Free Kendall

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Kendall's POV

Ahh, that bookstore smell

The two gangs and I walk into Barnes and Noble, and the amazing smell of books attack my senses.
"Ahh," I say. "This smells amazing."

Quinn laughs, nodding xyr head.
"Indeed it does, newbie."

Rayssa takes Quinn's hand, leading xem to the Starbucks area in the back.
Tate and Jonas go to the Harry Potter section, making muggle jokes and giggling, while Hazel and Ian follow giving each other the 'I ship it' look.
Nikolai glances at me, looks at Ari, back at me, then back to Ari, before whistling and walking over to the cds and record players.

"What was that for?" I ask, confused.
Ari gives me an evasive shrug, obviously still mad at me.

They head in the direction of the Sarah J Maas corner, eyeing each of the different books carefully.
I follow.

"What can I do to make you not hate me?"

They turn around, raising an eyebrow.
"Apologise properly," They say. "And then I'll buy you a book if you buy me one."
"Okay," I reply, breathing out.

Apologies are easy enough to do.
Ari picks up a book called 'A Court of Mist and Fury' and 'The Heir of Fire', weighing the two of them.

"I'm sorry for being an assuming git," I continue. "I shouldn't have assumed your gender and pronouns by your clothes when we met, and I will work on asking people first for correct pronouns from here on out."

Ari looks at me with wide eyes.
"That was a sufficient apology," They reply. "Thanks."

I nod as they walk off to the Keeper of the Lost Cities area, and I follow.

"So I'll buy you a book if you buy me a book?" I ask as they weigh another book called Neverseen and another called Legacy.
Ari nods.
"What books do you like?"

I shrug.
"I prefer adventure, fantasy. Like the Grishaverse and Percy Jackson. You?"
"I'll read just about anything," They reply. "Classics take me a bit longer though."

They hand me one of the KOTLC books.
"Try this. It may be for kids, but it is like the Riordanverse."
I nod.
"Thank you."

The two of us walk back to the centre of the store and see Nikolai standing near the notebooks, while Quinn is grabbing a half-off book for Rayssa.
Tate, Jonas, Ian and Hazel sit at a couch area near the Starbucks, and Diana skips around them, obviously on a caffeinated high.

"Ready to go?" Ari asks Nikolai, who looks up from a pride notebook.
He nods, picking it up.

I go ahead and get in line, holding Ari's 'A Court of Mist of Mist and Fury' and 'Neverseen'. 
Ari holds the first KOTLC book for me, talking to Nikolai in a hushed tone. 

The cashier calls me to them, and I pay for the two books, while they eye me oddly.
I finish and wait as everyone else goes through the line.
Hazel and Ian come over, waiting as well.

"Everything alright between you and Ari?" Hazel asks.
He holds up a cup of iced coffee and a book on converting to Judaism.

I nod.
"Everything should be good," I reply. "Unless they just want to be bitter."

"Give Ari time," Ian adds. "They aren't good with new people, or changes around them."
"Okay," I say as everyone comes back.
Ari hands me my book, and I hand over theirs.

"To Coldstone!" Jonas yells, and we all dash off to the ice cream parlour.

***

Rayssa drives us home, dropping each person off one by one until we reach my house.

"Bye!" I yell, going into my house.

Dad is cooking dinner as I walk in, putting my backpack down. 
Nary is in their office, finishing up the children's grading and Rainne is playing animal crossing. 
I grab a spare remote and join her.

"Is that Kendall?" Nary calls.
"Yes!" I call back.
They come out, holding some mail.
"How was Friendly Centre?"
"It was good," I reply. "I got a new book, made some new acquaintances and we explored."

Nary smiles, and I hear Dad chuckle.
"I'm glad that you had fun."

I turn my attention back to re-designing my character on my island.
I make 'Kendall' go to the beach to find Rainne's character.

"What book did you get?" Rainne asks, making her character talk to mine.
I pull it out with one hand and toss it to her.

"Ooh, I've read this before!" Rainne exclaims, smiling. "There are nine books, and are intense. Keefe is the best character, without a doubt."

I furrow my eyebrows, not understanding who she is talking about.

Rainne realises something and makes a shriek.
"What if they made KOTLC characters in the Sims?"

I covered my ears, as did Nary.

"No shrieking, Raindrop," Dad scolds from the kitchen. "We're all going to go deaf."
"Sorry," Rainne calls.
She saves the game on Animal Crossing and goes to the Sims, searching.

I cut of my controller, and go help Dad distribute the food.
Tonight is one of the nights that we don't have to eat all together, so I make a plate for Rainne and myself.
I put Rainne's plate on the coffee table and grab my book, taking my stuff and heading into my room.

I close the door quietly and set my backpack on my desk, sitting down on my bed and starting to eat.
I open up the first page of KOTLC starting to get sucked into a girl named Sophie Foster and her life that was about to change.