Chapter 5

Mikaela was slowly walking the painful nine and a half miles to Sam's house. She had been walking for about three hours and she estimated that she was about two or three miles away. She had stopped crying hours ago and was starting to feel strong again.

"I can do this. I'll just tell Sam that my dad kicked me out because I was being a bitch. I deserved it and I'll only stay a few days until I can get myself together. Hopefully he is over our argument today." She told herself this over and over as she continued walking down the road. She forced herself not to think about her father because she knew she would just cry again and she wanted to stay strong. Mikaela never liked crying, she felt it was for losers. So crying for the past two hours of walking didn't really make her feel good about herself. She walked farther until she felt something drop onto her head. She felt her head and noticed that it was wet. Looking up she felt a bunch of raindrops fall onto her face.

"Of course it would rain. That's just my luck." She said out loud to herself. She was frustrated, but strong. She would keep going those couple of miles and make her way to Sam's house. She would be safe there. The rain grew heavier and heavier until it was pouring hard and Mikaela was already drenched. She was freezing as well since she was only wearing a t-shirt and jeans. If she had options, she would call someone to come pick her up. Or find a place to wait inside until the rain stopped. Of course, since her father kicked her out she didn't have her phone with her and since it was about two in the morning, no place was open even if she wanted to wait inside of a building. Mikaela saw a tree a few hundred feet away and started running as fast as she could to it. She reached it and was relieved to see that it had enough branches and leaves to keep most of the rain off of her while she took a short break. She didn't stay long though because she knew if she had time to think about her situation, then she would see how helpless and hopeless it really was. Ten minutes after finding the tree, Mikaela was already walking again in the downpour.

An hour later, Mikaela could see Sam's neighborhood in the distance and she laughed happily to herself. Drenched and cold from head to toe and aching from all of her injuries, plus walking for nine and a half miles, she almost skipped the rest of the way to the Witwicky's household.

She stepped up to the door and took a deep breath for a second to calm herself down. She had never been so happy to be so close to someone who cared about her. She knocked on the door three times loudly. She knew the family was sleeping but she hoped at least one of them was a light enough sleeper to hear her. She waited a few seconds and then tried knocking again. Not until her fifth try at knocking did she hear the door being slowly unlocked and Mr. Witwicky peered his head out.

"What in the world are you trying….oh! Mikaela! I didn't know it was you! Come in, come in! What are you doing out in the rain?" Mr. Witwicky asked her. Mikaela took off her shoes and walked through the front door into the warm house. She saw Mrs. Witwicky at the top of the stairs clutching to the banister looking slightly nervous.

"It's all right Judy. It's Mikaela. Go wake up Sam." Mr. Witwicky told her. Mikaela noticed he had a pan in his right hand and she realized that he was going to use that as a weapon if she had been an intruder. She laughed lightly to herself as Mr. Witwicky wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. The warmth that she had been deprived of for so long made her feel happy again.

"You must be freezing. Why were you out in the rain? You didn't walk here did you? That's almost ten miles!" Mr. Witwicky asked. Mikaela looked away shyly for a second.

"Well yeah, I did. My dad and I got into a fight because I was being rude to him so he kind of kicked me out. I'm sure it will all work out. I just needed somewhere to go." She answered. Mr. Witwicky was about to answer when they heard Sam running down the stairs.

"Mikaela! What's wrong? Are you okay? Why are you all wet?" he ran down the stairs and hugged her tightly. Mikaela just hugged him back, happy that he was speaking to her.

"She walked here from her house. She said she was in a fight with her dad and he kicked her out." Mr. Witwicky explained.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about the timing Sam. And I guess the wetness too." She chuckled. "If I can just stay for a few days and get myself together…"

"Nonsense! You will stay as long as you want! That is a huge deal being kicked out of the house! Are you sure you're all right dear?" Judy asked Mikaela, her eyes full of motherly worrying.

"Honestly, I'm fine. Just a little cold." She said. Sam could tell something wasn't right about the whole situation, but he figured she would talk to him when she was ready.

"Sam, why don't you take her upstairs and let her take a shower so she can warm up? Mikaela you can sleep in the guest room dear." Judy instructed. Mikaela smiled.

"Thank you so much. I really appreciate it." She said. Sam pulled her upstairs and led her to the bathroom. He turned on the light and pulled out a towel for her.

"Here you go. Everything you need is in there. I'll go get you some clothes to change into when you're done. Do you think you need anything else?" Sam asked her. His eyes were full with worry for his girlfriend.

"No I think I'm fine Sam. Thank you." She pulled him in for a hug and then kissed him passionately on the lips. Sam smiled a little before walking away to get the clothes. Mikaela closed the door and stripped off her drenched clothes. She had brand new bruises from the kicking she received from her dad and they were much more painful than usual. Sighing she turned on the shower and stepped in. She didn't realize how cold she really was until she felt the warm water all over her body. It was so relaxing and Mikaela was so tired that she could have fallen asleep right away. She closed her eyes for a few minutes until she heard a knock on the door.

"Mikaela! Can I come in? I have some clothes for you!" Sam yelled through the door.

"Yeah, sure! Come on in!" the door opened and Sam walked in. Even in the situation they were in right now. It was still hot to see Mikaela's clothes wet and on the floor of his bathroom. "Sam you can just put them down. Thank you!" Mikaela said through the shower curtain. He turned red for a second because he thought she had seen him staring at her wet clothes. She was still in the shower though and he quickly pulled himself together.

"There you go." He said as he put them down. "Okay, I'm leaving." He turned and walked out the door and closed it behind him.

Once Mikaela was sufficiently warm and relaxed, she turned the shower off and climbed out. She wrapped the towel around her and searched around for a comb to brush her hair with. Giving up after a few minutes of searching she dried herself off and put on the sweatpants and t-shirt that Sam brought for her.

"They smell just like him." She thought. She hung up the towel and walked out of the bathroom to go ask Sam if he had a comb lying around somewhere. She crept past his parent's room and saw that they were already sleeping in their bed. Reaching Sam's room she knocked lightly on the door and peeked her head in when she received no immediate answer. There he was draped across his bed like he collapsed on top of it. She walked over to him and sat down on the edge of the bed. Forgetting about the comb entirely, she began running her fingers through his hair thinking about how much she really loved him. Even though it was too early to say it, she was pretty sure he felt the same way about her. After a few minutes of playing with his hair she grew tired and glanced at the clock. It read four o'clock in the morning. She looked around and found Sam's blanket lying on the floor at the edge of the bed. She pulled it up and lay down next to him covering them both with the blanket. She kissed Sam on the cheek and quickly fell asleep next to him exhausted from her long day.