Chapter Thirty-One #2
There’s a bit of pushing and shoving as kids hurry to get on the bus.
It seems all of the popular kids are trying to get on the same bus.
That leaves my friends and me, plus Kylen and his friends, with the second bus.
After we stash our suitcases and backpacks in the luggage compartment, we get on the bus.
“How are we doing this?” Addie asks as she glances at the available seats toward the middle of the bus. “Should we pair off with each other? Rock, paper, scissors?”
“Don’t you guys want to sit with your boyfriends?” I ask.
The three of them exchange a glance.
“We don’t have to,” Carly says. “It’s not like they’re going anywhere.”
“But you can’t live without him for more than a millisecond,” I remind her in a teasing way.
“Well yeah, but I can’t live without you for a millisecond, either.”
I wave my hand. “Thanks, but it’s okay. You guys should have fun with your boyfriends. I was planning on working on my lyrics anyway.”
“Are you sure, Raven?” Sophie asks. “You know you’re just as important to us as our guys are.”
“I know,” I assure her. “But I’m good. Really.
” I give each of them a sincere smile before sliding into the seat behind Carly.
I mean every word I said. As hard as it is sometimes to share them with their boyfriends, all I want is for them to be happy.
And I know that I would want to spend the ride to the lodge with my boyfriend if I had one.
Sophie gives me a thankful smile before calling Damian over and settling down in the seat across from Carly and Ryder, who has just plopped down next to her. The bus is pretty noisy, especially from the kids in the back, but I know I’ll be able to tune them out once I get into my songwriting.
After sliding to the window, I rummage in my purse for the small notepad and pen I stashed there. Just as I get them out, I see a shadow next to my seat and raise my head. Kylen stands there with a hopeful smile on his face.
“Hey. Is this seat taken?” He nods to the empty seat next to me.
“No,” I say, my heart rate picking up. I’m not going to lie—I was hoping he would ask to sit with me. But I didn’t think it would actually happen.
“Thanks.” He drops down next to me and places his backpack on his knees.
“You didn’t put your bag in the luggage compartment?” I ask.
“No way. The guys and I need our snacks.”
“Oh.” I crane my neck and realize that the guys have taken seats behind us. Leo sits alone, though. “You’re not sitting with Leo?” I ask.
His brows fly up. “Do you want me to?”
“No!” I nearly shout. “I mean, no. I guess I just feel bad that he’s sitting alone.”
“The guys insisted I sit with you,” he informs me.
“They did? Why?”
“Because they think you’re awesome. The new song you wrote for us is out of this world. Jasper actually got teary-eyed as we played it yesterday.”
“Did he really?”
“I don’t know. He pretended it was the wind.”
“There’s no wind in the music room.”
“My point exactly.” He flashes me that grin that makes me feel like my organs are melting.
“As long as he’s okay with sitting alone,” I start to say, but Leo suddenly sits up sharply in his seat.
“Dudes,” he hisses to us and the guys. “Do you see what I’m seeing?” He’s staring at something behind him.
“A bus full of students dressed in green, black, and white?” Kylen asks.
Leo ignores his comment. “No, seriously. Look who’s sitting all alone.”
Kylen leans out of the seat while I get on my knees and peek over the back of my seat.
“Do you mean Lilah?” Beck says.
“Keep your voice down, man!”
“Why is she sitting all alone?” Jasper asks. “Where’s her jerk of a boyfriend?”
A girl who sits across from Jasper and Beck says, “Didn’t you hear? They broke up.”
Leo’s eyes get so big I swear they’ll roll right off his face. “Lilah and her boyfriend broke up?”
She flares her nostrils. “Didn’t you hear what I said? Yes, they broke up. The poor guy. He’s so heartbroken over it.”
“I’m sure he is,” Kylen mutters with a roll of his eyes. “He treated her like crap,” he whispers to me.
“I don’t care about him,” Leo says. “I only care about Lilah. She looks pretty sad, doesn’t she?”
“Maybe she needs someone to make her feel better,” Jasper suggests.
Leo gapes at him. Then he points to himself with an unsure look.
“Yes, you,” Jasper says.
“You think I should talk to her?” Leo says, still with wide eyes.
“No, you should just pine after her from afar,” Beck says.
“You’ve got this, man,” Kylen tells him. “Don’t ask her out or declare your love for her or anything. Just be her friend.”
Leo nods as he stares at her. “Be her friend. Right, I can do that.” He looks back at us with panic. “Never mind. I can’t do that.”
“Of course you can,” I say gently with a reassuring smile. “You’re a great guy and a great friend. I’m sure she’ll love getting to know you. No one else on this bus seems to give a darn that she’s all alone. I’m sure she’ll appreciate you checking in on her. And if not? You won’t lose anything.”
“Just your dignity,” Beck teases.
I give him a look. “Don’t discourage him.”
He holds up his hands. “Rave is right.”
“Not you, too,” I groan.
He grins. “It’s growing on me.”
“Like a freakin’ wart.”
He chuckles. “Girl’s got jokes.”
“You mind?” Leo waves his hands before us. “Lilah?”
“Go for it, man,” Kylen says. “You don’t have anything to lose. You’re already in love with her. It can’t hurt any more, can it?”
“Reality will hurt more,” he says. “Right now, it’s all in my head. But if she sends me away…”
“Keep in mind that she may want to be alone for now,” I advise. “You have to listen to what she actually wants and obey her wishes. Don’t be pushy.”
Leo nods again. “Don’t be pushy. Okay. Got it.” He takes a large gulp of air, causing his chest to puff up. “Going in.”
We all hold our breaths and watch Leo hesitantly walk over to her.
Lilah is tapping on her phone, and when she feels a presence next to her, she slowly lifts her head.
I don’t know what Leo says because his voice is above a whisper, but it causes a small smile to break out on her face.
She nods and removes her bag that was sitting on the seat beside her.
Leo lowers himself next to her with a relieved and incredulous expression on his face.
I smile at Kylen. “He’s so cute.”
“I know. I hope things work out between them. And if not? I hope he at least makes a new friend.”
“Something tells me he won’t give up on her so easily.”
Ryder chuckles. “Definitely not.”
The bus finally starts to move. I look out the window at our school, watching it grow smaller and smaller as we drive away. I know it’s weird to say this, but I miss it already. I feel this way every time I leave for summer break. This school has changed my life so much.
“What are you thinking?” Kylen asks in a soft tone.
I blink and look at him. “What?”
“You were gazing out the window like you were lost in your thoughts. I was wondering what you could possibly be thinking about. How pretty the school looks covered in all that snow?”
“It does look pretty,” I admit. “But that’s not what I was thinking about.”
He nods, his eyes expectant like he’s dying to know what occupied my mind.
I’m reminded of the days at camp when I slowly opened up to him.
He just had this openness and warmth that made me feel like I could trust him.
I don’t think I’ve opened my heart to him since we renewed our friendship here at Harrington.
I loved how he shared his thoughts and feelings with me last Friday on the porch swing at Fiona’s party.
I want to trust him just as I did at camp.
“I was just remembering how lonely I was before I met Carly and Sophie,” I admit, dropping my eyes to my knees.
“I know we spoke about this at camp, but sometimes it creeps up on me. It’s like I still can’t believe how great my life is now.
It sucked so much in middle school and the beginning of freshman year. ”
Kylen nods. He knows exactly how I felt all those years. Even though he didn’t experience that because he made friends with the guys in elementary school, he was always so understanding. Maybe because he knows what it feels like to be lonely as well, since he lost his parents.
“Leaving school reminds you of that?” he asks.
I nod, my eyes still on my knees. “I guess the irrational part of me worries that once we leave the place where my life got better, it’ll just get ruined. I know that’s crazy.”
He shakes his head. “It’s not crazy. I feel the same way when I leave the cemetery after I visit my parents. As though once I leave, I’ll move on with my life and completely forget about them.”
I raise my eyes and smile. “I guess you do understand.”
“I think I’ve always been able to understand you, Raven.”
I smile shyly as my cheeks heat up.
A few seconds of silence pass. Then Beck yells, “Ky, where are the snacks at? I’m starving here. They didn’t feed us this morning.”
“They’re going to feed us at the lodge, bozo,” Jasper yells back.
“I’m supposed to starve for two hours?”
Shaking his head with a smile, Kylen unzips his backpack and unloads an assortment of snacks. He tosses four bags behind him, then produces a bag of ketchup potato chips. “I didn’t forget our awesome lyricist.” He dangles it before me.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“Of course I did.”
I take it from him and smile. “Thanks. I guess I’m a little hungry.” I open the bag and hold out a chip. “Want?”
He groans. “You know I don’t like that stuff.”
“Are you sure?” Now I dangle it before his face. “It’s calling your name. ‘Kylen…Kylen Barrett. Eat me. You know you want to.’”
“Poison.” He wraps his hand around his neck and falls back against the seat with his eyes rolling over.
“Poison? Nah, it has tons of nutrients.”
His eyes snap open. “Yeah, right!”
I giggle. “Okay, it’s junk. But it’s good junk.” I throw it into my mouth. “Mmm.”
He chokes himself to death again.
“Hey, if we’re going to be friends, you have to at least accept that this is my go-to snack.”
He sits up. “I brought it for you, didn’t I?”
“Of course. For that, you get a prize.”
“Ooh, what’s my prize?”
“A ketchup potato chip.” I hold one out to him again.
“Someone kill me now.” He falls back on the seat with his eyes squeezed shut.
I lean forward and press a quick kiss on his cheek.
His eyes snap open and he gapes at me like he’s not sure if that happened or was a dream. But then he must conclude it was real because he didn’t actually fall asleep.
With his jaw hanging open, he presses his hand to his cheek. “I’m never going to wash my cheek as long as I live.”
That has me giggling.
Carly pops up from the seat in front of us. “What has the two of you laughing so hard? Ryder and I are trying to listen to music.”
“Sorry. We didn’t mean to disturb you.”
“We don’t mind as long as we know what’s so funny.”
I playfully knock my shoulder into Kylen’s. “He’s just teasing me because of my love for ketchup potato chips.”
“What’s bad about them?” She snatches my bag and takes a few, handing half to Ryder. “They’re awesome.”
Ryder agrees as he munches on them.
I give Kylen a look.
“You must be aliens,” he says.
“You’re the alien, remember?” I say.
He lifts his shoulders. “I totally am.”
With a smile, Carly settles back down next to Ryder and whispers something to him. Since he’s listening to music, she raises her voice and I catch some of what she said. She told him she’s not surprised if she hears wedding bells in the future.
My face sizzles as I glance at Kylen. But he doesn’t seem to have heard, since he’s currently arguing with Beck that the guys won’t be able to sleep over the weekend because of his loud snoring.
I lean my head on the window as I imagine that very scenario. And I must say, I enjoy it very, very much.