22

Oh God, that voice. That's the voice I've been looking for a while, the one I hadn't heard these last few days. And of course, it has to appear now. Anne and I turned slowly towards Connor, who was standing in front of us with his arms crossed, looking serious. I smiled as casually as possible, as if we weren't doing anything wrong. Anne grabbed my arm.

"Connor!" I exclaimed, scratching my neck. "Where have you been? I've been looking for you."

He frowned, and I could see his face light up, but then he quickly approached us and took us by the arm towards the car parked right in front of us.

"Get in, both of you have a lot of explaining to do," he said, walking around the car and getting into the driver's seat. We didn't say anything, just obeyed and got into the back seats.

We couldn't stay here any longer, Kayler could come out at any moment and... then I would really have a big problem. Connor started the car and accelerated.

"While we're on our way to your house, Carolina, you can start explaining why you were spying on Mr. Brown's house," he said.

I looked at Anne, who shrugged. It was time to improvise. I moved my lips towards her, saying "play along."

She nodded.

"Spying? Of course not, Connor, how could you think that," I laughed. Anne did too. "The thing is, we were on our way to my house and Anne, who was carrying her little bunny, so cute, can you believe that it just jumped out the window as we passed by here?" I lied, damn, I could win an Oscar with this performance. "So, we had to get out to look for it."

"Yes," Anne followed, "but we didn't find it," pretending to be sad. "It's gone."

I patted her back, sniffing.

"It's sad, we won't see the poor bunny again," I whispered.

I glanced out of the corner of my eye and saw Connor watching us in the rearview mirror.

"And what's the rabbit's name?" he asked.

Easy.

"Misifu."

"Firulais."

Anne and I said at the same time. Big mistake. Connor frowned.

"What?" he questioned. We were already in front of my house.

I looked at Anne, who made a face as if apologizing.

"The thing is..." think, Caro, think. "It has two names, yes, that's it," I smiled.

Anne looked at me, confused.

"Yes," she said, somewhat puzzled. "My rabbit's name is... Misifu Firulais."

How horrible.

Connor turned to us, while unbuckling his seatbelt.

"You gave your rabbit two names, one is for a cat and the other is for a dog," he mocked. He burst into laughter.

Anne and I looked at each other and started laughing along, until the three of us were laughing, but then Connor stopped. So did we.

"You're not fooling me," he said. He got out of the car.

We did the same, serious. I imagine Connor also attends those "meetings" that Kayler's dad holds. We followed him to the front door of my house. I opened it. We entered the house and immediately headed to the living room. Connor didn't buy the story of Misifu Firulais.

"Well, now you can tell me the truth," he said, sitting in front of us.

"That's the truth," Anne replied. "Otherwise, what else could we be doing at Carolina's boyfriend's house?"

I tensed when I heard her say that. I saw Connor giving her a "what the hell" look.

"What did you say?" he asked.

Anne seemed to regret what she had said.

"Boyfriend?" he turned to me. "I can't believe it, Kayler finally got himself one," he commented to himself.

I frowned.

"What do you mean?" I asked. At least he's forgotten that he found us spying.

"Nothing," he looked at me, a look full of... disappointment, sadness. I felt bad at that moment. "Don't try to change the subject... Tell me the truth, or I'll have to ask Mr. Brown if he invited you to the meeting."

"No!" Anne and I exclaimed in unison, but we quickly became serious. Connor just watched our expressions.

"Fine, I'll tell you the truth," Anne said. I looked at her immediately.

"Anne," I pronounced her name.

"I'm sorry, Carolina, it's better to end this," she told me. She turned to Connor. Oh no, Anne can't talk, no. "Connor, the reason why Carolina and I were in that house without anyone noticing is because she was worried about you and wanted to find you. She didn't know where to go and thought of looking for you at Kayler's house, because everyone usually stays there." She lied.

Applause for Anne.

I watched Connor's reaction, he stayed thoughtful for a moment and then looked at me. I scratched my head and smiled at him.

"Well... I'm already here, you don't have to look for me," he stood up.

"I know, and I'm glad you're back," I whispered.

He smiled sideways and hugged me, catching me by surprise. I hugged him back.

"Well, I'll leave you guys," Anne headed to the exit. "See you tomorrow."

"Okay," I said, still hugging Connor.

When we were completely alone, we let go of each other. I like being with Connor, he's a good friend and I feel good being with him. Just then my phone rings. I check it and it's Kayler. Oh no, I forgot he would pick me up from school.

"Hello," I answered.

"I'm outside the school, where are you?" he asked.

Shit. If I tell him I'm with Connor, he'll be really mad.

"Anne brought me home because she had to leave. Sorry, I forgot to let you know." Well, this isn't me, I don't like giving explanations to anyone and I hope he doesn't notice, but knowing him...

"Really?" he questioned. "Why are you nervous?" he asked, curious.

"I'm not nervous, Kayler," I said.

I noticed Connor making a face when he heard Kayler's name, and suddenly he snatched the phone from my hands and put it to his ear... No way.

"She's with me, understand? Let her breathe for a moment," and hung up.

"What did you do?" I reproached him.

"Just because he's your boyfriend doesn't give him the right to control you," he muttered.

"I know, I never let him control me, I think you must know me well," I crossed my arms and sat down. Kayler must be driving over here right now.

"I know, but he doesn't understand that," he sat down next to me. Very close. He took my hands in his. I looked at him.

"Carolina, I wish you were my other half," he whispered, leaning his face towards mine. "I would have given everything to make it so."

And in a second, he kissed me.