Standing Beside You for the Last Time

I went back to my seat.

My childhood friend, Callum Rook, was talking to the guy next to him. When he saw me come back, he turned to me like he always did. "Where are your glasses?"

I rubbed my eyes, which were dry and sore from the sun. I said in a small voice, "I lost them."

Callum sighed and reached over to yank the curtain shut. "I'll walk you home tonight."

Maybe I'd just imagined what I heard when we were taking the photo.

…

When school let out, someone called Callum away. He told me to wait for him in the classroom, which I did. I waited and waited; two whole hours went by. I wanted to call him, but my phone had died.

A teacher finally walked past the room and spotted me. "Teresa, why haven't you gone home yet?"

She knew about my poor eyesight and offered to take me home, but I turned her down. I didn't want Callum to come back and not find me.

When she saw that my phone was dead, she helped me call him. 20 minutes later, he appeared in the doorway, breathing hard. He said, "I texted you and told you to go on ahead."

"I didn't see it." I held up my phone, suddenly at a loss. "My phone died."

He stared at me for a long moment, and there was a complicated look in his eyes. In the end, he didn't say anything.

"Let's go."

Callum didn't say a word the whole way. He just kept replying to messages on his phone.

I caught a whiff of a sweet, cloying perfume on him. He hadn't smelled like that earlier. Where had he just been?

When we reached the entrance to my apartment complex, someone suddenly called out to him. A few people were standing by the gate. I couldn't really make out their faces, but I smelled the same perfume from one of them that was on him.

Callum hurried a few steps toward them while I stayed where I was.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked.

"The dessert place we're going to is right around here anyway. We figured we'd all walk over together later," someone answered.

The voice was soft and gentle. I'd heard it over the school PA system before. It belonged to Rita Johnson, the prettiest girl in our school.

"Got it. Just give me a sec while I walk her in."

"Seriously? You're already at the gate to her complex. Do you still have to walk her in?" someone asked, sounding impatient.

Callum's friend hurriedly explained, "Teresa has bad eyesight. She can't see well at night."

The other person clicked their tongue. "She looks fine during the day. Who knows if that's even true? It's Rita's birthday today, and we all had to make a detour. Teresa's not doing this on purpose to kill the mood, is she?"

I stood there, at a loss. My fingers twisted tighter and tighter around the hem of my shirt.

When Callum walked back over, I said in a small voice, "Go hang out with them. I can get home on my own."

He hesitated. "Are you… sure?"

"Yeah."

I turned and walked into the complex. Behind me, I could still hear them talking.

"Hmm? Aren't you gonna walk your bride all the way to her door, Callum?"

"She's just a friend. Don't be stupid!"

My footsteps paused for a second. In all these years, this was the first time he'd ever snapped back at someone like that.

The streetlights inside the complex were bright, but all they really did was make it a little easier for me to be sure that I wasn't headed the wrong way.

I felt my way forward, my eyes stinging. Before, when Callum didn't bother explaining, it was because he didn't care enough to. Now, he was doing it. Why? Because of Rita?

My leg hit something—I had no idea what—and I suddenly went sprawling to the ground. A sharp sting shot through my palm, and for a split second, my mind went blank.

Callum wasn't like this before.

Back then, our families lived across the hall from each other. He would hold my hand and walk me to and from school. He would go out of his way to ask the teacher to seat us together. Whenever our classmates made fun of me, he would stand up for me.

When did it start? When did he start finding me annoying?

"Teri!" Hurried footsteps sounded behind me. Callum pulled me up from the ground. "This is what you meant when you said you could do this alone?"

His tone was sharp, but he was careful as he checked me over for injuries. He took my hand and walked me all the way to my door.

That tiny spark in my heart, which had almost gone out, suddenly rekindled. Callum still cared about me.