The Crushes (7 page)

Rule 5:
Seduce him with your eyes! Make eye contact throughout your conversations with him! Never break eye contact!

Rule 8:
Let your inner beauty shine! Show him the wonderful treasure that lies within you!

Rule 22:
Don’t answer questions right away! Take a few moments before you answer!

Kelly pulled out a chair at the restaurant table and plopped down. It smelled like refried beans and taco meat inside. It was Sydney’s idea to come to the Mexican restaurant, though she’d had to fight with Drew over it.

He wanted Italian, she wanted Mexican. Since it was her night of celebration, she’d eventually won the argument and here they were. Alexia sat on Kelly’s left side, Raven on her right. Drew, Sydney, and Todd were on the other side of the table, Ben at the head.

Spanish music played from a jukebox highlighted red with neon lights. Musical instruments hung on the walls
along with a flamenco skirt and pictures of a Spanish band who’d inspired the opening of the restaurant in Birch Falls.

For a Thursday night, the restaurant was packed. The group had to wait more than ten minutes for one of the bigger tables to open up in back. Now that they were seated, the waitress took their orders and hurried into the back, her bright red skirt swinging around her calves.

The table was a mix of several conversations. The guys talked sports while Raven and Alexia chatted about music. Sydney was decidedly quiet for having just won a contest, despite the fact that she was glowing. She wouldn’t come right out and say she was proud of herself for winning, but anyone could tell just by looking at her. A permanent smile was on her face and every few minutes, she’d get this faraway look in her eyes like she was somewhere else.

Kelly didn’t blame her. The picture Sydney had taken of Kenny earlier this year was a really good picture. Kelly wouldn’t pretend to know anything about photography, but the sun shining down on Kenny, it was like heaven had opened up or something. That had to be a sign of good photography skills, right?

But Drew…he didn’t seem that impressed with the whole thing. He’d congratulated Sydney, offered to treat her to dinner, but he just didn’t seem as excited as he should be.

Maybe because he expected this kind of thing from Sydney? Because she was good at everything she did?

Then again, Kelly had sensed a bit of distance between the two for some time now. It wasn’t anything she could explain in words, it was more a physical sense. Not to
mention, he’d been spending a lot more time over at Kelly’s house hanging out with Todd.

“You should have seen him last weekend,” Todd said, giving Drew a friendly pat on the back, his voice growing louder by the second. “We’re down by six, right, and we’re twenty yards off from the end zone and Drew catches the ball and he takes off! He’s dodging guys, jumping over them. Dude, I haven’t seen him play like that in forever!”

“I’m sorry I missed it,” Ben said.

“Yeah,” Todd added, “because you’re just a boy toy now, always hanging out with your girlfriend instead of your guys.”

Ben snorted. “You’re just jealous!”

Todd rolled his eyes, but quieted down. “No I’m not.”

Drew laughed and shook his head. He met Kelly’s eyes across the table.

Never break eye contact!

Rule five
, Kelly thought. There was more to the rule, but she suddenly couldn’t remember it. The very first thing Kelly noticed about Drew when she met him so long ago was his eyes. He had uncanny blue eyes, eyes that Kelly had fallen in love with as a little girl.

Sydney nudged Drew, and he looked away.

Kelly blinked, straightened in her chair. She tried tuning into Raven and Alexia’s conversation, but she couldn’t help listening in on Sydney and Drew. Sydney wanted to go for a walk in the state park after dinner, he wanted to hang out at Kelly’s house with Todd.

When Drew finally agreed to the walk, Kelly’s heart sank. It was fun having Drew over at her house. Maybe
instead she’d invite Adam out somewhere, if she could summon the courage to ask him out.

Two days later, Kelly still hadn’t asked out Adam. What if he said no? She couldn’t take the rejection.

Instead of going out on Saturday, she’d taken an extra shift at the animal shelter.

“Come on, Clove,” she said, trying to coax the gray adult cat forward. He cowered in the back corner of his kennel, amber eyes wide, watching her. He wasn’t hissing yet, which was a good sign. But then again, cats could attack without giving any notice.

That’s why Kelly had on plastic safety glasses and thick gloves. Morris, the animal control officer, always made fun of her when she put the gear on, but she wasn’t willing to lose an eyeball because of some crazy cat. Better to look silly than be sorry.

She never would have worn this stuff if Will were still working here, though.

Thankfully, once he graduated from Birch Falls High, he put in his two weeks’ notice with the shelter. Kelly had the whole summer to enjoy working with the animals without having to worry what Will thought of her.

Of course, if she still
had
Will, or anyone for that matter, she wouldn’t have picked up this extra shift at the shelter.

Being single, she had a lot of free time on her hands. It benefited the shelter, at least. She was working here over twenty hours a week and was loving every minute of it.

After coaxing Clove from his kennel and settling him into a clean one, Kelly left the cat room. She went down the short hallway to the front lobby, stopping abruptly when she saw Adam standing on the other side of the counter.

“Adam!”

He looked up and half laughed. “You look so official in those gloves and glasses.”

Rule number…what was it? Whichever it was, it said to let your inner beauty shine! And she totally just screwed that rule up!

She shook off the gloves and tore off the glasses.

Morris tried to mask his snort/laugh. Kelly shot him a death look, but he couldn’t stop himself. He would never let her forget this moment.

Adam picked up a cardboard box. “They found these behind McDonald’s,” he said. “A litter of six kittens.”

Morris took the box over the counter and handed it to Kelly. She set it on the floor.

“Aww!” She picked up a black and white kitten and nuzzled it with her nose. “I love kittens.”

“Me, too,” he said.

“Really?”

Adam shrugged. “My grandma had a farm when I was little and there were always kittens running around. She used to say they were like sunshine and velvet.”

Kelly scratched the kitten behind the ear, then ran her fingers over its soft furry back. “They are kind of like velvet, aren’t they?”

Morris sauntered off to get the paperwork ready for the intake. Kelly set her kitten back in the box and lifted it up.

“Here.” Adam came around the long counter and took the box out of her hands. “Let me help.”

“You’re sure?”

He nodded. “Just lead the way.”

Kelly petted an orange tiger kitten once more before setting him inside the big kennel with his brothers and sisters. They had a clean litter box, fresh food, and water.

“Thanks,” Kelly said, turning to Adam. “That was nice of you to bring them in and help get them settled.”

“My pleasure.” He pulled his car keys from his jeans pockets. “So…uh…do you have to work tomorrow night?”

She managed to shake her head no.

Trepidation roared up Kelly’s throat like a tidal wave. Was Adam going to ask her out? It sure seemed like he was going to ask her out. What was she going to say if he asked her out?!

“Would you like to go to Bershetti’s with me?”

Kelly just stared at him. He
was
asking her out. She smelled like a litter box and probably looked like one, too. And he was
still
asking her out? Was this some kind of joke? Did Raven or Alexia put him up to this?

No, they wouldn’t, which meant…

He was asking her out!

Adam raised his brow. “Kelly?”

Adam and Kelly…that did have a nice ring to it, didn’t it?

“Kelly?”

“Yes!” she blurted.

He grinned.

She took in a deep breath, hoping to calm her rapidly beating heart. “I mean, yes, I’d love to go. Sunday at Bershetti’s at, say, seven?”

“Sounds good.” He continued to fidget with his keys. “I’ll see you then.” He tipped his head by way of saying good-bye. Kelly waved, feeling like the biggest goober in the world. At least he hadn’t taken back the dinner offer. That was a good sign, right?

Rule 20:
Take chances and appear to live life on the edge! (Guys like danger.)

Raven handed the vanilla frappé to the woman on the other side of the counter. “Thanks,” she said, putting a smile on her face, hoping she didn’t look as crappy as she felt.

Working at Scrappe wasn’t the same without Horace around. It seemed quieter. Duller. Raven was counting down the days. Only seventeen more to go.

Seventeen? She exhaled. That seemed like forever.

She ran hot water through the espresso machine and picked up the dirty dishes. “Hey, Katie?” she called to the other worker. “Since it’s slow, I think I’ll take my break if you don’t mind.”

“No, go ahead.”

Raven escaped to the back of the store and went to her mother’s office. She sat on the pumpkin-colored suede couch, tucking her legs up beneath her.

Checking her cell phone, she found a text message waiting for her.

Call me as soon as u can.

It was from Horace!

Raven hit number two on her speed dial, her heart rate increasing with every ring on the other end.

“Ray,” Horace said when he picked up the line. “How are you?”

Raven’s heart seemed to drop right out of her chest. “Better now.” She smiled to herself, laying her head against the back of the couch. “God, I’ve missed you.”

“I miss you, too.”

“So, tell me, what have you been doing over there in Detroit?”

Horace told her about going to a baseball game, checking out the Motown Historical Museum, and going to a few local music hangouts.

“The music here is awesome,” he said. “Me and you should come here together next summer.”

Raven closed her eyes, imaging it. It’d just be her and Horace in a car driving across country without her mother nagging her in the background.

“Hey,” Horace said, bringing Raven out of her thoughts, “I was at this place the other night and this guy I met, Tommy, told me about a contest coming up. It’s a singing contest.”

“Oh yeah? Like
American Idol
or something?”

“No. It’s a search for a backup singer for that pop singer, Kay-J.”

Kay-J had the number one song on the billboard charts for the last ten weeks in a row. They were probably capitalizing on her fame by doing a reality show about finding a backup singer. Sell it while it’s hot, right?

“That sounds cool,” Raven said.

“I think you should enter.”

Raven laughed. “Yeah, right.” She thought Horace was joking, but when he didn’t respond, Raven said, “You’re serious?”

“Of course I am, Ray. You’re a wonderful singer.”

She blushed, smiled. People had been telling her for the last three years that she had a great voice, that she was destined to be a star, but none of those compliments compared to Horace’s.

“I don’t know, Horace. I mean, it’s in New York for one. My mom would never let me go, and two, backup singing for Kay-J? I don’t think I’m
that
good.”

“You are, Ray. You just can’t see it.”

She clutched the phone harder knowing that she had to get back to work but not wanting to hang up.

“I’ll think about it, okay?” she said.

“Okay.”

“I should go. I’ve been on the phone”—she looked at her cell screen—“for twenty minutes. Katie’s probably wondering where I’m at.”

“Text me later, then,” Horace said. “Love you.”

Every time he said those words, Raven’s throat felt like it was going to close completely. Love,
real
love, was such a huge commitment!

“I love you, too,” she replied. She said good-bye and went back to work.

“Have you researched any colleges?” Mrs. Valenti asked as Raven swept the front of the store.

Raven, her back to her mother, rolled her eyes and said, “Yeah.”

After a pause, Mrs. Valenti said, “Well? What did you find?”

Despite the fact that Raven’s mom had accepted her daughter’s love of music, she was still dead serious about Raven going to college. And an Ivy League university at that.

Mrs. Valenti had visions of Yale and Harvard and Princeton dancing through her head. Raven would be satisfied with graduating high school; anything beyond that, she didn’t really care. She wasn’t even considering college. If she hated high school, wouldn’t it be fair to assume she’d hate college just as much?

What she wanted to do was graduate, take a road trip, play music, and see what happened from there. Her mother had spent the last ten years planning her life. Raven just wanted to go off the grid, live outside the rigid expectations of her mother. And those plans included Horace. Detroit would be their first stop and then…Nashville? Raven didn’t do country, but Nashville did have an undeniable musical culture.

Raven propped the broom up against the wall. “I really like the looks of Yale.”

Like she’d ever get in there. Seriously. She was more likely to win a clown contest.

“Yale has such a pretty campus,” Mrs. Valenti said. She whirled around on her heels and headed toward the back room, her flats clipping along the ceramic tiled floor. “I have a new brochure I picked up the other day. I’d forgotten
about it until you said something. Let me go grab it in my office.”

“Yeah, okay,” Raven said, wishing she could put her headphones on right now so she wouldn’t have to listen to her mother.

Jordan sauntered up. “Mom driving you nuts?” She was still in her uniform from Bershetti’s—black pants, white button-up shirt—but looked stunning.

“She won’t shut up,” Raven muttered. “You wait until you’re a senior.”

“Oh, I can wait.” Jordan sat at one of the black café tables when Raven resumed sweeping. “Hey, did I tell you what Nicholas did?”

“No.” Raven straightened. “What?”

“He texted me this—here, I’ll just show you.” She pulled her cell phone out and scrolled through her messages. “Look.”

Hey new grl---ur doing good

“Isn’t he sweet? I was all worried that I sucked because I was messing everything up, and he must have noticed how upset I was. Then I got this text message. Anna said he asked Dee for my number, and she gave it to him.”

Raven smiled. Her sister’s excitement was infectious. “That was nice of him.”

“I know, right?”

The bell above the front door dinged. Raven and Jordan looked over.

Blake and Mil-D entered. Blake led the way as always, Mil-D sauntering behind, his body swaying like a sumo wrestler’s.

“Hey,” Blake said, tipping his head Raven’s way.

A smile spread involuntarily across her face. She squashed it quickly.

“We close in about fifteen minutes,” she said.

Jordan whapped her on the arm.

“What?” Raven raised her brow.

“Stop being such a jerk.”

“I’m not.”

Blake and Mil-D made their way to the counter and ordered two drinks from Katie.

“Why are you so mean to him?” Jordan whispered. “He’s cute. And super nice.”

“Because…” Raven couldn’t come up with a good enough excuse.

“Because why?”

“Just because, okay?”

Grabbing the broom again, Raven swept a pile of dirt and straw wrappers and tossed it in the garbage with the dustpan. She tried escaping into the back room before Blake had a chance to say anything else to her, but he stepped into her path.

“Hey, you busy tonight?” Blake asked.

No. She, in fact, had no plans.

“Yes,” she said.

“Because me and Blake here”—Mil-D came up behind Blake, an Italian soda in his hands—“we were wondering if you wanted to go over to the skate park for some F-U-N.”

Blake craned his neck around. “F-U-N? What—dude?”

“What?” Mil-D shrugged. “Some fun, son.”

Jordan giggled. “Are you guys always like this?”

“Like what?” Blake said.

“Like brothers?”

“Yes,” they both said in unison.

Raven wanted to laugh, too, but that’d ruin her whole I’m-not-affected-by-you act. “I should get back to work,” she said instead and made another try for the back door.

“Wait, Raven.” Blake blocked her escape yet again. “Come to the skate park with us. It’s no fun when I have no one to show off for,” he said jokingly.

Do not smile! Raven thought. “I really don’t—”

“We’ll come,” Jordan interrupted. “What time should we meet you there?”

Raven widened her eyes at her little sister, trying to project annoyance. Jordan only grinned.

Raven had never been to the Birch Falls Skate Park before and maybe if she had, she would have recognized her new neighbor the moment she met him. His face had been painted graffiti-style on one of the concrete skate ramps with his name below it in big, bold letters. He was in between Tony Hawk’s face and Bam Margera’s goofy grinning mug.

“This is so cool!” Jordan said as she and Raven found an open spot on the concrete wall.

Raven had to agree, the atmosphere was a lot more alive and inviting than she’d first thought. Big floodlights lit the half-city-block-size area. Onlookers formed a loose circle around the park. There were a lot of girls watching,
chatting; little kids stared in awe, taking note of the bigger kids’ moves and skills.

Raven scanned the skaters’ faces for Blake. It wasn’t hard to spot him. The crowd was thicker near the far end of the park and growing by the second.

Blake was on his board, building speed as he aimed for a ramp in the middle of the park. He bent at the knees, and just before he crested the top of the ramp, jumped, flipping his board. The crowd responded with whistles and hollers.

“That was so cool,” Jordan said.

Pretty soon, Blake had the whole park to himself, everyone having gathered on the sidelines to watch. He took more ramps, slid down railings, flipped his board as he sailed over stairways.

And the bigger the trick, the more Raven tensed waiting for him to land perfectly.

By the end of the run, she was cheering along with the crowd.

Blake skated over to her and kicked up his board. “What do you think? Did I do okay?” Sweat covered his face in a shiny veil. He took off his hat and handed it to Mil-D. He flung it into the crowd and a group of girls screeched and fought to pluck it from the air.

Was Blake that
big
?

Apparently he was.

“Wanna try?” he said, running his hand over his close-cropped hair.

Raven raised a brow. “Try what?”

“Skating.”

She started to shake her head, but stopped. Why not try? Blake probably thought she was a cold, uptight jerk.
She’d been acting like one, after all. Why not show him she could have fun? That she was adventurous?

“All right.”

“Uh, Raven?” Jordan straightened. “You’ve never even been on a skateboard.”

“It can’t be that hard.”

Mil-D laughed.

“Hey!” Blake yelled across the park, gesturing to a girl to come over. She obliged. “Can my friend here use your pads for a second?”

The girl nodded quickly. “Yeah, no problem.” She pulled apart the Velcro on her kneepads and handed everything over to Raven, no questions asked. Either the girl was extremely giving or Blake was like a god to these people.

“Are you sure?” Raven said.

“Yeah,” the girl said.

Blake took the helmet from her and stuffed it on Raven’s head, clipping the strap beneath her chin. “You’re going to need that,” he said with a grin.

Raven looked down the concrete ramp. It didn’t look that big when she was standing on the sidelines, but right now, it could have been a three-story drop and it would have looked the same.

“Come on, Ray!” Jordan yelled.

“You’ll be fine,” Blake said behind her.

“You said that every other time and I
fell
every other time.”

He shrugged. “You have to fall, that’s how you learn.” His green eyes watched her and her alone. There were at least thirty other girls at the park, all of them seemingly watching him, but he didn’t notice. Or if he did, it didn’t affect him.

Raven took a breath and looked out over the ramp. If she didn’t go, she would so be dubbed a chicken. And she wasn’t. She wanted to show Blake and everyone else watching that she wasn’t afraid of anything, most of all embarrassing herself.

She rolled the board over the edge. The front half hung in the air, only her left foot keeping it in place.

Here goes nothing, she thought and put her right foot on the front of the board, her weight propelling her forward, down the ramp. She made it to the bottom, and several people cheered. For her? She didn’t know, but she could hear Blake behind her hollering.

“Wooohoo!” he yelled. “You did it, Rave.”

Rave? Blake had given her his own nickname. Had he done that on purpose? And did she even like it? Yes, she decided, yes she did.

She flung her arms up victoriously, but lost her balance. The board scooted out from under her and shot forward. The world went up as Raven fell down, landing on her hip. Pain shot down her leg and up her rib cage.

“Raven!”

“Are you okay?” Blake said.

She laughed, rolling over on her back. She was going to be so bruised tomorrow. “I’m fine,” she said. Maybe even better than fine.