Christmas Wish

Chapter Six

After the extremely awkward singing rehearsal with Kaleb, and an even more awkward English lesson, I breathed a sigh of relief when the bell rang for the end of the day.

When I got home, I changed into comfortable clothes and sat down on the couch with Charlie, my little brother to watch Elf.
"Casey, how come Kaleb doesn't come over anymore?" Charlie suddenly asked. I looked at my little brother. He had always looked up to Kaleb and they got on really well. I sigh.
"Kaleb's just been really busy Charlie." I said. "Don't worry about him."

"I miss him." Charlie said. "Me too Char, me too."

After a delicious dinner of pizza, I crawled into my cosy bed and fell asleep immediately.

***

The next morning. I woke up with a knot in my stomach. Why? Because today was Wednesday. The day I had to perform Romeo and Juliet with Kaleb.
After changing into black tights, a red tartan dress and my leather jacket, I walked downstairs, too nervous to eat breakfast, and headed for school.

Unfortunately, English was first lesson and guess who got to go first?

I entered on the makeshift balcony we were using, take a deep breath, and begin.
"Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?"
Our scene runs pretty smoothly until...
"A thousand times goodnight!" I say, relieved we are nearly finished when Kaleb leans over the balcony, cups my face in his hands and kissed me. Its not just a simple peck either, its a slow, passionate kiss, as if we really are Romeo and Juliet. He pushes me away and runs out the class The class started applauding and cheering.  Clearly we had done a good job. I don't know why I decided to do what I did next, it just seemed right. I ran out of the classroom to find Kaleb waiting for me.

***

"Casey, I, I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I-" Kaleb babbled.
"Well, you did. You hurt me so much that there have been nights when I've cried myself to sleep. We were beat friends Kaleb. Since when do we not tell eachother things?" I interrupted.
"I know, and I feel terrible! Just let me explain!" Kaleb pleaded. I kept quiet, allowing him to proceed.
"It's just, I liked you Casey, I really did, and somehow Andrea found out and told me that you'd said that you hated me and had never liked me, and, well, I stupidly believed her! I'm so sorry Case!" I stared at him in disbelief.  He liked me?
"Kaleb, I liked you too, but then you hurt me so much and..." I trailed off.

"Please forgive me! I miss you!" Kaleb said, desparately.

"Look, Kaleb, you really hurt me, but I'm not one to hold a grudge. I miss you too, but you need to prove to me that forgiving you is worth it. I don't want to go through all that pain again." I said, wanting to be sure that he was being sincere.
"Thank you so much Casey." He said, "I know just how to make it up to you." He smiled and walked away.