Author's Note

Sorry for taking eons to upload.

Thanks for all the follows peoples I really appreciate it :)

I stood, waiting on the corner of the street in the drizzling rain, wondering what the hell was taking so long. It had been a week since I'd moved into the new house, and since that second day of school, it had become a sort of unspoken acknowledgement that Tate and I would wait at the corner and then we'd walk together. I glanced at the watch around my wrist, and bit my lip, debating whether or not it would be worth being late to school. But before I could decide, I heard a front door opening and Tate was running across his front lawn, backpack slung over one shoulder, towards me.

"About bloody time." I admonished lightly, immediately beginning to hurry through the rain as Tate reached my side. He just shrugged and kept walking, his shoulders hunched a little more than normal. It took me a few more streets before I realised that something was bothering Tate. More than just the bad weather. "Hey." I said, knocking my arm against his, making him glance at me. "You okay?" I asked.

"Sure." Was his short reply. I rolled my eyes and tugged on the sleeve of his shirt. How was he not freezing to death without a jacket?

"Come on, curtain boy, I don't know everything about you, but I know somethings up. What is it?" I stopped walking as I asked this, but kept a grip on his shirt so that he couldn't go too far. Water ran in rivulets down both our faces as we stood in silence, Tate refusing to look at me, and me staring him down.

"We're going to be late, Calypso." Tate said quietly, his gaze only flicking towards me once.

"I don't care, Tate. Tell me what's wrong." I demanded, refusing to move. We stood still for another few minutes, and I began to regret this choice, as my clothes were now not only drenched, but waterlogged. The rain wasn't heavy, but it had a certain persistence to it that made you feel like you were drowning if you stood in it for long enough.

"Walk and talk." Tate suggested, and then began walking. I let him go and followed him, waiting for him to start talking. It took him a couple steps, but then, from the corner of my eye, I saw him open his mouth.

"It's nothing really. Just some idiots." He began, to which I nodded, but didn't say anything. This was his story to tell, not mine. "Some idiots made some nasty comments. That's all." He finished.

"I didn't think I'd have to say this to you, Tate, but seriously, who cares what other people say about you? You just gotta-" I began, but he cut me off as we reached the schools gates.

"I don't care what people say about me, Calypso. It's what they say about my family, my mother and sister, which matters." He told me, his words short and sharp. I blinked at him a couple times, unsure what to say. I'd never realised that he had a sister. But before I could formulate any words, he was walking away, leaving me standing alone in the rain in a crowd of people hurrying into the shelter of indoors.

That afternoon

Thankful the rain had cleared up, I stood at the school gates once more, waiting for my neighbour. However, as more and more time dragged on, and he never showed up, I realised that Tate must have left early to avoid walking with me. Great.

Making my way home alone, I thought about what I'd wanted to say to him. I was kind of intrigued, and wanted to meet his family now. If they were as nice as him, then what the hell were people saying about them that was so bad?

I reached my house and went inside, immediately climbing up the stairs to my room, ignoring my mothers' calls to join her in the kitchen. I was maintaining my vow of silence against her if it was the last thing I did. Dumping my backpack onto the ground, I walked over to my window, grabbing up a notebook and pen as I did.

I scrawled down one word to start with, settling in to wait until Tate showed up.

Surprisingly, it didn't actually take that long before I saw him standing at the window, and I waved, holding up notebook which I'd written 'hey' on.

Tate waved back.

I scribbled down two more words, the same ones he'd once asked me. 'You okay?' I held up, and he shrugged, not committing to either a positive or negative answer.

I went to write something else down, but Tate had disappeared from the window and I sighed in frustration. However, he soon reappeared, but someone else was with him. A girl with lovely dark brown hair stared at me thoughtfully, and I waved at her, smiling as well. I watched as Tate said something to his, presumably, sister, who then nodded and walked away.

I flipped to a new page and wrote one word. 'Sister?' Tate nodded as I held it up, so I wrote down another question. 'Can I meet her?' She seemed sweet and I wanted to talk to Tate and find out what people had been saying about her. I waited, watching as Tate debated silently, and then he gestured, motioning that I should come over. I nodded, standing.

But then my mother walked in.

"Calypso, I've had enough of this foolish behaviour." She said. I stared her right in the eyes, but refused to say a word. "This is getting ridiculous! After all of the nice things Pete's done for you, you treat him like this! No word of thanks whatsoever." She sighed angrily as I didn't speak. "I am your mother young lady!" She yelled.

"My mother would never have gotten rid of the only connections I had to my real father." I snapped at her, walking past and out of the room. I'd broken my vow of silence, but it had been worth it. The look on her face had been priceless.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" She screamed after me, following me down the stairs and to the front door.

"Out." I replied, shutting the door behind me and hurrying out onto the sidewalk. Glad she didn't try to follow me, I made my way over to Tate's house and knocked on the front door.

I shuffled my weight from foot to foot impatiently as I waited, relieved as the door finally opened. Tate's sister stood before me, only her head poking through the open doorway.

"Hi there. I'm Calypso, from next door." I introduced myself. The girl just stared at me, her full fringe hanging slightly to the side as her head tilted.

"Addie. Let her in." Tate's voice came from behind the closed door, and suddenly his blond head appeared, his pale hand gripping the edge of the door and opening it wider, admitting entry to me. I stepped inside, a shiver running down my spine as I crossed over the threshold. Something seemed…off.