Chapter fourteen
Kameron
Nalini
That was the weirdest thing I’ve ever experienced. No wonder they were desperate to get people to see it.
Did Noah tell you I was going to get COVERED HEAD TO TOE in ketchup?
I’m going to need to replace this outfit. I don’t think the smell is ever coming out.
Which sucks, this was my favorite work dress.
But KETCHUP KAMERON. I AM COVERED IN KETCHUP.
I’d never been more thrilled that I hadn’t taken up Noah’s offer with these tickets. He'd warned me it was weird, but not “don’t wear nice clothes” weird. Or getting drenched in a condiment weird.
I had so many questions I wanted to ask about the series of events that led to this outcome, but I was also certain that now wasn’t the time to ask them.
Not when my friendship with Nalini was still on thin ice.
The distance between us was finally starting to melt, and the more I was around her, the more I realized I didn’t want to lose her again.
Nalini was grounding, familiar, and more than anything, didn’t treat me like Kam from RaineFall.
I was still the person who’d almost ruined the town; I’d finally gotten someone to tell me about the tourism disaster that happened after we moved.
But with it, I knew it meant it was yet another thing I needed to try and fix.
I needed to prove I wasn’t here to destroy their businesses; I just wasn’t sure what the first step was.
I found myself walking down Main Street, looking at the place I loved growing up while Cassidy was at Ava’s house. The two of them had quickly become best friends, and it was obvious Ava needed Cassidy as much as the other way around.
The town wasn’t in the best shape; paint was peeling from most of the buildings.
The wear and tear of age was obvious, and now that it was October, I knew tourist season was over, and most businesses weren’t going to have the money for extra expenses.
They’d be doing whatever they needed to make it to spring when the hiking trails opened up again.
But there was still cracked paint, and buildings that looked like they were in desperate need of repair.
Even the skating rink in the park looked like it hadn’t been used in years, which I was disappointed about — I’d promised Cass we’d go skating all winter, and now it looked like we’d have to find somewhere else.
Years ago, I would’ve paid for a refurbishment of the town, especially its Main Street, and called it a day. But now? I didn’t have that kind of money, and even if I did, I wasn’t sure the town would accept it.
“Girl, that’s not a show, that’s a lawsuit waiting to… oh, you signed a waiver? Did it mention…?” a blonde woman asked as she walked out of the yoga studio, and based on the conversation, I could only guess who she was talking to. “Wait… I’ll call you back,” she said, immediately turning on me.
“You! Kameron! Raine!” she shouted, her finger poking me hard in the chest, “You have some explaining to do!”
“Um… hi?” I found myself saying, realizing the tiny blonde girl definitely knew more about me than I knew about her.
“I've been advocating for you from the moment you stepped into this town, and the way you repay me is humiliating, Nalini?”
“Wait, wait, wait, what?” I asked, afraid I was about to be murdered by a yoga instructor, and all of Briar Hill would be excited to see it happen. “If this is about the ketchup, my brother didn’t let me know about it ahead of time!”
The woman glared at me, reminding me of a cartoon character, before she burst out laughing.
“Okay, that was true fear; glad to see it.” She smiled at me before extending her hand, “I’m Misty!”
“Kameron,” I said, “but you already knew that? I didn’t realize I was being tested.”
“If your best friend was doused in ketchup from a terrible public humiliation ritual pretending to be a play, you'd test the person who sent her there too,” Misty said matter-of-factly… and she had a point. I’d planned on asking Noah the exact same questions.
“Honestly, it’s partially on me for not asking Noah for more information, but at the same time she deserves a vacation,” I winced, “though I guess this wasn’t the “convince Nalini vacations aren’t evil” trip I thought it’d be.”
“I’ve been trying for years, but she’s so stubborn,” the woman chuckled, “Though you’re kind of a miracle worker. I’d fully expected her to spend the break sitting on her couch and trying to beat her record of reading twenty-seven library books she set last year. “
“Knowing Nalini, she’s proud of that record,” I pointed out.
“That’s not the point. I love that she reads, but…
she’s spent years in this tiny little bubble.
Only friends with me and Peri, who still hates you, by the way.
I don’t think it’s possible to win her over.
” I wasn’t surprised by that fact at all; I’d given up even attempting to talk to Peri whenever I was in the library.
“But back to Nalini. She’d insist on never leaving town.
Afraid of being recognized if she ever left.
I’ve been telling her for years nobody is going to immediately recognize her anymore unless she brings up the RaineFall connection, but you come along, and suddenly she’s in NYC!
Hating it, but she tried something new! You’re good for her! ”
“Well, she’s my friend,” I shrugged, but I was surprised by how hollow the words sounded. She was my friend, my best friend, and to some degree I’d put myself in a similar box Nalini had. One I was trying to get myself out of. But even that explanation didn’t quite feel right.
And I wasn’t sure why.
I knew what life was like without Nalini, and I knew I didn’t want to experience it again.
I hated she and Julia never got the chance to meet, that the two of them absolutely would've ganged up on me. I hated she hadn’t heard my music, that it was a source of pain instead of a source of joy.
But most of all, I wanted to make sure she knew how important she was to me. And I had no idea how to convey it.
And somehow it still felt like I wasn’t giving her enough credit.
“A friend who gets her boring butt out of the house every once in a while,” Misty said, smirking at me like it was some sort of inside joke I had absolutely no idea what she could be referring to.
Not when I'd just met her. “Just keep being a good influence on my girl, okay? Nalini needs to stop being afraid to spread her wings. The world deserves to see she’s amazing, instead of letting your brother decide she’s not. ”
I wasn’t sure what to say, not without repeating everything I'd said to Nalini. And while it was clear Misty probably knew already, there was still the underlying tension that came with it.
“Anyway, enjoy your walk; it’s nice to see The Ghost of Briar Hill out and about,” Misty said, locking the door to the studio.
“The what?” I asked, before she shrugged.
“The Ghost of Briar Hill, it’s what everyone calls you,” she explained, “Because you’re never out on the town.
Seriously, you should start to do things.
Town things. I mean, there’s the Trunk or Treat event, the New Year’s Eve Festival; you could go to a PTO meeting.
How are people supposed to believe you’re here to stay if you don’t act like it? ”
I blinked as the woman seemed to disappear, and I hadn’t realized it was that easy to get involved.
I’d assumed nobody wanted me at those events, that I had to prove I wasn’t going to throw Briar Hill into the spotlight a second time.
But maybe I accidentally overcorrected instead.
Maybe they did want to see me, and that was the best way to show I’m not here to threaten their way of life.
It was at least something to think about, and maybe a way to actually show I was here to stay