The embarrassment was great and the young man kept looking back at his phone, wondering if she would ever respond back or if he had just made a fool out of himself. He honestly probably did make a fool out of himself but she seemed to find it funny as the message seemed to gently poke fun at him. A long sigh left him after he read the text and he finished getting ready before responding, no wanting to see too eager – 

[i]I’ll do my best. We’ll discuss the details at school, see you there friend.[/i] [b]Send.[/b]

Writing the word ‘friend’ at the end of his text message was still incredibly foreign to him. Having someone to text outside of his family was still foreign to him but he was incredibly happy. 

The school day went well, thank god it was Friday. Now he had something to look forward to on the weekend. The day came to an end quickly as he shared in the delight of having someone to talk to and eat lunch with. They laughed and chatted and discussed many different things. It was so nice to have someone to talk to and laugh with. School finally became more than just about education for him. It meant socializing and this, this was a new experience he had never seen had before. 

Saturday afternoon rolled around and Kenton had spent most of the morning preparing the living room of their house into a dark frightful room with blankets, pillows, drawn closed blinds and popcorn, soda and the surround sound on. Mom was away at a business conference and dad didn’t care who they had over as long as they cleaned up after themselves. Kenton stood back observing his work before giving a nod. Turning on the television, he pulled up his list of horror movies and waited, waited for the doorbell to ring. Rayne was at work and Atsuma was with his father at the shop, they would have the whole place to themselves. And she said she’d come over herself.