"I see a storm rolling in." —Klergy & Beginners.

••

The sun is slowly setting beyond the horizon, the grounds of Homewood caped with the warmth of the day star's departure. Since all classes have ended for the day, I traverse along the campus to get to Ainsley Hall, hoping Blaze is present in his dorm room. I know he is the type to spend his evenings at parties and other social gatherings, even though since the moment we have begun to hang out, things have noticeably changed.

After a while of contemplating earlier, I reached a decision that throwing in a little word of Maddie wouldn't hurt. The resolution was driven by my need to mend her 'tattered' soul and in a way, assist Blaze with correcting his past. I want him to move past all the baggage he has been turning a blind eye to; face them head-on. But I am not sure if this is the right way to go about it, although nothing beats a try.

Maddie just wants to be friends with him, at least that's what she claims. If Blaze isn't interested in her romantically, then there is nothing to feel insecure about...right?

I knock on his dorm door, and when no one comes to get it, I repeat the action, looking up and down the quiet corridor while I wait. Footsteps can be heard beyond the timber doors before it opens to unveil James, a lopsided grin falling upon his face.

"Hey, Harmony." His voice is croaky, his brown hair messy and tangled, giving the impression that he was lying on it. Maybe I interrupted his sleep, but that notion proves to be invalid when the loud sound of a game system resonates from the inside.

"Hey. I wanted to speak with Blaze." I smile.

He nods immediately. "Come on in." He steps to the side, opening the door wide enough so I wouldn't brush against his unclothed torso.

"Thanks."

Blaze is sitting on a chair at the game station, violently pressing his controller while his eyes are trained on the screen.

"Harmony is here, ass-wipe!" James announces as he grabs a worn piece of clothes from somewhere and throws it at his face.

Blaze frowns but doesn't remove his eyes from the heated combat he's in the middle of. "That stinks, you ass."

I softly giggle as he saves his progress and switches his game off, spinning to me in his chair.

He waggles his brows as he smiles up at me, and it's an obvious contrast to the way he looks at Malcolm's sister. When he saw her earlier, all the light left his eyes and they became two black holes of nothingness—the way they often were when we first met.

"What brings you here?"

I push my hands in the pockets of my jeans. "Uh, it's just, I wanted to talk to you about something and—"

"I'll be at the snack bar." James notifies, now wearing a tank shirt, as he trots toward the door.

"Yeah, take back a bag of chips for me. Lays or Doritos is fine."

James replies by jutting a middle finger over his shoulder.

"Put that inside, Brittany!" Blaze retorts and my gaze of wonder causes him to chuckle.

"His ex. Anyway, sorry about that, what were you saying, babe?"

Babe.

The jargon throws off my entire speech, and now I can't see anything but red. I try to wipe the blushes off my face as I go to sit on his bed, hearing his light footsteps behind as he follows me.

"Well..."

"What?" He crashes next to me, narrowing his eyes as he waits for me to speak.

I turn to face him. "I just want to talk to you about Maddie."

His face immediately falls as his teeth clench tightly. "Seriously, Harmony? I thought you wanted to talk about us?"

"No, she wants to know if you guys could be friends?"

He rolls his eyes. "Friends? Maddie doesn't want to be just friends with me; trust me. How did you even talk to her anyway?"

I fiddle with my fingers. "She saw me standing there after you left. I was talking with Malcolm and she begged me to—"

"Harmony, you should stay away from that girl, okay? She's a fucking psycho." He hisses.

"She seems...kind of alright..."

"Okay, listen." Blaze adjusts himself so that he is directly facing me. "She's not sane, okay? She's crazy, literally. I am not exaggerating. She may hurt you, especially if she finds out about what we have. So I'd advise you to play guardian angel with someone else, Harmony, but not with her...it won't end well."

"Oh...but she—"

"Harmony, please, enough of Medusa."

Medusa. That is harsh, but I can't help the laugh that escapes my lips. Blaze looks over at me, then not long after he's slightly chuckling.

"That's mean," I say.

"No, you're mean." He frowns. "Coming here to talk about Maddie when I thought it was about us."

"Sorry." I smile a little.

He reaches over and kisses my forehead then gazes into my eyes. "Stay away from her, Harmony. She's not a normal person."

I smile nervously.

On my side, staying away from her is an easy task, but what if she has already attached herself to me? What would I do then?

••

I thrust my dorm door open and stroll in, but immediately come to an abrupt halt when I see Maddie sitting on the bottom section of the bunk bed.

How did she find my dorm room so fast?

"Harmony!" She beams as she gets up from her spot, and April gives me a 'creeped-out' look from where she stands at the corner of the room.

She jumps into my arms and hugs me tightly, and I force a smile, grimacing at the fact that she's crushing my lungs.

"Mhm...hey..."

Once again, my hands come up, but I have no idea what to do with them so I rub them against my jeans until she decides to break away from me.

Well, she seems to like hugging people she has only met for a short while.

When she finally sets me free, I intake a soft breath, wondering how someone with such gentle features could squash my body like that. She's strong.

She's prancing on her toes excitedly, and I have no idea why. Maybe I am missing something?

"Um, what brings you here?" I ask.

"Come on, come on, tell me!" She grins, pressing her palms against her cheeks.

"Tell you what?"

I glance at April, and her skeptical expression is still present. She's staying a far off, I notice. Pressing her side into the wall of the room as if Maddie has some incurable disease.

"Well..." She grabs my hand into her cold ones and leads me to the bed, putting me to sit then sitting beside me, the bed bouncing beneath her skinny body. "What did he say?"

"Huh...?"

"Blaze, duh!" She chuckles. "Did you talk to him? What did he say, can we be friends?"

"Er..." I swallow, my orbs finding April's again. She opens her hands while releasing a helpless sigh, and I refocus back to Maddie, who is watching me with expectancy.

"Well, no," I say. "I haven't gotten the chance to yet."

That's a lie, but I am saving what's left of her sanity.

Her shoulders sag in disappointment. "Oh..." And then she narrows her eyes chillingly, a volatile look crossing over her once pleasant countenance. It sends goosebumps all over my skin and I try not to display the agitation.

It's hard to believe that someone with such a delicate face can array such a creepy profile. The way she easily switches her facial expressions is something that probably needs great attention.

"You're lying, right?" She mutters, and I blink my eyes, a chill moving down my spine.

"What?" It's the only thing I can think of to say. Because all of a sudden, my vocabulary is a blank slate.

"You're lying, aren't you?" She repeats.

My mouth opens, but she reacts first, burying her face into her trembling hands. "He said he didn't want to be my friend, didn't he?! He said that, didn't he?!"

I hear soft sobs, and I am stricken with bafflement. Is she crying?

Her back shudders, gaunt shoulders caving in as if she's having a form of mental breakdown. It freaks me out—scares me even.

"Oh, oh no, he didn't—" My hand fly out to rest against her back, feeling her muscles contracting underneath it. "I didn't get to talk to him, so I will—"

"No!" She screams, and April jolts at the sudden outburst. "He doesn't want anything to do with me anymore! He's over me! He's over us for good! He is serious about staying away from me...!"

I exhale and shoot April an SOS for help, but she shrugs incapably, having no idea of what to say. I can't blame her.

"Look, I haven't spoken to him yet. Give me some more time, okay? I will get through to him." I tell her.

She looks up, and her tearstained cheeks confirm that she was in fact crying.

"Okay...please do." She sniffs, then comes in to wrap her arms around me in a hug. "Please do, Harmony. I really can't be away from him. You understand, don't you? It'll kill me. It'll kill me if I stay away..."

I pat her back and allow my eyes to find my roommate's again. Her skeptical face is now replaced with a clear message of 'you're in deep shit, Harmony,' and I couldn't agree more.

What on earth have I gotten myself into?