Sacrifice

Chapter Thirty-One

"How long do I have to do this?" Crybaby groaned.

"I wish I knew, baby," Ben said over the phone.

Crybaby had called him that afternoon to ask about his conversation with Angelita. He admitted he already wasn't happy about the situation, and he was more upset after dealing with Angelita's confrontation. They talked it out, and now all they could do was relate over how much of a headache they felt Angelita was becoming. She let out a long groan, causing Ben to chuckle. "Well, maybe it'll be over soon, baby. She can't want only you forever," he said.

"Ben, she's known me so long. I think she's seriously in love with me," Crybaby said as she played with the telephone wire.

"At least her and I have something in common."

Crybaby giggled drowsily. It was late at night, and they were both tired. They were only on the phone now to make up for the quality time they'd missed at lunch. There was silence for a moment. Ben could hear her heavy breathing. "Hey, you asleep?" he asked.

"No..." Crybaby said, "Just thinking."

"I feel that," Ben nodded, "Want to go to bed?"

"I want to talk to you."

"You can talk to me tomorrow. I don't want you losing any beauty sleep," he insisted.

Crybaby let out a long sigh, "Okay. Bye, I love you."

"I love you more. Good night," he said with a smile.

The call ended as they both put their telephones down, and they both went to sleep happily.

~Next morning~

Crybaby woke up and quickly started feeling hungry, not knowing why until she remembered she'd skipped dinner the night before. She got ready and went to the kitchen to make herself a piece of toast. She spread a layer of butter on it, grabbed her bag and left the house. She ate her toast on the way to the bus stop. When the bus arrived and she was stepping inside, the driver stopped her. "No food on the bus, ma'am," she told her. Crybaby rolled her eyes and carelessly stuffed the last piece of toast into her mouth, earning an annoyed glare from the bus driver as she walked down the aisle to her seat. Angelita wasn't sitting there for the second day in a row. Crybaby furrowed her eyebrows and sat down, wondering why she wasn't told that Angelita would be out of school again. She rested her head against the window and the bus began driving again. The bus stopped at the school soon, and Crybaby hopped off as quickly as she could, excited to try and find Ben. She searched through the large crowd of students, and to her surprise, she saw Angelita in the middle of the courtyard. A student moved out of her line of sight, and Crybaby then noticed Angelita was talking to Celeste. Not only was she baffled, but she was scared. She took a deep breath and walked up to them, and both of them looked at her with odd expressions. Perhaps shock, or anger. "Lita? What's going on? Why weren't you on the bus?" Crybaby asked.

Angelita stammered, "I missed the bus, so my mom drove me in. And then..." she gestured to Celeste, who was practically fuming. "Yeah, I was just talking to her about you, and what you've been doing to her," she said angrily. Crybaby felt her heart drop as she realized her greatest fear was coming true now. "W- What?" she stuttered.

"I'm letting her know you don't love her the way you say you do, and she's being lied to."

Crybaby watched the words shatter Angelita as Celeste spoke them. Angelita looked down and shook her head. "That's not true!" Crybaby said, "Why would you say that? She's my best friend, and she's..." she paused and moved closer to Angelita and put her hand on her shoulder. Celeste crossed her arms and waited for her to finish. "...We're in love," Crybaby said, sounding unsure of what she was saying.

"In love, my ass!" Celeste almost laughed, "You and Ben are in love. You're only in this romance bullshit with Angelita because she has feelings for you and you couldn't say no," Celeste told Crybaby, who now also had tears welling up in her eyes. "No..." Crybaby said, her voice a bit shaky, "It's mutual. I'm not lying." A tear fell from her eye. She stepped back and bumped into another person behind her. She jumped and turned around to see Ben.

"Hey, come on. Why are you yelling at her?" Ben confronted Celeste with a protective tone in his voice. He put his hands on Crybaby's shoulders. "No, no, you're a part of the problem, too, Benjamin," Celeste said, pointing at him aggressively, "How could you watch this happen and be okay with it? The girl you love is manipulating her own best friend and you aren't bothered by it? Jesus," she scoffed. "...I wouldn't let a boy near me if he was all up on another guy."

"We're friends!" Crybaby raised her voice. She looked at Ben and he gave a small nod. Angelita had been squeezing tears out of her eyes. "So, friends lock arms, hold hands, hug, and blow each other kisses?" Celeste asked rhetorically. Angelita looked at Crybaby and Ben, "She does those things with all her other friends too, though," she said and moved closer to Crybaby, indicating that she was siding with her. Celeste's eyes widened. She backed up a bit with a small stammer.

"Why are you analyzing her every move, anyway?" Angelita added.

"Because I don't trust her!"

"Then maybe you shouldn't be friends with her," Angelita said sharply, "And if you're against her, you're against me."

Celeste gasped and took a moment before she said anything. "Fine. Love makes you blind. Remember my words," she said angrily. Celeste then stormed off. Ben looked down at Crybaby, and she looked up at him. "Crybaby," Angelita called. They both looked at her. "Can we make it official?" she asked. Crybaby gulped and slowly nodded, dreading what she was likely to ask.

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

Crybaby's heart sank. "Yes," she smiled at her. It was so hard for Crybaby to smile, it almost hurt. Angelita sighed in relief and hugged her, placing a long kiss on her cheek. Crybaby looked at Ben sadly and he sighed, shaking his head. Angelita pulled back from the hug and looked Crybaby in the eyes. "I love you so much," she said.

"I love you too," Crybaby replied, holding back tears. She thought about how true those words were. She got here just because of how much she loved Angelita. There was so much love, and it still wasn't enough. Or it just wasn't the right kind.

Angelita kissed her lips and Crybaby reluctantly kissed back. She didn't think she could take this much longer.