Page 48 of One of Them Girls

“Why is that?”

“It’s peaceful here. It feels like the sun always shines. It always makes my day better when we come here.”

“Even when I yell at you?”

He flips in the water, treading next to me. “Especially when you yell at me.”

“That sounds dumb, RyRy. You can’t find me yelling peaceful.”

He smiles. “Maybe not the actual yelling, but when you let all your feelings out, at the end, there is this peaceful look you get on your face. Like you’re relieved to get rid of such strong emotions.”

“I think we need to have your head checked.”

“You don’t understand it, but you will someday.”

After a few moments of silence, he says, “Come on, Cass. I have an idea.”

I remember feeling irritated that he was making me get out, but I followed him anyway.

“It’s cold out here. Let’s get back in,” I urged him.

“No way. Come on, it’ll be fun.”

He runs to his bike, me trailing behind. He grabs the pocketknife that he got for Christmas and urges me to follow.

“I’m not going to do a blood ritual with you again. It was stupid and did nothing.”

“Stop being a spoilsport. Come on.”

I walk behind him, watching as he knocks on several trees. Then he stops, pointing at one.

“This one’s perfect, right?”

I look up at the tree. It looks like every other tree. His smile has me keeping that to myself.

“Yeah, RyRy. It’s perfect.”

He takes his knife and starts carving into the tree.

“What are you doing?” I asked him.

“Leaving our mark that way this will be our peaceful place forever.”

I watch as he carves both of our names and stops. “What do you think?”

I scrunch up my nose at him. “I think people are going to think we’re a couple.”

He looks back at it. “Good point. What to do to make it better though.”

As he’s musing to himself, I grab his knife.

“Hey, be careful.”

“Stop being such a big brother.”

I lean in, adding an equal sign and the letters BFF.

“There. Now they will think we are best friends.”

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