between us and I let my mind drift back to everything I did today. I can't believe that Luca Zhang freaking kissed my neck.... I can't believe he would have drunk my blood. But I'm glad I didn't give in to it.... and now... now I'm 10,000 dollars richer.

"Oh," I turn toward Anna, "My dad gave me some money."

"He did?" She drops her book on the ground, "Should we go shopping?"

"Yes, we should." I say, "And we should go out to a fancy restaurant."

Anna's smile widens, "ooooohhhh, I like what I'm hearing."

"And!" I sit up in bed with new-found-confidence, "We should take a vacation."

"A vacation?" her eyebrows raise.

I nod my head, "Over fall break," I say, "Why don't we go to the Canary Islands?"

"Are you going to pay?" She laughs, she probably thinks I'm joking.

"Yes, I am." I say and smile.

"Dang! how much money did your dad give you?"

I shrug, "Enough."

Anna laughs, "Alright miss rich lady!"

~At least I'll get one good thing out of staying on the ping pong team.~

"Oh yeah," Anna sits the rest of the way up, "If we go out to eat, can I bring Victor?"

I blink. "Victor? As in Vixon?"

Anna laughs, "His name is Victor! not Vixon! don't you dare call him that, if you meet him!"

"Alright, alright." I relent, "But what's going on with you two?"

A slow smile forms on her face, "We've been hanging out quite a bit lately."

"Shut up!" I cross my arms, "And are you guys talking about more than just debate now?"

Anna nods her head excitedly, "he even flirts with me, now!"

I laugh, "Wow." I say. "you're amazing."

"What do you mean?"

I shake my head, "And here I thought you wouldn't be good at debate, but you've basically convinced this guy to date you."

"Well," She rolls her eyes, "We aren't officially dating yet... But I have a good feeling about it."

I laugh. "well, good for you."

~At least one of us enjoys the club we are a part of.~