Where to Begin

Chapter 7

"Chase? You scared the crap out of me! What time is it?" I rubbed my eyes, trying to focus my blurry vision.

"It's like two." Chase said casually, dropping down on the end of my bed.

"What! What the hell are you doing here then?"

"I came to say sorry,"

"What?" I didn't think I was hearing right because I had just been woken up.

"I felt really bad after Aubrey shouted at me and I know you heard her, I think the whole neighborhood probably heard her because she was shouting so loud," he said quietly, sitting on the edge of my bed.

"So?"

"So, I'm sorry – for blaming you,"

"It's ok Chase, just go back to bed," I turned over.

"I don't think you understand...I couldn't sleep because of this guilty feeling, that's why I came to say sorry at two in the morning," he said not looking at me.

"So what do you want me to do?" I moaned.

"Accept my apology?" He said quietly, finally looking at me.

"You expect me to accept your apology just like that?"

"Yeah," he said shyly.

"Well, you thought wrong,"

He stared at me, shocked.

"I'm joking, I accept your apology – now go back to bed,"

"I don't think I'll be able to sleep now that I'm awake," he said, making his lips a thin line.

"No, no, no, go back to bed."

"Can't I stay here, talking to you?" My cheeks started burning. It's a good thing the lights were off.

"No, I actually do want to sleep and you don't know the day I've had so you can't stay here unfortunately,"

"But if I go back upstairs I'll probably wake up Dale and then he'll get mad at me and beat me up,"

"I don't care if you wake him up, it's not my problem that you came to my room in the first place!"

"Please Celine..." He whimpered.

"Chase, where do you think you're going to sleep?"

"In the bed." He said softly.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Hell no! I would rather walk you back to your room in the dead of night than have you stay in my bed. Besides, I barely know you remember? We only met today,"

"Yeah but it feels like I've known you forever..." He looked at me expectantly but I didn't change my expression.

"Fine, on the floor?"

I didn't say anything. I just glared at him.

"Fine! Walk me back to my room," he said childishly.

"Well, technically you are walking me back to your room because I don't even know where your room is,"

"And what's wrong with me showing you to my room?" He grinned at me.

"Ok, you're walking yourself back to your room, now," I said getting back into bed.

"Ok, ok, I'm joking, come!" He grabbed my hand to lead me to his room.

"As soon as you get back to your room, though, I'm leaving,"

"Whatever. Those are the pajamas you brought?" He asked suddenly stopping. He was looking at my shorts and tank top pajamas from Woolworths. They were my favourite pajamas. It's not like I had that much time to pack all my pairs of pajamas.

"Yeah? Problem?" I said covering myself.

"No." He shook his head slowly.

He led me down the hall and around the corner. We walked past three doors until we came to the last door, on the left, at the very end of the hall. Chase slowly opened the door to insure we made very little noise. I couldn't believe my eyes. The door led to another set of stairs. Except these were much darker.

Once we reached the top of the stairs, Chase slowly opened the door at the top, which led to yet another corridor but luckily only a short one. It was hard to see anything so I couldn't see how many doors were down the hall. Chase then walked down the hall, still holding my hand, and stopped in front of the first door on the right.

"This is me," he said, suddenly realizing how long he was actually holding my hand.

"Ok, goodnight," I whispered and quickly turned around.

"What! No goodnight kiss?"

"Piss off Chase," I laughed and turned back to look at him.

"Ah, but now you have to walk back to your room in the dark, alone, in a strange house...I wouldn't be a gentleman if I didn't walk you back to your room," he started towards me.

"Goodnight Chase!" I said, opening the door to the stairs slowly to make no sound.

"Goodnight...Celine." I turned around to look at him one last time and he hadn't even opened his door yet, he just stood there grinning at me.

I walked back to my room with a huge grin on my face until I realized I had been caught.

"Celine?" Connell was standing in the corridor, rubbing his eyes. I stopped abruptly and tried not to look at anything other than his face.

"Connell?" I didn't think he would speak to me after phoning his mom.

"Yeah, is something wrong? What are you doing up?" he asked yawning.

"Oh, I was just...grabbing some water," I hesitated trying to slip into my room.

"Are you sure you're ok, I thought I heard more voices?"

"No, it's just me," I said smiling, trying to cover up my lie.

"Oh – ok. If you ever need anything, just shout. Not literally shout but like, just tell me." He turned around and went back to his room; his door was directly opposite mine.

"Thanks Connell." I whispered and laughed. Iwent to bed that night incredibly confused but I still had a huge grin on myface.