Love Is...

-10-

Song: "Carousel" by Kate Voegele

**

The following Thursday, Heather went to school without makeup on. She hardly did anything with her hair except brush it. She felt like a different person. She hadn't been to school for the whole week and did none of her homework. She told her mom about Chandler, and the only thing she had to say about it was, "maybe you should've looked more like the other girl."

Courtney picked her up because she felt sorry for her, and she offered to pick her up for the rest of next week, but Heather declined. Seeing Courtney and Duncan smiling and laughing together on the way to school made her sad. And it dawned on her that that was how it was going to be for a while. When Courtney pulled into the school parking lot, Duncan immediately got out. He went for the driver's door, but Courtney stopped him with her hand. "You can go ahead and go in, D. I'm gonna talk to Heather."

"Ok. See you at lunch, babe."

"Love you."

"Love you too." He walked towards campus.

Courtney waited a few seconds before turning towards her friend with a serious look on her face. "Are you going to be ok today?"

Heather paused, then nodded. "Yeah. I'll be fine."

"Just fine is not enough. I need you to be sure that you'll be ok. I can always turn around and take you back home."

"No, I wanna go back to school. I've missed so much already."

"—Alright." Courtney frowned. "I'm so sorry. I wish this never happened to you. But you know, you're so much better than him. If you see him today, show him that you're living without him!"

"That would be a lie because I hardly am." Heather sighed.

"But you will be. Someday you'll look back and be so grateful that you didn't stay with him. He's not worth your time or your tears."

Heather looked out the window. She watched people walk across the newly paved sidewalk with their backpacks and laptops. She grabbed the door handle. "Let's go inside." Courtney got out with her and walked next to her until they reached the double sliding glass doors.

"I'm heading to History. I'll see you at lunch, H." Courtney smiled.

"See you, Court." Heather forced a smile. Maybe if I pretend, I'll feel ok.

**

Alejandro was almost late for school. He frantically scrambled around his dresser for his jeans, threw on a slightly wrinkled blue shirt, and nearly put his shoes on the wrong feet. He came downstairs and sprinted past the kitchen, managing to make it out the door before his mother scolded him about eating breakfast every morning. The first person he thought about while he was on his way was Heather. She hadn't been to school since last Friday—almost exactly a week ago. And she didn't contact him or the professor about any homework assignments. He knew she wasn't someone who'd skip class all the time, so he was very concerned. It was almost hard for him to get up and go every day, not knowing if she'd be sitting at the desk in the middle row. He had been tempted to contact her through his tutoring number, but he knew he wasn't allowed to do that, and he didn't want to risk his TA position. All he could do was hope she was ok.

He went about his day like usual and took a deep breath before walking into the Spanish classroom. When he saw Heather walk through the door, it was like slow motion. She wore a white, oversized sweatshirt and black leggings with brown boots. He felt goosebumps across his skin. It was as if his heart started beating again. He felt like a fein who just relapsed. She was back, and suddenly everything was better. However, when he did a double-take on her outfit, something didn't sit right with him. She still looked good in a sweatshirt, but he never saw Heather wear anything causal. He also noticed that she wasn't wearing any makeup, even though, again, he thought she still looked beautiful. Something is definitely wrong.