Daydreamer

Chapter 5- How can anyone be so pretty?

Winter's heart was racing- she had never taken this much time over her makeup. She had already removed her eyeshadow three times and started over. Finally, she had decided on no eyeshadow and small winged eyeliner to go with her small silver hoop earrings. She was just going around April's house, but she was panicking. Her hands were shaking as she brushed highlighter on the edge of her nose. "For God's sake," she said throwing her brush on her bed and picking up her makeup remover as she had smudged her mascara. She was so nervous and she had no idea why. April was her friend. Maybe, she should text Naomi and ask her to ditch her violin lessons and come with her. No, she couldn't be that much of a crappy friend and she knew it.

The week had sped by. Friday, April had started hanging out with her and Naomi at lunch and their gang had gotten a bit bigger. It was fun; really fun.

Was it weird to say April was making her enjoy school? And last week Winter would have thought she would have been the very last person to put school and enjoy in the same sentence. It even seemed that Naomi was becoming friendly with April, and Winter knew how hesitant she initially was, considering everything Winter had gone through last year. However, Winter was trying to forget about those rumours, they kept creeping in every now and then. Even when she told herself they were nothing but rumours fabricated by an unreliable source, they still made her stomach churn. But she had decided to trust April, after all, she had nothing to make her distrust her.

As Winter arrived on April's doorstep, it was still weird to think she, of all people, was friends with April Evergreen. It had only been a week, but to Winter it felt like she had known April forever.

It was a few seconds before anyone answered the door, but soon a man, with relatively long, grey-brown hair pulled it open. She immediately recognised him from her late-night stalking of April's Instagram. But as she looked at him, she could already tell they were related, they had the same sort of facial structure, the same button nose and the same smile. "Hi, you must be Winter, I have heard a lot about you." He had? Winter was taken aback by that, but she couldn't help but let herself smile at the thought of it. Then, Winter saw April peeking her head out from behind her dad. "Winter, hi! This is my dad, Derik."

"Nice to meet you, sir!"

"Sir? It is nice to be greeted with such formality," his laugh was raspy but jovial, "And not something I am used to, Derik is fine."

"Daaaddd, let her in!"

"Of course, sorry Winter." April's dad stepped out of the way and Winter walked in, straight away braced by a thick smell of incense and dried lavender.

"Quick, this way." April grabbed her hand and began guiding her up the stairs. At first, Winter winced, not expecting it, but April's hands were warm and slightly calloused; but touching them, Winter had to hold her breath for a second as she walked up the stairs. Winter couldn't help but smile

April's room was nothing like she expected. Winter was not sure quite sure what she expected but it certainly wasn't this.

Soft lilac LED lights bathed the room in a delicate glow, illuminating an impressive array of shelves. Each shelf was meticulously arranged, overflowing with an assortment of gleaming trophies and medals that dangled gracefully from their edges. April's carpet was a pale shade of blue matching the quilt on her bed, and her wardrobe wasn't a wardrobe at all, but a rail that looked as if It served as more of a fashion statement than a functional item with shoes displayed underneath it, alongside a set of baby blue ice skates.

"I better phone up the Olympics and tell them where all of their medals have gone," Winter exclaimed, still letting her eyes dart across all of the medals.