Come Back Here

The first words my mother said to me when she was required to pick me up from school, left me pissed off. "Celeste, I am very disappointed with you."

"Mom, I didn't do anything wrong!" I tried to make my case, but I didn't know how to explain it. I hadn't exactly told her I had been a target at school, I never wanted her to worry more about me than she already did. The fact that she was upset with me, was making me livid.

"Then explain why the hell I'm picking you up from school when it hasn't even started yet."

"Thornburg is an idiot. I did nothing wrong! I--" she cut my off before I could try to explain the situation.

"Celeste, you're suspended for three days.You did something that was out of line."

"I stood up for Andy!" I shouted in defeat. I just wanted her to give me a chance to freaking explain myself.

She gave me a funny look, "Who's Andy?"

Shit, forgot I never mentioned him to her. Well, here goes nothing. "He's my boyfriend." I blushed at the word. Only today did we actually admit it to each other, and now here I was, suspended because I stood up for him, and telling my mother about my little love affair that's been going on for actually a while.

"Since when do you have a boyfriend and why am I just hearing about this boy?!"

"Well, I haven't exactly been home you know."

"Wait a minute, were you staying with him? You never specified which friend you were staying with. I just assumed either Renae or Gerard."

"No, I stayed with Renae, but Mom, that's besides the point. The point is that Andy was suspended for defending himself in school, so I tried to tell Thornburg that that was unfair, and that's why I'm freaking suspended, because Thornburg is an ass."

As she came to stop at a red light, about a block from our house, she looked at me, asking, "What kind of defense did he have to do?"

I went red. "Oh, well... Some guys picked a fight with him a-and one guy punched Andy in the face, so he fought back."

"And where were you durring all this that you ended up in the principal's office?"

"I was being held back by another guy. They didn't want me intervening."

The light turned green and my mom started on our way down the final block. "You're still not making sense, Celeste, why did you end up in the principal's office?"

"I told you." I said, looking out the window at the passing houses. 1107, 1109, 1111... I was counting the house numbers as we passed.

"Celeste being held back by another guy does not land you in the principal's office."

I shifted in my seat, my back was sore from the blow I received earlier. My cheek wasn't red by the time Mom came to pick me up, but it still was a little tender. I guess my hair also covering it up was helping keeping that from my mom.

"Celeste, did you get involved in the fight?"

I snapped my head in her direction, "What? No!" That wasn't the total truth, nor a total lie.

"Celeste, I can tell when you're lying."

"I didn't fight anyone!"

"That's not what I'm asking." She sighed, "Why was Andy in the fight?"

I suppose I should tell her, at least some of it--the underlying reason of the fight. She's just going to keep pressing for an answer. "He was protecting me." I finally stated, the elephant in the room, er, car, gone.

"Why is that, Sweetie? What do you mean?" She stated, driving up into our drive-way.

I took a deep breath. "It means, Brent and his buddies were aiming to start a fight with me, but Andy stepped in and told them to fuck off, which resulted in Brent punching Andy in the nose, and eventually I was being held back by one of Brent's buddies, and when I broke free, Brent was trying to slap Andy but missed, and hit me instead. When teachers intervened, I was dragged along. I got fucking suspended because Thornburg can't accept the fact that Brent and Cole and Garret are fucking evil little children that think it's funny to torture students that are different from everyone else."

Holy shit, did I just say all that? Apparently my mouth was flowing words like lava out of an active volcano.

I looked over at her. She was frozen in her seat. A few moments of unbearable silence went on. I can't believe I just spewed that all out. I just blatantly told her that I've been in living hell in school and that the top three athletes in school had been the culprits. God, what's wrong with me?

"Why didn't you ever tell me, sweetie, that you were being bullied?" She asked in a hushed tone.

"Because, I didn't want you to worry about anyone else hurting me."

"Celeste, you should have told me."

"What would you have been able to do? Because clearly you couldn't do anything about the at home situation, what could you have done about the at school one? Let's face it, you didn't need that shit, and i neded to hide it from you. Now can we go inside, please? We have to go to the police station later on today." I just wanted out of this car. I wanted to see Andy. I needed to know if he was okay.

Mom nodded in response and we both exited the car. When we got inside, I went straight up to my room. I tole Mom not to bother me while I was upstairs, because I wanted to be alone until four o'clock rolled around, which is when we'd have to go to the police station.

Little did she know that I was sneaking calling Andy. We had finally exchanged numbers, and I was desperate to talk to him. Hopefully I'd see him after the questioning, because I intended on going over to Gee's, just like we all planned on, and I hoped to God Andy would be there.

"Hey?" Andy's voice broke through the line. I smiled, he sounded the same, and that was a comfort.

"Hey, how you holding up?"

"Pretty good, I don't think Brent broke my nose, so that's plus. It's just really fucking sore and I had to put it back in place."

It felt like a dagger was being stabbed in me when I knew he was deffinately in pain.

"How are you holding up, Cel?"

"Just a little sore, nothing major. Are you going to be going to Gerard's house later on? I was hoping to see you."

"Yea, as long as my goddamn nose doesn't start bleeding again." He laughed, causing me to smile. By God, that laugh was the cutest little laugh in the history of cute things he's done.

"So, I'll see you at four, then?"

"Deffinately."

Notes