The First Drop Of Rain

Chapter Thirty Nine

Halloween

"Come on Ari, what do you mean you still haven't opened the letter? It's been over a month!" Gaia groaned from across the room, shoving the box she held onto a table.

"I can't do it Gaia, what if what's in there is something I don't want to know?" I reasoned with her as I climbed the ladder with my small box of neon plastic streamers. I wasn't sure if they were really steamers if they weren't crepe paper, but alas, it was what I was calling them.

"I feel like the anticipation would kill me faster than the heartbreak of hearing something you already assumed." Her words barely reached me before she began making large amounts of noise digging through the plastic wrappers that held the table cloths. I decided to wait to respond and start prepping my streamers slowly, watching her open all the wrappers and toss the folded contents onto the tables they had been designated to.

"While that is a fair point of view, I just dont think I can do it... at least not now." I finally spoke when the noise died down, my hands slowly peeling tape for easy grab.

"Okay, well when you decide to open, at least call Ang or me so that we can be there for support?" Gi shoved the empty wrappers in the trash can and rested her hands on her hips, standing in the center of the gym with expectant but gentle eyes.

"I promise. Now help me hang up these streamers in the door. Who knew doing the neon theme this year would be so much more work than the gore theme from last year." I attempted to lighten the mood, though the dread in my heart was enough to drag me under at this moment.

"Oh, just to confirm, your Poison Ivy, I'm Cat Woman, and Ang is Bat Girl. Right?" Gaia asked as she made her way across the room to me.

"Yep!" I said as I strained to reach one of the spots above the door that I wanted to get before I moved the ladder. It all happened at once then. I heard Gaia yell something to the tune of "oh shit" at the same time that the door opened. Of course it wasn't the door that had knocked me off balance, seeing as the door opened out, it was instead my own clumsiness that allowed my foot to slide off the rung of the ladder that I had been so cavaliere with in the first place. I had been leaning, only one foot holding my weight, the other dangling as I pressed a hand to the wall. I had done it a million times before when setting up for homecoming, holiday dances, or even prom. A million and one appeared too much for even my luck to support, because I was falling in what seemed like slow motion. The scream that came out of me was half there, because the next thing I knew I had crashed into cold stone arms, which hurt nearly as much as the floor would have.

"Oh my god Edward you saved her life!" Gaia stopped mid sprint and leaned over, just a few paces away now, the panic obvious on her face. "Oh my god I was not ready to call any of our parents and explain that I couldn't maintain proper ladder safety." I could feel the humor in her statement as she turned around and walked to calm herself.

Just like on my birthday, I was caught in his gaze and felt myself enter the same enthrallment that had encased me before. The air around us thickened and I felt myself being sucked in, but I dug my metaphorical heels in and looked at him sternly. Put me down. He hesitated only a moment before gently placing me to the ground.

"Oh man, that was so lucky Edward, amazing timing." Gaia said as she walked back over, her nerves officially settled (well as much as they could be.) She seemed none the wiser of the brief moment Edward and I had shared, and instead moved on to another matter of business. "So what brings you in here?"

"Uh..." Edward cleared his throat and put on his very best human performance, scratching the back of his head and looking to the floor. "Well Chef Bartley said it was hardly fair for me to leave my lab partner to do all the dance prep, so I've been sent to help out."