text: I looked this man up and down. He was tall, and had a mop top haircut, and since he was a dirty blonde with tan skin, along with his general build, he looked like a surfer straight out of a movie. He had one large suitcase, but I was assuming there were more in his car. He looked my age, maybe a year older. He had his hands up in a sort of "I'm innocent" position, but his annoyed expression said "shut up and put down the freaking flashlights" "Hey! HEY!" He shouted over the crowd. They quieted down and listened to him, glaring daggers the whole time. "I'll answer your questions but I need you to speak to me one at a time, okay?" His tone of voice was not going to go over well with the more elderly of the bunch, and as I predicted, they all gasped at his "contempt", but nevertheless, they spoke to him one at a time, starting with Mrs.Clark. "How did you get in? The gate was locked!" People all around agreed with her question. I heard a mess of "yeah, how did you?" and "Great question, Judith!" all around her. "I'm moving here. My realtor gave me a key. Okay? Next question." Sassy, I like this guy, though I do know that his sass will be his downfall if he wants a job here. "You're moving here? We haven't had a new person move here since..... since..... well we haven't had anyone new since the original founders. He's from the outside! How do we know we can trust him? How do we know he's not a psychopath or... or a criminal?" Everyone agreed once more with Mrs.Clark. "I'm just trying to move in to my new house that I bought with my own money, so if you'd excuse me-" He started sarcastically. A man pushed through the crowd to stop him. It was dark, and I couldn't see his face, but somehow I knew it was my dad. "Slow your roll, boy. What's your name?" He asked fiercely. I knew how angry my dad could get, and I didn't like the new guy's chances of getting through that much. The newcomer rolled his eyes very obviously. "Fine, fine. Davenport. My name is Frost Davenport, but most people call me-" "Your name is Frost, huh? Well, boy, this town doesn't like people like you. I can already tell you have a long..." my dad looked him up and down, lingering on his hips for a second longer than the rest of him "...history, and we don't like people with histories like yours. There are probably a lot of people looking for you, so don't bring your problems into our nice town, you understand?" Frost nodded, a little disturbed by what my dad had insinuated, and I don't blame him, though I didn't necessarily disagree with my dad either after looking at Frost a bit more closely. "What house are you moving into?" Mr.Jackson asked him. "35 Daniel Road. Did no one see me while I was checking out the house?" Frost replied. I felt a hand hit my shoulder from behind me. "Are you finding this as entertaining as I am?" Caleb said in a low voice. I jumped, but tried to cover it up which just made it more embarrassing. Caleb chuckled, which made me even more upset. "It's not entertaining, just-" "Come on, Ivy. You of all people would find this amusing." He pushed. "Fine, maybe it's a little entertaining, but we shouldn't need the whole town to get up just because someone new is moving in!" I whispered harshly. We were far enough away that I could speak in a slightly quieter voice than usual and not be heard, but I knew my voice would get out of control if I gave it an inch so I didn't want to take any chances. "Your right, this town is crazy, but what are you gonna do?" We stared at each other for a second, silently asking each other why our lives were like this. I had lost track of the conversation going on between Frost Davenport the parents of Parkston, but it seemed they were starting to go back to their houses and I wanted to get to know this "Frost Davenport" since he was moving in to the house across from mine. "Yeah, so- Ivy?" I heard Caleb ask from behind me, but I was already walking toward my new neighbor. "Hey." I said, close enough to Frost so that he could hear me. He didn't even turn around. "Look, I just want to move into my new house, how many questions do you have to ask me?" He was expecting one of the paranoid adults. "I'm not like them, and I know how annoying their questions can be. You're Frost, right? Pretty cool name if you ask me." I didn't really know how to act around him. It seemed easy to make him angry, but he also seemed like he could be cool and composed. "Yeah, and what, may I ask, is yours?" He asked me. Yep, definitely pissing him off. "Ivy. Ivy White, nice to meet you, new neighbor." I was dying inside with embarrassment. "And who's your friend? Were you two spying on me or something?" I looked behind me to see Caleb inching his way toward me. I was going to introduce him, but he interrupted me. "Caleb Miller. We weren't 'spying' any more than anyone else here. I'll give you a piece of advice, if you want people to like you, you should drop the attitude and the tough guy act." Caleb stood between Frost and me. I pushed him to the side a bit so I could see Frost when he spoke. "It's not an act. Look, I just want to move, I'm not trying to be rude, so if you'll excuse me, I'll get going now." Frost left without another word. "That man's trouble. I don't like him." Caleb said as soon as he left. "I think he's just frustrated by the frosty welcome. Give him some time to warm up to us." Pun very intended. "Since when does Ivy Tianna White defend anyone and not judge them based off first impressions?" He asked. I smirked. "Would I be talking to you right now if I had judged you completely based off first impressions Caleb King 'I need to peeeee' Miller." I joked, remembering how in preschool and kindergarten Caleb constantly had to use the bathroom. "Touché." He said, blushing. "I'm going home, see you later Ivy!" He waved and left, and I started the walk back to my house. However long Frost Davenport would last in our town, this was going to be interesting. \~ \~ \~ I heard a loud beeping the next morning. BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP! I looked around to find out what it was. A fire alarm? No too quiet. I tossed and turned and covered my ears. I shook my head so I'd wake up, and then I realized. It was my alarm. I looked at my clock. It had been 20 minutes since my alarm had gone off. I had to be at the train station in 20 minutes. I had to be at the train station, which was 13 minutes away from my house on foot, in *20 minutes*. I ran to the shower and took a quick 5 minute shower that made my hair wet enough that I could style it, and made sure I didn't smell like trash. I quickly put my jet black hair up in a bun and brushed my teeth, then put on my boots and jacket, and ran outside with my bags. "Do you need a ride?" Caleb said, pulling up next to me as I ran on the sidewalk. I slowed down as he pulled over. "Where are you going?" I asked through his car window. I think his dad bought him a new car since it was cleaner than his old one, or maybe he just took his dad's car. I looked at him again. Fancy suit, slick, styled hair, nice loafers, something was going on. "And why are you dressed up?" I added. He laughed. "Get in the car and I'll explain." He replied. I didn't like the sound of that, but I had wasted one minute asking him questions and I would be on time for my train if I got in the car right then, so I opened the door and jumped in. "To the train station!" Caleb said as I buckled my seatbelt in a voice that resembled the way people said "to infinity and beyond!" Then he actually drove to the station. "So, explain the outfit!" I said. He nodded. "I'm going to a job interview in the city, which means I'm going on the train with you." He smiled and gave me a finger gun. "So you're not surrendering to your dad anymore?" I asked. "He doesn't know about this." Caleb explained sheepishly. "He actually thinks I'm going to a fancy restaurant with my mom, who understands me wanting to get away from him, so she has agreed to tell him that I'm with him if he asks, and I 'accidentally' deleted the Find My Friends app on my phone and stopped sharing locations with him." He added. "So when are you going to tell him?" I asked. "Let's wait until I get a job to tell him anything, okay? What time do you take the train home?" He asked, clearly wanting to change the subject. I decided to let him. "2:30, why?" "Well, if you wanted, we could meet up somewhere before then since my interview is probably going to end well before that, and then we could grab some lunch and after the train ride I could drive you back to your house so you don't have to walk." His face was red as a tomato. Caleb didn't like these questions, or really coordinating things at all. "Sure." I replied simply. He audibly exhaled. We pulled up to the train station, got on our train, and I plugged in my headphones. I scrolled through my music. I wasn't feeling like rap music today. Maybe pop? No. Rock? Nah. Beyoncé? Nope. I didn't feel like any of my music this morning, so I just turned on some Tupac and dealt with it. I leaned my head back, and closed my eyes. I felt fine doing this since I expected Caleb to tell me if it was our stop, and I didn't think I was going to fall asleep anyway. About ten minutes into the train ride, I felt someone tapping my shoulder. I looked over to see Caleb's finger poking me. I paused my music. "What?" I asked, slightly annoyed. "Can I have one of your earphones? I have nothing to do on this train." He asked. I handed him the right earphone, hit play on my music, and closed my eyes again. After about 30 more minutes, Caleb and I got off the train and headed our separate ways. I checked in to work, and thus started my work day. Buzz.. Buzz..... Buzz... Buzz..... Buzz... Buzz.... About four hours into my work day, my phone kept buzzing so I went into a corner to check it. Caleb had texted me: Caleb: Google maps link Caleb: \^ Here's where I want to meet up \^ Caleb: Tell me if that works for you Caleb: oh f\*ck you're at work Caleb: Please tell me your phone is on silent Caleb: SO SORRY! I texted him back: Ivy: Yeah, no shit Sherlock, I'm still at work. Stop it or something other than my phone will be silenced Caleb: ;) Caleb: got the message I put my phone away and got back to work. This guy needs to learn how to send one text instead if six. "How was work today?" Caleb asked me as I stepped out of the building where the library was. "I thought we were supposed to meet at that-" I started. "I know, but I wanted to surprise you!" He said, smiling wider than I had ever seen him smile before. "How did you even know where I work?" I asked. "Foolish Ivy, I can find anything if I want to." "I think you're confusing which one of us is the foolish one." I smirked at him, then we walked back to the train station and rode home. "M'lady." He said, opening the passenger side door on his car once we had gotten back. I fanned myself and pretended to be flattered. He got in the car and we started the drive back to our town. "Ivy..." Caleb started cautiously. "Caleb...." I joked. "Well, I wanted to ask you.... I mean the real reason I offered you a ride today is because I wanted to know if you'd..... maybe.... I mean just consider.... maybe going out for a coffee sometime as, y'know..." I knew where this was going but I wanted to let him finish. A quarter of me, actually, an eighth of me, actually somewhere deep down in my heart, deep, deep, *deep* in my heart I felt bad he was so nervous and I wanted to speed it up by giving him an answer, but the rest of me was finding this way too entertaining. "If you'd go out with me, as a date, and if you don't completely hate me afterwards, maybe consider being my girlfriend?" He finally finished. I laughed, then laughed some more, and some more, then finally I could respond. "Caleb. Caleb King Miller.