"Come in," I called when I heard a knock on my door. I was seated at my little knock with a pen in my mouth and another in my hand, sketching out a design of a dress for a Make A Wish kid that wanted a "real" princess dress and not one that was mass produced from her favorite brand, Caprien, and I was happy to oblige at no cost to the family.

Crumpled up pieces of paper were scattered around the floor from the designs that I had worked on but didn't think was fit for the princess that stared at me from the stand up clipboard in front of me. This design wasn't doing much better either because it was not her.

It had been two hours since Drew had left me alone in my room, leaving me feeling very confused and overwhelmed in the head, so that was why I was working on this instead of doing homework that was due the following day.

The door opened, and I glanced up to see that it was Clarissa, looking at me nervously. She watched while I closed the book so fast before I flicked the clipboard down so that she couldn't see what I was doing. Raising an eyebrow, she walked into the room and looked at the mess that I had created. "Was Mom right?" she asked while she closed the door behind her. "Are you so messy that they clean up after you?"

I huffed and rolled my eyes before I scowled and took the pen out of my mouth. "No," I gruffed, tossing it onto the table with the other. "They don't clean up after me." I stood and started to pick up my drawings before tossing them into the bin that was near the desk.

Clarissa walked further into the room and pulled one of the papers out of the trash bin, and I stopped working and stared at her, not able to breathe or move to stop her. Furrowing her brows, she unraveled the piece of paper and stared at the dress I had been trying to make. "Did you draw this?" she asked and took another one out of the trash can.

"Why?" I asked, clutching three more in my hand. My grip tightened around the pieces of paper, and I watched her unravel and look at the work that I had created.

"These are really good," she said. She looked at me and cocked her head while she studied me. "Are you designing for anyone?"

"What's it to you?"

Clarissa scowled and rolled her eyes when I didn't respond to her question. "Because these are good," she said. "Why are they crumbled up? I think that you can get someone to look at them and actually make them for you."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes before I tossed the ones I had in my hands in the trash can. "They aren't good," I replied. I moved a hand through my hair and grimaced, debating on whether or not to tell her the half-truth of what I was doing or trying to accomplish.

"Does Mom know that you can do this?" she asked, taking the other drawings out. She laid them flat on my dresser and inspected each of them with her blue eyes taking in every detail.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes again. "Please," I said. I sat down at my desk and watched her, my whole tense. "If she knew about this, then she'd ground me." I looked down at the desk and grimaced before I pursed my lips. "Or steal the designs and make them her own."

"True," Clarissa said and shrugged. She walked over to my bed and sat down with the papers forgotten, at least for now. She grew serious while studying me, and I cocked my head and watched her, still tense. "We need to talk," she said, and I raised an eyebrow. "And, it's not about your drawings, though I think you should send them to someone and have them make it."

I shrugged. "I'll think about it," I replied, even though it was a deep no because they weren't the girl's dress, and I didn't want anyone else to wear it. "What do you need to talk to me about?"

"I want most of the staff gone," she said. "I don't care if you are comfortable being here with all of these people, but we don't need that many people working at odd hours when it is just the two of us, including Drew."

I leaned back in my seat and studied her. "Why do you want them gone?" I asked. "Aren't you used to being waited on beck and call?"

Clarissa scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Please, no," she said. "Some people are like that, but I'm not." She raised an eyebrow. "Are you?"

I shook my head, no, and grabbed my phone. I sent a message to Wally telling him to send everyone home, but the ones that lived here and told him that Clarissa was fine with it. "Done."

Clarissa raised an eyebrow when I looked at her. "Done?" she asked. Shock and confusion filled her voice, and I rolled my eyes and scowled. "What do you mean by done?"

"I mean that they are going home except those that live here," I said, setting my phone on the table. "They only work when Mother Dearest is around, so it is usually just me, Wally, Trisha, and Edith." I shrugged. "I don't like that many people here anyway."

"Wally?" Clarissa asked incredulously, and I nodded. She narrowed her eyes while she studied me. "You gave Wallace a nickname?"

"It's been Wally," I said. "What else?"

"You keep your a-"

"I already do that," I said, interrupting her. "I cook sometimes and wash the dishes and so forth. That is nothing new to me, and C- Drew does it as well since he had been spending time here."

She nodded but scowled because I had interrupted her. "I want friends to come over," she said. "I don't mean friends that I had made at the boarding school because that is a long way away from here, but I want friends over."

I shrugged. "Ok," I replied. "As long as they don't enter my room, then it is fine with me." I cocked my head and studied her. "Friday nights are when my team comes over, anyway," I said. "Ethan and Eevie usually come over then, so you can bring friends over if you want or whenever."

Clarissa raised an eyebrow. "Team?" she asked.

"I play soccer, remember?" I asked. "I mean, you saw me in my training clothes."

"So that wasn't fake?"

I shook my head, no. "I am on a soccer team. It was not a ruse to get our mother off my back." I cleared my throat and shifted in my seat. "Now, I have some ground rules," I said, and she raised an eyebrow in question. "There will be some days when I am missing from the house or school. Don't follow nor ask questions. I am safe and doing stuff that is legal and not against the law."

"Then why can't I ask questions about it?" she asked.

"Because I don't trust you," I replied, and a look of hurt flashed through her eyes. I set my jaw and didn't backtrack what I had said because I didn't trust her. "I don't trust you yet. You are new to my territory and my routine. You will learn in time, but I am not saying anything right now. Is that understood?"

Clarissa sighed and moved a hand through her hair. She grimaced and shook her head before she nodded. "Fine," she said. She licked her lips and cleared her throat. "There... is one thing that you need to know, though," she said while she studied me.

I leaned back in my seat and cocked an eyebrow while I waited for her to say something. I had no idea what it was, but I had a small hunch that it had to do with why she lived here and not at the boarding school any longer.

"I'm gay."