• Finally Friday. It seemed like it took forever to get here, but now, it's here. I can't exactly explain what happened yesterday but I'm doing my best to forget about it. Which, if you think about it, is really complicaiting because I see him almost every second of the day. I looked over to Ryan. We were at the practice before the game. We're in the bleachers watching the other football players below. Technically, he was supposed to be down there but he faked a minor knee injury to stay up here with me for a while, so I'm okay with it. The one thing that I'm not okay with is that Damien and Samantha are here too. They're not sitting together though. Damien's out on the feild with the rest of the players while Samantha is in the bleachers with a bunch of friends texting some other friend that couldn't be here. Once every now and then I'd see her steal a glance at Damien. I tried so hard not to but I felt a little jealous every time she did that. The two things that kept me from slapping the mess out of her was: 1. Me and Damien had a fight yesterday so I'm not to happy with him, and 2. Damien barely even looked at her while he constantly was glancing at me. I felt Ryan's warm hand slide over mine. I looked at him again to find him watching me quite intently. He slowly moved closer and closer, closing the small distance between our lips. Before he actually closed the whole distance, however, something hit him in the head causing him to jerk away. I looked over to the thing that hit him. It was a football. I turned and looked over into the football feild were Damien was just standing there.
    "Sorry," he called out to me, " I have bad aim." I was so tempted to flick him off and stick my tounge out at him like a two year old but Ryan took my head and turned it to face him. He softly pressed his lips to mine. It didn't last long but I'm perfectly fine with that. I like to take things slow. I couldn't help but glance into the football feild. Damien was standing there looking completely crushed. When I finally got a better look at his face, my heart shattered. There, glisening off his face, was a tear. He was actually crying because I had kissed someone else. All these weird feelings rushed into me all at once; love, pain, betrayal, and happiness, they were all there. Damien quickly turned around running through the stadium exit. All the football players were staring at him as he fled. The next thing I knew I was dashing down the bleacher steps and out the stadium exit, too. I could hear Ryan's shouts behind me but I was completely focus on the figure running in front of me. Finally, he stopped at a bunch of lockers laying his arm across them and then burrying his head in it. I slowed down and reached a hand to him. He quickly pulled away.
    "Y-you. . . p-p-promised." he sobbed.
    "What?" I had made a promise?
    "I'd b-be your f-first. . ." he stopped and I gasped. Now I remember only all too well. When we were little we were inseperable. One time we were in my backyard. I was on the swings and he was on the monkey bars above me, watching me swing back and forth.
    "I love you." I smiled looking up to him.
    "I love you, too." he smiled back. He paused for a moment, as if thinking about something, before asking, " Do you think that maybe, that uh, maybe I um could be your first. . ."
    "Kiss?" I asked still looking up to him. He gulped and nodded slowly as if I was about to kill him for asking something like that.
    "Sure." I said shrugging my shoulders.
    "Promise?"
    "Promise."
    Now here as was, about five minutes after I broke that promise.
    "Damien, it was so long ago, I just didn't re-"
    "It doesn't matter anymore." he muttered walking down the hallway toward the school exit. I wanted to die. I leaned up against the locker and slowly sank to my knees, tears chasing each other down my face. I totally screwed up. I looked at Damien and found him doing the one thing people always tell you not to. He was looking back. His face was dry now but he still looked hurt. I guess he saw that I was crying because he almost turned around all the way, but he instead he just shook his head and continued walking. My heart felt as if someone took a spoon and carved it straight out of my chest.
    "Celvia!" I heard a fimiliar voice cry out to me. I looked up to a figure coming toward me, blurred by my tears.
    "Oh my gosh, what happened? Did he hurt you?" Ryan asked frantically. I shook my head.
    "Then what's wrong?"
    "I m-made a. . . t-t-terrible. . . mistake." I forced out between sobs. He began to reach for my hand for comfort but I quickly got to my feet. I took off toward the exit Damien had gone out of. I burst through the door suddenly feeling a rush of cold air beating against my cheeks, drying my tears. I didn't stop running. Not even when I heard Ryan yelling after me just as he had when I was running from the bleachers. I ran all the way to my car and flung the door open, launching myself into the seat and taking off without worrying about my seat belt. I needed to get away, and I needed to now.
    I took a left and two rights and pulled into my neighborhood. I took a few more turns and was about to pull into my driveway until I noticed a car that was not my mom's in the driveway. Great, I thought to myself, she brought another date home. I was so not in the mood to deal with her while she's probably drunk and frisky so I turned around and headed to Ellie's. When I knocked someone shouted, which was muffled by the door. It flung open and Ellie was suddenly standing there.
    "Hi Celia, what are you - oh-no." she gasped stepping aside to let me in. I love her house. Now don't get me wrong, my house is nice and cozy, but her's is big and covered with furniture and decor. I walked over to her couch and plopped down on it. She hurried and sat next to me.
    "You look like crap." she said after a little while. I sighed, she was right, I probably would after bawling my eyes out.
    "Tell me what happened." she said, her voice calm, but full of concern. Without a second thought I blurted exactly what happened. When I finished she was staring at me. Several expressions danced across her face. Shock, pain, sadness, and concern.
    "Yeah, Damien called asking what to do. He sounded really torn up about it." she said at last.
    "What?!" I almost shouted. Her eyes went wide and she jumped about five feet in the air.
    "I told him not to give up on you."
    "And?"
    "And what?"
    "And what did he say?" Her eyes lit up as if she just watched Jack kiss Rose from the Titanic.
    "He said he wouldn't give up on you, even if his life depended on it. He loves you more than my daddy loves bacon."
    "Wow. That's a lot of love." I breathed. I knew he loved me, I just didn't know how much.
    "Trust me, my daddy would throw himself off a cliff for bacon." she said. I gave her a look.
    "Okay, not a cliff, but a flight of stairs." Now that I can believe. You shouldn't mess with her dad and his bacon.
    "Oh, there's one more thing." she said without meeting my eyes.
    "What?" I asked, warning her that she shouldn't be keeping secrets from me right now.
    "When Damien called he said he needed someone to talk to and I told him that he could tell me anything, but he wanted to talk in person, so. . ." she stopped.
    "He's coming here." It wasn't a question but she nodded. Just then someone knocked on the door. Nice timing. She gave me a worried look and I flung myself from the couch and darted into her coat closet and slammed the door behind me. I silently thanked God that she had a big house because that meant she had big closets too. Then the talking began.
    "Hi Damien." she greeted him.
    "Hey, thanks for letting me come over to talk. Hope I'm not a bother." he said trying to sound all polite but his voice was still choked from crying. I heard the front door shut and shuffling of feet. They were sitting on the couch, I assume.
    "So, what do you need to talk to me about?" she asked.
    "Well, the topic is obvious: Celia. I just don't know what to do about her. I love her, a lot, but she's been hanging out with Ryan who has this big crush thing going on with her. Then she kissed him. In front of me. I ran off and she chased me into the hallway. When I stopped crying she tried to apologize but I told her that it didn't matter, and then I just-" he stopped, his voice cracking.
    "So you basically told her that you didn't want her apology and then you walked out." she finished in a short summary.
    "Oh Ellie! You should have seen her. She was on her knees sobbing simply asking for forgiveness because she forgot, I hurt her really badly by just leaving her and telling her I didn't care." He sounded like he was completely crying now.
    "Well, she broke her promise, wether she forgot about it or not. A promise is still a promise, no matter what happens." she replied simply. Who's side is she on?!
    "I don't care! She forgot! You can't keep a promise that you that you don't remember til' it's too late!" he shouted. He was defending me. I wanted to run out of the closet and hug him.
    "I'm proud of you." she said. I could hear the smile in her voice.
    "What?"
    "You stood by her even though she hurt you. You really do love her, don't you?"
    "More than you could ever imagine."
    "She loves you too, you know."
    "Yeah, yeah. I just don't know."
    "Well, that's vague, don't know about what?"
    "If she really does, I mean, she did when we were little. I've never really metioned it while we were growing up but I thought she loved me enough to remember." he said the last part in a whisper that I almost didn't hear. Tears were flooding my eyes and I had to blink rapidly so I wouldn't break down into hysterics.
    "Trust me, I know she does." Ellie reassured him. I could imagine her staring at him with those eyes that were so knowing and trusting you would believe anything she says.
    "One more question."
    "What?"
    "What is Celia's car doing here?"
    "Uh, I, um, had to borrow it." she lied unsuccessfully.
    "Ellie, don't play games with me. Where is she?" he demanded. I heard him get off of the couch and start walking my way. I held my breath as his footsteps passed and rounded the corner into the hallway.
    "I know she's here. Where is she? Please Ellie, I need to talk to her." he begged.
    "She's not here." she insisted.
    "Yes she is!" now he was pissed. He stomped up the stairs, opened every single door there was, and slammed it shut when he found out I wasn't in there. I heard him come back down the stairs. He started going past my door, but then he stopped. The doorknob rattled as he put his hand on it. Panicing I pushed myself to the very back of the closet, which was pretty far. But he could still push back two or three coats and find me. And that's exactly what he did.
    "Uh, hi." I said moronically.
    "Why? Why would you lie to me Ellie?" he asked turning to her. She looked down, ashamed of herself.
    "Don't beat up on her, I told her to." I lied. I never told her to, she just figured that I didn't want him to find me. He turned back to me.
    "Why didn't you want to see me?" he asked.
    "It's not like that, I wanted to see you I just didn't want you to see me. Yet." I said quickly.
    "Why not?"
    "Because you were mad at me."
    Ellie suddenly walked over to the closet and pulled me out of it and stood in the door way.
    "This isn't my conversation." she said and shut herself in. Me and Damien just stood there for second, staring at the closet.
    "Okay then." I finally said.
    "She can still hear us can't she?"
    "Yup."
    "Thought so. Come on." he said walking towards the front door. I followed him out and took a seat on the porch. He sat on the rail. An uncomfortable silence settled between us that made me want to scream.
    "So. . ." I tried. He looked at me.
    "Your eyes are an odd shade of green and gray mixed." he stated. I nodded, unsure of how to reply to that.
    "Why?" he asked out of nowhere.
    "Why what?
    "Why do you suppose they're like that?"
    "Oh. I guess it's just cause' I'm glad that I can actually try to explain what happened, but at the same time I'm worried that I'm going to say it wrong and you're going to take it the wrong way. And be mad. Again."
    He nodded like that's what he expected me to say.
    "I'm glad you can try to explain it too, and I'll try not to take anything the wrong way." he said.
    "Okay. I really like you, I mean love like, and I don't feel that way about Ryan. I only went out with him because you seemed really into Samantha, and at that moment, he seemed like the only guy who liked me."
    "What about the-" he stopped, looking hurt to just mention it.
    "The kiss?"
    He nodded solemly.
    "I was not the cause of that. He came on to me." I replied.
    "I can understand that." he said with a smile playing at his lips.
    "Understand what?"
    "Why he would want to come on to you, and not just any other girl out there."
    "And how would you know that."
    "Because you're the prettiest girl I've ever-" Just then my phone decided to ring. I looked at him apologetically and flipped it open.
    "Yellow?. . . . .is a color." I saw Damien stifle a laugh at my gretting.
    "Where are you? I've been freaking out and so has your father!" her mom said with concern.
    "Dad?! Dad's there? I thought he-" I gasped jumping out of my seat.
    "Yes he's here and he did. He just decided that he would like to see his daughter but when he got here, you were gone!"
    "I'm at Ellie's mom. I was going to go home before I saw another car in driveway and I thought you had brought home another date."
    "No. It's your dad's car and he's really upset that your not here."
    "Upset, like, sad upset or mad upset?" I asked cautiously. Damien gave me a questioning glance. I made a shooing motion at him but I gave him a look that let him know that I would tell him later.
    "Well. . . let's just sayd he's not that happy."
    "I don't want to see him if he's mad."
    "Hun I don't think you have a choi-" she suddenly was cut off.
    "Mom? Mom?!" I shouted into the phone.
    "You need to get home right now, young lady!" a man's voice fumed. I knew it was my dad.
    "No. Give mom her phone. I'll come home when I'm ready." I said patiently.
    "Come home right this instant! Or I'll come get you." he threatened.
    "You couldn't find me if you had GPS."
    "What's going on?" Ellie asked, a little loudly.
    "Shhhhhh!" I hissed.
    "Is that Ellie? I know exactly where you are. I coming to get you. Now." Then there was silence. I looked at my phone's screen. It said disconneted.
    "Oh no. Oh no oh no." I breathed. My dad is know to be a violent man when he was angry, and I just pissed him off.
    "Go inside. Both of you." I said solemly.
    "What?" Ellie asked.
    "My dad." She gave me a paniced looked before disappearing inside. She knew about him.
    "I'n not leaving you to face him on your own." Damien insisted.
    "Yes you are."
    "No I'm not."
    Yes you-" The sound of a car door slamming whipped both of our heads around. My dad was blistering red and heading straight for us.