The Gossip

Chapter 4

Angel's POV

Angel wakes up early in the morning to go to football practice. They practice for an hour, since they need time to get ready before school starts. As they are finishing up, the coach asks for all of them to come over to where he is standing. "Alright, guys. As you know, one of your teammates has been gone for a few days due to an accident. He woke up just two days ago and has been released from the hospital. Today he's coming back to school." The team gets excited and starts to celebrate, but the coach calms them down again. "But, for the foreseeable future, he will not be back on the team. I don't know how bad it is, but he's sustained some head injuries and it's too dangerous for him to play. So, if you see him today, just try to be nice. That's all. Go change. You all smell like shit." The coach waves his hands for everyone to disperse.

Angel is heading to his truck when someone grabs onto his shoulder. They tug him to turn around. He looks at the person and sees Nikolas.

"What are you doing?"

"I needed to talk to you. You walk way too fast. I literally had to run to get here."

"Sorry. What did you need to talk to me about?"

"Are you dating Grey? I saw your reaction to Carl flirting with him. You're always around him. It's kinda suspicious."

"Why does it matter who I'm dating?"

"It does matter if it's Grey."

"What does that mean?"

"If I tell you, you have to promise to never tell anyone. Not even Grey."

"Fine I promise."

"Grey has an older brother. His older brother is on the Hawks team. If we touched Grey he would rip our fingernails out."

"Why doesn't Grey know he has a brother?"

"They don't have the same dad. But his brother still watches out for him."

"So I can't date Grey because of this invisible brother. Don't worry about it though, I'm straight."

"Good. Then why did you react badly when Carl flirted?"

"I didn't react badly. I was just trying to make sure Grey wasn't uncomfortable. Just being a friend."

"We'll be careful. I don't need trouble." Nikolas pats his shoulder and walks away. Angel pulls out his phone looking for a certain number. He calls it and after a moment it answers.

"Hey Kiddo. What's up?"

"Hey Celeste. Could we meet up?"

"Is something wrong? We don't typically meet up."

"I need to talk to you. You're the only one who can help me."

"That's very ominous. Okay, can we meet at 20 at the tree house?"

"The treehouse? You want to meet there?"

"Yes, gotta problem with it?"

"Nope. I'll be there." Angel hangs up and quickly drives to the treehouse. The treehouse is this building thing that him and Celeste found years ago. They spend all summer there. It became both of their safe spaces. It was more Celeste's than his but he still loved it. He pulls up and looks at the treehouse. He hasn't been here in months. It's a little more run down than he remembers. He climbs up the ladder and looks around. There's board games on a shelf and beanbags in front. There's drawings that are haphazardly taped to the wall. There's a box full of small things that they found cool. It is just a building that shows who they used to be. He hears a car pull up so he pokes his head out. He sees Celeste get out of the car. She looks different. Her hair is black and white instead of blonde. She doesn't dress in her brothers hand me downs anymore. It's better fitting clothes. She doesn't look anything like she used to. It takes him back a moment. Then she smiles up at him and he knows that it's the same girl.