In a perfect world chocolate would be calorie free, but the world wasn't perfect and I was probably going to gain a few pounds. 

I'd spent the better half of the morning scarfing down all the chocolate bars that I could find and now I think that I probably ate too much. I looked at the empty wrappers on the bed and groaned. I definitely ate too much.

My phone vibrated as a text message came through. Hey, its Casey. Are you still meeting us at the mall today? We're in the food court.

I sighed. I was not in the mood for shopping, but I didn't exactly want to stay home either. I told her I'd see her in twenty minutes, threw away the empty wrappers and called a cab before getting dressed.

I slipped my shoes on when I heard a horn honking outside and sprinted down the stairs, almost crashing into Tori. "Hey, where are you off to?" she asked.

"I'm meeting a friend at the mall," I said, avoiding eye contact. We'd hardly spoken to each other after our talk and it was bound to be awkward.

"Okay, well be back in time for dinner, alright?"

"Sure," I mumbled and continued on my way.

***

"Hey," Casey called out to me as I approached the table where she was sitting with her friends.

"Hi," I said to the group and took a seat.

"Guys, this is Camille," Casey announced. "And this is Madison and Sophie."

Madison flicked a strand of her brown hair away from her face and smiled at me. I smiled back, feeling all those chocolate bars trying to resurface. "How's it going?" she asked.

"Um, pretty good," I shrugged. I couldn't help feeling awkward.

"So, you're new here. Do you like the city so far?" Sophie asked. Her eyes sparked when she smiled. That smile combined with her almost golden locks made her look completely harmless.

"It's okay," I shrugged again. Have I already mentioned how much I hated small talk?

Wouldn't it be great if we could just skip over the awkward phase and just go straight to being friends?

"Okay ladies, enough of this," Casey said, putting her phone in her bag. "We've got some shopping to do."

I was never more grateful to hear that statement.

Not even an hour into our little adventure and I was already rethinking the importance of being friends with these girls. "You can't buy that one!" Sophie complained. "I have one exactly like it."

"Yours is blue," Madison objected. "I'm getting this shirt in pink, no one will care that you have one too."

They had this argument once every five minutes, it was no longer amusing to watch.

"Camille, tell her to buy something else," Sophie pleaded.

"Leave me out of this please," I said, glancing at Casey who only rolled her eyes.

Madison laughed and stuck her tongue out at Sophie. "Just give up already."

Sophie groaned and pouted.

"Aw, don't be upset Soph," Casey laughed. "You can always buy the same pair of shoes as her favorite ones."

Sophie brightened and turned to Madison. "I will!" She turned and headed to the other side of the store.

Madison followed her. "You had better not!"

Casey laughed and tugged at my shirt sleeve. "C'mon."

"Where are we going?" I asked following her out the door.

"We're getting you some clothes," she answered with a grin.

"But I'm fine with the ones I have."

"We'll see about that," she smiled smugly.

We spent the next hour trying on different outfits and I actually bought a few. I didn't want to admit it but I had a great time, who knew shopping could actually be fun.

Madison and Sophie joined us back in the food court for lunch. While we ate, we laughed and chatted like old friends do. They included me in their conversations and I almost forgot that I barely knew them. I couldn't remember why it was awkward when I first met Madison and Sophie, they were so nice. They welcomed me into their little group and for the time being I forgot that I was even sad.

......

"You're saying that you had fun shopping?" April asked.

I nodded and then remembered that she couldn't see me. "Yep!" I laughed.

"But you hate it," she complained.

"Well maybe hate was too strong a word," I admitted, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Why are we still talking about this?"

"It's like I don't even know you anymore," she said sadly.

"Are you being serious or sarcastic? I can't tell."

"I'm serious. Since when do you like the mall anyway?"

"Can we not have this conversation?"

I'd called her after dinner to let off some steam from yet another attempt at conversation on Tori's part. I felt betrayed for some reason. My anger had subsided but my insecurities surfaced and sadness followed. I may have been able to forgive her for leaving if she had tried to contact me even once during the sixteen years that we were apart but since she didn't, I needed more than just time to get over it.

I sighed and that seemed to get April's attention. "Oh Chameleon, I'm sorry. Forget about the mall, what's the matter?"

"I don't know," I mumbled, staring out the window. "You know there aren't any stars here?"

"I'm sure there are a few," she said slowly. "You probably have to go on the roof of a really tall building to see them, that's all."

"I wanna come home," I whispered. "I miss you guys."

"We miss you more," she said quietly. "But it's going to be okay."

"How do you know that?"

"I know these things. Now, get some sleep, you'll feel much better after a good night's rest."

"Okay," I said and hung up.

I didn't go to bed though, I went downstairs to the kitchen. I can't help it, I eat a lot when I'm in distress and after eating my body weight in ice cream, I went to bed.

"Wake up sleeping beauty," someone said, tugging at my arm.

I groaned but kept my eyes closed. It was too early to be awake.

"It's almost noon," the voice said.

I opened my eyes slowly, and pulled the sheet over my head when I saw Carter sitting on the edge of the bed. "Hey, you're back," I murmured sleepily.

"Yeah. Can we talk for a minute?"

I shook my head. I wasn't up for having a conversation when I was barely even awake. I tended to be a grouch. "It's kind of important," he said while pulling the sheet away from my face.

I yawned, staring at the ceiling. "Okay, I'll try to pay attention."

"First of all, here," he grinned and handed me a small box.

"What's this?" 

"Open it."

I gave him a sidelong glance before I opened the lid. I laughed when I saw what was inside. "This isn't that important." Even as I said the words my heart warmed at his kindness.

"I saw it and instantly thought of you," he chuckled. 

I held up the mini pizza figurine and shoved him lightly. "Thank you."

I spent the rest of the day with him. We watched old movies and snacked on pizza. I was headed for a long month of grueling exercise if I kept up my current eating habits.

"Hey, Camille," Caitlyn interrupted us during Say Anything.

I hesitated before saying a feeble, "Hey."

"Oh c'mon, you sound scared," she teased.

"Nah, just wondering why you're here."

"Because I live here?"

I was growing tired of her presence. It put me in a bad mood. So I decided to ignore her instead. I glared at her when she wedged herself between Carter and me on the sofa, pretending to stare at the TV screen.

Instead of sitting there for the next hour in an awkward silence, I decided to leave. "Where are you going?" Carter asked.

"Outside."

"Something wrong?"

"Nothing that you can fix." I left the room but instead of going outside like I'd said, I went up to my room instead. I pulled out my phone and dialed Jason's number. I'd kind of neglected him these past few weeks.

"Hey, stranger," he said when he finally answered.

"Hey," I replied, sitting on the edge of my bed, staring at my unbelievably white walls. "What's up?"

"School's starting in a few days and I'm catching up on my summer reading."

"I read all the assigned books the week after school let out," I proudly stated.

"I know you did, weirdo," he laughed.

I smiled. "Damn, I miss you guys."

"Of course you do."

"I mean it."

"Then why is this first convo we've had since you moved?" he asked.

"Just because I'm an awful friend, doesn't mean I don't miss you," I defended.

"You're not an awful friend," he sighed.

I didn't respond.

"I'm thinking of trying out for the football team," he said, changing the subject.

"You don't even play," I said disapprovingly.

"I can learn. How hard can it be?"

"Harder than you think," I laughed. "But I wanna know how tryouts go, if it's anything like your soccer tryouts last year then it should be fun."

"Hey! This could be the sport for me," he defended.

"Uh huh, that's what you said last time.

"Why can't you have a little bit of faith in me?" he asked, sounding hurt.

"I'm sorry, you'll do great."

"Now you're just saying that to make me feel better," he said in what was supposed to be an angry tone, but he wasn't really angry, he rarely got angry.

"Did it work?"

"You bet it did!"

"Good, don't forget to text me when you make the team," I teased.

"Oh, you know I will," he laughed. "I should go though, I still have three books to finish."

"Right, I forgot about that, good luck."

"Thanks, Camille."

"Bye."

Talking to Jason always gave me a different emotion than talking to April. With Jason I could have a normal conversation without going too deep, but with April we always ended up talking about our latest problems. Not that I minded too much, it felt great to have someone there who'll listen to my every complaint but sometimes I just needed a break from all that.

My phone vibrated, I checked it and saw a text from Carter. Dinner time, its spaghetti night!

I deleted the text and plugged in my phone to charge.

I wasn't that hungry but if I hid in my room all night, Tori would come looking for me and then I'd have to talk to her, so I went to the dining room with the others. I didn't know what their deal was with these family dinners, it made me feel like I was intruding or something. I pushed that thought to the back of my mind as I sat down to eat.

"Pass me the salt, please Camille?" Blaine asked me.

I picked up the salt shaker and handed it to him. He was sitting away from Tori for the first time since my arrival and I wondered if they were having a fight. I would hate it if that was the case. I didn't want to live in another broken home.

"Do you want some?" Blaine asked someone.

I looked up from my plate and saw him gazing at Tori. From the way he was smiling, it was safe to assume that they were okay.

I didn't hear her response though, I was too busy wondering why my dad never got married after she left us. Sure, I'd met some of his girlfriends over the years but he'd never stuck with one long enough for me to get to know her. I furrowed my brows as I thought about it.

Sometimes it was still hard to believe that he was really gone.

"You okay?" Carter whispered in my ear.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I whispered back, picking up my fork. I pushed that thought to my back of mind also, and continued eating.

After dinner I took a shower and went straight to bed, tomorrow was the beginning of what would no doubt be a very long school year.

Photo on the side: Maia Mitchell as Madison.