Chapter Thirty-Eight
Kylen
It kind of sucks to resume classes after we had such an amazing weekend. But I guess life has to go on and we need to live in the real world.
I’m walking down the hallway on Monday morning, my eyes barely able to stay open because I was up all night thinking about Raven, when something on the bulletin board catches my attention. It’s a flyer about the dance next week. We all got emails about it yesterday, too.
I was also up all night thinking about the dance.
In the distance, I spot Raven and her friends at one of their lockers. Caleb’s arm is slung around Addie’s shoulder, Carly rests her head on Ryder’s chest, Sophie’s hand is in Damian’s as he presses a kiss to her cheek. And then there’s Raven standing there all by herself.
Like they have the speed of light, my legs take me to her and I wrap my arms around her waist from behind. She whirls around, her wide eyes filling with laughter. “You scared me!”
“Sorry.” I hold her close. “I just missed you.”
“I missed you, too.”
“I need to ask you something after school,” I tell her.
Her eyebrow lifts in curiosity. “Okay.”
I greet the others and add to their conversation.
Then the bell rings and we’re off to our classes.
They pass uneventfully, but it’s obvious that no one is in the mood for class.
The teachers can sense it as well, some being harsh and giving us oral quizzes.
Which is very cruel because we didn’t have time to study yesterday.
I sit with Raven and her friends during lunch, where we talk about random topics.
Then when it’s time for history, Mr. Lewis reminds us that we’ll be presenting our reports to the class later this week.
Most kids tense up because they’re not ready.
Raven and I are almost done. The Globe Theatre is nearly built and looks phenomenal.
Our music video is kickbutt, and our written report is A+ worthy—it just needs to go through a final edit.
I don’t want to part from Raven to head for my next class, but of course I don’t have a choice. We’re standing in the doorway of the history classroom, our hands still clinging to each other.
I frown. “It’s worth getting detention if I get to skip class with you.”
She shakes her head. “No way. I’m not giving Principal Harrington any excuse to kick me out and neither are you.”
I frown again. “But I’ll miss you.”
She rests her head on my shoulder. “We only have a few classes left and then we can spend the whole afternoon together after you’re done with band practice.”
I wave my hand. “The guys and I canceled band practice for today.”
“Oh. Because we need to talk?”
I nod.
“Should I be worried?”
Bending close, I smile as I peck the tip of her nose. “Not at all. I mean, I hope not.”
“Okay. See you later.”
She slides her hand out of mine, turns around, and walks down the hallway to her next class. I sigh and go to mine.
The time oddly passes at a normal pace and it’s not long before I’m standing outside Raven’s last class, my shoulder resting on the wall.
The kids file out, many of them glad to be done with the day because it was a hard one. Raven eventually pops out and smiles when she sees me.
Holding out my arm to her, I say in my terrible British accent, “May I escort you out of the building, m’lady?”
She does a small curtsey, then places her hand in my arm. “You may, sir.”
With both of us grinning like goofs, we make our way out of the school building and toward the boys’ dorm. I asked Beck to stay away so we can have some alone time. He was cool with it because he and Jasper have plans to game in the rec room, anyway.
“So what’s this big secret?” Raven asks.
I raise a brow. “Who said anything about a secret?”
“Well, you’re being very cryptic.”
I zip an invisible zipper across my lips.
We’re at the guy’s dorm in no time, holding hands as I take her up to the third floor and unlock the door. I hesitate for a second or two before pushing it open.
Raven gasps as she takes it all in. I adorned the place with flowers and colorful streamers.
And at the front of the room, attached to the wall, are the words, “Raven, you are my world, my life, my everything. You make me a better person each moment I spend time with you. I can’t imagine you not being in my life.
Will you do me the honor of being my girlfriend? ”
Raven stares at the words, blinking a few times like they’re not making sense in her head. Like she doesn’t believe they’re actually there.
Smiling, I slip my hand into hers. “It’s okay if you’re not ready to give me an answer. Take as much time as you need.”
“No, I don’t need time. Of course I’ll be your girlfriend, Kylen.” She throws her arms around me. “You have no idea how long I’ve yearned for this.”
Holding her close and inhaling her mesmerizing scent, I whisper, “I do, because I feel the exact same way, but…” Drawing back, I gaze into her eyes. “I promise I’ll never hurt you again.”
Shaking her head, she runs her fingers through my hair. “I know you won’t. And it wasn’t only you who hurt me. I hurt you, too.”
“Let’s not talk about the past. Let’s look forward to the future, because the way I see it, it’s a long and bright one.”
Giggling, she flings her arms around me. “It’s like you can read my mind.”
“Because we feel the same way about each other.”
Taking hold of her hand, I lead her to my bed, where we sit across from each other. I can’t help but smile and it seems she can’t help it, either. I reach for a flower that I pasted on the wall and hand it to her.
She breathes it in. “Wow, Romeo. You’re quite the romantic. How did you get Beck to leave?”
I wave my hand. “He and Jasper are hitting the games. He actually helped me decorate the room.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, he’s rooting for us and will do everything in his power to make sure we’re together. He feels really bad about what he did, and I guess it’s his life mission to make it up to us or something.” I shrug. “I told him not to, but he won’t listen.”
She presses the flower to her nose. “He’s a good friend. He just made a mistake.”
I nod. “A real good friend. So are the others. We’re lucky we have amazing friends.”
“Which is why the song means so much to us.”
Getting up, I walk to her side of the bed, scoop her up in my arms, sit down, and place her on my lap. She laughs as she holds onto me.
“Sorry, is this okay?” I ask.
She closes her arms around me. “Of course it is.”
I bury my face in the side of her head. “That wasn’t the only thing I wanted to ask you,” I say in a soft voice.
She turns around in my lap, giving me a confused face. “What do you mean?”
I play with her hair. “Truth is, I’m a little nervous.”
“Don’t be. You know I won’t make fun of you.”
“No, I know that. I don’t know why I’m nervous.” I glance at the floor and sigh. “I guess I don’t want to mess this up.”
“Kylen.” She places her fingers on my chin, forcing my head up so I look into her eyes. “You need to stop beating yourself up over that. You’re not going to mess this up. Maybe I’ll mess it up—”
“Never.”
“But we need to be open and honest with each other.” She bends close and kisses my cheek. “Now tell me what you want to ask me because I’m losing my mind here.”
That gets a chuckle out of me. “Okay.” I take her hands, giving them a loving squeeze. “Raven Mitchell, will you go to the dance with me?”
Her lips form into a dazzling smile. Then she presses herself closer to me, so close that we practically fuse into one. “Of course I’ll go to the dance with you, Kylen Barrett!”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“My beautiful Juliet.” Dipping my head, I brush my lips against hers.
She glances up at me, frowns, then places her hand on the back of my head and pushes our mouths together.
We kiss like there is no tomorrow, even though there obviously is.
And we’ll probably do this tomorrow and the day after and the day after.
Because now that I have this awesome girl again, I’m no way in heck losing her again.
We take a break to breathe before our lips are glued together again.
There is so much I want to show her, like how much she means to me and how my life wouldn’t be the same without her.
Just a few months ago, we were both so miserable.
I never imagined we’d get together like this, even though I dreamed and wished for it.
“What are you thinking?” Raven whispers as her lips graze mine.
“Just how I’m the luckiest guy in the world. Because I have you for a girlfriend.”
She giggles. “And I’m the luckiest girl because I have you for a boyfriend.”
We make out for a bit longer before I ask her if it’s okay that we call my grandparents to tell them the good news.
“Of course it’s okay,” she says. “I’d love to see your grandparents again.”
I start a video call with them and thankfully they don’t have any problems answering the call. As soon as they see our faces on the screen, they smile and wave.
“Hey, kids,” Grandpa says.
Grandma seems especially excited about the girl sitting next to me. “Raven, it’s so nice to see you again. How are you?”
“I’m great. How are you?”
“Very happy to see the two of you together.”
Raven and I exchange a look and smile. They don’t even know that we’re officially boyfriend and girlfriend and they’re already happy for us.
“How was the ski trip?” Grandpa asks.
We spend a few minutes telling them every detail, including the part where we carved our initials into the same tree Gran and Pops did.
“I felt them, like they were standing right next to me,” I tell them.
“I know that they were,” Grandma says. “As were your mother and father.”
Tears fill my eyes. “You think?”
“Of course. As we told you since you were a little kid—your parents are with you every second of every day. Except maybe not in the bathroom.”
Raven and I chuckle.
Taking hold of her hand, I smile to my grandparents. “I asked Raven to be my girlfriend and she said yes.”
Grandma claps while Grandpa cheers.