Now that it was the end of the day, we all quickly went home to get our stuff. After I picked up my sister Lily from her elementary school.

"Alright, Lily I'm sure you finished packing, so we're just gonna travel to a friend of mine who'll be our driver," I said, holding her hand as we left the door.

"Who?" she asked, tightly holding her backpack.

"Norman, you don't know him yet, but he's the only person who has a driver's license right now," I explained, forgetting she probably doesn't even know who Norman is.

"(y/n), who's Norman?" she asked curiously. We finally arrived in front of his house.

"You'll see, we're here now," I whispered. I rang the doorbell and I felt Lily hide behind me. Emma opened it, and I saw past her shoulder that everyone was already here.

"Hi, (y/n), you're just on time, we've been waiting for you," she greeted, making a little wave. She then noticed Lily behind me. "And who's this little one?"

"Oh, she's my little sister, Lily," I stated, all three of us walking inside. We all placed our bags in the pile of luggage in the kitchen.

Norman lives alone, in a house he was given by a friend of his. Emma usually sometimes stays over. I've only been there twice, once for a school-related meeting, and the other on Christmas Eve.

Lily seemed scared. She never liked being in new environments, even if it's a relative. So I held her hand the entire time as Emma gave both of us a glass of water.

"So you're Lily right?" Norman asked kindly. He crouched in front of her, so she doesn't need to look up as much. He was always really good with children. "I'm Norman and the girl with orange hair is Emma. I'm sure you already know (f/n) and Ray."

She nodded and didn't say anything, as she hid behind me. "Can I go talk to Ray?" she whispered.

"Yeah sure, go ahead," I whispered back. She then walked to him. "Sorry, my sister never really was comfortable visiting new places."

He laughed pleasantly. "It's fine, she seems really well-behaved."

"Trust me, she's not. She's a wild animal in our own house," I explained giggling.

I went to where (f/n) was sitting and she was currently writing an essay. "You still haven't done the book report?"

"No, I've been procrastinating on it, but lucky for me, I've found an amazing story on Archive of Our Own," she explained, typing quickly.

"Does stories on Ao3 even count?" I asked, peering over her shoulder. She hummed, which I took as a "yes."

"I asked Mr. Leslie and he said it's fine as long as there are a title and author, which there is," she answered. She was currently in the second paragraph.

"Oh, then what story did you pick?" I asked, trying to see what she's writing. Unfortunately, her text is really small and my vision is getting worse. I might need to get glasses soon.

"This life-changing story called Seven Minutes," she replied. "I read it, and I can't look at Eren the same way."

"Eren? From "Attack on Titan?" I inquired. She nodded. "Seems interesting."

I looked over at Lily and she was currently conversing with Ray about red-velvet cupcakes. Recently, she has been occupied with trying to learn how to bake, and Ray's been teaching her.

"I baked a batch for your mom as you said," I heard him say. "Are you sure this is gonna work?"

"Yes. Our parents are fine with any guy as long as they don't do anything bad to (y/n). But if you do, you might as well change your identity and fake your death," Lily said, scaring him.

I really should put parental restrictions on our TV and her iPad. She's only eight! I made a mental note in my head so once we arrive back, I can turn it on.

"Oh, by the way, happy birthday Ray! Did you like the scarf my sister made? I forgot to tell her to give this to you," she said, reaching into her backpack. She gave him a handwritten card with an artistic representation of him.

"Thank you, Lily, I'll definitely treasure it," he said, blinking at it. I wonder what she wrote.

Emma then stood up and excused herself to go to the bathroom. I was about to go on my phone, wondering when we're planning to leave.

I looked at Ray and once he noticed me he made what? expression.

Ask Norman what we are doing, I said with my hands. I pointed directly at Norman.

You look like a dying jellyfish, he mouthed. I blinked and went on my phone.

"Ask Norman what are we doing when we arrive at the site," I told him over text. He texted back, "Got it."

"So Norman, what are we doing once we go to our location?" he asked nonchalantly.

He shrugged. "I haven't decided. I just rented the area, and I don't even know what it looks like, or even if it has a signal."

"Shouldn't we start the car now?" I asked. We've been sitting here for probably twenty minutes now, and I don't even know what we were waiting for.

But here's a background of what is going to happen. We arrive at whatever the GPS says we are. We create a plan from there, and in the meantime, we do whatever we want.

"We can start now," Norman answered. As if on cue, all of us stood up. I took Lily's hand and we all started going to the car.

Norman is an interesting person. Before I knew him personally, he always gave me this unsettling feeling. Like, he seemed too nice sometimes. Every teacher adored him. Girls love him, but for what?

But then I joined the council. Inside the room, he's an entirely different person. I don't even know if it's a good thing either. He seems naturally kind, he's just scary. Actually more distant than scary. As nice as he is to everyone, he's distant. Norman's like how people approach classmates they dislike: behind their smile they're planning a literal murder.

Lily once even called him a ghost when she saw him on an old yearbook page.

We all went into our designated seats. Emma called shotgun so she sat next to Norman in the front. (f/n) and Lily sat in the middle, and Ray and I sat in the back.

So far, the ride was probably two hours. I just looked out the window the majority of the time, went on my phone, and read. It felt a little strange because Ray was right next to me, and I was expecting him to be bothering me about how I look or something. But he wasn't.

He was busy reading a book. "What are you reading?" I asked.

He looked up. "What's it look like? A book."

I rolled my eyes. "I know it's a book, stupid. I'm just asking what is it."

"Why do you want to know?" he inquired.

"Because I'm bored and felt like talking to you," I answered honestly. "We've been on this road forever."

"Wow, never thought you actually wanted to engage in conversation with me," he muttered. "Fine, I'm reading about flowers."

"Flowers? Why?" I questioned curiously, looking at the pages. It was covered in drawings of plants that were labeled with Latin names.

"Well, I kinda do gardening in my spare time," he said quietly, looking at his hands. "And I learned that there are many types of flowers in the place we're going to."

"Really? That's honestly so cute," I said, laughing.

He turned red. "Stop teasing me (y/n), it's not funny," he said as he went back to his book.

"Then maybe you should stop teasing me!" I said back.

"Sometimes I forget that you guys actually kissed once," (f/n) said above. For real though, same. Ray and I just never bring up that piece of information.

"Huh? Who kissed?" Lily asked, somehow miraculously waking up from her nap.

"No one, we were just talking about a movie we watched one time," I lied. I am not letting her learn all my personal stuff.

"Yeah totally, Lily, no one kissed," (f/n) added. I could tell she was cackling inside her head.

I don't want to remember Christmas Eve ever. The whole holiday was plagued with that one moment. It enters my mind at the worst possible times, and I mentally start screaming.

Like why?! It was just a kiss, that's technically not even real, but why was it so, so, that?

"Hey, Ray?" I said, catching the boy's attention. Emma and Norman were busy talking about sports. "When did you have your first kiss?"

"Um, sometime in eighth grade I think," he answered, looking at the ceiling. "During graduation. Why?"

Oh.

"No reason," I replied. Why do I feel this aching emotion?

"Well when was your first kiss?" he asked. "Since I told you mine."

"In eighth as well. I forgot what happened," I lied. My first kiss was the freakin one last year.

"Hm, interesting," he said. We didn't talk any further.

"I never had my first kiss," (f/n) said. Nevermind, guess we are talking further.

"Me neither," Lily said.

"Well you're eight, so obviously," I said. Then Emma spoke.

"I had mine in eighth grade too!" she piped up. "Remember Ray? You were blushing the entire time."

I think I died.

"Yeah, and never do I want to reminisce again," he said monotonously.

Actually, I am currently dying. A very slow and very painful death.

"I kissed Ayshe in freshman year," Norman said. "Too bad she transferred, I think she hated me back then." I don't even know who Ayshe is.

"Wait Emma and Ray kissed?" Lily asked. No, Lily, I thought we were homies.

"Yeah, and I had to witness it," (f/n) said. Someone, please kill me now. I want my lowkey tedious passing to speed up a bit.

"Looks like we arrived at the campsite," Norman said. Thank God, I wanna go sleep even if it's only 5.

I was the first to leave the car. Without help, I opened the trunk, got my tent, set it up, and went in.

I didn't even realize Lily was next to me till she spoke up.

"Ray has a crush on Emma I guess," she said. "I heard everything you said. I think he still likes her now."

"I see," I said, my face still in my pillow.

"I liked Ray," Lily answered. "I thought he liked you too."

"What a surprise," I replied, feeling like I was gonna cry for no reason.

"It's okay, I like Norman too, maybe he can be your boyfriend instead," she said, patting my back.

"Norman already has feelings for someone else I think," I admitted. "So maybe another time, ok?"

"You don't have to date someone for me," Lily said. "It's just that, you're always busy taking care of me that you never have time for yourself."

Where did I get such an amazing little sister?

"Lily, where do you learn these things?" I said looking up at her.

"From Crunchyroll!" she said enthusiastically. "Now come on, I want to eat corn!"

"Go by yourself, I'm tired," I said. I was tired. Really tired. I stayed up the whole night last night knitting a freaking scarf for Ray. Maybe that's why Emma is in the Knitting Club. Maybe she made a scarf for Ray too!

Either that or I'm overthinking. I don't even have a right to feel this way. Even on his birthday! For one, she knew him since like, kindergarten. Second, he had a crush on her for who knows how long? Third, I only met Ray just last year. Because I forgot my umbrella.

When I go to sleep, I'm gonna hope that I get a bad dream so when I wake up, it's all I think about when I eat dinner.

Not Ray, not romance, not anything.

I realized I took a nap for two hours when I looked at my watch. Lily wasn't sitting next to me so I went out to stretch. It was already super dark outside so I brought out my flashlight.

Norman was sitting alone tending to the fire, so I accompanied him. "What are you doing here by yourself?" I asked.

"The others wanted to catch fireflies, so they left me to get the food ready," he explained, picking up the kindling. "You can go with them if you want."

I shook my head. "No, it's alright. Do you need help?"

"Sure, you can get the small twigs out the larger sticks," he replied. I obeyed him and went to work.

"Why do you not want to go with your friends?" he asked. My eyebrows knit together.

"Because I didn't feel like it," I muttered. Even after sleeping for quite a bit which will probably leave me awake till 2 am, I still know exactly the reason why I didn't want to have fun with them."

"Oh, I see," Norman said, lighting up the pile of wood we made. This wasn't such a hard job. The fire crackled and we were able to see each other's wavering faces. "Was it because of what we talked about during the drive?"

I didn't expect him to catch on, better yet this early.

"No," I fibbed. "I'm just really sleepy."

"Well, if you're not gonna admit the truth, guess I will," he replied. "I feel jealous. And I feel replaced. And upset."

"Wow," I whispered. "Didn't know you were so complex."

"Since I'm the school president and all that, everyone expects me to act a certain way. Kind, pleasant, charming," he said. "But I live up to that standard so much that it eats me from the inside. I can't snap at people, neither can I tell people I'm not happy. The council room is the only place I can be like, me. I can speak my mind, and do whatever I want. But recently, even with my own closest friends, I feel like I can't. They're both so happy together, and sometimes I feel like I'm a damper towards them."

"I'm sorry," I said softly, looking at my palms. "I, kind of feel the same way. I didn't expect me to feel this way when I learned about what happened earlier in the car. I guess, I just figured out too late. And sometimes, I feel like I don't even have a reason to."

"So it's true then?" he asked, smiling. "You're in love with him?"

I scoffed. "No, well, I don't know."

"Sure," Norman answered. "Your feelings are valid. (y/n), it's okay to feel some resent, even if they're your friend. Don't throw away all of yourself for someone else, okay?"

I grinned. Maybe he isn't as distant as I thought. We talked some more about various things.

The other people came. Emma sat next to me with a jar of fireflies. "Look, Ray helped me in catching some."

"How fantastic," I said, staring at a pebble. I smiled genuinely.

Lily sat on the other side of me. "You okay?" she whispered. I shook my head. My heart-to-heart talk with Norman completely broke me. But I was happy. I can't explain it. I feel like crying, but I feel understood at the same time. By the person I least expected I could relate to.

"Do you want to go hiking tomorrow?" I asked Norman. Since we talked, I wanted to engage with him often and have more deep discussions.

He nodded excitedly. "Yeah sure, I'd love to."

"Alright, I'll text you when we can meet up," I said as I beamed at him. Our conversation really set things aside.

I couldn't wait for the next morning.

Did I do something wrong? Because when (f/n), Lily, Emma, and I came back, the two of them were sitting across each other with a lit fire between them. They were laughing and seemed like they were having a good time.

Now they were planning to go walk up the mountain trail together. Strange.

And before anyone says anything, no, I am not jealous. Nor I am envious.

I just think it's really weird of how (y/n) started hanging out with Norman a lot.

Either she's doing it because she enjoys her time with him, or out of spite.

If it's the second option, then she's a really good actress. Oscar-winning even.

Because she was acting. I know she is. That smile was a little too happy to be real. The question is, why?