came over during thanksgiving," Emery said, positioning herself comfortably on her couch and placing her notebook on her laps.

I glanced at her through my lashes. "Yeah, I did. But you weren't home."

"Caelum told me," she said. "How was Brett?"

I went back to circling the answers to my homework. "He looked a lot like my father, but he was okay," I said. "We didn't talk much, but mum said he's coming over during Christmas."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Daesyn?" Emery called again and I dropped my pen before looking at her.

"Yes?"

"Are you mad at me?"

I twirled my pen between my fingers, pursing my lips. "I'm not mad at you."

"Then why are you acting weird?" she asked.

"I am not acting weird," I said. "I have always acted like this."

"You're acting weird Daesyn," she countered. "Did I do something wrong?"

"I said I'm fine," I yelled, placing my palm on my forehead. "Just drop it."

She raised her hands in surrender. "I was just asking."

"I know," I said, packing my books and placing them into my bag. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, but I have to go."

"See you tomorrow," she mumbled and I felt a million times worse than I was already feeling.

"I shouldn't have transferred my aggression to you," I said, glancing down at my blue socks. "And I'm really, really sorry. I promise. See you tomorrow?"

She nodded before standing up and jumping into my arms. One thing that didn't change from when I had first met Emery was that she was still a constant hugger. Only that her hugs never felt awkward like they used to.

"He'll come around," she whispered. "Just give him time."

I bit my cheeks to prevent myself from lashing out. I understood he didn't like me back but didn't our friendship mean anything to him?

After our mini bonding time that was mainly Emery giving me false hopes, I walked to my car and drove home. Mother was sitting in the living room going through some papers when I arrived and I muttered a quick greeting before going upstairs. I changed into more comfortable clothes, completed my homework, and studied for some hours. Exams were fast approaching and I didn't want to fail.

When I was done studying, and stalking you know who on Instagram, I went downstairs for dinner and saw mum setting the dining table. I honestly had no idea why she was hell-bent on setting the dinner table when we were only two at home, but I wasn't complaining.

"Hey," Mum said as I made myself comfortable on a chair and dished some food into my plate.

"Hi mum," I responded and immediately dug in.

"Eat slowly." She chuckled before joining me. "When are your exams starting?"

"On the fifteenth," I told her. When I saw the reaction on her face, I let out a small giggle, shaking my head. "I'll be fine. I am preparing for it."

"How about Calculus? I know you aren't any good in that subject," she said. As if reading my mind, she continued. "I know I haven't been there for you, and I feel bad about it. But I know you more than you think."

I nodded at how accurate she was before thinking about Calculus. I didn't know if Caelum was still going to tutor me before our exam. The boy wanted nothing to do with me. During our shared classes, things were just super awkward with him glancing at the clock every two minutes.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "Don't think I haven't noticed how down you've been acting lately, or how your face looks like right now. You look like you just lost your husband or something," she joked and I frowned.

When she realized what she'd said, an awkward silence fell upon us as I picked around the food on my plate. I had already lost my appetite.

Mum cleared her throat, crossing her arms. "We haven't talked about Dale in so long." I missed Father a lot, and I missed talking with Mum about him. Even though the only time we'd talked about him was the year he died and the year after his death. "Do you want to talk about your dad? Just to reminisce old memories?"

"Yes, Mum." I nodded with a small smile. "I'd love to."

And so, we finished our food and went to the living room. Mum played with my hair as she held me close and told me the same story of how they had met in high school. She told me how much she'd hated him when they first met, and how much he was determined to make her his, and how much he'd made her feel like the only woman on earth, and how much she would give up just to be with him at that moment. And how nobody in the entire world would be able to replace the large void he left in her heart.

Even Brett? Brett didn't stand a chance.

I felt a lot closer with Mum tonight than I had in years, and it made me genuinely happy. I drifted off to a dreamless sleep that didn't contain a certain dark-haired boy lurking around.

At school the next day, I tried my best to keep up the nonchalant façade. When Emery had tried to pry, I completely changed the topic of discussion. I asked her about Cole, and she told me he had already deleted the pictures he'd taken. Apparently, Caelum was one step away from taking Cole to the police since he had evidence to prove Cole guilty. Evidence from where? I had no idea.

In conclusion, Cole deleted Emery's picture, the video he made without her knowledge, along with the other copies he shared with his stupid friends. Jerk.

"Where's Clara and Melanie?" I asked, placing my head on the lunch table.

She slurped her milkshake loudly before answering. "They got held up in their classes again."

I nodded. "Do they know what happened between you and Cole?"

"Yeah," she said. "Clara was really mad at him but Melanie calmed her down."

"Don't you feel Cole deserves a lot more than just being threatened?" I asked. I didn't know if it was just me, but I wanted Cole to suffer for playing with Emery that way.

"Yeah, Caelum told his parents about the video stuff," she said, playing with her fingers.

Narrowing my eyes at the bright pink color on her newly polished nails, I pursed my lips. "What did they do?"

"Oh, they grounded him and threatened to end his football career just before it even started, and he apologized to me so I forgave him."

"What?" My eyes widened in surprise. "When did all of this happen?"

Shrugging, she waved back at a red-haired girl passing by. "If you do remember clearly, we haven't been talking much lately."

I wasn't avoiding Emery. I just didn't want to have a reason to meet with Caelum. The guy was already avoiding me like the plague, and there was no need to make it more awkward than it was.

"Emery." She hummed some kind of response. "When you chose to ask me that question that day, were you aware that your brother was walking behind us?"

She blew her cheeks out, glancing sideways. "No, I did not know."

Her actions were suspicious, to say the least, but I chose to ignore them. I led myself to believe that Emery wasn't aware of Caelum's presence last week.

"One more thing." I grinned sheepishly as a random question invaded my head. "When did you guys move to Hill-wood?"

"Me and Caelum?" she asked with a sigh of relief which I chose to ignore again, but nodded at her question.

"Caelum didn't move to Hill-wood," she said, resting her chin on her palms. "He moved from Hill-wood to West-wood and from West-wood back to Hill-wood."

"I'm confused," I said.

She nodded, explaining further. "Caelum grew up in Hill-wood," she said. "He lived here all his life until the seventh grade. But before then, Dad was always coming to visit me and my mum in West-wood, and Caelum was left alone with the nanny. Eventually, dad made the decision to move to West-wood, and he brought Caelum with him."

Caelum said he didn't grow up here, he told me he moved to Hill-wood in Sophomore year...

My brows furrowed. "But I didn't see you around until sophomore year."

"I was getting to that, Daesyn," she mumbled, cracking her knuckles. "So, when he and Caelum moved to West-wood, Dad got married to my mum, and we all started living together. But Caelum didn't like my mum or me, and he didn't even like living there. He was always complaining and getting mad and what not.

"At least mum and dad were always away for work, so they didn't listen to Caelum's constant whining, but Wyatt and I were trying to understand him and make him view things positively. Long story short, we finally moved to Hill-wood during sophomore year."

"So, in conclusion, Caelum lived in Hill-wood for almost all his life, yeah?"

When Emery nodded, I bit my lips in anger, ignoring her questioning stare.

Caelum wasn't honest with me. He lied to my face and I wouldn't have found out if I hadn't asked Emery. Why did he feel the need to lie when he answered that question?

Just as I spotted Caelum entering the cafeteria, I winced in pain as the foul taste of copper filled my mouth.

How many more lies had Caelum fed me?

-

Leave me a FUCking comment because I suck. Jk Jk. Not

I swear, I don't know this chapter. But, I hope the future chapters will be better. Amen.

I was going to add something else here, but I honestly can't remember what it is. Also, uhh... my updating schedule isn't regular, but i'll work on that soon. Thank you for your patience <3