“I can make myself scarce while you and Kylen work on your project,” Sophie tells me after school on Monday. She, Carly, Addie, and I are headed to the exit of the school building. “I kind of felt like I was in the way the last time you guys got together in our room.”
I stop walking. “And what exactly were you in the way of?”
She lifts her shoulders. “Nothing in particular.”
“Uh huh.”
“I’m just saying you guys can kick me out if you want. But I won’t be able to hang out with Damian for too long because his mom still thinks we’re too obsessed with each other. So my options are to either go to the bookstore, where my parents will kill me for spending too much money again, or I can go to the school library to see if they finally got any good books.”
“And you can always hang out in our room,” Addie tells her.
“And I can always hang out in Addie and Carly’s room,” Sophie echoes.
“Kylen and I won’t kick you out,” I say with a laugh. “He actually thinks you’re pretty funny.”
“How so?”
“Because of how you read upside-down.”
“Really? Well, the dude’s got good taste. Hmm, I guess I’ll hang out with Carly and Addie. I’ll probably get more work done if I see them doing homework.”
I know the real reason is because she wants Kylen and me to be alone together.
“Hey, check this out,” Carly says as she stops before a bulletin board in the hallway. “Did you guys know about this?”
We join her and study the announcements. There’s one about Parents’ Day that’s taking place next Sunday—I think notifications have already been sent to our families—but the one Carly’s referring to is the one right in the center in bold letters. It’s the junior trip to Wolff Ski Lodge. It’s about two hours away from school and there are so many activities to do there, like skiing, snowboarding, snow tubing, ice skating, and more.
“Oh wow, I totally forgot about it,” I say.
“Same!” Carly says.
“So this is only for juniors?” Addie asks.
“Yep!” Sophie takes out her phone and scans her email. “They should be sending us emails soon to remind us to pay for it. Oh my gosh, how much fun is it going to be? I’m going to ask Harrington to make sure all four of us are in the same room.”
“Nepotism,” I joke.
“You’d better believe it.” She raises her chin.
“And now we have boyfriends!” Carly exclaims. “Can you imagine how romantic it’ll be to sit near the fireplace with your boyfriend holding you in his toasty arms while you drink hot chocolate?” Her mouth snaps shut as she glances at me. “Oh. Sorry, Raven.”
“That’s okay. I’m glad you guys can make lots of romantic memories with your special guys. I’m sure I’ll have loads of fun without a guy.”
“Totally,” Addie says. “We’ll make sure you do.”
“And now that you’re friends with Kylen, I’m sure you’ll hang out with him, too,” Sophie says.
“Yeah, maybe.”
We continue discussing the trip as we make our way to the girls’ dorm and separate to our rooms. As promised, Sophie joins Carly and Addie in their room. I honestly don’t know why she’s insisting on disappearing while Kylen and I work on our project. She didn’t bother us last time and I doubt she’ll botherus now. Maybe she wants to give us a chance to truly restore our friendship, since things are still a little awkward right now.
I whip out my phone and send Kylen a text.
Raven: Hey. I’m in my room if you’re ready to work on the project.
Kylen: I’ll be there in a second. What’s your poison?
Raven: Poison?
