Mirrors

Two days later, I was sitting in class with my sketchbook, and I was focusing quite intently on the form starting to take shape on the page when I saw a body occupy the seat next to me in my periphery. I thought it was Lee, since the body took Lee's seat, but the voice told me otherwise. "Well, hello, sweetheart," a man's voice greeted.

I scowled and looked over at Billie. "And what happened to not coming on too strong there, Billie?"

Billie raised an eyebrow. "Billie? Who's Billie?"

I snorted. "Don't play games with me, Billie."

"I assure you I have no idea who the hell you're talking about," Billie said.

"Billie, what the fuck?" I asked, slamming down my pencil and looking up at him. What the hell was he playing at?

"Baby doll, could you please stop calling me Billie? The name's Twitch. Reverend Strychnine Twitch," he said, winking. I grimaced. "What's up with you?" he asked, fishing for a pencil in his black messenger bag.

"You're the exact type of guy I absolutely despise," I answered, scowling in his direction. While he may be acting like a different person, he still looked like the same Billie I met on Monday. The same good-looking Billie. I may possibly overlook his deplorable personality for the fact that it's the same body.

"Well I'm sorry to hear that, dear, but you don't have to be around me if you don't want to," Twitch said.

I sighed and picked my pencil up from the floor. I looked over at Twitch as he looked over at me. "Well, the Billie I met two days ago was pretty cool, and you look exactly like him, so I think I'll try and stick around," I told him.

"Miss Fiesco, could you please put away your sketchbook?" Jonsohn called from the front of the room. I groaned and closed my sketchbook, tucking the pencil into the rubber band in the spiral and placing the sketchbook back in my bag. "Thank you. Now, today's lesson will be on Section 4.1, Trigonometric Functions."

Class went by painfully slowly, and at the end, Twitch turned to me. "So what do you say to accompanying me to some breakfast, baby doll?"

Ugh. I tried very hard to hide my second grimace, and looked over at him. "Maybe I might warm up to the idea a little more if I knew you were going to stop calling me all those names," I answered.

"Oh, so you're not into the flattery?" Twitch asked, his face a mask of curiosity.

"No," I said flatly. "I told you in the beginning that you're the type of guy that I absolutely despise, and make a point to completely avoid."

"And then didn't you say something about trying to stick around because I look just like your friend?"

I groaned quietly. "Yes, I did, but you're making that statement hard to stand by."

"I would apologize, but...I'm afraid it would be insincere, and you seem like the type of girl to hate insincerity," Twitch said.

"And you would be correct. There are a lot of things that I despise, and your personality happens to be one of them," I replied icily.

"Calm down, calm down, sweetheart!" Twitch said, holding out his hands in a surrendering motion. "You're turning a breakfast invitation into a confrontation."

"You can blame yourself for that."

"Alright, alright. The invitations still stands, though, and I'm starving. You coming or not?" Twitch asked, standing up out of Lee's seat, walking around to my desk, and offering his hand.

I sat for a moment, looking at Twitch's hand, and told myself that it was the same Billie I met two days ago, it was just a different side of him I hadn't seen. A side that was completely different from the kind, sweet, and charming Billie I had met. It didn't make sense in my mind, so I made a note to ask Billie about it when I saw him next. If he was actually Billie when I saw him next, that is. With a heavy sigh and a feeling that I might regret this later, I gathered my things off the floor next to my desk and took Twitch's hand. "Don't try anything now, lover boy, or I'll be having your ass for breakfast."

"I'll see to it that I keep myself under control," Twitch said with a chuckle. He stood and opened the door of the building that led out into the quadrangle. "After you, m'lady."

I just gave him a questioning look as I walked out. When I heard the door close, I knew Twitch was right behind me; I didn't need to look to make sure as I did with Billie.