He looked up. “Oh, hey,” he said quietly.
Her hair was wet, and she was in her pajamas. Not wearing make-up made her look like a totally different person. She had white slippers on.
“Can I come in?” she asked, smiling wide with her mouthful of white, straight teeth.
Seth looked down at the bag he was unpacking on his bed. “Um, yeah, I guess,” he said, pulling out another shirt, folding it, and putting it on the shirt stack.
She came in and sat on the edge of the bed. “So, how are you liking your new room?” she asked, still grinning like the Cheshire Cat. “Adjusting well?”
He nodded, folding a pair of jeans, not looking up. “’m okay.”
She said nothing, and he made a mental note to practice facial expressions in the mirror sometime soon.
She tapped her fingers on her fleece pajama leg, trying to think. “Uh…do you like the colors?” she asked.
He decided to look up and look around. “Yeah. I like…blue.”
She sighed quietly, but Seth heard. “That’s good.”
He looked at her and tried to smile. Her hand extended to touch him on the cheek, but he automatically flinched away, dropping the jacket he was folding from his hands. He took a step back.
“Sorry,” she whispered.
Seth just stared.
“I should go,” Sasha said, giving a weak, smile. “Goodnight.”
The next morning, he woke in his new bed. The unfamiliar smell made him uncomforable. This always happened to him. He’d move somewhere new, and it had a different smell. The different feel of sheets, colors, and made him twitchy.
Seth had to get out of bed.
He pushed the sheets far enough down to get out of the tangle of blankets. He shook his black hair about his face like a dog, rubbed his eyes, and let out a soft groan. “Urm…”.
He walked to the bathroom, to his right, but the door was shut. Huh, he thought, and knocked.
A muffled “What?” came from behind it, “Oh, crap.” The door opened, and a turban-toweled, pajama’d Jenn with a toothbrush in her mouth stood in front of him. “Mm!” she squealed, and turned quickly to spit toothpaste out. “I’m so sorry, Seth, I forgot! Here, you can come in,” she said, opening the door.
He grabbed the toothbrush he’d put in the holder and squeezed his own toothpaste on it. He brushed and spit into the second sink, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. Then he grabbed his little black plastic comb and straightened his bed-hair.
Jenn combed her own hair with a brush. “Sorry, Seth. I swear, I won’t do it again.”
He put the comb by the wall near the mirror. “No, it’s okay.”
“You sure? ‘Cause I could totally get up earlier.”
He shrugged, looking at his reflection. A tall, dark haired, brown eyed boy looked back at him.
Jenn struggled with the comb. “You’re not that bad looking.” She smiled, and laughed. "And your hair looks really anime."
Seth smirked. She was friendly. Which, he guessed, was good. He wouldn’t have to do a ton of talking around her.
“Hey, you got an iPod?” she asked suddenly, opening a drawer full of make-up and pulling out a tan bottle.
He shook his head. “No.”
“’Cause I have an old one, if you want it. It’s a Nano, if that’s okay,” she said, blotting some of the tan liquid out on her finger and putting it on her face.
“I wouldn’t know the difference,” he said just as his stomach growled.
Jenn looked at him. “You should go get some breakfast,” she said, looking back into her magic drawer.
“What’s there to eat?” he asked. Might as well.
Jenn held a green circle container with a little round pad with peach powder in it. She padded some on her face. “Ah…there’s a lot of stuff. Like cereal? There’s frozen waffles in the freezer. Pancake mix, if you know how to make ‘em…and there’s a skillet in the cabinet under the ‘island. Um…I think there’s bagels? I think they’re, like, blueberry or something. I dunno. Oh! And there’s two percent and one percent milk in the ‘fridge. Whatever you prefer…” her voice trailed off as she applied pink powder to her cheeks with a brush.
He nodded. “Okay. Thanks.”
“Hey, anytime,” she said, looking back into the drawer.
As he left he could hear her singing to herself.
He decided he liked her. She was okay. Better than any of the foster siblings he’d had before, who treated him like crap. Jenn treated him like a brother.
* * *
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