Chapter 1: A New Start

Melinda Milano's POV

"Now you kids be good ok? Your mom is going grocery shopping and I'm off to work. Don't do anything destructive while we're out." He said sternly to the seven year old girl with short wavy brown hair and light brown eyes from her father and the ten year old boy with dark brown bushy hair and bright hazel eyes inherited by his mother.

"Yes daddy." My brother and I chorused simultaneously with angel like tones even though ironically we were quite the little demons.

My father beamed at both of us. "Good, now come and give your daddy a hug and a kiss before I leave."

My brother went up first when my father kneeled before us to bestow him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. When he was finished, my father looked up at me expectantly and I ran into his arms to give him the biggest hug that topped my brother's. My father wrapped his arms around my small little body and he kissed the top of my head affectionately.

"I love you Mellie." My father whispered in my ear.

I kissed my father on the cheek and grinned. "I love you too daddy."

My father rose up from the floor and ruffled both me and my brother's hair before picking up his briefcase and leaving through the garage door with my mother who also told us to be good.

Once the door closed, it was just me, my brother, and the maids who were busily sprucing up the house.

"So, do you want to play hide and seek?" My ten year old brother asked eagerly when he turned me.

I pouted and crossed my arms. "No, last time we played you were the hider and I had to seek. I couldn't find you for hours because you cheated when I told you not to hide in the same room I was counting in."

My brother rolled his eyes at me. "Ok fine, I won't do it again and anyways I'll let you hide this time to make it fair."

My eyes lit up and I grinned. "Really? I can?!"

He nodded his head grudgingly and I jumped up and down with excitement. "Ok, go start counting." I said as I shooed my brother out of the way. He rolled his eyes again and rushed to our parent's room to start counting.

I hurriedly ran down the hall in search of a spot that would be perfect to hide in where nobody could find me, not even my older brother who was a professional at this very game.

I opened door to door and shook my head at how easily my brother would find me. None of these would do at all.

I wandered aimlessly throughout the house until I came across the laundry room. I tapped my finger to my chin to ponder where I could conceal myself when I studied the room. It was rather narrow space, but a good place to hide nonetheless. But where is the question...

My eyes traveled to the washing machine and then to the dryer. Hmm, it looked pretty stable and wide enough for me to fit in. I might not be small enough to crawl through, but I was sure I could fit into anything including small enclosed places which I've done many times before.

I heard my brother bellow out, "Ready or not here I come!" so I hurriedly opened the dryer and stepped inside the circular contraption without any hesitation. I closed the lid to the dryer and I realized that once I was in, there was no light emitting through. I was enveloped in darkness and that frightened me a tad bit. I was still afraid of the dark since I was seven years old, but maybe my brother will find me since he is good at this game so there's no reason to worry right?

After what seemed like hours, I still wasn't found and I felt a trickle of sweat run through my forehead. The air inside was lessening and it was musty inside this thing. I couldn't stay in here any longer and I'd rather lose to my brother then to suffer inside this dark enclosed space.

I pounded my fists to the lid of the dryer and shouted my brother's name to let me out. There was no answer and I couldn't hear anybody entering in the laundry room so I called out even louder.

“SOMEONE PLEASE! I'M STUCK IN THE DRYER HELP ME!” I shouted at the top of my lungs as I pounded on the lid.

Even though my mother was still probably grocery shopping and my father was at work, I thought I would give it a try to call their names out.

“MUMMMMMYY! DADDDDDY!” I shrieked as I panted in the dryer. My breaths were becoming drastically short and many thoughts were swarming through my head on being stuck in here forever without anybody knowing where I was.

“HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME ANYONE!” I screamed out in horror with tears falling down my face, pounding my aching little fists against the dryer's lid. No footsteps, no call back in return, and the tears fell down faster.

“HELP ME!!!”

I shot upright on my bed and panted heavily from the claustrophobic episode I just went through. My hands trembled in fright of where I was just at and I tried to keep myself calm. I patted my bed beside me and touched my face, realizing that it was only a nightmare that appeared so real and I was no longer confined in a dryer. I felt perspiration stick to my clothing from my back and I raked a hand through my matted sweaty hair. Even in the dream I was sweating from the musty heat of the dryer that I was stuck in for nearly an hour.

I shuffled in my bed to get rid of the claustrophobia anxiety I had coming from the shortness of breath that was experienced both in the dream and now. The horrible dryer incident that haunted me as a child was how I became to have a mild case of claustrophobia and I relived it tonight. I placed my hand to my heart to ease the fast paced beats and tried to slow my breathing to a normal rate. I’m surprised I didn’t get a coronary.

"Happened again?" A voice asked wearily, popping her arms up along the mattress on the floor.

I shrieked frighteningly, startled by the sudden voice and felt my heart beat sky rocket again. “Sandra! Don’t scare me like that!” I exclaimed in a hoarse tone and paused. “How come you’re still awake?”

Sandra yawned, ignoring my frightened outburst, and placed a hand to cover it. “I heard you tossing and turning, you kind of woke me up.”

I frowned and exhaled deeply to lessen the pounding beats. “Oh, sorry.”

Sandra waved a dismissive hand. “It’s alright. It sounded like you were having one of those dreams again, am I right?”

I nodded my head hastily and breathed deeply before speaking. "Yeah, I don't understand why I keep having these...nightmares." I said softly, changing the word ‘dreams’ into ‘nightmares’ because that’s what they were to me.

Sandra sighed and dropped her back to the mattress wearily. "They aren't nightmares Mel, it's your family." She said softly.

Sandra was referring to my father and brother because when I had my previous nightmares like the episode I had tonight, they were both in it. She pestered me to tell her why I was waking up sweaty during the middle of the night since she was staying with us for the duration of the summer and I reluctantly told her of them, my other family she had no idea about until now. Sandra was certainly surprised by all the hidden facts of them and she was actually happy than angry (which I assumed) with me when I confided in her.

But the majority of my nightmares were of my childhood and my father and brother always starred in them for some odd reason I didn’t comprehend. I’ve never had these nightmares before and I had no idea why they suddenly decided to spring up into my present peaceful life currently filled with no drama.

I snorted irritably. "They aren't my family." I countered firmly.

Sandra groaned and fluffed up her pillow. "Whether you like it or not Melinda, they are. You can't do anything about it. Your father helped on the development process too."

I gagged and fell back onto my bed. "Please refrain from informing me of how I became a fetus."

Sandra laughed tiredly. "Just this once."

We became silent and the nightmare I just had minutes ago came flashing before my eyes again. I felt the enclosed space of the dryer and the musty air surrounding me and I cringed at the image.

"What does it all mean?" I asked puzzled.

Sandra yawned again, but didn’t do much to cover it. "What does what mean?"

"These dreams I've been having, they are strange." I clarified softly.

I heard Sandra shrug from below. "I don't know much about dreams, but maybe deep down inside you miss them even though you’re too prideful or stubborn to admit it."

I scoffed and crossed my arms. "Impossible."

Sandra sighed. "Whatever you say Melinda let's go to sleep now, I don't feel like arguing."

I grumbled irritably at her and did as she told me. I was exhausted since the nightmare wore me out. I dropped my eyelids and prayed that I wouldn't have another “session” with my father and brother in the scene.

I woke up feeling well energized in the morning and thankfully I didn’t have another nightmare. Sandra was already out with Zack for the day when we finished breakfast because she would be leaving soon to Janesville and my mother was busy in the kitchen. Believe it or not, Sandra and I spent a lot of time together when she was here, but I felt bad that she barely got to hang with Zack. He was going to Yale and she would be stuck in Janesville as their lives predestined it to be. I didn’t know how they were going to keep up their relationship or whatever they had going on between them, so I berated Sandra to go spend some time with him even though before, she refused because of me.

Ever since I told her of my father and brother, she felt like we were getting closer and I did as well. She knew it took a lot of strength out of me to tell her and truthfully, it was easier talking about them to her than it had been when I told John. It was difficult because I was confiding in John, someone I knew for merely half a year and the subject of my other family never reached to anyone in the past. John, however, understood when I told him and that’s what made me open up to him more.

Now I feel somewhat free for confiding my troubles to both my boyfriend and my best friend. It was nice knowing that no matter what they would stick by my side even at the worse times in life. However, I failed to mention to John of my consistent childhood nightmares that greet me during the night, but I felt it wasn’t that important to share. I was just being dramatic; it would die down soon enough.

With only one thing in my mind to do that I hadn’t done yet today was to see if the mailman had come. I planted myself to the rightful position in front of the window on a chair and eagerly watched my mailbox in the front yard. There was something I’ve been patiently waiting for in the past few weeks and this had to be the day where it came in.

As a couple of minutes passed, my eyes fastened to the window when the little white mailbox truck came to a screeching halt at the front of my house. Come on, please be it, please be it.

I stood up from my chair and paced back and forth with my eyes fixated on the mailman coming out of the small car holding one of the golden tickets to my future in the pile of other useless junk mail. He unlatched the mailbox and deposited the mail neatly inside. I watched carefully as he secured it back to its original place and walked swiftly up to his little car to go to the next house over. I made no time wrenching open the front door and charging to the mailbox that the mailman had a second ago delivered.

I unlatched the mailbox in one swift movement and looked at the multiple letters in the box. I shuffled through the stacks of the many plain white letters and when my eyes caught a glimpse of a dark yellow color, I reached for it promptly. I pulled the manila letter out of the stack hastily when my eyes locked to it. I tore open the front lip of the manila and grasped the documents inside, having no time to hesitate.

I skimmed over the first few sentences of the formal letter at the front and once I saw what I was hoping to look for, I shrieked in joy. I jumped up and down in place as I gripped the document in my hands and I screamed at the top of my lungs. I can't believe it! I got in! “YES! YES!”

I heard the front door open and my mother looked at me confusingly. "Melinda, what on earth are you screamin' about?" She walked towards me to see what the commotion was when her eyes caught documents in my hands.

My jaw was still hanging out from disbelief and I placed my hands on top of my head, clutching the documents in my hand. "Mum, you wouldn't believe it! I got in!" I shouted excitedly.

My mother furrowed her eyebrows, clearly not comprehending. "Got in? Got in to what?"

"Oxford mum! Oxford!!" I exclaimed cheerfully as I waved the acceptance letter in the air frantically.

My mother’s confused look changed into a broad grin. "That's wonderful dear, but I thought you were going to Uchicago with John?"

My joyful smile soon vanished into despair. It’s not like I didn’t want to attend the same college as John because I do, but I still wanted to go to my dream college. I applied to Uchicago a few months back and in that same day I was accepted.

"I know and I am, but I just wanted to see if I was going to at least get accepted to my dream school." I frowned as I thought about it being a waste to even applying there in the first place.

I just wanted to see if I was capable of getting in and now that I am, I wasn't going to go. I even applied to Janesville College just for a backup plan if anything wasn't going to work out. I haven't told John about it because he would be upset with me thinking that our relationship wasn't going to work out, but it was just a precaution and he wouldn't understand if I told him.

"Don't worry dear if it's not going to happen now, it will definitely happen in the future. I'm sure that money won't be a problem." My mother said reassuringly.

I sighed heavily and nodded. "I know. Thanks mum."

She smiled. "For what?"

I shrugged and smiled at her. "Just for being there for me."

My mother pulled me into a hug. "Of course I will be here for you Melinda. You’re my daughter and I love you." I wrapped my arms around her for a brief moment and we pulled out of our hug, not feeling awkward like I had been before in the years that we’ve hugged.

"Now, I'm sure you want to show John about this?" She asked simply.

I bit my lip and looked down at my acceptance letter to Oxford. It wouldn’t hurt to tell John about it, but at the same time he would be saddened by the idea of me not actually going. I’ll just put off telling him because it’s not that important. We were going to college together and that was the only thing on my mind.

I nodded with a faint smile. "Yeah, but he'll be over soon."

As if on cue, John's black sporty car came rolling by the sidewalk and it ceased to a stop. The car wrenched open and out came John Richmond, grinning with joy as he waved a hello to my mother. Just like Susan, my mother also loved that fact that John and I were dating. Thankfully, she was a little less unbearable than Susan.

My mother waved back at him and turned to me. "Ok, have fun dear." She said smiling and she retreated back into the house.

I walked up to John Richmond’s car and placed a hand on my hip. “So are you ready for our college adventure?"

John chuckled and strode up to me. "You mean the tour that starts today that we're almost late to?”

My jaw dropped. "We're late!" I shrieked out with my eyes widening in horror.

John chuckled again, but more boisterously as he took in my flustered state. He placed his hands on my shoulders to calm me down and he leaned in closer to me. "Don't worry love, I was just kidding. You know I like to joke around with you."

I shrugged his hands off of my shoulders, but blushed by the endearing name he bestowed on me. "Ha ha ha, you’re so funny." I said sarcastically with bitterness.

John stole a quick kiss on my lips and intertwined his fingers in mine. "I know, now let's go before we are actually late."

We scampered into his car and John maneuvered it out of my neighborhood and into the roadways toward the new school we will be attending this fall, the University of Chicago, best known as Uchicago for short.

John parked his car in the wide range parking lot and when we both shut our doors, we looked up at the school with wide eyes.

The campus at the school was beautiful and it was said to be one of the best in Illinois. Each building was lofty and wide and vine branches roughly covered each one. I felt somewhat intimidated because the school was huge and it appeared that many of the students that attended here were well…rich.

“Ready?” John said with a smile as he extended his hand out to me. He could tell by my expression that I felt uncomfortable, but I’m sure that if he stayed by my side, I wouldn’t have a problem this semester at all.

I smiled. “Ready as I’ll ever be.” I replied and took his hand in mine.

We walked up to the huge school and relished it on our own before going on search for our tour group. When we reached to the white building called the student union where college students hung out on break, we found our group about to get started.

“Is everybody here?” The tour guide called out to the wide group that was suddenly formed around her. Every head nodded and she took that as a response. “Good, now if you all follow me, I will show you each part of the Uchicago campus so that on your first day of school, none of you will get lost because it’s pretty huge here.”

I looked around our tour group and immediately agreed with her. This place was enormous and if John and I didn’t decide to take this tour, we would be running around the place with our schedules in our hands not being able to figure out which class belonged to what huge building.

“Melinda!” Someone shouted out excitedly from a distance.

I spun around and grinned broadly at the person running toward me. John, however, scowled at the person and grumbled under his breath. I ignored his ridiculous behavior and looked at my good friend.

“Jeff! I didn’t know you were coming here!” I exclaimed incredulously.

Jeff chuckled. “I know I didn’t either. I’m looking at a few school options right now and I wanted to broaden my horizons. So far, I’ve been accepted to a number of schools like New York University, Cambridge, Uchicago, Cornell, but I haven’t made a decision yet.”

I clicked my tongue at him playfully. “Times a ticking Jeff, you better hurry up.”

Jeff rolled his eyes. “I know. You and all the other people combined keep telling me that.” He mentioned.

Jeff noticed John beside me and he gave him a warm smile. “How’s it goin’ there Richie rich?” He teased amusingly.

John deepened his scowl and I stifled a laugh from his comment. Since I started to date John, Jeff’s favorite game to play was to bother him into a quick rage which clearly didn’t last too long.

John shot me a glare of betrayal and looked back at Jeff. “Very clever there Harris, I didn’t know you were capable of being comical.”

Jeff shrugged smugly. “What can I say? I’m just that good.”

John scoffed and straightened his stance to level his arrogance to Jeff’s. “You’re irritating, you know that?” He said bluntly.

Jeff chuckled, not affected at all by what John said. “I’ve been called that many times before, your not the first one there Richie.”

“Don’t call me that.” John snapped through gritted teeth. He took a dangerous step forward to Jeff, but knowing what was about to happen in a moment’s time, I quickly intercepted and stood between them.

“Ok, I think that’s enough.” I said clearly and looked at Jeff. “Jeff, it was nice seeing you. I hope you decide to attend here this fall, despite what some other people may think.” I noted as I glanced at an infuriated John.

He wouldn’t like it if Jeff came to Uchicago because obviously Jeff got under his skin. John only took Jeff’s irritable comments because he knew that Jeff was a good friend of mine and it would make me upset if Jeff wasn’t there anymore. If John didn’t care about me, then Jeff would’ve been sent to the hospital a long time ago with several broken ribs, a fractured arm, leg, and a black eye.

Jeff smiled genuinely at me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I heard John grumble from behind and I knew that Jeff was purposely pushing John’s buttons. It was as if he found it amusing rather than horrifying when John got angry. Other people would run in fright, but Jeff was different and he did everything he could to make John angry. I wrapped my arms around Jeff quickly and pulled away before making John even angrier than he should be. This was supposed to be the day that started out our new lives together in Uchicago. I didn’t want anybody to ruin it for us, even if it meant putting off Jeff’s playful teasing.

Jeff waved a sincere goodbye at me and I waved back at him with a smile. His eyes traveled over to John and he smirked mischievously. Oh no, I groaned inwardly, he was about to do something to make John go ballistic.

And well to my disappointment, he did. “Bye Richie, have fun this fall with my future wife. Just so you know I could take her away from you any second if I didn’t enjoy being amused by your anger.” He said sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes at Jeff’s silly comment, but John was red in the face and balled up his fists furiously. Before John reacted further, Jeff blew a chuckling air kiss to him, knowing it would set John into one of his temper tantrums. Not being able to take it anymore, John strode over to Jeff in one swift movement and almost pummeled him had I not stood before John to block him from Jeff quickly.

“Let me hit him just this once.” John urged through clenched teeth as he still sought out Jeff through the bustling crowd.

I shook my head and pulled John further away from his view of Jeff’s retreating back. “John, you know that he’s teasing you. If you didn’t let it get to you, then maybe he would stop.” I suggested clearly.

John snorted. “That friend of yours gets me angrier by the day. I really hope that he doesn’t come here this fall.”

I frowned. “I’m sorry that he bothers you John, but Jeff is my friend. I would like it if he came here. Seeing a friendly face on campus wouldn’t be so bad since everybody is going their separate ways.”

All of my friends were going to be scattered about the US and not everyone was staying here for college. Zack was going to Yale, Sandra was staying in Janesville because of expenses, and Alan was on his way to Dartmouth to soon take over his father’s business. Andrew was even leaving to Florida because its one of the top party school’s in the country which left only John and I in Chicago. I was grateful to have John with me despite all the separation, but I was going to miss everyone dearly, even Andrew and that was hard for me to believe. Who was I going to argue with if I didn’t want to do it with John? This was going to be one interesting school year.

John sighed and rubbed his eyes with his fingers. Even though he appeared unaffected by his friends moving away to different colleges, inwardly it was hurting him deeply. It stressed him out somewhat in the beginning, but now it was taking a great toll on him. He couldn’t say goodbye to his friends, the ones he’s been with since his growing adolescent days, even when he knew that they’ll be back for the holidays. It was just going to be strange to him not being able to see them everyday, especially his best friend Zack that he’s known since kindergarten. I tried comforting him, but he said he was fine. He told me that if I wasn’t going to the same college as him, he would break down completely and for that, I was happy enough to drop the whole subject of his friends leaving.

“I know, but anybody else other than him would be fine with me.” John said simply.

I rolled my eyes and looked at our tour group who were about to take off around campus. “Come on, we’re about to get started.”

John and I went to our group and our tour guide walked us through each building, explaining what classes were placed and where the department majors were at. We walked hand in hand through the lush greenery of Uchicago and I found myself thinking of all the things we would be doing once school started. We would have our lunch outside on a bench beside a garden and our breaks would be spent lounging under a willow tree. This year was going to be perfect, I just knew it.

As we were walking around campus, I caught a glimpse of someone petite with shoulder length butterscotch blonde hair that I knew all to well.

“Cadence!” I shouted loudly to get her attention as I spotted her walking the opposite direction from us. She stopped in midway step from her walk and turned around to search for the one who called her name.

Cadence's eyes lit up when her eyes finally reached up to me and she ran over. "Hey Melinda!”

We embraced hastily and I grinned at her. “Hey! What are you doing here?" I exclaimed incredulously.

“I was just checking out the campus here because I heard some pretty neat things about it. What are you doing here?" She asked curiously.

I jerked a thumb at John who was standing beside me. "John and I are on a tour, we're going here this fall."

Cadence bit her lip as she glanced at John subtly and turned her attention to me. "That's great." She said with weak enthusiasm.

I looked at her questionably and saw the slight terrified look on her face when she found that John was present.

John sighed heavily, raking a hand through his soft bushy golden brown hair when he noticed Cadence's lack of acknowledgment for him and her frightened look. "Cadence, honestly I thought we went through this before? You don't have to be afraid of me. High school is finished, ok? I have no power over deciding your future. You can go to college in peace now."

Cadence laughed weakly and slapped a hand to her knee. "Right, how stupid am I?"

John and Cadence’s friendship or whatever it was complicated me. She was my good friend and John happened to be my boyfriend, but they didn’t mix well due to what happened during our senior year of High school.

Cadence can’t seem to get over the fact that John was close to expelling her from school on my behalf and that sort of brought on this strange anxiety with her. She was always hesitant with John when he was near and being the goody two shoes that she was, she complied with whatever John wanted which I insisted for her to stop. I explained to her multiple times to let this anxiety go because the past was the past and everything was changed now, but it seemed that she wasn’t over it just yet. I’m hoping once she entered college this fall, all thoughts of being terrified of John Richmond would end. It seemed that John was causing trouble to both of my friends, except Sandra.

I rolled my eyes and decided to change the subject. "So, what school are you going to in the fall? You haven't told me yet."

Cadence smiled. "Well, since I don't have enough money to go to Uchicago, I received a full ride scholarship somewhere else."

My eyes perked up at this newfound information. Cadence didn’t inform me that she had a scholarship for college. "Oh really? Where?"

"Berkeley!" Cadence exclaimed joyfully and she jumped up and down exuberantly.

I felt my jaw drop at her response. Berkeley was such a prominent school and it resided in the West coast area which was far away from the state of Illinois. "No way? Berkeley? That's awesome!"

Cadence clapped her hands together. "I know I can't wait! I'm so excited!"

I smiled at her genuinely. The wide grin of her face showed how excited and happy she was about her new chapter in life. She deserved every great achievement because of her diligence and hard work ethic. "I'm proud of you Cadence." I said sincerely.

I knew of her financial difficulties just like mine and she was finally able to follow her dream. I guessed Northside High school provided that for her with the impeccable grade point average she had and the numerous extracurricular activities that stood out in her applications. She was on the fast track to having a better life and I couldn’t help, but be envious even though I already had my life set.

Cadence pulled me into a quick hug and grinned. "Thanks Melinda, I'm proud of you too. Even though we're going our separate ways, we still have to keep in contact. I don't know how I am going to cope at my new school when someone picks on me and I don't have you to pummel them in return."

I chuckled. "Is that all I'm good for?"

Cadence giggled, "Basically." She commented sarcastically with amusement circling her steel blue, moonlit gray eyes.

"So when is the big move to good ole Berkeley?" I asked curiously.

Cadence bit her lip as she was hesitant to give me an answer. "In four days." She muttered softly.

My eyes widened shockingly. "What?! Why so soon? What's all the rush?"

Cadence shrugged. "I have to get situated and I've never been to the West Coast before so I want to start adapting over there quickly for college."

I frowned. "You do know that I won't be seeing you for a whole semester, including what's left of the summer."

There was about three and a half weeks until summer and even though some have been getting ready for the big move to wherever they might be deported at, Cadence was among the few that were leaving early especially if it was somewhere off the distance of Illinois.

Cadence nodded gloomily. "I know I wish I had more time I'm sorry."

I shook my head. "Don't be sorry, this is a good thing Cadence. Just promise me that you'll be back home in time for Christmas." I said in a mock warning tone.

The corners of Cadence's mouth quirked upwards. "Definitely. But in the meantime, I'll mail you a letter or call you when I’m there, ok?"

I smiled brightly. "That sounds great."

I hoped that Cadence would come through in her promise and actually call me. I know that school usually took someone’s personal life away, but a call now and then would be nice. At least I would know that she wouldn't completely forget about me like some have...

"Well, if I don't see you before I leave, I hope you have a great summer Mel. Maybe you can visit me in California." Cadence suggested with a smile.

I shrugged. "Maybe, if I have the money." I said truthfully. Even with my mother's great paying job, the amount of money to get a plane ticket from Chicago to Berkeley, California was too expensive for me.

Cadence sighed. "Don't we all have a problem with that?" I nodded in reply and Cadence glanced at John uncaringly. "Except for you of course."

John opened his mouth to reply, which seemed to look like it would be a snide response, but I cut him off. "I'll see what I can do Cadence. I've never been to the West Coast before."

Cadence rolled her eyes. "Neither have I and I'm about to take a dive at it in four days." She replied. Her eyes slowly dropped to her watch and her eyes widened at the time. "Well, I have to get going, I'm sorry I can't stay and chat Melinda."

I shrugged. “It's fine, we all have lives to attend to. Don't we?"

Cadence nodded and gave me a departing hug. "I don't want to lose contact with you Melinda, I mean it."

I nodded and we pulled away from the hug. "I know me neither."

Cadence smiled and waved goodbye to me and even John who grumbled a “goodbye” wave back.

When Cadence left to investigate the school further, John and I found the perfect bench to sit on underneath a huge willow tree shading us from the blazing sun. This was probably going to be our regular spot for both our lunch and class breaks.

"Can't you believe that we're going to be attending here in the fall?" I said with excitement as I took in the glorious sight of the tall University buildings before us.

John stared up at them as well, standing largely before us and glanced at me. "Yeah, it's going to be great." He said enthusiastically. "I can't wait to share this experience with you."

The corners of my lips tugged into a smile. "Me too."

John trailed his fingers at my jaw line and leaned in towards my lips. I bent my head to close the gap until a ring echoed through the air around us and John groaned from the interruption.

"Sorry." He grumbled angrily and I stifled a chuckle.

John shoved his hand into his pocket and retrieved his phone that was making all the noise. His amber eyes glanced at the caller ID and they suddenly appeared nervous. "Uh, I have to take this Melinda. It'll only be for a second." He said hastily.

I furrowed my eyebrows at his nervous state, but I waved a dismissive hand nonetheless. "Yeah, go ahead."

John stood up from our bench quickly and answered the phone call in a low, inaudible tone. I watched him walk away to a suitable, silent area to speak to whoever it was on the phone with him. His back was turned to me and I couldn't help, but notice it shake every now and then from something that looked like anger. John’s hands flailed every now and then and I noticed the creases in his forehead which looked like frustration. I hoped everything was ok.

After several minutes passed, I saw John hang up the phone angrily and compose himself for a few moments before walking slowly up to our bench. He didn't make eye contact with me when he sunk into the seat beside me with a somewhat gloomy expression.

"Is everything ok?" I said in concern. His once joyful face had turned somber looking and I wondered if it had to do something with that phone call he received earlier.

"Yeah, everything is fine." John muttered with slight anger and I wasn't convinced at the slightest bit. Now the chances of having a smooth new start together were slim since the unidentified person that said whatever it was to him, killed his good mood.

"Who was that?" I asked curiously. I didn't mean to pry I usually don't, but I felt like something was bothering him and I wanted to find out. My curiosity always got the best of me.

"Oh uh... just my mom. She says she wants me home by now." He said hesitantly.

I stared at him questionably, that's strange usually Susan doesn't care when John came home especially if he was with me since she adored me. I could easily detect his lie, but I didn't note it to him. If it was important, he would tell me and I didn’t know if that phone call was significant.

I narrowed my eyes at him, but decided against telling him what was wrong because I didn’t want to worsen his already horrible mood. "Um, ok why didn't you say so before? Let's go then."

John stood up hastily after my words and I rose up after him. He didn’t even bother to respond or converse and we walked towards the huge parking lot of the school in silence. Maybe if I just left home early, John would be in a good mood again. He would tell me what was wrong with him tomorrow and I'll just let this go for now.

A/N: Man oh man oh man, this is going to be one interesting sequel. Hiyah readers, how is everyone doing? I hope your summer is better than mine haha. So, I have some things to to tell you guys about the sequel. First off, no early updates. I'm sorry, but I'm going to take my time writing each one through and on the side I'll be editing A Ray of Sunshine so I have a lot on my plate. I'm not going to make the sequel all messy and I'm trying to make each chapter perfect so tell me if there's any mistakes! Secondly, I might take a lot of vacations this summer and I'll post it up on my blog when I do which will result in late updating. BUT...About the sequel. What is there to say? It's going to be drama pact, crazy, and too much for me to handle writing it all out. I don't have everything planned. I only know what happens in about... the first 10 chapters? I don't know how long this story is so don't ask lol, I'm clueless myself. I'll tell you when I find out.

Oh and by the way, this sequel WILL NOT be slow at any cost. It gets to the point very quickly haha. Some of you will hate me (for reasons I will not disclose relating to the story) but just keep reading! I'm not disclosing any information on the sequel either so don't ask! You will all find out soon enough and I promise u all it will be surprised. This is probably going to be the most UNCLICHED story ever. I didn't mean to make it that way, it just came to me. So... I'll stop all my blabbering and the next chapter will be here soon.

New Readers check out the first story of A Ray of Sunshine here!! http://fictionpress. com/secure/story/story_?storyid=2599968&chapter=1 (without space between period and com)