Countdown (on hold)

Two years, ten months, two weeks, seven days, five hours, nine minutes before

A week away from home sounds more exciting than it actually entails. Celeste's family was polite, but they were still stiff to our family in some ways. Mrs. Adams and Mom got along great, which was good, but Governor Adams wasn't home as often so we couldn't really get to know him. They all adored Theo, which was either predictable or forced, but they didn't seem to enjoy me all too much. I had overheard Sedona, Celeste's older sister, and their mother talking about how they hoped I wouldn't be a bad influence on Celeste. I wrote Caleb everyday and spent most of my day just walking around the city.

A day or two after we arrived, I was wandering around the city while Celeste and Sedona were dress shopping. I had literally ran into Lily while walking down the street and she became my partner in crime for the rest of the trip. Her freckles that graced her body and her short fiery red hair made her recognizable in a crowd. Unlike wearing skirts and dresses like most of our fellow young ladies, Lily preferred to wear pants and boots. Her outward appearance defied the unofficial official standards set up by society, and her inner thoughts just made it all the worse. Lily defied the bracelets and most government standards, so meeting her was a match made in heaven.

On the day before I was supposed to go back home, Lily and I met up at the cafè that she was a regular customer of. After we had ran into each other, she brought me there as an apology and we had realized that we had more in common than not looking while walking. I had partial freedom while in this town, meaning that I could walk anywhere within a 5 minutes walk from Celeste's parent's house. Luckily, Lily and I's cafè was just two blocks away.

Lily was already there waiting for me when I arrived. It was our final day together, and we didn't know the next time we would be able to see each other.

"Good morning Shay." Lily welcomed me to our customary booth next to the window, and before I could say anything back to her, she was already telling me what she wanted to accomplish today. "Let's go to the forest."

I felt my mouth fall open. "No way, Lily. Nope." I felt like that was too much even for her.

She laughed at me, "Did you really think I was going to go there today?" Lily chuckled again, "And sit down, Shay. You're just standing there."

I took my seat across from Lily and looked into her hazel eyes. She was up to scheming something, I could just feel it. The way she was holding herself and the way she was all giddy altered me to the fact that something was going to happen.

I laughed at her as our cups of tea arrived. "Lily, what do you have planned?"

Lily laughed back at me, but quickly regained all seriousness. "I want to kiss Isaac."

Lily had told me all about Isaac since we met. Isaac was supposedly the dream guy of everyone in town, with his dirty blond hair and hazel eyes, and Lily wanted to kiss him. Even thought Lily hated all forms of authority and did what she could to not follow normality within our society, she still had girlish dreams and crushes.

I was all for Lily chasing after Isaac, and I was all for helping her since it was my last day visiting and I wasn't going to let it pass without me getting a rush if excitement.

*Author's Note*

Hey guys, so so sorry for being so absent lately. Countdown is still my pride and joy, don't worry :) and I'm going to try to update more often. I promise.