I was excited, remembering the first time Caleb took me to the room. Jumping off the roof to another part of the building was the best part, and I hoped I would have the chance to do that again. Caleb hated the thought of it, but I loved it. Jumping off something that high gave me such an adrenaline rush that nothing else could compare. The feeling of flying in the air for just a second, the wind rushing past you as gravity is pulling you down, everything about jumping off excited me.
Caleb, on the other hand, hated heights and the idea of jumping down them. “I don’t see how you can like jumping down from here.” He said to me while I was looking down over the ledge.
“It’s fun,” I was getting ready to jump off the ledge. “I’ll meet you down there.” I jumped off before Caleb could stop me. I let out a yell right as I jumped. The wind blew right in my face and my hair covered my eyes. Instead of trying to push the hair off, I let it stay. Not seeing exactly where I was going to land gave me a small little thrill. Nothing compared to the actual flying in the air process, but a thrill. I could faintly see through my hair, and got ready to land.
Landing was the scariest part of jumping off; if you land the wrong way, you could break your ankles or your arms, depending on how you land. Jumping off trees when I was little paid off, because I landed almost flawlessly. “How was my landing?” I called to Caleb who was sitting on one of the ladders’ steps.
“Almost flawless. Try to not to stumble the next time.” He answered me, smiling.
“Next time, you’re jumping with me. It feels like flying, you’ll love it.” I said walking towards him and the door. I waited for him to pick the lock, which didn’t take too long.
I stepped into the room first so that Caleb could shut the door without trapping us inside. The room was just like it was the last time we were in there. I didn’t expect it to be completely different, but I thought that Mr. Brights would have taken our leftover stuff away. The main door locked from the outside in so now no one could get in or out, unless you knew how to get in from the concealed door in the back of the room. Getting into the room from the secret door was more time consuming, because it can only be accessed from the roof, but more exciting than just walking in the room through the school’s entrance.
“Home sweet home,” I heard Caleb mutter. He sat down onto of the old, rickety desk that was in there and I sat on the equally old and musty office chair.
“Have you been here since the detentions?” I asked him.
Caleb looked up from the papers he was trying to organize. “Once or twice.” I nodded even though he went back to shuffling his papers and couldn’t see me. “Here’s a book.” He tossed without looking at me. I caught the book and looked at its cover before putting it down.
“Caleb, what’s wrong?” He was about to answer, but I cut him off. “Don’t say nothing’s wrong because I can tell something is.”
He sighed, “It has to do with Marley and the other ‘outcasts.’ That’s all I can tell you now, but you’ll probably want to be a part of it once you know what it is.”
“Are you planning a rebellion?” I whispered.
Caleb looked around the room before answering me. “Never mention that again, okay? Unless we’re alone in the woods. The government doesn’t like to deal with the ‘woods people’. They don’t like the people who’ve disobeyed their sick games; the people who are following their true feelings.” He went on muttering about the government for a few minutes before looking back up at me. “Want to go to the park?”
I nodded, “Sure.” It was nice to be back in the room, but being in the park was less suspicious than wondering around school grounds.
We walked back through the hidden door and closed it quietly. Caleb locked it while I started to up the ladder. We had to go up a level, then climb down a ladder to the ground because the level of the roof with the entrance to the room, didn’t have a ladder you could climb down to the ground. By the time I was done climbing the first ladder going up, Caleb was halfway up it. I decided to wait for him before climbing down the other ladder.
When Caleb saw that I was already ready to climb down, he hurried up. “You go down first.” I nodded and started walk over to the other ladder and climb down. Once I was about three or four feet above the ground I jumped. It wasn’t as exciting as jumping from one level of the roof to another level, but it still felt like flying. I landed better from jumping off the ladder than jumping off the roof, because I didn’t wobble. Caleb was only about halfway down the ladder when I landed, so I sat against the side of the building. When Caleb saw me sitting down, he slowed down, and turned towards me and grinned.
“Hurry up! We won’t have any time to go to the park if you’re purposely going to go slow.” I called at him. He nodded before hurrying down the rest of the ladder. I was already standing by the time he was finished climbing down. “’Bout time.” I grumbled. Caleb laughed at me before starting to walk over to the park.
The park was in between the two schools and was open to anyone. It was the smallest park out of the three cities, but we were a small city so it fit. It was the largest open space in our city though. It topped our property, 2 acres, which was one of the biggest properties in our town, by 3 acres. A lot of people went to the park for dates with people who aren’t their soul mate. You’re allowed to date someone while the both of you are waiting for your countdown to end, but you weren’t supposed to develop feelings stronger than friendship, but the people who did develop feelings for each other either started to ignore each other and carry on their lives or runaway into the words together.
As usual, the park was crowded with teenagers. Some of them were with friends and others were on dates. As we walked towards an empty bench, people kept waving to Caleb. “Mr. Popular, huh?” I asked him after the fifth person who said ‘hi’ to him.
“I just know a lot of people.” He mumbled to me. I nodded and continued to walk. We passed empty benches, but Caleb walked right pass them. “Let’s just walk around then I’ll take you home.” We walked around the edge of the park a couple times before we started walking back to my house.
“Just walk me to the beginning of our driveway so that my mom won’t see you, okay?”
“I still don’t like that you snuck out of your house.”
“I technically didn’t, because my mom didn’t say I had to stay home. She just said she didn’t like me hanging out with you so much. Nothing personal.”
Caleb shook his head, “Bye, I’ll see you at school tomorrow, okay?”
I nodded, “Bye.” I stood up on my tippy toes to give him a hug. He hugged me back, and we just stood there hugging each other for a while. “I miss you.”
“I miss you too,” He whispered back to me, “Now go back before your parents start to wonder where you are.” We let go of each other and I ran up my driveway, not looking back once.
Mom and Theo were sitting on the front porch talking and laughing together. Theo noticed me before Mom did, “Hey Shay.”
“Hey yourself, what are you two doing?” I smiled and sat next to Mom. She smiled at me, and I smiled back.
Mom answered me, “Just waiting for you to go come home. Where were you?”
I gulped; she asked the dreaded question. “Just the park. I’m sorry I should have told you I was leaving.”
“It’s fine. Oh, and I know you were with Caleb. I saw him hugging you when he walked you home.” Mom stood up and brushed my shoulder. I swear I saw her smile at me.
Mom knew I snuck out to be with Caleb, and she wasn’t mad. I was overjoyed; Caleb and I could hang out together without me going behind my parents’ backs. Although I was considered a ‘rebel’ for disliking the bracelets, I didn’t like being dishonest. But I also didn’t care enough if I was dishonest when it came to Caleb. He was changing me, and I didn’t care if no one else liked it, but I did. He brought light on things I never thought of before. I liked changing; it was a part of my rebellion.
*Author's Note*
I know this chapter is rushed and I could have done better if I tried harder, but I just wanted to finish this part before starting Camp NaNoWriMo tomorrow! Anyway, thank you for over 400 reads lovelys. I never thought Countdown would ever get that many reads. I love you all and expect more frequent updates in the next month :)