Hope you enjoy:)

-

Calista Williams flipped off the television and flopped down on the couch next to her best friend, Mandy, who was bawling. “That movie was so…good,” exclaimed Mandy as she reached for a tissue.

Calista had to admit, the movie was very good. A tragic romance about two star-crossed lovers who could never be together. In the time of knights and kings; their romance was doomed from the very moment they met, but that didn’t keep them apart. Sighing, Calista grabbed a tissue and blew her nose. Not because of the movie, but she was just getting over a cold.

“It was pretty good,” she admitted to Mandy. “It sucks though…”

“What sucks?”

“Well love is never like that. I mean, I wish that I had a knight in shining armor who was willing to die for me, but that never happens,” Calista explained with a sigh.

“Cally, you’re such a boob,” said Mandy, throwing a pillow at her best friend.

“A boob?” Cally asked, giggling.

“Yes, a boob! So what if love is never like that, it’s fun to pretend that it is.”

“I wish love were like that,” Cally said, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.

“Yeah,” Mandy agreed with a sigh. “That’s every girl’s wish, though.”

“To have a knight come and sweep them off their feet…”

-

Cally awoke on Monday at 6:30 – just enough time to shower and grab some breakfast before catching the bus to school. That was the good thing about living in Chicago, though. If you missed the bus, the walk to school wasn’t too far.

After showering and putting on her school uniform, Cally flew down the stairs and into the kitchen. She poured herself a cup of coffee before sliding into a seat across from her father, Richard Williams.

“Morning, Dad,” Cally said brightly.

“Good morning, Sweetie. You know you should really eat something if you’re going to drink that.”

Cally shook her head after swallowing. “I just need some quick energy, that’s all. Food can wait until lunch.” Mr. Williams shook his head at his daughter, but turned back to his paper. Fighting with Cally was useless because she usually won. She got that from her mother.

Margaret Williams was the most beautiful woman Richard had ever known, except for Calista of course. Unfortunately, she died only hours after giving birth to her daughter.

Cally never knew her mother, but she did know about her. She had inherited her sparkling ocean-blue eyes and slender figure. Her light chestnut hair was a trait from her father, but it was styled as her mother’s had always been – falling in light waves over her shoulders.

“Dad, do you have the sports section in there?” Cally asked, looking up from her search through the newspaper. Mr. Williams tossed his daughter her beloved sports section before returning to the article he was reading. “Please and thank you.”

“Yes!” Cally screeched a moment later, causing her father to jump. “The Blackhawks beat the Flyers last night!”

“You and your beloved hockey,” scoffed Mr. Williams. “I honestly don’t understand your obsession with it.”

“It’s only the best sport ever, Dad. Get with the program,” Cally joked, tossing the paper back into the middle of the table before standing up and grabbing her book bag.

“Make sure you get a coat,” instructed Mr. Williams. “It’s below freezing this morning.”

“Well considering it’s December and this is Chicago, I don’t find that surprising,” Cally stated as she slipped on her jacket. “See you later, Dad,” she called.

“Don’t slam the –” SLAM! “…door.”

-

“Where were you?!” Demanded Mandy as Cally whipped around the corner and flew down the hallway, skidding to a stop in front of her locker.

“I missed the bus,” she gasped. “Had to run here.”

“Hurry up; class started five minutes ago!” Mandy could have gone to first period English class, but being the best friend she was, decided to wait for Cally.

“Done,” Cally said quickly, slamming her locker door shut and spinning the lock so that it couldn’t be re-opened without entering the code. The girls sprinted down the hall and pulled open the classroom door before stopping in the entrance while the entire class stared at them.

“Ms. Williams and Ms. Paolini, how kind of you both to join us,” Mr. Horton said sarcastically as he strutted over to the doorway.

Mandy allowed the door to slam shut behind them as the two girls stood awaiting their punishment. “I’m sure you both have wonderful excuses for your tardiness. Please share them with us.”

“Well you see, I missed the bus this morning,” began Cally.

“And I had to wait for her,” Mandy chimed in.

“Because Lord knows after attending this school for a year and a half, Ms. Williams certainly can’t find her way to this classroom by herself,” Mr. Horton said, eying them both curiously.

“Precisely,” Cally agreed. “The school is just so…big.” The entire class began giggling. Their school was actually incredibly small – harboring only three hundred students, it was a single building placed in the heart of Chicago.

“Take your seats, please,” Mr. Horton said, shaking his head. Cally and Mandy quickly shuffled to their seats in the middle of the classroom.

“Nice going, Cally,” their friend Nick whispered jokingly.

“Shut it, Sawyer,” she retorted with a grin before opening her English book and turning her attention to the lesson.

-

Cally loved the winter. While some people thought the constant grey sky was depressing, she saw it as refreshing. The summer was fun, but there was something about the cold air in winter that just cleaned out her system. Taking a deep breath of crisp air, Cally sighed, watching her breath as it wafted up and disappeared.

Glancing to her left, Cally smiled at the children in the park. A certain little girl caught her eye. She had the same hair color as Cally, and the child’s mother was pushing her on a swing. Both were laughing and the girl squealed with delight. A feeling of sadness suddenly overcame Cally, but she brushed it away. Cally had become very skilled in that. While she didn’t talk about her mother much, she thought about her every day.

Cally shifted her messenger bag onto the other shoulder and hugged her coat tighter around herself. Tilting her head back, her eyes wandered across the grey clouds overhead.

Five minutes later, Cally was walking up the steps to her brick townhouse. After checking the mail, she pulled out her key and unlocked the door. Shutting it behind her, she walked into the kitchen and dropped all of the mail onto the island in the center and tossed her backpack onto the floor.

Mr. Williams wasn’t usually home until dinner time. His political work kept him busy 24/7. Even after dinner, he usually headed upstairs to his home office to continue working. Being an only child, Cally had grown used to being alone. Their housekeeper, Gloria, kept her company during the day, and at night Cally always did her homework, watched TV, talked on the phone, or other such things. So it wasn’t as if she was just sitting around being lonely.

Cally understood that her father’s work was important to him, though. She never blamed him for not being around much.

Grabbing a banana out of the fruit bowl, Cally took the stairs two at a time and entered her room. The phone rang and Cally immediately grabbed it because Mandy usually called at that time. While talking casually to her best friend, Cally booted up her laptop. It was a regular Monday afternoon.

-

“Hey, Dad, what is all this?” Cally asked, looking up from brochures about London, England, that were scattered all over the counter. Mr. Williams rushed into the room and began quickly shuffling the brochures together.

“It’s nothing, Sweetie, just…things…my work uh…it’s just some stuff,” he mumbled nervously.

“Are you going to England?” Cally inquired curiously.

“No,” he replied before leaving the kitchen.

Cally stared after him. What the hell was that? Shaking her head, Cally turned back to her bag of Doritos and magazine. She felt someone watching her and looked up at Gloria, who had been cleaning the kitchen the whole time. “Do you know what that was about?” Cally asked, referring to her father’s strange behavior.

“I know nothing; I see nothing,” Gloria stated quickly before exiting the kitchen as well.

“What is going on?” Cally asked herself aloud. It was just a couple of brochures and he freaked out. Maybe he’s planning a surprise vacation to England for me! Suddenly becoming excited, Cally hopped out of her chair and raced up the stairs. Mandy had to know about this!

-

“That is so cool, Cally! I wish my parents would take me to England!” Mandy exclaimed the next day at school.

Cally nodded before replying, “He doesn’t know that I know, though, so don’t say anything around him, okay?”

“My lips are sealed,” Mandy announced before making a zipper motion with her hands.

A moment later Mandy seized Cally’s arm and the two girls froze. Tyler Ashton, the captain of the ice hockey team, walked by with his usual posse. As soon as he was out of earshot, Mandy let out a sigh. “Someday…someday Tyler will fall madly in love with me.”

“You just keep telling yourself that, Bud,” Cally commented sarcastically before picking her backpack off of the floor before jogging off to catch up with one of her other friends, Nick, who also had first period Chemistry.

-

That afternoon there was a home ice hockey game, so Cally and Mandy stayed after school to watch it. Their team, the Panthers, was leading by 2-1 in the third period. Cally cheered loudly just before a time-out was called by the visiting team. The crowd settled and Mandy turned to Cally.

“Cally, I really need your help with this Tyler thing,” stated Mandy.

“Why my help?” Cally asked.

“Because A) you’re my best friend, and best friends are required to help with this sort of thing. B) You actually know Tyler, unlike me,” Mandy informed her with a nod.

“I have two classes with him, I wouldn’t call that exactly ‘knowing’ him,” Cally corrected.

“At least he actually says ‘hi’ to you sometimes, unlike me.”

“Mandy, I think you really need to get over this whole thing,” Nick chimed in from the other side of Cally.

“Agreed,” said Cally. “Thank you, Nick.”

The players skated back onto the ice and Cally turned her attention back to the game.

-

At about 6:30 that evening, Cally was waiting outside for her father to pick her up. I can’t wait until I’m sixteen and can drive on my own, she thought to herself. She blew on her hands to try and warm them up. The wind bit at her face and her hair was whipped in all directions.

“Hey, Cally,” a voice came from beside her.

Looking up, she was greeted by the face of Tyler Ashton. “Hey, Tyler,” she replied casually. “Nice game tonight – your goal was great.”

“Thanks,” he accepted the compliment. “Did you catch the Blackhawks game on Sunday?” Tyler knew that Cally was a big hockey fan; they’d talked about it during class a couple of times before.

“No, I missed it. I heard we won, though. Beat the Flyers.”

“Dowd had this AMAZING goal right before the end. It was between the legs and everything,” said Tyler, his eyes widening at the memory.

Cally’s heart ached. “I can’t believe I missed it! I’m so mad at myself now,” she complained. Damn my homework to hell!

Tyler laughed. “It’s alright; you’ve seen all the other games.”

Cally nodded in agreement. “That’s true.” Mr. Williams pulled up a moment later. “See you later, Tyler,” she said before rushing to get out of the cold and into the car.

“Bye.”

-

Brrrrrrrring! Brrrrrrrrrrrring! Cally jumped awake and blinked a few times before looking around. It was 5:00 AM! Who on earth would be calling at five in the morning?! Picking up the phone, she mumbled a groggy, “Hello?”

“Yes, I’m sorry to wake you, but is Mr. Williams available?” The voice on the other line was British.

“Hang on a sec,” Cally said before placing the phone on her nightstand and stumbling down the hallway to her dad’s room. She opened the door and turned on the lights. “Dad!” He jumped and was awake immediately. “Phone.”

With that, Cally turned and walked back down the hallway to her room. She was about to go back to sleep when she realized she hadn’t hung up the phone yet. Picking it up, she held it lightly against her ear.

“Richard, I’m sorry about calling so early, but we’ve been having some trouble with the arrangements,” the British gentleman said. “I keep forgetting about this bloody time difference; it’s past ten in the morning here.”

“It’s alright, James, really. What is it that you needed?” Cally hung up and squealed quietly. They really were going to England for vacation! Excitement overcame her and suddenly she wasn’t tired anymore. Bolting out of bed, she booted up her computer and began searching for information about England.

“Let’s see,” she whispered to herself. “I want to visit Big Ben, of course. Umm…Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London…”

-

“So this guy called this morning at five AM, and he was from England, and he and my dad were talking about some arrangements!” Cally exclaimed to Mandy and Nick that morning at school.

“Dude, wouldn’t it be so awesome if a helicopter picked you up after lunch or something?” Mandy asked with wide eyes.

“Yeah, and you guys got a private jet to fly you to Heathrow!” Added Nick.

“That would be amazing,” Cally said dreamily. “I just want to go; I don’t care how I get there.”

Mandy and Nick nodded in agreement. “You’re getting us souvenirs, right?” Mandy asked.

“Well, duh!”

-

“Cally, could you come down here for a moment!” Mr. Williams called from the living room.

Cally looked up from doing her homework. Dad never calls me downstairs like this, she thought to herself. Closing her math book, she hopped off of her bed and hurried down the stairs.

“Yeah, Dad?” She asked upon entering the living room

Mr. Williams was standing in front of the couch. Cally could see from the doorway that he was nervous. He was pacing back and forth.

Walking over, Cally stopped in front of her father and looked at him curiously. “Dad, are you okay?”

“Could you sit down, please?” He asked her politely.

“What’s going on?”

“Just sit. Please.”

Cally cautiously sat down on the couch, eying her father the entire time. He took a deep breath and exhaled before beginning to speak. “Cally, I know that Chicago has been our home for your entire life. I love it here, and I know that you love it here as well. I don’t know any other way to say this, so I’m just going to come out with it. We’re moving.”

Cally sat on the couch, awestruck. “I hope you mean down the street,” she finally managed a sarcastic response. Mr. Williams shook his head. “Well where are we moving to then?!”

“England.”

-

A/N: Please review. If you didn't like it, that's fine, just explain why. I'm a big fan of constructive criticism. Also, if anyone has any tips about British slang (like the words and meanings), could you leave that in your review, because I'm going to need it for coming chapters - that is, if you guys think I should continue.