Chapter 19: Chapter 19
Raven
Wow, four eyes actually walked me home. I was sure he was only being polite and was going find any reason to avoid actually spending one more second at my side. Now I can't stop thinking about him. Jerk. Ugh, why does he have to be so nice? I roll over onto my side and glare at my Nirvana poster. And why does he have to have such cute dimples? "Valerie! Amora's here!" my dad calls up from the bottom of the stairs. I don't bother to respond, he's probably too busy texting his current "secret" girlfriend, he's been slutting himself around since my parents' marriage fell apart 2 years ago. Right after I was caught smoking behind the school with a senior. That argument lasted hours before it turned into something else entirely. I still remember my mom yelling 'I don't love you' at my dad. And while that was surprising, what surprised me even more is when my dad said, in the calmest voice I've ever heard from him, 'I don't think I ever loved you.'
My mom knows about his serial adultery and she couldn't care less. She's been basically head over heels for one of her co-workers since the fight. Who also happens to be one of my father's co-workers. If they're so unhappy why don't they just separate? It's not like there would be any hard feelings, the divorce would be mutual. And I know Carter would rather them be separated rather than dragging us along in their miserable life together. And that's what he said to me, not what I'm assuming. Carter's only 12 but, he's one of the smartest people I know. Him and Ren. Amora walks in looking disheveled and puffy-eyed. She's staring off into space. "Amora? What happened?"
anger builds in the pit of my stomach. AJ. "What did he do to you?" She looks at me "AJ? He didn't do anything to me. Nothing I didn't want anyway."
"Eww. Please tell me you're still a virgin." Shock crosses over her face and she shoves me
"Of course I'm still a virgin! You seriously think I'd just give myself up to him the day I meet him?! That's what you do, not me!"
I laugh, "Jeez, I was kidding."
"Were you?" she gives me a pointed look. I smile at her
"Totally kidding. But if you don't mind, what exactly did he do that you did want?" Pink spreads across her face in embarrassment, "Nothing..don't worry about it" She says in a small, child-like voice. "Amora." I say in a sing song voice as I get up to grab her by the shoulders "Nothing!" I raise my eyebrow at her. She's caving, I can feel it. Just one. More. Push.
"Did he…kiss you?"
She sighs "Yes...but it's not what you think! It was toootallyy weird."
"Weird like bad?"
"No, weird like that's not how we feel about each other."
I nod, that's what I thought. There's more to the story though, Amora just won't tell me. AJ and her definitely have a special connection. I just wish I was told more about it, or at least that I remembered more. Amora starts rambling
"Not to mention even if we did feel that way about each other AJ has a lot going on in his life. A. Lot. getting involved right now would be a terrible idea. Plus I kinda ran away from him after he… well that doesn't matter I guess. I left us in a complicated spot.
"One kiss and it's already complicated?" I pry, trying to get her to divulge as much information as she can. Amora shakes her head again
"No, well yes but not just over one kiss."
Both of my eyebrows are raised now "So there was more than one kiss?" I bait her to explain more, to make her think she's give me the wrong impression
"No!" Amora thrusts her hands in the air between us, splayed as if telling me to stop.
"Then what, my dear cat woman, are you blabbering about?"
She puts her head in her hands and lets out a sigh. She looks at me with unease and then pulls something out of her pocket. It's her bracelet…. My eyes bug out of my head, he found it. "Where in the world did you find that?!!"
"I didn't." Amora groans "He did. And I have absolutely no idea how he even got it."
My mouth is wide open with shock, "I thought you threw that down the garbage disposal!"
"I did!" she basically shouts before remembering that it's about 5 AM. I pretend to be confused. I know exactly why he has that bracelet. And I can't believe I was actually right about them. About him. I know I can read people but I didn't know my intuition was so high. Good job me. I think to myself, allowing my ego to inflate just a little bit more.
"Well, that's freaky. Maybe he's a stalker?" I offer.
"I doubt it." Amora grumbles. "He has plenty of other things he could be doing that I'm sure are 100% more interesting than following me around."
I roll my eyes, "You are a very interesting person I assure you. You, having a stalker wouldn't be all that weird to me."
"Well, he's not a stalker. I would have noticed him by now and since we're around the same age I seriously doubt he's been following me around since he was 11. Which, may I remind you, is the only possible time he could have gotten ahold of this bracelet since I threw it out when I was 10."
I roll my eyes again and stretch out on my bed. Wanting nothing more than to change the subject off of AJ. Or Ren, and his annoyingly, aggravatingly adorable dimples.
"Sigh. I'm bored, can we move on please?"
Amora sighs, "Whatever. I really need to get some sleep anyway. Please tell me you're ready for bed so I don't end up staying awake all night because your music is deafening me. Even with your headphones on."
I nod. "Yeah, I could sleep." I reach over and turn off my lamp. Leaving my still dangerously messy room in complete darkness as my thoughts betray me and slowly creep back to Ren. And AJ. I can't believe I was right. But how do I tell Amora about the promise I made to her dad all those years ago. When he told me the one thing Amora absolutely could not know until she was ready. How was I even supposed to know when she was ready? I barely understand it for god's sake I might not even be able to explain it to her.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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