The spirit of Devfronds

14. Susan's Secret Den

Braeden sat in their bench his thighs moving up and down, "Dude, you're as hyper as Peter Parker on caffeine."

"I actually got that reference, for once." He said, legs slowing down for a moment before starting to bounce again.

"Probably because it's from a movie and not a book." 

"Your point being?"

Calvin sighed, "Come on, bro, just one book. You'll love it. Then I promise you you'll want to read more yourself. Look, I saw Spiderman, because you said, right?" 

"Because Spiderman is good. I am not reading some stupid book." 

"You're on pretty thin ice young man. Don't ever say stupid and book in the same sentence."

"The person who says books are bad is stupid." Braeden quipped back.

Calvin smirked, "So, you're saying that you're stupid?"

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Thankfully, Susan's secret tunnel didn't end up in a swarm of bees. 

He had to crouch for a while, before the ceiling sloped slowly higher until he could could walk properly and then eventually, it got as high as the room he had just left. 

The tunnel was about a meter thick. He could sit with his back to one of the wall and his feet would just barely touch the opposite wall if he stretched out a little bit. 

Susan was closely following him. They walked between bare walls, curving ever so slightly. He supposed they were in the walls of Susan's room. After walking what was probably a third of the room's circumference they were stopped by thick white curtains blocking the tunnel. 

Susan ran up in front of him and said, "Don't make me regret this." While looking right into his eyes.

Calvin gulped, wondering what was behind the curtains. From what little he knew of her, it couldn't be anything nice, like a secret library. He always wanted one of those. He nodded seriously and said, "I won't."

Susan nodded, apparently satisfied. She gave him a once over before saying, "Follow," and turning to open the curtains and entering, without waiting for an answer. 

Behind the curtain, was a clean narrow room, with a few shelves on one of the walls. It had a few origami books, scissors, glues, etc. and a bunch of mismatched stuffed. 

He went over to one of the projects, turning it around a few times before asking, "Is this supposed to be a lantern?"

Susan turned red, "What do you mean, supposed to?"

"Um...all I am saying is, it's not exactly the best. Looks more like a..." he was going to crumpled old paper but decided against it, based on the fiery look in Susan's eye. 

Susan uncrossed her arms, picked up a book from the shelf and shoved it in his face. It clattered to the floor, leaving his nose stinging behind. He picked it up and read a page, "Okay, to be fair, the instructions are pretty shitty. I am surprised you even made it this good."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Yeah. Remind me, I'll ask my parents for my mobile tomorrow and we can make something from YouTube."