Sacrifice

Chapter Ten

Crybaby was overthinking as she waited for the bus on day three. Her mother was actually awake this morning; not that it was pleasurable. It seemed so unreal to Crybaby that she was in the thick of all this drama on only the third day of school. The only other time she'd gotten into so much trouble so fast was when she was kidnapped. Her body language changed when she saw her bus approaching. She smiled and lifted her head a bit, starting to twirl her hair until the bus was in front of her with open doors. She got on quickly and found her seat next to Angelita with a bubbly smile. "Hey, cutie!" Crybaby greeted Angelita happily.

"Hey!" Angelita responded, sharing the excitement; her eyes widened and she wore a grin, "What's with 'cutie'?" She asked Crybaby holding up air quotes.

"What do you mean?" Crybaby furrowed her eyebrows and acted as if all was normal.

"I mean, why would you call me that? Kind of weird..." Angelita trailed off, a slight smile still remaining on her face.

"Because you're cute," Crybaby said nonchalantly. Angelita stammered, having no idea what to say. Crybaby chuckled, "If you don't like it, I won't say it."

"No, no, I love it."

"Alright, then," Crybaby smiled and looked forward.

Soon, their bus pulled through the bus loop in front of the school and the doors opened. Students began making their way off and the girls did so as well. While they walked to the courtyard beside one another, Crybaby looked at Angelita's hands as she fidgeted. She noticed a ring on one of her fingers, giving her an excuse to hold her hand. Angelita looked at her in confusion.

"Pretty ring, Lita," Crybaby complimented. The ring had a very thin gold band and a light pink moonstone in the center, a perfect circle.

"Oh, thanks," Angelita giggled quietly because of the touch. Crybaby looked away but remained holding onto her hand. Skeptically, Angelita tried to slowly pull back her arm. Crybaby tightened her hold. Angelita laughed, "You're being..." She looked at Crybaby, studying her, "...sweet," She finished.

"You're sweet," Crybaby smiled harder. Angelita turned over her hand so they could interlock fingers, and they did so. They approached a bench to sit on against a wall in the courtyard and they sat, still holding hands.

"Crybaby, really. You're acting weird," Angelita kept pushing, trying to get a reason out of her.

"But you are too," Crybaby leaned in just a little, "So we can be weird together," She spoke in a dramatically quiet tone. Angelita tilted her head and laughed, "We've been doing that for years, now."

"Still, there's a first time for everything," Crybaby chuckled. "Right..." Angelita said, extending the word. Crybaby put her head on Angelita's shoulder, "I barely slept, I'm so tired."

"Well, you can sleep right here until the bell rings. Even though there's only like... five minutes left," Angelita smiled.

"You better believe I'll enjoy these next five minutes," Crybaby said, closing her eyes.

~After class~

Crybaby walked out of her third class and sighed. She knew Angelita would probably be waiting at the end of the hallway, and she picked up her head to check from afar. And to her surprise, she spotted Angelita waiting around in the same spot as the day before. 'Called it,' Crybaby whispered to herself with a grin. "Hey, baby," She greeted Angelita playfully.

"Hi," Angelita greeted back, already smiling. "Aw, look at that cute smile," Crybaby put her hands on the sides of Angelita's face and squinted at her. Angelita widened her eyes in shock but was enamored. She looked around to see if anyone was looking. Crybaby smiled, "Don't want people seeing?" She asked, causing Angelita to look back at her. "No, it's fine. It's..." Angelita stared at Crybaby and thought for a moment, then shook her head, "Let's go."

Crybaby nodded and started to walk next to her. She let one of her hand fall down to Angelita's hand, stroking her arm on the way down. Angelita looked at her suddenly, then grinned and took her hand. Crybaby suddenly remembered what Celeste had said to her, 'That's a risk, Crybaby," The words echoed in her head. She looked around once.