Chapter Nineteen
Raven
“I can make myself scarce while you and Kylen work on your project,” Sophie tells me after school on Monday. She, Carly, Addie, and I are headed to the exit of the school building. “I kind of felt like I was in the way the last time you guys got together in our room.”
I stop walking. “And what exactly were you in the way of?”
She lifts her shoulders. “Nothing in particular.”
“Uh huh.”
“I’m just saying you guys can kick me out if you want.
But I won’t be able to hang out with Damian for too long because his mom still thinks we’re too obsessed with each other.
So my options are to either go to the bookstore, where my parents will kill me for spending too much money again, or I can go to the school library to see if they finally got any good books. ”
“And you can always hang out in our room,” Addie tells her.
“And I can always hang out in Addie and Carly’s room,” Sophie echoes.
“Kylen and I won’t kick you out,” I say with a laugh. “He actually thinks you’re pretty funny.”
“How so?”
“Because of how you read upside-down.”
“Really? Well, the dude’s got good taste. Hmm, I guess I’ll hang out with Carly and Addie. I’ll probably get more work done if I see them doing homework.”
I know the real reason is because she wants Kylen and me to be alone together.
“Hey, check this out,” Carly says as she stops before a bulletin board in the hallway. “Did you guys know about this?”
We join her and study the announcements.
There’s one about Parents’ Day that’s taking place next Sunday—I think notifications have already been sent to our families—but the one Carly’s referring to is the one right in the center in bold letters.
It’s the junior trip to Wolff Ski Lodge.
It’s about two hours away from school and there are so many activities to do there, like skiing, snowboarding, snow tubing, ice skating, and more.
“Oh wow, I totally forgot about it,” I say.
“Same!” Carly says.
“So this is only for juniors?” Addie asks.
“Yep!” Sophie takes out her phone and scans her email. “They should be sending us emails soon to remind us to pay for it. Oh my gosh, how much fun is it going to be? I’m going to ask Harrington to make sure all four of us are in the same room.”
“Nepotism,” I joke.
“You’d better believe it.” She raises her chin.
“And now we have boyfriends!” Carly exclaims. “Can you imagine how romantic it’ll be to sit near the fireplace with your boyfriend holding you in his toasty arms while you drink hot chocolate?” Her mouth snaps shut as she glances at me. “Oh. Sorry, Raven.”
“That’s okay. I’m glad you guys can make lots of romantic memories with your special guys. I’m sure I’ll have loads of fun without a guy.”
“Totally,” Addie says. “We’ll make sure you do.”
“And now that you’re friends with Kylen, I’m sure you’ll hang out with him, too,” Sophie says.
“Yeah, maybe.”
We continue discussing the trip as we make our way to the girls’ dorm and separate to our rooms. As promised, Sophie joins Carly and Addie in their room.
I honestly don’t know why she’s insisting on disappearing while Kylen and I work on our project.
She didn’t bother us last time and I doubt she’ll bother us now.
Maybe she wants to give us a chance to truly restore our friendship, since things are still a little awkward right now.
I whip out my phone and send Kylen a text.
Raven: Hey. I’m in my room if you’re ready to work on the project.
Kylen: I’ll be there in a second. What’s your poison?
Raven: Poison?
Kylen: Your favorite junk food. I’m gonna grab something from the vending machine. Want anything?
Raven: Yeah, sure. Surprise me. Thanks.
Kylen: I think I remember what you loved at camp. Be there soon.
He remembers what junk food I liked back at camp? Even I don’t remember that.
I smile as I drag another chair to my desk. I’ve never texted him before because we weren’t allowed to have our phones at camp. It feels nice to do it now. Fun.
A short while later, there’s a knock on the door. When I come face to face with Kylen, a large smile takes over his face. I think my smile is just as big. I widen the door and welcome him in.
After closing the door behind him, he whips out a bag of ketchup potato chips. “Your poison, as promised.”
“Oh wow. Ketchup potato chips. It’s been forever since I had one of these. Thanks.” I take it from him and study the package. He’s holding a bag of chocolate pretzels for himself.
“You were obsessed with these at camp. But only this specific brand. You would devour the whole thing in less than two minutes.”
“Yeah, right.”
“I’m serious. It had to be a world record.”
I smile as we walk further into my room. “And you were obsessed with those disgusting candies they had in the office.”
He raises a confused brow. “What candies?”
“You know, those blue and white ones that had a light minty flavor that had such a bad aftertaste.”
His face perks up. “Oh my gosh, you’re right! I did like them.” He chuckles. “I’m probably the only kid at camp who did.”
“You must be an alien who was beamed down to study us humans.” I step back and do a once-over, narrowing my eyes. “What do you really look like underneath your fake human skin?”
He gives me a crooked smile. “I guess you’ll never know. But my natural form is definitely not as good-looking as my human form.” He tucks his fingers underneath his chin and bats his eyelashes.
I laugh.
His face perks up again. “I’m winning the challenge already.”
“What challenge?”
“Where I claimed I would make you laugh.”
My cheeks flush. “Oh. Right.”
“Fifty points to Kylen. Score!”
I press my lips together, trying really hard not to laugh again.
He looks at me closely. “Your cheeks are puffed up. Are you trying not to laugh again?”
“Why would you say that?”
He winks. “I know you better than you think, Raven Mitchell.”
“There’s a lot about me you don’t know,” I say as I lower myself on my chair at my desk.
“True. And I can’t wait to learn more about you.” He drops down in the second chair.
My cheeks flush again for some reason. I shift in my seat and reach for my copy of Romeo and Juliet. “I think we should focus on finding a scene to perform from the play,” I say.
He looks over his shoulder to where I stashed the Globe Theatre on my shelf. Well, whatever we built so far. “I see our precious theater still stands. It would be demolished if it was in my room.”
“If you can even call it a theater,” I joke. “We still have so much work to do on it. I thought we could finish the project in a week. Sheesh, was I wrong.” I grab my ketchup potato chips and rip the bag open.
“A week?” He whistles as he digs into his chocolate pretzels. “That would be impressive even for you. But honestly, I’m glad it’s taking us so long to get it done.”
I wait for him to explain why, but he grabs his Romeo and Juliet and starts flipping through the pages to find a good scene. Does he mean he’s glad because the project is giving us a chance to hang out and get to know each other again? Because I feel the same way.
“Want one?” I ask, holding up a red potato chip.
He gapes at me. “Is Raven Mitchell actually sharing her most sacred potato chips with me? I could have sworn she would have devoured the entire thing by now.”
“Going once, going twice…”
“Okay.” He chuckles as he accepts it from me. “Thanks. And here is a chocolate pretzel for you.” He hands it to me.
“Thanks.”
He chews on the potato chip thoughtfully, and then shrugs. “Not my favorite.”
I give him a look. “Like I’d care about the opinion of someone who loved those disgusting camp candies.”
He bursts out laughing. “Okay, okay. Touché. But I think I have good taste in other areas.”
“Name one.”
“Music? Last I checked, I think I found a certain song quite alluring. Too bad the writer refused to come forward. I had to use my poor, overworked brain to figure it out all on my own.”
“Wow, she sounds like a complete nightmare.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “What makes you so sure it’s a she?” He gasps with exaggeration. “Raven Mitchell, do you by any chance know who the writer is?”
“You’re such a dork, Kylen.”
He laughs again. “As long as I make you laugh, it’s all good.”
We both smile as we focus on finding the perfect scene to perform. I don’t know the play by heart, and I don’t think Kylen does, either, so we have our work cut out for us.
“We can choose one of the more iconic scenes everyone knows,” he suggests. “Maybe the balcony scene? ‘It is the east, and Juliet is the sun,’” he quotes in his terrible British accent. “Or maybe we can go with the tomb scene, though I’m not sure if we should focus on their deaths.”
“Hmm…Yeah, I think I’d rather focus on when they were alive.”
“So the balcony scene, even though it’s cliché?” He flips through the pages until he finds it. “‘O, that I were a glove upon that hand. That I might touch that cheek.’”
“You might just kill people with that terrible accent,” I tease.
He mimics stabbing himself in the heart and falls back in his seat. “Maybe we should do the death scene after all, since you just killed me.”
I can’t help but laugh again.
He sits up with a grin. “Fifty more points for me.”
I cover my mouth with my hand and turn away, suddenly embarrassed by my laugh.
“No, don’t be embarrassed!” he says. “I told you I love your laugh. I’ll stop teasing you about it.”
“But then I’ll have to stop teasing you about your terrible British accent.”
“I actually like when you tease me about it.” He flips through more pages. “‘Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.’”
I cover my ears and cry out. “Make it stop. Please make it stop. My ears are bleeding. Help, someone call an ambulance. I’m dying here.”
Trying to hide a smile, he continues to spout random quotes from Romeo. And I continue to cry out as though my ears will really explode.
“No more Shakespeare for you,” I say as I reach to snatch the book from his hand.
But he yanks it away at the last minute.
I overexert myself and lose my balance, crashing onto him.
He manages to drop the book onto the desk and wrap his arms around my waist before I take him down with me to the floor.
He stares at me with a humorous expression. “I don’t think Juliet was quite that feisty.”
The area where his hands rest on my waist burns. I haven’t been this close to him since we shared our romantic dance at camp. His eyes are even more dazzling up close. I don’t think anything can ever snuff out the light in them.
“But she was pretty tough,” I point out. “She thought for herself and went after what she wanted.”
“Like another girl I know.”
“Are you referring to me?” I ask as I move back to my seat. I suddenly feel cold by our distance, and for a second, I wish I could bury myself in his arms again. But thankfully, I have a normal, working brain.
I swear he frowns because I pulled away, but then he says, “Yes, I’m talking about you.
I know you think you’re not bold, but I think you are.
You’re unique in the sense that you stay true to yourself even if it’s not the most popular thing to do.
You could have changed yourself to fit in at school and at camp, but you believe that the right people would accept you for who you are, and you were right about that.
And I also admire your determination. Once you put your mind to something, you don’t give up until you get it done.
Like when I taught you how to play guitar.
You were frustrated in the beginning because you couldn’t get it right.
But you never gave up. And I couldn’t help but notice that you don’t give up on a song until you find the perfect verse. ”
Once again, my cheeks heat up. My neck and ears, too. I turn away because I don’t know what to say.
“Sorry if I embarrassed you.” He reaches for his phone and checks the time. “I should head back to my dorm and study for my test. It feels like all I do is study for tests,” he adds with a small laugh as he gets up. “And I guess I’ll start memorizing the balcony scene.”
I nod, standing up, too. “Yeah, good idea.”
I walk with him to the door and open it for him. He laughs softly. “Thanks for being such a gentleman, Raven.”
That makes me laugh, too. “Girls can do nice gestures for guys, too.”
He inclines his head. “For sure.” He bows the way stage actors do at the curtain call and says, “‘Farewell! One kiss, and I’ll descend.’”
“Maybe the terrible accent is growing on me,” I admit.
He winks. “I knew you secretly loved it. Good night, Raven.”
I wave. “Good night.”
He gives me one last smile before walking out. I once again lean on the door and grin as I replay our evening together.