"In time we hate that which we often fear."

-William Shakespeare

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It was a bright morning which started off with the twins having different classes.

Kate entered the History classroom, noticing half of the students already yawning even before it started.

She looked at Ashley who smirked at her, running her blue eyes up and down her tall frame. She wrinkled her powdered nose and then snickered.

Kate looked down at her clothes; a cherry red, full sleeved, turtleneck top and a panda-printed jeans. She glanced at Ashley once again who pointed at her and showed her an upside-down thumbs up.

Ignoring her, Kate found Sarah waving at her and thought that she looked different.

Was it because she had lost some weight or because she wasn't wearing glasses anymore?

She stared hard at Sarah, imagining that she had grown red horns and had completely black eyes instead of gray.

She shook her head and waved back with a tight smile.

She sat beside Max, the latter a bit startled by her presence. He wrinkled his nose at her and bent his face, his broad forehead touching the desk.

"What? Am I stinking?" she asked, sniffing her armpits.

"No, I don't like what you're wearing," Max answered slowly, his eyes still not meeting hers.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't like red color," Max whispered while he turned to face her, his head still rested on the desk.

"Are you crying?" Kate asked, and touched a drop of water which was slowly edging towards his chin.

"No, I feel hot..."

"Even with the AC on?" she asked, looking at him with a frown. A paper ball hit the back of her head and she bent down to pick it up.

"Yeah and I was drinking water," Max replied with a small smile, showing her the water bottle in his hand.

His eyes still refused to look at her directly, distracted by the bright red which flashed in his vision.

Kate opened the paper ball which read, "Fashion disaster." Ignoring the message with a scoff, she crumpled it and kept it aside to throw later.

"Wear my jacket?" Max asked hesitantly, taking off his jean jacket. He handed it to her, hoping that she would accept it. Kate just raised an eyebrow at that.

"What's wrong with red color?"

"It's," he paused. "I hate it," he answered with a whisper, looking into her confused, amber eyes. "I hate it."

Judging Max's jolly and happy personality, his hatred for something was unusual, but he had it for the color red. Heck, even the word hatred sounded like "hate red".

"Hate is a pretty strong word, Max," she whispered knowingly.

He nodded. "Will you please wear my jacket?" he whispered and closed his eyes momentarily. A sigh escaped his lips and he looked at her once again, the question still present in his eyes, his request not yet accepted.

A request which felt more like begging now with his increasingly uncomfortable body language.

In his green eyes, there was a sense of urgency, a vulnerability that surfaced rarely. That was the vulnerability of a small boy who was afraid, terrified even.

It was merely noticeable, concealed the next second after he found Kate's golden eyes locked with his in a hard stare.

Perhaps by circumstances, he was forced to turn mature at a small age. Or perhaps he had hardened himself so that no one could see what his fears and weaknesses were.

To people, he was a happy person. A person who had a smile lighting up his face all the time; a smile which always made others smile.

But, was he really happy inside?

Kate didn't press further and took the jacket from him. She felt that he was hiding something, but she respected his privacy. She had kept things about herself a secret and that gave her no right to ask him about his, she felt.

She wore the jacket and found him smiling at her, relief flooded on his previously troubled face.

With a small smile, she whispered, "Does it hurt to smile always?"

"It does when I don't," he answered and got back to taking down History notes.

Another paper ball hit Kate's back, making her look behind with a glare. She couldn't find out who did it as everyone was writing. She opened the note with a frown.

"Wearing a jacket won't make you fashionable," it read.

She thought of ignoring it, but changed her mind and starting writing behind it.

"Jealous that I can pull it off?"

She threw it behind without turning and started taking down notes.

Another one landed on top of her head and she opened it furiously.

"Loser," it read.

"If you have guts, say that to my face," she wrote and threw it behind. Max looked at her and mouthed, "What happened?"

She shook her head and opened another paper ball which landed near her feet this time.

"Loser," it read once again.

Her hands closed into fists and her jaw clenched. Max noticed this and opened her fist, pointing towards the redness left. He shook his head and breathed deeply, asking her to do the same.

She did so, her anger lessened bit by bit and she replied back to the note.

"Meet me after class and I promise you'll forget to throw paper balls on people."

There wasn't any paper ball thrown on her after that.

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Elena got out from the Textiles class and walked towards Kate. She pointed towards the jacket and was about to ask about it, but was interrupted by Ashley's arrival.

She looked at the twins with a smug grin, revealing the dimples deeply set in her cheeks.

"You guys didn't even get the role of a soldier," she commented with a sneer.

When the twins stood with blank expressions, she continued, "There will be a Sleeping Beauty play performed by the students for the school's 10th anniversary."

She stepped closer to them, her eyes seemed to be mocking them and her lip was stretched into a smirk. She pointed her thumbs to herself and asked, "Guess who's going to be Aurora?"

"Aw, don't feel bad, one of you might get the role of Maleficent."

The twins looked at each other and back at Ashley, both their faces donning bored looks. They answered her together with identical scoffs, "Does it look like we care?"

"You should," Ashley growled and clutched the collar of Elena's jacket tightly.

Kate removed her bony fingers one by one from Elena's collar and spoke in low, threatening tone, "Beautiful nails there, but I've got the power to break them."

Eyeing Ashley's somewhat scared face, Kate took her palm in hers and gave it a light shake.

She patted Ashley's back, her face pulled up into a grin, exposing her bunny teeth. She spoke with a smile, "Have a nice day, bee."

Without sparing her another glance, the twins chuckled and made their way to the English class, unaware about Ashley's dumbfounded face.

Was Kate really threatening her or was that a joke?

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"Mr. Moore, will you please tell me the names of the students finalized for Aurora and Maleficent's role?" Miss Rogers asked.

Ivan smirked at Elena who sat beside him and Kate who sat behind him. The twins looked at him confusedly.

He gave them broad grins and showed them a thumbs up. Elena understanding what he meant, mouthed with horror, "No".

Ivan nodded with a devilish grin and mouthed, "Yes." He answered the teacher, "Ashley Cooper..."

Ashley stood up midway but stopped embarrassedly when Ivan completed his sentence.

"As Maleficent. And the Russo twins for the role of Aurora."

The class erupted in claps and the students sitting near the twins congratulated them with genuine, happy smiles.

Everyone seemed happy except the horrified twins and a very red-in-the-face Ashley.

"Thank you, Mr. Moore, you may start the rehearsal tomorrow," Miss Rogers said with a smile.

Kate pulled Ivan's arm, making him sit down on his seat. He rubbed his arm and smirked at her.

"You can't have two Auroras, Van," she spoke matter-of-factly.

"Who said there will be two Auroras?" he questioned with an eye roll.

"Snarky Mouth here gets to be Aurora, and you get to be her voice."

Kate glared at Max who raised both hands in surrender. He spoke with an eye roll, "Don't look at me, I have nothing to do with this."

"But, I hate plays and learning dialogues and stuff," Elena said with a whine.

"I'm aware," Ivan replied with a grin.

"Make Asteroid the princess, it's her forte anyway."

He shook his head at her whining and noticed Kate glaring at him.

"I hate the stage, I can't be part of it," she spoke in a clipped tone. "I won't be part of it."

"Not my problem."

She clutched her curls frustratedly and glanced at Elena who had the same expression.

All of them were handed slips which needed their parents' signatures for approval.

Ashley looked at the slip and smiled inwardly because she was excited about the rehearsals. But, her smile was replaced by a thoughtful expression. "I need her signature. What excuse should I make for it?" she mumbled.

Ivan looked at the slip and grinned widely. Russos, you've no idea what your 'Van' has in mind for you.

Max looked at the slip and smiled warmly. "This is going to be fun," he said.

Elena looked at the slip and groaned. She shook her head in disbelief, hoping it was a bad dream. "I hate you Mr. Pear, did you curse me? How in the name of Astronomy am I going to learn all the dialogues?" she muttered under her breath.

Kate looked at the slip and glared at it, hoping her amber eyes could put it on fire."I'll ask mom not to sign this. She'll understand. I'll never sing on the stage. Not again," she whispered to herself.

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Hey, everyone! 😻 What's up? How are you all? I'm back with a new chapter. :D

So, what do you think of this chapter? Any thoughts about Max, Kate and the upcoming Sleeping Beauty rehearsals? 😂 Oh, and any words for the queen bee Ashley?

Did anyone get the title significance without reading till Max's part? Well, it signifies Kate's hatred towards the stage too.

What do you think is the best part of this chapter? Did you enjoy reading it? Yes/No/Maybe? If you like it, kindly leave a vote by clicking on the star sign below. It would mean a lot.

Sneak-Peek of Episode 22:

Will Ivan be able to trouble the twins or will it be the other way around? Stay tuned to find out. :D

Keep smiling! 💕
Lots of love❤💙
Sakina

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