6:59 by Nonye Acholonu, Kelechi Acholonu Page B

that they were nowhere near close to finished. And I was running out of time.
    The sound of the doorbell ringing made me jump a mile into the air. “Who’s that?” I asked, my gaze landing on Anjolie. I prayed that she hadn’t invited anyone else.
    Thankfully, Anjolie shrugged her shoulders. I dropped my napkin and bounded over to the door. When I swung it open, Olive was standing there.
    â€œOlive!” I said, my expression immediately softening. Olive was here, at my house. Apparently she had something to say which meant that we were going to make up now or at least I’d find out what was wrong.
    She stood there, biting her lip, pulling her red zipper hoody closer to her body, shielding off the cold. Her dark hair swung effortlessly in the wind and her brown eyes stared up into mine, hypnotizing me.
    â€œCan we talk?” she asked, her voice almost a whisper.
    â€œYes! Of course!” I said, but then I remembered the others in my house, waiting patiently for me. I also remembered that I had less than ten minutes till blackout. “Could you hold on really quick?” I asked.
    Olive nodded.
    I ran into the house and met the expectant eyes of my guests. “Um, Olive’s outside and she wants to talk. It’ll only take a few minutes,” I explained, grabbing the bowl of fried asparagus, Olive’s favorite. Before they could say anything, I ran back outside.
    Olive was sitting on my porch, staring at a leaf blowing in the wind. I quickly joined her, setting the asparagus onto her lap.
    â€œMmm!” she cried out, grabbing one and sticking it into her mouth. “You know me so well, Cameron.” She smiled at me, food shoved in her cheeks.
    I shrugged. “Of course,” I said. Then my smile faded away as I braced myself for what she wanted to say. “What did you want to talk about?” I asked, even though I really wanted to just watch her eat the asparagus.
    Olive swallowed her bite and set the plate down in between us. Then she gazed into my eyes. “Abby was really mad at you the other day,” Olive said. “She just didn’t like the way you treated me, and frankly, I didn’t either.”
    I desperately wanted to interject, claiming that I had no clue what she was talking about. But judging on past experiences, I knew she didn’t warm up too well with my confusion. So I let her finish.
    â€œYou scared me to death that night, Cameron,” she said, pulling her sleeves over her fingers. “You were so close to death and there was nothing I could do about it.”
    What was she talking about? I was so close to death? When?
    â€œThen I fainted and you just left me on my lawn. That was a bad move on your part.” Olive stared at the asparagus, grabbing another one and popping it into her mouth. “But I’ve been doing a lot of thinking,” she continued after finishing her bite. “And I realize that this whole thing wasn’t even your fault. I came with you even though you said not to. I got myself into that mess and I guess I ruined your plans. I fainted like an idiot, but at least you took me back home. I thank you for that.”
    I stared at her, not knowing what to say to that. Not only was I confused, I was also surprisingly annoyed at myself for treating her that way — even though I had no recollection of doing so.
    â€œAbby said I should never talk to you again,” Olive said, her gaze landing on mine again. “And I almost agreed with her, until I saw you hanging out with Anjolie.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” I asked.
    Olive sighed, shaking her head. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I didn’t like spending so much time away from you. It killed me to avoid you and I hated it even worse to say your name. Hudson kept asking me what was wrong and I couldn’t even tell her. I didn’t want our… I guess you could say fight to be real.
    â€œBut then I