pipwusa

, I slightly winced when my bare feet hit the cold hardwood before putting on my flip-flops, and going into the bathroom.

As I prepared for school, I could hear the thumping of my heart loud and clear. My nerves were already kicking in, and I was trying my best not to freak out.

Mother's words from Saturday hit me hard, and as I took time off studying and drowning myself in self-pity, I tried to come up with ways to apologize to the girls for how badly I'd acted with them.

I wasn't mad at Mother because I knew she was right, and she only had my best interest at heart. And even though I felt annoyed when she had pointed out my flaws, the only thing I could do was become better.

I wanted to become better for her, for my friends, and for dad.

The sweet smell of pancakes engulfed me like a blanket as I reached the kitchen, and I felt more alive than I had been in days. Mum sent a small greeting my way, before placing a light kiss on my hair and dishing out the food.

"Daesyn?" mother called as she came to sit beside me at the dining table.

"Yes, mum?"

"You know I love you right?" she asked and I nodded slowly.

"Is something wrong?"

"You've been a bit distant," she said, fiddling with her fingers before raising her head to look at me. "And I thought you were mad at what I said."

I pushed my empty plate away and placed my hand on hers. When she linked her fingers with mine, I realized how cold my fingers were—a complete contrast to hers. "You shouldn't think that way," I said. "I'm not mad at you, and I completely understood what you meant. You made me see things from another perspective, and I'm glad you pointed them out."

She grinned, her green eyes lighting up. "You have no idea how lucky I am to have you as a daughter."

Letting out a breath of laughter, I shook my head at her. "You don't mean that, mother."

"Girl, I do," she countered and my eyes widened in horror.

"Oh my God!" I cackled loudly. "You did not just say 'girl.'"

"I did, girl," she repeated and I burst out laughing. "Isn't that what your friends say?"

"Mum, please," I chuckled, untangling my fingers from hers. "Never say stuff like that. Never ever."

Standing, I lifted my plate from the table and placed it in the dishwasher before picking my bag and sending the peace out sign to mum.

"Love you!" she yelled just as I reached the door. "Brett says hi."

A moment of silence passed—if the stupid clock ticking wasn't included—before I said, "Tell him I said hi. Love you too, mum."

The cold wind blew in my face as I stepped out of the warm house, and I knew what to expect next. By the end of the week, the whole street was going to be covered in snow. Well, I wasn't sure if it was going to snow, but I could only hope for the best.

The snowy season was the best, and my favorite.

Dad's favorite.

Hoisting my bag tightly on my shoulders, I tried to moonwalk, as I moved away from my door. I had no idea why I chose to dance, but it seemed I was in the spirit. A loud honking of a horn brought me back to earth with a startle, and my already flushed face flushed a deeper crimson.

How long had they been watching me dance?

After regaining my composure, I slowly walked towards the driver's side of the familiar car before knocking on the window.

"Hey, Daesyn," Caelum greeted, rolling down the car window, a small smile playing on his lips. "Nice dance moves."

I didn't need to check the mirror to know my face was on fire, but I put on the nonchalant façade and furrowed my brows. "Thank you very much for the compliment," I said. "But what are you doing here?"

He shrugged, licking his lips and my eyes fell to his lips. "Every say two cow drop it of."

"Huh?"

"Emery said to come drop you off," he repeated, and I swallowed uneasily. What was happening to me?

"Why?"

"You're freezing out there Daesyn," he said. "Get in the car, I'll tell you."

I was about to come up with a snarky response, but Mother's words from Saturday played in my head, and I realized I owed him an apology too. Nodding meekly, I walked to the other side of the car and got in.

Pursing my lips, I turned fully to look at him. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"I missed you," he said and my heart stopped beating. He couldn't reject me one day and tell me how much he missed me the next. It didn't work like that.

I blinked rapidly, rubbing my eyes. "So, why did Emery tell you to take me to school?"

"Didn't you miss me?" he asked and I choked on my saliva. Ignoring my gasp for breath, he continued. "Why didn't you come to tutoring? I called you, sent you multiple texts and voicemails, and you didn't return any of them. Emery did the same, but you didn't respond to them. Are you still mad at me?"

Placing a hand on my neck after my mini choking attack, I ignored his first question, chickening out of the apology I'd planned to give to him when I saw him, before saying, "Just forget about it, Caelum."

The way Caelum stared at me after my little speech made me realize how much I missed seeing his face. His midnight-black curls were as messy as it was every other day, and I fisted my hands to resist the temptation to run them through it. His dark eyes were wide open, but still showed how tired he was, and his pink lips looked as inviting as usual.

"So, you're saying we shouldn't talk about us?" he asked and I refrained from rolling my eyes.

I clasped my hands together. "You already made it clear, C," I said. "There is no 'us,' so let's go."

"You're still calling me that?" he asked and I twisted my mouth in confusion. He didn't like it? As if reading my mind, he said, "I'm not complaining, I just thought you'd stop calling me that after everything, not that I'm complaining because I—" He stopped, then said, "Emery didn't ask me to pick you up, I wanted to speak to you so I came over."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Then who's dropping her off?" I asked.

"Clara or Melanie," he said.

"Cool."

"Have you seen me before?"

"What?"

"Do you think we've met before?" he asked.

I shook my head, confused at the abrupt subject change. "No! If I recognized you from somewhere, things would've been different now, wouldn't it?"

His left eye twitched for a millisecond before he clenched and unclenched his jaw—which made him more a hundred times more attractive. After his little display, he gave me a tightlipped smile, and I swear something flashed beneath his expression, but before I could investigate the sudden shift, he looked away and turned on the ignition of the car.

Emery and the girls were standing outside when we arrived at school.

Melanie was the first to see me and she waved me over, but when she saw Caelum walk out of the car, her eyes narrowed into slits, and I silently groaned in agony. It seemed her crush on Caelum was still present.

I turned to Caelum, and I frowned at the annoyed look on his face. "What's up?" I asked softly. "Did I say something to make you mad?"

He shook his head, before walking towards the school building.

After the answer I'd given to him in the car, he didn't say a word throughout the ride, and it bugged me that I had no idea what I did, or said to him to make him angry.

My plan during the weekend was to apologize to him for always putting myself first, and never looking at things from his own perspective, but I ended up messing things up. Again.

Surprising? Not.

Emery pulled me into one of her famous hugs just as I reached where they stood, Clara gave me a pat on my back, and Melanie's eyes were still narrowed into slits, to which I countered with a look clearing stating 'what?'

I didn't realize this until then, but two days away—even though it wasn't that much time—from Emery's usual chatters, Melanie's famous analogies, and of course, Clara's nonchalance to everything, showed me how much I was growing attached to the trio, and how things would be so much different without them.

And Caelum you ask? Well... he didn't need to do much. I was already in too deep to back out.

-

So, last night I watched this movie: Looks That Kill, and I was like whahhh thaaa fackkk!?

I'm just going to keep my mouth shut.

Anyway, I think I'm back to writing exactly 2k words in a chapter lmao. And, the last line was just me saying: I'm already in to deep with Daelum to back out haha.

Nothing interesting happened in this chapter, but meh.

Do not forget to leave your votes and comments, lyyy <33

P.S: why do I suck at ending chapters in a cliffhanger?