The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden

regret—is going into my room on my twelfth birthday.
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 10
     
     
     
    #49 Tell the Truth to Yourself
     
     
    Kayden
     
    I’ve been at my house for two days now, and I’ve almost returned to the place I ran away from. My dad hasn’t hit me yet or anything, but I’m afraid of him, just like when I was a child.
     
    “Why the fuck did you leave that piece of shit truck parked out front?” he asks when he walks into the kitchen. He’s wearing a suit, even though he doesn’t have to work today. He just likes looking important.
     
    “Because the garage is full.” I butter my toast as quietly as possible because my dad hates the noise the knife makes against the dry bread.
     
    “I don’t give a shit.” He opens the cupboard and takes out a box of cereal. “You need to get it out of here. It’s leaking oil all over the driveway.”
     
    “Fine.” I bite into my toast. “I’ll find somewhere to put it.”
     
    He steps in front of me and I freeze. His green eyes are harsh, his jawline taut, his expression indifferent. “I think you forgot something.”
     
    I force the bread down my throat. “Fine, sir, I’ll find somewhere else to put it.”
     
    He eyes me with intimidation for a second longer, before stepping back. “And you better come back and clean those crumbs off the counter.”
     
    I inhale through my nose as I move for the doorway. “Yes, sir.”
     
    He takes out a bowl from the dishwasher and I hurry out of the house. Why can’t I just hit him? I thought about it a few times when I was younger, but was always afraid he would retaliate twenty times harder. By the time I got older and bigger, something had died inside me and I didn’t really care. I let him kick me, hit me, wishing he’d finally go over the edge and it’d all be over.
     
    That is until the night he almost did and Callie showed up and saved me.
     
    My phone rings and I retrieve it from my pocket as Daisy’s name pops up on the screen.
     
    “What?” I answer, jogging down the steps of the front porch.
     
    “Hey,” she says in the high-pitched voice she uses when she’s around her friends. “How’s my favorite guy?”
     
    “Fine.”
     
    “What? Aren’t you excited to hear from me?”
     
    “I heard from you a few days ago,” I say. “When you made it very clear we weren’t a couple anymore. Or actually, Luke did when he told me you were fucking around with someone else.”
     
    “God, he has such a vendetta against me,” she snaps. “It’s like he wants us to break up. I never got why you were friends with him. He’s not even like you.”
     
    “What do you want, Daisy?” My tone is clipped as I hike across the grass toward the old truck, stuffing the last of the toast into my mouth.
     
    “I want you to take me to homecoming, like you promised.”
     
    “I promised that when we were together.”
     
    She sighs dramatically. “Look, I know you’re mad at me, but I don’t have a date and I’ve been nominated for Homecoming Queen. The last thing I want to do is be alone when they call my name.”
     
    “I’m sure there’s a ton of guys that would love to take you.” And get into your pants.
     
    “But I want you to take me,” she complains. “Please, Kayden, I need this.”
     
    The phone vibrates and I pause at the end of the lawn, quickly switching the screen to text messages.
     
    Callie: I wanted to see if u were okay. Luke told me u had to go home. If u need anything let me know.
     
    I shake my head at her sweet message. She’s worried about me. No one has ever been worried about me before.
     
    “God dammit, I can’t do this,” I mutter, kicking at the dirt. “I can’t be with you.”
     
    “Yes, you can,” Daisy says. “All you have to do is pick me up at seven.”
     
    I wasn’t talking to her, but it doesn’t matter. I need a distraction. “Fine, I’ll take you, but I’m not going to the party afterwards.”
     
    We hang up and I have the most sickening feeling in my stomach. As I pull the truck onto the street, I almost head east to the freeway, toward the campus. But as I glance down at the scars on my knuckles, I head west, towards town to park the truck somewhere and then drive back home to take Daisy to the prom.
     
     
     
     
     
    Callie
     
    “It’s Saturday night,” Seth says and he runs some gel through his hair. “You have to go out with me. There is no way in hell I’m going to let you stay