Chapter 4. Strange Visit

Ray’s POV

When we got back to my house, Shawn gave me his number before he left and my friends couldn’t stop teasing me after that, they kept talking about how I’m falling in love with Shawn but all I could do was to blush.

My friends left shortly after before I ran up to my room feeling so excited, I was about to carry Royalty out of excitement then suddenly she went up without me touching her, like she was literally floating but before I could react to it, she came back down.

“Ray, come down for dinner!” my dad yelled.

“Coming, dad,” I said on top of my voice as I studied my cat for a minute hoping it floats again.

“Come on now, don’t be shy, do what you did before, you can show me anything, can you talk?” I said to my cat as it meowed.

“Of course you can’t talk, were you really floating or did I imagine it?” I asked staring at her in confusion.

“What is wrong with me?” I added as I went downstairs for dinner.

I didn’t talk to my parents throughout dinner as I was already lost in my thoughts.

When I was done having dinner I called Shawn, and we both talked for a while till there was nothing more to talk about.

When we were done talking to each other I had my bath, brushed my teeth then went to bed happily all with the happy imagination of my life with Shawn.

I even imagined a wedding between both of us.

***

It’s Sunday, and every Sundays are always the same: wake up, brush your teeth, take your bath, dress up, have a family meeting and go out, but this Sunday we were holding our family reunion which we are hosting and I guess I’m supposed to be excited.

Some of our family members were here, well, the ones from my father’s side. I don’t know why but my mom never speaks of her own family, I haven’t even met any of my mom’s relation or seen any of their pictures.

Sometimes I wonder if she doesn’t have a family from which she came, I mean she don’t even talk about them. Or maybe she’s an orphan or one that was abandoned by her family, you never know.

When my cousins, uncles, and aunts left in the evening after having the dinner with us, we heard a knock on the door, and I rushed immediately to see who it was.

When I opened the door, I was so shocked at who was standing at the door, I welcomed her in and immediately she asked about my mom.

“Hey, it’s so nice to see you,” my mom said excited as she hugged her.

“Ray,, come say hi,” my mom added as I stood there wondering why Dawn, the lunch lady, came to my house and why my mom was so excited to see her. Does that mean that they’re friends or something? How come I didn’t know of this?

“Ray?” my dad called me as I came back to reality.

“Yes, dad,” I answered still looking at the lunch lady.

Her visiting our house is actually strange because she has never visited ever and the fact my mom knows her weirds me out like if they are as close as they look now, why haven’t she come to see my mom even if it’s just once.

“Say hi to Dawn,” he said to me.

“Hi,” I said faintly.

We all sat down and the adults started discussing amongst themselves.

A few minutes into the discussion I realized that I’ve not been making any contribution to any topic they bring up and I have been bored listening to their conversation so I decided to go upstairs to my room and probably do something more fun other than sitting and looking at them.

***

Third person’s POV

Conversation between Dawn, the lunch lady, Ray’s mom and dad who were still in the living room:

“So, Lucy, are you guys going to tell her the truth?” Dawn asked Raven’s mom changing their whole new conversation since Ray was no longer with them.

“Of course, but not now,” Lucy said with worries in her eyes.

“Look, I know things were rough in the past, but she deserves to know the truth. Joe, make her understand,” Dawn said now looking at Ray’s dad.

Everywhere went silent for a while then Dawn broke the silence.

“I think if nothing is done fast, she will become unstable, and that is really dangerous for her and everyone else around her.”

“Please don’t start now,” Lucy said as her eyes became watery.

“But it’s the truth,” Dawn persisted.

“Shh, it’s ok, the amulet is protecting her,” Joe said as he hugged Lucy to calm her down from crying.

“But for how long?” Dawn asked.

“I get the fact that my daughter is dying and without her knowing but please be a good friend by not reminding me of the past. I mean where were you when I needed you the most, huh?” Lucy burst out.

“Again, I had my reasons. Can’t you just understand and learn to forgive?” Dawn replied in a remorseful tone.

“Can both of you pipe down?” Joe said as everywhere went silent for a while.

Shortly after, Dawn broke the silence again.

“How old is she now?” she asked in a calm tone.

“She would turn sixteen next week Saturday,” Lucy answered still looking worried.

“Don’t worry, everything will be fine,” Dawn replied hopefully.

“So tell me how is the school?” Joe asked Dawn.

“Not bad, but there is a new kid in school, not so new but he’s disturbingly different,” Dawn replied.

“Please make sure that Ray won’t go anywhere close to him,” Lucy said concerned and afraid.

“Don’t worry, everything is going well at school, I have my eyes on her all the time,” Dawn reassured.

“Did Raven tell you guys about the girl who is taunting her?” Dawn added.

“She don’t like talking to us about school,” Joe stated.

They went on with their conversation. Meanwhile, Raven was seated in her room stroking her pet all lost thinking about Shawn as she blushed inwardly.

She brought out Shawn’s handkerchief and smiled as her cheeks turned red, she starred at the handkerchief for a while before she brought out her phone to call Shawn but obviously she didn’t really know what to say so she got caught up debating if she should go ahead and call him or not.

So as she sat there contemplating on what to do, she finally decided on giving him a call which she did immediately.

“Ray, is it you on the phone?” Shawn asked.

“Yes,” she replied with excitement as she kept on imagining him standing in front of her.

“I’m glad you called,” Shawn said to her.

“I’m glad I did,” Ray replied with a smile.

The two of them talked for a while that evening and just a few minutes later Ray told Shawn goodbye before she ended the call to get some sleep.

She slept that night thinking of Shawn.

***

Raven woke up the next day feeling so excited to go to school.

After getting ready for school and having breakfast she went to Justin’s house and as she walked to his room, she saw Heidi already waiting for Justin to come out of the bathroom.

“Hey, girl,” she said as she entered Justin’s room.

“Hey,” Heidi greeted.

“Ray, can you believe this guy is still in the bathroom?” she added now sitting down on his bed.

“Come on out, Justin, we’re gonna be late for school!” Ray yelled.

“I’m out, chill,” he said as he walked in with a towel.

“Dude, dress up! And hurry!” Raven said impatiently.

“Are you guys gonna leave my room so that I can get dressed, or do you want to see me naked?” Justin said to them.

“Come on, Heidi, let’s wait for him downstairs,” Ray said as the two of them left for the door.

Shortly after Justin joined them and immediately they left for school.

***

Ray’s POV

School that day was quite normal, everything was going well till lunch time.

During lunch time Clara walked over to me just to insult me, I don’t know what she gains from being rude towards me, I mean first she hated me and Justin, now she hates only me, the first time I apologized to her that day, I thought we cleared things up but unfortunately she was still bearing a grudge.

On the other hand the lunch last kept looking at me like some cop.

“What’s up with her?” I muttered as I looked away.

“Hey, bitch, whatcha up to today?” Clara asked as she glared at me.

“Remember what happened to you when you called me that the other day?” I threatened.

“Whatever, witch,” she said as she left for another chair.

“How dare she call me a witch when obviously she’s the witch here?” I muttered in anger.

“Girl, chill, she’s just messing with ya,” Eddie said as he joined us to have lunch.

“I know that,” I replied trying to calm myself down.

“Hey, dear,” a voice called out and immediately I heard this voice I totally became relaxed. It was Shawn.

“Hi, Shawn,” I said immediately I turned around.

He extended his hand for a handshake, and I immediately shook him. OMG! His hand is so soft.

“Ray, I’ll catch you later,” he said with a smile on his face as I used my finger to roll my hair.

“Bye,” he added as he left the cafeteria heading for the library.

“Isn’t he dreamy?” Natly said as she walked up to our table. “Just look at the way Ray is blushing,” Natly added.

“From driving us home on Saturday to flirting with you, I think he’s so into you,” Eddie said with a smile.

“Of course they are so into each other. Didn’t you see the way they kept on stealing gazes at each other that Saturday?” Natly said excited. “I mean the time we were in the car,” Natly added.

“All I saw was Ray stealing Shawn’s handkerchief,” Eddie said as they all laughed, while I felt a little bit embarrassed.

Soon after Clara came by again spoiling the whole mood as she always does.

“Oh, so you think Shawn would ever date a girl like you?” she said with a fainted smile.

“Is someone jealous?” I said staring at her as she burst into laughter, well, I guess that was fake though.

“Do you think I’m jealous?” she said now done laughing.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you’re jealous of Ray,” Justin said as Clara rolled her eyeballs then walked away angrily.

“Good one,” Heidi said as she and Justin high-fived each other.

After lunch time was over, everybody returned back to their classes and were ready to learn.

We were to have physics after the lunch break, and our class were already settled at the science lab.

I could see something was wrong with Heidi, she was my lab partner and Justin was Natly’s lab partner.

I decided to ask her what the matter was, but anytime she opens her mouth to talk, not even a single word could come out of her mouth.

“Heidi, come on talk to me, or do you want to talk to Justin about it?” I asked her as she nodded negatively.

“What is it? Girl, talk to me,” I asked her again as she decided to talk to me.

“It’s nothing much, it’s just…” she said as she pauses for a while to think.

“Remember the time I told you that I have a crush on Justin?” she added as I couldn’t help but stare at her for a while.

“That means you still like him?”

“Yes,” she answered me in a dull tone.

“Well, I’ll still tell you what I told you last time, confess your feelings to him.”

“Again? What if he doesn’t feel the same way? And what if he starts avoiding me?” Heidi replied.

“Look, I don’t know what to tell you anymore, I mean you will never know unless you try.”

“I think I’ll drop it and move on,” she said with a sad look on her face and I really felt so bad for her.

After school my friends and I were going home when Daniel came by.

Daniel is our classmate and class president and him just walking to us all of a sudden was kinda strange.

Well, I forgot to say, the name of our school is Glimmer High and it’s not far from my neighborhood.

Sometimes we trekked it and other times Justin gives us a ride in his car, but unfortunately his car is faulty and it have been in the mechanic shop for a week now.

That day Shawn’s car was full because his cousins and his two friends were in it so I couldn’t join them.

Just a few minutes after they’ve gone, Daniel came to walk with Heidi, Justin, Eddie, Natly, Dave, whose car wasn’t available, and me.

Along the way, we stopped at our favorite cafe to get drinks.

“Heidi, I’ve been wanting to ask you if you would… em, go out with me?” he asked stammering as I went numb I’m sure Heidi would see it as an opportunity to forget about Justin but she was speechless at the moment.

“Don’t you think that’s all of a sudden?” I said after pulling myself together.

Heidi held my hand and gave me a look which says that everything is okay with her.

“Are you sure?” I whispered in her right ear then she nodded.

“Em, Daniel, you said you want to go out with me?” she asked him as he nodded positively.

Heidi looked at Eddie, Natly and Dave who wanted her to say yes.

Then she looked at me and I gave her a go ahead look, she turned and looked at Justin.

“If he would make you happy and promises not to hurt you,” Justin said looking at Daniel.

“I promise,” Daniel said with a content smile on his face. “How about we go out on Friday after school, just me and you, this same café?” he added as Heidi agrees.

When I got back home Justin gave me a call and was asking me why I allowed Heidi to accept Daniel’s proposal.

He also went ahead to confessed his feelings for Heidi to me. He made me promise not to tell Heidi, then I started thinking of a way to make them both confess their feelings to each other.

A few hours later, when it was six in the evening I went downstairs to help my mom set up the dining table for dinner.

We are having Caesar salad, chicken casserole with tamales.

“How was school, hon?” my mom asked me as she sits down to join us.

“School was fine today,” I said with my mouth already filled with tamales.

“Do you want more tartare source on your casserole?” my dad asked.

“No, thanks, I’m okay,” I simply replied.

“You know your lunch lady Dawn is a good friend of mine,” she said as she cleared her throat. “She told me she saw you with a rotten boy at school today,” she added.

“Oh, Dave? You know him?” I said as I continued eating.

“Not Dave, she said that his name is Shawn.”

Immediately my mom said that, I swallowed the food in my mouth.

“Ray, I don’t want to see you anywhere close to him, okay?” she said calmly.

“Can you at least tell me why?” I asked calmly.

“Ray, I’m your mom and I know what’s best for you, okay?” she replied really pissing me off.

“Come on, let’s all finish having dinner,” my dad said to lighten up our moods.