'She broke up with me. ' 

It took me a minute to process the information.

'What? ' I exclaimed and looked at him in shock. Did I actually hear that right? Those two breaking up was a big, big deal. 

He offered me a fake laugh in response. 

'Do you wanna talk...about it? ' I asked, unsure of how to act in front of him after hearing that. I can’t believe she left him right in the midst of his family crisis.

'Not exactly.' He said, seeming a little distant. 

There was silence. And then he spoke. 

'It happened at the party yesterday. '

He paused. 

So it was recent. Probably the reason he didn't come to school today. I stayed silent and let him speak. Besides, I didn't know what I could have said. I didn’t know how to handle situations like this. I wasn’t good at comforting people. 

'She was with...some other guy... And when I asked for an explanation, she apologized and said she was confused. She wasn’t sure who she loved anymore. She said she was trying to figure it out. And then.. And then I’

He went silent again. Tears had started running down his face. He used his forearm to wipe them off furiously and looked out the window. 

‘She could have told me. I mean we told each other everything. We could have figured it out together. I knew something was going on. I just never imagined it could be this. I didn’t even tell her about anything going on at home because I felt it would just worry her more. ‘

‘Then I told her she probably didn’t love me anymore if she was already thinking about someone else.’

He took a deep breath. ‘ The worst part was she didn’t even try to fight for us. She suddenly said we should break up since it wasn’t gonna work out. I feel as though I never really knew her even after all the time we spent together. ‘

As those words left his mouth, he clenched his fists tightly and stared at them. His eyes were once again filled with tears and I noticed that this time he was doing his best to hold them back. 

I couldn't believe that Stacey had actually trampled all over the poor guy's heart. She could have told him before he had to go through the pain of finding out for himself. She should have ended it earlier. He shouldn't have had to find out the way he did. 

I stole a glance towards him and he was in the same position as before. Only now, the dam had broken again. He had tears falling down his face but didn't even bother to wipe them away. Maybe he didn't even notice them. My heart broke for him and in that moment I could easily picture killing Stacey. All I really wanted was for him to be happy. And I knew that I couldn't give him that. I thought that she would. At least I desperately hoped so. 

Guess I was wrong. 

When I reached his house, I gently helped him through the front door and then left. I hoped he would be fine by himself for the rest of the night. I kinda felt completely useless. 

I was glad he at least let it all out. He had probably not told anyone about this yet. So I felt like it was my duty to make sure he felt better the next day.

------

It had rained in the morning and the air was still cool. The sky was clearing up now, though. It wasn't supposed to rain much today. At least that was what the forecast said. 

I woke up early so that I could go pick Caleb up but when I reached the place and rang the bell no one answered even after two rings. I thought of breaking in and so proceeded to take out a paper clip from my pocket. But before I could do anything the door opened and a very sleepy looking Caleb looked out at me. 

'What are you doing here? ' he asked, with half open eyes. 

I sighed.

'Do you even remember what happened yesterday? I told you I’d help you get your car back.’

He looked at me with wide eyes as though remembering the events of yesterday in a flash. 

'Right. Sorry. Come on in, I'll be back in a sec. ' he said. 

I sat on the couch and waited. I realised that this was the first time I had entered Caleb’s house. Last night I had only come till the door. I looked around until he came back. In ten minutes he was ready and grabbed an apple from the fruit basket on the table and dashed out of the house. I followed closely behind him and we were quickly racing to the bar. Luckily no one had decided to interfere with his car. The bar wasn't situated in a nice neighborhood. People tend to do anything for money. 

'Ok then, see you in class and thanks again, for everything. ' he said, getting out of my car. 

He smiled at me and I said, 'No problem. But you should be more careful, ' I warned him before he could drive off. He nodded and left and I followed after him. 

As I reached school, the rumors about Caleb and Stacey breaking up were going around and I saw Wren, Nicole and Vi coming towards me and I already knew what they were going to say. I sighed and walked towards them. 

'We have two things to tell you. '

That was Nicole, who loves being the first to spread gossip. 

'Ok. Go on. ' I said. 

'First of all, Caleb's finally single.'

I faked surprise. 'Really!? Though it shouldn't be that surprising, considering the recent problems in their relationship. What's the other thing? '

'Oh yes. The school dance is coming soon. The flyers are already being sent around. '

Wren finally spoke. 'I think I'll ask one of the football players. '

'What happened to Danny? '

'He got back with his girlfriend. Apparently he's in love. Found out after he left her and then went back to her crying like a baby. And now I'm on top of Shanice's 'hate' list. The woman glares at me every time I pass by her. '

She sounded very irritated. Well that was probably the shortest relationship she had with a guy. She usually used them for about two or three weeks and then let them go. 

'Oh. ' was the only thing I said. 

With that said, they went deeper into discussing the breakup, so I tuned out of their conversation as we headed to class. 

All their assumptions were over the top. I suppose they didn't know the actual reason why the two of them broke up. They were probably itching to know. They thought that Caleb dumped her and wanted to know the reason so that they could throw it in her face. It wasn't my place to tell them anything so I didn't. They would eventually find out anyway. Stuff like that didn't remain a secret for long. At least not in this school. 

Throughout the whole conversation, Vi did not say a thing. She had a strange expression on her face and even if I had asked she’d probably say it was nothing so I decided to leave her alone. We were soon joined by the other guys who also got to hear the news, to which they just rolled their eyes. I wonder sometimes, why Nicole and Wren even hang out with us. They’d fit in better with the other cheerleaders than be around our gloomy energy.

------

'Are you alright? '

Class had just ended a few minutes back and Caleb and I were in the library. We hadn't said much to each other so I decided to start a conversation instead of working in this awkward silence. 

He looked up at me and just stared for a moment and then finally answered. 'Yeah. I’m fine. '

'Did you guys talk, today? ' I asked, concerned. 

'No. I don't think I ever want to. '

He had a pained expression on his face and he looked tired too. I felt bad for him and wanted to do something to make him feel better. Wish I knew what though. 

' Are you guys gonna try to remain friends?' I asked out of curiosity.

He stared at me for a moment and then sighed, 'I’d rather not. That's just too hard. '

'I guess so.' I mumbled. This conversation was way too depressing to be continued. It was time to change the subject. 

'Hey, did Danny tell you anything about him finding love and all?' I tried to start up another conversation after an awkward silence. 

'What? ' He gave me a quizzical look. 'He didn't say anything. '

'Really? Well apparently he found out he couldn't live without Shanice. ' I told him. 

'Shanice? The girl he broke up with because according to him she was annoying as fuck and didn't stop nagging him about things, that Shanice ?'

We both laughed and then had the librarian glare at us for being too loud. 

'I really can't believe he fell in love.' I said. 

'It's not that unbelievable, you know. He has been my friend since I joined here so I guess you could say that I know how he is. It was bound to happen.' He replied, with a smile playing on his lips. 

‘You know what? I think I’ll take you up on your offer.’ I said, making up my mind. 

‘What offer?’ he asked, probably trying to recall when he had made me one.

‘You owe me a meal, remember?’ 

‘Oh right, I do. When would you like to go?’

‘How about tonight? If you're free.’

‘Sure. If you’re cool with it we can go right after this.’

‘Alright. Let’s do it.’ I said with a grin. I’m just gonna pretend that it's a date. 

With that, the atmosphere changed and we laughed some more and of course continued our work. We were almost done with the project, which was good but we were probably not gonna spend this much time together later on. Thinking about that kinda made me sad. I needed to make the most of this. I hoped that we could remain somewhat friends after this project ended. 

----

After we left the library, we decided it would be best to get some food close by. So we went to a place near school. It was a really small and affordable place so I tried not to feel guilty making Caleb treat me.

We sat at a table near the end and were soon handed menus. Caleb did a quick sweep through his and set it down after closing it. 

‘Are you ready to order,’ I asked him.

‘Uh.. I don’t think I’ll be eating anything. If you’ve decided what you want, I can call the waiter,’ he said, with a small smile. 

I stared at him for a moment and then said,’ I’ll eat only if you do.’

‘What? why?’ he asked bewildered.

‘Let me ask you something, have you eaten anything at all today?’ I asked with narrowed eyes.

‘Uh.. of course I have.’ he said, avoiding my gaze.

‘And what was it that you ate?’

‘Uh.. an apple and some food from the cafeteria at lunch?’

‘Are you asking me or telling me?’ At this point I think my glare evolved into a death glare. He was slowly shrinking away from me even though we were both sitting on the opposite ends of the table.

‘Uhh… I don’t really eat much usually anyway..’ he said trailing off.

‘I didn’t see you eat anything for lunch. And your group’s loud enough that I see you guys always getting in line for lunch and you weren’t there today.’ I scolded him and then sighed and said gently, ‘ It’s not good to eat so little. No one might have noticed at home because of everything, but I did and I’m getting worried. At least try to eat something now. If you really can't, I'll finish it for you. ‘

He was looking at his hands the entire time. He sighed looking defeated and said,’ Alright, I’ll try.’

I smiled slightly. A rare feat but I did. He seemed a bit surprised but so was I. He looked like he was trying to figure me out. Well I guess this situation would seem odd to him.

I called over the waitress and told her our orders to avoid the awkwardness. The steaming plates of food arrived in ten minutes and we both dug in. It was delicious. 

In the end he did end up eating quite a bit and that absolutely made my day. 

---------------------------------