Chapter 17

Next morning when she woke up, she found no one in the living room. Xander was already gone, and the house was quiet since Toby was still asleep. She prepared breakfast for her and the dog, and waited till he woke up.

It barked ecstatically, as usual, jumping onto Mia. She went to take a warm steamy shower, and blew dry her hair. She combed the thick natural curly ends of her hair, but it did not become straight. She stared at herself in the mirror imagining herself with black short straight hair. She didn't tie her hair, in fact, she has never tied it before in a bun. Her hair was too thick and long to be tied. 'I will definitely cut it one day,' she thought.

With a bathrobe on, she opened her closet to find all her clothes replaced by Greta. The closet was full of new clothes, and she looked for one to wear. It only had shorts, skirts, dresses, blouses, shirts, hoodies, but no trousers. Yesterday was her first time wearing a dress, and she hated the feeling. So she chose a pair of pink hot pants, (the only ones in the closet) and a pink crop sweater top. The colour matched well, and she also wore pink sport shoes. She felt weird wearing clothes that exposed so much of her skin. But since Greta bought them all, she should at least wear them for her.

Moments later, Toby started barking, scratching Mia's bedroom door, so she opened. "Mia!!!Mia!!! I have an ideaaa, let's go to the park am so bored..I need exercise. P..Pleeaasee?!" Toby said to her, and Mia could only giggle at the dog's cuteness. "Okay, but since I don't have a leash, I will carry you instead," Mia told him, and the dog barked in approval.

"One more thing Mia, stay away from the guy with red eyes," Toby said casually and ran to the front door, ready to leave. It sounded, so weird, an advice coming from a puppy. But why? Did the dog sense something? But Xander was a good person, yet he told Mia to stay away from Greta. Mia developed mixed feelings and decided to ask Toby immediately they went back.

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They reached the park soon with a slow pace. People were staring at Mia as if she owed them a debt, but she immediately thought it was about her exposed body. She felt so uncomfortable, since maybe it was inappropriate for a teen to wear clothes that exposed so much of her body. The hot pants and crop sweater had revealed so much of her feminine features. Her full hips a tiny ant waist, and perfectly curved breasts that lifted the crop sweater. "Toby, I think we should go back home, we can still play there," her words made the dog stop waggling its tail in excitement. They were still walking together, when she found the same spot she was with Xander, and sat there.

"But, why Mia, I want to play here, is something wrong, its okay, If you don't know how to play with me I will teach you," Toby communicated with her. "Um, fine we will play, at least there are not much people around us," she said looking around, but she saw some boys and girls from at least 10 feet away looking at her.

"Okay, Mia am going to look for a ball, wait here I will be back," Toby said but Mia instantly refused. "No, Toby, let's go together, I can't let a little cute puppy like you wander off on its own," but before she could get up from where she was seated, a voice came from behind her. "You can talk to dogs?" Mia was startled at the voice that came from behind her. It was definitely not Xander's husky voice. It was a soft alto familiar voice, and she turned around to find dark brown eyes grazing her body.

"Oh, hi Liam," Mia sighed in relief, and she stood to greet him. "Am good Mia, I didn't know you could... were you... perfectly normal though, I sometimes talk to myself too," he avoided what he was going to ask. "How did you know I was here Liam?" she asked him, sitting down, forgetting that Toby was getting impatient he ran. Liam sat down next to her, "I saw a pretty girl with long thick snow-white curly hair just outside the park, when I was buying something," he said looking deep into her greenish-greyish-bluish beautiful unique eyes.

Mia felt her face turning hot because of the description. "Uh..thank you, Liam, she looked away avoiding his gaze," so far, she considered Liam as a good friend, so why did his compliment make her feel weird? A compliment from his best friend, Zane did not make her feel like this, she was very normal around him. She played with the soft grass, sensing his gaze on her. 'Why is he staring at me like that?' Mia wondered, feeling like running away. They were quiet for sometime until Liam decided to break the silence.

"I love your clothes, I have actually never seen you dressed like this. You look so...G..go...gorgeous," he finally said it, making Mia snap her head to look at him. 'Is he in love with me? No stop Mia, its just another compliment, he is handsome but not in love with me. Who would even fall in love with a weirdo like me. We just friends, furthermore, I don't have feelings for him, and neither does he,' a heated debate went on in her mind.

"Am flattered Liam, I love your dark brown hair and your dark brown eyebrows, its beautiful, I wish I had hair like that," she smiled, acting normal, and punched him on his arm playfully. Liam widened his eyes in realization that if a girl did that, it meant that they were only friends. He really liked Mia, and he doubted he hadn't fallen in love with with her. They have known each other for only a week, but he was smitten with her. He wanted to confess to her that he considered her more than a friend, but there were 4 obstacles. One, she would probably reject him, two, his best friend, Clyde, wanted her, three, she was already in love with Clyde, four she would think he was strange for falling in love with her and its only been a week.

"No Mia, you are the prettiest girl I have ever seen in my life, I also love your white hair," he said that out loud without embarrassment, he had to make a move before Clyde would steal her heart and use her. "Oh, thank you are the most handsome guy of my age I've ever seen," she smiled at him, looking at him confidently. She did not want things to become awkward between them, and surprisingly, it didn't anymore.

"Stop Mia, am pretty sure your blonde best friend is more handsome than me," he said to her playfully. "No!! not at all, he might be handsome but not than you," according to Mia, she lied a little. Zane was cute with his dimples, green eyes and blonde hair, with a baby face. He was more of cute than handsome, if she were told to choose who was more good looking, she didn't know because they equally were. Though Zane was slightly taller than her and Liam same height as her, Liam was more manlier and muscular, handsome too. Zane was more like a cute teen baby face. "Really, I hope you aren't lying, so, how did your studies go with Clyde?" he really wanted to know.

"He was a bit serious and we finished then he went home," she said but Liam found it hard to believe that Clyde didn't even try to touch her. That damn womanizer! "Okay, but don't let him touch you, I don't like him around you, he has touched so many girls that I don't want his uncleanness to come to you," what he said surprised Mia, though he was right, he was acting like a good brother, she has never seen Liam acting like this before. "I won't, I made up a nonexistent boyfriend to get him to leave me alone, I don't want Clara to be my rival," she said innocently. "But Liam, are you two really best friends? I don't think you like him at all,"

"I don't, his father wants me to be Clyde's minion, since he is the Mayor of this city and my dad works under him, if I end my friendship with Clyde, my dad gets fired," he said, hatred clearly in his eyes.

"Oh my, Mayor Duncan is Clyde's father? He is a bad man, he is a mafia, am sorry for your father having to work under him Liam," she hugged Liam for comfort which caught him off guard. 'She has never hugged me before, that means we are getting closer.' He felt happpy. Mia was genuinely sorry for what they have to go through, and she always hugged someone when they felt down, or when she was sorry,or when she was happy with the person. She was quite a gregarious person.

He returned the hug, but then be retracted hands respectfully, when he wrapped them around Mia's bare tiny waist. Of course, how would he forget she was wearing a crop sweater top. He thought he was becoming a pervert for the first time because of her, and he quickly pushed the thought aside.

"I like you I must say," he said and Mia pulled away from the hug. 'What does he mean?'

"I like you too," she responded, not knowing what she also meant.