"Caleb?"

"That depends on who's asking."

"I-I'm friends with Eli," Mia breathed, trying to control her rapidly beating heart. Now knowing that this had to be Caleb, her fear started to evaporate. The adrenaline took a little longer, though. "He's been trying to find you. You are Caleb, right?"

Caleb let go of her and Mia turned around to face him. Good God, Eli had under-exaggerated when he said Caleb looked like a choir boy. He looked like some Abercrombie and Fitch model who should be trying to sell the red hoodie he had on instead of wearing it. Tall, lean and blond with blue eyes and a cheeky face, he looked fresh and hot.

"Who exactly are you?" He asked, raising one perfect brow. "Are you and Eli fucking or something?"

But of course he had the same mouth as Eli.

"Uh... that's complicated. The real question is, why the hell did you attack me like that?" She snapped, suddenly aware that he had just attacked her from behind like a thug. "You could've come up and talked to me like a normal person! What is it with you and Eli and your thing with sneaking up on people?!"

"You could have been a nark, I had to make sure!" Caleb countered, then suddenly grinned to Mia's surprise. "Besides, I've always wanted to try that whole 'attack-from-behind' thing. I see guys in movies do it all the time, it looks fun."

"The bad guys do it!"

"So what? The joker was a bad guy, he still had his fun?"

"The joker was a psychopa—" Why the hell were they discussing this? "Never mind, listen; Why have you been hiding?" Mia asked, looking seriously at Caleb. "Eli has been going out of his right mind, what about your sister?! You just left her, you—"

"Wow easy, lady!" Caleb said, holding up his hands to stop her furious rant. "That's my business, and frankly, you're very much a stranger. A ridiculously hot one, but still. Now, as much as I'd love to have a Forrest Gump moment with you on that bench over there and share you my whole story over a piece of chocolate, I really don't have the time. Your blue-haired friend just put a bug on my computer, after she traced my IP address—"

"Zoe did that?" Mia wondered out loud. She had certainly failed to mention that during her little 'I-did-it' speech. "Why would she do that?"

"Well, if I knew, then we wouldn't be out here talking on the street this lovely, cold evening," Caleb said, giving her a deadpan look. "Look sweetcheeks, I have no beef with you or your smurf friend in there, so could you just tell her to remove the bug, or else I'm going to fry her computer's memory chip. That means losing all her data and nude polaroids, selfies, cat pictures and—"

"I know what it means, but could you not do that?" Mia snapped. "I can't tell you why Zoe decided to do that – actually, I think I can – but I'm not going to. The only thing we need to focus on is that we need to go to Eli. And you have to go see your sister, because she misses you," Mia growled. "Got it? Good, then let's go, my car's right there."

"No! I can't!" Caleb exclaimed when Mia tried to walk around him to her car. She turned on her heel and looked at him. He looked dead serious. "I can't go back there, they can't find me."

"Why not?"

"Because then they'll find him."

Mia felt as if she'd just been hit in the stomach with a bat. "Him? You mean Eli?"

Caleb pressed his lips tightly together, then looked down. When he looked up again, she noticed his eyes looked... wet. "I miss my sister... God, I do. But if I go see her, I'll lead them straight to Eli. I won't do that."

"Who are 'they'?" Mia timidly asked, taking a step closer to Caleb.

"Bad people," He somberly answered, staring at the ground. "When I broke into the school and... and did all... that... Eli gave himself up for me. He risked his safety so I could stay with Elana, but now he's got a rap sheet," He said, looking up at Mia. "And it's my fault. I hacked into the police's database and tried to clear it as fast and thoroughly as I could, but they'd already seen it by then. The bad people."

Mia knew what she had said to Eli about her not wanting to ask about his past and she had meant it, but she was afraid she'd might have to break that promise. What Caleb was saying was that... bad people were looking for Eli.

"It's because he's so smart, isn't it?" Mia silently asked.

"You have no idea how truly smart he is," Caleb replied, looking at her with hard eyes. "He downplays it, even to me, but he's packing some serious gigabytes. How do you know him again?"

"The school..." She mumbled. "I go there, I-I got into a fight with him..."

"You mean he got into your panties."

"That's not—I mean—"

"So you are fucking," Caleb said, for some reason snorting ironically. "I shoulda known. Elijah can't stay away from the good girls. They're like catnip to him."

Ouch. That wasn't something Mia expected to learn about Eli. It made sense now that she thought about it, though, or maybe it was just the only rational explanation she had gotten as to why it was that he decided to target her when he clearly didn't seem to like her at first. Just like she didn't like him. Their relationship was so fucked up.

"He's helping me with an art piece," Mia finally said. "His tattoos..."

"Yeah, they are like catnip to the ladies," Caleb smirked. "Told ya' he's smart."

"Yeah, uh... about that... listen, I kinda get that you're, uh, staying away from Eli because you're... protecting him?" Mia tried. When Caleb gave something that could've resembled a confirmative gesture, she continued. "But is there any way we could all three meet and maybe... talk this through? Whatever it is that these... bad people want from Eli—"

"Not what they want from him. What they want with him," Caleb said through gnashed teeth. "Listen sweetcheeks, you don't know what you're poking your pretty little nose into. I get that you're trying to help or whatever, but you can't. They are watching me, and if I come anywhere near Eli, then that's it for him. They'll..." Caleb's voice died down.

"They'll what?" Mia pressed on, feeling a twist in her stomach.

Caleb blew out a breath, then sighed. "I'm sorry, I just can't tell you. Eli took a risk telling me and now look where that got me. You should get out of this before it gets too serious, sweetcheeks."

"First of, my name is Mia," Mia said. What was it with her and her inability to introduce herself these days? "And second of all, what do you plan on doing, then? Staying away from Eli and Elana for the rest of your days until you die? And here I thought you were smart."

"Mia, I could blow your whole mind with just your iPhone and a decent wifi signal," Caleb told with a glint of rebel in his eyes. "But what you don't realize is that if you get involved in this, your mind is not only going to get blown, it's going to get fucked up sideways. I admit I don't have an endgame to this yet, but—"

"Let me help you find that endgame!" Mia cut in. She pulled her jacket tighter when a cold wind blew by. "Look, I'm not going to back away just because some bad people are out to harm Eli. He's my friend and I care about Elana, too." She noticed pain flash across Caleb's face by the mention of his sister's name. "Let me help you. Please. I know you two are geniuses, but I think you could still use all the help you can get."

Caleb was silent for a moment. He had stuffed his hands into his pockets and was staring at the ground. After another moment, he silently asked. "How's she doing? Is she okay? Is she eating her greens? I've told Eli she has to eat all the green she can so she can stay healthy, and I told him to remember to brush her teeth when I wasn't home and—"

"Eli is taking good care of her," Mia smiled and then out of sheer compassion, stroked Caleb's arm. He seemed to find some comfort in it, unlike Eli, who usually flinched away. "I think he loves her just as much as you do. He brought her to the school one day. We got to babysit her," Mia told. "She's stubborn and she knows what she wants, but at the same time she's so sweet and shy, and perhaps the prettiest little girl I've ever seen. The whole room fell in love with her instantly."

"That's my girl," Caleb chuckled, but the smile didn't really reach his eyes. "So much like our mom. She's gonna be a heartbreaker one day."

"I think she already is."

Caleb sighed and then rubbed his face before he stepped backwards and leaned up against the wall, the same one he had shoved Mia up against. "Alright. I see why Eli took a liking in you. You're actually a little like Elana." He gave her a smile before he looked down at the ground. "Cute on the surface, but fierce on the inside."

"Thanks." Mia smiled and waited a long second. "So... what's your plan? Are you staying some place?"

"I'm staying under the radar at the moment," He replied. "The bad guys are tracking me because they know I tried to remove Eli's criminal record. Anything that could put him on the map could harm him. The moment I tried to swipe his slate clean, they knew I had to have some sort of connection to him. If they find me, they can find him. But if they can't find me..."

"I see..." Mia said, now also looking at the ground. This was a tough one. Eli was clearly hiding from someone, or maybe several people from the sound of it. Laying low in clubs was a good cover. The people he rolled with, too. But Caleb was a liability and it seemed Caleb knew that himself. Eli had taken a risk befriending him, and now the consequences were coming. Caleb wanted to repay the favor Eli did by protecting him and Elana that night they broke into the school, but now that had cost Caleb his ability to see his sister. Caleb couldn't take Elana with him right now, seen as though he was staying underground, it wouldn't be safe for her and she shouldn't get involved in all that. That meant Eli had to keep taking care of her, and on top of all the shit he was trying to deal with too, that wasn't really what he needed... yeah, this was a tough one.

"Can you do me a favor?" Caleb suddenly said. Mia looked up and found him looking at her.

"Of course. What is it?"

"Will you tell Elana I'm okay?" He asked with a hoarse voice. "I'm gonna come back, I just don't know when. Tell her I miss her. And that I love her. Get Eli to tell her if you don't speak ASL."

Mia swallowed heavily and then nodded. The pain evident on Caleb's face was enough to break her heart. Not being able to be there for his disabled baby-sister had to be hard on him. Elana was his only family, he had to be missing her like crazy. "I'll let her know. I promise."

"Good," Caleb nodded, blinking fast. "That's good. And also, could you tell Eli I'm sorry I fucked up? I know I shouldn't have trashed the school, I just got so..."

"I know..." Mia said, giving him a weak smile. "It's okay."

"No, it's not. Tell him I'm sorry. This is all my fault..." He shook his head and then got up from the wall. "I'm gonna bounce. It was nice meeting you, Mia."

"Wait, one last thing, Caleb," Mia said, quickly placing her hand on his shoulder. He looked back at her. "Just tell me this; The people who are after Eli, are they... criminals?"

Caleb silently shook his head. "Criminals? No. Dangerous? Hell yeah." He looked back down the street. "Eli was lucky he escaped. Where he came from... well, let's just say, they should have a whole other prison for people like them."

And then he walked away, leaving Mia shocked to her core. She was afraid her biggest fear about Eli had just come true.

• • •

Fears really do come true.