Summer's End

Chapter 13

Celeste heard someone calling her name.

"Celeste I have to talk to you!" The voice rang out. Celeste turned around to find Remy bounding towards her.

Celeste immediately felt bad. She didn't mean to leave Remy like that during dinner but she had to get away.

"Remy I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have ran off- I'll explain." Celeste rushed out. Remy put her hand on her knees, exhaling deeply. She placed her hand on Celeste's shoulder, attempting to catch her breath.

"It wasn't a long run but damn I haven't run in a while girl." She steadied herself.
"And I'm not gonna hammer on you or anything but I wanna know what's going on with you?" She studied Celeste's expression. Celeste sighed.

"Let's go sit first okay?"

Remy nodded. Celeste and Remy went to the rocking bench and sat down. Celeste opened her mouth to speak then closed it again.

Remy rocked back and forth, stumped. Remy used to think she really knew Celeste. Now it's like they just became friends instead of 3 years of friendship.

"I've told you about my... mom right?"

Remy shook her head no. "You never mentioned her ever." She said, reflecting back to the conversations about parents between them.

Celeste bit her lip. "Well so she left. At a carnival and never came back. I never really recovered from that. For years I thought something was wrong with me. That she hated me or something." She fondled with the hem on her shirt.

Remy's eyes trailed to the hem, distractingly.

"So when I said, 'What are you my mother?' I guess, the memory made me run off. I didn't want to break down in front of you. And everyone." Celeste lightly laughed.

Instantly Remy embraced Celeste. Remy felt a sting in her eyes. She blinked her eyes repeatedly. She couldn't believe she never knew.

Her best friend was hurting and she had no idea.

"Celeste I'm so sorry. You were in pain and I-" A tear rolled down her face.

She could taste the salty flavor that lingered on the side of her lip. Remy sniffled making Celeste move her head to look at her friend.

Celeste wiped at Remy's tears, holding her head.

"Remy! You couldn't have known because it was my fault. I should've told you." Celeste reassured Remy. She pulled her friend in once again, squeezing her tight.

Celeste felt horrible. Her best friend was crying because of her. The hug lingered for a bit.

"Don't let go," Remy whispered into Celeste's shoulder.

"I wasn't going to." Celeste tightened her hold on Remy.

"So this is the famous Celeste huh?" A voice interrupted. They both let go of each other. Celeste didn't recognized the boy.

"Oh this is Emilio." Remy introduced. Emilio held his hand out to Celeste. She shook it, smiling.

Emilio's eyes rested on Remy, while they shook hands. Celeste raised her eyebrows playfully at Remy.

Remy mouthed no which made Celeste laugh. "And Remy's mentioned you too." Celeste grinned at him.

Emilio crossed his arms, smugly. "Really?"

Remy pursed her lips, irritated. "Duh, I talk about all my friends stupid." She popped the p.

"So you wanna play kickball? I'm bored and they're about to start." Emilio gestured to the group of people near the woods. Celeste and Remy glanced at each other and in unison said, "Sure."

Emilio nodded then leaned down to tie his shoelaces. "Just let me tie-" They were already marching off towards the people gathered for the sport. He lifted his head up to find out they were leaving without him.

"Hey guys wait up!" He called out. The girls laughed together, linking arms.

"Come on lets make him catch up." Remy told Celeste. They started off slowly skipping, then running off. The group gathering for kickball were starting to leave.

"You guys what the-" Emilio started, chasing them. Suddenly there was high pitched scream coming from the distance. All at once everyone rotated their heads, wanting to know where it came from.

"It sounded like it was coming from the lake!" A short boy pointed running towards the shore. Everyone followed after him, while the counselors were blowing their whistles trying to settle people down.

Emilio dashed to Celeste and Remy.

"What do you think happened?" He gazed at the rushing crowd.

"Well if we're just standing here we won't know, come on!" Remy yanked Emilio and Remy's arm and sprinted down to the lake.

Author's Note:
Looks like something serious is going to happen down at the lake. Read on if you want to find out.