3

3

Ms. Paint clapped her hands, signaling choir was over. The final bell of the day rang. Keevan sighed, remembering she had to walk to work.

She exited the choir room and wound her way to Cari’s locker.

“Cari, wanna walk to the library with me?” she asked.

“I can’t,” Cari replied, loading things into her backpack. “I’m way too busy tonight with missing homework assignments, I have to get home and do them right away.”

“I told you to keep up on your school work!”

“And I told you that I don’t give a f**k about school,” Cari said back.

“You know how I feel about that language, Caritatis,” Keevan snapped. Cari sighed and closed her locker.

“I’m sorry, Kee,” she said, “but I have to get home. Have fun at work, okay?”

“Fine,” Keevan said, softening. “I’m sorry for getting mad.”

“It’s okay, Keevan,” Cari said, smiling at her and closing her locker. “I understand why you were mad.” She hugged her. “Have a great rest of your birthday, alright?”

“Alright,” Keevan said, hugging Cari back. “Thanks, Cari. See you Monday.”

“You’re not going to be at school tomorrow?” she asked.

“I’ve been scheduled to work all day tomorrow,” Keevan said. “There are going to be elementary school field trips coming and going, they need my help for the whole day.” Cari got a depressed look on her face. Keevan knew she was her only friend and felt extremely bad for her.

“I’m sorry, Cari, but I’ll be sure to hang out with you this weekend, okay?”

Cari smiled. “Okay, see you later, then.” Cari turned, with her bag, and walked down the hall in the direction of the bus corral. Keevan turned and saw Jack walking toward her, followed by a few of his buddies. Keevan didn’t like his friends.

“Hey, birthday girl,” he said cockily, giving her a hug and lifting her off the ground. Keevan giggled and hugged around his neck. His friends snickered. Jack set Keevan on the ground and dug in his pocket for something.

“You didn’t have to get me anything, really,” Keevan said. “It’s okay, Jack.”

“I got you something anyway,” he said, taking a velvet box out of his pocket. He handed it to Keevan. “Happy birthday, babe.”

Keevan flipped open the box and smiled. It was a silver ring. Jack took the box from her and took the ring out. He threw the box over his shoulder to one of his buddies and took Keevan’s left hand. He slid the ring on her ring finger.

“It’s a promise ring,” he said, grinning at her. “So, if you wear this, then that means you promise to always be my girl.” Keevan smiled and hugged him.

“I’ll wear it every day,” she said.

“Bitchin’!” Jack exclaimed, pulling Keevan’s arms from him and giving each of his buddies a high five. Keevan got annoyed again, but smiled when she studied the ring. It was very shiny and it fit perfectly.

“Thanks so much,” she said when Jack faced her again. “Hey, Gam’s got a performance tonight, want to come along?”

“Nah,” Jack said, “his band sucks a*s. Plus, I’ve got better things to do. How about you and me go on a hot date?”

“I promised Gamzee I’d go,” Keevan said, frowning. “I’m going to his show.”

“Fine, but don’t expect me to be dragged along,” Jack said, crossing his arms and pulling his shades down over his eyes, “and if you were smart, you’d reconsider.”

“Guess I’m not smart,” Keevan said, shrugging. She turned and walked away from him to the front of the building.

 

Keevan sighed, her arms tired. She had been put in charge of putting returned books back into the correct shelves. It had only been half an hour into her shift and she was already tired and wishing to go home. She still had two hours left before her special “it’s your birthday so you can leave early” shift ended. The library was dead empty, anyway, except for one other woman working there, and Karkat. He was always at the library after school, sitting in the back at a big table, listening to his iPod with his homework out. Keevan sometimes caught him looking at her as she worked.

Keevan looked in the book cart she had with her. There were still a few books left to be put back into their shelves. She was in the fantasy section right now, returning a saga someone had borrowed about dragons, wizards, and warlocks. She had thumbed through the first book of the saga once, and it seemed actually quite interesting.

Keevan glanced to her left. Karkat was at his usual table. He was looking at her.

“Keevan,” said her coworker, Eleanor.

“Ah, yes?” Keevan said, caught a bit off guard that she had snuck up on her.

“My shift’s over, I can trust you to lock up once you leave at five?” she asked, handing Keevan the keys to the front door on a lanyard.

“Of course,” Keevan said, smiling at the old woman and sliding the lanyard over her head so the keys rested against her chest. “You can count on me! Is there anything else I need to do after I put these books back?”

“Just run the front desk in case there are people waiting to check out books,” Eleanor said, pushing up her big silver glasses.

“Alright. Have a good night, Eleanor. I’ll see you tomorrow, bright n’ early!”

Eleanor chuckled and waved goodbye as she left. Keevan glanced back at Karkat. He was still looking at her. Keevan finished putting the fantasy books away quickly and turned toward Karkat. He quickly looked down at whatever homework was in front of him. Keevan smiled and walked over to his table.

“Hi, Karkat,” she said. “You don’t need to be shy, just say hi. How are you?” He ignored her. He was listening to his iPod. Keevan took a seat next to him at the table and tapped his paper. He quickly looked up at her, a bit surprised, and took his ear buds out.

“You don’t need to be so bashful,” she said again. “Just say hi. How are you, Karkat?”

“F-Fine, I guess,” Karkat said, glancing back at his homework. Ninth grade geometry.

“Do you need some help with your homework?” she asked. “I have time.”

“I can do it,” Karkat said, gripping his pencil tighter. “You don’t need to baby me.”

“I just want to know why you keep staring at me,” Keevan said. Karkat shrunk in his chair and pulled his hood over his head.

“I have to go,” he said, quickly grabbing his homework and shoving it in his backpack with his pencil. Without zipping it, he clumsily stood up with his backpack and headed toward the front of the library.

“Karkat, wait,” Keevan said, reaching over the table and grabbing his sleeve. He stopped. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you. It’s okay. You can stay here as long as you want. I…I have to be getting back to work, anyway.” Karkat didn’t move. Keevan released his sleeve and said, “Please don’t leave because of me. I didn’t mean to bother you, I’m sorry.” Keevan stood up from the table and pushed in her chair. “Let me know if you need help with anything, alright?” she said. “Whether it’s here or at school.”

Karkat still didn’t answer. He didn’t even nod his head. He slowly sat back down at the table and took his now-crumpled homework out of his backpack. Keevan turned and walked back to the book cart, pushing it into the next section. She couldn’t describe to herself her feelings at the moment.

 

Karkat had left about an hour before her shift ended. No one had entered the library since then. She closed up exactly at five and decided to head to Gamzee’s band’s show straight from work. The sun was setting and barely anyone was outside as she crossed the street and walked past random buildings. Something in an alley caught her eye. Keevan saw something sparkling near the end of it. She was curious and followed it. The sparkling thing moved around a corner. Keevan had to run a bit to catch up to it. She walked slowly toward it, blinded by shadows, and saw it disappear. She looked around and couldn’t see it.

She realized what it was once a hand was clamped over her mouth and something sharp and slick was against her throat.

It was a knife.

“Give me every f*****g cent you have,” a low voice said in her ear. “Everything you have, now.” Keevan gripped his hand and moved it from her mouth.

“You’re better than this,” she said. “I know you are, whoever you are.”

“Shut up and give me the money!” he shouted, pushing the knife against her skin. She screamed a little, feeling it slice into her skin. Tears welled in her eyes and ran down her cheeks.

“Please, stop,” Keevan sobbed, her knees shaking. “Stop this. I know you’re a better person than this…”

“You don’t know me,” the voice continued. “You’re just a plastic little Barbie girl who grew up with everything you ever wanted. Just give me all the money you have and you’ll live to see another day!”

“Today’s my birthday,” Keevan sobbed, not knowing what else to say. “Any other day, not today…not today!” She threw his arms away from her and started running, back the way she had come. The alley got lighter, though the sun was barely showing over the tops of the buildings. Keevan tripped and fell to the ground, just before reaching that corner she had turned down. She cried harder, no noise escaping her. She was too scared. She looked up at the mugger. He was tall, but had a young face. His hair was black, messy, and greasy. His eyes had dark purple bags under them from lack of sleep. He wore ratty jeans and an even rattier sweatshirt. He was just looking down on her, an unreadable expression on his face.

Keevan quieted her cries, coming to the realization that she wasn’t as afraid of him as she had thought.

“What’s…your name?” she asked him, holding a hand to her throat and standing up. “You look…familiar.”

“…Motavo,” he said hesitantly. “Yours…?”

“Keevan,” she said, trying to stop herself from shaking. “You’re supposed to be a junior in high school, right?”

“Yeah…”

“You went to my school,” she said. “I remember seeing you in the halls, but then I never saw you again.”

“I dropped out last year,” he said.

“Motavo, I thought you were going to mug me?” Keevan said quietly. “Why are you just standing there, knife in your hand, doing nothing?”

Motavo didn’t answer. He dropped the knife.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. He ran out of the alley, as fast as he could, not looking back. Keevan stared after him and walked out. She looked at her hand, which had been on her throat. There was a thin red line, but it didn’t look too bad. Maybe her scarf would cover the wound and she would never bring this up or speak of it again.

She did hope, however, that she would see Motavo again.

Blaring music. Fist pumping. Dancing. Mosh pit. Crowd surfing. The average behavior for one of Gamzee’s band’s shows. This one was out doors in a parking lot. They were on a raised wooden platform rocking out and doing their thing. Gamzee had his clown makeup on. Keevan stood in the back, leaning against a tree in the grass outlining the lot. She didn’t like to be mixed in with their crazy party fans. Truth be told, she didn’t even remember the name of the band. She didn’t really like their style of music, but she always went to support Gamzee. He lived through music and never went anywhere without his guitar and a pick.

Keevan looked around the crowd, looking for one particular girl. Keevan found her, a few feet away, sitting on the hood of her car with her laptop. She was Korean and was always at one of Gamzee’s performances, no matter where it was at. She always had her laptop with her, as well, and occasionally looked up and stared at Gamzee. Keevan always smiled when she saw it.

The song ended and Gamzee went up to the microphone.

“This song is dedicated to my best friend,” Gamzee said. “I love her and I hope she has an awesome birthday.” He and the whole band played a rock version of Happy Birthday. Keevan covered her mouth and laughed, expecting no less from Gamzee. The crowd was cheering and a lot of them were drunk and dancing like idiots. When the song finished, everyone was cheering for an encore. The whole band screamed no into their microphones and announced the show was over. Keevan laughed even harder when the crowd groaned and went their separate ways around the strip mall, not quite ready to go home.

Gamzee quickly put his guitar into its case and jumped off the stage, running toward Keevan with a big grin on his face. Keevan saw the Korean girl blush immensely and close her computer, getting off the hood of her car and getting into the driver’s seat. Gamzee gave Keevan a big hug and lifted her off of the ground. Keevan laughed and hugged him back.

“Great show, Gam!” she said laughing.

“Did’ja like your present?” he asked, setting her down.

“I loved it!” Keevan said. Gamzee smiled and put an arm around her.

“Lemme drive you home,” he said.

“Are you staying with us tonight?” she asked.

“I…decided to try and work things out with my folks again,” he said, “but don’t be surprised if I’m at your pad in the morning.”