--- WAIT FOR THE FIREWORKS !, rayne.

[austin r. king]

austin had known rayne bolton since they had been in diapers, practically. it all started with a friendship between their older siblings. a best friendship, to be more specific, which had taken a bad turn about nine months ago. he had grown up with rayne, and fondly remembered playing tag with her at recess, teasing her, pulling her hair in the middle of class. they had never exactly been best friends, but when you knew somebody for the majority of your life, seeing them hurt was able to tug on your heart strings. that was why austin was paying more attention to rayne now than before. usually, she was just there. a fairly important person in his life, seeing as their older siblings had a child together. one of austin's best friends had been trying to get him to see rayne more, spend more time with her. clearly, gabe wanted to hook the two up. rayne was single, dumped by another friend of his. it was a whole mess, really. but seeing rayne hurt and not the same bubbly girl she'd been two years ago hit him in his heart. most of the time, austin just wanted to hook up with girls and move on. this time, he wanted to make sure rayne had fun. which explained why he was taking her out. rayne sat beside him in the car, with a blindfold over her face. this was supposed to be a surprise, and hopefully the suspense was getting her excited. about fifteen minutes after climbing into the range rover, austin saw what he was looking for. a playground. he pulled aside, climbing out and quickly opening rayne's door. this was probably one of the most ridiculous things the boy had done in a while, besides drawing inappropriate thing on his chest with shaving cream. gingerly, austin grabbed rayne's hand, sort of leading her out of the car and onto the bark. he hadn't been to a playground in a while, but it all rushed back to him. kickball, the swings, even climbing up and sliding down slides. or in austin's case, jumping off of them when the recess aid turned her head. austin started humming, while he led ray over to a swing. "hey, rayne. you can open your eyes now," he was really trying to make her have a good time. "so, what do you want to do first? i can push you on the swings, or we can climb to the top of that miniature rock wall. or maybe, i can chase you around like we used to do about ten years ago." it was weird, how austin felt suddenly responsible for rayne being miserable. she used to be a fun girl, even though her constant perky attitude and innocence got on his nerves more often than naught. he never really been all that found of her, which made standing there at a playground feel slightly strange. he was here to cheer her up, and once austin really set his mind to a task, he'd do almost anything to make it happen.

[rayne b. bolton]

this was just too weird. but lately what in rayne's life wasn't weird? nothing. her life was one big weird mess and she hated it. she was keeping secrets from everyone, the person she'd been best friends since well ever (besides logan) hated her or whatever, her other best friend was going to hate her when she found out it was just bad and weird. another thing that was weird was that she was sitting in the same car as austin king with a blindfold over her eyes. rayne had known austin since she was in diapers. not by choice but still. her sister chuck and his brother ryder had been bffs so naturally rayne had gotten stuck playing with austin when she was younger. although playing usually consisted of him pulling her hair, chasing her around the park while their parents laughed and talked about how cute they were. shockingly their relationship really hadn't changed much. austin still had a tendency to tease rayne and sing that silly 'rain rain go away' song to her. the pulling of the hair had stopped for the most part but still. it wasn't that rayne didn't like austin, sure she got annoyed with him regularly but that was understandable. the boy had gotten mud on her favorite yellow dress when she was eight, i think she had earned the right to be annoyed. but anyways that was then and this was now. she really didn't know where austin was taking her, for all she knew he could be taking her to chinatown to sell her into slavery or something. she really had no idea and he wouldn't even give her a hint. finally she felt the car stop meaning that they must have reached wherever it was austin was taking her. if this was some mean practical joke rayne would well probably not do anything but maybe cry because lately that was what she was good at. crying. she heard the door open and felt him take her hand, which was probably a good thing or she would have probably face planted. rayne wasn't one of the most graceful people. she let him lead him to wherever he was taking her. hopefully it wasn't a chinese whorehouse. her parents would not be impressed with that. finally he told her to open her eyes. she untied the blindfold and saw that they were not in chinatown in front of a chinese whorehouse. nope austin had brought her to a playground. wow rayne was shocked to be honest that austin had done something nice. she was still worried that he might like push her down in the mud or something. she looked around trying to decide what she did want to do first. anything at a playground was fun, it was like some mandatory rule or something. "hmmm how about the swings?" they were standing right next to them after all and rayne didn't feel like being tackled to the ground at that moment when austin caught her if they played "chase" like they did when they were seven.

[austin r. king]

trying to cheer other people up and make them happy wasn't exactly unlike austin. though for his friends, you'd probably have to do it another way. having a pizza eating contest with rayne probably wouldn't turn out that well. besides, austin would probably win. she was so petite, there wasn't a chance that she could actually out eat him. he could actually be a pretty decent person, but rayne was too fun to annoy and mess with. so she never really saw that. austin knew he pissed some people off, simply by flirting with a lot of girls or never really being faithful in a relationship. any girlfriend he had though was always casual, and not exclusive in the least bit. resisting the urge to gently tug on her hair, or do something like austin typically would have done was hard. he wanted to be really nice to ray, show her a good time and all. that was why gabe originally tried to get them together in the first place. to make rayne happy again. there was no way he actually wanted austin and rayne to date, right? gabe knew austin wasn't that kind of guy. yet there he was, with rayne bolton at a playground, getting ready to push her on the swings. "okay. here, if you sit, i'll push you," austin spoke with a smile, enjoying the last somewhat warm sun that new york had to offer. the clouds were puffy and white, the sky blue, but it wasn't at all hot out. in the past week, new york had cooled down considerably. which meant if they were going to play at a playground, it would have to be sooner, rather than later. actually, austin had a little list of things he wanted to take rayne out to do. the second was coney island, depending on the success of this outing. he was scrambling for a topic of discussion. apparently california was an awkward topic, and so was the summer. both of which austin was relying on. the next was school, but that was almost always boring. "wow, it's been such a long time since we actually hung out, one on one. i'm pretty sure the last time i tried to make you eat a mud pie," austin was aware that he had been rude to rayne, and because she was so broken and upset now, he felt bad for it. not that any of it was his fault, he just wanted to start making everything up to her. "hey, ray, are you doing anything, activities wise, this year at school?" austin was never a big sports person. he played soccer and was on the swim team. football wise, he wasn't beefy enough really. basketball was boring, and cross country reminded him of short shorts. he wouldn't be caught dead in a pair of short shorts. really, they should have only been for cheerleaders. "you should run for student council or something. you'd be good at that," austin shrugged, realizing that he was still holding her hand from before. quickly, he let go. that was definitely an awkward moment.

[rayne b. bolton]

if anyone saw rayne and saw how just out of it she looked they'd probably assume it was because of keenan and it wasn't. okay maybe a small part of her was still upset about that but when she found out from gabe and jude that he was already dating jaysey she wasn't sad anymore she was pretty pissed off. clearly she had just been a seat warmer until jaysey came back to the city. no what was keeping rayne down was more complicated than keenan. he didn't exist anymore in her mind and since he wasn't in any of her classes and hated her guts it made it easy for her to pretend he didn't exist and whenever she did see him she was going to make a point of it to be overly sweet to him because she knew it would piss him off more if she was sweet and pretended like everything was fine than if she was a bitch. and besides ray and bitch really didn't go together...although she was pretty sure when jude found out about california bitch and whore would be the first words out of her mouth. but she had some time before that would happen. it was still weird to ray that she was alone with austin. she knew this was gabe's doing because gabe was a meddler and strangely protective of her and wanted her to be happy. but why austin? clearly gabe had never witnessed the two together but oh well she was out of the house and that was rare. "just don't push me too hard." rayne sounded nervous? why? probably because rayne was accident prone and if he pushed her too hard she might fly off. it'd happened when she was six it could happen again. it was actually decent out, well aside from the cold fall breeze. good thing rayne had worn a long sleeved tshirt and a sweater with her skinny jeans and boots. rayne had a tendency to get cold easily, probably because she was so small especially now. her clothes just sort of hung off her small frame. she laughed softly. "yeah and i think you got more mud on my dress than in my mouth." true story, that yellow dress was covered in mud. it had been gross and very typical austin. she was really surprised that he wasn't pulling her hair or asking her to do a 'rain dance'. wow was he really trying to make awkward small talk? she was kind of taken aback because normally austin just teased her. "um probably just music club...maybe." rayne shrugged. she probably wouldn't have a choice, gabe would no doubt make her stay in music club even though without zack it'd be rather dull. ugh zack. now that was a sore topic. a topic that ray did not want to discuss because she really didn't know what to think anymore. stupid boys. rayne honestly hadn't noticed that austin was still holding her hand. she was used to people holding her hand because everyone thought she was a china doll, so easily broken. but yeah it was still awkward when they both realized it. "thanks but i think they've already voted? um are you still doing soccer?" ray hoped that was the right sport. it had been a while since they talked but she was pretty sure she was right.

[austin r. king]

what austin didn't understand about this situation was how rayne got to be this out of it in the first place. most people thought it was keenan, but gabe said that he wasn't really the reason. which left him wondering. why would you even allow somebody to do that to you, in the first place? it probably wasn't on purpose, austin knew that. though getting into a serious relationship at age seventeen was sort of asking for it. he wondered why rayne was so upset, so different in the first place. a year ago, she was one of the happiest people that austin knew. ray was actually fun to be around, because it was clear how annoyed rayne got when austin teased her. now, the girl seemed to be barely floating along in life. living, but not seeming to have any real fun. for whatever reason, austin already sort of hated the person who did this to rayne. yes, person. she didn't seem to be the type of person who would randomly change, almost overnight, without any explanation. he was left to assume that somebody did something to her. picking on rayne or hurting her was like picking on chuck, for austin. he was really quite protective of them both, even if his relationship with rayne had been more getting irritated then any form of friendship. then rayne spoke again, and austin was pulled away from remembering ruining her pretty yellow dress with mud. she sounded nervous, and that wasn't an emotion austin was used to hearing in her voice. what happened to the carefree, happy teenager? "don't worry, i'm not going to let you fall." grabbing the chains, austin stepped back, bring the swing with him. then he let go, rayne swinging foreward. she came back, and austin gently pushed her, his hands touching the small of her back for a few seconds. it went on and on a few times, until she was going high enough. then, he climbed onto the swing next to her. his legs started pumping. the air flying by his face always felt good. everytime, austin tried to beat his record of jumping off from a high point. "what is music club like? i heard it sounded sort of lame, but was pretty cool." there had to be something they could talk about, something light that wouldn't hit any sore spots. the weather was always an option, but austin wasn't that desperate. he started kicking, letting silence fall over the,. he tried to think of something to talk about. typically, he was good with talking to people. especially with girls. austin knew what they wanted, but this was different. austin wasn't here to sleep with rayne once, or to get her number and call her later. this was to cheer her up, which made most of the normal topics of discussion far from what he was looking for. besides, rayne had been in his life forever. you couldn't ask somebody you had known for at least fifteen years what they were doing in new york, or any general question, because you were supposed to already know. even though austin didn't know that much about rayne. her favorite color, her birthday, all things he should have been aware of. truthfully, the boy never really cared enough to ask. in a way, he knew her. he knew what bugged rayne, and what she was like as a person. nothing that would make you think they had baby pictures together in diapers. "really? oh. usually we have lame dance ideas, but you would probably fix that. uh, yeah, soccer. i'm still in it. maybe you could come to one of my games? and bring a friend or something."

[rayne b. bolton]

rayne was waiting for something bad to happen because lately something bad always happened. it was like a disease or just a dark cloud that followed her around wherever she went. even in sunny california there was that stupid cloud, clouding her vision. she knew what austin was like, he wasn't the kind of guy who was just nice to girls just because he wanted to be nice. she knew that he flirted with girls, hooked up with girls and all that stuff that rayne didn't approve of it. so why was he being nice to her? oh dear god he knew. he knew that rayne had hooked up with zack and wanted to be next. no way no how was that going to happen. ever. rayne did not hook up. well except for that one time but that was not going to happen again. wait how did he know she was afraid to fall? well no it was kind of a no brainer that rayne was clumsy and well yeah she did look nervous. "okay cause that would be well bad.." wow that sounded stupid but oh well. rayne sat down on the swing carefully. grabbing hold of the two chains with each hand gently. she closed her eyes as austin pushed her. she pumped her legs as she went higher and higher opening her eyes after a few pushes. it was actually kind of nice. it felt like she was five again. for a minute or two she didn't have to worry about feelings and everything that was troubling the small brunette. the higher her swing went the further away her troubles seemed. what if she could just keep going higher and higher until she was flying. flying far away from there and everyone. but then she came back to earth and preschool was over. she kept pumping her legs trying to get higher. "um basically we talk about music and occasionally mock gabe. its a pretty fun at times." rayne shrugged. they hadn't had a music club meeting since school had started probably because gabe was all lovey dovey with ashley and hadn't had the time. not to mention rayne had been gone. but anyways she wasn't eager to go to music club without zack and with keenan there. but maybe if austin went it'd be more interesting. she wasn't sure if she liked this akwardly nice austin or the typical annoying austin who went out of his way to irritate her. right now she was fairly grateful that he was being nice. she wasn't sure how long this nice streak might last but what she knew was she had to look pretty messed up if he was being nice to her. "hey some of those dance ideas were not so lame...like the no they were all pretty bad." she distinctly remembered an easter themed spring fling. it was complete with eggs and their gym teacher dressed up like a bunny. it was horrific and too colorful even for rayne. "i knew it was some sport with a big ball. one that i got hit with..a lot. but yeah i could maybe do that. i mean if you want." well that last part only sounded a smidge awkward. but rayne did remember being hit by a ball in the head quite a few times. maybe that was why she was so slow to understand some things.

[austin r. king]

austin wasn't one for spending time with girls just to make them feel better. that made him sound like quite the jerk, but the way he saw it was girls tended to freak out a little bit too much. when you tried to help, most of the time they'd get mad at you or something. so he tended to avoid them when they were feeling down.crying girls weren't exactly a bucket of giggles and then some, either. though rayne, austin was ready to bake cookies and send her a cake filled with rainbows. only not quite. he had watched mean girls with his sister. ryder had been there, which was the only reason he was able to stay sane. that, and the regina georgie chick was hot. all of the sudden austin was doing things, and acting in a way he never really considered before. rayne was a special person to him, regardless if that was registering in his mind quite yet. normally, with the opposite sex, austin was rough and annoying. not in the physical sense, but in his general attitude. he was always flirting with girls, talking about them, or looking at them. austin was being gentle with rayne, because she was breakable in his eyes. "you won't fall. if you even teeter, i'll catch you." there was the usual confidence in his voice, followed up by a wide grin. then rayne explained music club, and austin laughed. being on the swing transported him back to preschool, though rayne was one of his friends this time around. "music club seems fantastic. i think that i might join." pushing the hair out of his eyes, austin soared higher, staring up into the bright blue sky. it was so pretty today, even though there was wind and he felt cold. even in a sweatshirt. it was one of those days where you were tempted to run and swim in the rooftop pool, but once you stepped up there the temperature made you run in the opposite direction. "collingwood is supposed to be one of the best schools in the country. people from all over move, just to be here. and yet, we get stuck with the lame ideas." people were moving from asia, russia, and random countries such as ireland just to go. getting in was hard enough. you had to have brains, and enough money. austin getting in had been hard enough; his family had been legacies for generations. "a lot of that was probably my fault," he admitted, without any shyness at all. though austin didn't apologize. taunting rayne wasn't what got her here, right? austin was there, at the park, trying to mark her happy. yet he still didn't regret pulling her hair at age five or getting mud on her dress. they were mean things, but he had also been a little boy. ray had cooties back then. over the summer between grade seven and eight, things had changed. they were suddenly pretty, and you were supposed to have a girlfriend going into high school. a large group of collingwood kids had all gone to junior high together, but rayne was still somebody to tease back then. honestly? austin was just now realizing how pretty she was - with her delicate features and long wavy hair. austin loved a girl with long hair.

[rayne b. bolton]

the weather was perfect sweater weather. you know the kind of weather that all you needed was a nice sweater. well and pants, socks, shoes and other stuff but you didn't necessarily need a coat. well unless you were rayne and weighed slightly over a hundred pounds. then you needed a long sleeved shirt under your sweater but you were still cold. especially as she swung back and forth with the air from the motion of the swing was starting to give her the chills. which is why when austin stopped pushing her she let the swing just let it swing naturally aka she stopped pumping. "okay i'm gonna hold you to that. just saying." rayne spoke a small smile on her face. to be honest rayne missed this, not hanging out with austin without being taunted because that had never happened. she missed just hanging out with her guy friends. she couldn't hang out with like any of her guy friends platonically anymore. keenan, well that was obvious. they hated each other. or at least acted like it and felt like it sometimes but rayne couldn't ever really hate keenan, she'd probably always love him. which is truly what she hated because she honestly didn't think he would ever feel that way again. she had ruined that permanently. next was zack and well he hated her too it seemed. whatever she couldn't hang out with because he was in california and it was just awkward now. she could hang out with gabe but he was all lovey dovey with ashley and being the third wheel or heaven forbid gabe trying to set her up with someone was out of the question. even though this whole hanging out with austin thing was probably suggested by gabe. oh well she was grateful because there was no drama. and that was what rayne needed a drama-free afternoon. "you should join. i mean we could always use more people." rayne's swing was slowly coming to a small swing. instead of swinging rayne drug her feet across the sand making different shapes like a heart, star, and other random shapes. "yeah i dunno. maybe people on the other side of the world think they're good ideas?" rayne suggested with a shrug. she didn't understand why they had such fail dances when she knew for a fact that everyone or the majority of kids at school knew how to party. rayne had experienced the parties first hand when she was in her be everything that she wasn't. that had been an interesting time. rayne had probably drank enough alcohol to fill a small party store. legit. "yeah i think it was. but oh well i didn't suffer brain damage....i don't think." rayne was joking she didn't really have brain damage...that she was aware of. to be honest ray had always thought austin was kind of silly looking. but then again how could anyone think the boy who pulled your hair and got mud on your prettiest dresses as cute? to ray he'd always been that awkward looking boy who annoyed her but now that they were older he wasn't quite as awkward looking. he still had that silly boyish look to him but he was kind of cute. oh dear god. no. rayne was on a no boys diet. not that she was gonna go for girls, she was just not going for anyone. especially not another boy who would definitely break her heart like everyone else.

[austin r. king]

fall in new york was beautiful, if you happened to live near central park. most of the time, austin thoroughly despised living in this part of the state. so many people grew up without seeing grass. there was no nature, the city seemed to have been built by some brilliant architect that didn't want to let the trees in. though walking down around in central park, seeing the leaves turn vivid, highlighter yellow or deep orange? one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. even with the cold, austin looked forward to fall simply because of the little ounce of beauty new york was allowed to have. "don't worry. i'm basically the guy from the fantastic four, who can extend his body parts. all of them." there was a slight, suggestive smile on his face - because honestly? austin couldn't help himself. very few people seemed to notice the fall like austin did, or really, nature in general. he made a silent vow to make sure that rayne took notice of the vibrant colors and wet leaves sticking on the sidewalks. "i think i might just have to, because of you," austin spoke honestly, then continuing, "i mean. they look good on college applications? plus, mocking gabe is always a good time." the swing was starting to slow down, which didn't bother austin all that much. "the student council probably suggests some pretty decent ideas, you know? but every administrator at our school must be a nun, so they're all shot down." it was a shame. so many rich kids who knew how to really live it up, and collingwood hadn't ever seen a decent dance. "it wasn't that bad, was it?" austin gasped for probably the first time. he wasn't downright horrible to rayne, right? the teasing had all been in good fun, from his perspective. "hey, you could always be like the exceptionally vertically challenged guy from the movie the bench warmers. living in a castle, in the basement, playing with peanut butter action figures." that whole movie had been a complete riot, austin remembered. he loved movies like the bench warmers, or superbad. humor that only younger people and the occasional adult would enjoy. plus it had that one kid from napoleon dynamite, and people were still wearing those "vote for pedro!" shirts. "so ray, what do you want to do next? the world, or at least new york city, is at our fingertips." they'd probably stay in the playground, maybe going up and down on the seesaw. luckily, this was one of the good playgrounds without excessively bright, plastic equipment. they toys were made of wood or metal, and austin wouldn't really have it any other way. this is horrible and short. i'm sorry!