white boys (river phoenix)

53

Chapter Fifty Three

"I think it's a little silly of them to advertise prom this early," River said, as he and Robin passed a giant sticky note pad sign counting down the months to Junior prom, his arm around Robin's waist.

She chuckled,

"Think we should go to prom? You know, senior prom?"

River glanced over at his girlfriend, the girl who he could now fully and wholly call his; his own, and a grin formed on his face, his circle glasses pushing up the bridge of his nose as he smiled,

"I do if you do."

Robin and River had been officially dating for some time now, but it hadn't exactly been sanctioned until December- sanctioned meaning approved fully by both Robin's parents. Ever since the remarkable impression River made on Robin's dad through the power of sports and his charm, Robin and River had been happily going along together with no obstructions to get in their way. It was almost perfect- it was February now and there was nothing and nobody attempting to stop them- no parents, no Dennis, nothing and nobody. In just three months, River and Robin would be graduating from high school and going wherever their path would take them, and even if they weren't together for college, they were certain nothing would change.

"Today's the day," Robin said for about the hundredth time that day, as they both walked to their lockers for early dismissal (senior privilege).

River rolled his eyes playfully and leaned against Robin's locker, which shamelessly held a baby picture of him on the inside of the door.

"For... what, exactly?"

Taking out her stuff, Robin shoved River's chest and laughed,

"Shh. you know I'm really nervous, don't make fun."

"It's hard not to when you bring it up every five seconds," River clapped back, and Robin raised a challenging brow.

Over winter break Robin jumped through hoops to get her writing project finished, and today was the day the mail would be delivered to the winner declaring that they'd won the competition and instructing them on the next steps to publishing their piece. Seeing as Robin's piece was about twenty handwritten pages, it was already a very short manuscript, and hopefully enough to actually get published as a book, one of her main goals in life. Robin wanted to leave school early in order to beat her anticipation and see if she would find anything in the mail other than her draft back to her. Return to sender.

"Blah blah blah, can you give me a little less attitude here?"

"I'm just saying! And you shouldn't be so nervous, Birdy. I know you did amazing and I didn't even read it," River reassured her, placing a hand in her's after she closed her locker.

"You're only saying that 'cuz you're my boyfriend," Robin scoffed, pushing him away.

He made no effort to separate himself from her and this only made him step closer, a hand placed firmly around her waist, forcing her to snuggle into his armpit.

"Yes, but I know you, Robin. You're the best of the best, everything you do, you put in one hundred percent. Like, that time when you avoided me from August to practically December," River joked, and Robin gave him a monotonous "ha-ha."

"Yes, and for good reason."

"Okay, how about that time when I found that poem you wrote about me? I'm pretty sure that's the only thing you've written that you've ever actually let me read, and I read it on accident. It was abso-fucking-lutely fantastic."