I open my eyes. I can't believe it's morning already. Wait a second. I look down; there's an arm gripped tightly around my waist.

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

Caleb is still here. I don't even remember falling asleep; I remember us kissing and then watching Captain America Civil War, then there was more kissing, then we had a heated discussion about who we thought was right. He chose Iron Man's side; of course, Calebs not the rule-breaking type. Anyways, that's all I remember; after that, there's a blank. I slowly remove his arm from my waist and slide off the bed. I walk around my bed and look out the window. My father's car isn't outside. He isn't home. Did he even come home last night?

If Caleb weren't here, I would be freaking out at the fact my father didn't come home. But I'm not freaking out...a least not right now. I'm glad he isn't home; he would've flipped seeing Caleb and me in the bed together even though we didn't do anything.

I walk away from the window, and to my nightstand; I pick up my phone to look at the time. My eyes go wide when I see that it's ten fifty. Oh, my God. I tap the sleeping boy on my bed. "Caleb." he doesn't budge. "Caleb!" I say a little louder, shaking him.

"Mh." He starts to blink his eyes open.

"Get up; it's almost eleven !" I say frantically.

"And?"

"And we have to go." I walk away from the bed and into my bathroom; I grab my toothbrush and quickly brush my teeth. I need to take a shower. I turn on the water and then walk out of the bathroom over to my closet. I search through the clothes looking for a black skirt. I forgot I had to get dressed up for the competition. I flip through all the clothes. Ugh, where is it?

"You know we could always just not go," Caleb suggests. I hear him get off the bed and walk over to me; I can feel him behind me; I don't pay him any attention; I continue flipping through the hundreds of clothes in my closet. Most of the stuff in here I have never even worn. I found it; I grab the back jean skirt off the hanger, just as his hand rubs against my stomach, and I burst into laughter.

I quickly turn around. "Caleb," I whine. "I need to get ready." I push him back.

He's laughing also. He puts his hands in the air as if he is surrendering. "Fine, fine," he says.

"There's a guest bathroom down the hall," I tell him. "I'm going to take a shower."

"You need help?" he smiles at me.

I roll my eyes and then walk into my bathroom, shutting the door.

...

I open the bathroom door. Caleb's sitting on the side of my bed; he looks up when I walk out. He looks me up and down. "Why are you wearing a skirt to school?" he asks.

"It's for stem; we have to wear this for the competition." I tug at the black jean skirt to bring it down a little more. Why does my mother always buy me the shortest things?

Caleb stands up. "I don't know how I feel about you going to school dressed like this." his eyes wander my body. "Especially now that people are kissing you out of nowhere."

"I don't think anyone else is going to be kissing me."

"They better not!" he says seriously. I walk over to my desk and grab my keys and bookbag. "You ready?" he asks.

"Yeah, Uhm, go ahead down. I'm right behind you." He walks out of the room. I grab my phone and dial Travis number; I didn't call him yesterday, so I have no idea where to meet him later. I need to see him. I need to tell him I can't sell for him anymore. I'm scared as hell to tell him that I'm going to come forward about everything. But I know it has to be done. I'm going to tell my parents about the dealership; I have to, I can't hold on to that secret any longer.

This will be the first step to me finding the light. I click his contact name.

"The number you have dialed is no longer in service." the automated voice says—I remove the phone from my ear. I don't understand. I would say maybe he got arrested, but it's highly likely he did, though that's the only reason I can think of as to why his phone would no longer be in service.

Whatever, I guess, I will just have to hold off on that; water drips from my hair onto the phone. I don't have time to blow dry my hair; it's already eleven fifteen. God, I'm so late. I grab my book bag and rush down the stairs; Caleb is standing at the door. "I'm ready." He opens the door for me, and we both walk out of the house.

"I'll see you later," he says.

"Okay." He hugs me and then walks across the street to his car. I open my car door and hop in. I put my key in the ignition and turn the car on. My eyes immediately go to the gas gauge; it's on E. Ugh, I forgot to get gas, this is not my day. I grab my book bag and hop out of the car; I'm so glad Caleb didn't pull off yet.

He rolls down his window. "You okay?"

"Can you drop me off?" I ask.

"Get in."

I walk around the truck and get in. "Thanks."

"Mhm." he starts up the car. "Did you ever finish your homework?" he asks.

Crap, did I mention how this is really not my day?

...

Done.

This will have to do; I had about ten minutes to complete my homework. My poem isn't the best, but it's something. I fold the sheet of paper and stick it into my bag. Caleb pulls into the school's parking lot. "Thanks again."

"No problem," he says. "Have a nice day at school, honey." He says, mimicking a father dropping off his child.

"Thanks, dad." I play along. I lean over and kiss him.

He backs away. "I really don't think this is appropriate."

I laugh and then hit his arm. "Shut up." I open the car door and get out.

"Bye," he says before I shut the door.

"Bye."

I quickly walk up the school's stairs and into the building. God, I'm so late; the hallways are empty and quiet. It's eleven thirty-five, it's still third period. I quickly walk down the hallway and then up the stairs. I tug at my skirt once I finish walking; it keeps freaking rising. I'm so uncomfortable; I never wear skirts. I haven't worn a skirt since the days when we used to go to church.

I open the classroom door, a little too ruffly; Mr.Brooks stops talking and then looks at me. "Ahh, Jayda, you decided to grace us with your presence."

I can feel all eyes on me. It's different, though. I don't feel all nervous inside like I usually do. I ignore the eyes and say. "Sorry, I'm late."

"It's fine." he smiles. "Go ahead and take a seat," he says.

I walk across the class and over to my usual seat. "You look nice," Violet says. I guess she's back to speaking to me again. I don't say thank you; I just smile at her.

"Now, where was I? Oh yes, Ashley, lovely job on your poem. I didn't know you could write like that." Mr.Brooks says. He grabs the cup off his desk and then pulls out a stick. "Jayda!" I quickly lookup.

No.

No.

No.

Oh my god. Are you freaking kidding me? The one day, I rush through writing; I get called on. I can't believe I have to get up and share; I never had to read my work aloud before. I can't do it, I'm trying to move, but I can't. How am I supposed to get up in front of the whole class and read something I wrote? I don't mind when Brooks reads it himself; it's just him, but I have to share in front of the whole class. "Jayda?" Mr.Brooks calls again.

I reach into my bookbag and grab the sheet. I get up from my seat, tug at my skirt yet again, and slowly walk to the front of the class; Mr.Brooks walks to the side and leans against the wall. My breathing is shaky, and my palms are sweaty. I see all the eyes on me: Ryder's, Ashley's, Matt's, Jessica's, Zach's, Kelly's. I look back down at my paper.

"I feel Nothing; I feel empty. I hear Nothing; I see Nothing. My mind is blank; my mind is fading. I'm awake, but I'm dreaming. With one touch, I could be saved from oblivion." I stop reading and fold the paper in half.

Mr.Brooks claps his hands. "Wonderful, wonderful," he says enthusiastically.

...

"I didn't know you could write like that," Jessica says as I sit down at the lunch table. "It was really good."

"Thanks." It's nice to hear from someone other than my teachers say that my writing is good. "We're still on for Sunday, right?"

"Uhh yeah." she nods her head. "Can I come over at three?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

"Cool," she says, she looks up over me.

I turn around. "Oh, hey, Liam." he's right behind me.

"Hey, Jayda. Can I talk to you?" he asks.

"Uhh, sure." I stand up from the table and follow behind Liam out of the cafeteria. Once we exit the cafeteria, I ask him. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to tell you that we are leaving right after school. The school got us a bus that's going to take us to Harrison Prep."

"Okay." For some reason, I feel like that's not all he has to say. "Is there something else?" I ask.

He sighs. "It's uh, just Thomas and you. He told me what happened."

"Oh."

"I just don't think that you two should get involved--"

I cut him off. "Involved? Liam, I'm not involved with him; he kissed me."

"Okay, but he didn't just kiss you out of nowhere. You had to lead him on; you must have been flirting with him or something, I mean you..." he stops mid-sentence.

"I what?" I narrow my eyes. He stares at me but does not say anything. "I don't know what Thomas told you but, I wasn't flirting with him, I didn't lead him on. I didn't do anything." I turn around and walk away from him back into the cafeteria. When I walk back into the cafeteria, my eyes immediately go to where I was sitting; Ryder is sitting in my seat across from Jessica, he is talking to her.

I walk closer; they spot me and then cease their conversation. Ryder stands up and quickly walks away. "What did he want?" I ask her.

"Uh, he was just asking about the homework... we have, uh science together." She lies. I know she's lying. He doesn't do homework, and even if he did really want to know about it, I doubt he would ask her.

"Oh."

...

It's three ten; my science teacher dismissed me early so I could go ahead and get my things from my locker. One of the perks of being a part of clubs or sports at school is that anytime there is a game or event, we get to leave class early. I walk down the hallway towards my locker. I spot Ryder at his. I forgot the football team is leaving early for their game too; they have an away game. I walk up to him. "Hey." He continues grabbing stuff out of his locker. He doesn't acknowledge me. "Ryder!"

He stops and then looks at me. "What?" he says aggressively.

"Are you okay?"

He looks at me, there's hesitation in his eyes. "Do you need something?" he snaps.

"Are you serious right now?" Just when I thought we were getting somewhere, he proves me wrong, yet again.

There's a loud commotion down the hall, it's the football team along with some of the cheerleaders. "Adams lets go!" one of them yells.

"I'm coming," he yells back as he turns back around to me. "Just stay the hell away from me." he turns his back to me and then walks down the hall. He throws his arm around Ashley and then walks out the door.

(This is why I have trust issues! anyway, this has nothing to do with anything but I've started watching game of thrones and its so good Ik I'm late lol. I'm scared though cause I'm sure we all heard how bad the ending was Idk what happened but I know people said it the worse tv show ending in history and I'm just like what could possibly happen! NO ONE SPOIL IT! I've been trying so hard not to just look it up. lol I will somehow fit a GOT reference in here somehow!)