Rachel Sawyer was perched with her legs crossed on the Anderson mansion's library soft carpet. With her was 'The Secret Garden.' She took advantage of the collection of books in the mansion while her mother tutored the family's son.
A shadow fell over her page and she looked up, annoyed.
"Do you mind telling me what you're reading?" asked the boy with a head of curly brown hair of which green eyes peeked out curiously, standing right above her.
"Don't you need to be in your study room?" Rachel asked, clutching the book to her chest.
Kohen shook his head, "Nicole allowed me to spend some time off, so she can take a break." He always referred to Rachel's mother by her first name. "What are you reading?" He repeated the question.
"Nothing of your interest" Rachel answered unbothered.
"How can you be so sure of what might attract my attention?" He sat down next to her without waiting for an invitation. "You don't even know me."
"I know that you are overindulged," Rachel snapped back as she moved away. "And that you made Mrs. Peterson quit last month by putting frogs in her purse."
A grin spread on his face showing the dimple on his left cheek. "They were toads." In an effort to hold back, Rachel could feel the corners of her mouth pulling back into a smirk. "That makes it worse." "I'm bored," Kohen said, lounging on his back. Rachel chose to ignore him and his idle chatter, focusing back on her book.
After a stretch of silence, Kohen sighed "You're really no fun".
Rachel squinted. "I am plenty fun. I simply think putting amphibians in people's possessions does not merit as entertainment."
"Prove it," he said, leaning closer. "Prove that you are fun."
That challenge made Rachel feel something she couldn't explain. A certain kind of determination. But it was a challenge that needed to be undertaken. She kept her book open and pushed it aside.
"All right. Let's go."
Twenty minutes later, the two of them found themselves dangling from the limbs of the huge oak tree that graced the Andersons' backyard, their laughter on the summer breeze.
"I told you that I could climb higher!" Rachel shouted down at Kohen who was struggling several feet below her.
"That is because you weigh nothing," he puffed, trying to hoist himself up another branch. "I bet in a strong wind you would float away!"
Rachel gave a roll of her eyes. "Excuses"
As Kohen reached for the next branch, he made a slip with his foot. His very breathable moment of hanging from the limbs of the tree with his legs in the air seemed like an endless one.
"Kohen!" Rachel shouted after him. Her voice was taut with worry.
He grunted and swung his legs to reclaim a steady position on the branch and grinned at his victory. But his delighted smile vanished through the grimace Rachel exhibited.
"Did you actually care about me, Sawyer?" he beckoned playfully, a fusion of sarcasm and adoration present by calling her surname in a peculiar manner.
"No," she said and frowned; her heart still racing. "I just didn't feel like explaining how you broke your neck trying to show off to your parents."
His grin returned. "I wasn't showing off."
"God you're always showing off." She replied while beginning her careful descent. "And it is so annoying."
Once safely back on the ground, Kohen playfully nudged her shoulder. "So same time tomorrow?"
Rachel tried to maintain her serious expression but wasn't able to. "Maybe. If you can try to keep up."
"Oh, I can keep up," he replied confidently and smiling the whole time. "In fact, I bet at the end of summer, we'll be best friends"
Rachel rolled her eyes "I already have a best friend."
There was a brief pause. "You don't." Kohen responded with the casual confidence of someone stating that the sky was blue. "You read books instead of making friends. But that is fine, now you have me."
"I never agreed to that. I don't become friends with individuals who don't respect my books," Rachel objected, though there was no opposition in her tone.
Kohen shrugged. "You didn't have to. I decided for us. And my parents believe fiction is a waste of time."
Rachel's eyes widened, visibly scandalised. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"
Kohen looked shocked for a moment before he was swept with laughter.
As she made her way to the house, Rachel battled a smile.
"For a person who's homeschooled, you're not very smart," she said reflectively.
Kohen's jaw fell open in mock offense. "Take that back!"
"Oh, catch me," Rachel teased, then took off for the house, laughing as she went.
Kohen ran after her, his longer legs easily covering the distance. "Just wait, Sawyer! This is war!"
It was six months since Rachel and Kohen had first met. In spite of their opposite views of the world, the two were fast becoming friends, a relationship that would shape their destiny for better and worse.
But for now, they were merely Rachel and Kohen—the pampered son of the more affluent class Andersons and his tutor's daughter.