Two Hearts: The Hunt [Slowly Editing]

Chapter Eleven (Part I)

A/N- Now its time for some fun after that last heavy chapter ;)

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Caleb's POV

"So, Clarissa and I are back together again," Joseph announced to our large group of friends, voice raised as he tried to speak over the loud noise of the chattering cafeteria. He nudged a surprised-looking Nathan with his elbow. "Guess you were wrong about it being over for good."

Nathan looked down at his plate of cheese sticks and grumbled something incomprehensible beneath his breath. Even I, with my keen ears, could not catch it. I guessed it was probably because we were in an obnoxiously loud cafeteria and I had my trusty earplugs firmly lodged inside my ears.

"Congrats, man," I said with a grin, hearing a couple of the guys echo my statement.

As if on cue, Clarissa, Drina, and two other cheerleaders I recognized came up to our usual table at lunch and sat down. Clarissa, with her freckled face and wavy auburn hair, went from behind Joseph and wrapped her thin arms around him before placing a kiss on his cheek. I felt a pang of familiar emptiness in my chest, and I quickly looked away. The last thing I wanted to do right now was remember her.

The two girls whose names I had not really cared to get to learn (I just referred to them at Cheerleader One and Two respectively) decided to sit on either side of me, and I immediately cursed myself for having chosen to sit isolated between two empty seats. I just had not been in the mood to socialize today. Not after the night I just had.

"Hi, Caleb," Cheerleader One said, placing her elbow on the table and laying her cheek sideways on her hand so that she was looking at me with a smile.

"Hey," I replied politely, biting into my sub sandwich.

I felt someone tap my arm and looked to the left of me at Cheerleader Two's dull green eyes. I began to think about how much more vividly beautiful Catalina's eyes were; with so many colored specks in them that one would think they were unnatural contacts or something of the sort. Then I mentally scolded myself for thinking about her for about the millionth time today-I needed to keep telling myself that last night didn't happen. Because according to everyone else sitting around me at this large lunch table, it really didn't happen.

"We're still on for math tutoring tonight, right?" Cheerleader Two said.

I blinked stupidly at her. "What?" I didn't remember agreeing to tutor anyone, even as much as I enjoyed doing math.

"The other day you said-"

"Amanda, don't be stupid," Cheerleader One to the right of me scoffed. "He's obviously going to Jared's party tonight. Right, Caleb?"

"Party?" I echoed. "I don't remember hearing about a party tonight."

"Okay," Nathan said firmly, roughly placing his elbow on the table and pointing at Cheerleaders One and Two across from him with a plastic spoon full of green jello. He closed one blue eye and moved the spoon back and forth between either side of me. "Thing One and Thing Two: please lay off my boy right here." He lowered the spoon and straightened himself up in his seat. "And yeah, there's a party tonight. I thought I told you yesterday?"

"We weren't talking yesterday," I reminded him. "After I was such a douche in the locker room."

"It's totally cool, man," Joseph called across the table with a mouthful of food. "You were obviously just PMSing."

I rolled my eyes at him while the entire table chuckled. Cheerleader One rapped both her arms around my right one. "You guys are so mean. And Nathan-that was totally uncalled for. I am not a thing."