The Good, Confusing, Twin

Heading through the heavy wooden door on the left, Kenny and Claire found themselves standing before a cozy, inviting bedroom. The lights gave off a warm orange glow; a heavenly-looking bed sat against the far wall in the center, and a few dressers lined either wall, along with a love seat positioned in front of a television. Claire dropped her bad and rushed in with a giddy smile, swinging herself through a door midway down the leftmost wall. Kenny followed a few steps behind, but as he set his bag down on the edge of the bed, he heard Claire let out a small squeal, "Oh my God, we have a private bathroom!? Ahhhh, this is so nice! Look at the bath and the fucking sinks! Oh my God, Kenny, this is so perfect!"

"Heh, yeah, Brian's family don't usually settle for anything but the best," Kenny unzipped his bag, pulling out his few stacks of folded clothes and bringing them over to the nearest dresser. Claire came swinging back into the bedroom, gliding across the floor without a care in the world, and returning to her bags.

"I so owe Julie for getting me an invite up here; this is totally going to be the best vacation ever!" Claire all but sang as she followed Kenny's lead, starting to unpack, "Even Kenzie can't get too grumpy up here; it's impossible!"

"Here's hoping," Kenny softly agreed, and he cocked his head, looking out the door and across the hall. The moment he heard Mindy was the one stuck with Kennedy all week, he was worried. It wasn't a secret to him how Kennedy's true personality came out when she was around people outside her crowd. More than once, Mindy relayed a few stories of insults tossed her way by the girl. He hoped that, at the very least, the only time Mindy would have to see her was seconds before falling asleep.

At that moment, a little light went off in Kenny's head, "Hey Claire, I just realized something," The blonde girl turned to him with a chirping hum, "I mean, I'm your roommate, and Mindy is Kennedy's roommate, do you just want to switch? That way, you can be with your sister for the week?"

"Aw, thank you!" Claire widely smiled back, and Kenny returned it as he grabbed his clothes again, about to head back to his bag with them, "But no thanks." Kenny stopped in his tracks, giving the cheerleader a double take,

"Huh? Did you just say no?" Kenny tilted his head,

Claire giggled, "Yeah, dummy; the whole point of picking the roommates was to let it be random and fair. If I switched with Mindy, then Julie would probably want to switch with Nicole or something, and then everyone is upset!" Claire continued to unpack with glee, "Besides, Kenzie could use a new friend. And well, you're super nice, and since Mindy's your best friend, she must be super nice."

"U-Uh...yeah, you know, Mindy's cool. Though I don't know if, uh, Kennedy would really get along with her all that well..." Claire looked back with a confused pout, "You know, just because of how different they are!" He swiftly added with a nervous half-smile,

Claire let out a murmuring laugh, "Oh, that's what everyone thinks about Kenzie; but once they spend some real time with her, they learn how fun she can be..." The blonde tilted her head, thinking for a moment, "Or, well, they will figure that out once someone finally gives her that chance. Anyway, it's whatever," She tossed a hand, "I'm happy to share the week with you. It's been such a drag since I broke up with Henry."

Once again, Kenny couldn't help but do a double take on the cheerleader. He had scarcely talked to her in the past; the only few times he could even think of were years ago when she briefly dated JJ. Now she was suddenly happy to share a room with him and info dumping about her break-ups with him? He wasn't sure what to make of that. "Oh? Uh, that sucks, Claire; sorry to hear it."

"It's okay; I mean, high school is over now, right? Henry and I are both going to college next year; it's not like we could have stayed together." Claire stated matter-of-factly,

"Oh damn, you guys ended up going to different schools, huh?" Kenny sympathetically replied,

"No?" Claire blankly shook his head, "We're both going to BMU," Kenny's eyes squinted in confusion, "But that's like, college, you know? I can't go to college while dating my high school boyfriend."

Kenny brought a hand up and scratched the top of his head, "You can't?"

"No way," Claire sullenly replied, her voice turning painfully sad, "It really sucked having to break up with Henry, but I didn't have a choice,"

"But you -- I don't -- Why, though? Why didn't you have a choice?" Kenny was nearly in awe as he tried to understand the inner workings of the blonde girl's mind. Whatever was so clearly apparent in her head was absolutely soaring over his.

"Oh, come on, Kenny, you know why," Claire huffed in some irritation, "If we stayed dating until college, then when we started, what would happen if we met someone new that we liked? I mean, there are close to a thousand people who attend BMU; Henry and I would totally find someone else who we liked,"

Kenny's face was twisted in confusion, and his head was hurting, "So you two didn't like each other all that much, then?"

Claire all but gasped, "Of course we did! Henry was like my second-longest boyfriend ever!"

"But you broke up with him because you assumed you'd meet other people?" Claire nodded, "So you broke up with someone you already liked because you might like someone else. That's basically what you're saying?"

"Ummmmm," Claire thoughtfully hummed, "Yeah, pretty much,"

"I..." Kenny stared back at Claire in bewilderment, "I don't even know what to say to that..."

Claire giggled, "You're funny. I think you're like the only unpopular guy I liked hanging around when I was with JJ," Claire warmly told the teen and then returned to her bag, "Too bad you didn't play for the team; it would have been fun to spend more time together. Maybe at BMU, though, hmm?"

Kenny's brow jumped; was that...flirting? He gave his head a short shake, "Uh, yeah, maybe..."

"Cool," Kenny watched as Claire made her way around, seeming to continue to dance to her own little tune as she went, "We're gonna have fun being roommates, I can totally tell,"

"Uh, yeah, Claire...sure," Kenny reluctantly agreed, letting the conversation finally end while he attempted to gather his confused thoughts. Fun or not, he wasn't sure if he was ever going to have a chance to understand how Clarie's mind was going to work this week.