Page 61 of The Wrong Side of Kai
The text is from Kai. He asks:
Do you think your dad will ever let us hang out while you’re grounded, or do we have to wait until next year to get some alone time?
I fluff up my pillows and get comfortable. It’s just after nine and I’m already in my pajamas, not quite paying attention to my TV anymore. Dad has taken Kennedy out for a late dinner and I’m not even mad that they’ve left me behind, because I do so deserve this punishment. I’ve been scrolling through social media for the past hour, filtering through everyone’s posts to see what people are talking about. A couple people have called Noah a total jerk, and a few others are talking about the fact that Harrison was floored withonehit. There is absolutely nothing about me, and nothing that could possibly even beaboutme. The gossip on everyone’s minds has already shifted forward to something new, like that video never even happened. I know now just how toxic it is being on the receiving end. I’msoover high school drama.
There’s a smile toying at my mouth as I type back a reply to Kai:
ME: We can still hang out at school. That’s if you’ll finally talk to me in public ;)
KAI WASHINGTON (PARTNER): The secret mission is over, remember? We can be friends now. I’ll even sit at your lunch table.
ME: Just friends?
KAI WASHINGTON (PARTNER): Yep, you don’t like the word “friend” to have the word “boy” in front of it.
ME: We are undefined, then.
KAI WASHINGTON (PARTNER): I like being undefined with you. Your bedroom is at the front of the house, right?
ME: Yeah???
KAI WASHINGTON (PARTNER): Cool. Rocks incoming.
The next moment, there’s a clatter that makes me jolt upright and causes my heart to skip a beat. I stare frozen at my window as more little stones and gravel are hurled against the glass, then finally snap out of it and scramble out of bed. I press my face to the glass and shield my eyes with my hands as I peer out into the darkness.
Kai is standing on my front lawn, his bike dumped in the snow next to him, waving up at me.
I slide open my window and stick my head out into the cold air. “Throwing rocks at my window? This move has beensooverdone,” I call down to him, and I hear his laughter echo up through the night and into my room.
“And so has climbing up the trellis to get to the girl,” he calls back. I even catch the wink that he gives me, then watch in amazement as Kai climbs onto the trellis that runs up the corner of my house.
It’s covered in prickly shrubs and roses, but Kai carefully works his way up, his movements swift. He slides onto the roof of the porch and stands up, carefully balancing in the wind as he walks over to my window. He crouches down to his knees, holds his head a few inches in front of mine, and smiles. “Hey, Nessie.”
“You’re insane, Captain Washington!” I say, laughing as I grab his arm and yank him inside. He squeezes through my window and straightens up when he lands inside my room, brushing himself off. “You can’t be here.”
“But yet here I am,” he says, smirking. He’s wearing jeans and a thick jacket, but also gloves because he’s actually wrapped up warm in this cold weather for once. He pulls off his gloves and shoves them into his pocket. “I didn’t want to break our streak of seeing each other every day. And—” he looks at the silver watch on his wrist “—there was only three hours until the day was over, so I raced over here, sliding all over the sidewalks on my bike, even fell off at one point and may or may not have sprained my ankle, just to see you.”
My heart swells in my chest, reminding me how I felt last night when I hugged him from behind at the kitchen table. That comfort, that feeling of security. . . these moments. I want to experience these moments forever. I wrap my arms around Kai and rest my head on his chest, his jacket cold against my cheek.
“I’ve missed you today too,” I tell him, my voice muffled against him. “How is it that we’ve only known each other for a week, yet I already miss you when we aren’t together?”
“Do you know what that means?”
I tilt my head back a little and look up at him. “No. What does it mean?”
The corners of his mouth softly pull up into a smile. He’s looking down at me, his lips only inches from my own, and he delicately rests his thumb on my chin, using his index finger to lift my head a little higher. “It means you might be falling in love with me too,” he whispers.
“Maybe you’re right,” I breathe, and then I stretch up on my tiptoes and kiss his cool lips.
The kiss is so fragile, so innocent and pure, the two of us standing completely still with my mouth against his. The silence around us drums in my ears and my heart thumps around in my chest. My eyes are squeezed shut and I place my hand on top of Kai’s, the one he’s holding my chin with, and he kisses me back, his lips capturing mine this time.
We part for a second, opening our eyes to look at one another. His eyes are sparkling with a warmth in them that I haven’t seen before.
“Kai. . .” I say, exhaling. I squeeze his hand beneath mine, and he tilts my chin up even higher. We are still so close, neither of us willing to let go. “I’m still not sure that I can do the relationship thing.”
“But we’re not in arelationship, Vanessa. We’re teammates. Partners. Accomplices,” he says with a smile, looking deep into my eyes, and when I think of it that way, a relationship suddenly doesn’t seem that scary anymore. Kai and I, the perfect team. . .Just like we have been this entire time already. He skims his hand along the curve of my face and weaves his fingers into my hair, then presses his lips to my mouth. I can feel his lips tilt into a grin, one that is full of mischief, just as he murmurs, “Captain Washington and Nessie versus the world.”
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