⠀⠀After lunch ends, Alec finds himself scanning the face of every girl who somewhat resembles Kalani in order to try to find her. The search comes to no avail. For as many girls as he suspects could be his former best friend, none of them are.
⠀⠀When he gets to his two classes after lunch, he does a silent prayer that she'll be in one of them, but she's not.
⠀⠀He has been waiting for three years for the day to come that he can see her again, and it's finally here. He just can't seem to find her, and it feels to him as if the world is torturing him for some sin he committed with her hidden presence. Everyone else in the school seems to have seen Kalani. She's all anyone is talking about. He's the only one that hasn't.
⠀⠀In the parking lot after school, Alec sees it: The average height brunette girl with a small bounce in her step that is signature of Kalani Hunters walk-bouncing toward a car in the lot.
⠀⠀"Kalani?" he calls out after her. She takes one more step before turning around to see who is calling her name.
⠀⠀She sees him and sucks in a large amount of air. She's been trying not to run into him all day, not that she knew how to avoid him. She just wandered the halls hoping to not see him, and it worked for her until now.
⠀⠀He takes a few more steps toward her so he's within normal conversation distance. He doesn't know what to say. There are so many things he wants to say, but he can't select only one.
⠀⠀"When'd you get back?" he finally decides to ask.
⠀⠀She shrugs. "Last Sunday or something like that."
⠀⠀"Why didn't you tell me?"
⠀⠀Her attention flickers around the parking lot, attempting to find anything that will allow her to make her escape from this conversation she doesn't want to have. Coming up empty, she replies, "I didn't think you'd want to know."
⠀⠀He rubs his hand across the back of his neck. "How could you think that?"
⠀⠀"Well—"
⠀⠀She is cut off by a brunette girl with the body of a supermodel—tall, skinny, long legs, perfect amount of curves—grabbing Alec's arm. Kalani recognizes the pretty girl's blue eyes immediately, but she is stunned by the transformation that has occurred in her in the past years.
⠀⠀"Babe, let's go," Emma demands, dragging out the "o" in the last word.
⠀⠀Alec turns towards her. "Hold on one second."
⠀⠀When he returns his attention to where Kalani was standing, she is already gone.
⠀⠀He mumbles a few expletives under his breath so Emma can't hear them and then looks at her.
⠀⠀He smiles a forced smile and says, "Yeah, let's go."