white boys (river phoenix)

32

Chapter Thirty Two

Robin's heart dropped to her stomach when she focused in on the smile on River's face. She looked all around her at everyone who was looking at her, recording her, cheering her on. And she remembered the camera that was probably zooming in on her indecisive expression at that very moment.

And then, she smiled. It was barely visible and it probably looked more like a grimace of pain than an actual smile, but she was smiling anyway.

She slowly nodded her head up and down and her smile gradually grew bigger, her teeth showing as she answered,

"I will."

All her friends around her erupted into cheers and song, and Feldman made kissy faces at her from behind the big lumpy camera he was holding. Somewhere in the midst, he pressed stop and finally put it away, not before River dropped his sign and pulled her into a warm embrace. While he was holding her tightly, he said in her ear,

"Sorry for all the attention."

When she pulled away, she just smirked,

"Oh, don't worry. I'll get back at you."

"So, what's next?" Elizabeth asked, beaming while her hair flew behind her.

"Let's just go to my house. It's close by," River suggested.

Robin shook her head,

"Oh, I can't go. I have to go home."

Everyone began to moan and groan and complain, and Robin rolled her eyes.

"Oh, come on, Robin," Heather frowned.

"Yeah, what a buzzkill," Feldman scoffed.

Robin chuckled,

"Sorry, I didn't realize that we were actually gonna do something after this. I'll catch up with you later, okay?"

They all groaned, but Robin simply granted them a pitiful smile, and walked up the hill and away.

That evening, she cradled herself near the phone, clutching it close to her body. She bit her lip, trying to figure out if she should call Ariella again or leave it be. She suddenly didn't want to give Ariella an update on her love life, now that something might actually come of it. And as much as she was apprehensive to start something with River, a big part of her didn't want Ariella to drag her away from that concept. It was sinking into her skin like a virus. All River had to do was knock and he was in (BJORK REFERENCE Y'ALL!).

And she hated it as much as she yearned for it.

When school came about on Monday, everyone was buzzing about homecoming which was only one week away. Meanwhile, Robin didn't even have a dress, and she didn't even know if River had bought tickets yet. Luckily though, she hadn't seen any of her friends yet, and wouldn't have to deal with their incessant immaturity until lunchtime, whenever that was.

Robin was looking at the clock ahead of her and waiting for the time to pass. It was like every time she looked, it was still the same time, which meant Robin was either paranoid, the clock was stuck, or the class was boring and the time was not passing by as fast as she wanted it to. But somehow, someway, the bell rang, and Robin began to put her stuff away, leaning over her desk and reaching onto the floor where her backpack was.

"Robin!" a familiar voice beckoned her.

She looked up from the ground at Stacey's face, and faked a smile.

"Hi!" she said, her voice an octave higher than it should have been.

The two girls began to bask in their glory, knowing that the two of them wanted nothing less than to be speaking to each other, but deep down inside, Stacey's favorite thing to do was talk to her frenemies. And in reality, Robin wasn't really a frenemy, but they definitely weren't besties.