Chapter Twenty-Eight
Raven
I usually don’t dress up for a party because I just want to have an enjoyable night with my friends, but it feels different now. Maybe because Kylen might be there?
Ah, who am I kidding? Of course it’s because Kylen might be there.
My friends and I are getting ready in Addie and Carly’s room. It took me a while to rummage through my closet for the perfect outfit to wear, but I eventually settled on a royal blue dress that’s not too fancy and not too casual.
As we apply our makeup and do our hair, my friends keep gushing about how excited they are to have a fun night with their boyfriends. Of course the jealousy pangs take over my body, but I try not to let it get to me. I want to have fun with them tonight, and hopefully with Kylen, too.
“Did you guys see Next Level Dudes’ video?” I ask as I apply eyeshadow to my face. “It has a few hundred thousand views with so many positive comments. The boys are ecstatic.”
“I did!” Carly gushes as she stands before the full-length mirror and turns to her right and left, checking how she looks. “They sounded amazing. The song is so beautiful and the music is so chef’s kiss.”
“It’s all because of your amazing song,” Addie tells me as she wraps an arm around me. “I’m so happy for you. So proud of you.”
“Thanks.”
“Is this going to be a thing?” Sophie asks from where she’s perched on Carly’s bed, intently reading a book with a cover of a couple locked in a loving embrace. “You writing songs for them?”
“Hmm, I haven’t thought about it.” I step back and study myself in the mirror, liking what I see. “I guess I wouldn’t mind writing more songs for them. Lyrics have been pouring out of me lately, so I’m sure I can whip up something for them if they ask.”
“You’re past your writer’s block?” Sophie asks. “Nice!”
“Thanks. I guess I was holding back a lot of myself in the past, but I feel more free now. Liberated.”
Addie’s eyes shine. “Because of a certain dude with a name that rhymes with Bylen?”
“I never said that.”
“It was implied.”
“It was so not.”
“Whatever the reason,” Carly says, “we’re super glad you’re writing again. Maybe your songs will get famous one day and you’ll win awards.”
“Ha. Sure.”
“You never know!”
“Thanks for all your support. It means a lot to me.”
“Of course. We’ll support you in whatever you do,” Addie says.
“Same.” Sophie closes the book with a happy sigh and hugs it to her chest. “Another wonderful book with a happily ever after that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It makes me love my relationship with Damian even more. Like, I feel just as happy and blessed as the people in the book. I used to sigh and wonder if I’ll ever experience an epic romance, but reading my romance books only makes me appreciate what I have.
” She sighs happily again and stares off in the distance, as though she’s reliving all the romantic moments she’s shared with her boyfriend.
The three of them now discuss the romantic gestures their boyfriends have done for them over the last few days. At times like this, I have nothing to add, but I still love hearing it. Even though the jealousy pangs start pricking me all over again.
After the guys text that they’re waiting downstairs, we add last-minute touches to our hair and makeup, grab our purses, and leave the room. Some of the other girls are getting ready for the party as well. Most kids will attend because there’s nothing else for them to do on a Friday night.
As soon as the guys see their girls, they rush to hug them and tell them how beautiful they look. I pull my coat closer to my body and look away, trying really hard not to pay attention to the ache in my chest.
After they share sweet kisses, we make our way to the parking lot.
Sophie and Damian will ride on his bike—she doesn’t care that the helmet might ruin her hair—and the rest of us will take one of the cars.
This time, it’s Carly’s. Ryder sits in the front while the rest of us settle down in the backseat.
The ride takes about twenty minutes. I can already hear the music from blocks away.
After Carly finds a parking space amongst the many, many super-rich cars, we get out and stare at the mansion.
I sometimes wonder what my life would be like if I were born into the rich world like my classmates.
Would I like it? It’s not like I would know any better.
Not like I would have a choice in the matter.
But one thing I do know is that I would never befriend Carly, Sophie, or Addie.
And I would never give them up, not for billions of dollars.
So I think I’ll stick with being middle class.
“What are you thinking?” Carly puts her arm around me as we stare at the mansion. “How the cost of this house can feed a small country?”
“Just how much it would suck if I were born into a rich family. I wouldn’t have you guys in my life.”
“That’s true.” She squeezes me closer.
“Unless we were all born into rich families,” Addie points out. “Maybe we would be friends.”
“But then you and I would never have gotten together,” Caleb tells her as he closes his arms around her and presses a heartwarming kiss on her temple.
“You think you wouldn’t be hired to be my bodyguard?”
“Maybe I would have been. But there’s no way we would have gotten together.”
“Why not? I would disown my life and everything I knew if it meant I could be with you.”
He smiles at her with nothing but intense, pure love. “I would, too.”
“And that would have been the most epic forbidden love story of all time!” Sophie says.
“Well, I believe everyone is where they’re supposed to be,” Ryder says as we head toward the entrance. “You know, destiny and all that.”
“Same,” Damian says. “As much as it sucks that my dad died, it brought me to this amazing person.” He lifts his hand that’s interlocked with Sophie’s and kisses the back of hers.
Sophie throws her arms around him and buries her face in his chest, muttering how much she loves and appreciates him.
I’m feeling just a bit too much love in the air. I walk ahead of my friends and enter the mansion, blinking at how wealthy the place really is. But at the same time, there’s a homey feel to it. As though the owners want the family to feel completely at home here.
The place is packed with kids. Some must be from other schools because I don’t recognize them.
The ballroom is humongous with enough room to dance.
There is a table on the side with refreshments and a DJ is playing a sick track.
Most of the people here are either dancing, chatting, making out, or playing games.
“Now this is my kind of music,” Carly says as her body starts shaking to the beat. She grabs her boyfriend with one hand and Sophie with the other. “Time to hit the dance floor!” And she drags them along. Sophie has only a second to snatch Damian’s hand before they’re gone from our sight.
Addie laughs. “Sophie didn’t complain this time.”
“I think she has a new appreciation of dance ever since she got together with Damian,” I tell her. “She just wants to let loose and have fun with him, even if she’s not the best dancer in the world.”
Addie tucks one hand through my arm and the other through Caleb’s. “Shall we join them?”
“We shall,” I say.
As we join the others on the dance floor, my eyes survey the area. I don’t see Kylen’s familiar light brown hair. Maybe he hasn’t arrived yet? Or does he not plan to come at all?
I wasn’t sure about his reaction when I brought it up to him yesterday at the rec room. I thought he would be excited that I invited him, but he didn’t seem like that at all. Is he trying to play it cool or something? Or maybe he doesn’t like the idea of hanging out with me at a party?
A sudden thought churns my stomach. What if he thought I was asking him out on a date?
Ugh, I want to slap my forehead. I should have told him I meant it as a hang and not a date.
Of course he would be reluctant if he thought it was a date.
He and I…we…well, let’s just say we’re still only friends at this point. Oh my gosh, did I ruin everything?
“You okay?” Addie asks over the loud music.
“What? Oh, yeah. I’m good.”
I don’t want to lie to my friends, but the last thing I want is to ruin their night.
It’s okay if Kylen doesn’t show up. He never promised that he would, and like I said before, he’s just my friend and he doesn’t owe me anything.
So it takes everything I have to push any negative thought out of my head, and the pain from my heart.
I do have tons of fun with my friends. Carly and Ryder choreograph the most insane but incredible routine right on the spot, which has many of the surrounding kids—including me and the rest of our friends—joining them.
I get so exhausted after a while that I leave them to fetch a drink from the refreshment table.
As I chug down the liquid, my eyes once again scan around.
He’s not here. None of his friends are, either.
Why does it sting? I don’t want it to, but it feels as though he rejected me.
Like he slapped me across the face. I feel like a loser for feeling this way because I know I’m blowing this out of proportion.
He doesn’t have to come if he doesn’t want to. It won’t make us any less friends.
But it does hurt, and the fact that it hurts causes me even more confusion. I guess I still have those kinds of feelings for him. Maybe I always will.
Tossing my cup into the garbage bin, I tell myself to forget about him and focus on having fun with my friends. Why am I torturing myself by being so hung up on the past? I have a great life with my best friends and I love being here at Harrington Bay. That’s the only thing that should matter.
As I turn to head back to them, I smack right into a hard chest. When I slowly lift my gaze, I realize that the head attached to the body belongs to Kylen.