Illéa High

Sloppy Joe

For the past few weeks Celeste has been minding her own business and moving away from us. She doesn't talk as much, she doesn't sit with us at lunch all the time, she doesn't acknowledge our presence-well all of us, besides maxon-, and she doesn't make snarky comments anymore.

"What's wrong with her? It's scaring me," Marlee whispers to the table on a day when Celeste wasn't sitting with us. Everyone had their heads leaned in so we could hear.

"I hear, that her dad had a fling with one of his actresses on this new movie he's producing, and then Celeste's mom found out and they are getting a divorce," Hunter says, looking around every few seconds to make sure Celeste wasn't around to hear.

"Yeah, I heard it was something with her parents. Angeles can be very stressful for the ones and twos, especially because they are on everyone's TV screens and they are under a lot of pressure. Love doesn't last long here," Maxon adds in.

"I've tried to talk to Celeste about it, but she always brushes me off to go to a party and get drunk with some of the senior boys," Cedar chips in, worry is evident in her voice and on her face. "You think she will be okay?"

"Yeah, Celeste is a cruel witch, who's heart is made from cold, cold, stone. She won't let anything knock her down, she is strong," Marlee says and the other four of us couldn't decide if that was a compliment or not.

"I agree, Celeste may be going through some hard times, but she's strong and she will power through," I finally say to the group. Everyone turned their head to face me with puzzled looks. "What?"

"I just never thought you would say such a great thing about Celeste, I mean don't get me wrong, you're such a sweet person, but when it comes to Celeste you usually keep your mouth shut," Cedar explains everyone's confusion.

"Well... I know Celeste and I haven't been on good terms, like, at all, but that doesn't mean I don't feel bad for her family troubles," I try to reason with them.

They just nod their head in agreement and we all sit back. The Celeste conversation was officially over.

"So, I thought you should know that I broke it off with Ruby," Hunter mumbles when we walk down the hall together.

I give him a small smile and hug his arm. "I'm sorry, I know you love her and you probably always will, but it wasn't right anymore, I get it," I reply.

Hunter just nods his head. I knew he would be down about the break up, but not this down. He seemed like he hasn't slept in days and hasn't put in any effort in his life.

I stop walking and when hunter keeps walking I pull his arm back to me so he is facing me. "What's up? I get that you just got over a break up, but there's something else bothering you," I say with concern laced into my words.

Hunter runs his fingers through his hair and then lets out a shaky breath. "Ruby- Ruby cheated on me," he finally squeezes out of him.

I gasp and pull Hunter right into my arms. "I'm so sorry, I don't know what else to say."

"It's okay, we weren't meant to stay together anyway; all in all it worked itself out. In a few days I'll be back to myself, maybe even better," Hunter whispers into my hair.

I pull him in even tighter. I wanted all the strength I had to go to this gentleman. We stand there for a while just letting the nosies around us fade, until the only noise we heard was our breathing. We pull back at the same time and I just stare into his bright blue eyes. I take his hand and we make our way to gym class together.

~•~

"Yes! I can't wait for lunch today!" I exclaim. "It's sloppy joe Saturday."

"I don't get why you like sloppy joes so much, I mean they have sloppy in their names," Marlee questions me.