The Soldier's Girl (Under Editing)

Chapter 13

CAROLINE'S POV

I felt sick to my stomach. I was laying on my bed scrolling through my phone and Taylor was standing in the doorway. Tomorrow was the first day of freshman year. I was more nervous than ever.

"What are you going to wear tomorrow?" Taylor asked as she came over and sat on the side of my bed. She was facing the clothes in my closet.

"Umm, I don't know." I said truthfully. She got up and searched through my clothes.Taylor came back holding an outfit and waiting for my approval. I nodded my head and she came and sat back down.

"Well, goodnight." She said after a while and she got up to leave. It was only nine, I don't know how she thought I would be able to get to sleep right now, I was too used to my summer sleeping schedule. I was awake in my room for a long time before I finally fell asleep.

The next day Taylor drove me to school. I really hoped she couldn't tell I was shaking, it took just over 10 minutes to get there. We pulled in and the building had huge letters that said Hillsboro High School. Taylor drove into the drop off lane and it was time for me to get out.

"Okay, have a good first day!" She told me, I wasn't quite as cheery as her. I opened the door and stepped onto the ground.

"Seeya!" I said putting a smile over my nervous face.

"Bye, Care!" She said before I shut the door and walked up to the huge building. There was some other kids that looked my age walking in too, but they walked in groups with their friends. The older kids were walking to the door from the parking lot, they were intimidating. When I got through the doors I found all the kids in the main hallway, they all formed circles, each talking to their own groups.

I walked to a group that wasn't completely closed in, the kids looked like freshman, so it wasn't as scary. I didn't join their group, I just stood around it so I wouldn't look like a loner. We got out at noon but I could already tell it would be a long day.

I thought of my mom and what she told me, I thought of my dad and how I could get through today because he's getting through a war. I also thought about Taylor, she picked out my outfit and it made me feel like I was at home in this strange place. Before long the bell rang and everyone was off to their first period, if only I knew where my classroom was.

The half day passed by and for the first day of high school I guess it was okay. Other than getting lost once trying to find my third period and not having anyone to sit by it wasn't horribly bad. I stood outside looking for Taylor's car until I finally found it. I walked over and hopped in.

"How was it?" Taylor asked me as I sank into the seat. I realized I'd been tense all day, now I was relived.

"Fine." I said with an expressionless face. I stared straight forward as we drove out.

"What's wrong?" Taylor asked with concern and almost a hurt look in her eyes. I just shrugged, but my face was getting hot, I felt like I could cry. Today had been overwhelming and stressful, I wanted to be with my dad. Not just with him, with my mom too, and not now, I didn't want to be a freshman in high school. I didn't want to have responsibilities, I didn't want to get any older. I wished I was back in preschool, when everything seemed perfect.

I could feel a single hot tear growing in my right eye, I prayed that Taylor wouldn't notice. She looked over at me concernedly again.

"Really. What's wrong?" She asked with her eyebrows furrowed. I tried to shrug it off again, but my bottom lip involuntarily turned inside out and the tear fell down my cheek. I really wasn't that sad, I was honestly just stressed. Taylor saw me when she looked over and held my left hand with her right one. She squeezed my hand and I tried to hold myself together.

"Seriously." She said. I honestly didn't really know what was wrong, and that's what I told her. Within the next couple minutes I'd calmed myself down, I don't know what brought that on. By the time we got back to Taylor's apartment I was completely fine, but Taylor was still acting like she was concerned.

I'd thrown my bag down at the door and I went up to my room back at Taylor's. I flopped down on the bed and took out my moms letter for me, I didn't open it, I just held it. I wasn't sure why, but it just felt right. I was like that for probably 20 minutes then Taylor came up to my room.

"We should go get something to eat." She stated with her head poked through the door.

"Or we could stay here if you wanted." She added quickly when she saw the letter I was holding.

"No, I'm fine." I reassured her as I got up and followed her downstairs.

TAYLOR'S POV

Caroline had me convinced that she was fine and that she was just stressed out. I felt bad for her, I remember moving here when I was about her age and starting school without knowing anybody. Especially since it's her freshman year.

I drove us to the nearest McDonalds, I'd figured that right now she needed some good, greasy fast food. I went through the drive through and ordered for the two of us. When we got our food I handed the bag to Caroline and kept driving. I drove until I found a good spot for us to just sit in the coolness of my car's air conditioner.

We sat and ate and made some conversation. Apparently Charlie was supposed to FaceTime with Caroline I Friday, she was excited and that made me happy. We were a good 20 minutes from my apartment, but we didn't have anywhere to be. When I was full Caroline was still eating, so I gave her the rest of my fries and waited until she was done until I drove off.

The drive home was pretty quiet, I was about to tell Caroline something, but when I looked over her eyes were closed.

"Care?" I asked quietly to see if she was really asleep. She didn't answer me so I assumed she was. There was still a 10 minute drive back to my apartment, I tried to be as quiet as I could, so I wouldn't wake her. One thing I'd learned about Caroline in the past month was that naps were pretty much her thing. She took naps a lot and was always falling asleep, but after she was always well rested, so I guess that was alright.

Soon I was pulling into the drive by our building. I parked in my usual spot and turned off the car. I sat for a second, wondering if she'd just wake up on her own, but she didn't. I put my hand gently on her arm and whispered to her.

"Caroline... Care.... Wake up." I said softly while rubbing her arm. She opened her eyes and looked around as if she were confused. She gave me a puzzled look and checked out her surroundings one more time before realizing what was going on. I just giggled and hopped out of the car with Caroline following me.