Fear Street One-Shots

You Always Hurt The One You Love - Ruby Lane

"It would be nice to see him," I start.

"See? Kathleen knows best! Come on, change into something nice and we'll go!"

"Fine," I relent.

I slip into my favorite white strawberry-printed top and a dark green skirt. I adjust the ribbon in my hair, and tell Kathleen I'm ready to go. We hurry downstairs, our footsteps sounding through the house. Mom intercepts us at the door, as usual.

"Hey, girls," She greets.

"Hi, Mrs. Lane," Kathleen replies, putting on that polite face that she reserves for interacting with adults.

"Don't you both look pretty," Mom gushes, but her expression doesn't last. "Wait, wasn't Kathleen just dropping by to borrow some jewelry?"

"Ruby's feeling better now and wants to come, too," Kathleen interjects, clinging to my arm. "And it'll only be for around two hours- if you're alright with her going, Mrs. Lane."

Mom glances at me. "Are you sure you feel well enough to go, Ruby? You said you felt ill earlier..."

Kathleen shoots me a look out of the corner of her eyes. I know Mom wants to hear that I feel better, so she has one last thing to worry about, and Kathleen really wants me to come. I don't want to let either of them down.

"Yeah, I'm doing much better," I lie. "Ready to hit the road."

Mom and Kathleen both grin upon hearing this. "Well, if you're sure," Mom says. "Both of you, have fun! Don't drink!"

"We won't," we both lie, and head for the door.

"Ruby, one last thing- if you're going to sing there, don't strain your voice too much. You have that choir concert coming up."

"I won't," I promise. That reminds me- I need to practice my singing for that later tonight. I do feel pretty sick, but that's not going to stop me. Music is my medicine for anything and everything. I'm pretty sure I've never missed a choir concert or voice lesson- Kathleen once joked that if I was hospitalized I'd find a way to break out so I wasn't late for vocal ensemble.

I give Mom a quick hug and dash out the door, and Kathleen and I rush towards her van. As I hop inside, I can feel the cool breeze hitting my skin and instantly making me feel refreshed. Maybe Kathleen was right- maybe I just needed to get out of the house. Staying stuck inside by myself was probably what made me feel groggy.

But, still...

"Kathleen- it will only be two hours, right?" I ask as we zoom down the road.

"Right, right," Kathleen reassures me. "Only two hours."

(Yeah, it wasn't two hours.)

____________________________________________________

By the time we pull up the car at Devon's street, he and Charles and Agnes are already there. Kathleen and I are late, but as she likes to say, "fashionably late."

Once we get inside, I spend a good minute fumbling like an idiot in front of Charles, debating whether I should kiss or hug him. We eventually settle on an awkward hand shake while Kathleen pretends not to laugh.

I do hug Agnes, but she pulls back quickly and says, "By the way, I'm going by Aggie now. As a nickname."

"How come?" I question. "Your name's so pretty already."

"She doesn't like it anymore because she thinks it sounds too witchy," Devon remarks.

"Witchy?"

"I don't know. Agnes. It's kind of witchy-sounding, right?" Agnes- well, Aggie, says.