“Hey, Caleb, thanks for the notes,” Shawn said, passing the papers back to Caleb after European Literature. She had been late for class due to her alarm not going off, and almost forgotten that little packet that changed her eye colour and altered her scent. Had Kiel not yelled out the door, Shawn could have been in deep water. But because she had been late, she hadn’t been able to sit next to Caleb; she was stuck in the front row for the day’s lecture. It was the most severe form of punishment she had ever experienced.

“Oh, yeah, no problem.” Caleb took the grungy papers back and flashed her a smile. He packed them away and then didn’t say anything afterwards. Shawn felt somewhat stupid for nodding like a bobble head in the following silence for about a minute. So she started backing away, a little embarrassed. Why couldn’t she pull herself together and for once not do something stupid?

“I’ll uh, see you later, or something?” she said, shrugging her shoulders and then spinning on her heels, lifting a hand to brush the hair from her face. Why she did that, she wasn’t sure. It just exposed her bright red blush.

“I was actually thinking,” Caleb called after her, catching up with her before she had even moved five steps. Again, Shawn hadn’t even heard him move, or even seen it. She was sure she was imagining things. Caleb must take giant steps.

Shawn waited to hear what Caleb was thinking, but he didn’t say anything, like he had forgotten that he had started a sentence. “If you weren’t thinking, I’d start to worry,” Shawn said, laughing slightly.

Caleb laughed. “I was thinking we could go to lunch today. Or, you know, breakfast, or dinner, or brunch, or brinner. Whatever you feel like eating.”

She smiled. They only had one class today and Shawn had been planning on going home and sleeping, but she realized she would rather spend time with Caleb. He was sweet, and laughed at her tasteless jokes. “I have my car today. So I might need you to drop me back off here so I can drive home.”

“I was actually hoping you could drive,” Caleb said, scratching his head as though embarrassed. “I don’t have a car.” At least that was a better excuse than telling her that he didn’t know how to drive. And it wasn’t a lie, since he really didn’t have a car. The only one of Caleb’s brothers that owned a vehicle was Jamie, and Jamie’s car was like his baby; he hated sharing it. Hell, Jamie hated when people looked at his car.

“Oh.”

“I can pay for gas, if that’s a problem. Guys are supposed to buy everything right? I don’t mind. I’m a baller.”

Shawn giggled at his last statement, shaking her head at the incredibly proper way that Caleb said the word ‘baller’; he pronounced the ‘r’ in the way that only Honors students that spoke perfect English did. Caleb seemed a little confused, but she didn’t mention anything. If anything, Shawn was flattered that he would ask her to lunch so quickly; they had only known each other for two days. Today was the third day.

“Oh, no, it’s not that I’m worried about money. Thank you for offering, though. I was just surprised that you don’t have a car.”

“Why?”

“Don’t most people here drive? You’ve lived here before, haven’t you?”

Caleb nodded. “Been here a while,” he answered. A while meaning in total. He had probably spent at least fifty, sixty, or seventy – he had lost count – years back and forth, coming in and out of this town. Out of all the places he had been, this was his favourite. He watched generations of human families grow in this town. He watched the professors of the colleges change. He watched mall complexes built, new cars rolling down remodeled streets. This town was like his little haven; he would always protect it.

“It’s weird you don’t have a car. You just walk everywhere?”

Caleb smiled. “Yeah, mostly.” One of the things that Caleb found fun when he talked with humans, was that the littlest things they said could be over exaggerated in terms of the fact that Caleb wasn’t really all that human. Things like walking and eating and going to school were jokes to Caleb; he had to stop himself from chuckling after a human talked to him about it.

“Oh, um, well, where did you want to go to breakinnerunch?” Shawn said, combining the three meals of the day into one.

“Driver chooses,” Caleb answered. They stopped at Shawn’s Eclipse and she lifted a hand to open her door, but Caleb’s hand was there before she had even seen him move. “Sorry,” he said, pulling open the door. “It’s a habit.”

“Thanks,” Shawn told him, slipping into the seat. Caleb closed the door. Shawn actually saw him move this time, jogging to the other side of the car. She figured she must have been imagining things when she thought she hadn’t seen him move those other times. She shook her head and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Maybe it was those packets that Kiel kept giving her that was making Shawn feel like she couldn’t see people running. A weird side effect, but then again, Shawn’s family wasn’t normal anyway.

Kiel’s Eclipse purred to life beneath her as she started the engine. “Where to?” she asked again.

“Anywhere.”

“I don’t know where anywhere is,” Shawn reminded him. She hadn’t driven anywhere else besides home and school. A part of her was a little skeptical about wandering the town, especially when Kiel had freaked her out about the whole family head thing. She didn’t even know what kind of creatures lived here besides humans, or more importantly, if they wanted to kill her.

“Oh,” Caleb said, laughing in remembrance. “Well, what are you craving then?”

A spam musubi, Shawn thought, referring to a food back in Hawaii that she loved.

“What?”

“What?” Shawn repeated, looking surprised.

Caleb chuckled. “What’s a spam musubi?”

“Oh, God,” Shawn mumbled quietly. She hadn’t realized she’d spoken aloud. “It’s nothing.”

“If you tell me what it is, then maybe I can tell you if any place carries it,” Caleb encouraged.

“It’s this um, spam thing from home,” Shawn said quietly, running a hand through her hair. “Spam and rice and nori. Like, wrapped together like sushi.”

“Sushi,” Caleb said, sounding proud as he recognized the word. “I know a sushi place. Do you want to go there to see if they have it?”

“Oh. Uh, sure.” Shawn shifted to REVERSE, and released the E-brake, backing out of her stall. She was gripping the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. There was a part of her that was actually intimidated by Caleb. He wasn’t frightening in the sense where he looked like he could kill her, but just the fact that a handsome boy was talking to her was enough to make Shawn feel nervous. A part of her wondered if he just felt sorry for the new loner girl, or if his friends paid him to ask her places. It wouldn’t have been the first time.

“Take the right,” Caleb said, gesturing to the right side. Shawn glanced in both directions, and zipped into the right lane. Caleb jerked back into the seat slightly, not expecting that one. She was about to open her mouth to apologize, but Caleb spoke before her. “So, I never did get to ask: where are you from anyway?”

“Hawaii,” Shawn said before she could stop herself. The same part of her that felt intimidated by Caleb as the same part of her that felt somewhat embarrassed to tell people where she came from. Most people still thought people from Hawaii were savages, living in grass shacks wearing coconut bras and going hunting for their food with blood smeared on their faces and spears made from sharpened rocks. Some people didn’t know that a McDonalds existed in Hawaii, or that Hawaii was actually a part of the United States.

But Caleb seemed to know the truth. He smiled and nodded, as though interested. “Really? That’s fantastic. It’s really different from here, isn’t it? A lot more sun and beach.”

Shawn didn’t know that the word ‘fantastic’ was still used in casual conversation. “I guess,” Shawn said, shrugging. She glanced at her skin, holding her arm out. The slight caramel latte shade that her skin had been three days ago had lightened. Shawn sighed. Her body was never good at holding on to the tans she worked hard for.

“I hear Hawaii is a nice place,” Caleb continued, seeming genuinely interested. He pointed to the road to turn on so he could speak. “I’ve never been there, but the thought of going is enchanting. It’s a melting pot, sort of, right? No one is minority because everyone is everything. I think that’s really amazing and beautiful, in a sort of weird way, I guess. It’s a little piece of hope that shows that people of different cultures and beliefs can come together and act in harmony, instead of always fighting.”

Shawn had never thought of it that way. It was strange that a boy who had never been to Hawaii before knew so much about it, and even interpreted it in his own sort of poetic way. Shawn remembered his little explanation of the excerpt that Lombardi had asked him to speak about and realized that it was likely that Caleb seemed to like to analyze things. It also seemed like he could do it incredibly quickly. “It is nice,” Shawn said, also realizing that she hadn’t spoken for a while. “I guess I just needed an escape.”

“From paradise?”

Shawn actually scoffed a little. “Anywhere my mother is, is not paradise.”

Caleb chuckled. “Strict mom?”

“You could say that.”

“Take this exit,” Caleb said, gesturing to the road on the left in front of them. Shawn hadn’t even known she had been paying attention to the road. She had forgotten she was even driving, but yet, she and Caleb were still alive, pulling into a little sushi bar with the face of a little Japanese person on the logo. “This is my favourite sushi place. I like that you don’t mind sushi. Most people think it’s disgusting because it’s raw fish.”

“I don’t mind,” Shawn said, turning off her car. Her hands dropped to her lap, the keys jangling. “I grew up with it. Sushi is good.”

“Maybe they have your spam musubis,” Caleb said, scrunching his face as he said the name of the food, unsure if he was saying it correctly. Shawn found it adorable. “And if not, hey, at least we got to eat some sushi.”

Shawn laughed slightly. “Yeah, I guess.”

While Shawn was unbuckling her seatbelt, Caleb slid out of his seat; she heard the door open with a click. When she looked up with the snap of her seatbelt coming loose, her door was already being pulled open. She sat and blinked a few times, unsure if she had missed him running around the car to get her door. “Oh, thanks,” she mumbled quietly, hoping she didn’t sound rude. Either Caleb was fast, or Shawn was just too slow.

Caleb pushed the door of the sushi bar open, both of them greeted with the air-conditioned chill of the bar. Caleb coughed a couple of times, holding his hand over his mouth and nose. “Are you okay?” Shawn asked, turning to him and looking worried.

“Yes,” he answered, nodding. He lowered his hand from his face with a speed meant to look casual. But Shawn, being Shawn Léone and always needing to be suspicious of everyone, noticed. He coughed and then rubbed his nose, shaking his head. “Sorry.”

Shawn shook her head and shrugged. The hostess – her nametag read Jules – smiled at both of them politely, her eyes lingering on Caleb for a second longer than she probably would have liked. “Table for two?” she asked, directing the question towards Caleb.

“Yes, please,” Caleb replied, nodding. Menus in hand, the hostess stepped out from behind her little podium and lead them through the bar. It was a quiet little place, a little modern, with popular hip-hop songs in the background. In the center of the building was conveyer belt, little plates of sushi rotating around the room. People were seated at the counter near the conveyer belt, picking off their favourites like finicky vultures to a carcass. Jules lead Caleb and Shawn over to a booth away from the center table. “Can I get you started on anything?”

“Just water,” Shawn said, speaking to the woman for the first time. Jules didn’t look at her as she spoke, and Shawn just rolled her eyes. Perhaps this was the downside to having lunch with a pretty boy – one was no longer considered a person, outshined by the boy’s stunning looks.

“Same,” Caleb told Jules. Jules spun on her heels toward the backroom where the kitchen was. He glanced around for a second, causing Shawn’s eyes to automatically follow. “Kami,” Caleb called, raising his hand slightly.

A tall, slender Asian woman glanced up from the middle of the conveyer belt. She had on a little Japanese cooking cap and a chef apron. She smiled and waved, dropping the sushi she was making to exit from the counter around her. “Caleb,” she greeted, brushing her silky black hair from her face.

Too many beautiful people, Shawn thought to herself.

“Oh, and hello,” the woman greeted, looking at Shawn. Shawn lifted a hand to wave, unsure of who this woman was.

“This is Kami,” Caleb said, as though reading her mind. “My brother’s girlfriend. She makes the best sushi in the world.”

Kami laughed and shook her head modestly. “No, Caleb is just being a brownnoser. It’s nice to meet you, uh—”

“Oh, Kam, this is Shyla. She’s in my European Literature class.”

“Shyla,” Kami said, feeling the way the name felt on her tongue. For a second, Shawn wondered if Kami could already tell that the name was a lie. That Shawn was a living lie. But she just said, “That’s a very pretty name. What can I get you two?”

“Surprise us,” Caleb said, grinning. “I know you make the best of anything, and Shyla eats sushi, so I don’t think she’d mind.” Caleb looked to Shawn for confirmation, and she just nodded, offering the Asian woman a smile.

“Will do,” Kami said, turning around to leave.

“Oh, and do you know what a spam musubi is?” Caleb called after her. Shawn’s eyes widened and she shook her head.

“No, no, it’s okay. They probably don’t have it,” Shawn said quickly, not looking to embarrass herself, cause a scene, or give Kami trouble. For Shawn, things usually ended in one of three.

Kami nodded. “The make-shift Japanese from Hawaii, right? Did you want one?”

“Two,” Caleb told her, holding up his fingers. Kami smiled and nodded, heading to the backroom to start cooking. Caleb turned back to Shawn, grinning. “See? I told you they have it.”

“Thank you,” Shawn said. Caleb seemed surprised by her sincerity over an item of food, but just smiled anyway. “So, um, you never told me where you were from.”

“Ah, well, I lived here for a while now. I went to the high school down the road and graduated into the university here.”

“Have you lived anywhere before here?” Shawn asked, noticing that he said he lived here. He didn’t say anything about being born here. Shawn paid attention to details like these. Information was always key. She had learned that one could never be hurt by anyone if one didn’t tell people information that needed to be held within trust. It was trust that broke people. So while Shawn couldn’t afford that for herself, she did like hearing information from others. She was trustworthy; she just couldn’t trust anyone else.

Caleb nodded. “I was born in England, actually. And I’ve moved around all over since then.”

“Military parents?”

“Not really,” Caleb said, smiling. “My family just likes traveling. I don’t mind, though. Sometimes it’s nice to see the world and meet new people.”

“I’m jealous,” Shawn said honestly, running a hand through her hair. “I really want your lifestyle. I’ve been living in Hawaii for eighteen years, and you’ve been alive the same and been all over the world.”

Caleb smiled. At least he still looked and acted like he was eighteen; he didn’t have to worry about fitting in, as far as teenage culture. It was different all the time; keeping up with the trends of teenagers. Yesterday, it was tie-dye and gold spandex; today it was iPods and Abercrombie. “It’s hard, though, traveling. You don’t really…get to be close to people, because then you have to leave.”

Shawn didn’t have a problem with that. She had been doing that for eighteen years; distancing herself from people because she felt guilty of the constant lies she needed to spit to keep her identity safe. Not that she knew who she was in the first place. She just knew that she wasn’t normal; it was enough to keep her from telling the truth. “But you get to see the world,” Shawn said again, envy laced between her letters. “I don’t know. I just wish I had that.”

“The grass is always greener on the other side,” Caleb said, smiling and shrugging.

Kami appeared again, dropping off a few plates, two of them the spam musubis that Caleb had asked for. He grinned. “It smells good,” he said.

Shawn didn’t smell anything particularly good, but dug in right away anyway. It seemed like it had been ages that she had eaten spam musubi. She had one before she left for the airport, but even that seemed like forever and a day ago. The warmth of the food sliding down her throat, Shawn’s own little piece of home, was the best thing she had experienced all day. Besides going to a sushi bar with Caleb.

Caleb seemed to be enjoying his, too. He was through eating it before Shawn had even gotten through half. She giggled, covering her mouth. “You must be hungry.”

Caleb smiled sheepishly, scratching his head. “Sort of.”

Shawn glanced around the table for something else to eat. Her eyes landed on something with a creamy paste; she assumed it was spicy ahi, and hooked her fingers onto the side of the bowl, sliding it in front of her. Caleb frowned slightly, looking defeated. “Aw, I was going to eat that one.”

“Oh, sorry,” Shawn said, embarrassed. She pushed it in front of him.

Caleb laughed and shook his head, holding his hands up. “No, no, it’s all right. You can have it.” He moved the bowl back in front of her and started looking for something else. Shawn sighed and took Caleb’s empty spam musubi plate. She divided the ahi bowl in half, slapping some down on his plate, and pushing it back to him.

“We can share.”

His expression lit up. “Thanks. I love spicy food. Kami makes the hottest spicy ahi.”

Shawn’s eyes widened in excitement as she hurriedly swallowed her food so she could get a word in. “Spicy food is my favourite,” she agreed. Then the burning from Kami’s cooking seared her throat and she coughed a little. Caleb had been right about Kami’s spicy ahi. It was like the best Korean Kim Chi, times three. Blinding hot, but tasteful. “My brother’s girlfriend puts peppers in everything. It’s great.”

Caleb chuckled. “You have a brother?”

Dammit, Shawn thought to herself. Maybe it was better she just not talk; Shawn had no idea what to call her brother. He hadn’t said anything about an alias for himself, or for Zion. No doubt someone who lived in this small town during high school would have at least heard about Kiel. Shawn didn’t even know if Kiel had an alias for college, or if Zion even knew about the Léone family. Shawn would have to guess that she didn’t. “Oh, yeah, he graduated from the university a year or two ago.”

“So you’re following in his footsteps, then? Are you and your brother close?”

“Yeah, I guess. He’s my best friend.” Kiel was Shawn’s only friend.

Caleb smiled. “That’s a good thing. Nothing’s closer than blood.”

“Right.” Shawn’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, but she was glad that he hadn’t asked for her brother’s name. Kami came back with more plates of food so that the entire little table was almost full to the edges with sushi plates. Shawn blew the bangs out of her hair. “Oh, there goes my spending money for the year,” she mumbled quietly as she finished the spicy ahi and move on to something else that Kami had brought.

Caleb chuckled and Shawn looked up, a little confused. She hadn’t even spoken that loudly. “Don’t worry about paying for this,” Caleb said, lifting a little leather wallet. “I’ve got you covered.”

Shawn held up her hands in defense. “No, I really don’t have a problem splitting. I want to split. It’s unfair if you pay for everything. It’s a lot of food.”

“It’s fine,” Caleb insisted. “Kami will give me a discount so I doubt I’ll have to pay as much as you believe this will cost. You drove here, so I can take care of the food bill.”

Shawn frowned. Despite the fact that she would probably be spending a lot of money paying for the amount of food she had just consumed, she really didn’t mind. In Hawaii, she rarely ever got to go out, and when she did, she always treated the people she went with. It was a guilt thing; she paid for their food because she told them lies. It was fair. It was especially fair now that she was lying to Caleb, who had been nothing but sweet to her since they had met.

“It’s okay, Shyla,” Caleb said, noticing her frown. Shawn just sighed. The name still felt weird, and it made her feel even more guilty for allowing Caleb to continue to be the same sweet guy to her, when all she did was lie. Even her name was a lie. Caleb smiled at her silent agreement and dug back into the food. There was still a bit left on the table. Many, many plates, but there were only one or two sushi pieces on each one.

“So, um, what are you majoring in?” asked Shawn, deciding to start conversation.

Caleb stared at her blankly for a moment, seeming to either have no heard her, or forget his major. “Medicine,” he said, and then rolled his eyes to the top of his head like he was trying to remember. “Yeah, medicine.”

Shawn smiled. “You want to be a doctor?”

“Yes. I like working with people. What are you majoring in?”

“I have no idea,” Shawn answered honestly. “I was thinking maybe photography, but I don’t know yet. Art industry is competitive. I don’t know if I’d be up for the challenge.”

“I believe in you,” Caleb said immediately, smiling. “Put your heart to it, and you’ll make it. It’s tough, sure, but finding a niche is the key. Find something interesting that no one else would ever think of, and you’re in. It sounds difficult, but I believe in you.”

“Thank you,” Shawn said, impressed. Not even Kiel had told her that before. I believe in you. Four words that gave Shawn so much hope. No one had ever believed in her before, and yet, this boy, who she had known for three days, was already piling his faith in a skill that he had never even seen before. And his words were so sincere. Shawn’s lips curved into the tiniest of smiles and she turned her eyes to the table, nibbling on a bit of sushi.

“We could go look for something interesting one day, if you’d like,” Caleb added, his expression lighting up with the thought of it. “I like interesting; it should be fun.” Caleb seemed to be a master of flattery; Shawn was certainly flattered that he was planning future outings when they hadn’t even finished the first. But nonetheless, Shawn couldn’t help but agree. “Ready to go?”

Shawn nodded, both of them standing up. Caleb’s eyes quickly scanned the table as though counting the plates, and then he turned towards the exit, gesturing for Shawn to go first. Shawn was hesitant; she was self-conscious when people walked behind her. But she forced her feet to move one in front of the other – Caleb wasn’t a killer and wouldn’t harm her – and slowed so that she was walking at Caleb’s side. It was a bad habit.

But Caleb didn’t seem to notice Shawn’s weariness as they approached the cash register. Kami was standing behind it. “Don’t look,” Caleb said, smiling. He held a hand over Shawn’s eyes as Kami punched in the cost of the food. His hand was hot, unbelievably hot, like a fire was behind held over her face. Shawn shut her eyes and pulled away slightly. She glanced up, but Caleb had already paid. Shawn suddenly didn’t care about the cost.

“Are you okay?” she asked worriedly. She lifted a hand and pressed it to his forehead. “Do you have a fever? You’re really warm.”

Caleb blinked, his expression blank. “What?”

Shawn’s hand moved down to press against the side of his neck, and she lifted her other hand to her forehead, comparing temperatures. Touching Caleb’s skin was like playing with embers. “You’re really warm,” Shawn repeated. She hoped she wasn’t getting sick; her immune system was incredibly weak. If someone with a cold so much as breathed within a ten-foot radius of her, she would come down with the same malady in a matter of hours.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard that,” Caleb said. He lifted Shawn’s hand off his neck and held it for a moment. Shawn was beginning to feel like her skin was peeling away from the heat. She could almost imagine blisters sprouting from her flesh where Caleb touched. “Thanks for worrying, but I’m all right. I haven’t been sick for a long time.”

“Oh,” Shawn said, pulling her hand from Caleb’s grasp. “Sorry.”

Shawn hoped she hadn’t seemed rude, yanking away like she had, but Caleb just smiled. “It’s fine.” He turned back to Kami. “See you later, Kam.”

“And you,” she replied as Caleb and Shawn left the sushi bar.

“So, uh, where do you live?” Shawn asked, clicking the button on her keys to unlock the car. The Eclipse headlights flashed, followed by a soft snap of the door locks.

“Oh, you can just drop me back off at the school. I can walk from there.”

“If you live that close, I can just take you home. No sense in walking.”

“No, it’s all right,” Caleb insisted. “I need the exercise.:

No, you don’t, Shawn thought to herself, her eyes flicking over Caleb’s lean – but muscular – figure. If he needed the exercise, then there was no hope for Shawn ever losing a pound within the next century.

Caleb chuckled. “What?” Shawn asked, raising her eyebrows in inquiry.

“Oh, nothing,” he said, still laughing a little. It was a sweet, honest laugh, like a cello striking a chorus of smooth notes. “Thank you for the compliment, I guess.”

“Oh, shit,” Shawn mumbled to herself. “I’m really sorry. I have this habit of thinking and my mouth moves, resulting in me talking without realizing it, because I’m still talking in my head, but not all of the words really come out together at the same time, with me realizing it.”

“It’s okay,” Caleb said, grinning. “It’s sort of adorable. In a uh, creepy way.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Shawn said as Caleb pulled open her door.

“Meant it as one. I don’t mind creepy.” Caleb closed the door. Shawn watched for the second time today as he jogged over to the other side to slip into the passenger’s seat. There was definitely something wrong with her eyes. “To the university, please.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to take you home? It’s no trouble.”

“I’m sure,” Caleb said, nodding. “Thank you for today.”

“Thank you,” Shawn told him. “I don’t know why you’re thanking me. I didn’t do anything. The only thing I did do was embarrass myself about five gazillion times today.”

He laughed, a little symphony erupting from behind his lips, his broad shoulders shaking from the sound. “You seem really shy, but you’re not really. I didn’t think you were embarrassing. It’s sort of nice, I guess, to meet someone as genuinely weird as you.”

“Thanks,” Shawn said, rolling her eyes in a playful manner.

“Genuinely weird,” Caleb repeated, as though it were a good thing. “At least you’re not faking it. That would be really weird.”

Shawn just laughed slightly, deciding not to say any more as she backed out of the parking lot and drove in the general direction of the college. Shawn couldn’t help but wonder what her brother would think about her going out to lunch with someone she barely knew. Some he barely knew. If Kiel was as protective as he seemed, Shawn couldn’t help but assume that he wouldn’t like this one bit.

“Oh, down this road,” Caleb said, pointing to a left street. Shawn quickly changed lanes and swerved into the left lane, the honking of a horn fading away behind them.

“Sorry,” she said, brushing the hair from her face. “I barely passed my road test back home.”

“I never took mine,” Caleb said, shrugging. Then they fell into a short, comfortable silence and Shawn clicked on her stereo, not knowing what was in it. She hadn’t switched out her brother’s mix CD. The beginning of a piano piece. Both Caleb and Shawn’s lips turned up into a little smirk, neither of them seeing the other person doing it.

“Yiruma,” they both said at the same time. Then they looked to each other and their smirks widened into a smile. Then they spoke in unison again, “I didn’t know you—”

Shawn laughed. “I grew up listening to his piano music; my brother loves him.”

“He’s an excellent composer for someone as young as he is,” Caleb agreed. He pointed a finger down another turn and Shawn felt her hands turning with the road. Before she was able to say anything else, she realized that she had just pulled into the school. Shawn swerved into a parking stall, shifting to park, a little disappointed that Caleb was leaving already. The sun was still up, hidden slightly by a cool overcast and it was still early afternoon.

Caleb pulled the latch on his door, pushing it open. He turned back to throw Shawn a grateful glance. “Thank you for today,” he said again. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” Shawn said, nodding. Caleb smiled as he shut the door behind him, starting to walk out of the way of the reversal path of the car. Shawn backed out and waved at Caleb one last time, before heading out of the school. He waved back, grinning. Shawn made her way to the parking entrance about fifteen feet away from her parking stall and glanced back in the rearview mirror in case Caleb had changed his mind about that ride home. She was expecting to see his dark wad of hair disappearing as she grew father away from him, but Caleb was gone before her eyes touched the glass.