Saving Grace

The First Thing I Knew

Chapter Seven

Jay

Cali read something on her phone and suddenly said she had to go. She was up to something and so I decided to follow her. She was still a complete mystery that I wanted to figure out. She acted all tough, but I could tell there was something underneath her hard exterior. I could see it when I looked into her eyes. For the slightest moment this afternoon when were laughing about me being a criminal, I saw it. I saw her eyes change with a different look in them, but they quickly went back to being guarded.

I already was able to tell she had some walls built up.

I threw on sweatpants and a sweatshirt and ran out of the house. In the distance I could see her riding off on a horse. I ran into the barn and saw a horse all ready to go. She must have done that. She was really sneaky, but confusing.

I got on the horse and tried to remember which way she had been heading. I rode for a little while in the darkness, before I saw a light a little ways ahead. I slowed the horse and heard laughing. I got close enough to see Cali and Preston sitting in front of a fire, underneath a huge oak tree.

I got off the horse and let it walk around. I walked up behind them and they just kept talking and laughing.

"So this is what you kids do? Sneak off in the middle of the night?" I said, gaining their attention and cutting of their laughter.

"It's only 9:30..." Preston replied.

"Smart-ass." I said as I sat down across from them.

"So I see you were following me," Cali said, raising an eyebrow at me.

"I see you wanted me to." Her smirk went away instantly and she looked up at the sky.

"What are you even doing here?" I asked Preston.

"I found this old, abandoned fire pit the other day just sitting here. We must have used it when we were younger. I bought some marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers to make s'mores. You want one?" He asked, handing me a marshmallow on a stick. I shook my head. I never liked s'mores. It silent for a moment, before Cali stood up and said

"I can't see anything."

I didn't know what that meant. But then, she grabbed a low hanging branch and pulled herself up. She did it perfectly. Like she had been doing it her whole life. It was mesmerizing.

"She loves stars for some reason. She's like obsessed. She's always climbing trees to look at them. I think she's crazy," Preston explained, seeing the confusion on my face.

She loved stars. That was the first thing I knew about her. I nodded my head and stood up. I grabbed the same branch and started climbing just like she had. I wasn't surprised Preston didn't come. He was always afraid of heights.

I got up to the top branch and saw her sitting there, staring up through an opening in the leaves. I sat next to her and looked up too. I had never seen so many stars in my life. I used to love looking at them when I was younger around the farm, but I had never seen this many. We sat in silence for a while.

"I had never seen the stars before I came here," she whispered. I wasn't even sure I had heard her correctly.

I turned to look at her, but she stayed focused on the sky.

"I guess I just never thought to look up at the sky when I was younger. My first night out here, I was walking around and saw the sky. I fell in love and now I'm obessed," she continued with a light laugh.

I nodded even though she couldn't see it. We sat there for another few minutes before she turned towards me. But she never made eye contact. She looked at my face as if she was reading it, but I never met her eyes. Her beautiful brown eyes.