CALISTA POV

It had been raining since Dad drove me to school and it hadn't ceased all through the classes.
World History was the last class I took when I met Miss Sally, the student counselor, in the hallway and she called me to her office.

Miss Sally is a tall young brunette, who I've always thought was better as a news reporter instead.

She had asked me how I was doing in my Ap classes, as there was a test coming up in a few days, and then she had asked me if I'd gotten any mail from the colleges I had applied to. My answer was 'no' like I had told everyone who cared to ask.

I had gotten a response from the schools, though, I just wasn't ready to see what was inside the envelope, so instead, I carried it around with me.

There was nothing more to talk about and when I refused to give her more of me, she sadly had to let me go.

"Let me drive you home at least." She offered when I brought the strap of my backpack over my shoulder.

"Thank you. But I will walk."

"In the rain?"

"I-I..."

"I kept you here, it's only fair if I drive you home." She insisted.

My gaze went to the window of her office. The rain seems continuous and stormy. There was no way I could get home through it.

"Okay."

"Cool, I will just get my things and I will see you in the hallway."

I smiled a little at the woman before I left the office and plugged earphones into my ears.

Selena Gomez's song was playing softly. I leaned against the lockers with my eyes closed as the lyrics delivered some sort of comfort I couldn't imagine.

The final bell had rung twenty minutes earlier. The hallway was empty, I was probably the only student who was there. Or I had thought l was because my earphones were ripped off.

My eyes opened instantly. My heart jerked forward as I was startled.

Scarlett and her group of friends had cornered me.

Okay, give up the earphones. Just find an exit.

"Where do you think you are going?" Katherine, Scarlett's right hand, taunted me, shoving my body back against the locker and they all burst into malicious laughter.

Don't they ever get tired of this entertainment? It was always me. It should get old by now.

Camilla, the left hand, stepped forward and took a firm hold of both sides of my mouth.

"You gonna cry? Big baby?"

"I am just going home." My voice wobbled with emotion.

"She always cries." Katherine imitated my shaky voice.

"What should I do with you? Uhmm?" Scarlett moved forward and her friend released me.

"It seems you enjoy this category of our relationship better." She accused, repeatedly hitting my head with the hardcover notebook in her hand.

"What were you doing here? Waiting for me?"

"I think she is obsessed with you," Camilla remarked and Scarlett nodded slowly, agreeing with her friend.

"Is there something you're not telling me? You have some feelings for me, don't you?" She taunted me. Her bright red lipgloss lips shifted back into a snarl.

I shoved her, and she stumbled into the two girls, gaining me a successful passage to escape their cage.

As I was free, I raced for the exit, mentally praying for Miss Sally to be there, but instead, I met Khadijha and her boyfriend, Gabriel.

No...

"Who are you running from?" Gabriel grasped me by the stomach, his hand circling around my waist, sweeping me off the floor.

Scarlett was everywhere.

"Let me go," I screamed. Now the tears were flowing from the unrestrained emotions I was choking on.

Khadijah was laughing while she placed her phone to her ear.

"She's here at the exit." Silence... "Yes, we will." The call didn't last long. Those were all she had to say and hung up.

"You kind of smell nice. What is it?" Gabriel whispered in my ear and started sniffing my chest while footsteps were approaching us.

Please let it be Miss Sally.

I was helpless. I still hit his chest with both my hands, and then I felt my backpack yanked away from my arm.

"Put her down." It was Scarlett's voice that commanded.

I followed Camilla for my backpack. She stepped to the exit and extended her hand holding the backpack into the pouring rain.

"Please stop," I whispered, for there were things that had sentimental value in there.

"Don't you wanna go home? This is your chance. Get going." Scarlett shoved me towards the rain. "Go." She yelled.

"Be a loyal friend and follow your dead partner." Someone among them said. I was paralyzed to tell who. I watched Camilla pull back the zipper of my backpack and pour out all the contents into the rain, including the two envelopes I received from the colleges I had applied for.

I lurched into the rain without a second thought and started grabbing my diary, phone, letters, and all that was ruined while they stood in the warmth and found me amusing.

"She's gonna drive, right? This should be fun."

"Heard she walks now."

"Poor dad couldn't replace her beat-up Honda." Gabriel chuckled.

"I think she's traumatized. It's not every day you kill your best friend," Scarlett blatantly remarked.

"Poor Charlotte." One of the girls derisively commented.

"It's Chloe." I furiously chastised while picking up my textbook.

"Yes, it's Chloe. It's like pronouncing cholesterol, I learned it that way." Scarlett smirked and they all laughed at the joke they found funny.

"Ahhh... That's accurate."

I grabbed my bag and turned into the rain but I was pulled back, and the bag was snatched away again.

"Where do you think you're going?" Katherine asked.

"Allow her to walk into the rain. It's gonna be fun."

"Come on, be easy on the girl. We don't want her dying like the other one. Life is gonna be boring then." Someone chuckled beside me and Scarlett shoved me back into the rain. I tripped over and fell on my butt.

"Opps." She clicked her tongue against the wall of her mouth as the other girls laughed at my expense.

"What is that?" Gabriel snatched the letters before I could stand back up. I attempt to take them back, only to get the diary seized by Scarlett.

"Give it back." I cried.

"Don't let her close. Keep her in the rain." She instructed, while Gabriel tore the letters into pieces and pushed me outside the shade and back into the heavy hair.

My hair was sticking to my face, my dress clinging to my skin, and my tears mixed with the rain while Scarlett read from the diary that wasn't hers.

Dear, Chloe.

Today's another good day in Venice.
Here's a list of what Myles Cameron and I did today.

He cooked for me. He doesn't have many recipes, but he made me some pancakes and berries. And we laid on his bed under his scented comforter and made out...

Scarlett stopped in the middle of the sentence, her expression changing from pleasure to a frenetic frown. Then her eyes darted over to me.

"You and Myles Cameron?" She exhaled a nervous laugh, sounding dubiously yet fearful. Her voice cracked when she asked.

"She's kidding, right? I mean look at her. She is a loser everyone can see. She's just imagining." Khadijha tries to comfort her frantic friend.

"Shut up Khadijha. I want to hear it from her." Scarlett shouted and everyone was startled, leaving silence to settle on the sound of raindrops against the concrete.

My breathing was hectic, I could hear the sound in the quiet, and then the clinking of her heels as they hit the floor when she moved closer.

"Tell me, is this true?" She seethed.

Now is the good time for Miss Sally to appear. Please appear.

"Cali?"

What? Brayden?

There were gasps behind me when I spun over and found my brother under an umbrella.

"Brayden?"

He came nearer and shielded me from the rain.

How come he was my knight in shining armor?
I don't follow the NBA anymore, I have burnt most of the things relating to it. I didn't care anymore. So I wonder what holiday brought Brayden home. Since no one mentioned he was coming.

"Brayden?" Scarlett repeated my words surprisingly behind me. "Brayden Donovan?"

"I am a huge fan. You have no idea how impressed I am with your aims," Gabriel exclaimed. "You flung the ball right into the hoop."

"Can we get a picture?" They awkwardly asked.

"Unfortunately, no. I am just here to make sure my sister isn't being abused." He retorted spitefully.

"What?" Scarlett breathed nervously. On the scale, I've never seen her. Matter of fact, she was never nervous, but at that moment, she was around my brother. "I think you misunderstood the whole thing. We were just playing. Actually, Cali was just inviting us over to her place tonight. Right Cali?" She softly smiled at me.

"I guess that's why you are all dry and she's drenched in the heavy rain, looking pale while her ruined belongs are in your possession." He beckoned at my diary in her hand and my backpack with Camilla.

The girl flushed, timidly.

"It was just a harmless joke," Scarlett whispered. "Tell him. We are all pals here." She desperately urged me.

"I bet. Now can I get my sister's stuff back?" He held out his hand and they immediately tossed my things into my wet backpack. "Stay away from her or I swear to God I will sue your entire family until you're left with nothing to offer this tiny premises." Brayden calmly cautioned the group, with his expression effortlessly maintained.

Their faces were worth the picture that Chloe and I had always imagined seeing someday. Terrified. Who ever knew those immortals could be intimidated by a person?

"Let's go." He grabbed my wrist when he collected my backpack from them.

As soon as we turned around, I yanked away and dashed forward, breaking out of the safety of the umbrella.

"I don't need you to come to my rescue."

"Okay. You are still mad at me. I see." He said from behind me. "At least don't get yourself ill."

"Since when was I your concern? I've survived the worst, dude. I don't need your pity."

"Says who I pity you? You've proven yourself a woman the last time I saw you."

Asshole.

I spun around, facing him, and flipped my middle finger.

"Fuck you, Brayden."

His jaw clenched then. I continued toward dad's vehicle with the intention of staying away from him while he drove, but he raced over and snatched my arm, dragging me to the passenger's side.

"I will not sit next to you." I fought.

"Dad's the one driving." He fired back, equally annoyed.

"Then why aren't you taking the passenger side?"

"I will be sitting in the back, Cali." He yanked the door open for me. "Get in." now he was smiling nicely, apparently because of dad's presence.

Mom and dad had no idea what had happened last summer. Brayden and I didn't talk about it to them. Somehow, those photos of Myles and me were protected, they didn't get into the hands of the paparazzi. So no one except Myles, Natalie, David, and my brother knew I got my heart minced last year.

"You are okay, honey?" Dad asked when I climbed into the weird scented space of his car.

"Yup." I mumbled, trying to connect the dots of what made that certain scent so familiar and soothing, until dad merrily said, "Look who we have here? It's your Myles."

I couldn't turn. Blood was rushing out from my heart abnormally while chills were gushing down my spine.

"Myles, tell her the good news." Dad excitingly chuckled as the car started to move after Brayden was in.

Shit, now that was why he had me at the passenger's side.

I was trying to restrain my composure when he spoke in an affluent voice that I hadn't heard for seven months.

"I will be staying with your family through the two games for a week."

That did it. I abruptly spun back on the seat on my knees, facing him and my brother.

Brayden was tensed, swallowing repeatedly while Myles... Well, Myles... I just got lost in his green eyes.