Caleb

Chapter Fifteen - Girlfriend

CALEB'S POV

"Ciera... you wouldn't be alone," I whispered quietly, pulling her closer. She sighed and moved to sit against me, leaning against my side. I felt her hand reach for some fabric, then saw her face flush. I smirked, biting my tongue to keep from asking tauntingly; what's wrong? Instead I looked out over the city.

"You know," I began. "I'm going to get out of here as soon as I can."

"Why? Everybody here loves you. What could the rest of the world have for you?" She questioned, looking over the city as well. I looked down at her, wondering how somebody who seemed to be so full of hope most of the time could be so cynical.

"The rest of the world has opportunities. Beautiful places to see, beautiful people to meet. I mean, I think I'm heading toward a scholarship somewhere. If I do my best with my grades and really push myself on the field I could probably get a scholarship to go to UCLA. Get out of small town Ohio, you know? Go do something. Go be something." For a minute we sat there in silence. I don't know what she was thinking about, but I know that I was thinking that I never would have said anything like that to anybody else.

"I like listening to you talk," she murmured. "It's soothing. To know that you're an actual person, not just some robot programmed by sports and parents, that's comforting." I looked down at her to see that her eyes were closed, her lashes dark against her cheeks. I didn't understand what she meant, but she said that it soothed her to hear me talk. I liked that.

We sat there for what seemed like years before the light of day broke over the city. I'd never watched a sunrise, never really cared for it. Now, sitting there with her, I realized it was beautiful. Everything had beauty in it, not just certain people.

"Ciera?" A worried cry made me turn my head to see Ciera's mother running down the hill. I held a finger to my lips-Ciera was sleeping. Delanie slowed to a stop beside us, a small smile coming to her lips. After a while she sat beside me and we looked at the city together.

"You know," she started. "I thought everything was going fine. Then eleven rolled around, and I was waiting for my baby, but she didn't show up. At midnight I tried calling her, but her phone was in her room. I didn't have your number, so I called Marcy. She drove over to my house and explained everything that had happened." Her face turned sad, almost mournful.

"She showed me YouTube videos of my baby, running away from a place where children are supposed to be safe and have fun. I was angry and worked up. Marcy still hadn't told me where you two were. But in one of the videos, I saw you pick her up. You had struggled a little to make sure your jackets didn't fall, but you carried her away. Marcy said she didn't know where you were, so I drove all over the town from one to two AM." She smiled. "Then I remembered where Ciera liked to go when she was sad, or when she just wanted to get away. And I come here to find your car. Thank you." Her thank you shocked me. I didn't know what she was thanking me for. I'd simply cared for Ciera and gotten her away from a place she didn't want to be.

"What for?" I asked simply.

"For rescuing her. After her crash and now. She needs somebody who can do that for her. I believe everybody does" Mrs. Lancaster mused. After about ten minutes of sitting there in silence, she smiled at me.

"Well, Caleb, I think it's time I take her home so you can both get some good sleep," she said, standing and moving so she could carry Ciera to the car. Before she could pick her up, I stood up with Ciera in my arms.

"Please, let me," I said, noticing how thin Mrs. Lancaster's arms seemed to be. She must be strong, but I didn't think she was strong enough to carry her sleeping sophomore up a hill to their car. We walked together in silence, and I noticed just how many times I'd been carrying Ciera lately. I should probably let up on that.

Monday was terrible. I had pink hair and everybody and their brother had something to say about it and/or the videos they saw. Whether they were there or not, everybody knew what happened. Or a different version of it. At least Lucille wasn't in school- I had gotten wind from Marcy that she had been suspended for a week for what she had done. So did her little elves. As I struggled to get through the day, I kept thinking of Ciera. I knew that if it were bad for me it would be seven times worse for her. I felt bad, but there was nothing I could do.

At lunch I walked up behind her in line and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Um, what are you doing?" She asked, quirking her brow at me and accepting the piece of pizza the lunch lady put on her tray.

"Getting lunch. What are you doing?" I asked nonchalantly. I saw her face take on a look of annoyance.

"Caleb," she simply stated, implying that my answer wasn't good enough.

"Oh, you mean my arm? Well, I decided that I would like to put my arm around my girlfriend's shoulder. Is that a bad thing?" I said. I could feel her shoulders tense as she heard 'girlfriend,' but I didn't move.

"Caleb, I thought we talked about why we couldn't be together." She whispered urgently. She typed in her number so that she could pay for her meal and walked just far enough out of my reach so that I had to let my arm fall to my side. I smiled to myself as I saw her waiting for me. I typed my number in the keypad and walked beside her toward our separate tables that were-oddly enough-next to each other.

"No, you talked about why we shouldn't be together. I still say we should. Do you not remember sitting there with me? Falling asleep against me?" I asked, skillfully looking at her and managing to dodge tables, backpacks, and other students. "Don't you want that?" I could see her contemplating whether or not she thought being with me worth the risk.

"If I say yes, will you take me to a movie this weekend?" she asked, smirking playfully at me, a mischievous look glittering in her eyes.

"What movie?" I asked in response. She smiled.