Close to the Covert Rains **Book One**

Chapter 19 (Thursday)

Sprinting from the cafeteria, Kwayo bolted to the teleporter. He tapped in the destination for the sixth grade dorm, shirt dripping, hands sticky. Then he jumped through, and dashed inside to the showers.

That food fight had not gone well. He blamed Isaac; once he joined, food had flown across sixth grade's table, splattering the seventh graders and enraging them into joining. Muttering under his breath, Kwayo swore to get that one kid back who'd dumped sour cream down his shirt.

In the shower stall, Kwayo ducked under hot, soothing water, chocolate ice cream running from his hair. Other footsteps entered the boys' bathroom, shower stalls squealing and water running.

When he'd barely finished washing, someone banged on Kwayo's stall.

"I'm waiting for my clothes!" he shouted, which was true. His clothes were in the stall's miniature clothes-washer. But they had also dried already, and he could just take them out.

"No you're not!" came Manuel's voice.

"What?" he exclaimed, but grudgingly turned off the water. He grabbed his towel from the waterproof bin and dried off, then shook out his clothes and dressed quickly.

He stepped from the stall. "How'd you know?" he asked Manuel.

He wiggled his eyebrows. "I just guessed."

Kwayo's cheeks turned red, but he turned away before Manuel could notice. "Lousy liar," he grumbled.

He went back out to the teleporter, walking backwards through the shimmering barrier just because. Then he strolled to the gym building, yawning. Could he have hit Chanel with the banana pie, instead of tossing it at the ground, hoping to make her slip?

Nah, it wouldn't have been worth it. If he'd missed, Zillie was standing behind her at the time, wielding a tray full of cupcakes.

Halfway down the hall, the bell rang. Kwayo jumped into a sprint. He didn't want to run laps. Especially because today they were starting lacrosse.

He burst through the doorway, and Coach Blanco glanced up from his seat in the corner. "Hello, Kwayo," his voice echoed through the basically empty gymnasium. "Nice of you to join us."

Kwayo's eyes swept the room. Teremki, Chanel, and Ryn were the only others present, standing near the wall by the door. Puzzled, he approached Teremki. "Where is everyone?" he whispered.

Teremki shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. You all had to help clean up, right?"

Kwayo nodded. "Yup. We finished, then I went back and showered, then I came here. I thought more people would've beaten me though..."

"Well, obviously not," he pointed. "Chanel only got here right before you by opening a portal straight into the room."

Kwayo sighed. "And Ryn's only here because she didn't get dirty at all."

"Ryn what?" Ryn poked her head around Teremki's shoulder, making Kwayo jump.

"Uh, hi, Ryn," he waved.

"I was saying you were here already because you didn't get dirty," Teremki said.

"Oh," Ryn glanced between them. "I thought you'd be praising the way I pelted Razón with the chocolate pudding."

Teremki just sighed, but Kwayo exclaimed, "that was so not fair! You're not allowed to scoop up the entire tray with a forcefield and hurl it at someone!"

Ryn grinned, folding her arms. "Says who? Isaac was blowing mountains of whipped cream at everyone, and no one said that was illegal."

"Wait," Teremki's eyebrows knit together. "They had mountains of whipped cream?"