I almost fall asleep at the wheel. I jolt awake, when a car horn screams. Thankfully, I have time to turn the wheel in time.

After a few quick breaths, Meliah puts her hand on my arm, "Why don't I drive for you?" I nod and pull over to switch seats with her. The hum of the car engine puts me right to sleep.

"Caleb, wake up," she coaxes in a cute, soft voice.

I put my hand on my eyes and rub them with my fingers. She ruffles my messy hair and opens the door for me. Chris looks up from the couch when Meliah opens the front door. He stops and looks at me and then back to his sister, "Oh, you are so dead."

"Mom? Dad?" she calls and walks into the house.

"Meliah? Where were you?" her mom asks worriedly and puts her arms around her daughter. She doesn't notice me until Meliah turns around to include me in the conversation.

"Caleb and I were getting something to eat," Meliah explains. It isn't a lie.

She smiles at us and asks Meliah, "How was it?"

"Mom," she lightly chides.

"Alright, alright. Caleb, did you want to stay the night over here?" Mrs. Woods suggests.

I glance at Meliah, who looks just as surprised as I am. Things escalate quickly, "Oh, I was just dropping Meliah back home. I don't want to be a bother," Meliah winks at me. I'm doing well so far.

"Nonsense. As long as it's okay with your parents, you can stay with us," Meliah's mom welcomes me, watching her husband walk out from the hallway.

"Caleb, long time no see," he says sarcastically.

"Pleasure to see you again, Mr. Wood," I smile.

He extends his hand out to me. Shocked, I take it and give it a firm shake, "Did you guys have fun?"

"Dad!" Meliah steps in and squeals again.

"Well, I sure did. You're daughter's a good girl," I comment.

"That's good to hear. Don't you let her get into any trouble now," he points his finger at me and warns.

"You've got it sir," I promise and follow Meliah into the hallway.

She makes me look away so she can change her clothes. When she tells me it's safe to look, I turned around to a glaring girl in cozy pajamas.

"What?" I ask and advance towards her.

"You sure are racking up the brownie points with my parents."

"I just want them to like me," I confess and get in bed with her.

"Trust me. They love you," she smirks and kills the light, "Goodnight Caleb."

"What, no goodnights kiss?" I pout, lying down in front of her.

She presses her lips to mine gently and pulls them back, "I love you."

"I love you too. Goodnight," I cuddle and press her head to my chest. Apparently, I make a good pillow because she sleeps on me the whole night.

***

               We spent our Sunday together at a number of different places. In the morning, Meliah's mom made Nutella pancakes. They filled me up to the brim of my stomach. The afternoon came and went while Mel and I kill time at the park. It was a beautiful day and I couldn't help but take some candid shots of my new girlfriend. Towards dinner, we ate at a sandwich place and went to see a movie. It was like I was living in a dream. It's been so long since I've been this happy. I almost forgot what it felt like. By the time we got back from the movie, Meliah's parents were asleep, so I ditched my excuses and jumped into bed with my sleepyhead.

               In the morning, I wake up to the sound of an iPhone camera click. Meliah instantly spins around to find Chris laughing at us. We must've fell asleep before we could close the door.

"Chris!" Meliah shouts at her brother and runs towards him. His laughter bounces off of the walls until the door is closed.

With a heavy sigh and groan, she pushes her hair out of her eyes, "Do you see what I have to live with?"

"Would you like to trade?" I ask and pull my shirt over my head and start looking for a new one.

"Preferably no," she holds up an outfit and gives it an unsure look.

I toss one of my hoodies towards her. It falls into her arms. She smiles brightly at the bold "Parker" on the back. It's much too big on her, but she still rocks it.

I look down at the bruises and cuts still covering the skin on my chest. Meliah strolls to my side and traces her finger around the massive bruise. It's visible on my arms too, which meant I wouldn't be able to wear a t-shirt to school.

Her finger barely grazes a soft spot, causing pain to swirl up my chest. I wince quietly and she coils back quickly, apologizing immediately.

"I just wish he would tell me what I'm doing wrong," I look away and pull a t-shirt over my head then my leather jacket to cover my arms.

"Maybe he will someday. You never know," she spins towards the dresser and plugs an iron in.

I look up at her to see if she is joking, but she isn't, "Thanks, but I honestly don't think that's gonna happen."

We each eat a bowl of cereal, watching closely at each other's faces, resulting in a lot of laughing. When we're done, Meliah gets up to clean up after ourselves. She rolls onto her toes to reach the top shelf. I fumble to find my camera.

"Freeze!" I tell her. She stands as still as she can. I snap a picture of her, "Okay you can move now."

"What was that for?" Meliah giggles and closes the pantry door.

I smile, "You looked cute."

She blushes, "I don't think I've ever seen you without your camera."

"You never know when you need to capture pure beauty," I shake my head and trail behind her towards the car. I take another picture of her looking at the road.

"You delete that one!" she points to my camera and tries to sound serious.

"Are you kidding? That's cute! Definitely a keeper."

She takes my camera from my hands and holds it out the window. I freeze and sit in silence, with my jaw dropped.

"Now you shut up," she rolls her eyes and tossed it back into my lap.

I sigh with relief, "Never, ever do that to me again."

Meliah puts on a smirk, "Sometimes I think you love that thing more than me."

I kiss her cheek as we roll into the school, "Of course I do."

She scoffs and makes a poor attempt to hide her smile. Once we're out of the car, a bunch of her friends nearly tackle her to the ground, which apparently was "normal". They stop when they notice me getting out of the car.

"Ooh, Meliah, who's this?" they ask and giggle.

"Hi, I'm Caleb," I introduce myself and smile a little.

"For viewing only," Meliah says, which makes them giggle again. They start to walk into the school.

"Bye Caleb! See you at lunch!" she shouts over the shoulders of her friends.

I wave and stick my hands in my pockets, watching her until she is out of sight.

Evan comes around and claps me on the back, which hurts a lot, but I ignore it, "Hey man! Long time no see."

"Hey, what's up?" I ask and shake his hand.

"Not much Parker, not much. Been sick over the weekend, sorry I couldn't play ball with ya," Evan frowns.

"That's cool, you sick enough to let me win today after school?" I try.

"Yeah sure, but you better watch out, this sickness is contagious. You'd better not get it and let me win," Evan laughs and walks with me into the school.

During passing time in 3rd hour, Evan and I lean against the lockers and talk for a while. My eyes catch my strikingly beautiful girl again. It almost looks like she's wearing a halo. Evan finds my stare and punches my shoulder playfully.

"Parker, I'm sorry man, but you are never gonna get her. That's Meliah Wood, incredibly good looking and - from what I heard - she's quite the kisser. She's dating Gavin anyways, the most popular guy in this school," Evan warns. I shake my head and let him think what he wants.

"Hey Caleb," she flashes a cheesy smile and steals a quick kiss at my cheek.

"Hey Mel," I smile back. Her friend turns around to see me and giggled.

I looked back to Evan to find his jaw dropped. My last name is printed across the back of the hoodie I let her wear. I shrug at him, "What can I say? I'm a lady's man."

"Damn! Teach me your ways!" Evan begs.

"Sure thing rookie," I walk towards my fourth hour with a confident smile.

Surprisingly, the hour passes quickly and I'm watching a brown paper bag set down in front of my eyes.

"So, how has your day been so far?" Meliah askes and sits down at the table next to me.

"Great, sliding by easily, how about you?"

"Pretty good, I wish I got to see you in more," she frowns.

"I know, I wish we had classes together," I frown back, showing off my puppy face.

"You and Evan though," Meliah smirks as she opens her bag.

"Yeah, we're pretty good friends. He seemed pretty shocked to see you waltz up to me earlier," I wink.

She smiled, "I thought I saw that look on his face. He's a funny guy, I used to be close with him in junior high. I guess we stopped talking once high school started."

"That's too bad. Maybe I can mend this old friendship?" I ask.

"Maybe. It doesn't have to happen, but I'd like that," she tosses me a piece of peanut butter and jelly.

"You're the best," I toast my sandwich to her.

Different from class, lunch feels like it lasts two minutes, rather than thirty. We walk as far as we can together, swinging our hands that are tightly locked together.

I've thought about it for a while. On Friday, I was walking alone with my head at the ground through these same halls. Now, I have Mel and it feels like we've been together for ages.

Her locker is closer to the lunchroom, so I don't have a long time to be with her, "I'll see you after school then, two more hours," she says and opens her locker. I press my lips to hers and pull back quicker than I would prefer if we are alone.

"That's too long, but I guess I can't argue. I'll see you later, Mel," I back away slowly.

"Bye Caleb," she frowns with a face full of sadness.

In my sixth hour, we have a guest speaker. She is one of an alumni's parents and apparently comes with a different speech prepared every year. Everyone tells me about how good it was last year and how happy they are to see her back. For once, I listen carefully to what she has to say.

She explains that everyone has a purpose in life, whether it's to make someone happy in their life through marriage, to teach people lessons, or whatever we are made to do. God put us on this earth with some sort of purpose in mind, which I agree with. There is a reason why I'm still alive.

Then she goes on to talk about saving people's lives and putting their needs above your own. What I really got from the speech comes near the end.

Everybody chases dreams in their lives and it's not an easy battle. For some, people chase their dream of being a professional sports player. Others dream of becoming a model or a fashion designer. Even if you don't know what you want to do, you're always chasing something. I'm determined to find out what I've been chasing in my life. I strain to see the foggy image of my dream, my purpose in life. I almost didn't hear the bell ringing above the thoughts in my mind.