Eyes Sewn Shut (3)

(Part 3)

"Shopping Rain or Shine" by Andre Kohn

Celeste missed school again the following day, but by Thursday morning she was waiting in front of the house when Lora approached.

"Hey," she said as she fell in step.

"Hi," replied Lora. "You okay?"

“Yeah.  Look, I’m sorry ‘bout the other day--”

”No, it’s fine. Don’t be sorry. I didn’t mean to bother you, but I told your mom I’d pick up your work. And I was a little worried about you.”

“You didn’t bother me at all. I just wasn’t ready to talk about anything.”

They walked for a few moments in silence.  Lora hesitated but decided it would be rude not to at least ask.

”So can you tell me what happened?”

Celeste took a breath and cleared her throat.

“Well, no one died or anything, but I feel like he should be. My dad… he…" she trailed off.  "Look, I don’t want to get into it now. There’s too much to tell you between here and school, and I don’t feel like walking into class with mascara running down my face. How about we hang out at your place this afternoon and I'll fill you in on all the stupid details. Can I still take you up on those cookies?”

“Of course,” Lora said, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically.



She thought the 6th period bell would never ring.