I've always considered myself to be a pretty normal guy.
` I mean, I'll admit, I had my quirks, but I did good in school, had friends, had good parents, a fine childhood, the whole deal. I liked sports, video games, movies with lots of explosions, and rock music. That was really it. Just your stereotypical teenaged boy.
Every day in my life was the same, and that was the way I liked it. I know some people go insane just at the thought of repeating the same thing over and over, but it was comforting to me. Nothing unexpected ever happened. I could always repeat my comfortable lifestyle over and over. I was a forward thinker. My mind always wandered to what college I would go to, what career I would pursue, who I'd marry, how many kids I'd have, and all that stuff. Even down to the "one sport, one instrument" tradition, guitar and lacrosse, I was just a normal person.
And like a normal person, I had people that I cared about. I had my loving parents, but no siblings to fight with. So, I surrounded myself with a crowd of friends. I was decently popular, no quarterback on the football team, but close enough. I had always hoped to be popular in high school, but one thing they never tell you, and that you'll figure out really quick, is that being "popular" isn't all it's cut out to be. Being "popular" leads to, what I call, Stick Figure Friends. And I call them that, because, like stick figures, you know nothing about them, and you see them all the time. I couldn't tell you the favorite color of half the people I hang out with. I barely know any of their last names. I only know where they live because they throw awesome parties. Out of my herd, I had only two or three real friends. And I mean real friends.
So, like a normal guy, with a normal life, on what seemed like a normal morning, I arrived at school a couple minutes before the first bell. The halls were already filled with hustling students, some carrying binders, textbooks, some instruments. I fell in with the latter; I had a single strap of my guitar case slung over my shoulder. Acoustics weren't that heavy, and my backpack was fairly light most of the time anyway, so I brought it to school often. This year, I wasn't taking the guitar class, but the teacher always welcomed me into the room with open arms. During lunch, I'd often find myself walking toward the noisy room. Sometimes, I'd even get excused from classes to play for the Guitar: Level 1 class. It was a plus.
Another upside to lugging around a large instrument all day was it gave you an excuse to shove past people. I imagined a bumper sticker on the bottom of my case with the words Oversized Load in huge yellow letters. I snickered. A school full of teenagers would probably take that the wrong way.
"Dude." I felt a punch at my arm. I looked to my right to find the source of the call and the punch were Kaito. Not a Stick Figure Friend.
"Did you do Anderson's homework last night?" He asked.
I laughed. "I don't know the first thing about Chemistry." That was a lie. I knew quite a bit. But I still didn't do the homework.
"So no?" Kaito chuckled. "Nobody did. Why the hell am I gonna need to know about the atomic radius of a carbon atom anyway?"
Kaito. He'd been a friend since middle school, when we both tried to take the same girl to the Spring Fling. We beat the shit out of each other in the bathroom, realized that she was a bitch anyway, and have been best friends ever since. He was the black sheep of the hallway; it's not often you see people with deep blue hair. Especially when they towered over every other soul in miles. I was decently tall, but even I had to look up at him. Today, the miniature giant was wearing jeans and a wrinkled t shirt that I instantly recognized. It was completely black, except for the white wording across his chest. The cursive writing spelled out the words Sex Machine.
"Uh, Shion?" Despite our excessive friendship, we still referred to each other with last names more often than not. "How long did it take you to get ready this morning?" The longer I looked at him, the funnier it got. His hair was clearly not brushed, and he stunk. Bad.
He shrugged, oblivious. "I don't know. Why?"
I looked down at his shirt, then back up at him. It took him a second to lower his head, and gasp. "Fuck!"
"I don't think the teachers are gonna be too fond of that," I pointed out, highly amused.
He let out a distressed sigh. "They're gonna make me change, and then they're gonna throw it out. This is my favorite fucking shirt, too." He swiped a hand through his untamed hair. "Do you have a hoodie I can wear or something?"
I was still laughing. "Yeah. I think I have something in my locker."
Kaito crossed his arms, trying, and failing, to cover up the lettering. "Thank God."
My locker was at the opposite end of the school from the front doors. I turned into the hall where it was, and wasn't surprised to see Rin standing in front of it, digging through the clutter.
Officially, the school didn't allow locker partners to be opposite genders. Girls had to share with girls, and guys had to share with guys. Technically, it wasn't her locker, it was Kaito and I's. But he used his gym locker to keep everything in, and Rin didn't even get one assigned to her this year. Plus, it's not that hard to just tell her the combination. So it's our locker.
"Hey," I greeted as I walked up to her. She had her backpack propped up against her leg, and was loading binders into it.
"Hey," she said back in her usual, quiet voice. I looked into the locker, and reached over her to pull out the grey hoodie hanging from the hooks. Rin's eyes followed the hoodie as I handed it to Kaito, and a timid smile appeared. "Sex Machine?" She asked, turning her attention toward the locker once again.
"Shut up," Kaito muttered. "I slept in it last night."
She raised her eyebrows, not looking at him. "I can tell."
He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'm going to class. You two can be assholes together." He turned his back on us, and disappeared into the hall.
"Where does one even get a shirt that says 'Sex Machine' on it?" Rin asked. Her tone was monotonous. As it usually was.
I shrugged. "Why? You want one?"
She chuckled, but it was insincere. Only a few quick breaths out of her nose. "As if."
I leaned against the lockers. "What's up with you?"
She shook her head. "Nothing."
"You're acting… quiet," I pointed out.
"I'm a quiet person."
"But… like, more quiet than usual."
She halted her movements, clearly frustrated with my prying. For the first time that morning, she met my gaze with her piercing blue eyes.
Rin. Not a Stick Figure Friend. My parents and hers, when they were still around, were best friends when we were kids, and we lived right down the street from each other, so we saw each other almost every day. That is, until middle school, when we had a falling out over some stupid issue that I don't even remember. We only spoke once during those years, and even then, we were both hesitant to be near each other. But we reconciled during our freshman year, and have been closer than ever since. We were an odd combination. She was generally quiet, introverted, and shy. I was loud, extroverted, and loved nothing more than a crowd of people around me. I lived in the future, she lived in the present.
She was a nice person. She rarely smiled, and even more rarely smiled genuinely, but she wasn't rude. Just monotonous. Her expression was blank in ninety percent of my memories of her. But she held doors open for people, said her "please" and "thank you's," and did all her schoolwork. I would also be lying if I said I didn't stare at her every once in awhile when she wasn't looking; she wasn't hard on the eye to any extent.
"I'm allowed to be quiet, Len," she scolded, her expression turned slightly harsh. Taking a closer look, I could see the circles under her eyes. She wore no makeup this morning, which was out of character for her. She looked exhausted.
"Yeah, but-" I was interrupted by her slamming the locker shut, and turning her back on me. "Rin-" I called after her as she left, but she didn't look back. She only kept her head down, and a binder clutched tightly to her chest. I sighed, and concluded that she'd probably just stayed up late doing homework. I was slightly disappointed that she'd closed the locker, though. I needed my binders.
The next time I saw her that day was at lunch. We always met at the top of the stairs leading down to the cafeteria. Sometimes we detoured to the guitar room; other times I drove us out to the nearby Taco Bell in my moms car. She let me borrow it most of the time, as she was the stay-at-home-mom of my little sister.
But today, when I found Rin at the top of the stairs, we didn't start walking toward the guitar room.
"I have something to show you," she said. Her binders had been returned to the locker. The only thing she had was a small satchel she always carried around.
"What is it?" I asked, surprised. Any interruption in my normal day was uncomfortable for me.
She began walking down the hallway, opposite of the way which I came. She dodged through the crowd of hungry students, and it was hard to keep up with her small figure through them. When we finally cleared the worst of it, she fell into stride next to me. We were in the band hall now.
"So I'm taking Tech Theater this semester," she began.
"I know." She complained about it to me for hours the day we got our schedules assigned last year.
"And while everyone was touring the catwalks, I found a secret." Her tone was devious. I often paid a lot of attention to how she said things. A lot of the time, it was the only way to know what she was thinking. Or what she was feeling.
"A secret?" I didn't like the sound of that.
"A secret," she repeated. "And if we get caught up there we're screwed. But I don't think Mrs. Thompson has a Tech class this period." We reached the end of the band hall, where the hallway split into two paths. Both led to the theater; there were just two different entrances. "Come on," she motioned as she started down the right. I followed hesitantly.
The hallway sloped down towards a set of double doors on the left, leading to the theater. Beyond the doors, there was an exit on the left, as well as a wooden door on the fall back wall. My heartbeat picked up even more as she completely ignored the entrance to the theater, and stopped in front of the mysterious door in the back. I hadn't come down this hall often; I wasn't a theater kid, but I knew enough to say that the mysterious wooden door was always locked. Always. While that normally would have comforted me, it only made me more anxious knowing she was up to something.
She unbuttoned her satchel and pulled out a key. My eyes bulged. "Where did you get that?"
She looked over her shoulder, and slid the key in. "Thompson just leaves the keys hanging on a hook in her office."
"So you took it?"
Her eyes looked up at me sheepishly. "I wanted to show you."
I stared down at her, not believing what i was hearing. "You know," I pointed out after a pause. "For a straight A student, you're a really bad kid."
She pushed open the door. "That's why they never suspect me." She stepping into the darkness behind the door.
"You do know you can get arrested for this kind of thing, right? If they catch you with that key…" I trailed off. She had completely disappeared into the darkness. "Rin?" I called softly.
"Come on!" I heard her insist from behind the door. A light suddenly lit up, and I sat Rin holding her phone up. She had turned its flashlight on.
"Dude… This is creepy," I admitted. "Where is this?" I stepped into the room, and shut the door behind me. The only light was Rin's flashlight.
"We're backstage," she whispered. The beam of light illuminated a black, metal ladder right next to the door. She stood in front of it, and looked up.
I shook my head. "Nope. No fucking way am I going up there."
"Shh!" She shushed.
"Why do we have to whisper?" I lowered my voice.
"Just in case Thompson is in her office."
I looked up the ladder. The top wasn't even visible; it disappeared into darkness. "I can't go up there."
"Oh come on, Len," she muttered. "Where did you think we were going when I said catwalk?"
I shook my head, trying to find my words. "Not… not the catwalk!"
She let out a huff. I couldn't see her anymore; just the hand holding her phone. "You're gonna have to leave your guitar down here."
"What if someone finds it?" 'Till death do I part with my precious instrument.
"They'll think it' a stage prop and leave it alone! Now hurry up. Before we get caught."
I sighed, and took my case off my shoulder. "Can you aim the light at the ground please?" She did so, and I set it on the ground behind some random stage props. I hid my backpack behind it.
"Okay," she said with a deep breath. "Do you wanna go up first? Or you want me to go?"
"You go first," I answered without a thought.
"Are you sure?"
I nodded. She had the light aimed in my general direction, but turned it back to the ladder.
"Okay," she said again. Her feet padded lightly on the hard ground as she took two decisive steps up to the ladder, and began climbing. She held her phone in one hand, clumsily gripping the bars.
"D-Don't fall!" I stuttered. My nerves were getting the best of me. All I could see of her as she climbed higher and higher was the moving light of her phone.
I heard her groan. "I'll be-" she cut herself off with a brief squeal, and I instinctively jumped underneath the ladder.
"Rin!" I yelled, completely forgetting to be quiet.
"I'm okay," she called down. "My foot slipped."
My shoulders relaxed, but my heart was still pounding. "Are you almost at the top?"
"I'm-agh, I'm up." There was shuffling and the quiet clang of feet on metal. She aimed the light down at me, and my eyes widened. She was the light at the end of my tunnel, except she was above and she was so far away.
"How tall is this thing?" I asked. I put a hand on the metal bar experimentally. Of course metal could hold me. But I was still scared.
"Len!" She scolded. "Now is not the time to be scared of heights! Let's go!"
I took a deep breath, slightly encouraged by her words, and pulled myself up. The bars were cold, they seemed to creak with every step, and they went on forever. But the light generally got closer, and I didn't slip, and centuries after I began climbing, I pulled myself onto the platform next to Rin.
"Alright." She sounded pleased. "Now the scary part."
"Are you kidding me-"
"Chill out! Just…" she took a deep breath. "Just don't look down." She laughed. "I mean, not like you can see the bottom."
"Oh God." My breathing was heavy. "This is some Silent Hill shit." I felt to my sides for the railings, and gripped them with sweaty hands. "Why are we up here?"
"There's a room over the stage," Rin told me. "Just follow the light."
Like I have any other choice, I thought to myself. She began walking along the catwalk. Her flashlight revealed the path in front of us. The walkway continued straight, and turned to the left. Rin followed the path to the left. I tried taking her advice by not looking down, but her light was bright enough to outline the seats below us. I could only see their shadows in my peripheral vision, but it was still enough to make me dizzy.
Another fork in the path was ahead. One right, one left. Rin turned left again, and began walking quicker. "We're over the stage now. If you fall, it'll just be onto the stage."
"Gee. A whole four feet less. That makes me feel so much better," I muttered.
"There's some steps." She ignored my sarcasm. "Watch your step."
The railing slopes down before the steps, so it wasn't too much of a surprise. And the next thing I knew, I was walking on wood. And surrounded by four walls. It was still mega-creepy; it was like being in a huge cardboard box. There were no lights, no furniture, no carpet or wallpaper, nothing.
Rin aimed the camera along the walls. "Cool, huh?"
"What is it?"
"I dunno. Probably an old storage room, or something." As she walked on the wood, it shook below us.
"I don't trust this floor." I tapped my foot lightly. It felt like it was made of a single layer of plywood.
She huffed. "The tech equipment is so heavy. If this was the old storage room, it'll easily hold a person." She sat down against the wall opposite the entrance.
I sat next to her. In my mind, I knew this couldn't be the storage room. She seemed to have overlooked the fact that we had to take a ladder to get up here. If the equipment was as heavy and large as she was saying, it'd be impossible to bring it up here. Or get it down, for that matter.
She sighed. "Can I turned the flashlight off? We're not using it, and it'd be kinda bad if my battery died right now."
I nodded. I was surprisingly calm now that we were sitting down and safe. She pressed a button on her phone, and we were wrapped in darkness. The only way I could tell she was still next to me was the steady sound of her breathing.
"Camden didn't come home yesterday," she admitted.
I blinked. There was no difference when I closed and opened my eyes. "Again?"
"Yeah. He won't answer his phone, either."
I bit my lip. "Do you need to come stay with us until he comes back? You're always welcome to."
She sighed. "I know. I just… I think something happened to him."
It wouldn't be the first time her older brother has gotten in trouble.
"Whether it be the police or his… business… I don't know. But I have a bad feeling about it."
"Do you have food? Are the bills paid?" I had always been concerned about her lifestyle, but things had been pretty calm on her end lately. Her brother may have been of age, but he was definitely not ready to own a home and take care of a sixteen year old.
"I think so," she answered. "He'll probably be back before long." She seemed to be trying to convince herself more than me.
We fell into silence once again. I didn't know how to respond to her.
It didn't last long. "Len?"
"Yeah?"
"Have you ever been to the Rockies?"
The question would have took my off guard if I hadn't become accustomed to her asking random questions. "Like, the Rocky Mountains?"
"Yeah."
"No," I answered. "I haven't."
"Oh," came her disappointed reply.
"Have you?"
"Once. When I was little."
"Oh yeah?" My curiosity had peaked. "What was it like?"
"My whole family was going camping at this really discreet spot in Colorado. It was in the middle of Spring, and it was gorgeous up there. There are so many aspen trees up there. And they have these cute little circle-shaped leaves on them, and they're really tall. And they're all connected. Did you know that? All aspen trees in a certain area have the same roots. It's just one giant tree, with different parts above ground."
I smiled. I loved when she went on these little tangents. "No, I didn't know that."
"Yeah," she continued. She sounded like a child in her wondrous tone. "And they have the prettiest flowers up there. They always bloom right at the base of the trees. My favorite ones are the purple ones. Anyway, we stayed up there for almost a week, and my Dad would take me hiking to all these random places. It was obvious to me that he'd been camping there before, and he took me to a different spot every day. Now, mind you, I was only twelve or thirteen. I couldn't climb up the side of mountains with him. But we went down to Steamboat Lake one day, and the water was so clear. It wasn't even blue. It was clear. We went fishing in it, and when the little shits came too close to the shore, you'd be able to see them wiggling around. And our campsite was huge. We had, like, twenty or thirty people with us. And we'd sit around this huge bonfire and roast marshmallows and stuff."
"That's awesome," I encouraged. She was adorable.
"It was. And my Camden and I had a tree climbing race." She laughed. "I won, obviously. He was too big for the branches of the aspens to hold him. But I wasn't. And I got the sleep in the RV because of it." She giggled, and then went silent again.
"Sound amazing, Rin." I was starting to not mind the trip up here anymore.
She took a deep breath. "Yeah. It was pretty cool."
When it was clear she wasn't going to continue, I spoke up. "Why do you ask?"
"Huh?"
"Why'd you ask about the Rockies?"
She didn't say anything for a second. "They're just so cool," was her excuse. "Next time we take a trip up there, you should come with us."
That put us into an awkward silence. It was a shared, unspoken knowledge that she wasn't going on any expensive trip for quite a while.
We both nearly jumped out of our skin as the bell rang. It was considerably louder up here, and it seemed to shake the walls. I covered my ears, jumping to my feet and quickly feeling my way out of the room. Through the ear-splitting ringing, I could just barely hear Rin's footsteps behind me.
Going down the ladder was much faster than coming up it, mostly because I knew the theater class would be coming soon, and Rin and i grabbed out things before running out the maintenance door into the hall.
"Jesus," I panted as we finally rejoined our peers in the main hall. "That is the last time I let you talk me into something."
She said nothing. She gave me only a small smile in response.
We split up to head to our last two classes of the day. After pushing past a horde of teenagers, I met Kaito in Chemistry. He was still wearing my hoodie. I grinned when I saw him. "You're welcome."
He rolled his eyes when he saw me. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever."
The rest of the day seemed to drag on, but the dismissal bell finally rang. I hung around the main hall for a couple more minutes, talking to some friends, while I waited for the traffic outside to clear up. When I was confident that I wouldn't be sitting in the parking lot for half an hour, I went to my car, threw my guitar in the trunk, and drove home.
When I walked in my front door, I was met with the sight of Dad sitting on the couch, typing away furiously on his laptop in front of the T.V.
"Hey, Dad," I greeted as I shut the door behind me.
He didn't look up from his typing. "Hey."
"Working?" I walked across the living room. He didn't yell at me for blocking the T.V, either.
"Mhmm," he grunted in response. And that was the end of that conversation.
I retreated to my room in the basement, not bothering with greeting Mom. She'd say the same thing Dad said.
The basement was all mine, and, even though I was living the "in your parents' basement" cliché, I loved it. I had my own living room, my own bathroom, my own T.V. Hell, even my own kitchen. I never used it, but it was there. Most, if not all, the furniture down here I had bought myself. It was an agreement between my parents and I that I'd take all of it away with me when I headed off to college.
I set my guitar case down at the foot of the stairs, and dropped my backpack on the floor next to it. With my phone in hand, I dropped onto my couch, and typed away.
I want my hoodie back, I texted Kaito. Don't forget.
He didn't immediately text me back. I snatched the remote to my hand-me-down T.V. off the coffee table and flipped it on while I waited for a text back.
I felt my mind wander as I stared mindlessly at the screen in front of me. Somewhere in the maze of my thoughts, I must have dozed off.
The ringing of my phone on the table in front if me yanked me out of my sleep. I shot up, grabbing it quickly. My half-open eyes could just make out the name "Rin" on the screen. Above it, was the time. 10:34 p.m.
"What?" I answered, annoyed.
"I'm leaving."
Her tone was so simple and flat, it took me off guard. "W-What?" I repeated.
She took a deep breath. Her voice was calm. Like she was having a normal conversation. "I'm leaving."
I took a moment to gather my thoughts. "Where are you going?"
There was a slight pause, and then a small "I don't know."
I stood, grabbing my jacket off of the table. "Rin, where are you? I'll come get you. You can stay with us again."
"No, no. I'm at the house. Camden didn't come home. I'm sick of it here. I'm leaving."
I put on my jacket. "Come on, Rin. It's late. Just stay over here. You'll feel better in the morning, I promise."
"You don't understand," she spat out. Her sudden anger stopped me on my way to the door. "I'm. Leaving."
I stared at the floor mindlessly as my thoughts began to race. "Like... Running away?"
"I hate it here. I can't be here. I need a break."
I shook my head. "This is crazy. Where are you gonna go?"
"Anywhere except here."
"You can't just-" I rose my voice, only to remember my parents were upstairs sleeping. "You can't just walk around the city by yourself."
I heard shuffling on her end. "I'm not gonna be in the city."
She can't be serious, I thought. "You have to have some idea of where you're going."
A pause. "I'm going on a trip."
My mind immediately flashed to our conversation we had above the theater. It clicked.
"You are not going to the Rockies."
She let out a quick breath. "Len, I have to. I have to go."
I began pacing around the room. "How the hell are you gonna get there? You can't just walk to the next fucking state!"
More shuffling. "Watch me."
I ran a hand through my hair. I couldn't let her do this. "It's dangerous out there. You could get hurt. What are you gonna do when it gets cold? It snows a lot more in Colorado than it does here, Rin."
She didn't say anything.
"Rin?" I asked, looking down at the phone. The call was still active.
"I'll be fine," she said. But there was the tiniest waver in her voice. The smallest sign of uncertainty, but it was there. She was scared. Then why would she think of something like this?
"You can't just leave," I desperately tried to convince her. "What'll happen if Camden comes home and you're not there?"
"I wouldn't care." She spit the words out like they were poisonous.
I tried to think of something - anything - to say to try and convince her how terrible of an idea this was. A five-foot four teenage girl walking through the city by herself at night with nothing to defend herself with? "Do you have any idea what you're getting yourself into?" I asked aloud.
"It's better than this fucking cage they call a house," she answered. Her voice was back to its monotonous state.
Nothing would work. How was I supposed to go to school the next day knowing that my best friend was walking to Colorado by herself? How was I supposed to go on not knowing whether she was alive, or lying somewhere in a ditch? What if she starved? What if she froze overnight? Where would she sleep? Or, best-case scenario, what if the police found her before she left the city. The idea came to me that I could simply call the police, but that wasn't like me. Rin knew I wouldn't tell. Just like I wouldn't tell anyone about the secret room above the theater. But there had to be something I could do to help her.
I opened my mouth before I even knew what words were coming out of it. "I'm coming with you."
There was a stunned silence over the phone. "What?" She asked, in the same tone I had used only minutes ago. Oh, how the tables have turned.
"If you're doing this, then I'm going with you. I can't let you take on the world on your own."
"Len... You don't have to do this."
My eyes fell on my school backpack. I kneeled down next to it, using my free hand to yank open the zipper and spill its contents onto the floor. "I do," I replied as I ran over to my dresser and began to shove clothes into the empty bag. "What are you packing?"
She seemed hesitant to answer me. "Um... Water bottles and food."
"I have warm clothes. Money?" I asked.
"I have about four hundred saved up," she answered.
Saved up? I thought to myself. I was so distracted with my packing, I couldn't distinguish the voice in my throat from the voice in my head. I dropped the filled backpack next to my coffee table, turning off the T.V. so I could have at least one less distraction. My wallet sat on the table next to my car keys. I unfolded the leather pocket, revealing the remnants of this months allowance. An entire forty dollars. "I don't have much," I told Rin. The phone was wedged between my ear and my shoulder.
"That's okay," she assured me. Then, as I picked up my car keys - "We can't take the car. They can find us then."
I bit my lip. "Okay." I felt crazy, but I dropped them back in the table.
"We can't bring our phones either," she continued. "In fact, we should hide them. Or destroy them."
"You've really put a lot of thought into this, haven't you?"
"Bring your phone to the house. We'll break them here." I heard the sound of something zipping on her end.
I threw my backpack over my shoulders. "Okay. I'll be over in a few."
"Okay. And Len?"
"Yeah?" I lowered my voice as my hand fell on the door handle to the staircase.
"Thank you."
I smiled, despite the madness I was getting myself into. "No problem."
"See you in a few."
I nodded, then hung up. Just as I was about to leave my room, I shot one last look at my guitar case, and grabbed it without even thinking twice.
I ascended the stairs, flinching at every creak. Mom and Dad were no doubt asleep upstairs. Even though I had nothing to worry about, I was scared. I wasn't used to adventure. This had to top off the list of the craziest things I'd ever done.
But we'll be back soon, I assured myself. I opened the front door to my house, locking it behind me. The cold night air hit me the second I stepped outside.
My backpack was was surprisingly light on my shoulders. I have to admit, I didn't pack much. The idea that we would be gone any longer than one night was belong me. The only things weighing down my back were two jackets, and two extra pairs of jeans.
I walked along the quiet sidewalk with little worry in my mind. I'd been a part of Rin's stunts before. Hell, I'd been part of Rin's stuns today. She'd get cold tonight, and we'd be on our way back home before the sun even came up. My parents would never even know I was gone.
The second she opened her front door, however, I began to have my doubts. She was dressed in all black, warm clothes, too, and had a large camping backpack strapped to her back. She lifted an eyebrow at me. "You're binging the guitar?"
I patted the case lovingly. "It's my baby," I cooed.
She rolled her eyes, obviously not finding my jokes amusing at the moment. "Come on." She pushed past me as I spoke. "We need to get going."
"Where's the fire?" I grumbled as she sped past me.
"Come on," she demanded one last time. She looked over her shoulder at me. "Let's go."