Caleb is going through his days just trying to finish his last year of high school along with the other couple hundred kids in school. He had no idea such a little action as taking the shortcut home would change his world, literally.
Lucky for him...
I watched in horror as the test I never studied for was slapped onto my desk. Looking back on this past week, I really meant to study for this but then my idiot self-decided games were more important. I inwardly sighed, dropping my eyes back to the paper, gripping my pencil harder as if that would help my brain conger up an answer.
I think it's safe to say I'll be staying after school tomorrow in order to retake that dreadful test. I was just about to head to my usual spot for lunch when my name was called.
"Hey Caleb!" Jason, my one and only good friend was headed across the hallway waving an arm over his head which currently had a hood over it. He always got yelled at for it.
"Is this your subtle way asking to eat lunch with me?" I only answered him once we were walking side by side.
"Yep, you headed to the library?" I nodded "to the library it is then" I chuckled at his hand which pointed out as if we were going on some big voyage into the unknown. In reality were headed to the calmest, most silent place in the building filled with bustling teens.
I love the library, if I could choose one place to be trapped in it would be here. First of all, it has endless entertainment, and I'm a total book nerd especially when it comes to fantasy books. The best part is the fact that the librarians know me pretty well, so I get to use one of the empty offices they don't' occupy at lunch.
Life lesson of the day is to be buddy- buddy with good teachers.
Me and Jason were halfway through our sandwiches talking all about the next basketball game we had coming up when he seemed to have realized something. I watched quite intrigued as his face switched from casual to that of a serious more one.
"So, you know Adalyn...uh" he trailed off in thought.
"Brooks?" I finished her name for him "yeah she's in my ASL class."
"Ok so, she went missing two weeks ago" he lowered his voice a bit "like just without a trace. The police just found her car abandoned on the side of a back road somewhere." this definitely caught my attention.
I blinked at him "I wondered why she hasn't been at school" I wonder what happened, was she dead? or was she still alive somewhere? or maybe she just got fed up with life and ran away. I didn't know her outside of being her partner once or twice in class, but she seemed really nice.
He must've caught my expression "from what I've heard on the news the police think she was probably grabbed or something on the road since there were no footsteps or anything" he leaned back in his chair chomping into his sandwich.
"How do you know so much about this? teach me your ways" I leaned in pretending to be super impressed by his ability to google for hours on end searching for all the details on crime cases. I wanted to lighten the mood a bit, even though I was now genuinely saddened such a nice girl just vanished into thin air. It's odd since I've never experienced someone I have spoken to go missing before.
"I don't think you can handle such wisdom" I met his smirk with a scowl I'm pretty sure I have perfected at this point. He laughed at me before going to open his chips when he accidently made the small bag explode. This sent us into a fit of laughter combined with my failed shushing. We ended up hastily gathering the now ruined chips off the floor right before the bell rang.
On my walk home I admired the warm weather, which was wonderful considering all of the snow finally melted away and stayed away. It snows way too much here in Montana. I don't even want to think about how much shoveling hours I have accumulated over the years.
Walking through the front door of my childhood home I instantly smelled the scent of my dad, fresh out of his unreasonably intense workout session. I Heald a hand over my nose as I rounded the corner.
"Can't you take a shower before I get home?" I groaned through my palm watching as he drank some water from a glass cup.
My pleads for mercy were met with a loud chuckle "no, what's the fun in missing out on my only son say that same sentence every day?" he then resumed drinking his cup of water. I rolled my eyes fighting back the smile on my lips. "Plus, it pays off to work out."
My brows dropped to show my offense to him pointing out the fact he has more muscle than me. So unfair, like I have time, or motivation to do more than an hour or two a week at the gym. "Uh huh, well I'm going to go into my room with fresh air now" I swiftly ran up the stairs before he could hug me like he usually does.
My dad and I were really close, probably closer than most since my mom has been gone. It's only been about four years since she died of cancer, I don't know how dad was able to stay so positive around us as we watched her body slowly fail her. But I do know her death broke him for a while afterword which resulted in me practically becoming the father for a couple months. After those few months he's been as he puts it 'making it up to me' for not being able to help me through that time.
I don't blame him though.
My backpack was dropped on my bed followed by me, who was now stressing over my test retake tomorrow. I hate work, but I also hate bad grades.
What a horrible mixture to live with. I groaned remembering the look on the teachers face as she saw my paper.
Author's Note:
Hello, thanks to anyone who read this far, I really hope you like this first chapter even though it's a little short. I tried get a good background on Caleb during this chapter so people could get a sense of his life early on. Stay tuned for upcoming chapters!
:)
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