The car soon pulled up beside a huge, mansion-like house with modernised windows plastered around the exterior of the building. It was pretty obvious that this house belonged to a family that had a lot of money. I swallowed deeply of the thought of living here.
Obviously I was incredibly grateful, but with the though of my father on the back of my mind, and that fact I would be living with Caleb, I wasn't sure I was going enjoy myself here.
Moms slight sniffling brought me back to reality as we walked to the front door and knocked lightly, not wanting to wake the entire family.
The door soon opened to reveal Katherine, wearing some pyjamas with a sad and empathetic smile spread across her face. "Come in," she whispered as she hugged my mom tightly. Mom hugged her just as tight as Kylie and I stood behind her.
"I'll look after them, don't worry."
"Thank you so much Katherine," My mom felt reassured as she rubbed at her already puffy eyes. Katherine left us alone for a second so that we could say goodbye.
"Are you sure you're alright to be driving mom?" I questioned as she didn't look fit enough to do so. She smiled half-heartedly and held both Kylie and I's faces in her palms. "I'm getting a taxi from the house, don't worry." She assured me.
"I'll be back in a few weeks, I love you both," she brought me and Kylie into a hug as a small tear escaped my eye, feeling her kiss the top of mine and Kylie's heads. I genuinely felt like I had literally been thrown into this mess at one hundred miles per hour.
Soon after mom left, Katherine led Kylie and I upstairs.
"Kylie, you'll be rooming with Clara," she pointed to a room where the light was turned on, meaning that Clara was probably awake to greet her, "and Gabriella, your room is down the hall, to the left," I smiled as a thank you.
At this point, I was too tired to care about where I was sleeping, I just needed to hit my head onto a pillow and drift into unconsciousness.
"Thank you," I said to her as I walked into the dark room. Luckily, I was able to find the bed and climb into it. Like I'd thought, my head hit the pillow and I was gone.
• • •
Before I could even open my eyes and stretch out to the bright light suddenly shining through a window, I felt a large pillow come crashing down on my face, not being as soft as it should've been. "Ouch!" I shouted as I woke up, despite it not hurting that much.
Unfortunately, when I opened my eyes, it was no longer the pillow, but it was Caleb glaring down at me from above. "What are you doing in my room?" I shouted once again as I tried to cover up my indecency.
Of course, this was the time I had chosen to wear a small shirt and some extremely short shorts to bed. "Mom told me to wake you up," he said as I stared up at him, not knowing what I should reply, "so wake up," he shouted back, making me more annoyed than before.
"Would I be able to speak if I wasn't awake?" I groaned out and held my hands over my face. That was before I heard his feet, luckily, walk away from me and out the door.
"Be ready in twenty minutes, I'm taking you to school," he shouted back abruptly from the hall. As a quick reminder, I texted James to let him know that we wouldn't be needing a lift this morning, and that I would explain it all when I saw him.
A very difficult explanation.
Without reading his reply, I climbed inside the shower, doing everything quicker than usual since I was in a different environment, and wasn't in the mood to slowly take my time. As I climbed out, I threw on some black jeans, a maroon top and applied some make up just as quickly as my shower.
Kylie was sitting in the kitchen, eating breakfast when I finally reached the bottom of the stairs, so I grabbed myself a bowl of cereal and did the same. "Hey, you alright?" I asked her softly as I sat down in the seat next to her.
"I'm fine," she replied with her head still faced downwards. "Are you?" Instead of answering, I just nodded; wanting to forget about everything our mother had told us this morning.
Katherine soon appeared down in the kitchen, dressed in a dress suit and smiling widely at us, "how did you both sleep?" She asked with an empathetic look.
"Good thank you," Kylie replied as I smiled up at Katherine.
"Thank you so much for everything," I said to her as Caleb walked into the room, automatically making me tense up. She handed Caleb some breakfast before looking back at me, "It's no trouble, I hope you can see this a second home, I don't want you to feel uncomfortable," she reassured.
However, I was unable to reply due to being too distracted with keeping my eyes away from Caleb. His eyes burned deeply into my head as he continued to eat. I wasn't sure how much Caleb and Clara knew about the situation. I didn't exactly want him, or anyone else to know.
"You all better get going," Katherine said as she began clearing away the breakfast we had previously been eating. "Caleb, can you drive everyone please?" She asked as he sighed loudly.
I wasn't able to stomach much of my food. There was a permanent lump stuck in my throat about my father and where my mother was actually staying. "Let's go!" Caleb interrupted my thoughts as he walked out of the house.
We walked out towards his car as well as I eavesdropped on Caleb and Clara's conversation, "Can you be a little nicer please Cal?" I heard her whisper to him, which made a small smirk fall onto my lips.
"I am," he replied, but I could sense the sarcasm in his tone. When we reached his car, I was pleasantly surprised to see a black ford lightning truck in the drive.
Although I was impressed, I never wanted to show it to him. Then, I was reminded that we would all have to fit in the front of the truck, unless someone wanted to sit in open trunk.
I let Kylie and Clara climb in first as I sat nearest to the door, wanting to be as far from Caleb as I possibly could. We sat uncomfortably in a deafening silence until Clara spoke. "Kylie and I will get the bus tomorrow," my eyes widened in shock, not wanting them to leave me with no other way to get to school.
"Its going to be too squished in here everyday," Caleb just nodded and continued to drive as I stared out of my window and away from looking at him.
As soon as we reached the school, Caleb pulled into a space near the front, much to my dismay. I wanted to get into the school without being seeing getting out of a car with him. The rumours would begin as soon as they saw us, and I wanted James and Flora to hear it from me that I was staying with him.
However, it was hard to avoid wandering eyes when every single pair I could see was staring straight at us. I audibly sighed and stormed into the building as Kylie introduced Clara to her friendship group.
I wasn't sure where Caleb went, but at the same time, I didn't care. The only face I was looking for was James', and when I did, he was standing by his locker, waiting for me.
He stood with his back to the lockers and his arms crossed, looking hotter than I thought he could even get. Before he could see me, I had run over and attacked him by throwing my arms around him.
"Hey, what's the rush?" James said as he smiled into my shoulder, "and what did you need to explain to me?" I was suddenly reminded of what I had to tell him, despite me thinking about it all morning. Seeing him had made me forget.
"You're probably not going to like this," I looked anywhere else but at him as I spoke. He held onto me still, and listened. "Actually, you definitely won't like this," I stalled, not wanting to say those dreaded words, " In fact, I think you'll hate it," I continued rambling.
"What is the point here, Gabby?" He finally asked. I swallowed hard as his serious tone turned on. Although it made him more attractive when he was angry, I knew that this wasn't an anger I truly wanted to see.
I slowly looked into his eyes as I said it, "Kylie and I are going to be staying at Caleb's house for a few weeks," Speaking as fast as I could, I closed my eyes, scared for what his reaction would be.
"What?" He shouted out, not caring about any of the nosey onlookers who had conveniently turned to listen. James wasn't the biggest fan of Caleb yesterday, so I could understand why he wasn't happy about this arrangement.
I wasn't sure whether his question was rhetoric, or he really just didn't understand me. It wasn't that difficult to understand, so I stayed quiet and waited for him to say something else.
He practically had steam blowing from his nose when he seemed to have finally processed the information. "Why?" I wasn't sure whether I wanted to tell him. Although I trusted him with my life, I had agreed with myself that it was better if less people knew. Mom, Kylie and I would be safer that way.
"Something happened with my Mom, so she had to move away for a while," I kept it vague as I looked up at him again, hoping to see a different expression than the one before.
He nodded hesitantly before pulling me close into a tight hug. Unfortunately, the bell rang for homeroom, but I didn't want to let go of him. After everything that had happened, this was just the thing I needed.
• • •
After homeroom had quickly gone by, I mentally sighed at the realisation that I had Chemistry. Caleb's stupid face crept into my mind as I slowed my steps and attempted to delay the time that I would have to sit next to him.
Waking into the classroom, I held my breath, looking in to see Flora sitting comfortably in my seat, laughing uncontrollably at Caleb. I rolled my eyes, yet grinned at the thought that I wouldn't have to sit next to him today.
"Hey Gabby!" I was surprised Flora even noticed me as I pulled up a seat next to me, "Caleb's just been telling me about your situation." I seethed, wanting to have told her myself, and wishing it had not come from him.
It wasn't a big deal, but she was my friend, not his.
I smiled happily as Mr Davies entered the room and I wouldn't have to hear the whispering of Caleb and Flora anymore.
Mentally, I sighed, hoping that Mr Davies would enter the room quick so I wouldn't have to listen to their voices anymore.
"Psst, Gabby," Flora's voice interrupted the scribbling down I was doing. I looked up at the teacher to make sure that he hadn't caught on to her trying to speak. I looked up and nodded to see what she wanted.
"Caleb asked if you wanted to come with us to a party tonight?" I looked over at Caleb before looking back at her. I'm sure Katherine wouldn't be happy with me going out, seeing as she was meant to be looking after me.
"Whose party is it?" I asked as she turned back to Caleb and whispered something to him before he replied with a short, one word answer. "Noah." His face immediately slipped into my head. I guess you could call him a 'class clown'.
He was a pretty popular boy and held most of the parties back in junior year, seeing as his parents were business partners and spent most of their time on business trips. How Caleb had made friends so quick was beyond me.
"I'll go if Caleb's mom is ok with me going," I told her as she attempted to whisper back the message to Caleb before I grabbed onto her arm, "and James is coming."
She turned round and spoke to Caleb again. This time it was longer, but I couldn't read the expression on his face. He didn't show an emotion, even if he had one.
"He said, she'd be fine, both his parents are on the night shift, and," she looked back nervously at Caleb. I had never realised what demanding jobs both Katherine and Mike had. I knew Mike was a cop, but I wasn't exactly sure what Katherine did. With her face still looking timid, she looked back at me, "if he has to." She said with wide eyes and a shrug.
• • •
After a full day of school, I was struggling to stay awake. My eyes were more motivated to shut than I was to do any work. Fluttering my eyes open, I realised that nearly everyone had left the classroom except a few that still sat scribbling notes down.
I picked up my bag and began walking to the door, only to see someone leaning on the doorframe.
Caleb.
"How did you know I have algebra?" I asked as I continued walking and he caught his steps with mine. I sighed at the thought with having to sit in the car with him again.
"It wasn't difficult to find out," he said to me, "Flora knows a lot about you." I felt his stupid smirk next to me as I continued walking, not looking up at his stupid face.
As we escaped out the doors of the school, we were immediately hit with a cold breeze flowing through the air. Instinctively, I pulled my hands around my upper arms and quickened my pace to his truck. "Well, she is my best friend." I replied as I voluntarily climbed in.
Only then I did I remember that Kylie and Clara had gotten on the bus, leaving me to suffer for a whole ten minutes in the car with Caleb. We sat in a hushed silence on the drive home, with the only sounds being muffled music from his radio, which sadly seemed to be broken.
I was the first to climb out of the tuck when he pulled onto the drive. However, we were the only vehicle parked up, and Clara and Kylie weren't in when we walked into the house. Without a second glance, Caleb waltzed over to the couch, sat down and turned on the TV.
"So are you actually coming tonight?" He said without looking up. As I was about to reply, he spoke again, "or are you going to stay home like a goody two-shoes?" I stared at him with a grimace on my face before sighing and walking upstairs, not having the tolerance to reply.
"You didn't answer my question," he shouted up, obviously not having moved from his position on the couch. I was already sitting on the bed in my room when I called back, "I am not a goody two-shoes!"
I spent the next hour debating on text with Flora whether I should go or not. Of course I wanted to go, but it was if I was willing to get ready and actually go. Especially since we would basically be going 'with' Caleb.
After much deliberation, I decided that I would go, as long as James definitely came. Flora had already texted that Caleb said to come here at seven, meaning that he had decided I was going before I'd even realised.
I flopped back onto the bed after throwing my phone to the side and sliding my hands down my face.
Tonight was going to be a long night.