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Chapter 28

Charlotte O'Brien

Tyler and my dad followed me into Stellar Star Art Studio, and we were immediately greeted with the floury smells of clay, the excited chatter of several small girls, and the jubilant shriek from Stella. "Well, isn't it two thirds of the most beautiful family on the east coast!" She cried and enveloped me in a hug, her thin arms strong from working with clay all day. She smelled like cranberries and pine trees, and her pixie cut tickled my nose. Tears pricked the corners of my eyes as I couldn't help but compare this hug to the one Braylynn gave me just yesterday. Braylynn's hug felt undeniably fake and forced compared to Stella's simple love and affection.

"And isn't it the daughter we never had!" My dad declared back, his voice loud and grand in the room. Stella immediately let me go and moved away, presumably to go hug my father, who gave a great "oof!" The voices of the girls were silent now as we had our little family reunion, and Tyler's energy moved away, further into the room. I followed him, collapsing my cane as I went and navigating the studio as easily as I navigate my own home.

 "What are you doing here, Mr. O'Brien? Isn't this the one day of the week where Charlotte gets to get away from you?" Stella joked, her voice as bright and warm as sunshine. She often told me how much she genuinely liked my parents and how they reminded her of her grandparents, who raised her essentially from birth.

I dropped into myregular seat and reached up to tug my hair into a sloppy ponytail. Stella hadalready set up all of my supplies: the clay, slip, spray bottle, tools, and thefoam head I had been sculpting to look like Oliver Rayne for the last couple ofweeks. I rolled up the sleeves of my sweater, and stretched my fingers out,relaxing them. Donovan and I had worked double time today, rushing to completeall of my homework so that I could sculpt without stress. As I was getting upto leave, he got up and hugged me, while whispering how proud he was of me. Itwas an incredibly awkward moment, as I was overwhelmed by the scents of babypowder and soap, but appreciated it nonetheless. If I was earning Donovan'spride, it meant that I was truly making headway. Everest might not be as tallas I expected. 

"I was just going to drop off my daughter's dinner, but maybe I should stick around a little while and grace you with my presence longer." I heard my dad's voice get louder as he approached my table, and a soft thump as he set down the sandwiches we had picked up on the way to the studio: a meatball sub for Stella and a ham sandwich with cheese for me. I made him include a small bag of chips for Tyler, even though my dad knew that I didn't particularly like them.

"Oh no, you will not! The Cupcake scout troop is here working on their pottery badges, and we decided that it is strictly 'no boys allowed' in the studio today. Right, girls?" There was a chirrup of agreement from across the room. I turned towards Tyler, who had dropped down in the seat on my right, and raised my eyebrows at him. A smile tugged at the corners of my lips as I imagined how he would react, how his accent would deepen and his vocabulary would become peppered with words like y'all, fixin', and ain't.

My dad's footsteps receded, back towards the door. "Fine, fine. I know when I'm not wanted." He conceded, his voice good-natured and happy. "I'll pick you up at eight o'clock, honey," my dad called to me in my corner, and I grinned at him in response. I heard the door click shut behind him, and the room was immediately filled with the excited chatter of girls under the age of ten.

I reached up and tenderly ran my fingertips across the face that I had been working on for two weeks, the supposed face of Oliver Rayne with flared nostrils, hooked nose, and malicious smile. My stomach twisted into knots at his name and the memory of my weird encounter with Braylynn at lunch. No matter how much she wanted to believe it, I wasn't as ignorant as I seemed, and my nose was as good as a blood hound's, so I could smell something fishy from a mile away. There were other reasons why Braylynn was staying away from me that had nothing to do with Ric, because if they were, she would have come back as soon as she realized Ric and I weren't on speaking terms at the moment. No, Braylynn was playing with fire, a deadly and explosive fire with flared nostrils and a malicious smile, and there was no other outcome but for her to get burned, just like she had been time and time again in freshman year. Whether it was her walking in on him with a girl from the Mathletes again or him demanding to know her every move and conversation, my friend was walking into the lion's den wearing a meat dress, and it chilled me to the bone to think how she would react when it finally happened. Last time she turned from a daughter of the sun with tanned skin, sandals, and lace dresses, to a princess of the night with combat boots, stick on tattoos, and corsets.