Meeting In The Middle

Puzzle Pieces

"Dylan...." Caleb trails off, staring into the distance. "He was a very old friend of mine. Not even a friend. Just someone I met."

I roll my eyes. "Well that narrows it down a lot." I say sarcastically. He grinned but he didn't say a word. I urge him to continue, I wanted to know more about him and their strange history together. I wanted to know how their weird communication worked. I wanted to know what made Caleb storm out of the room. I wanted to know the reason behind everything that were out of the ordinary today. But I know I wouldn't be getting answers out of them today. The rest of the squad sauntered up to my locker, cornering me. Somehow I didn't feel threatened, it felt natural, like I belonged with them. Lucian smirked and excused himself along with the rest of the squad, leaving only Klein and I. He rests his head against the locker and looked exasperated as he sighed.

"Look, you should know something." Klein runs a hand through his hair.
"Then tell me." I demand, fed up with secrets.
"When you're ready, we will." He promised, tapping his silver wolf ring with a smile. "I promise on this ring."

I scoff. That ring might not even mean anything to him.

"It's a very special ring. A very important piece of me." He says, looking down at it. A shadow crosses his face but it's gone in a second. The boys come back with a solemn mask upon their masculine faces.

"Rosella, would you be able to ditch class tomorrow?" Lucian asks, crossing his arms.
"Are you crazy?" I exclaim. "Its the second day of school and you guys are already turning me into a bad girl."

They exchange glances at my outburst. I grin. "I'm in."
"We need to show you something." Caleb says. "We want you to meet someone too."

I was already insane with questions. I wondered if they did this to all the girls they meet. I could feel something going on here. It's like a book laid out on the table for me, but I couldn't reach out and flip the cover open. The rest of the day speeded by. Homework and projects, gossip and drama, homework and more homework. High school was so overwhelming.

The dismissal bell rang and I follow the crowd out into the hallways. With my books in my hand, I find my locker. There was someone waiting for me.

"Caleb, I just survived a day -" I stop speaking as the boy turns around. It was Dylan. He pushed himself off the lockers and allowed me a space to open my lock. I shift uncomfortably under his stare.
"Why are you here, Dylan." I snap, my voice breaking at the end. I can do this. I punch in the dials and swing open the locker door, almost hitting his face. He took a step back in surprise.

"I came to say sorry." Dylan said, clearly distressed. "I know. I was wrong, but our love was so special and so important to me. I didn't mean to hurt you that day. Its just that." He stopped short. "Some things I really cant talk about."

I stuff my books into my backpack. "And you want us to love each other when we cant even trust and share secrets with each other?"

"I want you back." He says simply. I stare into my mirror and catch sight of his downcast expression. I almost felt bad for being so mean to him but I swallow the feeling and close the locker, trapping the hurt and pain inside.

"Well I moved on Dylan." I say impatiently. "You took your sweet time hiding in those woods didn't you?"

He opens his mouth to protest but I decide to take this chance to express my feelings. "You are lucky I didn't tell anyone about seeing you. You should've just stayed in the woods, then you wouldn't be lying to anybody. You wouldn't be lying to me." I suggested, zipping up my warm red jacket.

"Even if you told the police, would they believe you? You're just some sick and hopeful girlfriend that was hallucinating about her boyfriend magically appearing. Besides, I had to leave, I had no choice." He claims, his blue eyes turned a darker shade of blue. "As for your friends, don't think they are telling you the truth either. They aren't."

Then he shoves his hands into his pockets. He glances at me, his eyes the darkest shade, a navy colour. "Just don't come running to me for help when you find out the scary truth."

I watch him leave, his footsteps echoing in the empty hall. Don't cry, he's not worth it. I hear his deep voice murmur something to someone as he turned the corner. "She's almost 16. She deserves to know." Then his footsteps fade into the distance until I couldn't hear anything anymore.

I collided into Caleb as I rounded the corner in a run. He steadies me and I take a step away from his touch.

"What truth?" I demanded. "What was Dylan talking about?"
Caleb feigns innocence but I know he heard. I stare him dead in the eye. He sighs. "Gray, Alex and I will bring you somewhere tomorrow. We will tell you everything you want to know. Just promise me that everything we tell you tomorrow will stay strictly between us."

"Why is this so important that you cant tell me here?" I ask, gesturing around us. The halls were vacant, the entire school has either gone home, or gone to afterschool clubs. His eyes dart around the hallway.

"The things we're about to tell you become either our death or a new beginning. It depends on you, Rosella." He says. "Our existence is in your hands."

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my phone. I handed it to him for his number. He punches in the numbers and handed it back to me.
"Why were you talking to Dylan?" He asks, staring in the direction where he had left. I sigh.
"More like why he was talking to me?" I correct. "I guess I should tell you some of my secrets when you're trading me life-or-death ones."

Caleb smirked and waited for me to begin.

"It was barely over an year when I thought I had last seen Dylan. His birthday was coming up and we had plans to celebrate." I start from the beginning. "One week before the big celebration, he just disappeared. Without telling me or even his parents, he just vanished. I spent hours and hours looking for him, from his favourite baseball field to bringing his dog to track him down."

I replay the memories in my head as I voice them.

"He texted me, from an unknown number, telling me to meet him by the woods that grew by my house. I listened and went to the forest that evening, hoping I could see him again. He came, and he kissed me. And everything was great until -" I pause, looking for a gentle way to tell my story. "Until I asked if he would come home with me, and announce that I found him."

Caleb was just as trapped in the story as I was. I had gone quiet. I tried to continue without the emotions seeping through me. "He had secured his hand over my mouth and I couldn't breathe. He surprised me, I didn't know this side of him, he was strong. And very quick. It's like something came over him when he was gone for a week in the woods. I still don't know what happened and its eating away at me."

I was proud of myself. I had made it through the story without shedding a single tear. I felt strong and independent, I didn't need him. Caleb had sympathy written all over his face but he didn't say anything. That was exactly what I needed, just someone to listen to my wrecked history without repeating the words that didn't help with anything. I pick up my bag and hoist it over my shoulder. The sky was getting darker, the sun slipping away into the clouds.

"I better get going." I say quietly. "Thanks for listening to my messed up past."
"No, thank you for sharing it with me. It doesn't seem like you told many people." He responds. "If you ever need someone to talk to, you have my number and you know where to find me."

"Good night, Caleb."
"Your world's about to change tomorrow." He says. "Sweet dreams, Rose."

Thanks for staying with this book so far, and for the support! ;) Enjoy the rest of the story!

- Sophia XOXO

Team Caleb or Team Dylan??