Sacrifice

Chapter Twenty-Two

It is now 5:17 in the afternoon and they were all walking around the plaza aimlessly; Celeste keeping track of time, Magnolia being the clown of the friend group, Angelita checking on Crybaby every few minutes, Ben stealing glances at Crybaby, and Crybaby trying her best to enjoy the moment without feeling conflicted. "What are we doing now?" Angelita asked, arms open wide as she spun in a circle enjoying the late afternoon breeze. Crybaby smiled at her glee.

"I don't know, but it's too early to go home," Magnolia chimed in.

After a few more minutes of walking, Crybaby looked over at Angelita who was walking at a small distance from the rest of the group. She was doing something with her arms, moving her hips, muttering something. "What the hell are you doing?" Crybaby asked her with a chuckle. Angelita laughed, "Your dance."

"What dance?" Crybaby furrowed her eyebrows, and Angelita proceeded to dance the parts she knew well. It was the dance Crybaby had done unwillingly in the puppet box while in K-12. She burst out laughing, "Stop, I hated that."

"Dancing? Fun," Magnolia said, starting to do Crybaby's dance from her protest of fake friends in the K-12 cafeteria. 

"I'm going to fuck you guys up," Crybaby said and shook her head.

The friends laughed at each other. Celeste sighed, "You know, let's just hang. There's nothing but clothing stores and food places around here," she said. They all agreed, and Fleur noticed the fountain was close by again and pointed to it, "Come on, let's go sit," she said.

For the remainder of that walk, they mocked Crybaby until she had no choice but to join in on the fun. After a couple minutes they all sat down on the fountain wall. Ben sat next to Crybaby; Angelita sat next to her. She playfully scooted away from Ben and glanced at the water. He mischievously rubbed his hands together in response.

"Angelita, if I'm about to fall in the water, please save me," Crybaby slightly giggled.

"Okay," Angelita agreed. A couple more minutes of them talking, and they were distracted enough for Ben to make his move. "Crybaby, watch out!" He said. When they made eye contact, Crybaby suddenly found herself falling backward and the last clear image she saw was her legs in the air. She exhaled to keep water from going up her nose. The sound of muffled voices and laughter erupted from above the water's surface. She came back up for air and clung to Angelita, making her clothes wet.

"Ben!" Angelita looked at him and laughed, the small but sweet interaction shocking him.

"Angelita! I told you to save me!" Crybaby shouted, wiping the water dripping down her face from her bangs.

"I was distracted!" Angelita defended herself. Crybaby stayed catching her breath for a few seconds and then looked at Ben, which was his cue to leave. "You asshole! Come here!" She yelled, leaping up from behind the wall, water pouring from off her soaked clothes.

"Hell no," Ben exclaimed, standing up quickly and backing away. She chased him for a minute before getting a grasp of his shirt and pulling him close. "Listen here," she said in a threatening tone while trying not to smile.

"Oh no," Ben gave her a challenging grin.

"If you ever do that again," She breathed heavily between her words, "I will-"

"Rip my fucking face apart?" Ben filled in her sentence with a suppressed laugh. Crybaby softly pushed the side of his face because she couldn't bring herself to slap him. They pulled away from each other and walked back to the fountain in a breathless fit of laughter. They probably both realized at the same moment who had been watching the whole thing. Yet, to their surprise, Angelita was fine, watching them with a content smile. There was no longer a reason for her to resent Ben. She thought what Crybaby said to her was true; they're friends. Good friends. He made her happy and that's all she wanted for Crybaby, because Crybaby was hers. Nobody could take that from her.