Thursday, November 24th, 2016

“Neo?” Mom’s voice sounds worried, waking me up from a weird-ass dream in which I sat on a dinner table with Calo’s family, them all mocking me, laughing at me. Calo telling me it was all fake and simply a trick to lure me in, evidently causing me to wake up while crying.

The door to my room opens hesitantly, while I push myself upwards, rubbing my eyes, wiping away the tears right afterwards.

“Oh, honey.” Mom sighs, walking inside to sit on the side of my bed. “Did you have a bad dream?”

“A weird one,” I shrug ashamed of myself. I’m nearly seventeen years old and here I am, being comforted by my mom because I was crying in my sleep. “What time is it?”

“It’s almost nine. I called school to tell them you were going to be late, but they didn’t mind because they are sending you out for your replacing assignment anyway.” She holds up a printed e-mail. “You have to go around town, photographing whatever you can find that is still evidence of the history of this city. The older, the better.” She smiles because I smiled at the thought of again being allowed to do what I like most.

“And it seems like Calo is going to keep you company, isn’t that great?”

“What? He’s staying with me?”

“Apparently, he didn’t go on the field trip either.” She pushes my hair back to peck a kiss on my forehead. “Go get showered, I’ll call Mrs. Delgado to see if we can meet up with them.”

And despite waking up feeling shitty because of that weird dream, the thought about going to hang out with Calo makes me feel all the better.

I shower, I get dressed in the clothes Pyper already picked, I get to leave my room in one fluent try. All is going well, simply because hanging out with Calo makes me happy.

But as soon as I enter the kitchen, I notice mom’s worried frown. She places my plate and glass in front of me before she sits down across from me.

“What’s going on?” I ask while preparing myself for the worst. Calo is probably sick of hanging out with me and wants to do the assignment on his own.

I get that. It was only a matter of time. I just wished it would have lasted a while longer. Now that I tasted part of a life with a friend, I’m sick and tired of living life without one.

If Calo is sick of me, I might as well end my life now, freeing everybody from having to adapt to me.

“Calo… has a bad day. That’s why he isn’t on the field trip. They just called him in sick.” She smiles carefully. “But we can still do what we initially planned. We can go together. We’ll even go to the park and grab an ice cream…”

“I want to see Calo.” I tell her firmly. “Or is he adamant about not seeing me anymore?”

“I don’t know, honey. Apparently, his mom thinks it’s better for you to not see him right now.”

I let her words sink in, realizing Calo didn’t decide to not see me, his mom did. And she might not know that I know about Calo’s chronical depression.

“Can I call Mrs. Delgado? I have to ask something.”

“I think she has to focus on Calo right now –,‘

“I think Calo needs a friend.” I simply tell her. “I think I know why he is sick, and if I’m right, he needs a friend.”

Mom cocks her head to the side, staring at me in wonder.

“I have two weeks to finish the assignment, so we could always do it later, right?”

“We could, but you always want to get started right away.”

“But now I think Calo needs me and the assignment can wait.” I ruffle the table with my fingers, biting on my lip. “Please, can I call?”

She sighs and nods.

I retrieve my phone, calling the number Calo send to mom only yesterday.

Come to think of it, this isn’t a total surprise anyway. He did get increasingly more silent throughout dinner, and afterwards he said he was tired and that I should go home soon. We had school in the morning.

I didn’t really think about it, because I felt exhausted myself too.

But now I wonder if it had been a sign about Calo’s upcoming bad mood.

I wait for Mrs. Delgado answering the phone, and when she does, she sounds different from her cheerful self like she was yesterday.

“Hi, it’s Neo… I know mom just called…”

“Oh, hi Neo. Yes, I don’t think it would be good for you to see Calo right now. He has… problems. It’s nothing to worry about…”

“It is, mam. He told me about his condition.”

“He did?” She sounds surprised, while Lorenzo thought it had only been logical for Calo to tell me about it. “Well, then you probably know why I think it’s best for you two not to see each other today…”

“I just wanted to let him know that if he wants, I can come over. I want to be there for him, like he has been there for me when I needed him.”

“Oh, that’s really sweet of you, dear. But I have to warn you that he can be… a bit mean… whenever he has one of his episodes.”

“Could you ask him if he wants me to come and support him?

“I’ll know the answer is going to be no, Neo. He doesn’t even want to see Seino, or Harper.”

“Mom, just let him come over and see what happens.” Seino sounds in the background, a bit annoyed. “Neo’s been putting Calo in good moods ever since they met. He even got Calo to go to school on a bad day.”

“I’m coming over,” I simply tell her, hanging up the phone before she’s able to protest. Seino’s words encouraged me to go. And his words tell me that Calo really likes to be around me, which unavertable puts me in a good mood.

“She’s okay with it?”

“Seino is.”

“Who’s Seino?”

“Calo’s twin brother.”

“There’s another one of the blessed angels?” Mom chuckles a bit, before she nods. “Twins always have a special bond, and if Seino thinks you should come over, then we’re going to visit. I’d like to meet his mother anyway.”