Miss Grande

Chapter 45: I'm Happy For You

Thanksgiving break came and went along with majority of the remainder of the semester. We had a week before finals arrived then we'd finally be off for winter break.

   Miss Grande hadn't tried to approach me since the last time I had snapped at her, but I would always catch her looking at me randomly. She always held a look of regret and guilt, emotions that were rightfully hers to carry. I was over feeling sorry for somebody that had hurt me.

   We still talked occasionally, but only during practice or class. It was never friendly, always just down to the point. We only exchanged texts when she asked me to let the team know if the practice schedule had changed. Our relationship had become strictly teacher and student, as it should have stayed to begin with.

   Part of me was disappointed by what she had done. It was my senior year; I was supposed to be enjoying every second. Instead, going to school and practice had started to weigh me down. It wasn't entirely her fault, a large majority was a sad case of senioritis. I just wished I had spent more time enjoying it all, knowing I had wasted my time worrying and thinking about her so much.

Trent, Camila, and Selena were still getting close, and we had planned to get together to study for our different classes. We were meeting at Camila's since her house had a room specifically for studying.

The size of her house never failed to amaze me, and it seemed that Trent was equally impressed when we pulled up.

"Wow," he let out under his breath.

"You never get used to it," I laughed at his reaction.

"It's huge."

"That's what she said."

"You wouldn't know."

Our tongues out both stuck out at the other before we laughed at how immature we were when together.

   We made our way to the front door where we were let in by one of the few workers employed by Camila's family.

   "Welcome back Miss Y/n. I'm assuming this is Mister Trent?" Mister Jeremy greeted us.

   "Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you," Trent stuck out his hand to shake with Jeremy.

   "Will you both be joining us for dinner tonight?"

   "Of course Mister Jeremy! You know Miss Mary's cooking is my favorite."

   "I'm not too sure your dad would be happy to hear that," he teased.

   Mister Jeremy was around the age of our dads, and I had grown up around him. I was always still respectful, but we were comfortable enough to joke around. All of Camila's dad's employees were basically family.

   "You can go on up. Miss Camila is waiting for you in her room. Miss Selena has already arrived."

   "Thank you Mister Jeremy."

   He nodded and turned to go back to whatever he was doing before we came. I lead Trent up the stairs and down the hall to Camila's room.

  I knocked and was met with giggles, shuffling, and finally a quiet "come in."

   I gave Trent a look, which he returned, before opening the door to find Camila and Selena on opposite sides of the room.

   I shook my head but chose to ignore it as they gathered their things and Camila lead us to the study room.

   The room was similar to an at home office or just a small library. The walls were bookcases, other than one which was just a big window showing the back garden. Many of the books were a part of encyclopedia or dictionary collections. The middle of the room held a long table with plenty of chairs.

We all took a seat, slightly spaced away from each other, and took out our things to begin studying.

Camila and Selena sat across from each other, and I sat a few seats away from Camila with Trent across from me.

I saw Camila's fidgeting from the corner of my eye but was easily able to block it out after a while and focus on my studying.

I asked Camila for help and noticed Selena staring but thought nothing of it. She was probably listening to see if she could help.

Mister Jeremy came to get us all for dinner and we ended up taking seats in a similar position to how we had been situated while studying.

"Miss Mary always makes the most delicious meals," I said, mostly to Trent who had yet to eat her cooking.

"She's been cooking for me my whole life. It's a miracle I don't weigh a thousand pounds by now," Camila chipped in.

"I hope you've been helping and taking notes while she cooks ba-" Camila coughed, interrupting Selena. A frightened look crossed her face before she continued. "Because I don't want you to burn our apartment- the apartment down whenever you move out," she finished weakly.

I shot them both a confused glance that they chose to ignore. I looked to Trent to see that his expression mirrored mine.

I cleared my throat, finally getting their attention. "Is there anything we need to talk about?"

Selena nervously scratched the back of her neck and avoided eye contact while Camila stuttered out, "What would there be for us to talk about?"

"What are you hiding?" I pushed.

Silence filled the room for a moment until Selena let out a sigh. "We're dating."

   Trent almost choked on his food in front of me, and I quickly moved my plate to the side. This drop of news and my pretend boyfriend choking were not about to take away Miss Mary's food from me.

   "You two are dating?" I asked to clarify that I had heard correctly.

   "Yeah," Selena pushed her food around on her plate, still refusing to look at me.

   "How long?" Trent piped in, probably only trying to stay a part of the conversation.

   "A few months now, five or so..." Camila admitted.

   "I'm happy for you," I let out, doing the simple calculations in my mind.

   "Then why doesn't it sound like it?" Camila, the boldest of the two, asked.

   "I just don't understand how you would be so mad at me for hiding everything with Trent and Ar- the woman I was involved with. It doesn't make sense that you would be upset with me for not telling while you had been hiding this secret from me since before school even started."

   "We weren't actually mad. Of course, we were hurt. I just... I knew that I was hurt after finding out that you'd been hiding something from me. I realized that you'd probably feel the same once we finally told you. I got mad at myself for keeping it from you for so long, for putting you in position to get hurt. I reflected those feelings onto you. I was never mad at you."

   I looked at Sel to see that she had finally managed to make eye contact with me. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

   "I really am happy for you guys, but I think I'm going to go. Trent," I looked over at him, and he got true hint. "I'll see you guys at school. Tell Miss Mary I said thank you for dinner."

   "I guess that means we're never having that threesome," I heard Camila attempt to joke. I couldn't bring myself to laugh as I made my way to collect my belongings.