~Part Four~


"Hamilton?" Sheryl Price sighed, laughing quietly to herself.  "Earth to Hamilton..."  Grabbing the edge of his sleeve from across the restaurant table and tugging lightly, she brought him out of his far away stare.

"Yeah?" he asked, forcing his eyes upward to meet hers.

Taking a deep breath Sheryl placed her hand in his, tracing along his fingers.  "I adore you more than anyone else in this world," she stated, smiling up at him.  "You know I do."  Hamilton couldn't help the slight blush that crept up his face.  She knew she could never get enough of that blush.  "Then, when you agreed to come to this school with me, I thought everything would work itself out," she told him, looking down at their joined hands again.  "But the fact of the matter is...I can't be in love with someone who's not in love with me."

Hamilton leaned towards her, now fully attentive.  "But I do..."

Placing a hand on his chin and brushing her thumb over his lips, Sheryl smiled, "Please don't say something you don't mean."

Looking back towards his hands Hamilton wasn't sure what to say.  Over the last year he'd had the perfect relationship, the perfect school, the perfect reputation.  Although everything in his life seemed perfect, none of that mattered to him anymore.  He didn't have Jake.

Throwing a pained smile on his face he looked up at her, meeting her eyes.  It wasn't that he didn't care about Sheryl, she'd been a wonderful friend.  But he would be lying if he told her he was in love with her.

"I'm sorry."

Putting on a genuine smile, Sheryl stood up, holding her hand out for him to take, "Being friends means never having to say you're sorry.  Just remember that."

Quietly taking her hand Hamilton followed her out of the restaurant they'd gone to for dinner, his thoughts wandering away again.

"You know the funny part is that when I first met you I knew there was something different happening between you and Jake.  At first I'd just thought it was because you were best friends.  It wasn't until you told me about who she really was a few months ago that I figure out exactly what it was that was special about the two of you," she told him as they both waited for the valet to bring her car around.

Hamilton looked up at her when she'd finished.  "There's not...I mean there really isn't anything between the two of us," he stated as the truthfulness of the words sunk their way into his skin even further.  He'd left her, and now a future with her really didn't exist.

Raising an eyebrow at him she laughed, "If she feels even half the way about you as you feel about her, there's definitely something there."

Watching her car as it rounded the corner and came to a stop right beside them, Sheryl ignored the droop that came over Hamilton's entire body.  Why couldn't he believe that Jake might have feelings for him?

Sliding into her car and waiting for him to get into the passenger's side she glanced into the rear view mirror, taking one last look at he city she'd called home during her junior year of high school.  A silent smirk crawled up her lips as Hamilton closed his door and she pulled the car out onto the freeway.

"Where are we going?  School's back the other way," Hamilton stated, turning towards her.

Sheryl looked over at him with amusement, "Nope, school's this way."

Hamilton's gaze shifted out through the back window of the car before returning to her.  Had she gone certifiably insane?

"I know what you're thinking," she began, laughing, "and I'm not crazy.  I just think that Rawley High as gone an entire year without you and now it needs you back."  She watched him from the corner of her eye, gauging his reaction.

Staring at her for a split second he began shaking his head back and forth.  "How can we be heading to Rawley?  All of our stuff is back there," he said, pointing his arm in the opposite direction as his eyebrows raised.

She couldn't help but laugh at him, "Nope, I paid Andrew to pack up all of your stuff and stick it in my trunk."

"You let him touch my stuff?!" Hamilton asked, horrified.

Sheryl just brought up a hand in her defense.  "He's your roommate.  He always touches your stuff."

"Well, what about enrollment?  I should call my dad and make sure they have an opening at the dorms for you," he said, pulling out his cell phone.

"Oh wait, can I borrow that for a second before you call?" Sheryl asked innocently, holding her hand out as she waited for him to hand her the phone.

Sighing he set it in her hand, "Yeah, just make it quick.  I want to call before...What are you doing?" he questioned, watching her as she pocketed the phone in the left side of her jeans.

"I already had one of your computer groupie friends hack in and he enrolled both of us, getting a dorm room for me."

"You hacked into my father's data base?"

Looking over at him she rolled her eyes, "Jake does it and it's amusing, I do it and it's a crime."

"It's not..." Hamilton closed his eyes, letting out a deep breath.  "Can I please have my phone back then?"

Seeming to contemplate his request for a minute, Sheryl finally shook her head.  "No."

"Why not?"

Sheryl bit her lips to keep from laughing at the confused boy sitting next to her.  "Because...there was another reason that you were going to call your Mom, and you're not getting out of this trip that easily."

Huffing to himself, Hamilton folded his arms in front of him.  "Well, what would be the point of going back if she's not even a student there anymore?"


He was pouting!  Oh, how she loved those sexy pouts of his!  "The point of going back is to find her and straighten things out.  Even if we end up driving to New York."

Placing his head in his hands, Hamilton squeezed his eyes shut, attempting to sort everything out.  "Okay, so you just broke up with me, we're taking an impromptu trip back to my home town, and if the opportunity should present itself, you, for some reason only the devil himself would know, would be willing to drive me all the way to New York just to settle things with Jake?!  Who are you and what have you done with Sheryl?" he asked, half believing she really was some pod person, taken over by aliens.

After a moment of silence she just shrugged, looking over at him.  "What can I say?  I like playing matchmaker."

.  .  .

The door to the Fleming house opened slowly, letting a small stream of light enter in from the street.  Slipping into the hallway Jacqueline tiptoed quietly to the foot of the stairs.

"You're in passed your curfew."

Freezing where she stood Jake walked back into the living room, mentally chiding herself for getting caught.  Flopping down into a chair she turned towards Kate, preparing herself for the blow.  "How deep am I in?"

Resting her chin onto one of her palms, Kate stared at the girl for a moment.  "A lot less since Steven has an early morning and has already gone to bed, not to mention that Bella's dad called to let me know you were over there."

"So...how bad we talking here?" she asked, holding her breath as she waited for the verdict.

Kate never could seem to place a proper punishment on the girl.  "Consider yourself off the hook, but next time I want the call to be coming from you.  Got it?"

Nodding and quietly thanking Charlie, Jake stood up, waiting to make sure that Mrs. Fleming didn't have anything else she wanted to talk to her about.

"Good night Jake."

"Night."

After brushing her teeth and washing her face Jake went into her room, stripping down before hopping into bed.  The summer weather was still hovering over the little town, and the less that was worn at night the better.

Sighing to herself she let her thoughts wander as her eyelids drifted down, lulling her to sleep.

.  .  .

It was a six hour drive to New Rawley, and since Sheryl and Hamilton hadn't left the restaurant until just after 8:00 it wasn't until 2:30 in the morning that they'd finally pulled up in front of his house.  About the only thing they'd talked about the entire way there was the fact that Hamilton thought it was a bad idea to even be driving there in the first place.

"Well, here we are," she stated, putting the car into park.  "I'll be over tomorrow morning to make sure you got settled in and everything."

Hamilton simply nodded his head as he stared toward his house.  Sighing deeply he finally pulled on the door handle, opening the passenger side door and stepping out as Sheryl popped the trunk for him.  It didn't take long for him to pull the two suitcases of his out of the trunk and head up the walkway.  Just as he reached the door he turned around, waving for her to take off.  He could do this.

Shaking her head and flipping her car back towards the school, Sheryl sighed.  "Five days..."

Once Hamilton was inside he set his suitcases down by the door.  He wouldn't need them until tomorrow and he really didn't want to take the chance of knocking them into something while he walked through the dark house.

He had to admit that he was somewhat happy to be home.  Not one time since he'd left over a year ago had he been back.  Any vacation spent with his parents was spent away from it.

Walking to his bedroom door and opening it a crack he peered in, barely making out the bed.  His mom had called and told him a while ago that a few things had been rearranged and he didn't want to be tripping over anything when he flopped down in bed.  Just as he began heading back out into the hallway he looked into his bedroom again, focusing his eyes.  There was a lump under his blankets...

Sighing as he headed straight for the bathroom, Hamilton shook his head.  "I can't believe Mom is letting the dogs in the house again."

As soon as he'd finished getting ready for bed he sauntered into his room and quietly made his way under the covers, careful not to wake up the dog.  It was going to be a big enough headache dealing with his lazy pet tomorrow morning, he really didn't want to have to deal with her tonight.  Tonight he wanted to sleep.