Chapter Eleven
Kylen
Turns out it’s against the school rules to ship over my Lego from home.
Unless it’s something a student really needs, or if the student brought it with them on day one, that’s fine.
But if every kid brought over half their house, there wouldn’t be room in the dorm to move.
That’s why the principal refused my request.
Raven and I were bummed because we really wanted to use Lego to build the Globe Theatre.
Principal Harrington told us we can check out the basement for supplies.
Many abandoned school projects and other items have been stashed in the basement pretty much since the school was founded.
We should be able to find something from there to use.
So after school on Monday, I head to Raven’s locker, where we’ll meet before we go to the basement together.
She’s leaning against her locker, backpack on the floor beside her, and she’s surrounded by her friends. I kind of don’t want to interrupt their conversation, but I have another test to study for tomorrow. Today’s chemistry test went well, and I think even Beck did better than he thought he would.
After hiking my backpack up my shoulder, I make my way to Raven. She sees me immediately and stops talking. Her friends and their boyfriends turn around. All six of them look like they don’t know how to act around me. Like they don’t want to be rude, but they know I make their friend uncomfortable.
I give them all a kind smile. “Hey. Sorry I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Kylen Barrett.”
They return the smile and proceed to introduce themselves, too. Then they bid goodbye to Raven and me and walk off.
I give Raven the same grin I’ve been giving her since we were forced to be partners. One where I hope I’m being nice and not a jerk. “Is it just me or is it weird that we’re going to the school basement?” I ask her.
She shrugs. “I’ve never been to the basement before. I don’t think most students have.”
I chuckle. “Can’t imagine the rich kids stooping to such a level as digging through old things.”
I thought she’d maybe join in my laughter, but she looks away, pushes some hair away from her face, then glances at me.
“We should get going,” she says. “I don’t have all day.”
Nodding, I follow her. “Same. I’ve got a killer math test to study for. And I need to help Beck, too. The guy’s actually doing well in school for a change.”
She doesn’t say anything, just walks beside me, looking at anything but me. I clear my throat. Clearly she’s not interested in small talk.
We go down a few flights of stairs until we reach the basement doors. Honestly, it looks a bit creepy. Even with the lights on, it’s still dark here. When my gaze flits to Raven, I find her gawking at the door like she doesn’t know what to make of it.
“Who knows what’s in there?” she says.
I shrug. “Old school projects and supplies.”
“Unless Harrington sent us here because she wants to kill us.”
That makes a laugh burst out of me. Raven’s eyes get wide like she didn’t expect that to come out of her mouth or for me to laugh at it.
“I’m willing to take one for the team,” I tell her. “We need to get an A on this project.” After inhaling a deep breath, I reach for the handle and pull the door open.
Both of us peek inside. The room actually doesn’t seem that bad. There are boxes and boxes of things, as well as items thrown on the floor.
“I’m going to look over there,” Raven says, her tone telling me she plans on staying far away from me.
“Right. I’ll look over there.” I nod to the other end of the room.
“If you find something good, make a pile and then we’ll go through it and take whatever we need.”
“Sounds good. Let me know if you need help with anything.”
“I’ll be fine.” She heads to her side.
I clear my throat before going to mine. I spot an area that’s full of boxes and start rummaging through them. I’m not exactly sure what I’m looking for, but maybe they’ll pop out at me.
Raven seems very focused as she searches through boxes, like she’s keeping busy so she won’t have to look at me or talk to me.
I keep busy as well, so I won’t think about the thick wall she’s built between us.
We work in silence for nearly an hour. My pile is quite big, but when I look at her side, I see a mountain that pretty much stretches from the ceiling to the floor.
“You got a lot of stuff there,” I call to her.
She stops sifting through another box and turns to me. “I guess.” She twists away.
Okay, Kylen. Stop trying to force words out of her mouth. She clearly would rather pretend I’m not here.
I heave a box off a shelf and my lips kick into a large grin when I spot what’s inside. “Jackpot! You have to see this, Raven.”
She gets up and makes her way to me. Keeping a distance so we won’t accidentally touch shoulders, she peers inside. It’s a large box full of Lego. I catch the smile on her face.
“Looks like someone else had the idea to use Lego for a project,” I say.
She frowns at her pile. “All that was useless.”
“You never know if we may need other stuff. Let’s put this aside to take up and look through your pile.”
She leads me to the other end of the room and pulls something from the mountain. “I found costumes we can wear for the scene we’re going to act out.” She shows me an outfit that would fit well for Juliet, and one for Romeo. “I think they fit the time period.”
I smile. “That’s great.”
We continue taking whatever we think we’ll need from her pile. Then we do the same for mine.
We reach for something at the same time and our hands collide.
“Sorry,” I say.
“It’s okay. I think we have everything we need. But before we go, we should clean up and not leave a mess in here.”
We spend some time putting the stuff away, then we’re ready to go back up.
We’ve stashed some items in our backpacks and filled a box with the rest. We also have that box of Lego we’ll need to take up.
I swing my heavy backpack over my shoulders, then stack the two boxes on top of each other. “Let’s go.”
She takes in the boxes and lifts a brow. “Isn’t that too heavy? Let me take something.”
“It’s okay. I’m fine.”
“Dude, I can carry a box.” She reaches for the top one, the lighter one, but I pull away from her.
“I’ve got it.” I head for the door.
“Who are you trying to impress by pretending to be Superman?” she says as she follows me. “You might drop something.”
“I’m not going to—” My shirtsleeve gets caught in something sticking out of the wall, maybe a nail, and the boxes topple to the floor. All the contents, including the Lego, spill out.
Darn it.
“I told you,” she says before dropping down and gathering the things. “You didn’t have to be this macho man and you didn’t have to show off.”
“I wasn’t showing off or trying to be a macho man,” I tell her as I also collect the things from the floor and place them in the boxes. “I didn’t want you to carry anything. The boxes are heavy and there are many floors we need to climb.”
“I’m perfectly capable of carrying a box up a few flights of stairs.”
Sighing, I shut my eyes. Why is everything I do wrong in her eyes?
“I know you are,” I say. “You’re capable of anything. I was just trying to be nice. It has nothing to do with being a macho man. I thought you knew me better than that.” I add the last part in a quieter tone.
Her eyes soften a little. She averts her gaze. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
I get to my feet, holding the box full of Lego. “It’s okay. This one is heavier than that one. I’ll carry this and you can carry the other one. If you still want to, I mean.”
She nods, still not looking at me. After she scoops the box into her arms, we climb the stairs, not saying anything to each other. I wonder if she’s thinking about camp like I am. Because she did know me back then. She knew me so well, I was like an open book to her.
“I’m sorry we argued,” I tell her once we reach the top floor and advance toward the exit of the building. I force a smile. “It’s not a good idea for partners who are trying to get an A to argue.”
“I’m sorry, too.”
We just stand there looking at each other.
“Where are we going to work on this?” I gesture to the boxes. “Your room? My room? The library?”
She wrinkles her nose. “I doubt the librarian would want us making noise in the library. How about your room?”
“The Globe Theatre would not stay standing in my room. Beck likes to throw his crap around the place.”
She ponders for a bit. “Well, Sophie’s over at Damian and his mom’s apartment all the time, so I guess we can do the project in my room.”
“Lead the way.”
I trail her to the girls’ dorm. I haven’t been here before and can’t help but notice how different this dorm is from the guys’. For starters, it smells better. And it’s cleaner. And I also notice the furniture doesn’t look like it’s as abused as the guys’.
Sophie unlocks her room and we place the boxes on the floor. I take a few seconds to check out the place. It looks like a typical dorm room, but it’s less messy than mine, and it doesn’t smell like food like my room.
A smile tickles my mouth when I spot something leaning against the wall. “You have a guitar?”
I’m at its side in an instant, running my hand along it. “This is so neat. You stuck with playing?”
“Yeah.”
She doesn’t say anything else, and I get the feeling she’s not exactly thrilled with me being here.
My smile drops. “I’m glad you still play. I’ve got a test to study for, so I’ll see you.”
She nods. “See you.”
I wave lamely before slipping out of her room. The good thing about studying for a test is that it distracts me from the awkwardness of this afternoon. And Beck always makes me feel better with his goofiness.