Sing- Sequel to Speak

13

C A L E B

It had been about a week since Ella had last been in school.  Diana and I agreed that it wasn't the same without her.  After school and before work, we would both deliver Ella her homework from that day and try and sit with her and tell her about the interesting stuff that happened at school.

But who was I kidding.  Nothing was very interesting without Ella.  She was closing me off and it hurt so bad.  I feel most bad for her family though.  I'm sure this is a rough time for them.

"Caleb? Caleb!" I snapped out of the spell I was under to see a worried Gabby staring me in the face.  We were in the library studying for a test when I zoned out.

"You're never going to pass this Chemistry test if you don't focus.  Come on the, next question is: The symbol Sb stands for stibnum or stibnite.  What is the modern name for this element?" Her eyes bore into mine, searching for the correct answer in me.

"Um, I don't know, Arsenic?" It came out as more of a question than an answer.

"No! Antimony." She said exasperatedly.  

"I always get those mixed up because they both start with A!" I defended.

"You nailed these questions when we were studying last week.  I know all you can think about is Ella, but we really need to work on this if you want to pass." She could see the frustration in my eyes.  "Look, let's just take a break.  How is she doing? Do you think I could see her?" My eyes almost popped out of my head at the sound of that question leaving her mouth.

"No, no, no, no.  She won't even talk to her own family, I doubt she'll even consider talking to you.  It would probably set her back even more!" The words came tumbling out of my mouth like word vomit before I could stop them.  I could see the hurt in her face as she started to put her books away quickly.

"No Gabby I didn't mean-"

"It's fine.  I get it.  Just tell her I said hi, okay?" She rubbed away the tears brimming in her eyes and practically sprinted out of the library, earning her a dirty look from the librarian.  I sighed and dropped my pencil, watching it roll across the surface of the table.  I still had two classes left, but I just decided to head out.  School was giving me a migraine.

I walked all the way home and blew through the front door without thinking about who was home.

"Caleb? Is that you?" I heard my mom's voice ring through the house.  I muttered a curse word under my breath before I responded, mentally punching myself in the face.

"Uh, yeah it's me." I said slowly, and started to walk to the kitchen where her voice was coming from.

"Isn't it a bit early for you to be home?" She queried.  When I got to the kitchen, she was typing away at her laptop on the kitchen counter.  I completely forgot that with my mom's job, she was sometimes home on certain days earlier than I was.

"Yeah, we got early dismissal.  There was an um- assembly and they let us go." I tried to make up an excuse on the fly while grabbing  a water bottle from the fridge.  

"Huh.  That's weird.  Your Father and I never got an email about an assembly or an early dismissal." She didn't even look up from her computer when questioning me.

"I'm pretty sure it was an emergency assembly, so there probably wasn't time to email." I said sheepishly, hoping she bought my lame excuse.  She nodded and continued to type at her computer as I let out a silent sigh of relief.  I made my way out of the kitchen and upstairs to my room. 

Throwing my backpack to the floor, I jumped onto my bad and let out a groan.  When would this terrible, horrible, no good feeling go away?

L U K E

I watched as Ella sat on the living room floor and doodled mindlessly into her math notebook.  She was supposed to be doing homework, but it was the first time I had seen her do anything besides stare blankly at a wall, so I didn't make a fuss about it.

Ashton and Bryana had gone out to meet with the lawyers.  This was such a pointless never ending battle.  I mean how hard is it for a judge to choose between an abusive biological parent and a loving family? Even though I don't understand politics, I know enough for them to feel trivial.  The worst part of this whole thing is that it was tearing Ella apart.  Nobody can hear her crying at night except for me it seems.  Sometimes, I sit outside her door and listen to her quietly weeping, hoping she won't wake anyone up.  My heart drops down to my stomach and I just want to run in and hug her.  But what good will that do? It's just going to confuse her more.

I don't really know what I'm trying to get at here.  Ella has a boyfriend, is younger than me, and is living under the same roof as me.  Nothing could ever happen between us no matter how much I wanted it to.  I don't know if she would even want something to happen.  It doesn't matter though.  Ashton would probably literally kill me.

Still, I couldn't keep my eyes from drifting to her concentrated face.  The way her nose was small and upturned at the end, how her eyes had specks of gold and green among an ocean of blue.  Her hair was in a messy bun, but it looked perfect anyways.  She is perfect.

I got up from where I was sitting and walked into the kitchen to grab some water to distract me.  I felt her eyes following me all the way to the kitchen.  How could she make my heart race at a million beats per minute? Surely no normal human could do that to me.  I grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and drank it, feeling the cool water rush down my throat.  I would give anything to hear her voice again.

 I finally decided that I needed to talk to her.  Enough was enough.  I finished the water bottle in three gulps and crushed in my hand, throwing it away seconds later.  My feet were moving faster than my brain and before I knew it, I was sitting on the floor face to face with Ella with nothing to say.  

My mouth opened and closed a few times before I could get any words out.  Her eyes bore into mine intently.

"Ella look,  you've gotta communicate with us.  I know this is hard and you feel like nothing is in your control, but if you couldn't tell, this family is ripping apart.  All of us hate seeing you like this.  We need each other more than ever right now, even if you can't see that.  If- if you won't do it for Ashton- do it for..." I trailed for a moment. "Me.  Do it for me."

She sat for a second contemplating before leaping into my and hugging me tight.  And in the softest and lowest whisper I heard,

"ok."

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What's up wonderful people? It has been AGES since I've uploaded, I know.  It's finally summer and I can stop stressing over finals and I'm hoping to come to you with better and faster updates!

I need your real opinions on this question:

Do you want Luke and Ella together or Caleb and Ella?

Please let me know your serious thoughts! This book is nothing without you guys, and I want your input always.

Anyways, I love you all so very much and know that my DMs are always open! Have a wonderful weekend :)