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"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."—Helen Keller

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Chapter 52
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The phone rung out for only a second before an automated voice spoke back to me. "Damn it."

I gripped the counter with one hand while keeping a hold on the phone, as if it would make her answer.

I had called Maggie more than four times now, but to no avail. As the week carried on, I was beginning to understand bits and pieces as to where she was coming from. Perhaps I could have been better with my words when explaining my point.

Either way, I didn't want to fight with her, too. Raven and I were already not talking, this wouldn't help things in fixing that.

"Who are you talking to?" I turned around to Ryland, who was rubbing his tired eyes.

He was shirtless, so when he reached above my head to grab the cereal, I cringed. "No one."

Rolling his eyes, he shut the cabinets after grabbing himself a bowl. "Whatever."

I sat down at the far end of the table, concentrated on the warm pancakes in front of me. I felt my brothers' eyes on me, but purposefully ignored them.

Soon, I heard the sound of his spoon clashing with the table. "You know, you can't stay mad at me for forever, right?"

"Mhm," was all I said as I cut into the pancake.

I heard him sigh. "Look, I'm sorry, Kimberly," he apologized. "I mean it."

I wanted to ask if he even knew what he was apologizing for, but did otherwise. Instead, I responded by taking another bite.

"I never meant to hurt you. I was just stressed with everything. Dad's health, school, work..." he sighed, eyes dropping low. "It all gets really hard sometimes."

I pursed my lips, finally making eye contact with him. His green eyes were already on me. I sighed as I saw the sincerity in his eyes.

"You're sorry?" I repeated.

"I promise I am."

I nibbled on my lip before saying, "You said a lot of things, you know that, right?"

He nodded, the guilty expression spreading. "They weren't true, Kimberly. Not at all. I just wanted to make you hurt as badly as you did me, and I went too far."

I swallowed as I recalled that night. "You said that our dad didn't want me. That my mother didn't want me."

"I know, and I'm so sorry," he said, his voice falling. "Dad wants you, he always has. And, I have too. I've loved you since the moment dad brought you home, Kimberly."

My eyes fell to the syrup. Before I could come up with anything else, Ryland started up again.

"When mom came back, I know that I started treating you differently and I'm sorry about it. It's just...I wanted her back so bad, that I was an idiot and stupidly forgot you, who has been here the entire time," he told me in a sorrowful voice. "And, it was so fucking stupid of me."

I sighed as I stared into his eyes. They were telling me the same story: that he was really short.

"I understand, Ryland," I murmured.

A part of me did. Even when I was younger, I noticed the pain on my brothers' face as the days went on for his mother. Even now, I could see the exhaustion in his eyes when he came through the front door in the morning hours, too tired to even make it to his bed.

It was a lot to hold in, but I didn't deserve to be the better of it. If he understood that and changed it, then I'd give him a chance.

His eyes pierced through mine with relief. "Thank you, Kimberly." He paused before adding, "With school and work, I know that I haven't been around as much, but I promise I'll try harder. I promise you."

I could tell that he was being sincere, but I knew that it would take me a minute or two to get back to our original relationship. I could forgive, but it was never easy to forgot.

"I believe you, Ryland," I showed him a small smile before standing. "I'm going to go and get ready." I took my final bite of pancake, before heading over to place my dish in the sink.

I paused as I felt Ryland grab my hand. I looked down at him, eyebrow raised.

His eyes were hopeful. "I'm free this Saturday, if you are. We should hang out, you know, like old times," he offered.

I thought it over before shrugging my shoulders. "I'm free."

His green eyes lit with excitement at my words. "Okay, I'll find something for us to do. Maybe the movies or bowling?"

I nodded. "Sure. Whatever you can find." I smiled at him, before turning to walk to my bedroom.

"Kim," I heard Ryland call out. I turned around to face him.

"I love you," he said. "Brat," he added with a small smile.

My lips upturned slowly. "I love you, too, idiot."

By the time I finished getting ready, Kade had texted that he was here. I finished tying my shoes and hurried to the door.

Ryland eyed me as I walked by him. His eyebrow was raised in curiosity. "Who's outside?"

My mind raced for a cover up. "Just Raven," I said a little too quickly.

I didn't know if he believed the lie, but it would have to do for now. Even though I would prefer to be elsewhere, I knew I'd have to be at school soon.

I rushed to Kade's car, desperate to escape the cold. Once I shut his car door, I wasn't sure whether it was the heat or his presence that warmed me up quicker.

I would put my money on him.

"Hi," I smiled at him, my lungs failing to cooperate at the sight of him.

Kades' eyes roamed over me, before falling back to mine. "You're shivering."

"I don't want you catching the flu, you know it spreads like a damned zombie plague..." he paused, reaching down.

"Here, drink this. Quickly," he picked up the white cup, placing it in my hands. "Do you want me to turn the heat up?" Before I could speak, he'd picked my hands back up, warning them up with his.

I shook my head, biting back a smile. The genuine concern in his voice warmed my heart entirely. I placed the cup to my lips, humming against it as the joyous liquid hit my tongue.

"This is so good," I moaned out, taking another sip of the hot chocolate. "Thank you."

Kade nodded his head, pulling out of my driveway. He eyed me once-more, before clearing his throat.

"You look beautiful today," he mumbled the words, but they reached me quite quickly.

I looked down at my original fit. "Now, you're a liar. I look normal. Normal is boring."

Kade snorted, shaking his head. "Don't say that. You could have a trash bag on for clothes, and I'll still see that beautiful face of yours, sweetheart."

My heart wouldn't be able to take much any longer. His words did something to me, something good. Something new.

I didn't mean to do it, but my body seemed to do its dirty work on its own. I leaned closer to him, placing a small kiss on that hard jaw of his.

The color that invaded his cheeks was worth it.

"It's great seeing you blush," I chuckled, only adding to the blush along his face.

By the time we arrived to school, the parking lot was full. It was hard to find a spot, but somehow we managed.

"So, I was thinking," he looked at me as if it confirm the request. "I want to take you out. You know, again."

I turned towards him, my lips rising. "What did you have in mind?" I took a couple of more sips of the hot chocolate. I wasn't sure where he got it, but it was becoming my favorite.

"A horror movie," he responded, his lips forming a smirk. "If you can handle it."

I scoffed. "I can handle it. I'm not afraid of a movie." I chuckled at Kade's expression that proved he didn't believe that.

"We'll see, love."

The bell rung a second later. I took the final sips of my hot chocolate, tossing it into the nearest bin.

Kade was by my side in a heartbeat. A wave of confidence washed over me when he took my hand in his, leading us toward the school.

"Still curious, are they?" I chuckled as the stares seemed to intensify the deeper we walked into the school.

Kade glared at a group of freshmen as they settled their stares across me. At his death glare, they quickly fell back into step, rushing away from us.

"Wanna give them something to really talk about?" Kade chuckled, releasing my hand slowly as we stopped by my first period class.

My head titled. "What do you—" My words never even finished before Kades' lips were on mine.

I smiled against him, my entire body ringing. Jolts of electricity trampled me as his lips worked against mine in ways I could barely understand. If his hand hadn't gripped my back, I was sure that my knees would have gone out.

I knew without a doubt that the curious crowd had grown. But, I couldn't remove my eyes from Kade's. The hold he had on my concentration was stronger than super glue.

I wasn't even sure which one pulled away first. "Shit," I cursed, running my thumb across my quivering lip.

"Have a good day, okay?" he said to me, reaching for my hand once again. "Tell me if I have to break a couple arms today."

I felt my cheeks grow rosy as he leaned into me. "It's great to see you blush, sweetheart" he repeated my earlier claim with a smirk.

By the end of his sentence, my lips formed the largest of smiles.

It ached to let go of his hand, but I knew the tardy bell was approaching close behind. Slowly, we let go, saying our final farewells before I walked into my class.

I walked to my desk, feeling weightless.

That ended once I saw Maggie's distasteful expression.

Our desks were right next to one another's, but at the sight of her, I'd forgotten everything I planned to say. When I called her phone, I'd managed to plan out my speech in my head. But, face to face, my mouth felt dry.

I sighed, pulling my book out of my backpack once I sat down. I'd figure it out later.

The tension grew too thick to ignore, though. I glanced to Maggie out of the corner of my eye. Turns out, she had the same idea.

Mrs. Lillian stood from her chair, an expression of feigned enthusiasm stuck to her face. "Alright, everyone. Today you will present your presentations to the class with your partner. You will have a 5 minute time limit, and you will be graded by this," she held up a piece of paper. "Now. Before you begin, I will need your individual summaries of the natural disaster you chose, and the information required on it, as well. We will be going by random choice, so..." My eyes widened as she searched for a group to pick.

I had left Carter at the library once the entire situation with Kade escalated. Honestly, I hadn't thought twice about my part of the project.

Kade and I had completed every other assignment, except this one. I'd forgotten all about it until now. I had nothing on it, so either way things went, I was screwed.

I jumped as I felt someone my into my shoulder. I turned around, flabbergasted to see Carter.

He craned his neck at me. "Hey, you ready for this?" he asked.

I shook my head with a sigh. "I completely forgot about the assignment."

Carters' lips fell into a frown. "Oh." He leaned back, writing something else on his paper.

Mrs. Lillian looked our way, nodding at us. "Alright, well since you two are so talkative today, how about you and Carter go first, Kimberly?"

Bitch.

I plastered on a smile. "Alright." I followed behind Carter, my steps slow.

"Alright, summaries?" she held out a hand for each of them.

I gulped, opening my mouth to reveal the truth. Before I could, Carter interrupted.

"Crap, Kimberly," he chuckled. "You handed me yours by mistake." He placed his own paper into Mrs. Lillians.

I tried my hardest to not gape at his act. Mrs. Lillian didn't even glance over it before tucking it away.

"And, where is yours, Carter?" she questioned, plucked eyebrow raised to the very tip of her hairline.

"I overslept, and just forgot about it, honestly," Carter met my eyes. "It was my fault."

Our teacher rolled her eyes. "Alright, then that's a zero for you, Carter. But, you and Kimberly still have a presentation to help that grade." She shooed us away.

We walked to the board, but my eyes remained on Carter's backside. "Thank you for that," I mumbled for only us two to hear.

He said nothing, only nodded.

When the presentation was over, we took our seats. The class carried on, the presentation's going dangerously slow.

I was surprised when I heard Maggie wreck our train of silence. "I don't like this."

I didn't know if she meant the presentations, or if she meant us fighting.

I decided on the second one. "Yeah, I do miss my friend," I admitted.

Maggie shook her head. "Gross," she scoffed. "No, I meant these shitty ass presentation's."

My mouth formed an 'O'. "Yeah, I guess." I sighed with disappointment before leaning into the chair.

She gave me a side eye, crossing her arms across her chest. With a shrug, she bumped into my shoulder. "But, I guess you could say that I miss you too...and I might even be sorry for the way I reacted."

My chest fell with relief. I looked at her, smiling softly. "Well, whenever you figure out what you mean, just know that your apology is definitely accepted, and that I'm sorry, too." We both looked at each other with matching expressions.

"Damn, bitch," she sighed, biting back a smile. "A day without me and you're already bored."

I chuckled. "I'm glad to have you back, Maggie."