Cailey sat on her bed, staring at the sheet music spread out on the grey and burgundy quilt she had bought at a garage sale the week before. She was making notations on photocopies she had made, not wanting to mark on the originals. It had been difficult to find the libretto for The Dolls of New Albion, and she did not want to mar it. 

She was having trouble focusing, finding herself gritting her teeth at the racket Alex was making outside of her door. It was so long since she had examined the wounds left on her by that day. The looks of admiration for Alex on Jimmy and Kyle's faces as he insulted her, humiliated her in front of everyone in the hallways. Even the teachers.

She wondered what he would think if he found out that Kyle had tried to go out with her all through high school. 

Cailey shook her head and stared hard at the sheet music. Auditions were coming up for the university choir and the musicals in the drama department. The department here lost no time in getting started and if she was going to make a good first impression she had to focus. She had to forget about the petty irritation outside. That's all he was. An irritation. Nothing more than a sore spot on history that had happened years ago. She didn't need to think about him. She needed to practice. 

She was nearly done transposing the song Elysian Night to the correct key, the original having been written for a tenor. She was a mezzo, so it was close to where she needed it to be already. Finally able to shut out her annoyances, she finished making the notes she needed to, and sang. She sang the song over and over. Perhaps she focused a little too hard on perfecting the part about the childhood friend, but that didn't matter. Who cared if he heard?

It was late by the time she went to sleep. It had been a long couple of days with the move and then the shock. She suddenly stopped singing, realizing she had been doing so for a little longer than she intended. Not wanting to tire out her voice, Cailey changed into her pajamas. She did not want to leave her room right now. She did not want to talk to him. Instead, she brushed her teeth in her room and spit the toothpaste into an empty water bottle. When she crawled into bed and allowed her mind to start wandering, the good times she had spent with Alex as a child played through her mind, unwanted as they were. She fantasized about telling him off, about telling him everything she had written out in letter after letter that she never sent, about slapping him... about getting one of those hugs he gave when he was so happy he couldn't keep it in. Like the first time she had caught a fish after his thorough instruction. She fantasized about getting one of those smiles that he gave when he was amused by a person, like when she tossed that same fish back because she had liked how pretty its scales were and wanted it to have beautiful babies.

She frowned into her pillow. He probably didn't even do those things anymore. He was a different person now, and so was she. Especially her. She wouldn't let him treat her like that ever again. Cailey finally drifted off, dreaming dreams of singing waves and mechanical fish.

She woke in the morning to a soft knock on the door of her room, and for a second she was confused about where she was. It was tough sleeping in a new room. She had lived in the same house her whole life. The transition to this apartment would take time.

[color=a36209]“Cailey?”[/color] Cailey sat up, yawning and clearing her throat. Remembering who it was that was trying to talk to her, she heaved a sigh and let out a grunt of frustration into her hands.

[color=a36209]“I’m sorry to bother you, I just thought that we should catch up.  I’ve got to work today, till noon, but I thought it’d be nice if we could meet up afterwards."[/color] Cailey grimaced at the door. They were roommates. What else could they do after he got out of work but meet up? [color=a36209]"I know it’s a bit of a drive, but how about that place back home on main, Mary’s Diner.  If it’s still there I mean.  If not, we can find something else.”[/color]

Oh no. He remembered her weakness for strawberry waffles. Mary's Diner had the best strawberry waffles in the state.

[color=a36209]“Cailey?”[/color] 

Slowly, Cailey crossed her room and opened the door wide enough for one dark eye to peer out at Alex. It was the first time she had looked at him once she had stopped staring at him in shock on move in day. [color=0076a3]"Mary's Diner is still around."[/color] She opened her mouth to keep talking but suddenly couldn't think of what else to say. Instead, she just looked up at him suspiciously with one eye, hoping she wasn't making a complete fool of herself.