A Kiss At Midnight (Delilah and Caelum) novel Chapter 80

Chapter 80

DELILAH POV.

“Damn, did you guys see the new guy?”

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I barely paid attention as I bent down to touch my toes, holding the stretch while Kaia stood beside me lazily rolling her shoulders.

“He is so hot,” another girl practically sighed.

“Hot?” a third scoffed, “he might actually be the hottest guy in the school.”

That caught my attention as I glanced sideways just as a couple of girls from the grade below walked past us, completely engrossed in their conversation.

“I heard he isn’t even new,” one of them said, causing the others stopped.

“What do you mean?”

“He isn’t new,” she repeated, lowering her voice, “It’s actually Caelum.”

There was a beat of silence. “Caelum?”

“Yeah.”

“Which Caelum?”

She looked at them like they’d asked the dumbest question imaginable, Caelum Hart.”

“What, the nerd?” another practically shrieked, and the girl nodded enthusiastically

“I’m serious! I saw him this morning and almost walked right past him because I didn’t recognize him.”

The other girl exchanged stunned looks. “No freaking way.”

“I swear,” one of them let out a low whistle.

“Who would’ve thought the nerd had that hiding under those oversized clothes? I guess baggy clothes really were doing him dirty.”

“Well,” the last girl said with a grin, brushing her hair over her shoulder, “someone better snatch him up before anyone else does.”

The girls burst into giggles as they continued across the field, still talking excitedly about the school’s newest obsession, while I remained frozen in my stretch, my gaze lingering on their retreating figures.

Once they disappeared into the growing crowd, their excited chatter fading beneath the whistles and voices echoing across the field. Beside me. Kaia let out a scoff before the corners of her lips curled into a knowing smirk.

“Seems like someone’s gotten popular,” I didn’t answer, Instead, I bent one leg behind me, stretching my quad as though I hadn’t heard her, “I can see why you were so adamant in the first place.”

That earned her a look and she immediately raised both hands in exaggerated surrender. “I’m just saying.”

Irolled my eyes and returned my attention to stretching, but She wasn’t wrong. I had been adamant, maybe more than I

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Chapter 80

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I had known the moment I convinced Caelum to wear clothes that actually fit him and tidy up his hair, people were going to notice. It wasn’t as though he had suddenly become handsome overnight, he always had been.

Most people had just never looked past the oversized hoodies, faded jeans, and the quiet boy who kept to himself.

Now they had

And judging by the way everyone’s heads had turned the second he had walked through Crestmont Prep’s front gates this morning..I’d been right.

Girls had practically swarmed him between classes, buzzing around him like bees discovering a fresh field of flowers.

As annoying as it was to admit, I’d mentally prepared myself for this.

I’d known it would happen.

That didn’t stop me from hating every second of watching them crowd around him.

“Delilah..”

“Hm,” I blinked, turning slightly to look at Kaia who was watching me with an amused smile.

“So..” she dragged out, “how’d Saturday go?” a grin spread across her face, “I know you two spent the morning together.”

My gaze drifted from her knowing there was a smug look on her face. “It was nice.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “That’s it?”

I shrugged one shoulder. “We had breakfast, talked for a bit.”

“And?”

“And.” I stretched my arm across my chest, “that was pretty much it.”

She stared at me for a full second before letting out the most dramatic groan. “Oh, come on!”

“What?”

“You are being so discreet when I want the juicy details.”

“There are no juicy details.”

“Liar.” I scoffed, though the corner of my lips betrayed me by lifting into a small smile, before bending forward to stretch toward my toes before slowly rolling back up to standing.

The movement had barely finished when she suddenly gasped. “Oh my God,” I frowned, looking back up at her to find her

were fixed on my neck, “What is that?”

eyes

Instinctively, my hand flew to the delicate chain resting against my collarbone. “Oh,” I tried to sound casual. “This?”

“No,” she deadpanned. “The invisible one.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s just a necklace.”

Her grin widened into something downright mischievous. “I can see that, but what I would like to know is who is it from.”

Bitting the inside of my cheek, trying not to smile too much. “It was a birthday gift… from Caelum.”

“I figured,” she leaned closer, carefully lifting the small pendant between her fingers. “I have to admit,” her teasing expression

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Chapter 80

softened into something genuine. “It’s actually really pretty.”

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I looked down at it myself, the silver chain caught the morning sunlight, the small pendant glinting softly against my skin. “I like it too.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” she teased, nudging my shoulder, “I don’t think it’s the necklace you like.”

“Kaia.”

“What? I’m just making an observation.”

Before I could think of a comeback, a familiar voice drifted toward us. “Well..” Both of us looked up to Lindsey walking across the field with her usual entourage trailing behind her.

Her gaze swept over me before settling on the necklace for the briefest moment, and the corner of her mouth curled.

“I guess some things never change,” she rolled her eyes before continuing past without another word, her friends following close behind. I watched her go, then let out a quiet breath.

“What was that supposed to mean?” Kaia muttered.

“I have no idea.” the whistle shrilled across the field before either of us could say anything else, signaling the end of P.E.

After getting changed and freshening up in the locker rooms, Kaia and I walked out together.

“I’ll see you after the final bell?” she asked.

“If I can find you,” she laughed.

“You always do.”

We split off at the hallway intersection, disappearing in opposite directions. Instead of heading straight to class, my eyes wandered through the crowded corridor.

I’d barely seen Caelum all day

Every time I had caught a glimpse of him, he’d been surrounded by someone asking him something or introducing themselves. So I found myself doing exactly what I had been trying not to do all morning.

Looking for him

And I made my way back to the first place I could think of, the library. I had gone there to check this morning and there had not been any sight of him, hopefully it wasn’t going to be difficult finding his ass.

The second I opened the library doors, my eyes wandered round the voice, trying to see if I could spot him, when the sound of a familar drifted through the quiet, so soft that I had almost missed it.

It was mixed with the unmistakeable sound of a girl’s laugher, causing my hear to turn toward the windowsc and there he

was

Caelum sat by the large windows with the sunlight spilling across the table in front of him and sitting opposite him was Maya Martians, I recognized her immediately since she was one of the cheerleaders.

Pretty in that effortlessly polished way, with long honey blond hair falling in loose curls over her shoulders and those perfectly glossed lips that always seemed to wear a smile.

And she wasn’t exactly mean, at least not openly, but she had spent most of her high school attached to Lindsey like a second shadow and though we had exchanged a handful of words over the years, they had mostly been during cheer practice or school events, but nothing beyond polite conversation.

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