Incredible

- 9 -

- 9 -

It was around 6 pm when the two got to the party. It appeared to already be in full swing, as there were already teenagers spilling out of the house on both sides.

"Caitie!" "Ohmygosh Cate!" "Is that Caitlyn?" "Hey Caitlyn!"

Girls and guys around the party called out to Caitlyn, excited to see her again. She grinned at the attention, her heart swelling seeing all of her middle school friends so happy to see her.

Chase was quietly following behind her, awkwardly waving and nodding at the few people he recognized at the party.

Once they finally reached Andy, who was the person Caitlyn was looking for the entire time, Chase let out a sigh of relief.

"Andy!"

"Caitie!"

The two girls embraced as Andy stepped away from the guy she was talking to.

"Ugh, Caitie, school is so boring without you! Why did you have to go to that boarding school so far away!"

Caitlyn laughed. "I'm so sorry to leave you, Andy," she said humorously. "But I wanted to go to school with Chase, PCA is a ridiculously cool school, I wish you went there, too!"

Andy slung an arm around Caitlyn's shoulders. "Oh, I could never leave this school now, everybody adores me."

The guy she was with laughed and stepped forward. "She's not wrong, Andy's gotta be the most popular girl in the ninth grade." He held out his hand. "You must be Caitlyn. I'm Austin."

Austin was the tall, blonde, athletic looking sophomore that Andy was talking about over the phone.

Caitlyn smiled brightly at him. "Nice to meet you, Austin. I'm glad Andy's got people taking care of her while I'm away," she said, shaking his hand.

"So, how's the boarding school life for you, Catie?" He asked. Caitlyn laughed. "Please, call me Caitlyn. Only Andy calls me Caitie."

"I'm Chase," Chase introduces himself suddenly, stepping between Caitlyn and Austin to reach out his hand. As ninth graders don't typically shake hands, it took Austin a second to take it.

"Sup, man, I'm Austin." He shook his hand once awkwardly before pulling it back. Chase just smiled sharply before looking at Andy.

"So, uh, apparently you guys all forgot me, or something?" Chase laughed. Andy rolled her eyes good-naturedly and reached out to knock his shoulder.

"Aw, Matthews, we could never forget you, or your hair," she laughed, swatting at his head with her fingers.

"Thanks, I think you dented it," Chase fluffed up his hair again, pouting. Andy gives Caitlyn an irritated look before walking off.

Caitlyn frowned. She knew Chase didn't do parties, but somehow she thought this would be different.

"Hey," Austin grabbed her attention, "Do you want something to drink? There's coke, water," he offered, trailing off. Caitlyn nodded with a smile, "Yeah, can you grab me a water?"

He nods and walks off. Caitlyn grabs Chase by the arm and drags him outside. He yanked his arm away, "Ouch! Try not to tear off some skin, yeah?"

"What's wrong with you? Why are you being weird to my friends?"

He rolled his eyes, "Yeah, that Austin guy sure seemed friendly."

Caitlyn crossed her arms. "Yeah. He was nice. Like a friend, you're just being weird." She groaned. "I know you hate parties but I thought for once in your life you could just try to be cool!"