Dance In The Rain

~40~ Crawdad Festival

I will not be able to update Friday, so I'm posting early.

For my readers who are offended by eating meat...Please read at your own discretion ❤️

Julianne's POV

It's been a week, and Gage and I are somehow back to where we were before I skipped school. He doesn't look at me, doesn't talk to me, and honestly?

I'm trying to just let it be. I don't want to make things worse by forcing him to talk about something that was so awful. Even I blush when I think about it.

And do I really want to get mixed up with that family?

Maybe things worked out the way they were supposed to...Except I can't stop thinking about him.

"Can I talk to you?" Kenna whispers at the end of Holden's class, and I turn to her and nod.

"I know I'm supposed to go to your house after school, but I'm thinking about lying to Holden and going downtown."

"What's downtown?" I ask.

"There's the big Crawdad Festival this weekend. Have you not heard of it?"

"No?"

She bites back a grin and nods. "There's live music, and people boil crawdads...And vendors have booths with beer where certain ones won't card. I thought I'd go have fun."

I see Gage turn his head to listen out of the corner of my eye.

"That does sound really fun," I nod as I contemplate if it's something I want to do.

She walks up to Holden and says something, and when he nods she comes back. "What did you say?"

"I just told him that I'm going to my grandma's tonight instead."

"You know what? I want to go with you. I suck at lying, though. Can you go ask him if I can go too?"

She gets a funny look on her face. "Jules, I don't want you getting in trouble. You sure? He won't find out with me, but if you come home drunk or something..."

"I can't stay the night at your grandma's with you?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "I'm going to stay at my house since my mom will be at work. You can come if you want, though."

"I do. I'm so tired of being so....good all of the time."

Gage turns in his chair a little more, and his back straightens as he watches Kenna walk back up to Holden. After a minute, Holden looks at me and crooks his finger. When I get up there, Holden shakes his head.

"You're not staying the night at her grandma's. I don't know her."

I start to say something, when Kenna clears her throat. "Yes you do," she argues.

"What?" Holden asks as he tilts his head in confusion.

"She's Marge. The waitress at the Burger Shack."

Holden's eyes widen in surprise and he nods. "Oh! I do know Marge. She was friends with Chippy. Let me make sure I have her number...I'm pretty sure I do."

Holden scrolls through his phone and nods when he sees her name in his contacts. "What are you guys doing?" He asks Kenna.

"Grandma is taking me to get my nails done. She said to bring Jules along, to help repay you for keeping me so much."

Holden gets a smirk as he nods. "Alright. How are you getting there?"

"She's picking us up after school," Kenna lies with ease.