Into The Orchard

XV

As you might not guess, when I told Elizabeth, Randal, and Rayan about what I had done the previous day, I got a whole lot of criticism. At least in relation to this situation, Rayan started talking to me. He said that I could have given him the gun. That would not have been a good solution for two reasons. First, at that moment, the doberman was still mortally offended at me and would not talk to me. Second, the gun in my backpack seemed to be safer than his after all. But what happened happened and all the talk about it now was speculation, what could have happened and what did not have to happen. In the end, everything ended relatively well. If spending ten thousand crowns can be called a relatively good end to the matter. The school director, Robert Rell, did not report the whole incident anywhere, nor did he inform anyone about it. So the case was confidential, secret. Only a handful of people knew about the events of the previous day. I mean me, the school principal, the whole Von Rostov family, Rayan, Elizabeth, Randal... If you think about it, a lot of people actually knew about the case. I wondered when this information from Aurelia would come to light. It was more than obvious that the teenager would spread it to her friends.

We were just out of school. Spring was already here in Hight Water for good and the synoptics were predicting sunny and warm weather for the next two weeks. As we all know very well, synoptics are often wrong about what the weather is going to be like even the day after they announce their forecasts. I'm sure Gregory and Catleyn were counting on the weathermen on TV not being wrong this time. The wedding was to take place in just a few days. Although I had an invitation with a companion, I had not considered the option of inviting anyone to the wedding. Maybe Elizabeth could come with me, as my friend? I don't know myself, I wasn't convinced I wanted any of my friends to witness the farce that was my mother's wedding.

My friends decided to wait with me until Desmont showed up. I didn't feel stressed about our last meeting. I was more impatient. I wanted it all to be over as soon as possible. Meanwhile, as we stood like this on a sunny day by the school gate, the guys were just talking about the boxing competition that was going to take place tomorrow. Rayan seemed strangely withdrawn from the conversation somehow. I didn't speak, just listened. I listened until a certain point.

- Too bad you gave up that competition. - Randal whined, extinguishing his cigarette against the concrete on the ground. - We were going to bet on who was going to put the finishing touches on Alex's snout.

- I'll be rooting for you. - The doberman replied as he also finished smoking his cigarette.

It seemed odd to me that Rayan had opted out of a competition he cared about after all. Since he was going to cheer for Randal it meant that he would probably be in the stands at Koseva. If he had to stay with his little sister, that would explain why he had to drop out. I didn't even know if I should ask him about why he backed out.

- And you Max are coming with us to cheer on Randal? - Elizabeth asked me, fixing her purple hair.

Am I going? I don't know. After the argument with Rayan, we didn't have a chance to talk normally. I didn't know if his invitation to Kosev in this situation was valid.

- I don't know if after this action with the gun, Von Rostrovov will let me go to Kosev. - I replied as diplomatically as possible.

- Then you'd better find out quickly, because I don't know what time or if I'm even supposed to pick you up at all. - Rayan replied, rather carelessly as was his custom.

So the invitation still stands. It's interesting that Rayan wants us to go to this competition together, even though he's not participating himself. Not as interesting as why he opted out, of course. But I had a feeling that sooner or later the boy would say so himself. Forcing anything on Rayan was missing the point.