A girl my age

Chapter 2

"Celeste, get up". I feel a hand shake me awake harshly. I groan and take my headphones off, seeing my mom, her hair frizzier and more tangled than it was when she left. "what's wrong?" I ask her, "you have to go" she says in a slurred manor. I could already tell she was drunk, This wasn't anything out of the ordinary, however waking me up in the middle of the night was, "what do you mean?" I look over at the clock "mom it's 2 in the mourning", she scoffs at this, "look the guy I went with is here, and I need you to leave so that we can have some time alone together", I look at her hoping it's some sick joke she's playing on me, "you can't be serious" I begin to raise my voice, "you want me to leave at 2 at night because of some guy?". "Don't you raise your voice at me young lady" my mom hisses at me, "it's only for an hour, two at most, go". And with that, my mom walks out and goes back to giggling and smiling at whatever what's his face was saying.

I get up from my bed and chuckle out of frustration, "right only an hour", I mumble to myself.  I look over at the drawer next to my bed, I quickly grab the bag and tray, putting it in my bag. After I grab the rest of my things in my bag, I walk down the hall, and over to the back door in the kitchen. I can hear my mom, drunkenly giggling at whatever her boytoy said to her. I quietly open the door, and head out to wherever. I walk out my backyard, walking on a trail that I've known since I was little, the trail to the playground in my neighborhood. I used to walk here all the time after school and swing on the swings, the last time I came here was when I was 12, a group of girls said I looked like some baby playing in a park with no friends. It seems small, but to a little girl who would've done anything to fit in, it was a huge deal, so much I told myself to never go there again. But this time I didn't care who saw me, I just wanted to get high and forget about my mom and her need to get laid. 

When I make it to the playground, I lay down underneath the playset, and grab the bag of weed, and tray from my bag. Once I finish rolling up, I take the blunt to my lips and light it. I finally start to feel the affect after a couple hits. I lay back and turn on my music, suddenly being alone at night wasn't as bad anymore. But part of me was still angry at my mom for making me leave, "maybe she was just too drunk this one night to truly think". I think to myself, trying to make up an excuse for her actions, sure she's never told her dates about me, but it's never gotten to the point where she made me leave, or kick me out so that she can have some fun. I take another hit, trying to forget about the whole ordeal. 

Suddenly I hear a snap of dry leaves on the right of me. My head quickly turns to the noise, thinking of any possibilities that might happen. "Could it be some crazy crackhead?", "a pedo spying on me?". Suddenly the teary-eyed face of a girl I know from school. Her name is Zaylee, if she wasn't wearing her cheer uniform, she was wearing all expensive name brand clothing, her makeup always done perfectly, and her long black box braids always in cute hairstyles. Seeing her in this state was something I've never thought I would see from her, her face bare, and teary eyed, her braids all around her face, wearing a loose shirt with pajama pants, but yet she still managed to look pretty. She sees me sitting under the jungle gym, squinting her eyes to get a better look at me, she slowly walks toward me, "who are you?" she asks me in a soft voice, "Celeste" I tell her while looking up at her. Her face seems to calm down after hearing my voice. I move my bag from across of me, inviting her to sit with me. She smiles and sits across from me.

"How come you're out here so late?" I ask her, judging by her tears, I could tell it was mostly likely an argument, but I needed to say something, so that this interaction wouldn't be awkward. "Oh, it was just some argument with my parents" she explains as she wipes her face, fighting the tears that wanted to come out, "I just needed some air". I nod as she looks at me with a soft expression, her eyes heavily filled with tears and stained red. I quickly look away, and re-light the forgotten blunt in my hand, if I kept making eye contact with her like this, it might just sober me up. I take another hit of the blunt, turning my head so that the smoke wouldn't hit Zaylee's face. When I turn back around, I see Zaylee's hand out, silently asking for the blunt. I look her with a concerned look, "you sure?", I ask her, "since you're a cheerleader and everything-". "Come on Celeste" she cuts me off with an irritated tone, hesitantly, I pass it to her. To my surprise, she hit it like she already knew what to do, "what, you thought I just sat there and looked pretty at parties?" Zaylee asks me, I guess she caught the shocked look on my face. She passes the blunt back to me, starting a back-and-forth motion between us, "sorry, I just didn't think a cheerleader like yourself did anything like this" I tell her. She chuckles at me, "I rarely do this, I just don't want to feel sad any more tonight". I nod in understanding, turns out me and her had one little thing in common.

After a little while of peaceful silence and passing the shrinking blunt back-and-forth. Zaylee speaks up, "how come you're out here?", I look up at her not so teary face anymore, "I just wanted to get high", I tell her in a low tone. I knew she didn't want to hear how my mom kicked me out to get laid with a guy half her age. She nodded and didn't ask much more of it. I continue to look at her, her eyes now low, and in a calmer state than it was before, it was nice to see her so calm, and in a different way than I've ever seen her before. I quickly look away and down at my lap, realizing I've been staring at her for way longer than I should've. 

The blunt we shared finally went short. I put it out and put it in my bag, I look over at Zaylee who was already looking at me, she smiles and says, "well I think I'd better get home", I smile and nod, "yea it's probably best I do too". And with that, we both stand up, and head begin to head our separate ways, "maybe we could do this again some time?" Zaylee asks me, I look at her and smile, "yea that'd be great", I say, she laughs and waves goodbye before walking to her house, while her house was on the right of the playground, mine was on the left.