Flowers For Celine

Chapter 1

I watched as my best friend nervously fidgeted with her hair once more, before standing up and checking out her face and outfit in the mirror in my closet again.

"Celine, you look fine!" I reminded her for what felt like the 100th time that morning.

Celine glanced over at me, her cherry red lips forming a pout at my sudden and somewhat annoyed remark. She sighed. "I don't feel like I look fine."

I shook my head. What has made her so upset all of a sudden?

"Celine, what's gotten into you? You barely ever care about what you look for school. I'm worried," I told her in a softer voice that I had used before. I couldn't even understand why she was worrying so much about how she looked, anyway. She was the prettiest girl in school without even trying - and I wasn't the only one who noticed.

"It's stupid...don't worry..." Celine replied, her voice tinged with embarrassment.

"Honestly, you're sort of freaking me out now with this whole act. You're my loud, crazy best friend, not some shy girl who worries about what her hair looks like for school," I scoffed. "You do know you're my best friend, right? And you also know that best friends are meant to be able to tell each other everything without fear of judgement...right?"

Celine smiled at me, her worry seemingly melting away. "You're right, Ray. Sorry for acting all weird. I'm just nervous. You know, it's our first day back at school as seniors. Since I know my grades are going to be just as bad as last year, the least I could do was look good on the first day."

I rolled my eyes. With her long, auburn and honey streaked curls, tall, slim and tanned body, big emerald green eyes and a face structure so striking that it could make anyone stop and stare; she was definitely good looking, no matter what day it was. Actually, Celine was a whole new level of good looking and she seemed to be the only person who didn't notice it.

"Look, Celine. You really have nothing to worry about. You look beautiful, just like any other day," I told her, with an exasperated sigh. "Now, let's get going or we're going to be late for school."

Celine grabbed her bag of my bedroom floor (she had come over to my house at 6 that morning just to get ready for school with me) and nodded in agreement. "Wouldn't want that on our first day, would we?"

~ ~ ~

As I pulled into the school parking lot, parked my car and got out of it, I started to regret letting Celine choose my outfit. Celine's body was a lot slimmer than mine and lacked the curves that I seemed to have (and she seemed to want, for some reason that was beyond me).

My stomach wasn't necessarily pudgy but I had large hips, big breasts, bigger thighs and an even bigger butt. These features may all sound alluring, but when it comes to clothes (and boys), they're the biggest pain in the ass.

Celine had brought over an outfit to my house from her closet that she thought would 'complement my curves'  since apparently I had no clothes that did that.

Now, as I walked into school with too tight black jeans on and a low cut white crop top, paired with a denim jacket and converse, I was just thankful that our school's dresscode wasn't strict.

"Celine, I don't think this outfit is going well for me," I mumbled as I resisted the urge to pull out a majorly uncomfortable wedgie. Note to self - Never let Celine put you in her jeans (or any other item of her clothing) ever again!

"Oh, shush!" My best friend swooned. "Are you too blind to see that my outfit choice was the best thing the boys from this school have seen all year? Can you not see them staring at you?"

I groaned, realising I was attracting more attention than I wanted. "Too bad I like girls," I whispered through clenched teeth.

Celine burst out laughing and tossed me a mischievous wink over one shoulder. I sighed, knowing I had lost this battle.

But as I registered Celine's outfit, a summery dress paired with a lace cardigan and wedges, I realised that the people she thought were staring at me were actually most likely looking at her - and I didn't blame them. She never failed to make me acknowledge her beauty and it was truly one of my biggest weaknesses.

Being a lesbian and having one of the prettiest girls ever as your best friend wasn't necessarily easy. Conflicting feelings were the hardest thing ever to cope with. The more time I spent coming to the realisation of how truly amazing Celine was, the more confused about my feelings I got.

My thoughts were disrupted as Celine and I entered the school and the sudden sound of everything hit me all at once. The first day buzz was completely overwhelming and I found myself latching onto Celine as we approached the front office.

"Rayna! Celine!" The overly cheery yet very sweet office lady, Mrs Elodie , called to us. "It's so good to see you girls back at school and looking as ready as ever to start the day ! I'm so proud of my big senior girls; it feels like forever since you were little freshman girls, completely lost in the big, bad jungle of high school!"

Another thing about Mrs Elodie was that she use to be a drama teacher before she became the office lady, so her vocabulary was quite interesting at times, to say the least. How she switched positions so drastically, I don't quite know (or understand) have never really bothered to ask her. But ever since Celine and I were freshman, Elodie had been extremely kind and supportive to us. She was a much loved member of staff at Wildrose High.

"It's great to see you too, Mrs Elodie!" Celine and I chirped at the same time, which earned a giggle from the office lady.

"I see that you're both as in sync as ever."

Celine and I grinned at each other before asking for our class timetables. Once we received them, we shared a quick moment of joy as we realised that most of our classes were together. After that, we bid farewell to Mrs Elodie, since the bell for first period was due to ring in 5 minutes or so (Celine's fussing over her appearance had caused us to arrive later than we usually would have).

"See you later my lovely rays of sunshine!" Mrs Elodie beamed. "I'm sure you'll have an awesome first day back at school!"

I took a deep breath, hoping that she was right.