Chapter 18 - Chapter Eighteen

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

Once Rhys Montecillio paid his bill to the hospital, he offered to the girl to join him to eat. More like, dragged her along with him. Ever since the recent events, the raven haired boy grew concerned for the insufferable girl whom he seemed to care for. Calistine Walker reminded him of someone very close to his heart.

Sliding down on the booth, Callie frowned at him for dragging her there as she massaged her arm where his callous hand was clasped a few seconds ago. She would've said yes if he asked her, yet he just dragged her along.

The server took their orders before heading back to the counter to give their orders to the chef. The raven haired boy leaned back against the chair as he glanced at the brunette who sat across from him.

"How are you feeling?" Callie asked as she loosened her tie and tied her hair up into a bun. "Does it still hurt?" she asked in a worried tone.

Rhys found it so amusing to see her so concerned about the wound when he wasn't even that bothered about it. "I'm fine. It didn't hurt." he answered before the side of his lips quirked upwards, forming a smirk. "You seemed so concerned about me, Calistine. Are you always this concerned about your friends?"

"Of course I am." she dumbfounded, slightly titling her head to the side in confusion why he would ask such a question. "I'm always concerned for my friends who do stupid things." she snickered, causing him to roll his eyes at her.

"Tsk."

"My friends would always call me mother of the group, did you know? My brothers also agreed to it." she asked and the raven haired boy looked at her, curiously as he gestured for her to elaborate. "It's a habit I've acquired. I've been the mother for my brothers and, now, I'm a mother for my friends."

"Why?" he asked, leaning forwards against the table. "If you don't mind me asking." Rhys added, casually.

She pursed her lips, contemplating whether to tell him or not before she sighed in defeat. "I grew up almost independently. My mother always taught me that if I could do it myself, I should do it myself." Callie started to elaborate the her story. "Well, my parents died when I younger, I think I was around thirteen when they died. My two older brothers were both in law school at the time while the other one was in college. I did what mom always did, you know? Help throughout the house, cook food, make sure my idiotic brothers gets to school in time. I never thought motherhood would be so exhausting until I experienced it. "

"I'm sorry about your parents. If I would've known, I would have never asked." he frowned at her, giving her a sympathetic look.

She waved him off, like the topic wasn't a big deal. "It's fine. Going back to my parents. I didn't let you drive me home that one time because my brothers are skeptical and cautious about everything single thing. The thing is, both my parents were lawyers and they always got involved in either political justice or criminal justice. she took a deep breath before she spoke once again. "They were shot at the back of the head when they were coming home. We moved now because my brothers were being cautious."

"You don't like too many people knowing where you lived." he finished what she was about to say. "So, your friends know where you lived. You seemed you and your brothers seemed to trust him very much."

Callie smiled, brightly. "I do." she answered. "I trust you too, you know. You're the only one I've told about this. It's... nice telling someone."

"I feel faltered, Calistine." he grinned, mischievously, making her laugh slightly. Rhys understood her a little bit now.

Both of them told stories about their high school experiences as the ate their food. Before Callie could say anything else her phone started to ring profusely.

The brunette's eyes widened in shock as she saw a lot of missed calls from her brothers and friends. "Hold on." she told Rhys as she dialed Harry's number before pressing the phone against her ear. "Hey." she said, sheepishly.

"Where the hell are you, Ali? You're classmates said you went to the infirmary. Then, the infirmary informed me that you went to the hospital!" Callie winced, moving the phone away from her ear. "Where are you?" she heard Carter's voice.

Calistine began to explain where she was and who she was with. Her brothers didn't seemed convinced and they told their little sister to hand the phone to Rhys which she did.

"What? What are you doing?" Rhys whisper yelled, his brows furrowing at her.

"Just take the phone." she urged him to. He groaned in frustration before grabbing the phone from her small hands.

Rhys Montecillio was being respectful and polite for the first time in Callie's eyes. He was responding with "Yes, sir" or "I will do what I can, sir". The brown haired girl found it odd to see him so respectful.

"I will, sir. Goodbye, sir." he said in such a charismatic voice before ending the call and handing back her phone. "Finish up. I'm driving you home."

The girl gapped at the suddenness of the situation. "I'm sorry. Did you just say that you're driving me home?" she asked in confusion. "My brothers gave you permission to drive me home? You're joking?"

"Well, Carter and Cole agreed to it, but your other brother, Connor? He didn't seemed to like the idea of me driving you home." he explained, calmly before paying the bill. "Come on. You have to be there in twenty minutes." he said before they both left the diner.

"I'm surprised that Carter allowed you to drive me home considering the last time Maven drove me home, he ended up getting punched by Carter." she said as she hopped inside the car whilst Rhys slid down on the driver's seat. "How come they trust you do easily, Rhys?"

"Because I'm charming, Calistine. Why would you even ask such a question?" he said, cockily and Callie scoffed in disbelief.

The whole care ride wasn't silent. It made the brown haired girl uncomfortable. Instead of being engulfed by silence, she turned up the radio and started vibing with the music. Rhys was constantly telling her to shut up and Callie with stuck her tongue out, teasingly before singing along with the song.

"Nice house." Rhys complimented as he pulled over in front of the gate of her house. "Smaller than I thought."

"Trust me, it's better inside and a small house brings the family together." she flashed him a cheeky smile as she removed the seatbelt. "Thanks for dinner and for driving me home. I will see you tomorrow." with one last smile, she hopped out his car and proceeded inside the gate before to the door. When she got inside the house, her eyes caught a sight of her brothers plus Harry waiting for her.

"Busted." Harry said before quickly faking a cough to cover what he said and the brunette narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'm sorry I didn't call as soon as possible. I was making sure that Rhys listened to the doctors." she apologized.

The oldest Walker sighed. "It's fine, but next time, kindly inform us about it. It'll save us time, Ali." Carter advised. "We don't want Cole going full on panic mode." he whispered, making her giggle.

"I heard you didn't approve of Rhys driving me home." The brunette said, sitting beside her brother as he studied and the rest dispersed.

"I don't like him." Connor said, nonchalantly.

"You don't like anyone, Connor." she retorted, rolling her eyes slightly. "Anyway, I trust him. Maybe you should open up to someone too. Stop being uptight all the time. I better go and shower. I hate the stink of the hospital." she smiled before heading upstairs.

☾︎☾︎☾︎

Before they knew it, Festival week came their way. Calistine had to wake up early due to her president of the student council needing every senior early since they'll be the ones with business booths.

"Harry." Callie knocked on the door, using her free hand to cover her mouth as she stifled a yawn. "Harry, you better be decent because I need you to wake up. We need to go early."

When she entered the room, the brunette was surprised to see the room so tidy. She was even more surprised when Harry exited the bathroom, fully clothed and looking fresh.

"Good morning." Harry beamed, ruffling his brown locks, trying to style it. Callie arched a brow at him at his state. "What? Why are you looking at me like that, Callie?"

"You look happy." she noted. "God, please stay happy. I really don't want to keep on waking you up in the morning."

"Hey! I wake up early sometimes!" he protested before he eyed her outfit. "Nice outfit. Very.... capable for the day."

Calistine was wearing a white blouse that was tucked in her high waisted denim pants and she partnered it with her white sneakers. Truth be told, her real outfit lies inside her bag, but she wasn't going to wear it until she reached the Academy.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Just go eat breakfast. I really need to be early or Janet will kill me. Literally." she said before heading back to her room to grab a few more things for the day.

When she got downstairs, her brothers ans Harry were already eating. She sat in between Harry and Connor as they talked about what will happened to school today. With that, the two high schoolers left for school.

"Don't drink too much coffee today. Three cups are your minimum, Ali." Harry reminded to his best friend like a brother reminding his little sister.

"Yup. This is my first cup." she grinned as she raised her hydroflask that was filled with sweet black coffee.

Both of them went to the High School Grounds of the Arcturus Academy. They parted ways and went to the line of their classes. All the five classes waited patiently for the student council president to give her announcement.

"What is that?" Rhys asked as the girl beside him took a sip out of her hydroflask. "Is that all coffee?" he asked in shock.

"It's coffee, but it's not filled all the way to the top." she answered. "My brothers and I doesn't want me to have a caffeine rush."

"Then stop drinking that much coffee."

"It's hard to stop when you have a caffeine addiction, you know?" she grinned. "I've tried drinking tea sometimes, but coffee is much better."

The Student Council President, Janet announced that the money that'll be collected for the booths will go into the charity the Student Council chose. Once the announcement was done, the students started to disperse and went to finish decorating their booths.

"What's your shift for today?" Rhys asked as he and Callie and a few of their classmates were organizing the chocolates and sweets.

"Delivering which will be exhausting." she answered, boredly. "What's yours?" she asked, glancing at him.

"Cashier duty. They needed someone who won't be blabbering if someone decides to gift someone anonymously." Rhy answered, nonchalantly.

The brown haired girl snorted. "So what? You're trustworthy now, Rhys?" she teased, bumping his shoulders with hers. "Anyway, I need to get changed. Marissa wanted everyone with delivering duties to have a specific attire."

The girl grabbed her backpack and went straight to the ladies' room. She went inside a cubicle before changing into the entire their class president chose. When she emerged from the bathroom, Callie went straight to Rhys who was busy doing something with his phone.

"Hey, can you watched my bag for me? I'd leave it inside our classroom, but it's so far away and I really don't want to walk that far." Callie requested as she tied her hair into a French braid pigtails. The voice of the girl made Rhys glance up from his phone. "What? Is it too much? I think it isn't." she asked, gesturing at the black shirt with her last name printed in gold as the back.

Rhys faked a cough, recovering from his stunned expression moments ago. "I don't know. I don't have any fashion senses." he replied, coolly. "As for your backpack, I'll keep it here. Don't worry."

"Thank you. You're a lifesaver, Rhys. I'll treat you to lunch or something later. If I find you!" she sang as she began to walk away from him.

☾︎☾︎☾︎

The Love Booth was thriving. Students would either send some sweets or flowers or teddy bears to their significant other anonymously or not. Or send a confession letter, anonymously.

Calistine Walker was making her way to the College Of Architecture with two caramel chocolate bars and a envelope filled with the confession letter. It was too generous for a confession in her opinion, but she wasn't one to judge. She's spent about twenty minutes trying to find the receiver of the confession and chocolates. Callie only had a name and the location where the receiver might be.

The brown haired girl stopped in front of a group of friends who were howling with laughter. Their laughter died down when they noticed a girl in front of them.

"Hi, can we help you?" A tall male with curly blonde hair asked the brunette who was standing right in of them.

"Do you guys know someone named Austin Reynold Meyers?" Calistine asked, sheepishly. "Architecture student, I think."

"Why?" One of them asked.

"Well, it appears that he has a secret admirer." the girl replied. "Our booth delivers gifts and sweets to whomever the customer chooses. The Love Booth." she explained further and the group of friends began to nod in understandment.

"Well, you are looking at him." The blonde replied with a wide smile plastered on his face. His friends began to snicker before slipping away from them. "Didn't know that the Love Booth still exists in this school."

"I didn't even know it existed." the girl remarked before handing him the two chocolate bars that were wrapped around a lace twill and the letter on top. "Before you ask who ordered it for you, I don't know. I just deliver and I won't tell you even if I knew who it was."

Austin smirked, arching a brow at her before he hummed in response. "Are you sure that you're not the secret admirer?"

Callie scoffed lightly. "Don't flatter yourself. You might look good, but you aren't that good looking" she stated, glancing at his features. The architecture student grew even more amused with her comments.

"So, I look good to you?" he asked and the girl rolled her eyes at him. Austin chuckled, shaking his head in amusement. "What's your name?"

"Calistine Mackenzie Walker, but you can call me Callie or Ali." she said, nonchalantly. "Calistine is a mouthful."

Austin smiled, running his hands through his blonde locks. He grabbed a pen from his pocket before writing something down on a piece of paper. "As much as I love this conversation with you, unfortunately, I need to head to class. Here, take this. I don't eat chocolates anyway." he placed the two bars from chocolate and the piece of paper on top of her palm. The blonde leaned down to the petite girl's level before he whispered to her ear, "I hope we see each other again, Ali." With that, he left, leaving the brunette stunned with her cheeks tinted pink.