Caught in Between

-9-

A couple of days had passed and I was back at school. Debby and I were sitting at our booth in the cafeteria eating breakfast. It was French toast with a side of yogurt this time. "So, how'd it go with the brothers?" She asked me as I had a spoonful of yogurt. "Did you go all the way with them?" I choked on my yogurt and I began to cough. Debby sat there laughing at me.

"No, I didn't." I proceeded to tell her that the Korren brothers and I only watched movies and nothing else. I didn't want to lie to her, but I also didn't want to tell her that we were in their jacuzzi or what we were doing in their jacuzzi. "But, I want you to tell me how it went with Josh."

"How it went? Becky, it didn't go anywhere. He picked me up, we went to a little restaurant, ate and then he took me home. That's it." Debby told me and she looked annoyed. "But what is there to expect? We agreed to just be friends."

"Well, it seems like you guys want to be more than that," I said and she scoffed as she shook her head, swirling around her yogurt with her spoon.

"I would love for that. But he's more concerned about the legality of it. If something were to happen, he would be the one in trouble, not me," she explained, and in a way, she was defending him. "Anyways, let's talk about something else."

"Okay. What do you want to talk about?"

"Have you been talking to Zach?" Debby wondered and I groaned at the mention of his name. I hadn't heard from him or seen him since he showed up at my house.

"He showed up at my house Saturday night.." I told her and her eyes widened. "He saw the Korren brothers come pick me up, and he got mad."

She let out a chuckle of disbelief. "Of course he did." She rolled her eyes as she shook her head. "He better grow the fuck up, that's all I'm saying."

"The thing was... he told me that I've 'changed'. I don't know what he means by that.."

"Becky, don't worry too much about what he says. And I think you have changed. You look much more alive and I blame the Korren brothers for that." She gave me a smile and I felt warmth rush to my cheeks. Did I really look like that?

A voice called out to me. "Rebecca." I whipped my head in the direction and I saw Kaleb strolling toward me with a grin on his face. I noticed that Keith wasn't with him.

"Hey," I said with a smile and small wave. "Where's Keith?"

"Not that happy to see me?" He teased as he stood at the table. He placed a hand down and leaned closer to me.

"N-No.. it's not that..—"

"I'm only kidding. Keith had to take care of some business for my parents in Montana. He'll be back in a few days," Kaleb informed me and my eyes widened. I was surprised because I figured that Keith or Kaleb would've told me before he left.

The bell rang, pulling me from my thoughts. Debby whined, dreading her first class of the day. Kaleb took my tray for me and dumped my unfinished food in the trash.

"I'll walk you to class," Kaleb stated. It wasn't an offer or a suggestion, he was dead set on walking me to class and he had a stern look on his face that he wasn't going to argue with me. I wasn't going to try anyways.

I went to grab my phone from my back pocket, and I realized it was missing. I gasped as I glanced up at Kaleb who was wondering what happened. "I left my phone in the cafeteria," I told him as I turned around to walk back, but he stopped me.

"I'll go get it for you, wait here." He walked toward the cafeteria and Debby came up to me with a smile.

"Aww, he's so sweet," she said with a smile as she placed a hand on my arm. "I'm off to class, I'll see you later." She took off quickly because the last bell rang. The halls were already empty and I leaned against the wall, waiting for Kaleb.