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In a closed off pastel pink room that is decorated from wall to wall with shelves full dolls, stuffed animals and colorful fabrics hanging off of them that smelled overwhelmingly of bubblegum and cake icing lies two girls on a big canopy bed fit for a princess with fluffy blankets and many massive silk pillows laying on top that is just as pink as the rest of the room sitting in the middle of this huge room. On top of the blankets the girl who this room belongs to lay on her stomach, wearing a simple pink polka dotted peter pan collared babydoll dress and white knee high socks, on the foot of her bed kicking her feet back and forth while smiling and scrolling on her phone. The second girl in a dress shirt and a long pleated black skirt is sitting at the head of the bed with her knees close to her chest. She was typing away on her laptop that is balancing on her knees focusing very hard on whatever is on the screen.
The girl on the phone suddenly stopped scrolling and put her head down onto the bed stretching her arms over the bed dangling her phone in her hand then suddenly lifted up her head and turned it towards the girl at the head of the bed.
“Gabby?” The girl said in a sweet sing songy sounding tone
“Yes Izzy?” the girl at the top of the bed said with vague uninterest never even glancing up at her friend while still typing away at her keyboard.
“I’m bored.” Izzy drops her phone on to the ground and rolls over from her stomach onto her back almost hitting Gabby’s legs in the process if she didn’t scrunched up her legs closer to her chest.
“So?” Gabby finally looked up from her computer to give Izzy a bored quizzical look lifting up one of her eyebrows.
“Soooo...Whatcha doing?” she cooed cheerfully with her lips looking almost cat-like.
Izzy sits up and scooted up next to Gabby and cured into a ball leaning up against her tilting her head to look at Gabby’s laptop screen blocking the screen and getting some of her hair in Gabby’s mouth. Gabby spits out the hair and rubs her mouth. Her brows even though naturally downturned is even more so making it look like she was more mad than annoyed at Izzy’s actions.
“I was thinking about colleges if you would so kindly move your head.” she said with clear annoyance in her voice
Gabby then took two of her fingers and put them on the side of Izzy’s head and gingerly moved it away from in front of the laptop. Izzy gave a little yelp at the movement of her head that sounded like it came from a tiny little puppy dog.
“Oooh really! That’s what this list is for.” She pointed at the screen with one hand while the other bounced about happily as her unwavering smile grew a bit wider and her eyes gleamed with interest.
“Yeah. I’m listing all the pros and cons of all the colleges I'm thinking about going to. All the ones I really want to go to are off to the side.” Gabby looks back down at her laptop and continues typing.
“So like, tell me who’s winning?” Izzy’s excitement at this point was emanating around her. The arua was almost like a golden retriever that was happily wagging its tail.
“Oh. Um.” Gabby glances at Izzy who seems to be eagerly awaiting an answer while using one hand after the other to pat the fuzzy blanket laying on top of the bed. She quickly glances back down at her laptop swallowing down her saliva. She stares at the screen just a second too long before starting to speak.
“You probably haven’t heard of it. It’s in…” Gabby looks back up at Izzy who tilted her head at her hesitation.
“In Britain.” she said in a small squeaky voice like it was being squeezed right out of her lungs.
“Oh…” Her voice saddens and the shine in her eyes dulls into something almost doll-like but her smile stayed put seemingly frozen in place right on her face.
“It’s really just a business school I've been thinking about that’s all. I’m only just thinking about it.” Gabby started to talk faster while keeping her eyes trained on Izzy.
“Just thinking…” Izzy stated in a child-like voice while tilting her head to the left.
“Yeah, just thinking so no need to-” Izzy cuts off her frantically rushed words.
“But you said that it was winning.”
“Yeah but-”
“So there’s still a chance of you going there.”
“Look it’s not-”
“So you want to leave.”
“Look!” Izzy blinked at Gabby owlishly when she abruptly decided to raise her voice.
“It’s not that I want to leave, it's just that it’s a school I've been thinking about for a really long time now and I think I can do well there.”
Gabby lowers her head panting from her frantic speaking. With one of her hands holding on to one of her arms she looks up at Izzy through her hair to see that she was staring down at her with her crimson doll eyes and a sickly sweet smile that shows a bit of her teeth between the cracks of her lips plastered on her face.
“So you do want to go.” she says in the sweet venom of a disappointed mother.
“Well, I mean… Yeah.” Gabby’s answer was soft and quiet like a child who just got caught making a mess of their bedroom.
“Oh Gabby …” the way Izzy says Gabby’s name with the sharpness of a spike hidden underneath the softness of freshly fallen snow. Her bittersweet tone that was only emphasised by the sickening sweet smell of the room and what once smelled like a nice scent of birthday cake icing is starting to have a powerful tangy undertone like someone decided to use pure lemon juice as air freshener.
“Why would you even want to leave?”
“Like I already told you, I've been wanting to go to this school for a while now and I know there’s a lot of good opportunities there as well.” Gabby’s words mimicked her body, small and stiff like a lost child abandoned to face the cold harsh world filled with nothing but danger completely alone with no one to trust.
As a response to Gabby’s words Izzy shuts her dull eyes and gives Gabby a strained smile. Gabby fidgets in her seat wiggling her clammy hands together.
“Look Gabby put down your laptop and take my hands. It’s imagination time.” upon saying that Izzy stretches out her hands and signals for Gabby to take them.
“Izzy please do we really have to do this. It really isn’t that big of a de-”
“Shush up and take my hand already.” Gabby looks at Izzy’s hands then her strained smile. She then took her laptop off her knees and placed it down beside her turned to Izzy and took both her hands into her own.
“Okey-dokey, so now… close your eyes.” Gabby slowly closed her eyes while she gave a hefty sigh looking like she could sleep for the next several days.
“Shush! Now imagine with me, what it would be like for you in a far away location where you don’t know anybody !” For emphasis Izzy dramatically spread her arms out wide until she realized that she let go of Gabby’s hands then quickly grabbed them again. Gabby opens one of her eyes to see Izzy giggling a little at her own actions and then promptly closes her eye again leaving out a faint sigh.
“I have always known you as being a grumpy gloomer and that grumpy gloominess is amplified tenfold when surrounded by people you just don’t know. You always hated people, so imagine how much you’re gonna hate being there.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yeah I do. Just listen.” Izzy said flatly.
the grip on gabby hands becomes tighter making her visibly wince.
“And when you become all grumpy and gloomy to the point where your day maybe even your week is ruined because all the people who are around you suck, who will be there to comfort you?” Izzy tilted her head a bit with her full attention on Gabby, who’s eyes were still closed, seemingly waiting.
“No...o-” Gabby yelps when she gets cut off again by Izzy’s rushed loud bittersweet voice.
“That’s right no one and the one person who would comfort you all day any day is far far away. The only way for her to get to you is by purchasing a plane ticket and the plane probably won’t get there until much later and by then you’ll be festering in your gloom for too long by then I won’t even be able to help you.”
The more she continued to talk the more distressed she started to sound, her face even scrunched up in distress even though her smile stayed exactly the same tight lipped smile from before but her voice still tried to coo out all the words that came out of her mouth in a cutesy tone like she was talking to a baby that she was trying to coax to sleep. Izzy puts her forehead against Gabby’s. Gabby opens her eyes with a shocked expression on her face to see Izzy’s eyes looking directly at her eyes as if they were just pieces of glass and not a part of a whole living being. Gabby stares back, relaxes her shoulder, takes a deep breath, closes her eyes for only a millisecond, and stares back at Izzy with a look of determination. Izzy tilts her head and raises an eyebrow at Gabby’s actions.
“Okay first of all, I do know some people there. A good amount of my family actually goes there so I won’t be sitting in my misery. I can just go to one of them to talk. Hey my cousins even live close by.” while she was talking her voice was calm and monotone with only slight wavering here and there.
“Oh your family I never knew you were so chummy with them.” when Izzy talked there was a clear fire in her throat and one of her eyes twitched ever so slightly.
“Well… I might not like everyone that is a part of my family doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy some of their company and some is better than no one, yes?” she gave Izzy a sad smile.
“Uh huh.” Izzy sounded a bit annoyed. Her smile tightened ever so slightly.
“Uh secondly, there is still the possibility I could make a friend or two” Gabby licks her lips and gives a weak smile towards Izzy. Izzy giggles. Gabby's face breaks down into a shocked frown when the carefree giggles reaches her ears.
“When was the last time you made a friend. I doubt that you’ll be able to make one now.” she cheerfully giggles again. Gabby’s mouth was trembling and opening and closing at a rapid pace preventing her from speaking sooner.
“I could- um I- I can make friends.” Now Gabby’s whole body starts trembling and breaking out in a sweat. She has a deep frown on her face that is showing off her chattering teeth.
“Ooookay, whatever you say.” Izzy's smile turns into a little smirk for a split second. She giggles and rolls her eyes. Gabby’s shoulders stiffen, and her teeth still chatters underneath now closed lips.
“Well…” Gabby takes a few deep breaths. “Thirdly, you know we could always just talk on the phone. If I really needed to feel better I would just call you. Shit! we could just talk every single day, it’s not like we don’t do that already!” The frustration in her voice was as clear as a bright morning day. “Oh and...you act like it would be so hard for you to spontaneously buy a plane ticket to just about anywhere. It’s not that hard.” she said with a flat judgmental snarky tone with an aura of some high school beauty queen off some cheesy teen drama. “You could probably buy one now.” The last line of her rant was full of sour bitterness hidden behind the sharp snarky tone.
When Gabby stops her ranting out her last point, her eyes widen and start darting around searching for something on Izzy’s frozen face. Her face was full of concern. Izzy’s smiling demeanor slowly falls off her face, making it look truly like a doll. She squeezes Gabby’s hands hard enough for it to hurt and forcefully lets go of her hands so hard that they bounce off the bed. Gabby winces, looks at the top of both of her hands where she sees a set of fingernail prints, grabs her hand with the other, brings it close to her chest and rubs it with her thumb. She looks at Izzy in her bewildered state. Izzy turns her head away from Gabby staring with wide dull eyes down at her bed sheets breathing so heavily that you could probably hear it clearly from the other side of the bedroom door.
“You truly do want to leave me huh?” she said with a soft tremble to her voice. “Why Gabby, I don’t understand...I thought- aren’t we-... I just don’t understand.”
Izzy was hyperventilating, her eyes were starting to water and her whole body was shaking. Gabby’s eyes widened. Her arms hover over Izzy before she slowly grabs her and wraps her arms around her shoulders putting her in a tight embrace. Izzy leans into the embrace. She puts her chin on Gabby’s shoulder while closing her eyes tight.
“No, no, no, no, don’t cry.” Gabby pets Izzy’s hair gently like how one would pet a timid cat. “I never said I was going to leave. I never said I was even going to go to that school, so please don’t cry I can’t stand it.” Gabby pushed Izzy away from her, still holding onto her shoulders, so they were facing each other and looked at her straight into the eyes. “I’m not leaving anytime soon. I’m staying right here with you. Always.” she said that with a harsh and serious tone in her voice and with the same determined look that she had before. “Okay?” Gabby said softly while rubbing circles into Izzy’s shoulders and smiling up at her.
“Then why is it on the top of your list? It must mean you want to leave me. What else could it possibly mean?” Izzy was looking at the laptop that was laying on the ground that was still showing Gabby’s various charts in it’s bright screen.
“Look, that list isn’t important. Any information on it can be erased in a matter of seconds.” Gabby said reassuringly while giving Izzy a few more shoulder rubs before she lets go of Izzy’s shoulder and grabs the laptop off the floor and begins going from chart to chart delete every bit of information on not only on the school at the top of the list but multiple others as well. “See everything is gone now. No more thinking about leaving, so there’s no more reasons to be sad”
Gabby pulls out a midnight blue handkerchief with a singular small shimmering red diamond on the corner of the handkerchief out of her breast pocket and starts dabbing away the last of Izzy’s tears out of her eyes. Gabby whipped down her cheeks until everything was dried. She gave Izzy a little smile before she folded her handkerchief in a neat little square and placed it right back in her breast pocket. While Gabby was drying her cheeks, Izzy was staring at all the empty spaces that are now present in the screen of the laptop. She looks back up at Gabby when she puts away her handkerchief. A bright smile returns onto her face and her once dull doll eyes sparkled with life again rejuvenating her into a child like state. She pounces on to Gabby giving her a breathtaking hug squeezing as hard as she could. Gabby gasps from the tight squeeze and tries to push and squirm her way out of Izzy’s absurdly strong grip.
“Yay! Gabby’s not leaving!” With her cheerful exclamation Izzy pulled away from Gabby and before Gabby could catch her breath so she could say anything at all Izzy did a hearty dramatic gasp which seemed to be done almost deliberately to make sure Gabby didn’t speak and saids “I’m hungry.” in a soft deliberately cutesy whiny voice “Let’s go down stairs and make something to eat. Beat you to the kitchen!”
Izzy energetically hops out of the bed clumsily almost tripping on the blanket and stepping on her phone that she scoops up off the floor shoving it into one of her dress’ pockets before she runs out of the room leaving her bedroom door wide open. Her footsteps echo down the hall. Gabby sits up straight and slowly looks down at the screen of her laptop. She closes and rubs her eyes then she sighs while closing up her laptop. She puts the laptop back on the floor. She carefully gets out of the bed and brushes herself off. She heads towards the bedroom door. She stops right at the door frame. She puts one hand on the door frame and leans against it. She lowers her head, closes her eyes and puts her right hand against her chest. She breathes in from her nose and out through her mouth at least two times. She chuckles to herself and slowly lifts up her head opening her eyes. She forms a neutral blank expression on her face. She stops leaning on the door frame. She moves forward, takes ahold of the knob, looks back at the bedroom one more time and then the door shuts with a quiet little click.