Chapter 19

**KAIA**

It was a long, twenty-minute drive from school to there. I walked inside and found it already crowded. The sound of bowling balls hitting the bowling pins rang loudly in the air.

I quickly exchanged my boots for a pair of bowling shoes while scanning the area to find Callum and his friends.

It took me three minutes to finally spot them. They were occupying two booths near the end of the room. Their spot was a bit crowded with girls and boys mixed together, and I finally spotted Callum amongst them.

He was more good-looking in person than I could tell. He smiled and was talking to one of the guys sitting in the booth with his arm wrapped around some girl.

My heart started to pound faster when my nervousness finally kicked in. This was going to be a bit difficult since I don't do well with crowds.

I was hoping I'd find him alone, but, I guess, luck was not on my side today. But this was my only chance to make my move, and it had to be done today.

After inhaling a deep breath, I slowly walked towards them. I stopped at the rack near their side and pretended to look for a bowling bowl to pick out.

I noticed Callum started making his way towards the rack as well, and I waited out for another few seconds till he was close enough.

When he finally reached the rack, I quickly pulled out a bowling bowl and pretended to almost drop it.

He quickly caught it with both hands before it hit the ground. His eyes finally met mine, and then he chuckled before slowly passing them back towards me.

"Gotta be careful with these things. You could hurt yourself if you drop it anywhere near your foot." He said coolly.

I smiled and balanced the ball in the palm of my hands, which weighed like a ton of bricks by the way, and tucked my hair behind my ear.

"Thank you."

"Are you here alone?" He suddenly asked.

"Yeah, I just came to check out the place." I answered while glancing around. "Believe it or not, I've never actually bowled before."

He smiled and braced his arm on the rack while moving in a little closer.

"That's alright, I can teach you."

I smiled at him again. My move had worked on him pretty fast.

"Wait, you look familiar. I think I actually know you." He raised his brows while smirking at me.

"Do you now?"

"Yeah." I replied, pretending to be surprised. "You're Callum Morris, right?"

"That's right." He answered a bit cockily.

"Oh my gosh, I totally follow you on Instagram!"

No, I don't.

"You sure? Because I would've noticed a pretty girl like you following me on Instagram."

Between all those 351k followers? I highly doubt that, buddy.

"Yeah, well, I'm a low-key fan." I responded while pretending to look all shy and flirty.

Luckily, he was buying into the act.

"Not anymore." He said while giving me a slow once-over before staring into my eyes again.

"What's your name?"

"Kaia."

He suddenly reached out for a handshake, and I accepted it.

"You have a pretty name."

He did a little squeeze around my hand, and I couldn't help but blush. Physical contact always makes me blush for no reason, and I can't help it if the guy is cute.

"Do you go to school around here or something?" He asked after releasing my hand, and I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm from around here."

"Cool. Well, my friends and I are hanging out over there. Come on, I'll introduce you to the guys."

He started to walk back in the direction he came from, and I quickly placed the ball back on the rack before hesitantly following.

We approached the booths where all his friends were, and they all looked up when they saw us together.

"Guy, this is Kaia." Callum introduced before turning back to me. "Kaia, these are my friends. That's Jordan, Keith, Max, and Max's lady friend whose name I don't know, and that is Ian over there."

All people with the names he mentioned waved back at me with a friendly smile, except Max's lady friend, and I also waved back while smiling.

"Which school do you go to, Kaia?" The guy named Ian suddenly asked.

"Uh, Ivywood College."

Everyone immediately groaned after I answered his question, and I looked around in confusion.

"Whoa, whoa, what is with that reaction?" I asked playfully, and Callum gave me a tight-lipped smile.

"My guys and I kind of have beef with people from that school. Bad history and all."

Bad history, huh?

"Is there a specific group of people, or just anyone from there in general?"

The guys chuckled.

"It's more like their hockey team," Callum answered.

Then he glanced to the back and turned back to me with a smile.

"C'mon, I'll teach you how to bowl."

I let him lead me toward the bowling area, where we both positioned ourselves on an empty lane.

He grabbed a bowling ball and slowly handed it over to me. I inserted three fingers through the hole at the top and held the side with my other free hand.

It was true that I had never bowled before. I don't even know how it's done, so it's a good thing I'm starting to learn new things during this whole pretense.

He positioned himself behind me, his body gently pressing against my back. His hand glided down my arm before they covered my hands while holding the ball in front of my face.

"You get in a perfect stance." He whispered into my ear. "Focus your gaze on the bowling pins."

I did what he asked and stared straight ahead, trying to calm my heart from beating so fast at the same time.

"Then, you swing your arm like this and release the ball." He added before stepping away to the side.

I took a deep breath before swinging my arm back with the ball and doing a little run forward before letting go of the ball to roll down the lane.

Beginners luck got me smashing all the pins down, and I couldn't help but get a bit excited that I even high-fived Callum.

"Nice! Let's do a couple more, and you'll become a pro anytime now."

It was fun, and I was not expecting to enjoy myself, but this was just the bait to get him to like me more. Do fun things together and get to know more about him.

That was the goal, anyway. I need to make him like me so much that he will literally do anything for me. The possibility of a date was also on the cards, but I'll figure out what to do about that later.

Right now, it was all about establishing a connection first.

"Hey, a bunch of us are heading to a friend's party later tonight. Do you want to come with me?" He asked after a few minutes of bowling together.

"Yeah, sure. That would be great."

He immediately grinned with satisfaction.

"Awesome. I could drop you back to your place if you want."

I nodded before walking over and standing by his side.

"Yeah, okay."

"Where do you live?"

"Oh, I stay on campus. The girl's dormitory."

He nodded while pulling out his phone.

"Cool." He glanced at the screen and then looked at me again.

"Okay, let's bounce. Everyone's already on their way there."

I nodded before grabbing my jacket from the booth's seat and leaving the bowling alley with him.

Step one is done. Now, it's time for operation one: step two.

Be in the moment.