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."
"Again, you're saying that because it involves you. I mean Riv, the poem was literally about you."
They were now outside of the school just a few minutes away from Robin's house, Robin still being forced to walk hand in hand with him.
"Can you just- for once- appreciate your talent?"
"Ohh, don't start," Robin groaned, already nauseated just knowing that River was about to go into one of those tangents about how amazing Robin was and how proud he was to call her his girlfriend. They were meant to boost her ego, but they just made her shy.
"Robin, I tell you this all the time," River started, Robin already mouthing the words he must have said a thousand times since their relationship was verified. "You're talented, you're brilliant, extremely intelligent, and I mean extremely- you have one of the top GPAs of our grade and applied to all Ivy League schools with confidence! How many people can do that and actually think they might get in? That's a compliment, don't you forget it."
Robin basically tuned out the rest of River's rant, which literally went on for the entirety of the time it took for the two of them to walk Robin home, which luckily was only a few minutes. He was still going by the time they reached Robin's house, at which point her heart was beating mighty fast and her thoughts were whizzing through her head a mile a minute. She wanted to turn to River and scream that she loved him but to shut up, but she couldn't even gather enough nerve to do that. Her fingers were quite literally shaking as she stood in front of the mailbox, which was now something of a mythical creature to her.
In the back of her mind, Robin was thinking "why am I so nervous? This isn't life or death," but all her other thoughts were screeching that this publishing deal was a matter of life or death. This was Robin's one chance to tell her story- to expose herself to the world without giving away too much, just a little taste to pull the reader in. She was realistic though, and doubted it would actually become a bestseller and reach the top of the charts. But publishing company Take Flight had published some of the best authors and books, and it would surely be a start to gaining exposure for Robin in the career she knew she wanted.
Plus, she didn't want to know how she might feel if she didn't win.
River only shut up once he realized Robin was completely silent and completely still, scoping out the mailbox as if it were a foreign entity, something she had never come in contact with in her life. It was like she was trying to mind communicate with it- send it a message: "please open by yourself by some miracle" was what she was saying. So River shut himself up, pursed his lips and walked in front of Robin, cranking down the mailbox. It opened up a crank and yes, there was a letter in a stuffed yellow envelope waiting for Robin.
By some burst of confidence, Robin launched herself in front of River and snatched the envelope out of the mailbox. She tore it open at the top and began scrambling through it, pulling out what she hoped would be an edited manuscript and a letter attached telling her she had won the competition. Rifling through the papers, she felt a surge of pride in her heart as she saw her first draft edited. It was like artwork to her, the demolishing and harsh criticizing of her own work, all in different colors. Red pen, blue pen, green pen, even purple. She repeated those words in her mind as if she were reading a Dr. Seuss book, and failed to even recognize she was squealing with joy and jumping up and down, the papers flailing wildly in her hands.
And before she knew it, River was jumping up and down too, and he took her in his arms and swung her up and down, hugging her. Filled to the brim with euphoria, she didn't even mind that the papers were getting crushed, and when she put them down, she found the acceptance letter and started to read in a strained, emotional voice:
"'It is with great pleasure that we accept you, Robin Indera Skye as the winner of Take Flight's regional publishing competition. Attached you will see a professionally edited version of your writing piece. Within a month, we expect the final revised version back to us for final last touches. Following that, we will start the publishing process over the course of this summer. If deadlines for edited revisions are not met, we will have to pass the offer on to someone else. Congratulations, and happy writing.
- Take Flight Publishing Co."
River was silent, but his face said it all, a mellow smile on his face and a caring gaze in his eyes as he watched Robin take it all in. In that moment he had another realization that this was the girl of his dreams, who was following her dreams. It was all coming together, not just for Robin, but for the both of them. He found himself wishing everyone could be at this level of content at least once in their life- this was the happiest he'd seen Robin over anything.
"River... I'm actually going to be published... this piece of crap I wrote in less than a month is gonna be an actual book."
River grinned a Cheshire cat smile and pulled Robin in to his side, letting her snuggle her head into his chest as her eyes ran down the paper, reading it again and again, her vision blurring from teary eyes.
"I know. This is the proudest I've ever been of you- besides that time when you, you know, chose me."
Robin rolled her eyes,
"Sure, pal."
This was quite literally the start of something new.
issa senior finals, prom n graduation soooon okurrr (in this book world time lol)!!! basically everythang's gna go bye fasttt so i can get to the good stuff aka the end of this book oof
how's yall summer going so farrr?? also remember, new book comin july 4th ahhh im v excited