A Secret on Raven Block - Raven City Part Two

10

Kendall drove up to Stephanie's house and excitement shot through her. She couldn't believe she was here and she was going to see her friends again.

She parked her car in the Baylor's driveway and walked to the front door and rang the doorbell. Stephanie's little brother, Michael, opened the door.

Michael's eyes widened when he saw Kendall. "Kendall? I thought you moved!"

Kendall grinned and tousled his curly brown hair. "I'm back now! It's good to see you!"

Michael grinned and hugged Kendall around the waist.

"Michael? Who is it?"

Kendall beamed when Stephanie appeared in the doorway. Stephanie froze and gaped at Kendall.

Michael pulled back and pointed up at Kendall. "Look! Kendall's back!"

Kendall grinned and waved at Stephanie. "Hey, Steph."

Stephanie screamed and launched herself into Kendall's arms. Kendall barely caught the petite girl on time as Stephanie hugged her so hard that she nearly squeezed all the air out of her lungs.

"Oh my god!" Stephanie screamed in Kendall's ear. "What are you doing here!"

Kendall winced and set Stephanie down. "Geez, Steph, I'm happy to see you too but don't make deaf."

"Sorry, sorry," Stephanie said, grinning. "I can't believe you're actually here. When did you get here?"

"I've been here, actually. I just moved back and I wanted to surprise you."

Stephanie gave her another bone-crushing hug. "Oh. My. Gosh. This is the best thing ever!"

"Stephanie, what's going on?" Mrs. Baylor appeared from behind Stephanie and she beamed when she saw Kendall. "Kendall! What a pleasant surprise. What are you doing here?"
"I just moved back and wanted to surprise everyone. I wanted Stephanie to come with me to Hannah's house so I can surprise her."

"Can I go, Mom?" Stephanie begged.

Mrs. Baylor nodded and beamed at them. "Of course, you can go. Just make sure you're back before eleven."

"I'll just grab my purse," said Stephanie and she bolted upstairs.

"Bye, Kendall," Michael said and disappeared inside the house.

"It is nice to see you, Kendall," Mrs. Baylor said. "How was McGarrett?"

Kendall shuddered. "Horrible. I'm so glad to be back here."

"It's really good to have you back. Sorry, the other town didn't work out for you."

"It's okay. I guess Raven City's always going to be my home."

"Tell your parents to stop by some time. I'd love to catch up."

Stephanie appeared with her purse slung over her shoulder. "Hey, I'm ready to go."

"It was nice seeing you, Mrs. Baylor," Kendall said with a smile as she and Stephanie started toward Kendall's car.

"It was nice seeing you too. Be safe, okay?"

"We will, Mom," Stephanie called out as they got in Kendall's car and they waved to Mrs. Baylor before they pulled out of the driveway.

They talked the entire way to Hannah's house about everything that had happened in Raven City while she was gone - basically what Stephanie had done with Haley, Shelby, Caitlyn, and Sarah and what the popular kids in school had done. Nothing special, though Kendall was worried about the lack of time Stephanie and Hannah had been spending time together hopefully, that would change.

Soon they arrived at Hannah's house. Kendall parked her car and they rushed to the front door and knocked.

Hannah answered and had the same reaction as Stephanie: jumping into Kendall's arms and screaming in her ear about how happy she was to see her. Her parents were out at the moment - Mr. Carson was feeling decent today and her parents wanted to take advantage and try to have a day out together - so they headed upstairs to Hannah's room and it felt like nothing had changed.

The three girls sat on Hannah's bed and they spent the next two hours talking about everything that had happened. Kendall told them about everything that had happened in McGarrett and they burst out laughing when she told them about her telling off Mrs. Wilkins.

Kendall hadn't felt this happy in such a long time and was glad things were finally back to the way they were.

Hannah's phone dinged and she looked at her. "Oh, I invited Jade over here before you two came by. She's coming over here now."

"Oh," Kendall said, the only thing she knew to say. She didn't how she felt about seeing Jade Black in person. She never disliked Jade but at the same time was never close to her and Jade had been more of Hannah's friend and didn't talk to Stephanie and her very much. And Jade hadn't texted Kendall once since Kendall moved to McGarrett, though then again, Kendall hadn't texted Jade either, so she didn't know how to feel about Jade coming over. Jade wasn't unfriendly, but she wasn't the most approachable girl either.

"She'll be happy to see you," said Hannah.

"Have you three done anything since I've been gone?" Kendall asked.

Hannah shook her head. "No, but we've been trying to make plans."

"Maybe the four of us can do something this weekend?" Kendall suggested. She would have preferred it if it was just the three of them, but she didn't want to exclude Jade since the girl had become a part of their friend group before Kendall moved.

"That'd be great," Hannah said and they looked at Stephanie for a response.

Stephanie hesitated but nodded. "Yeah, sure. I'll make sure I don't have any plans."

The doorbell rang and Hannah went downstairs to answer the door.

"Oh," Kendall said to Stephanie as she suddenly remembered something. "I forgot to tell you guys, but a family is moving in next door to me and there's a guy around our age. He's hot as hell."

Stephanie giggled. "I guess someone has a crush."

Kendall rolled her eyes at her. "Not necessarily a crush. I just saw him for a few seconds. I wonder if he will go to our school or not."

"Probably since it's the closest high school. Did he seem friendly?"

"I don't know. We waved to each other but he was too busy with the movers for me to go say hello to him. I'll try to say hi to him when I have the chance and I'll see what he's like."

Hannah and Jade walked in. Jade smiled and sat down on the bed across from Kendall and Stephanie.

"Hi, Kendall," Jade said softly. "It's nice to see you back."

"It's nice to see you too."

Kendall felt at ease at Jade's smile and all of them launched into a nice discussion about what they wanted to do that weekend. The four girls stayed in Hannah's room, talking about everything that was going on with them - except for the ghost incident - until it was time for Kendall and Stephanie to go home.

After Kendall dropped Stephanie off, Kendall drove home and thought about how everything finally seemed perfect again. Even as she drove past Sterling Manor, she didn't feel scared or anxious, knowing that she was safe.

As she parked in her car in her driveway, she saw that the boy next door was sitting on his porch, reading a book, earbuds plugged into his ears.

She paused as the dream about the fox turning into a man flashed through her mind again as she stared at the boy.

She quickly looked away before he caught her staring and went inside her house, trying to ignore the strange feeling that rose inside her every time she thought of the boy and the dream.