Catch Me, I'm Falling in Love

Chapter 8

Note: From here and forth you will be able to notice a change in writing due to a 10 year writing gap.

***

The night went on and the girls watched movies and talked a lot. Late in the night they finally went to sleep, and the house was quiet. Caleb, who had hid out in his room, opened the door slightly and looked out to check if anyone was awake. When he felt that it was clear, he started walking around the house gathering his things. He knew they couldn't live together anymore. He'd appreciated what the Hales had done for him, but he did not want to ruin everything, and he felt that if he stayed all hell would break loose.

Of course he wanted to stay, but he had already talked to Matt and Alex, and his grandfather had okayed that Caleb would move in with them. He needed to finish school and then when going off to college; he didn't need to look back. He looked around the room to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. If you looked aside from the bed where he'd slept, it didn't look like he'd ever been there. And that was the point, he had left a note for the parents explaining things, and of course telling them if they needed further explanation they could always call, but that it for now, was better that he wasn't around.

Caleb grabbed his stuff and descended the stairs to the living room. He looked at the girls sleeping on the couch, chair and floor, searching for a particular blonde one. She was lying on one of the couches, sleeping ever so peacefully, her eyes and nose red from crying and her hair disheveled from lying there for a while. He approached her and pulled the cover over her petite body, making sure she was warm for the night. He then leaned down and kissed her forehead and stroked her hair, before picking up his stuff and walking towards the door. With one last look back he walked out the door and closed it behind him.

***

Will woke up to someone making an awful lot of noise. It sounded as if the person was running around the house, throwing things around.

"What is going on...?" She mumbled and leaned up on her elbows. With one hand she rubbed her eyes and blinked a couple of times. The sun was shining through the windows and the living room looked as if a bomb had exploded.

Taranee also woke up and looked at Will. "What is that noise?" The two girls looked around and saw that the couch, in which Cornelia had been sleeping, was now empty. They woke up the other girls, and all five of them started following the noise.

They found her in her parents' room, sat on the floor with a piece of paper in her hand and tears of anger in her eyes.

Elyon kneeled down in front of Cornelia and took her hands. Cornelia let her friend comfort her and let the paper fall out of her hands, which Irma picked up and began reading out loud.

"Dear Mr. and Mrs. Hale, due to many different things, I feel that it is best if I leave and go stay with someone else. You have been very kind to me and I appreciate everything you've done for me, but there are just too many problems, which I fear will never be solved. And I hate to be part of it, knowing that I am contributing to this bad fortune. If you feel like you need to know more, you can always call. Other than that, I leave with a heavy heart, but open mind. Thanks for everything. Caleb."

The girls all looked at Cornelia with open mouths, all speechless. They were also surprised she'd managed to go around the house with her sprained ankle. But instead of saying anything they all just said down next to her and took turns comforting her. It was all going to be very difficult from now on.

***

In school, the girls and guys had become very divided; they rarely did anything together anymore, which meant that the couples only saw each other after school. It was lonely for both Caleb and Cornelia, cause that meant they only saw their friends on weekends.

With so much spare time, Cornelia had started skating more. She put all her energy in becoming even better while trying to forget Caleb. But it was hard, they had so many classes together, so even though they could ignore each other, they still had to face each other each day. Her coach had told her that if she kept on the hard work she would be able to win the regional skating competition and most likely go on to the national championship. It was a dream come true, but she needed focus for that, and with her thoughts all messed up, it was hard to focus on anything.

It was insane that she had worked so hard to forget about what had happened; yet he still had so much control over her mind. He was all she thought about all day long. Most of the time the thoughts were very negative, but sometimes the good ones slipped through, and in those moments she would miss him. But she tried not to dwell on that because she knew he didn't miss her. And she would not sit and cry about him. He was not worth it. She deserved better.

"Wow." Cornelia stopped dead in her tracks and turned on her skates. "Peter." She said surprised and skated towards him. "What are you doing here?" She stopped at the end of the rink where Peter was standing and he smiled.

"The guys are playing hockey and I thought I'd join them. I completely forgot you still skate. You've become really good." He smiled at her and she blushed. "I'm serious. I mean, I don't spend that much time with Matt anymore, but we do hang out on occasions, and he mentioned once how well you've done lately."

"Well, it is what I love to do." She smiled at him. "So what have you been up to lately? Haven't seen you at your house much." He shrugged. "Probably been out looking at colleges. It's all happening so soon, got to be prepared." Cornelia nodded. "But enough about that, I was kinda wondering if you had plans tomorrow night?"

Kind of taken aback, Cornelia wasn't sure how to respond. "Cause, I'd really like to take you to dinner, if you want." Peter looked at her with a sweet and honest look and she couldn't help but melt a little. "Uhm. Sure sounds good." Peter grinned. "Great, I'll pick you up at 7?" Cornelia nodded and Peter took his bag and walked towards the locker rooms.

Perhaps it wouldn't be so hard to forget Caleb after all.