The next morning came and Rayla's eyes opened. Sunlight poured into the room from both her bedroom windows. She sat up and stretched a little. She started to dust herself off when she noticed her hands had dried blood on it. Her hands still bled a little from the lodged shards of glass.

She went to the bathroom and washed the blood on her hands and cleaned it up with hydrogen peroxide, triple antibiotic cream, and wrapped her hands in gauze. Looking into the mirror, she could see the red surrounding her eyes. As if it wasn't obvious enough she'd been crying throughout the night.

She figured she would take a shower to help refresh herself, but she had no such luck regarding feeling a lot better than she had. She still thought about the night before. She really didn't want to be alone. She'd much rather surround herself with those that she knew cared about her not stay wallowing in her big, empty house. Maybe Callum and Ezran weren't too busy.

She left and came to their house. She knocked on the door and Harrow soon answered allowing her inside. "Hello, Rayla, what can I do for you?"

Rayla looked around for a glimpse of the boys somewhere in the house. But from what she could see they weren't in the living room or anywhere else in sight. "Hello, Mr. H, Are Callum and Ezran home?" Her hopes were high to see them.

"I'm afraid not. They rushed out early this morning, and I haven't seen them since. Why?" Harrow slightly chuckled.

Rayla's smile began to fade away, "No,.. I mean, no reason." Her eyes fell to the floor as she readied to leave.

Harrow noticed her change in demeanor, "Is there something I can help you with?"

Rayla shook her head, "Uh- No, I was just lookin' for them for- to see if they were busy. I guess they are." She forced a chuckle.

"Did you need something?"

"Thanks, but no." Rayla walked out the door. Neither Callum nor Ezran were around. But she didn't want to be by herself. Then she remembered that there was still Nyx and Claudia, so she called Nyx and she agreed to meet at a Starbucks with Claudia. They were happy to hang out with her, but they were also slightly concerned about her. Rayla never just wanted to hang out.

With their coffees in hand sitting at an outside table, they shared a knowing look. They had to figure out what was going on.

Claudia was the first to speak up, "Rayla, Are you okay?" She asked after taking a brief sip of her frappe.

Rayla gave a small nervous smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Is it all that bad that I want to spend some girl time with you guys?"

Both Nyx and Claudia nodded, "Yes!!!"

Nyx continued, "It's not like you to just call me up and ask'Hey, you wanna hang out?'."

Rayla's gaze dropped to her smoothie as she sat in silence. In a way, she did somewhat owe them an explanation. "Last night I was told something, and it kinda bothered me. This mornin' I guess, I just... didn't want to be alone."

Neither Claudia or Nyx heardthatpart of the conversation. From what they heard, nothing that was said would be bothersome to her. Nyx stood and walked to stand beside Rayla.

"You're not alone. You've got a lot of people who care about you. You've got Callum and Ezran and us and Soren, and even Harrow and Lissa. Whether or not, any of us are around you, we're here fro you. You have us." She hugged her.

Rayla gave a small smile. After that, they spent a few hours conversing over many topics: Claudia's amazing boyfriend, Kasef, Soren having finally asked Nyx out on a date, Periods, and subjects of that sort.

Claudia's curiosity brought her to ask an interesting question. A question about elves. She sure as heck wasn't an elf. But Rayla was, she just might've known. Nyx wasn't given that kind of information quite yet. She wondered about elves' periods, and now that pertained to elves having kids.

Raylahadbeen given that talk before. Runaan was sure of that. He seemed sure that she should know at a young age. That young age being at five years old. Of course, up until this point in life, she never really thought too much of it. When she was first told she was disgusted, but as time passed she came to care about it less and less. Until now.

Now, She'd be a liar if she were to say she never thought about it.

But just as Claudia asked the question, Callum was walking towards their table and happened to hear it. He'd been given'the talk'before by Harrow, so he knew what it was, but hearing it brought up made him turn red, especially once he found that it was a question directed to Rayla. If he was being honest, hehadwondered about it before.

He cleared his throat making his uncomfortable presence known. He had stopped walking right behind Rayla's chair. Rayla's eyes widened and her cheeks and ears burned red. This was one of the very few things they never discussed.

Claudia looked to Callum as if this conversation wasn't a private one, "Oh, Hi, Callum!!!"

Rayla left the question unanswered when she stood up to break the awkward silence. "Callum,... Um... hey. I heard you left early this mornin'."

Callum's smile returned almost as soon as Rayla started speaking. "I did. I heard you were looking for me... Us, 'cause you know, me and Ezran. Not just me. Dad said you were looking forus." He came off a tad more flirtatious, than he'd expected so he stammered to make it sound less forward. He rubbed the back of his neck with an awkward smile.

"I was... but more importantly, where were you?" Rayla's small smile became a comfortable smirk.

It was then that Callum noticed she had dark circles under her eyes as if she hadn't slept. They were faint, but he could definitely notice it as if she had a sign on her forehead reading"dark circles". " Rayla, did you sleep well last night?" He asked in sudden concern. She'd promised him she'd sleep well.

Rayla remembered how she'd promised him she'd sleep fine. "I suppose not. Now, I know what you're goin' to say. You told me so. I promised you I would sleep fine. I'm sorry, Callum, I just- I didn't want you to lose sleep onmyaccount, because I had a... Because I couldn't sleep. Besides the couch isn'tthatcomfortable. Granted, last time it was different because we... It- it was just different." Rayla rambled on throwing her hands in the air already expecting what his response would be.

The words"I told you so"didn't even cross his mind. He worried for her. Next time he would insist on staying over. "Did it regard last night?" He asked softly.

It was moments like these that he surprised her with an unexpected response that made Rayla love him even more. She sighed, "It- it did, yes."

Then Callum noticed the bandages wrapped around her hands. "What happened?" He gently grabbed her hands lightly caressing the tops of them. His eyes looked up at her hoping for a reply.

Rayla looked around, "I... uh... I broke something, and glass got stuck in my hands." She explained only briefly.

"What did you break?" Callum questioned in calm urgency.

Rayla sighed deeply, "I had a bad nightmare last night, and I broke a few picture frames."

Callum worried about it. But he knew that Rayla wouldn't purposely harm herself. "Oh, Rayla, please, don't- don't do that again. You could really hurt yourself. If you ever have a nightmare, talk to me. Call me. I'm here for you. Remember you're not on your own. You're not alone. You've got all of us, Okay?" He wrapped his arms around her.

Rayla smiled a small smile and returned the tight embrace. This was just what she needed to feel better. His comfort, his touch, and his voice. "Okay." She pulled away and spoke again, "Callum, where did you go this mornin'? And where's Ez? You didn't leave him by himself, did you?" She had to ask. Harrow did tell her he and Ezran had left. Where was he?

Callum just held her hands and gently pulled her to follow him, "Come with me." He began slightly pulling her with a tad more force as she followed.

Rayla's face was pink, as she giggled a little, "Where are we goin'?"

Claudia and Nyx followed. They had to find out where this was going.

Suddenly they heard a loud shout, "STOP!!!!!!!!" It was a voice no one recognized. Rayla stopped and turned around to see whoever this was. She instantly gripped Callum's hand tighter behind her back as she found out who this was. Uh-oh.

Callum looked back and returned Rayla's tight grip on his hand. A guy around their age came running with his gaze on Rayla slightly checking her out. This was a bad sign, especially to Callum who immediately noticed. This boy was none other than the person Rayla had kissed last night.

Of course, the kiss had to "spark" something and he just couldn't leave it alone.

While Callum wasn't too much better, he still had reason. When Rayla kissed him for the first time, his mind wouldn't leave it alone, but he knew he had feelings for her before she kissed him. He knew her, and by that point he'd already wanted to kiss her for quite a while. This guy didn't even know her and what? He thought he'd get more. It was a Kiss Cam for goodness sake.

Rayla stiffened and Nyx and Claudia watched. They didn't recognize him, because he was way too far away to see him clearly. This guy was only a few inches shorter than Rayla. He had a slim, and chiseled face, thin, jet black hair, hazel eyes, and seemingly Russian facial features. Overall, to put it lightly, he was not at all Rayla's type.

He stopped in front of her to catch his breath. "Hello." He spoke with an ever so slight russian accent.

Rayla looked around uncomfortably unsure of how else to reply, "Uh... Hello?"

The man stood up straight and smiled as he looked her in the eyes holding his hand out to shake. "My name is Noah Agapov. I'm not sure if you remember me. I was at last night's Baseball game. I had the seat behind yours. You kissed me last night." He seemed pleased to bring it up.

Rayla tried not to shudder at the reminder. She did kiss him, and it was the worst decision she'd ever made. She was an idiot. It was disgusting. Even though it didn't even last a second, she couldn't help, but regret the very thought of kissing that guy. "Yeah. I remember you."

Unfortunately she thought to herself.

"That's awesome, 'cause I was doing alot of thinking about that last night..."

Of course, he was. Callum silently complained.

"... and maybe after that, you'd like to get dinner sometime. I'd really like to get to know you. The kiss was nice."

Callum really hoped this would be a "no". Wanting to get to know her, didn't really seem all that true. The way Noah's eyes seemed to be focusing on every other part of Rayla, but her face as he said "get to know her better". N-O. His intentions weren't all that pure. Psychopath.

Rayla couldn't disagree more with Noah's statement. The kiss was Not nice. And judging from where this guy's focus was. This, through and through, was not a good idea. It was her stupid choice that led to this... then again, she had felt eyes on her, before that happened. She could be very wrong in that sense. Sadly the "I'm busy" card wouldn't work, since she was just sitting with friends at a cafe. She had the time, just not the want or stupidity to go.

"Um, I'm sorry for that, Noah. You seem really nice. Really. But I'm not interested. The whole Kiss camera thing,.. It was pure impulse. Nothin' at all I'd regularly do. It was impulsive and stupid on my part. I'm really sorry about that."

Noah responded seeming disappointed, but okay. "I see. Are you not interested in dating in general or do you have someone else in kind?"

Rayla's mind shifted to Callum. She looked to him then back to Noah, "No, no!! I'm just- I'm not interested in datin' in general. I'm not into... that.. kind of... stuff." It wasn't entirely a lie. When she'd first come to Katolis, the last thing on her mind was a romantic relationship. In fact, she'd never had any interest in those kinds of relationships.

Callum certainly changed that.

"Okay, then, this has never happened to me. So... uh.. thanks for your honesty, I guess." With that Noah walked away and out of sight.

Rayla exhaled deeply, that was extremely uncomfortable. She turned to face Callum and looked at their hands. She hadn't realized she'd intertwined their fingers behind her back when in conversation with Mr. Agapov. But at the moment she just enjoyed the comfort of his fingers interlaced with hers. Bringing her head to the topic they were on before, "What were you goin' to show me?"

But Callum's mind was going over Rayla's excuse to Agapov. "It was an impulse choice? So kissing him was only impulse?

Rayla shrugged, "Well, yeah. And he happened to be the first person I saw." She excused. She wouldn't kiss a stranger for the heck of it. It was direct impulse.

"He was behind you!" Callum exclaimed. This made no sense. "How could you notice him first? I was right beside you!"

Rayla's face burned a brighter red. He was beside her, but why did he care? "Well, maybe he wasn't the first person I saw, but I didn't... think you'd.. care as long as it wasn't... you." It was hard to say and even harder to hide it.

"Well, I- I kinda- you see- it's not that- ne- nevermind." Callum wasn't sure how to answer. He wanted to tell her. He cared a heck of a whole lot. But how could he tell her if she wasn't interested.

Nyx interrupted the awkward silence between them. "Perhaps, you're forgetting something. You just popped up out of the blue. You were determined to show us- her something. Seemed kind of important."

Callum snapped out of his many thoughts, "Right!! Uh... follow me." The excitement returning to his demeanor.

~*~

They finally made it to Rayla's house, a.k.a. Their destination and Callum stopped at the doorstep.

Rayla raised an eyebrow, "Wait! Why are we at my house?" She looked at him with question.

Callum's smile grew wider, but he didn't answer. He rang the doorbell and waited.

Rayla looked around, "Um.. Callum, in case you forgot or somethin', We're all outside the house. I don't think it's goin' to open itself for us. You have a key,.. um..." She informed. She trusted him more than anyone, but it was only them there. She knew what her house was and wasn't. It didn't magically open it's doors.

Callum just held up his index finger, and waited until it opened. No one, at their height, was seen.

Claudia's eyes widened, "Hmm, what do you know? It did open itself."

Callum turned to look at her as if she had two heads, he gestured to the person in the doorway.

"Hi, Callum! Hi, Rayla! Hi,... guys." Ezran greeted moving aside to allow them in.

"Oh!" Claudia replied absently.

He closed the door and Callum whispered to him, "Is he...?"

Ezran nodded, "Picked up and on his way."

Rayla walked up to him in concern, "Have you been here the whole time?"

"Yep! Callum dropped me off, and he gave me his key. I've been here since."

Rayla slowly turned her head to Callum, "By yourself?" She could barely believe it. Callum left Ezran by himself at her house? "Why again did he leave you on your own? At my house?"

"I wasn't alone. Ellis is here, too. She's in the kitchen, Callum got McDonalds for the three of us." Ezran perked in excitement.

"HEY, GUYS!!" Ellis shouted from the kitchen.

Callum smiled at Rayla, "Do you think I would leave my little brother by himself?"

"Maybe not, but being crazy enough to leave him just another kid isn't..."

Then Soren came out from the hallway, giving Callum a thumbs up. "Alright, We're good. Oh, hey, Rayla." He said casually.

"You had Soren, Ezran, and Ellis go inside my house alone?" Rayla was really unsure how to feel about this whole setup.

Callum put his hands over her shoulders, "Relax, trust me. I just needed someone to watch them here, and check a few things. No one did anything to your house. I just needed a couple more voices for this. Trust me. I wouldn't let anything bad happen. Have I ever let something bad happen? It wouldn't be a surprise if you knew what was going on."

Rayla took a breath, "You're right. You wouldn't. It wouldn't. I trust you, indefinitely." She looked into his green eyes, as he looked into her violet eyes. Silence fell between them for a moment as they both glanced from the other's eyes to their lips.

Ezran went to Callum from the front window, "In the driveway."

Callum nodded, and he went to the front door, "You have a visitor, you ready?" He smiled excitedly as the doorbell was rung.

Rayla chuckled, "Okay, I suppose I'm ready."

Callum opened the door, in front of Harrow, was a familiar man she knew. The same man Callum and Ezran met at the veterinarian's office, the same man that Rayla had known and loved since she met him. Ethari.

Rayla's eyes widened, "Ethari?!"

"Surprise!!!!!" Everyone called out.

She looked around with tears welling in her eyes, "But- but how did you...?"

Ethari grinned as he looked to Callum and Ezran, "These young men. I met them a few days ago, they helped direct me to a hotel, and they visited me today and told me their plan to surprise you. I was lookin' everywhere for you." He walked up to her and hugged her squeezing her as tears streamed from his eyes. "I've missed you, Rayla."

Rayla squeezed him as well, "I thought... I thought you might've forgotten about me. Runaan told me you got my letter, but I..."

"Runaan?" Ethari pulled away in instant worry searching for bruises. "He came here?"

Rayla's tears came to a brief pause, "Yeah, he came here. He was here last night," She said behind clenched teeth studying the floor.

Ethari studied her face, "He didn't hit you again, did he?"

She met his eyes, "No, He didn't get to. He's gone now, and he won't be back." She told him firmly. It still hurt. Maybe in a year she could be proud of it, right now she couldn't bring herself to smile when talking about him.

Ethari could see it, "I'm so proud of you. I could never forget you, Rayla."

Rayla wiped her eyes, "It's all thanks to Callum. I couldn't have done it without him. Ezran, as well." She grinned looking from them to Ethari.

Harrow slightly pushed Callum in front of him. "They stood by her side, even when I didn't. Rayla has become a big part of each our lives."

Ethari looked at Rayla never more proud of her. "How you've grown!"

They hugged once more and Rayla introduced him to the others, "Ethari, I know you've met Callum, Ezran, and Mr. Harrow. This is Soren, Nyx, and Claudia, Soren's sister. I wouldn't be where I am now, without them. I think you met Ellis, when Callum told you the plan. They all know we're elves. Guys, this is Ethari, the better half of the family."

Nyx stepped up, "It's nice to meet the better parent, as well as a fellow elf in case you haven't noticed we're not a popular lot here in Katolis."

Ethari nodded, "I've noticed."

Claudia refrained from holding her hand out to shake his. Just like Rayla, he probably didn't know what it was. "Finally, I actually really wanted to meet you, especially after last night. It's refreshing to meet someone who won't call my brother and me 'Rats'."

"Soren smirked, "I hear you were the better dad... or uncle.. 'Sup?'

Ethari nodded again, "Sounds like Runaan. Father, Uncle, the title doesn't make much a difference."

They helped him get settled in the family room. Rayla had bought another mattress for it after the day she'd found out the truth about her parents.

Harrow drove Ezran and Ellis home. Soren drove Claudia and Nyx home. He'd parked a little ways from Rayla's driveway to anticipate the surprise.

Callum was the last person to leave. Ethari insisted Rayla didn't help make dinner, because of her hands.

Callum was going to leave and Rayla and he were talking about the day.

"Callum, Thank you so much for this. I just- I can't believe you met him a few days ago and you didn't know." Rayla laughed.

"I know, I recognized him, I just couldn't place him. Then when I heard Runaan say Ethari's name I remembered late last night and I got Ezran in on the plan. Of course, Ezran was having Ellis over so we brought her along. She seemed pretty excited for it." Callum explained.

"Still, thank you. You didn't have to. I'm sure there were millions of ways you'd prefer to spend your mornin'."

Callum smiled softly, "Not one comes to mind. It was all worth it, to surprise you."

Rayla wrapped her arms around his neck. "This means so much to me. Thank you."

Callum wrapped his arms her waist, "Rayla, it was no problem. Seeing you so happy is all the thanks I need."

Ethari sneaked glances at them as he cooked. He merely had to meet him, and he knew. Callum loved her, and seeing Rayla with him only proved him right. She loved him as well.

They pulled away, and Callum remembered something, "Oh! I wanted to tell you something and I would like your opinion on it." He requested eager to get her honest opinion.

Rayla grinned, "Of course, what is it?"

"Well, you know how the school has been low on funds so we had to skip some events? Dad wanted to at least celebrate the school's move from the junior year of high school to the senior year. So he's sinking some money into making sure that happens. Since Mr. Viren went to prison the funding was decreased. So I've been searching for jobs, to help with it. Besides a permanent job at my age is probably a good idea. I had a interview early last week. And they're willing to hire me, all I have to do is agree to take the job. It's at a DMV on the outskirts of Katolis. It's a little ways from home, but it's doable. Um... what do you think... about the job, I mean?" Callum informed the situation.

"You- you wantmyopinion?... Uh.. well, that sounds great!!" Rayla exclaimed in agreement.

"Yes, Idowant your opinion, I don't want to take it if you don't think it's a good idea. They said they wanted younger people around my age, so that clients or well, customers would feel more comfortable. So you really think I should take it?"

"Yeah!! You should!!" Rayla giggled out.

Callum nodded in more excitement, "Great!!! I'll call them in the morning. Thanks."

"Of course, what are friends for?" Rayla said but she fell quiet the second she said it.

Callum did, as well. "Um.. I should probably get going. Uh.. See you tomorrow. Good night, and tell Ethari I said goodnight."

Rayla smiled awkwardly, "Yeah, I will, tell the others I said goodnight. See you, Callum, Goodnight."

Callum nodded and left. Rayla watched through the window until his car was out of sight.