Calvin got to school the next morning with a pounding headache, wondering why he even bothered. He was a senior, and had been pretty much phoning it in for the last few weeks before graduation. His grades had slipped, along with any real plans for life after high school. All around him his classmates were fired up about college applications and prom dates, but ever since the accident, none of that stuff seemed important at all.
Seeing his grandparents had brought back a flood of memories, and he was feeling more melancholy than usual. There was only one reason he even showed up today. The truth was, the only reason he even got out of bed was to see her.
He looked for Caledonia in the halls around her classes, but she was missing. He searched the hidden spots behind the buildings to no avail, waiting out front after school with a heavy heart. He couldn’t reach her by phone, and he thought about going to the condo and knocking on the door. He didn’t know what he’d say after that.
He just wanted to see her, that’s all.
Angry with himself, he couldn’t understand why she had to be so difficult. He knew at least four or five girls he could call that would come running, happy to hook up with him at a moment’s notice. The last thing he needed was some girl that was always hiding away; he could get plenty of action without all of the head games. She was too much work.
But try as he might, he couldn’t stop thinking about her, and the images that flashed through his mind–wildly different images–were difficult to reconcile. The fierce, knife-wielding girl at the cemetery, her devastated, tear-streaked face at the pound … and his favorite, the radiant girl that smiled up at him as she petted a lamb. How could she be all of them?
She wasn’t like anyone he’d ever met, and just thinking about what to say to her made him nervous. He decided that he should drop it; he would forget all about her and move on. Deep down inside, he had to admit that he doubted he could.