Welcome to My World

Chapter 53 Callum's POV {The (Potential) Burning of The Books}

Well, a week went by pretty fast, huh? Last thing I know, Rayla made her epic song confession, and Aanya was laughing her head off about 'all the lovey-dovey teenage hormones' (to be honest, I think she might have been slightly tipsy. You can get drunk on apple cider; seriously, I looked it up).

I hum Four Seasons to myself, lounging on the sofa with my book in hand. I'm pretty sure Ellis and Ez are having a snowball fight in the backyard, I can hear screaming. I think Rayla challenged the NaNoers.

"We may be weird, but we're not deaf!" Sky yelled.

Ok, so maybe someone let slip a snide remark about them. Eh.

I left the fighters to their snow and turned back to my brand new comic. I got it for Christmas. As a fallback, I also had the copy of Pokemon Special: Sun and Moon next to me. You'll see why.

I flipped the page, moving from Four Seasons to Für Elise. Hana, the chosen ninja, was sneaking into Argon Falls to fight King Ardath when suddenly-

"Hey, help us fight off the NaNoers." Rayla said, yanking away my comic book.

"Tomo!!!" I wailed, reaching for my book, which she held out of reach.

Rayla raised an eyebrow. "Help us and I'll give it back."

I stuck my tongue out at her, carefully picking up volume 1 of Sun and Moon. Now, travelling to Alo-

"Help. Us." Rayla demanded, grabbing the manga away.

"Hey!" I protest weakly. "Gren gave it to me, and it's brand new! I haven't even gotten to the part where Moon meets Sun, so you better not crumple it, or... Or... Or I'll... Do... Something."

Rayla moved towards the fireplace, and I will admit to shrieking very high pitched. "Rayla!"

She smirked. "Help us! Help us, and I'll give these back."

I weighed the options. While I wasn't fully sure Rayla would throw my books in the fire, I also WASN'T fully sure she wouldn't.

"Fine, I will." I sighed reluctantly. "Who started it?"

Rayla tossed the books onto the coffee table (and I desperately prayed that my beloved Tomo comic didn't crush Sun and Moon, 'cause it was slightly bulkier) and dragged me away towards the backyard. I could almost hear my manga begging me to come back and read them, where it was warm.

"Alesa was complaining about the fact that her scarf was striped on her polka dot sweater and checkered leggings, and Raine and Graph were climbing the tree in Benny's backyard and Raine said that Alesa looked fantastic but Alesa said that only Genelyn would share that opinion, and before I knew it, Sky, Greenie, and Toothless came out of the house with Benny, and Sky had a bucket of ice on her head, Greenie had shipping flags of some obscure fandoms, and Toothless had her drums, and Benny had a shovel, then we got into a snow fight, and Ellis, Ezran, and me got dragged in before Alesa died and Ez told me to get you while he got Aanya, and in the middle of all that a guy from school came looking for you so Alesa told him to get to work because Toothless is killer with the shovel-"

"Wait, she hits people with a shovel?" I interject.

Rayla rolled her eyes. "No, ya dummy, she shovels snow then catapults it. And while you're trying to dodge the huge snow mounds coming atcha, Sky is throwing ice cubes at people while Raine and Graph throw from above and Benny plays the drums and Greenie deflects the snowballs we throw at them and it's deadly."

All I can say to that is 'oh', as we emerge into the backyard. True to Rayla's word, the backyard is chaos. Snow is everywhere, and Ellis, Ezran, Ravi?, Alesa, and Aanya are also covered in it. The NaNoers are perfectly fine.

"Ravi?!" I ask in disbelief. "Why are you here?"

He shrugs. "I don't know any more, man."

Suddenly Rayla screams, toppling over into the snow. Her eyes widen. "Callum, look ou-"

I turn my head to look and get slammed by a snow load, courtesy of Toothless and her shovel. I wobble, and I lose my balance, tipping over... Straight onto Rayla!

By total accident, I assure you, my lips crashed directly into hers, and we kissed. I pulled away quickly, but I think Rayla was slightly dazed. The NaNoers had stopped their barrage of snow and ice and various cold items.

Raine grinned. "Ooh-la-la, a love-"

She was cut off by an icicle to the face, thanks to Sky. "EW! TEENAGERS!"

Rayla got up, her face crimson red. "You can have your mangoes back." She muttered.

I noticed something just then. "Hey, uh, by the way, nice pendant."

"Oh, thanks. Runaan and Ethari gave it to me." She said shyly. "Come to think of it, Derek said the same thing this morning."

Ellis and Ez exchanged alarmed glances, for some reason, and Aanya snickered. "Ooh-la-la." She started to mimic. "A love-"

This time, Sky, Ellis, and Ezran all pelted her with snow.

I went back inside, but for some reason I couldn't seem to focus on Moon and Rotom looking for the professor. Instead, my thoughts lingered on a certain violet-eyed gaze, and I felt a little jealous of Derek. Why?

I'd have to ask Rayla at the fireworks tonight, i guess.