“Because guys are animals?” Raven teases.
Jasper chortles. “And you know you love us anyway.”
“That’s debatable.”
He sends her a wide grin, exposing his teeth. She just laughs.
We climb the stairs to her room and she gestures for us to enter. Jasper and Beck are amazed at how tidy the room is. There are some books and stacks of paper on the desk, and one of the dressers has folded clothes on top of it, but for the most part it’s clean and neat.
“Grandma Barrett would be impressed,” Beck observes.
“Yeah, you can learn a thing or two from Raven and Sophie,” I tell him.
He clutches his chest. “That hurts, man. Anyway, you’re a hypocrite, Ky. It’s not like your side of the room is clean.”
“Mine is heaven compared to your side.”
“Not true.”
I lift a brow at him.
“Fine, maybe. But that’s not important right now. Check out this guitar.” He strides over to where Raven’s guitar rests against the wall.
“Right?” I say. “It’s awesome. This is the instrument that composed Raven’s amazing songs. We should bow to it.” I dip my head and body forward. Jasper and Beck do the same.
“Please, oh mighty guitar, in your merit let us have millions and millions of views,” Beck says, eyes closed like he’s praying.
That makes the rest of us laugh.
“You’re making my guitar a little uncomfortable,” Raven says.
Jasper plops down on Sophie’s bed. “So where’s the theater?”
I point my thumb to the pathetic circular object on the shelf. He and Beck go to check it out.
“That’s all you’ve got so far?” Beck asks.
“Trust me, it’ll look amazing when it’s done,” Raven says.
They stay for a bit and we talk about many different things. I think Beck is stalling because he doesn’t want to do his homework. But after they finally leave, Raven and I spend a few hours working on the theater. We still have a lot to do, but that’sokay because we have enough time. We decide we’ll pick this up at a different time, bid goodbye to each other, and then I leave the room. Before I go, I give her a quick hug, thanking her again for all her help with the recording today.
She hugs me back, saying, “Anytime.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Raven
Today is the epic showdown. Kylen and Raven versus Richie and his partner.
I don’t know who the dude is choosing as his teammate, but that doesn’t matter. Because the two of them are going down!
Kylen chuckles as he and I make our way to the rec room after school on Thursday. “I haven’t seen you this excited for something since I got here.”
“Oh, my fingers are ready to pound on that controller and not only dominate, but to destroy. Eradicate. To cause devastation and chaos.”
Kylen pauses as he holds up his hands. “Remind me to never get on your bad side,” he jokes.
I’m feeling good vibes, especially because Kylen is my teammate. We haven’t played much with each other since our camp days, and I know I can rely on him to help me prove to that chauvinistic piece of work that girls are just as good as boys at video games.
