When It Rains

Chapter 3

"Scott isn't very friendly is he?" I asked Jenny.

After breakfast, Mama and Ms. Oberlin took us shopping for our camping trip. Summer was my dad's favorite time for camping. After hearing about the incident with Mr. Rust, there was a big discussion about whether camping was actually a good idea. However, Mr. Oberlin was not skeptical at all, since he was excited about taking Scott hunting. In his defense, he and dad had all the experience needed with their shotgun to handle any raccoon.

I couldn't help the terrifying feeling that something was lurking out there somewhere, or even the feeling that that monster could find our campsite in the woods and then eat us alive .....

"He's mostly to himself, he just prefers to paint all the time," Jenny answered. "But I would say he's very picky about who he gets close to, and doesn't have many friends either." Jenny picked up several shades of lipstick that were displayed, placing it on my face

"I think this will look good on you."

I paid her no mind and continued. We were supposed to be shopping for camping items but Jenny was just walking all over the store looking for items unrelated to camping.

"Have you ever seen Scott's hair white?" I asked.

" Huh! How would Scott's hair possibly be white, unless he dyed it, but he would never do that," she answered.

"I don't know either, but I thought I saw it."

"I think I know what's going on?" She continued, walking up to me.

"You like Scott!" She said, smiling, holding my hands. "You two would make a great couple."

"Huh!" I looked at her.

"I always knew you liked him. Remember when we were younger and you were always running behind him trying to get him to play with you?"

"What No! I was only trying to be friendly since he was always by himself." I tried to sort out the confusion.

Scott was always mean to me. Even when we were younger, at first I thought he was cute and he was shy and I tried playing with him, but he was always mean, shouting for me to leave him alone, chasing me away, teasing me. Eventually, I just left him alone.

"Scott's never had a girlfriend before. I wonder how I can get you two together?" Jenny was holding her hands to her face, thinking

"What No! I don't like Scott, it's just some weird stuff has been going on with him and I thought maybe you knew something about it." I was shaking my head.

"I know Scott is weird, but he's nice. Don't worry, I'll take care of everything." Jenny dashed off into the clothing section.

Jenny had convinced Mama that I needed new clothing, new shoes, new everything. Mama, excited about enhancing my appearance, thought it was a great idea and said I dressed too much, like a child and I was growing into a young lady and I needed to be presented as a young lady. I was angry at Jenny.

As we exited the store, the rain began to fall. To my surprise, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was clear blue, the sun was shining bright but the rain just kept falling. We didn't take any umbrellas, so by the time we got home we were soaking from head to toe.

Mama and Ms. Oberlin was laughing as they walked into the house.

"What a sudden rain." Mama said,

"Actually, that is pretty normal back home. The rain just falls abruptly out of nowhere, if the sun shines, cloud or no cloud. Even in summer", Ms.Oberlin said, placing the bags down.

"Really! It's weird it never falls like that here. Especially around summertime." Mama continued peeping through the window.

"Okay, well, we're heading upstairs now. Thanks for the shopping." Jenny said, grabbing my hands and pulling me upstairs.

"Scott! Scott!" Jenny shouted as she pulled me down the hallway to his room.

"Scott!" Jenny opens Scott's door to reveal no one. "Great. Where did he go now?" She frantically started looking for him

I looked around Scott's room to my amazement. There were magnificent paintings everywhere. All detailed and precise. There were colors all over, bright and vibrant paintings. I felt my heart skip a beat and I felt tiny butterflies in my stomach. Scott was really talented. They were all so beautiful.

I had never seen Scott painting before. He was always mysterious in his room, never socializing.

"Wow!" I said as I walked up to one of his paintings. It was a painting of a cave. The blue ocean nested at the bottom as the cave's entrance opened wide and at the top was land with grass and trees. I got closer and closer and... it was almost like the water in the painting was moving.

I pulled back thinking my eyes were playing tricks on me and then leaned in again to get a better look when suddenly... a cat jumped out of nowhere, landing on the painting, causing it to fall down. I jumped and screamed, falling back to the ground, alerting Jenny, who rushed out to see what was going on.

"Are you okay?" She asked, helping me up from the floor.

"That darn cat scared me." I answered, pointing at him sitting by the window.

"Oh no!" Jenny said, picking up the painting that fell on the ground. It was destroyed. The paint had started to run all over. At that moment, the cat began to hiss at Jenny as she placed the painting back on the easel. Jenny flagged the cat away, keeping her distance. It jumped through the window and we both rushed to watch it land in the bushes at the side of the house and then scurried on its way.

How did a cat get into the house?

I have never seen a cat anywhere in our house before.

Jenny and I quietly snuck out of Scotts' room, shutting the door behind us.

"Do you think he will know we went into his room?" I asked Jenny, worried as we walked back to my room.

"I hope not. We can always say it was the cat," she answered.

"It was the cat, but I'm sure he wouldn't believe that the cat went into his room, and purposely threw down one of his paintings, and how would we know the cat did it if we weren't in his room to see the cat .... in the act?"

"Okay! You need to calm down", Jenny said, laughing.

"Just say you don't know what happened," Jenny said, sitting on the bed.

"Now you want me to lie. Why did you even take me to Scott's room in the first place?" I asked.

"For phase one of my 'Get Scott And Lucia Together' plan," She answered, swinging her body around, airquoting it.

I looked at her dumbfounded and angry.

She was not being serious.

I already told you Jenny I do not like...

I was cut off by a knock on the door. I looked at Jenny as I opened the door, hoping it was not Scott. To my surprise, it was and he was wet and angry.

I looked at him. "Were you in the rain?" I asked, looking back through the window. I hadn't realized that the rain had already stopped following.

There was paint all over him and mostly in his hair.

"Were you in my room?" He asked and I noticed his right shoulder was bleeding as if he had been cut by something sharp.

"Are you okay?" I felt this sudden concern as I reached out to touch his shoulder.

Scott grabbed my hands and pulled me through the door. Shutting and slamming me against it.

"Were you in my room?" He asked again.

I felt this sudden fear come over me and I buried my head and I mumbled the words to answer his question.

My heart began to beat fast. "It.. was an.. accident. I didn't mean for the painting.. to fall over, there was a cat.. and.. and .."

Scott let go of my hand and stared at me intently as if all his anger had just vanished.

"Stay out of my room, Lucia," he said, looking straight into my eyes. "You too, Jenny." he raised his voice a bit louder for Jenny to hear who was eavesdropping behind the door. Her ears plastered to the door.

"Sorry! Big bro won't happen again." with that, Scott walked away, heading back into his room. I felt a tiny bit of relief. As I exhaled the breath I was holding in. I felt the door open as I was pulled inside.

"Are you okay?" Jenny asked, holding my shoulders. I stood there frozen. Jenny peeped out the door, looking up and down the hallways to make sure the hall was clear before shutting the door and locking it.

"Okay! Phase one was a failure," she said, sitting on the bed with her hands resting on her cheeks. "That didn't go as badly as I expected. On to phase two."

I gave Jenny an unbelievable look. How could she be so calm after what happened? I had never seen Scott behave so badly before. He was mean sometimes, but he was really angry.

I wondered why.

"Are you okay Lucia?" She kept asking as she explained her new plan.

This girl was not serious.

Should I just knock her out?