"she was everything real, in a world of make - believe."

recap: j+a are stranded in the library because they were searching for violet envelopes. xandria asks if julian has a girlfriend in a game of truth or dare.

c h . e i g h t

p i n o c c h i o

AS SOON AS THE SENTENCE FLIES OUT, I KNOW IT'S FAR TOO LATE.

It tastes exceedingly foreign on my lips, so unusually peculiar to hear my exuberant tone utter those very words. My heart springs round and round in cartwheels, escaping the queasy wrath of butterflies invading my digestive system.

His eyes rake over me for a long heavenly daze, and I swear I catch them wander to my lips for the slightest of miliseconds, before they return to my eyes.

"Yes." he replies, making me gasp in bewilderment.

"What? Why do I not know of this? H-how?!" I mumble incoherently, all at once. He gives the tiniest of sly grins.

"Chill out, Ria. I was just messing with you. Try to be less serious and have some fun."

Chill out Ria?

Serious?

Who the hell does he think he is?

I want to tell him that he has low intelligence, and he does not know the meaning of fun for he is supremely nefarious.

But instead of sputtering those very words, I purse my lips and settle for "Okay. I'll try to have some fun."

"Truth or dare?"

"Dare." I say bravely.

"Dare? Well you're one brave girl."

"Duh. The game becomes boring with too much truths." I confess.

"Too bad you can't handle a horror house."

I bite my lips in a feeble attempt to shut up.

"I dare you to confess your feelings to me." he challenges. "To the whole student body."

I emit a hollow, blank laugh.

"Oh, Julian! You didn't think that. . . that I was attracted to you now, did you?"

He smiles -- that particular smile meaning he knows something I don't.

"I didn't say anything about attraction. I said your 'feelings' for me. Like, do you love me, or loathe me, or think I'm weird. That sort of stuff."

"Okay fine whatever, I'll do it later when we get out of here."

"And. . . one question, Xandria." he says tentatively slow -- seriously even.

"Why do you care if I have a girlfriend?"

It was another lie. A futile risk, an affordable step.

"I don't. I just didn't have anything else to ask."

But aside from all the other times I declared such ominous lies, an aimless, suppressing voice notifies me that I am not only lying to him -- I am playing Pinocchio in a world where liars shouldn't exist.

I was lying to myself.

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a u t h o r ' s n o t e

listen to this, cause wai not. IT'S SO AESTHETIC >3

- s t e l l a r d r e a m s