Girl with the clay mask

Chapter eight

A car pulls up next to me and stops, it's Arlo's car. He rolls the window down and I stop walking to look at them. "What happened to you?" He asks, pointing at me. I shrug. "I fell off." I say walking up to the window. "You look like you ate the curb, dude." He laughs a bit and Arlene smacks the back of his head. "Get in the back and we'll drive you to Kevala's, I'm sure she could help you." She offers. I nod a little and get in.

We pull into her driveway and I set my skateboard underneath a bench on the front porch. "Holy...do you need anything?" Are Kevala's first words when she opens the door. She drags me to a bathroom upstairs and gives me a bandaid. "Thanks, I fell off my board on the way over here." I force a laugh as I get the gravel and dirt out of my hair.

"That gash on your head looks bad, but are you going to be okay?" She asks worried. I nod my head. "It's fine, junk like this happens to me all of the time." I respond. "Okay, come to the backyard with the rest of us when you're done in here." She smiles before vanishing down the stairs. I lean on the sink and touch the side of my head, the cut isn't bleeding as much as before but it's still pretty ugly.

I walk down the stairs and towards the backyard, near the back door on the porch is a small pile of gifts in paper. I immediately start looking for Arlo and Arlene, I don't see a single familiar face here. Arlene, with a worried look on her face, is talking with Kevala and a few other girls. I stand by Arlo and he stares down into his cup.

"Are you gonna talk to her, or chicken out?" He looks over at me and grins. I nod my head. "I am. I'm going to wait for a good time though." I say. He rolls his eyes. "Yeah. Okay." He laughs at me. "What? You don't think i will?" I ask. He shakes his head.

"Five years of "I'm waiting for the right time, what's another five?" He laughs more and I frown. "I'm gonna. I will." I look ahead at her and Arlo keeps laughing.

After about ten minutes of standing around and stalling Kevala's mom brings a little cake with green icing ribbons around it and sets it on a table by the porch. Thats it. After she eats her cake and there isn't so much attention on her I'll say something.

Another ten minutes pass and she is finally by herself near the table. I start walking towards her and I catch her attention, but suddenly Arlene then tugs on my sleeve, startling me. "Are you going to confess to her now?" She whispers to me with a concerned look. I nod. "Yeah, why?" But before Arlene gets even one word out Kevala speaks,

"Did you have something to say?" She asks me, not having noticed Arlene behind me. I nod, shaking Arlene off. "Yeah, I uhm-"I choke on my words as they become harder to say. Kevala looks at me patiently.

"I don't want to come off as weird or sudden...but I really like you, and I've liked you since, like, fourth grade...I understand if you don't like me, but I wanted to tell you...that." My face flushes and I nearly bit my tongue four different times as I tried to speak.

She looks at me sympathetically and bites her lip before speaking. "I-" she begins, but doesn't finish before another guy interrupts her. "She has a boyfriend." He steps between us, looking angry. "Don't overreact!" She says to him annoyed. He scowls at me after she says that. "I didn't know! I'm uh-"I was about to apologize but he pushes me backward.

"What the hell man?" I stand up straight and frown at him. "Well, now you do know." He practically growls at me. I bawl my fists. "I get the picture, keep your hands away from me." I snap back before taking a step away from him. This guy looks like a loose canon that had been waiting all night for an excuse to go off, and now I'm that excuse.