Chapter Twenty One: Begging.

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Dedicated to thee_winter_soldier , thanks Brin and Kiara!

For me school starts on Tuesday and I am not prepared to start grade eleven.

                 

Chapter Twenty One: "Begging."

OVER MY EIGHTEEN years of life there were a lot of people I disliked.

There was Michael, the sexist pig I had to see every year considering he lived in the same town I did and played soccer. I hope he moved.

There was Rosalyn but that was short lived. I barely remember her and whenever I try to, Sam still calls her Rosedale.

There was Beatrice who I forgave all those months ago and I actually hoped she was doing okay these days. Last time I checked she was doing okay.

Then there was Alex, who was what Beatrice had only tried to be but actually was. I'm not sure if she was doing okay. I'm not sure I cared.

There was Natalie but we all know what happened.

Then away from town and into university there was Tanya, my new most disliked person in my life.

But there was Alexis. Alexis, whom I said fake witchcraft spells in my head at her every time she rolled her eyes at something I said, cut me off, managed to actually try and divert Sam's attention from me which barely worked by the way. She was the girl who could never get my name right even though I knew she did know what it was.

I figured she was just jealous or something and I actually tried to be nice to her when she came around during the summer. I TRIED.

It didn't work, clearly.

I got out of that room, Andrew right behind me as she started talking to Liz, trying to get into one of her model shoots or something.

Did I mention that Alexis became a part time model as well? No. I should've.

But while walking out of the room I almost bumped into someone. There were honestly so many people in this house. "Lucy."

"Macy." Sam's grandmother replied, giving me a hug.

Her dark hair was in a bun on her head and her blue gray eyes looked lighter than before. She looked like a future Liz. It was insane. Absolutely insane. Especially when you put them side by side, it was scary. Almost like Sam beside his dad. And that was scary.

"Could you tell Samuel to talk to me later on today?"

"Yeah sure." I told her as she moved past Andrew and I, into the kitchen. 

Andrew and I walked back into the living room noticing that everyone was in silence the second they looked at Andrew. "Um...Andrew?"

He looked up from his popcorn, taking really slow bites while looking at Jacob who spoke up at him. "Yeah?"

"Sorry about that back there. We should've left you alone."

Andrew shrugged, sitting back down on the ground, facing the TV. "I understand."

I sat down on the ground in front of Sam who had the spoon in his mouth and my ice cream in his hand as he watched Andrew carefully. I took it from him, telling him what his grandmother had told me just as Alexis came out of the room. She had the magazines in her hands as she stepped over me, scrapping the back of her heels over my knee and sitting next to Sam.

Wait, why was she wearing heels in the house?

When she had settled into her seat I could feel everyone else's eyes on me, waiting for my reaction. I looked at them all even Andrew was staring at me. I had the spoon in my mouth and stared right back at them. "What?"

"Jheeze attitude much?" I had Caleb ask before he shifted down to sit beside me.

"Sorry." I mumbled.

"It's fine, kind of sucks we only have a couple of hours before we all have to go back." Caleb muttered.

"Caleb, are you still going to go back to Italy?" Stevie asked.

"Yeah but I'm going to stop in Manchester for a few days..." I tone out the sound of Caleb's voice and can't help but focus on when Sam started laughing.

Alexis is talking to him about something I didn't even care about but when a hand made its way on my shoulder and squeezed gently, I relaxed.

I could hear Jacob groan loudly. "I don't wanna go back to school. Exams are coming up and I feel like I'm going to fail."

"You're not going to."

"Don't lie to him." Jon Ming mumbled, half laughing.

"I'm sorry, who had the sixth highest average in grade twelve?"

"Someone who didn't even make it to the top five." Jon Ming laughed again.

Jacob waved a hand. "Who cares? School doesn't test your intelligence."

I toned out their conversation, trying to focus on whatever show was on the TV when I heard Sam asked Alexis a question. "Wait, so you're going to be in London eventually?"

"Yeah," She answered a little too eagerly. "I accepted the offer today. 24 models from all around the world and I'm one of three from America. And we're going to Milan, Paris, I can't wait. It's insane."

What? Alexis? England?

"That's great."   

"I swear your name was mentioned too but you turned them down. Why? I didn't get the chance to ask you on the phone the other day."

All the eyes in the room turned to Sam above me and I didn't even look at them. He was talking to a friend. A friend. It wasn't that serious. Maybe because it was Alexis it was a little bothersome but it shouldn't be that serious for everyone even Caleb to look at him at the mention that they were talking on the phone.

"School. Football. You're going to be doing this for a month and will become a full time model once you finish the semester. It's what you've been wanting since you were five remember?"

Alexis laughed. "Yeah, I remember."

Caleb snickered at something and I turned to him confused. "What are you laughing at?"

"I'm trying to picture you as a model." He laughed even louder.

I closed my eyes, trying to imagine myself walking down a runway, flashing camera trying to take pictures of me.

Nope.

"I think I would fall off the runway." I told him opening my eyes.

Andrew barked out laughter and I hit him in the back with my foot lightly, rolling my eyes. "Shut up."

"I'm sorry," Andrew said laughing and I could hear Jacob and Jon Ming join in. "I can imagine you falling right off the side or falling flat on your face. Thank God you play soccer."

"You're so funny." I said, not meaning it at all.

"Do you actually want to be a model?" I heard Alexis ask me.

I turned around to look at her. "No. Nope. Never. Right Liz?" I asked her as she passed by, her phone on her ear.

"The offer still stands." She said as she left the room. 

"She wants you to be one?" Alexis asked in disbelief.

"Shockingly she does." I mocked in the same tone Alexis had just used. Alexis gave me a dirty look for imitating her and I smiled in response.

"But what if you didn't play soccer? What's your Plan B again?" Caleb asked.

"Anything in the Chemistry field. I'm not sure yet, just a type of chemist."

"I thought you wanted to be a doctor." Natalie said.

"I did but-"

"You realized that instead of saving people you put people like your best friend at risk of losing the chance to ever have children and you to ever be a godmother?"

I narrowed my eyes at Andrew when Caleb spoke up. "You have a plan C?"

"I haven't thought about that at all."

"What about a photographer?" Stevie spoke up.

I loved being behind the camera. I literally had my camera in my hands right now. I never thought about ever having the chance to do that professionally though.

"I never really thought about that." I admitted.

"So Sam," Alexis spoke up. "How long are you here for?"

"'Till four thirty, our flight's at eight." He reached out for the ice cream bucket it my hand and I moved it behind me. 

"Caleb bought it for me. Not you, last time I checked."

Sam gave me a dry look and Caleb sighed. "Just give the man the ice cream. He's begging, you don't see that often. "

Sam shoved his sock covered feet in Caleb's face, hitting him right in the cheek. "Shut up."

"Shut can't go up, prices do."

"How am I going to bear a couple more days with you?" Sam mumbled but I could hear that smile in his voice.

"You already spent seven years with me. You'll be fine with a couple of days...begger." Caleb taunted.

"Fuck you." Sam said before shoving the spoon in his mouth.

"I do miss our playful banter." Caleb said, taking out his phone.

"Cedric told me you guys aren't going to do anything this Christmas?" Stevie said, looking at Toby and then Sam.

"Oh yeah," Sam spoke up. "For the first time we're spending Christmas here instead of in another country. Mum wants to throw some big party instead."

I looked up at Sam with a surprise because I actually thought that the Cahill's would go somewhere this Christmas like they always do for breaks. He glanced down at me and his lips slowly formed the words, 'I'm not going anywhere'.

He winked, making me laugh a little bit. It was then I realized that majority of the people room was on their cell phones. Even Toby and Austin who were having a whispered conversation were both staring at their individual phones but occasionally glancing up at each other. Andrew wasn't even looking at the TV anymore, he was looking through his phone as well.

Wow...our generation really was disconnected.

I could hear Alexis ask Sam another of her endless questions I grabbed the ice cream from Sam's hand, moving over to Andrew. "Hey." I whispered to him.

He turned his phone off, leaning back on his hands, his legs stretched outwards. "Hey. I think I'm gonna go home."

"Really?"

"Yeah." He put a hand to his temple and when he took it off, it was then I realized how tired he truly was. He probably didn't sleep much last night.

"Go home. Go sleep."

He gave me a side hug. "I'll see you before I leave."

I nodded quickly when he stood up and said his goodbyes. Once we could hear the sound of the door slam, Jacob immediately scrambled off his space beside Natalie and joined me on the floor. "What did he mean that Jasmine cheated on him?"

Jon Ming, Caleb even Stevie joined me on the ground, curious looks on their faces. "Exactly what he said. No more information on my side. Find out from them yourselves."

"I-I just don't get it," Jon Ming told me. "I don't understand that kind of love. I probably never will but isn't their type of love supposed to last in this world?"

"People fall out of love JM. It happens." Caleb answered for him.

"And if they're meant to be, they'll find each other in the end, right?" Brandon asked.

"Right," Caleb confirmed. "Most relationships don't last from high school. That's why some people think dating in high school is completely unnecessary. What's the percentage? Sam?"

Sam looked down at Caleb as if he just asked the dumbest question on earth. "Why the hell would I know the percentage of high school relationships that actually last?" His eyes flickered over to me before looking at Caleb with an annoyed expression.

"You do well with numbers, I figured you would you would know!" Caleb defended very loudly.

"Well do the math yourself idiot, or how about you search it up?"

"Fine," Caleb muttered but I could see he was too lazy to look it up. "It's probably a low percentage of people anyway."

"It's kind of stupid." I heard Natalie say.

"What is?" I asked.

"That Jasmine cheated on Andrew. If she knew that it wasn't going to work thinking that they both still love each other then why didn't she just break up with him without causing further damage?" She said distastefully.

I sat there in silence and I could feel Sam's eyes on me as I put ice cream in my mouth again, waiting for it to melt on my tongue as my friends didn't say a word in a very awkward silence.

We were all friends with Jasmine. I mean, Natalie wasn't really that good a friend to Jasmine considering they never got past the whole honey in the hair prank a long time ago and it put a barrier for any friendship but they got along for my sake. That's why I could understand why Natalie had said that in a rude tone.

But everyone else (Alexis wasn't included in this equation) was friends with Jasmine. She did something that affected another one of our friends I felt like all of them were going to take sides or distance themselves from her because of it.

I let out a breath at the awkward silence between everyone. Stevie broke it first, walking over to Caleb to crouch and run a hand through his hair. "You need a haircut."

"No I don't." He whined just as Cedric came into the room. "Ced, tell your girlfriend to get her hands off of my head."

Cedric chuckled. "She's been doing that to everyone. Get used to it." Now that I thought about it, Cedric did have a shorter, clean haircut then he had when I first saw him yesterday.

"This is what happens when you go to beauty school? You just give free makeovers?"

"No," She rolled her eyes. "It takes work and is more than just that and if someone could hold Caleb still and get me scissors and a razor that would extremely help."

"What?" He almost yelled, scrambling away from her. "I don't want a haircut!"

"I don't care. You need it." Austin handed Stevie scissors and Toby handed her a razor.

Caleb practically screamed as Stevie pulled him up which was impressive since she was extremely short compared to him and dragged him over to a bathroom. Half of the room followed to watch the show and I looked back at Sam, a hand on my camera.

I didn't change my blank expression as I watched Alexis put a hand on his bicep, talking to him and leaning a little bit closer to give him full on attention. Sam's eyes went down to the hand as she was talking and he took her hand off of him. She looked a little bit rejected when he did that and he stood up with confidence, moving over to help me stand up.

"You okay?" He asked me.

"Yeah," I told him letting him take the last of the ice cream. "Let's go see Caleb scream that his precious hair is all over the floor." Sam laughed, letting us walk and I already heard a high pitched scream before I saw it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You're leaving." She said underneath the threshold of my room. I grabbed my small luggage leaning against it as I slung my duffle bag around me.

"Yup. Aren't you?" I asked her, gesturing for her to come in.

"Not for a while. Might stay until tomorrow."  

"He already left you know?"

Jasmine nodded. "Yeah I know. I didn't expect him to say good bye anyway."

"It's Andrew, Jasmine. He may not want to talk to you now but he'll forgive you eventually."

"I know that. I just hate that I-that I did that."

Before I could reply, I could hear my dad's voice. "Mace! We're leaving."

I exhaled, grabbing my luggage in one hand as I looked at my other best friend. "If I know Andrew as well as I do, I know he'll overcome this. He'll talk to you about it one day. He'll have moved on. And I know that you will always love him in any way possible and he'll always love you back. And although I wish you made better choices, you're still my friend and you would've impacted his life in ways he might not understand now. Things happen for a reason, right?"

I moved my duffle bag to my back so I could hug her tightly. She inhaled sharply, almost as if she was crying. "Let me know how he's doing."

"I will." I told her. "I'll see you in a couple of weeks."

"Yeah." She said letting go.

And on the plane ride where I had to listen to Caleb complain about his haircut for hours on edge, I thought about my best friends and how their relationship and possibly, just possibly their friendship might have come to an end.

When I got back to my dorm building it was about 8 AM and the first thing I did was run upstairs, not caring about my japan or even wanting to use the elevator I know would be full but I seriously needed another shower. The funny thing was that Caleb was sprinting right behind me for no reason.

Maddy was sitting on her bed, her glasses almost falling off the bridge of her nose as she stared at her laptop, headphones on her ears. When I slammed the door behind Caleb and a Sam who was walking very slowly behind us, not understanding the hype, she jumped.

She took her headphones off and almost collided into me. "Macy, never leave me alone for a weekend ever again."

"You were at a volleyball tournament."

"Still." She said hugging me tighter.

"We have a visitor." I mentioned, really wanting to hop into the shower before my first class.

"Hi Sam." Maddy said into my shirt not really caring.

Sam scoffed, grabbing my luggage and putting it on my bed. "I'm not the visitor."

Maddy moved her head off of me to look behind me, her eyes widening at Caleb's appearance. "Holy shit."

"Wow," Caleb said. "Not exactly the hello one would usually get."

"I got the same thing when I first met her. It's a supposed compliment from Mads." Sam told him.

"It's Maddy's usual response when she meets attractive guys."

"So you agree I'm attractive," Sam smirked. "Hot even."

"Shut up," I told him with a smile as Maddy let go of me. I took off my jacket, tossing it on my bed so Maddy could see Caleb clearly. "Maddy this is Caleb who you've heard of and seen on Skype so seeing him in the flesh shouldn't really surprise you."

Maddy stared at him with a sheepish smile. "Sorry there's just a huge difference seeing someone off screen."

"Nice to meet you too." He said with a huge grin before grabbed her into a hug that lifted her off the ground.

I could hear Maddy scream at the unexpectedness of Caleb's nature as Sam stood beside me. "I'm going to take him to the flat. I'll see you later yeah?"

I nodded, kissing him and I heard Caleb speak. "You have to see this every day, don't you?"

"Yeah, but you get used to it." Maddy said.

"I've seen it for months and still haven't gotten used to it." I heard Caleb say. Sam pulled away and dragged a grumbling Caleb out of the room.

Maddy closed the door behind them, fetching her book. "He's...hot."

"Just wait till you properly know him." I muttered, fetching clothes out of my bag.

"But still, he's hot. Like super hot. No wonder those two are best friends, they're both hot! How do you find all these super attractive people? I want to move to your town."

I laughed. "You remember you're dating someone right?"

"He's technically not my boyfriend."

"Huh?"

"George asked me out. We went on a couple of dates, we enjoy each other's company but we never put a label to it last time I checked."

"Are you waiting?"

"Yeah," She moved over to collect a textbook. "But we're in college, we're here to meet other people and stuff and don't want to be tied down."

Something in me made me feel like she's not just randomly saying that. "Did you just quote someone?"

"Oh yeah, that's literally what he told me after his swimming competition over the phone." She rolled her eyes and I stared at her, not expecting George to say any of that. "Can we go now? I'm tired of talking about George and I'd rather talk about how your weekend was with your attractive friends. Go take a shower, you look like a mess."

"Wow I can the love from that sentence."

"Glad to have you back." She yelled once I

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