Caleb turned and put his hands on my shoulders. "Are you okay? Lisa and her clique can be pretty harsh at times, but I've never seen them act like that before," Caleb said, concern glinting in his eyes. I blushed and avoided his gaze. I didn't know Caleb could get that type of reaction out of me.

"I'm fine, thank you," I replied, mustering up a small smile. Caleb's eyes widened for a split second, and then he turned so that I could only see a little bit of his right cheek. I was astonished when I spotted a light shade of pink creep up Caleb's neck to his face. What in the world was he blushing for?

"Well, I guess we should get going," Caleb muttered, then faced me once more."You wanted to call your parents, right? Here's my phone," he said as he pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to me. That's right! I totally forgot about my wanting to call my parents.

"Oh! Thanks-" I suddenly had an idea to see how different things I did affected the boy in front of me. "- Caleb. You're so kind," I told him, staring into his eyes as I spoke. Caleb's gaze flew from mine to the lockers behind me and blushed profusely, not even trying to hide it, and shyly grinned.

As I began to dial my home phone number, Caleb started to stutter,"U-um, I a-a-appreciate t-that, Emma." I wasn't sure how to reply, but thankfully my parents decided to pick up the phone at that moment.

"Hello?"

"Mom, it's Emma."

"Emma?! Where are you? We've been so worried-"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I needed to ask you if I could go over to a friend's house for a couple of hours to work on a project and hang out," I said, not wanting to hear Mom's feelings on my absence. There was a pause, and I heard her repeating my question to my family. Screams and sobbing came from the other line, most likely because this is the first time I've ever asked to go over to someone's house without prompting.

"Yes! Of course, honey! I'm so happy for you! Just call us when you want to come home, unless you want to sleep at your friend's place. If so, then call us before school starts. Love you!" Mom cried, hanging up the phone. I felt tears forming, and I quickly wiped them away before I faced Caleb.

"Alright, my family was happy to let me go."

Caleb looked at me slyly and said,"I think that is an understatement due to what I heard. You know, with all the screeching and things like that." He laughed and gestured for me to begin to walk to his house. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Okay, my family was ecstatic."

We laughed and talked until we arrived at Caleb's. I was in awe of the beautiful house and was even more amazed at the interior. Caleb asked if it's okay if we could go to his bedroom and chill out.

"Sure, why not?" I replied, and Caleb and I headed up to his room. He closed the door behind me and sat on his bed. Caleb's room was quite tidy and maintained a navy blue color throughout. As I looked aroound, I saw a picture of Caleb with his father. They were holding a large fish that they had apparently caught together. Both were smiling and it was evident that they have a special bond.

All of a sudden, a sob was coming up my throat and I knew I had to do something quickly. I disguised it as a sneeze, and Caleb glanced up at me. I saw something pass through his eyes, but it vanished as he grabbed a tissue from his dresser.

"Bless you," said Caleb, giving the tissue to me. I thanked him and wiped my face, realizing that there was moisture on my cheeks. I must've let out some tears as I 'sneezed.' No wonder Caleb looked so suspicious.

He motioned for me to sit next to him, and I did so, I was nervous that Caleb was going to ask me about the teary eyes, but he just asked if I wanted to start on the science project. I was happy to, and we worked on it until Caleb's mother called us down for dinner. By that time, the project was designed and ready to be made.

The dinner, which happened to be clam chowder, was absolutely delicious, and Caleb's parents kept on polite conversation with me. They were actually really nice and couldn't stop telling me what a wonderful girl I was after I helped to clean up after supper ended. "If you want to stay the night, then you can as long as Caleb's alright with it," Caleb's mother said, and his father agreed.

Caleb suddenly popped into the conversation. "That would be awesome if Emma stayed!" he exclaimed with so much enthusiasm that I took a step back. He then covered the bottom of his face with his hand, unsuccessfully trying to hide the blush that, for the third time today, had crawled onto his face. Well, I didn't want to be rude and leave, but Lisa's multiple threats spun in my mind. I broke out of my thoughts when Caleb asked if I wanted to watch TV with him in his bedroom.

"That would be nice," I replied, needing to talk to him at the moment about my dilemma. We walked up the stairs and, after Caleb closed the door, he faced me. I pointed to the remote laying on a side table by the bed. "Um, didn't you say you wanted to watch some television?" I whispered, scratching the side of my neck and feeling a wave of anxiety crash down upon me. I let the hand itching my neck drop, and before it reached my side, Caleb caught it and gripped my hand.

My face burned up, and I was temporarily speechless from his touch. Caleb turned almost red, and after some hesitation, he looked up and held my gaze in his. "What's wrong, Emma? I can tell that something is bothering you. Whenever someone mentions a sleepover here, you get very tense and look close to frightened. Are you freaked out at sleeping in my house? Tell me, please," Caleb begged, holding my hand the whole time.

I found comfort in the warmth of his hand and gripped it tighter."Well, I am kind of scared, you're right there. But it's because of Lisa and her threats towards me. I don't know if she meant them or not, but I'm frightened that she will hurt me, or you, or someone. I'm torn, you know?" I continued to whisper. Caleb's gaze softened, and he smiled warmly. His thumb went around in circles on the top of my hand, and this made me feel somewhat safe for some reason.

"So that was what was making you nervous the whole time? Well, it's okay, because even if Lisa tried to pull those threats on you, I would be right there to save you. Now, you don't need to get worried over you or I getting hurt since I wouldn't allow that to occur. Does that make you feel better?" Caleb asked me.

"Yes, much better, thanks to you. But I have one more question for you."

"Oh? And what is it?"

"How the heck did we go from being complete strangers to close friends in one day?" I asked Caleb. He chuckled and said,"I guess it just happened fast." We didn't turn on the television, but ended up in a long-lasting conversation while sitting on the floor. I grew tired, and I found myself staring at Caleb. He grinned at me and patted the top of my hand.

"Good night, Emma."

I shut my eyes and murmured one last sentence.

"Good night, Caleb."

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Dear Readers,

This was a pretty long chapter, wasn't it? I never got to post a 'merry christmas' because I was quite busy watching Skyfall and reading my new Attack on Titan books, but I will post a 'happy new year'(if you really care *wink*). As always, thanks for reading Faded and VOTE, COMMENT, and even FOLLOW! Bye!

Now and Always,

LeviLove6289

P.S, if any of you readers here read Attack on Titan by chance, I am suddenly becoming fond of not only Captain Levi, but also Jean Kirstein as well. I think it's because of the Jean x Marco pictures online, which are quite awesome in my opinion. ;")