Chapter 12

Later…

It's been a nice day at the pool so far. I played and sucked at pool volleyball, I relaxed in the hot tub some more, I splashed Scott a couple times, though not without getting splashed back, and I swear he almost passed out when I asked him to rub the sun lotion on my back. Soon enough though, it started raining. People started running inside and/or home.

"I don't get it." I shrugged as I lied down on one of the chairs. "If rain is just dripping water, why leave?"

"Well, they don't want their towels and other belongings to get wet." Scott explained as he came back from dry shelter. "We should leave too. It's supposed to storm."

"Storm?" I raised an eyebrow. "What do you-"

Before I could finish, the sky flashed and a loud, crackling *boom* sound startled me so much, I jumped.

"Yeah, that's thunder." Scott told me.

"L-let's get out of the storm!" I agreed.

We quickly went inside. The place had an indoor pool too, but I told Scott that at this point I was ready to go back.

"Alright, my apartment's closer if you want to get out of the storm quicker." He told me.

"Sounds good…" I just wanted to get away from this…thunder.

We soon got back to Scott's apartment. I was actually glad to be out of the rain.

"Alright, dry off and change." Scott told me. "The couch is leather, so we shouldn't get it wet."

"Kay." I said as we both started drying off.

"So do storms happen often?" I asked.

"Depends on the weather." He told me.

Ooookay…well, I guess I'll change into something dry now.

"Woah, Cass!" Scott covered his eyes.

"What?" I tilted my head.

"Do Octolings not know privacy?!" He asked.

"Well, we use communal showers and mostly sleep in pods that are right next to each other." I told him. "So you tell me."

"I'll just change in my room…" He hurried off.

Whatever verse this is, same as the first. Inklings are weird…

After I had dry clothes on, I sat on the couch and turned the TV on. It said music channel, but what I saw on the TV was some crown-wearing squid screeching as instruments pounded in the background.

Scott came out of his room a minute later. He sat next to me on the couch.

"I didn't see anything, I swear." He told me.

"Oh, did you want to?" I grinned.

"That's not what I…never mind…" He gave up. "Let's just say Inklings tend to care more about privacy than Octolings seem to."

"Eh, it's fine." I shrugged. "Not like I'm special anyway."

"Unless every other Octoling girl is a supermodel, I doubt that." He mumbled.

"Come on." I rolled my eyes. "I mean, I'm fit, but not anything special, I can't do much, and I have this stupid red hair."

"What's stupid about it?" He seemed confused. "I think it looks nice."

He does? Inklings ARE weird…

"Let's just say changing hair color is viewed differently be Octarians." I said. "People who are of basic classes have red hair, Advanced classes can switch to nice violet hair, and Elites have beautiful black hair."

"I'm guessing you're still basic?" He guessed.

"Yeah, it sucks…" I admitted.

"You wanna talk about it?" He asked.

"No…" I replied.

"You know, you're clearly bothered by a lot of things back home, but you never want to talk about them." He noticed. "They say talking helps."

"I don't need help." I was starting to get a little annoyed.

Why's he so nosy?

"Cass, you're clearly troubled." He told me. "Let me help."

"I don't need help!" I shouted.

"Cass, stop!" He told me.

"No!" I was really annoyed by now.

"Cass," He grabbed my shoulders. "Something's troubling you. You aren't happy. I hate seeing people when they aren't happy. If you want to be happier, I'll do whatever it takes to cheer me up. Just let me help you."

"Geez, are you gonna kiss me or something?" I asked, noticing how close he was.

His eyes widened and he blushed.

"W-will it cheer you up?" He asked.

"No." It really wouldn't. "But I appreciate the offer."

He then let go.

"Well, just keep that in mind, Cass." He said. "I don't like it when people are upset."

"Kay." I said as he got up.

Ugh…what is with this squid? What does he want from me? I don't understand Inklings at all…

I just lied down on the couch, eventually falling asleep.

Hours Later…

A loud crash of thunder woke me up. I fell off the couch, realizing there was a blanket on me. Great, how am I supposed to sleep with all the-

*BOOM!*

"Eep!" I jumped.

Seriously, why does this exist?!

Then a door opened.

"You okay?" Scott asked.

"No." I answered. "Thunder woke me up and I don't think I'll ever get back to sleep."

"…Come here." He urged me to follow him.

I followed him into his room. He sat on his bed.

"I was scared of thunder when I was little." He told me. "When it'd wake me up at night, I'd sleep in my parents' bed. That'd help me sleep."

"So you're suggesting I share the bed with you?" I figured.

"If it'll make you feel better." He replied.

"There are some serious red flags in this situation, but I just wanna get back to sleep." I reluctantly agreed, climbing into the bed, which was barely enough for both of us. "Just keep your back turned and I'll do the same."

"Got it." He agreed.

Sure enough, we lied down with our backs facing each other. Admittedly, it wasn't horrible. The bed was small, but it was warm. I actually found myself drifting to sleep.

Morning…

I was pretty groggy, but was slowly waking up. Huh, he was right. I did manage to fall asleep. Right now, the storm's over and I was waking up in the morning, clutching a pillow…that wasn't fluffy…gave off heat…and had heartbeats…that's not a pillow, is it?

Yep. I realized that at some point in my sleep, I rolled over and clung to Scott. I slowly took my arms off him and got out of the bed. I slowly crept to the door so I could try to forget this happened.

"Up already?" Scott asked.

"You were awake?!" I turned to him.

"Yeah, I woke up earlier." He smiled. "You did not want to let go."

My face went red.

"Hey, I didn't mind." He smirked. "I just didn't know you'd be so forward."

"I-I am not forward!" I shouted. "That was just some subconscious thing I did because of the storm!"

"Right…" He rolled his eyes with a big stupid grin on his face.

I just stormed out and got breakfast. I need to get my mind off of this.

Remember Cass, the Zapfish, Party, then power plant.

Stay focused.