"Rue, wake up," Robbie says. I open my eyes and see a bear lying next to me in the fort.
"Ah!" I scream, bloody murder. I hear everyone laughing and the bear takes off his head. It was Conter in a ridiculously real-looking costume. "I hate you guys!"
"Its payback," says Robbie as he kisses me on the cheek.
"I'll get you guys next time. Where's Kristen?" I ask.
"She wanted some milk," Ricky says. "She doesn't know that we scared you."
"She's my new best friend," I declare, as she crawls into the fort.
"What?" she asks. "Conter, why do you look like a headless bear?"
"Because they're meanies," I say as they start laughing again. "You're my new best friend, by the way." She smiles and we crawl out of the fort. "Let's jump on the blanket that's on top. It will terrify them. But don't jump on them," I whisper.
We go to the closest spots we can get. We want to jump on it at the same time and be on opposite sides of them.
"One, two, three," she whispers. We jump and everyone screams. We get off and they crawl out from under the blanket.
"What was that for?" they ask.
"Its payback," I say, looking directly at Robbie. I kiss him on the cheek.
"Ha ha, that's very funny," says Conter. I see Ricky looking at him with dazzling eyes.
"Ricky, can I see you in the kitchen please?" I ask. She nods, laughing, obviously knowing that I saw her.
We walk to the kitchen and I close the door.
"You like him," I say, in a hushed tone.
"Maybe, a little bit," she confesses. I smile from ear to ear.
"Ask him out," I say.
She shakes her head, "He'll think I'm just rebounding."
"Whatever. Just ask him," I say.
"Fine," she says. "Do you want to go investigate if it was legal for them to make you get married?"
"Well there's nothing we can do about it now, but sure," I agree. So we walk down to the library in baggy pajama pants and flowy pajama shirts. No one comes with us because they want to rebuild the fort.
When we get there we go straight to the legal section.
"Hello, mini America," the librarian says as she passes by.
"Is she still my mom?" Ricky asks.
"Yes," the librarian confirms. "I heard that you're going through something. I hope it all works out." Ricky nods and the librarian walks away. She looks at me very excitedly.
"She's still my mom! That means I have access to some information!" she exclaims.
"Like what?" I ask.
"Come on," she says. "I'll show you." We walk to the computers and Ricky logs into something. Her account still works because of her mom. She goes to something about laws and marriages. There's something titled Recent Marriages.Ricky clicks it and we can see the marriages of this week and last week. My marriage isn't there.
"Ricky, where is it?" I ask her.
"I don't know. Maybe they just haven't put it in here yet," she suggests, but something catches my eye.
"There's a marriage that was done later than ours was. Why would they have skipped ours?" I point out.
"Maybe they messed up. Maybe they didn't legally do it," she proposes. "Let's check."
"How?"
"We'll go to the courthouse. We can ask them what happened." I agree and we walk to the courthouse.
When we arrive we walk in carefully.
"Yes?" a voice calls out. It's the judge that married us. "What do you need?"
"I got married, but apparently it wasn't legal. What's wrong?" I ask.
"I'll see," he says. "Amelia, I need the book!" Amelia comes out of a door holding a large leather book.
"What's happening?" she asks. No one answers her. The judge opens the book and looks down the back page. He looks up and shakes his head.
"For some reason, yours wasn't legal," he says. "Who married you?"
"You," I say. His eyes widen with surprise.
"Why wasn't it legal?" asks Amelia. "Or what do you think happened?"
"Judge, sir, what happened?" Ricky asks.
"I married you, and it wasn't legal?" the judge inquires. I nod. "Oh dear, I think I know what happened. Amelia, my certificate, please." Amelia walks back through the door and returns with a framed certificate. She hands it to the judge and he looks carefully at it. "I see what happened. My job was supposed to be renewed the day before that happened. You were the only ones that I married that day and I haven't married anyone after that. I also didn't marry anyone the day I was supposed to get it renewed. You will have to get married because you aren't right now."
"Yes," I say. I take off the ring and hand it to Ricky. "I have more time. I can live." Amelia runs to me and we hug. "Oh my gosh. I've got to go tell Robbie." I run out of the room and into the hall.
I don't remember how to get home because I wasn't paying attention on the way there the first time. I have to go inside, grab Ricky's hand, and pull her outside. We run to our home and barge in.
"Robbie, come here," I yell. He comes rushing downstairs.
"What's wrong?" he asks. I hold up my hand and he sees my ring finger. "What happened?"
"It wasn't legal!" I shout. I run to him and we kiss. I bend my knees so that he is holding me and he twirls me around.
"So we're not married?" he asks. I shake my head. "Yes!"
"I know right! But now we'll probably have to get married again. That stupid law," I say.
"What's going on?" Kristen asks. I look up and see her and Conter running down the stairs.
"The wedding wasn't legal. We're not married!" Robbie exclaims.
"Congratulations," says Conter. His smile grew the second he heard the words wasn't and legal. I'm glad I have friends as good as them. Ricky saw it too, and now I can tell that she is happy, but something made her sad.
"Thanks," I say. "Excuse us." I grab Ricky's hand and take her upstairs. "What's wrong?"
"Did you see his face?" she asks. "He was so happy." I don't see what's wrong here.
"So?" I ask. "What's that mean?"
"He likes you, Rue, not me," she explains.
"I think that he was just being a good friend," I say.
"No, he wasn't. I saw the gleam. That gleam in his eyes. He used to have a girlfriend just like you, but they broke up. He was so in love with her at one point. Every time he looked at her he would get that gleam," she clarifies.
I never thought about Conter like that, but I did think I was married when I met him. The thought of this gives me butterflies, but the law says that I have to marry Robbie.
"It's okay. Even if he did like me, which he doesn't, I have to marry Robbie," I assure her.
She shakes her head. "I'm pretty sure that there's a law that states that if someone loves the person and they love them back that the people don't have to be forced into marriage," she explains. "The law was only made for safety. Imagine you and Robert weren't forced into this so you didn't decide to get married. Now there's a half human half angel walking around. What if no one ever loves this person because they're weird or different?"
"That makes sense. So if someone else loved me and I loved them back and I stopped loving Robbie, then I wouldn't have to marry him?" I question.
She nods. "But the question is, do you like Conter, and could you stop loving Robbie?" she asks.
That's I good question. The only problem is that I can't bring myself to say no.
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