AMELIA

As the sun rises, Cam is released. It has only been six hours since I left the after-party of his win, but things are no longer the same.

When Cam emerges, he still won't spare me a glance, instead heading straight for Myles.

"So, how did this happen?" He asks Myles, who stands next to me.

"The Clarke's dropped all charges," the lawyer explains.

"But why?" He asks, cluelessly.

I want to tell him, but I can't bring myself to, so I hold back.

"Maybe there's no reason, maybe they just wanted to get you out of their home," Myles, also unknowledgeable says to Cam, and Cam scoffs in disbelief.

"There is no way. I know that woman; there's a cost to anything she does. But I will find out from Harper."

"They're taking Harper to Europe," I blurt out, and for the first time since Cameron walked out, he looks over at me.

He blinks, his head angled slightly back. "What?"

"To get you released... she, um, she signed a deal to move to Europe, to Mrs. Clarke's mother's place," I struggle to admit it. I don't know if I'm doing the right thing or not, but I know he has to know.

"For fuck's sake," he winces, rubbing his temples, a vein popping up on his forehead. He looks stressed with under-eye bags from lack of sleep.

"Are you okay?" Myles asks him, concerned.

"Take me to their house," Cam tells the man, swerving on his heels.

No way!

My body reacts before my brain can.

"Cameron, they won't set you free next time." I grab his arm, but he angrily yanks it away as if my touch is the most poisonous thing ever. I freeze with a lump in my throat, just needing somewhere quiet where I can cry.

He heads for Myles's SUV while I remain stationary, but Myles is able to stop him.

"Stop it, okay? Amy is right. You can't go. Think about it," the man vigorously and resolutely talks some sense into Cam, his hand pressed on the passenger door, preventing Cam from opening it.

"She is my sister," Cam grits.

"Believe me, she's old enough to stand up for herself," Myles asserts.

"What the fuck?" Cam shoves Myles vehemently. "That's what you will say, you fucking piece of shit!" he exclaims, his fist in the air, aiming for Myles's face.

We are in the parking lot of the police station, for goodness' sake. What is he doing?

"CAMERON!" Myles yells at him, and he freezes, his clenched fist trembling. "Pull yourself together. Do not self-sabotage," he thunders, and Cam grunts. His fist doesn't go down; it goes straight through the SUV window, the pressure of the blow shattering the entire glass. There's quiet between the four of us for a while. My heart is pounding in my chest as I watch him hurt. He leans his head against the car, no longer moving.

"All I'm saying is you have to let her go. If she really wants to come home to you, she will come back. She has every right to. Maybe there's something holding her back, Cameron. She's been through so much, you just told me. But you have to stand back and let her come home this time. It's not on you to force her," Myles retorts at Cam, who is respiring loudly, his back rising and falling.

He looks over at Myles. He is hurt by the bitter truth, staring at Myles as though he'd stabbed him in betrayal.

"What?" Cam gasps, despairingly, and jerks his arm away from Myles. Disgruntled, he walks towards me. My mind prays for his hug, so I can promise him I will never let him go, but he snatches the key to his car from my hand and walks past me.

"Cameron?" I call, but he doesn't turn back. He keeps walking until he is in the car, and the car takes off, distancing itself from me.

And spoiler alert is, apart from TV, this is the last time I see the car or his face that year.

***

I have gone to school on my own since then, I had talked to Cam's boys, but none of them had seen him. I sleep on our bed alone too after days and days of searching the city for him. Myles says Cam hasn't left Portland, and that he has people to make sure of that so he doesn't get in trouble on some continent.

It is Malia and Isaac who come to stay with me while the house starts echoing haunting memories of Cam and me together, driving me insane. We set up a sleepover in the living room, but at night when everyone is asleep, I sneak out to his room because it is only there that I can feel his presence.

He has left me, and it is hard to accept the truth.

Then the last few days of school before the holidays come, everyone starts to notice the absence of Cam. There are new headlines that claim Cam gained fame and dumped the college girl for a supermodel. Since then, all of the classes have been excruciating with the gossip going around. Deeja is instantaneous to come to tell me sorry about the breakup, but clearly, I couldn't miss the shade of it.

Math class is no longer as it used to be; indeed, I have Malia and Isaac, but it used to have Harper and Cam, but now there's only Bree and Rose, who also seem to grieve.

The days pass, and people usually say time heals, but for me, with every new day after waking up with the hope that I'd come down to Cam making breakfast, that hope is crushed, and I'd think of him more, miss him more, and love him more.

His phone is at home with me, but sometimes I like leaving a voicemail; I could hear the recording of him, and I'd cry myself to sleep.

Less than a week before Christmas, I print out my flight ticket and I am getting my things together for the holiday, for I won't be back here until after the new year, so with my cup of coffee, I go to empty the mailbox.

Packing a pile of envelopes back inside, checking it by the kitchen island while I talk with Malia on the phone, as she has already flown out to Tennessee.

"When are you leaving?" she asks me from the receiver.

"Tomorrow, how was your flight?"

"I was tired, but as soon as I saw Ashton, I felt better. We are cuddling now. I will send you a photo of us." She excitedly says and then there's a new notification coming in, and I tap on speaker and slide into messages. There they are, Malia and her yellow cat snuggling in her swing chair in her room. They're so cute.

"Awww! He must have missed you."

"Yes, and I haven't gotten him anything for Christmas, but I will go do last-minute shopping for gifts." While she was talking, she lost me in the mail I found.

It's from a health clinic, and I know I shouldn't open it, but curiosity about Cam's safety is all I can think of at the moment.

"Malia, I will call you back." I let the girl know and ended the call when we said 'later.'

My heart beats, and I tear the envelope open.

The heading says something about therapy! Two years of therapy.

All of a sudden it all makes sense. Cam is really trying to get better!

I set the paper aside and let myself breathe for a while, as this is too much.