The Tides That Join Us Together

Chapter 22: Rest of the Day

China

I sighed as we sat in our second to last period. I was kind of sad that Cameron didn't sit with us at lunch today, but then again I was the one who told him to pursue his mystery girl. I just thought he would of done it throughout the first four class periods.

"You good?" Booboo asked me, as we were working on our pictures.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said back to him.

"She lying." Lauryn immediately said. "100%."

"Am not." I say, obviously lying.

"Mhm Mhm." Lauryn said. "Whatever floats your boat."

"Well I'm here if you need to talk about anything." Booboo said to me. That's the thing I loved about Booboo. He was so sweet and innocent in his own way, just like Cameron. He was always opened to talk and always willing to listen.

"Thank you." I said, smiling at him.

"How the heck am I suppose to shade this picture in like that?" Lauryn asked us, frustrated that she couldn't get it.

"Here." Booboo said, moving over to her side, I'll show you. He grabbed a piece of scrap paper. "You want to angle your pencil like this, so ever lightly scratching at the paper. And once you have that light shade, you start to go a little harder, and then once you have that shade, just a little harder."

"Mhm." Lauryn said, nodding her head.

"Show me." Booboo said, flipping the paper over. Lauryn, picked up her pencil, angling it the way Booboo showed her.

"Good. Good." he said. "Now follow the 3 step shade process." And she did. "See you got it."

"Thanks, Booboo." Lauryn said, finally being able to finish her picture. We had to turn them in at the end of the period for a grade.

"No problem." he said, moving back over to sit back next to me.

"Well." I said. "Now that I've finished my picture, I'm gonna free draw."

"What are you gonna draw?" Booboo asked me.

"I don't know yet." I said, giggling. "Maybe if I start out with some lines, I'll get somewhere productive."

"Maybe." he said back, also giggling. The last two periods went by in a blur. We had free-play during PE, so Lauryn, Booboo, and I spent it playing tag. When the day was over, Cameron and I usually waited in the same spot for my parents to come pick us up. And he was there, but of course, not without his mystery girl.

"Oh! There she is!" he exclaimed, motioning for me to come over. "This is my best friend!"

"Hi." the girl said to me.

"China, Brenna. Brenna, China." he said, introducing us.

"It's nice to meet you, China." Brenna said to me, with a warm smile.

"Likewise." I said, returning that same smile.

"What class are you in?" she asked me.

"Princeton." I said. "You're in Yale with Cam, right?"

"Yea." she said. We all talked for about another 15 minutes before my parents finally pulled up.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Cameron said, smiling at her.

"Well yeah." she said, smiling back. "We're in the same class."

"You're absolutely right." he said back, laughing.

"Hey kiddos." my dad said to us as we climbed in the car.

"Hey." we both said back to him at the same time.

"Mission accomplished." Cameron said to me as we put our seatbelts on.

"Yeah." I said. "I'm proud of you. Now you gotta relay that back to everyone at the lunch table tomorrow."

"But why?" he asked.

"Well Booboo is already holding you accountable for it." I said back.

"Oh yeah." he said. "I almost forgot about that."

"Yeah I can tell." I say back.

"I guessss I can relay the information back to everyone tomorrow at lunch." he said. "Except not really because I'm sitting with her and her best friend tomorrow again for lunch."

"So you're just abandoning us now, huh?" I asked.

"Not exactly." he answered. "More like trying to get to know her. She's really cute. Ya know? Maybe I could spit some game?"

"Cameron." I said, trying to hold back my laughter. "What "game" do you have at this age?"

"I had game at his age." my dad chimed in. "I had so much game."

"Dad please." I begged, not wanting him to dive into a story. "Let our minds remain innocent for as long as they possibly can."

"Fine." he said, huffing. I love my dad. He was such a big baby whenever he didn't get to tell one of his stories. But when he told his stories, he told his stories. And they were, unfiltered. I already knew what sex was and I already knew what porn was. Unfortunately, so did Cameron, but we kept our minds innocent anyway. We didn't talk about it and we were never inappropriate.

"Are you really going to try to have a girlfriend in the 5th grade?" I ask.

"Well of course not." he said. "I was thinking maybe 8th grade. 14 is a good age to start dating right?"

"I thought it was 13." I said.

"Well back in my day it was 16." my dad chimed in again. "This newer generation is moving way too fast for my liking." The moment we all got home, we opened the door to Gabe and Sierra having a full blown screaming match in the middle of the living room.

"Haha, not today." Cameron said, immediately darting up the stairs. I followed because I also didn't want to deal with it. I'll let dad handle it.

"Wanna do homework together in my room today?" I asked him as we made it up the stairs.

"Yeah of course." he said. "I'm gonna change real quick though." He came into my room in basketball shorts and a tank top with his book bag. We both laid across the carpet, setting out all of our school material.

"What do you want to start with first?" I asked.

"Math." he said. "I hate math."

"I was thinking the same thing." I said back.

"I'm telling you." he began. "Great minds think alike. All the time."

"Yeah well my mind is just a little bit greater than yours." I said, smiling.

"Take that back." he demanded.

"Never." I said.