The first morning of school, she was shaking. She picked up Hannah, and they drove in relative silence when they got there. She got out and told her new sister, “I don’t have to work today, so I can wait, but I want to try to be out of here by three twenty.”
“I’ll be back here by then,” Hannah said as she headed over to where some of her friends were.
Dakota had told her to check with the office to see if they had made the changes to her file yet. So her first goal was to get her schedule (which was sent to her mom’s house) and to see what her name was going to be today.
When she walked into the office, Ms. Johnson smiled. “I have your schedule printed out, and we were able to make all the changes, so you should be good to go.”
She couldn’t get used to seeing her new name, but every time she saw it, she had to smile: Callista Hunter. She couldn’t help but think about Dakota and the fact that he wasn’t there with her. Someone bumped into her, and she looked up. “Thank you, Ms. Johnson.” The older woman just nodded as she started talking to someone else.
She looked at the clock on the wall and realized the first bell would ring in a minute, so she headed to her homeroom. She had barely reached the stairs when the bell rang, and she rushed up the stairs, hoping to avoid the crowd.
She walked in and sat down at the desk with the folder that had her new name on it. Ms. Bell walked in, smiling, and said, “Miss Marson, I believe you’re in the wrong room.”
She got up and handed the teacher her schedule. “I got married over the summer. My name’s Cally Hunter now.”
It was clear that her teacher didn’t agree with this. “I heard one of the students got married. I just assumed it was a senior.” Ms. Bell gave her the paper back and said, “Sit down then.”
She watched as many of the people she knew walked in and took their seats, a few giving her a strange look. When the final bell rang, Ms. Bell started her first day speech and ended with, “Does anyone have questions?”
It would figure that Seth’s best friend would be the one to ask. “Why is Cally in here? She should be in Mr. Porter’s homeroom.”
Ms. Bell looked to her with that “I told you so” look, and instead of having to force her teacher to explain, Cally jumped in. “Over the summer, I got married and took my husband’s name.”
That had done it. Everyone was either staring or whispering, and Conner asked, “Who gets married when they’re in high school?”
Someone else asked, “Are you pregnant?”
“I’m not pregnant and I am married. It’s not a big deal, so lay off,” she warned, hoping to get this over with as fast as she could.
Just then, the bell rang, and she headed out the door when Ms. Bell grabbed her arm. “It’s only going to get harder, so you had better be prepared for this.”
She knew her teacher felt bad for her, but she was happy, and she knew she could do this. “I have nothing to do here but get my diploma, so it doesn’t matter what anyone says or does.”
That look she gave Cally told her that she would need that confidence if she was going to make it through this. “If you need anything, my door is open.”
As Cally walked down the hall to first period, she could hear the start of the rumors. There wasn’t a step where someone wasn’t talking about her and there wasn’t a word they said that bothered her either. It didn’t matter what any of them thought. She loved Dakota and loved him enough to take him as her husband, and she wasn’t ashamed to let everyone know it.
When she walked into Geometry, the first face she saw was the one she didn’t want to see. Seth was sitting in the far corner, talking to a few of their friends, and she did the only thing she could. She sat at a desk on the opposite side of the room as far from him as she could get.
Mr. Porter started class before any of them could come over and say anything, and she was thankful. But no matter how fast she was, she couldn’t beat Seth out of the room. He ambushed her in the classroom demanding, “What the heck?”
She looked him in the eyes and said it point-blank. “I married him, and I want you to leave me alone. I don’t want you calling or coming over or anything. Just leave me alone!” She pushed her way past him and rushed to her next class.
She was one of the first ones in the lunchroom that day and considering she didn’t eat at school, ever, she just sat down at the table near the door. She hadn’t said much of anything to anyone and didn’t expect to have much of a social life this year. But it wasn’t long before a few friends sat down with her and started asking, “Why did you get married?” and “What about Seth?”
Cally shook her head as Janna called out, “Hannah, why don’t you sit with us?” As Janna started introducing her, she just laughed. But then Janna turned the focus back on her. “Well, Cally, what happened?”
She shook her head. There wasn’t much to say, and she started laughing harder when Hannah asked, “What do you mean what happened?”
Janna looked at her and started the fill-in. “Cally and Seth were a hot couple last year. But Cally broke it off with him. They were supposed to get back together before school started, but now there’s a rumor that—”
Janna looked at Cally to finish, but Hannah did it for her. “That Cally got married.” Everyone looked at Cally’s new sister, and then to her, but Hannah wasn’t done. “To my brother.”
Now that got their attention and a very loud “What?”
Cally was still laughing. “I married her brother on August fourth, and I’m very proud of it.”
Mark asked, “Are you pregnant?”
She just shook her head. “I’m not pregnant and I wasn’t when I got married, and yes, he knew I wasn’t.”
“Then why did you do it?”
There was only one answer that made sense. “Because he’s an angel and I love him.”
They looked at her like she was insane, and Amanda asked, “And what about Seth?”
“I told him to leave me alone. I don’t want anything to do with him.” She looked at the rings on her finger and said, “I will never cheat on him. I won’t do anything that could ever destroy what we have.”
Janna was the first to say it, “O.M.G., you are in love-love.”
She just looked at Hannah and nodded. “I am.” And Hannah smiled back, clearly approving of her answer.
“So what was the wedding like? Do you have pictures?” Amanda asked.
Hannah pulled out a pack of pictures and started explaining everything to the smallest detail. Cally had no real interest in getting anyone’s approval or being the novelty, so she let Hannah have her moment. When the packs of pictures came to her, she started pulling out a set. She hadn’t seen anything from the ceremony, and with each picture, something changed in her.
They really did look good together, and he was the most handsome man in his uniform. His short hair was hidden by his hat, but you could still see his deep penetrating gaze. She handed the pictures back to Hannah when lunch was over and put the set she took in her bag.
As they were walking out the door, Hannah came up beside her. “I was going to give you a set after school.”
She looked over to her new sister. “I’m sorry I just took them. I don’t have any pictures of us or of Dakota.”
Hannah just laughed. “You’re family now. It doesn’t matter.”
The rest of the day went much the same. People would point and stare and ask the same questions over and over. The teachers