One Minute Till Tomorrow

Chapter Eight

Caleb was gone when I awoke. A good thing, him being gone made it so I didn’t have to deal with my mom’s questions. On the down side, I have a lot of pain in my back from sleeping on the floor, again.

I walked into the kitchen where my mom was waiting for her coffee to finish brewing. “Why did you scream last night?” She asked, her arms crossed.

“Nightmare.”

“About what?”

I shrugged. “I can’t really remember.” I lied.

“Mm-hm. Annnd… you just… screamed when you woke up…?”

I nodded.

“I’m having a hard time believing your story. Mostly because after you screamed, I came out of my room to see if you were okay. You weren’t in your room—which I expected—but when I heard Caleb in our living room…”

I stood up. “Nothing happened.” I walked out of the kitchen and got dressed for school. After I was finished getting dressed, I walked down my stairs and walked out the door, not even pausing to say good-bye.

Caleb picked me up a few blocks away from my house like he always does. Today, he was driving his dad’s SUV. “Where’s Piece O’Shit?” I asked.

“Piece O’Shit broke down last night and is in the hospital. I’m stuck with my dad’s car until it gets repaired—or until my mom buys me a better used car. Either way, Piece O’Shit might not be with us much longer.”

“Aw,” I frowned. “O’Shit was beginning to grow on me.”

“Oh! You might want to get that checked out.”

I smiled at Caleb’s weak joke, then I thought about what my mom said this morning. “Caleb, you have to stop spending the night at my house. My mom’s getting weird about it.” I glanced at Caleb, he was smiling. “Caleb!”

“What?”

“Why are you smiling?” His smile was contagious.

“I just find it funny that your mom actually cares. I mean, we’re not doing anything…” Caleb leaned his head back in laughter. “I don’t know, I just find it kind of funny.”

I nodded. “I know, she’s overreacting.”

Caleb pulled up to the school and we got out, heading to the still intimidating school. Even after my third-ish week of school, I still think that this is too many people. But, whatever. I went to a small prep school.

I threw my backpack on one shoulder and grabbed Caleb’s hand. He smiled. We walked up to the school doors, hand in hand, not a care in the world… until Kevin and Cortney came up to us. Then, Caleb and my moment of happiness was shredded.

“I heard you two were sleeping together.” Cortney said.

Kevin nodded. “Yeah. I heard he’s at your house almost every night and your mom doesn’t even care.”

“All it takes is once and you two are hooked on each other.” Cortney crossed her arms and I dropped Caleb’s hand.

“And where’d you hear that from?” I asked.

Kevin smiled smugly. “Well, I heard it from Cortney—”

Cortney butted in. “And I heard it from Mack, who heard it from Eve, who heard it from Joi, who heard it from John, and John heard it from Aden, who saw Caleb sneaking out of your house.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of people you heard it from. Are you sure it wasn’t one big game of Telephone.” I raised an eyebrow. “I mean, seriously. Yeah, Caleb snuck out of my house because he fell asleep at my house after we did—nothing! So Aden told John and John probably changed the details a bit, then Joi changed the details, then Eve and so on. Who’d you tell, Cortney? How many people know this false rumor?”