The Lords, Princes, and Kings.

Chapter Nine-

   "A wilderness you kinda miss/But were taught you ought to cut it back/So you shut it out/You shout it down/Until you're all white-knuckled" — The Oh Hello's- Grow —

    I hummed to myself, finishing the homework for Gov, then for Lit. Hina was messing around with Rita. The two had been friends, just not close.

"Nerd! Come read this." Hina beckoned me. Rita gave me a warning look that was somehow also accepting. I read the piece of paper Hina handed me.

It read "Rita Fysher; hottest girl in school - slept with all the sports kids, girls included - favorite show is Glee because she relates to it so well."

"Who do you think wrote it?" Hina asked me.

"Er, uh... is it..." I froze, looking at Rita. It was Hazel's handwriting.

"No! Clearly not, idiot."

"Yeah, Rita is the straightest virgin I have ever met–she is incredibly-"

"Kameāloha!" Rita yelped Hina's last name, causing her to stop talking, though she continued to snicker. She had a shockingly correct pronunciation, even saying it with a slight accent.

"Come on, Lorde," Rita said, causing me to stop laughing. "You're coming home with me today, right?" What?!

"Oh, um, yep."

"Wait, what? Why?" Hina queried, bewildered. She paused... "May I come?"

"Want to help me decorate for Halloween, including getting spider and mice infested boxes from the attic and garage?"

"... Adios!" And, thus, Hina had bolted out the door the moment the bell sounded.

Rita got up and left, me following in suit.

"Marsh!" She barked across the courtyard. Marcus got up from where he was sitting in the grass with another boy. He waved farewell and ran over. Rita messed up his hair. "Are you ready to go, lil bro?" He nodded.

I held out a hand for a fistbump, he obliged, though I unfolded my fist at the last moment.

"Bam. Let's move."

"Magg-"

Rita looked at him, cautious. He stopped for a moment.

"Um... are we walking or-"

"Walking-?" She questioned, eyeing me curiously.

I nodded and she did the same. Awkward, but understanding.

 Marcus pointed out various objects on our walk, as well as listened earnestly every time I told him what something was, or the story behind it. A deer; Artemis's Elaphoi Khrysokeroi, the five golden-antlered, the hunter who saw her bathe. An Eastern Cottontail rabbit; the escape/transformation of the Chinese goddess of the moon, Chang'e. The Cardinal; the Romans, Catholics, overall origin of the use of the word.

Rita listened. She didn't listen to music, barely looked at her phone, but didn't speak. By the time we got back, she was smiling slightly. Neither of us said anything, and she stopped when she noticed it, but she had been smiling. A small, personal, sweet one.

Mindy stepped out onto the porch, once we got there. Impressively on time, despite us being, surprisingly, a bit earlier than we told her. "Need any help, just ask. I have to go on call, sadly, right... now." She said, checking her watch. She tossed down the keys, likely to the garage, down. Rita caught it but handed them to Marcus, turning to me.

She eyed my phone.

"You still need my number."

She hesitated, apprehension alight in her facial features. "Y-... yes." I pinched my lips together, but handed her my phone, unlocking it and going to Messages.

"Mickey, what's that?" Marcus asked from inside the garage. I left Rita to go see what he meant. Shit, okay then.

"You actually do have snakes?"

"Eh, he's a pet." Rita mused affectionately, her shadow falling next to me.

"Cute." 

"Lezzgooohhhhh," Marcus cheered quietly, digging through a box, clearly satisfied, or indifferent, to my... answer?