Exclaimer: If anyone reading this has not yet realized I don't own Degrassi, I am sorry to inform you that you mustn't be the brightest bulb in the lightbulb factory.
A/N: This, and the next couple of chapters, are a bit shorter, so double/triple update today. Yay?
Kallie stared up at the ceiling, one arm resting behind her neck while the other lazily played with the hem of the nightshirt she wore. The silken fabric felt strange against her skin, it's delicate and cool texture was much different than the flannel of her usual sleep-clothes, though it was not altogether unwelcome. She sat up slowly, grey eyes staring at the door as it opened inward. Fiona appeared in the doorframe, quickly slipping into the room and shutting the door behind her with a soft click.
"Sorry, Charlie crashed on the couch. I had to wake her up. She must've had a long day." Fiona half-whispered as she slipped into her bed opposite Kallie. Her eyes quickly dipped down and back up at Kallie's face. "I see my things fit alright."
The junior nodded in confirmation, her fingers finally pausing in their anxious motions across the material of the shirt. Her eyes gazed down at herself, seeing where the black silk gave way to slightly loose grey boxer-shorts, made of the same material. "Yeah. The shorts are just a little big around the waist, and a little short, but aside from that they fit well."
A thoughtful sound came from the back of Fiona's throat as she silently agreed. "I noticed you had longer legs than me." It took a brief moment for Fiona to realize what she had said, before she immediately wished she could reach out and yank the words back into her mouth. That sounded a lot more gay than I meant it to. She winced slightly, but if Kallie noticed that or the odd wording of her previous statement, she didn't show it. Instead, she rolled over onto her side, head propped up on her elbow, now she stared intently at Fiona.
"You don't make sense to me."
Surprise rippled across her face, and Fiona blinked. "What exactly do you mean by that?" the query came hesitantly, as if she were slightly afraid of whatever the answer would be.
"I've seen you at school- how you act around people you don't know. If they're your peers, or threaten you, I guess, you're so nervous around them. But if they're younger, and I supposed you could even say, weaker, you're completely harsh and cruel." Kallie sighed, and Fiona was just about to speak up when she continued on. "But you're a completely different person at other times. You're not the fight-or-flight kind of girl you are at school, you're kind, and sincere, and so full of love, and so… so afraid." Now Kallie gingerly reached out with her free hand, lightly touching Fiona's shoulder. She didn't miss the wince, though it was almost undetectable. If she had been speaking softly before, she was less-than-whispering now. "What hurt you so much, Fiona?"
Such a simple question, yet it was so complicated. Fiona supposed she could blame it all on Bobby, but she was broken even before then. Was it the fact she was the quieter twin, and was so often overshadowed? That for years all that was expected of her was to find a nice, rich man, marry him, have kids, and rule Manhattan with him, but even that she couldn't do? Her constant aloneness, even when she was at the centre of attention? Maybe it was none of those things, or maybe it was all of them. Maybe it was things that had happened even longer ago, that she had buried so deeply into her mind that she couldn't reach even if she tried, things she had never told anyone.
But for now, the first thing that had come to mind was the thing she told Kallie. "Near the beginning of the year… there was this guy I was seeing, and he hurt me. Physically. He grabbed me, slapped me, even pushed me down the stairs once." Kallie's hand, still gently resting on Fiona's shoulder, drifted up to brush away the tears Fiona hadn't known she had been shedding. "He almost got away with it too, but this girl- a girl I had pretty much hated before then- came forwards and said he hit her too. Just once, but he had. If it wasn't for her…"
Kallie nodded, her arms encircling the other girl, whose face, still damp with tearstains, was pressed into her neck. And like that they remained, until they succumbed to sleep.