Pencils and Pool Water (Complete)

Chapter Nine

That night, after I left, Calvin visited me. I had just gotten out of the shower and and into my pajamas when I heard it. 

Tink. I blinked, looking around, not sure if I had heard anything at all. 

Tink tink. 

I rushed to my window, the small part of my heart stolen by Colin hoping he was here to explain. That it hadn't meant anything, and that he still loved me as I... 

I could barely bring myself to think it. 

As I loved him. 

That was the sick part. I still loved him, even a teensy bit. And I hated that. I isolated the part of me that still loved him, and smashed it in my mind while I was in the shower, but it was no use. It just hurt, and there was no way to get out of it. 

But, no. It was Calvin, throwing rocks at my window. 

"My hero," I muttered sarcastically, opening my window, shivering at the chilly November air that blew in. 

"Can I come up?" He whispered, looking exhausted. I realized, with shock, that he had ridden his bike over. I looked at my alarm clock- it's 9:30. And a school night. 

I nod. "Um... Come around." 

I still couldn't believe that Will would be so cruel, so low to email it to Calvin. How did he even get Calvin's email? I didn't, and actually, still don't, have Calvin's email. Maybe through the school? 

I opened the door for him, and the sight of him was like someone had taken a cheese shredder to my heart. I'm bleeding, broken, and feel like death, but Calvin still makes my broken soul sigh. I feel the drop in my stomach, and it's almost like things were before. 

But they weren't.

He was in sweatpants, his caramel hair tousled and tangled, like he hadn't slept well. His eyes are a sharp, alert green. His hands are in his pockets. 

My heart longed to reach out to his, to selfishly find comfort. 

Numbly, I step aside, and he walks in. He kicks off his shoes, and I notice he has a bag. 

An overnight bag. My gut twists, not sure if I can handle the sight of Calvin on my bed. 

Especially so emotionally worn down. 

We walk to my room in silence. He takes off his coat, revealing a fleece-like pajama top. 

"What are you doing here, Calvin?" I asked, my tone almost exactly as his was the night he found me lying on the bottom of the pool. 

Except that I'm still the one lonely and broken. 

He recognizes it, as well. "I'm staying over." 

I snort. "I can see that," I suck in a breath as he makes himself comfortable under my covers. "But why?"

His eyes are burning as he answers. "Because I know you can't be alone tonight." 

All of my insides constricted, and my knees buckled. I held the edge of my desk, the corner digging into my palm. "Am I so easy to read? Am I sheet of glass?" I whisper, almost helplessly.

Calvin sits up, sighing. "No. You're actually, really not." 

When he saw that I wasn't going to move, he got out of bed, walking straight up to me. He was shorter than me, but only just, and I wondered, When did he grow a few inches? My eyes searched his, willing him to see who I was, because someone sure as heck needed to.