I AM SO TERRIBLY SORRY! I simply can't believe how long I was away from the fic for! It was so nearly on the verge of abandonment, without my knowledge. I don't even know what to say, except sorry a million times over! A couple days ago the LITS chapters on my computer caught my eye while I was writing an English essay, and I felt horrible. I felt an urgency to start it up again, but I had to read my whole story again to get back into it. I'm still not completely eased into it yet, so it might seem different. Oh, I really hope I didn't lose my great readers during this huge hiatus! Please come back to me and review! Also overlook spelling/grammer errors, I was frantic to post this. ENJOY AT LONG LAST!

"Callie, Chris is here to walk with you to school!"

I was currently in the middle of a maddening struggle to dress myself without brushing against my bandaged stomach and inflicting more pain then it was already causing me.

"Okay mama! I'm almost done!"

I quickly ran a brush through my straight hair and then proceeded to dash down the stairs to meet my boyfriend, so we could walk together on the first day of school.

For someone who had just gotten out of the hospital the day before, I had had to deal with more protectiveness than I'd had in my entire life. Besides my mother (who had recently acquired a new motherly trait, frenetic worry) and Chris always fussing over me, I also had everyone's favourite hoodlum breathing down my neck. We had told him the whole story that day I woke up in the hospital lacking a spleen, and, as I'm sure you could imagine, he went ballistic. The police hadn't managed to find my father as of yet, so Ace (and Chris as well) had pretty much taken the place of my shadow.

On the subject of school, as I had said before the campout fiasco, I wasn't very nervous. I may have been a tad concerned about what people would say about Chris and I. Not that I mean I was worried about being unpopular because I was with him, but how I knew Chris would react. And even with Gordie and Sara by my side, with the rest of the gang, I didn't think I'd be able to survive the first day, hell the first week, if he was suspended for fighting. Yes, I intended to keep a tight watch on my significant other.

When I got to the third last step of the staircase, my feet slid out from under me and I slid down the rest of the way, landing hard on my butt. I sat there for a second, groaning from my bruised tailbone and even more sore stomach, but then I saw Chris leaning against the wall just in front of me, with barely contained laughter visible in his features.

"What a way to start the day," I grumbled, pulling myself to my feet and straightening the pleated skirt of my school uniform. Looking over at Chris, I noticed he was looking very handsome in his uniform, which was missing the tie, I noted wryly. I couldn't blame him, myself only having to wear the dark green knee-length skirt with a white blouse and stockings, and an optional dark green blazer. The boys, however, had to wear dark green pants, a white button-up shirt, fastened with a smart tie, also dark green. They too had a blazer to wear when the weather turned colder. I must say I rather liked my uniform, although I'd never been to a school that required one. I suspected that in this small but stately town the parents had a lot of pull when it came to school rules, in this case the dress code.

"Hey, at least you look great," Chris remarked, pulling me to him and kissing me softly. "I've never seen a girl pull off that uniform better than you."

"You look pretty fine yourself," I divulged in a quiet voice, my hands on the front of his shirt while his arms were locked around my waist.

We were still in that embrace when my mother walked in from the kitchen, but it didn't faze her anymore. She just smiled maternally and waited for me to slip away and give her a kiss goodbye, which I did complacently.

"Remember to tell your gym teacher about your condition, Callie. And please be careful not to tear the stitches out any other way."

"I'll be fine mama," I assured her, giving her another hug before walking with Chris towards the door.

"Chris, please watch over for her for me." She wasn't talking about the stitches anymore, and we all knew it. Chris nodded compliantly, giving her a comforting smile as we left.

I idly kicked a stone down the street as we walked, Chris' arm resting lightly on my shoulders. Chris, who seemed to be getting more comfortable with the thought of stepping inside Castle Rock to endure another year, filled me in about the teachers, i.e. which ones I should stay away from, which ones were utter pushovers, etc. Our schedules were eerily alike (although my mom, who registered for me, denies having anything to do with it…yeah RIGHT) so we didn't think there'd be too many problems.

Since Gordie, Chris and I were enrolled in the college courses, and Vern and Teddy were taking shop courses, I was told the only times we'd see them were at lunch and if they had gym with us. The shop classes were a different wing of the school than the academics. Sara was in the college courses too. Maddie would have been, I suppose, but she had, sadly, already departed for her new home in Canada. Kadance, well, Kadance was definitely out of the ordinary. She had the money and the smarts to enroll in the college courses, but she hadn't the slightest inclination to do so. She loved nothing more than to open up the hood of her car and fiddle around, emerging hours later covered in grease with a huge grin on her face. Kadance had a passion for automotives and even construction. With her looks, you'd never have guessed it. She would always be the best-looking girl I'd ever see change the oil of a car, that's for sure.

"Hey, Chris! Callie!"

Chris and I looked to our right to see Gordie and Sara walking towards us, backpacks slung over their arms. They were both smiling and I understood that; they both loved to learn, more than the average person. As I always say, most kids look forward to school after a fun summer, but only for about a month. Sara and Gordie, they loved it all year long.

"Hey guys," Chris greeted the two. I would also have done so, but I was distracted by a glimpse of a familiar car out of the corner of my eye. God, he followed me everywhere! Ace was so paranoid these days…Did you think I meant my father? I did make it sound a bit like it, coincidentally. Anyway, I figured Ace was just a little, how should I put it… concerned during my first week out of the hospital. As long as he eased off on the stalking at some point, I'd indulge him. I smiled slightly; it was nice to have people care so much, even if they showed in their strange little ways.

"Callie? What are you smilin' about?"

I expunged the distant look in my eyes, and my smile grew innately bigger as I drew my gaze to my friends. "It's nothing…well actually, it's everything."

The looks they gave me told me they were perplexed, but the daft smile on my face was enough to make them smile too. We walked on towards the school as four genial and ever-faithful companions. We walked on to see what awaited us at Castle Rock High, the site that held such a controversial position in my mind. Well, whatever happened there, I was a veteran now. With my combined experience of attending a vast number of schools and escaping with my life from a situation of great peril, how hard could high school be? Not hard at all. Then why did I have a feeling that school was going to be a lot more trouble than I thought?

Yes, I am aware of how dreadfully short it is. But since fanfics get taken down every so often due to author notes or announcements, I couldn't just put one up telling you I'm back on the story. I will have the next (and hopefully full-length) chapter up as soon as physically possible! I hate short chapters, but I didn't want to have to wait any longer. So anyway, I hope you aren'tunforgiveably mad at me, but I do expect some well-warranted fury. The biggest reason I stopped writing was a mix of schoolwork (I am overwhelmed easily, although I'm a 95 average student ;. Dunno why) and of some dismal family drama. Once again...I'm very very very sorry! Forgive me!

I'm not going to even attempt to answer the absolutely TERRIFIC reviews I got since I left off. Sorry, but there's quite a lot! Depending on how many reviews I get each chapter here on out, I may reply to them, I may not. I'll answer questions or reply to ones like the ones StormShadow21 gives me, because hers are very personalized and I like that. Make yours like that and perhaps I'll reply to them too . Speakingto Stormshadow21, I completely agree with the Stars Wars Episode 3 thing. He was like a block of wood. And I hope you did get you license! You better review and tell me! Keeping it short today, so REVIEW!

So forgive, read and review! Don't you wanna know what Callie's mom's hiding from her from chappie 14?