Chapter 54 – November 7th

It stopped raining, and all the droplets of rain were dried off by the Californian Sun. It's like summer has already arrived, and there are only a few weeks left before my mom gets married to Cayden's dad and also 2 more days before homecoming.

I'm still debating whether I should do what I want for myself or just forget about it. Cayden is right. I should start acting selfishly towards my happiness.

But I just need a little more motivation to do what I have to do.

"Hailey, I'm going out to taste some wedding cake. You want to come?" She asked, and I sprinted towards the kitchen, finding her drink her usual coffee.

"We need to talk," I said. I think it's time to tell her that Trevor is here in Town. "But, I'll tell you when we're in the car—"

My sentence was cut off by a ringing house phone. My heart is beating rapidly fast, hoping it's not Trevor. "I'll get it—"

"No, I'll get it!" The tonality of my voice is loud and clear. I ran towards the living room and grabbed the wireless telephone.

"I see you," Someone said in a rough voice. I look out our living room window and saw no one. "Nice outfit."

The voice is rough and scary, "What do you want?" I said as I try not to say it out loud for my mom to hear.

"Oh my god, are you crying? I'm sorry if I scared you. It's Amelia," Amelia said as my heart starts to cool. Taking a deep breath.

"I'm sorry if I did that. I just called and wanted to say I'm sorry because I lead a total stranger to your house," she said.

"It's fine. There's no need for an apology. And why are you calling on our house phone?" I asked, and she starts snorting.

"I'm sorry. I just did it to scare you, and it worked, but worse. So yeah, I'll see you later?" she asks.

"I'm not going to school today. Got to do something really important," I said, and I hear her say 'uh-uh.'

"Well, I hope you get it all done. Anyway, I've got to leave now. I'll see you tomorrow," She said as I hung up the phone.

I walked towards the kitchen and saw my mom placing her mug on the kitchen sink, "How was it?" She asked as she grabs a glass of water.

"My friend, Amelia. Let's go!" I said as I try not to show her that I'm panicking and we need to leave the house as soon as possible before Trevor decides to pay a visit. "The sooner we get there, the better, right?"

My mom hops in the car, and I did too. I put on the seatbelt and looked out at the window of the car, checking all sides are clear, "Honey," Mom catches my attention. I stopped turning my head in different directions and looked at her.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Are you okay?" She asked, and I nodded my head, "Because you seem a little bit paranoid about our surroundings, and I've noticed you're so eager to get out of the house, even though I know that you don't even want to get out," She added.

I took a deep sigh before letting the truth slip out of my mouth, "Trevor is here," I announced. She looks at me with the same expression glued to her face, the expressionless face. "And I guess you don't give a damn about it, huh?"

She looks at me, quirking her eyebrow this time, "Let's not start with the scary stuff now. It's not yet even Halloween," Mom says as I can't help but roll my eyes at her response. She puts the keys in the ignition, and the engines roar to life.

Both of her hands are set on the steering wheel, "Mom, I'm serious. He is here. Believe it or not, I've seen it myself and heard some news," I told her. She looks at me with a questionable look on her face.

"You've seen it yourself? Explain?" She dares me as I told her the story of how I found out that Trevor was able to find us all the way back from our Hometown. I told her first the story when my friends and I went on a Fall break in a beach house.

Then, I told her the story of how I ended up finding a mysterious guy standing at the back of our photo back in Fall break. While telling her the story, I also realized that something is off and that I might be losing a few parts from here and there.

I remember when we were hosting a party at the beach house, the first time I kissed Cayden, and the first time I saw him drunk. The words that he also said to me make me swoon all over him, over again.

The cute boys at the party turned out to be Cayden's old gang. The gunshots and all the screaming, thinking that what if Trevor was there during that time when we all evacuated the beach house and what if he was the one who fired all those gunshots?

"Okay, that's enough. You're scaring me, Felicity," Mom said as I take a deep sigh and looked at her eyes, her hands, also shaky. Shaking out of fear because of the story I told her, I never intend to announce with the most panicky tone.

"Mom, I'm also scared. I don't even know what to do at this point," I said. She looks very worried. Her hands are shakier than before. "And how about I drive before we get into an accident," I offered.

She got out of the driver's seat, and I got out of the passenger seat. I exchange seats with my mom as I grabbed the seatbelt and buckled myself up for safety. She sits down in the passenger seat without buckling her seatbelt.

I leaned in and buckled her seatbelt for her and took a good squeeze on both of her hands, "Mom. We need to calm down at this point, but I don't think we are safe in our house," I said, remembering what Amelia did.

"Yo-you're right. We have to pack our things and move out again. Move as far away as we can so that he'll never find us or, better yet, leave the country for good measures," She said, looking more panicked than I am when I found out that Trevor was here.

"Mom, stop. We can't move and move because, in any other way, he'll end up finding us. Again and again. And I don't want you to leave and turn down your wedding for all that is happening," I said.

"We can just move in at Liam's house until the Wedding is over!" My mom says as I was taken aback by what she just said. "We'll go to Liam's house and stay there for a month. Just for safety."

"Okay, I know I told you about not moving cities again but, let's not— "

"No, Hailey. You're right. I shouldn't let Trevor get in the way of the wedding. I love Liam, and Trevor's not going to be the reason why the wedding is off," She told me as she looks at me with a smile attached to her face.

She starts digging something into her bag and pulls out her phone. She started typing her password and started typing something on her little screen, "Uh, what are you doing?" I asked as my grip tightens on the steering wheel.

"Texting Liam to tell him that we'll be staying at their house for a month," Mom says. I nearly slapped myself in my face, but instead, I remained shocked, cursing inside my head about what I said earlier.

Great. I just had to tell her that stuff and now, look where I got us at. I guess thinking about avoiding Cayden about our argument last time will be out of my list again.

"Instead of going to the Cake house. Let's head to Liam's house, for now, I need some rest about that information you told me," She says as I opened my mouth to tell her that I don't know where their house is located, "Just follow the GPS and it will take us there."

I took a deep inhale and exhaled it afterward. I closed my mouth and started driving, following the instructions of the GPS. "Okay, this might take a while. In case we get lost, in the meantime, get some rest right now along the way," I said.

She nodded her head and took my advice as if I were playing the Mom role in this situation. I can already find out that we are about to get lost for an hour, but I hope I understand what the GPS is telling me.

I'll follow directions but not too precise because if I follow the exact directions and not minding where I am going, this could lead to an early accident.

***

After what seemed forever, missing many exits along the highway, we got safe and sound at our destination. I parked the car on the side, turned off the engine, and woke up my mom. I got out of the car as I waited for her to hop out as well.

"So, is this it?" I asked Mom as my eyes are glued to the Beige Mansion in front of me. Sure, I've been to Cayden's rest house, which I imagined I owned the place but, I never imagined Cayden's house would be this big.

"Yeah, let's go in," She says, and I can't believe how comfortable she says it as if she is already living in that mansion. As soon as we stop at their front door, she starts digging into her bag. Don't tell me she has a spare key in her—

"I have a spare key that Liam gave me the other week," She says as I roll my eyes at her response. She unlocks the house, and we both got in, placing back the spare house key in her bag.

"Honey. I'm here," She shouts and starts walking somewhere, guessing she's heading for the kitchen. I stand by the door as my eyes scan the big space in front of me. It must be nice to live here for a day, huh?

"Yeah, it sure is nice and comfortable to live here," Someone says. A voice so familiar that I'll never fail to recognize, I look up and saw Cayden. He starts heading down the stairs. He walks up to me and stops.

"What are you doing in my house?" He asks as I roll my eyes. I get it. He's mad at me for not making myself a priority. "Who invited you here, and how did you get in here?" he starts firing me with some more questions.

I sighed and quirked my eyebrows, "I know you're still mad. But, don't you worry, I didn't sneak in here illegally," I told him as he rolled his eyes all over my response. I chuckled bitterly inside my head, Cayden, rolling his eyes, that only happens once in a blue moon.

"Just, get out of my way," He says as he starts heading upstairs. I sighed and grabbed his wrist. This time, I'm going to chase him. This time, I think I'll do what is right for me and what is fair for me to do.

"Okay, you can get mad at me for as long as you want," I said. "But, I just want to tell you that I'm in," I added, his look questions my response.

"I will do whatever it takes to do everything. To fight for what is right and to be able to gain happiness for that one thing I fought for. I'm asking for you to stay with me and fight with me again, even if I know that along the way, you lost hope. I will fight for you and for us, to make what we ever have is real because I already made my choice and my choice... is you."