Every single kid in the class turns around and stares at us. Addie’s face turns pink as she glances down at the wrinkly paper laid out on her desk, out there for everyone to see. I swear if the teacher confiscates it from her or asks her to read it out loud…
“There’s no problem,” I quickly say. “I just asked Addie what chapter you were referencing.”
“I don’t allow talking in my class, Miss Mitchell,” Mrs. Powell says. “The next time you have a question, direct it at me and not your fellow classmate.”
When Mrs. Powell resumes her discussion, Addie carefully folds the paper, and I assume she’ll stash it back in my backpack, but no. She hides it in her notebook.
I glare at her, but she pretends not to notice and gently drops my backpack at my desk.
At that moment, the bell rings and everyone jumps out of their seats.
“Are you keeping it as a souvenir or something?” I ask as I slide my stuff into my backpack and throw it over my shoulder.
“No,” she stresses. “I just don’t want you to sabotage yourself.”
“Sabotagemyself?” I ask as we head to the exit of the classroom.
“Yeah. We were literally just discussing a few weeks ago that none of the guys at HBA are boyfriend material, and look what happened? Camp Lover Boy suddenly appeared. It’s like you were given a gift.”
I rub my forehead as I groan,thisclose to tearing out my blonde hair. And yes, I have blonde hair even though my name is Raven. My parents assumed I’d have dark hair like every other member of my family, but I sure surprised them. Even my twelve-year-old sister, Robin, is a brunette.
“And not just a gift,” Sophie’s voice says. “I sniff a possible second-chance romance on the horizon.”
I lift my head and realize that Sophie and Carly have joined us outside our classroom. We only have a few minutes to get to our next classes, but we’re all headed in the same direction.
“There won’t be a second-chance romance, Soph,” I say as we walk down the hall.
“Why, though?” Carly asks with confused and disappointed green eyes. “I wish you would open up to us and tell us what happened at camp with Camp Lover Boy.” She moves closer and wraps her arm around me. “We love you and want you to be happy.”
“I know,” I tell her. “And I really appreciate and love you guys, too. But I’d rather not talk about it, okay?”
Carly pushes her red hair out of her eyes as she glances at Sophie and Addie. I can tell all three of them are bursting to ask me a million questions. But they nod and decide to let it go.
“Just one question, pretty please?” Addie asks.
I sigh. “Okay, what?”
“His name?”
Carly and Sophie nod vehemently, too.
Well, I guess there’s no point holding back that piece of information. They’ll find out eventually. “His name is Kylen Barrett.”
Sophie beams. “Awesome name.”
“Kylen and Raven—” Addie starts, but then she presses her lips together and says, “Yep. Cool name.”
Carly appears to be bursting to say something, but thankfully, she obeys my wishes and doesn’t utter a word. I’m glad my friends aren’t pushing, even though I know they have a million more questions to ask.
We talk about various other topics until we separate to our classrooms. I freeze in place when I catch sight ofhimstanding with the other guys from Everheart outside the chemistry classroom. It seems one of them has a mix-up with his schedule and they’re trying to make sense of it. A few other students are helping them out.
Releasing a silent gasp, I sprint away and hide behind a corner wall. Did he see me? I don’t think so because he seems preoccupied with the other students. After waiting a few seconds, I slowly peek my head out.
Even though I don’t want to, I can’t help but study him. The last time I saw him was one and a half years ago. I can’t believe how much he’s changed, but there’s also something about him that’s exactly the same. His light brown hair is much shorter than how he wore it when he was fifteen, but it still has those cute waves I always loved. I can’t see them so well from back here, but his green eyes seem to carry the same light he had back at camp, as though no matter what life threw at him, he was determined to make the best of his situation.
He’s much taller than he was back then, taller than many of the guys here. And I have to admit that the school uniform looks really good on him. The boys wear a white shirt with black pants,and a green blazer and matching tie. The girls wear a black and green plaid skirt, a white shirt, and a green vest or blazer.
Gazing at him like this, there’s something oddly comforting about him. As if I feel at home or something. But I quickly shake that thought out of my head. He showed me what kind of person he truly is, and I need to stop holding onto the person I thought he was. Because he doesn’t exist.
