Celeste woke up Monday morning and got ready for school. She and the group had gotten back to Hilton Valley a little after eleven the night before. After the twins had dragged Celeste off they had all gotten changed and went out to dinner. It was a nice dinner and everyone had thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Celeste had gotten a little paranoid as she, Nate and Brook drove back. Since she and Nate hadn’t gone to school on Friday they hadn’t handed in their project. Nate had assured her that he had talked to their teacher and got to okay for them to present today.
She was a little nervous about watching the short film. She wasn’t sure what exactly would be on it. She could only imagine how late Nate had stay up the night before to edit it. Packing up her bag Celeste headed out of her room. Aaron was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee in one hand and morning paper in the other. Celeste held back a chuckle every time she saw him doing that. It reminded her so much of how their father would do the same thing every morning.
“Morning, bro” Celeste smiled walking over to the coffee pot and pouring herself a cup.
“Mornin’, sis” Aaron said lifting his cup to her in a greeting.
Sipping her coffee Celeste leaned against the counter and watched her brother. As it often did, guilt settled in her stomach. Her brother never got to go and live his dream because he had to raise her. Ever since she could remember Aaron always wanted to travel around the world after he finished high school. She wondered if he still wanted to do that now that she would be graduating in a few months. She really hoped that he did. After everything that he had done for her growing up, Aaron deserved to live his dream.
A horn honked out side and Celeste walked over to the window and looked out. Nate was leaning against his truck with a smile on his face. She hadn’t known that he was coming to pick her up this morning and was pleasantly surprised that he had. Finishing the rest of her coffee she placed the cup in the sink and kissed Aaron on his cheek.
“See you late, love ya,” she said and rushed out of the kitchen.
“Love you, too” he called out to her just before she closed the front door.
Skipping down the drive way Celeste stopped in front of Nate and smiled up at him.
“Good morning,” she said
“Good morning, beautiful.” he grinned placing his hands on her waist. “You ready for school?”
“I didn’t know that you were going to pick me up,” she said wrapping her arms around his neck.
“I wanted to surprise you this morning,” he shrugged
“Was one surprise last week not enough?” I teased
“You know, I could always just have you drive yourself. We can act like this didn’t happen and just meet up at school.” he shrugged.
Celeste knew that he was messing with her. She liked that he had come to get her, it was sweet.
“I’d rather ride with you,” Celeste smiled up at him.
“Then, let’s get out of here.” he grinned opening up the passenger door and helping her in.
Nate got into the drivers side and started his truck. He laced his fingers with Celeste’s before pulling out onto the street and heading off to school. He hadn’t planned on picking her up that morning but, as soon as he had gotten into his truck he found himself driving to her house. After spending the weekend with her, he wanted to be around her more often. He had stayed up till almost two that morning editing their English project and had to say that it came out pretty good. The twins and Hunter had sent him video’s that they had shot with their phones and he added those to the video as well. He couldn’t wait to see what everyone else thought of it, especially Celeste.
“You look nice today,” Nate commented
“I look the same as I do everyday,” Celeste laughed, looking down at her tee and jeans ensemble. She had a pair of skinny jeans on with a loose fitting sky blue tee that hung off of one shoulder and a pair of white converse.
“Well, personally I think that you look good everyday.” he shrugged
“Thank you,” she blushed, looking out the window.
Nate pulled into the school parking lot and parked the truck in it’s usual spot. Neither one of them made a move to get out. It’s not like they had to rush or anything since there was still quite a bit of time till they had to be in class. Nate leaned his head against the headrest of his chair and looked over at Celeste. She was still looking out the window, watching the other students. He couldn’t believe that they had gone to school together their whole lives and he had only just met her a little over a month ago, if even that long. Her beauty always took his breath away, no matter how much time they spent together, she just got more and more beautiful to him.
Unbuckling Celeste’s belt Nate wrapped his arm around her waist and hoisted her into his lap. Celeste gasped and looked over at him with wide eyes before looking back out the window to see if anyone was watching them. Nate held back a chuckle knowing that his tints were dark enough so no one could see into the truck. Using his free hand Nate adjusted her legs so that they were resting on the passenger seat.
“What are you doing?” she hissed looking back at him. “People will see us!”
“Will you relax Ce, no one can see into the truck, the tints are too dark.” he said wrapping his arms around her.
“That still does not explain what you’re doing.” she pointed out.
“I’m holding you, what does it look like I’m doing?” he asked burying his face in the side of her neck. She smelled really good, she always did.
“In your truck? In the middle of the school parking lot?” she asked with a raise of her brow.
“Uh-huh.” he nodded. His nose skimming the length of her neck.
Celeste shuddered and bit her lip. Who knew that a little action such as Nate’s nose skimming her neck would feel so good? She didn’t. But, then again she was a virgin through and through when it came to things like that.
“You smell really good,” Nate murmured against her throat.
“Yeah, that’s not creepy at all.” Celeste said trying to sound serious or at least a little crept out. She failed epically since she laughed.
The arm that was wrapped around her waist came up and cupped the back of her neck. Celeste turned back to Nate just as his lips came down on hers. The kiss was slow and sweet. Both taking there time, wanting to enjoy the way their lips moved together. Wanting to be a little bold Celeste flicked out her tongue and trailed it across Nate’s bottom lip. Nate groaned against her lips and opened his mouth, letting Celeste explore the moist cavern. Celeste’s hands gripped Nate’s shirt trying to get closer to him. She wasn’t sure how that was even possible since she was already in his lap, but she tried anyway.
“Will the two of you get out of there already!” Nina shouted as she tapped on the drivers side window.
The sudden voice and tap on the window startled Celeste. She squealed in shock and tried to push away from Nate only to come in contact with the horn. It let out a loud honk cause the twins to burst out in laughter. Celeste’s cheeks pinked as she shuffled over to the passenger side. Nate tried not to chuckle at the look on Ce’s face but, he couldn’t hold it for long. She scowled at him, grabbed her bag and jumped out of the truck. The twins were still laughing as she made her way toward the entrance of the building.
“Come on, Ce” Nate said still chuckling, as he jogged after her. “You’ve got to admit it was a little funny.”
“Shut up,” she huffed quickening her pace.
“Don’t be like that,” Nate cooed slinging his arm around her shoulders. All he received in response was a flat look. “Regardless of what just happened, I still think that, that was the hottest make out session I’ve ever had.” he whispered into her ear.
Celeste pushed his arm off her shoulder as her blush darkened. She wouldn’t say it out loud especially while they were at school but, she thought it was pretty hot as well. She already knew that the girls were not going to let her live this down. She did not want to give them move ammo by telling them that she was actually enjoying herself until they freaked her out and she hit the horn. Getting to her locker Celeste got whatever books she needed for that morning and closed the door. Nate was leaning against the locker next to hers giving her his version of the ‘puppy dog look’. Celeste narrowed her eyes and thought that a guy as good looking as him should not ever be allowed to pull that look on anyone.
Spinning on her heel Celeste took of down the hall. Her embarrassment over what happened just was settled in her stomach like an itch you can’t scratch. Though no one else knew why it had happened didn’t mean that it was any less embarrassing. Nate followed behind Celeste still trying not to laugh. He knew that she was embarrassed about what happened. Nate thought it was a little cute how flustered she was over what happened. Wrapping his arms around her waist he pulled her to a stop.
“Aw, baby, don’t be mad.” he pleaded.
“I’m not mad.” she grumbled crossing her arms over her chest.
“Fine,” he sighed turning her to face him. “I know you’re embarrassed about it but, don’t be. Worst things have happened to other people.”
“That does not make me feel better.” she huffed “I did enjoy myself though.”
“That’s good to know,” he grinned cupping her cheek. “I’ll have to make sure to do it more often.” he said swooping in and stealing another kiss before sauntering down the hall and to his class.
Celeste huffed and walked into her first period. He just had to go and do that didn’t he? And in the hallway no less! Half the girls in the hall were giving her dirty looks as were the ones who saw what happened from inside. Brushing it off Celeste took her seat and her note book on the desk. Since she and Nate had only been together for about two weeks, Celeste was still trying to get used to the glares that she received on a daily basis. With her elbow on the desk Celeste rested her chin on her palm, waiting for the teacher to come in and start the lesson.
“You know he’s just using you, right?” a voice to her left sneered. Glancing over she saw Dana standing there. Celeste mentally groaned, Dana was the last person she wanted to deal with on a Monday morning. “When he get’s what he wants from you, he’ll throw you away like yesterday’s paper.”
“Are you finished?” Celeste asked in a bored tone. “I have better things to do then listen to you.”
“You think your all that now, don’t you?” Dana scoffed “You’re nothing. Always have been and always will be.”
“You done? Cause I seriously don’t care what you think about me.” Celeste sighed “Now, move along because the teacher is here.”
Dana narrowed her eyes at Celeste, flipped her hair over her shoulder as she turned on her heel and stalked off to her seat. Celeste let out a breath and faced forward toward the teacher who was trying to get the rest of the class to settle down. Her mind was running a mile a minute about what had just happened with Dana. That was the first time Dana had spoken to her all year. They had probably only shared words a handful of time since they started high school. She and Dana had never been friends and Celeste didn’t really know why Dana didn’t like her. Not that it mattered, she just didn’t know. She had never gone out of her way to do anything to the girl so her hatred toward Celeste was really uncalled for. She wouldn’t let it get to her though, not everyone would like you and Celeste was fine with that. Not like she really made an effort to get people to like her.
Classes went by quickly and then it was time for lunch. Celeste met up with the twins at her locker and together they walked off to the lunch room. During their trek to the café, Celeste told them about what happened during first period. The twins couldn’t help but laugh because they both knew that the only reason why Dana even went up to Celeste was because she was jealous. They knew that Dana had been trying for a long time to get with Nate and he turned her down every single time. It was like she didn’t care that she was making an ass out of herself every time she threw herself at him. That girl really had no shame in her game.
“Don’t worry about Dana,” Maddie said linking her arm through Celeste’s.
“I’m not,” Ce shrugged
“She’s just jealous because you got the one guy that she was never able to sink her claws into.” Nina said linking her arm through Celeste’s free one. “Wonder what she must think now that she can’t get Hunter.”
“Where is he anyway?” Ce asked looking around the crowded lunchroom they had just entered. “I haven’t seen him all day.”
“Don’t know,” Nina shrugged “I know he came to school though cause I seen him this morning before you and Nate showed up.”
“Speaking of which, would you care to tell us why exactly his horn went off this morning?” Maddie asked, wiggling here eyebrows.
“No, not really,” Celeste said shaking her head as she broke away from them to get something to eat.
As she was browsing through the lunch choice two arms wound around her waist. She didn’t have to look over her shoulder to know who it was. Nate leaned his chin on her shoulder and kissed her cheek.
“My parents want you and Aaron to come over to dinner tonight.” he whispered into her ear.
“Really? Why didn’t you tell me this morning?” she asked as she stacked her tray with enough food for the both of them.
“She just called to let me know. Apparently it slipped her mind to ask before I left for school.” he shrugged “So, what’d you say?”
“I call Aaron when we get to the table.” she replied trying to pull her wallet out of her pocket.
“I got it,” Nate said stepping away and handing over the money for lunch. “Why’d you get so much food?” he asked eyeing the tray.
“Seeing as how you didn’t grab lunch yourself I got enough for both of us.” she answered.
“That’s very thoughtful of you,” he grinned grabbing the tray in one hand and wrapping his other around her waist.
“Well, someone has to be the thoughtful in this relationship.” she teased
“Ha ha, very funny,” Nate said rolling his eyes playfully. “Thank you,” he smiled down at her and kissed her temple.
The couple walked over to the table that the twins were sitting at talking animatedly. Celeste didn’t really pay much attention to them at first, she was more focused on getting some food in her stomach. She really should have asked Nate to stop some where that morning for breakfast. Glancing around the table after taking a few bites of a sandwich Celeste noticed that Hunter still wasn’t around.
“Hey, where’s Hunt?” Celeste asked
“He’s around here somewhere,” Nina shrugged
“Hello my peoples!” Hunter shouted popping out of no where. “How are all you lovely people doing today?” he asked with a face splitting grin.
“What’s got you so happy?” Celeste asked eyeing up his face. Hunter was the epitome of a happy person but, right now he was exceeding his normalcy.
“I, my dear sweet little Cece, have a date tonight.” he replied
“But, it’s Monday,” Ce said. Who goes out on a date on a Monday?
“So,” he shrugged “Can I not go on a date on a Monday?” he asked arching an eyebrow.
“I didn’t say that,” she said quickly “I just. . .don’t people normally go on dates during the weekend?”
“Yes, but tonight is the only night that she’s free.” he replied
“I hope you’re talking about Jessica,” Nate said shooting in best friend a look.
“As a matter of fact, I am talking about Jess.” Hunter grinned
“Even though I know that the two of you have talking and stuff, it’s still weird to think about you going on a date with my little sister.” Nate shuddered “Friendly warning though, you hurt my sister and I’ll kick your ass.”
“Noted,” Hunter nodded
“And don’t even try to pull shit on my sister that you usually do on every other girl you go on ‘dates’ with.” Nate warned seriously. He would kill Hunter if he pulled that crap on his little sister.
“I am not that stupid, Nate” Hunter said rolling his eyes. “We’re just going out to dinner at Danny’s and we might catch a movie after. Then I’m bringing her home, we wont be out long.”
“Good,” Nate nodded and turning back to his food.
“Good luck on your date tonight.” Celeste smiled. Personally she thought that Hunter and Jessica made a very cute couple. “So, where have you been all day?”
“In school detention,” Hunter shrugged like it was no big deal.
“What? Why?” she asked shocked.
“For ditching on Friday without a valid excuse.” he replied
“You’re an idiot,” Nina said looking over at him. “We all know that your parents would have called the school to let them know you weren’t going to make it. They love Celeste and they know how much dancing means to her, they wouldn’t have cared if you asked them to call.”
“Yeah, well. . .I didn’t think about that at the time.” Hunter said looking thoughtful.
“Of course you didn’t,” Maddie giggled with a roll of her eyes.
Conversation’s around the table stalled as everyone got back to their lunches. Before long the bell rang and the group split up to go to class. Well, Nate decided that he didn’t care if he was late to class or not and walked Celeste to class. Celeste had told him more than once during the walk that he didn’t have to walk with her. She was more then capable of walking to class alone. She had always done it and it didn’t bother her then and it wouldn’t bother he now. But, Nate was adamant in walking with her.
“What kind of boyfriend would I be if I let my girl walk to class all by her lonesome?” Nate questioned as they reached Ce’s class.
“I am not going to answer that question,” Celeste chuckled stepping toward her class door. “I’ll see you in English,”
“Okay,” Nate nodded and leaned forward to press a kiss on her forehead.
Celeste sat through her next classes bored out of her mind. She usually enjoyed school but, it seemed that today the teacher felt that it was fit to be outright boring. She knew that a lot of people found school boring, period. Celeste was not one of those people, not usually anyway. When the bell rung for the last class of the day Celeste’s nerves kicked in. She didn’t really want to show face in class since everyone would be watching the video that Hunter and Nate had made for their project. She was just debating on ditching class (which she wouldn’t normally do) when Ce spotted Nate coming down the hall toward her.
“Come on, time for English.” Nate grinned slipping his arm around her shoulder and steering her toward their shared English class.
“I thought we were meeting up there?” Celeste questioned
“I was going to meet you there but, then I got to thinking. I knew that you would start getting nervous about everyone seeing the video and knew that you’d be second guessing the whole going to class thing. So, I came to find you to make sure that you actually came to class. Good thing too, since it looked like you were ready to bolt.”
“I was not,” Celeste denied with a huff.
“Sure, you weren’t,” Nate said sarcastically. “Don’t worry too much alright, their all going to love it.”
“People are going to have to say about me now,” Celeste shuddered “As if they don’t have enough to talk about already. This video is just going to give them more.”
“Who cares,” Nate shrugged “Let ‘em talk. They’re just haters.”
“I don’t think I could handle any more gossip about me.” Celeste whispered as they walked into English.
“We’ll get through it,” Nate assured
Celeste sat in her seat next to Nate and they waited for the rest of the class and teacher to join them. Maybe she could hide in the back of the class as soon as the video started so no one would see her. Or maybe sneak out as soon as the lights were dimmed down. The latter sounded like a really good plan, but, knowing Nate, he wouldn’t let that happen.
She didn’t have to wait long for everyone to be in class and situated. Their teacher called them up to the front and Nate handed over the disk to play. He pulled Celeste over to the corner of the room and dimmed the lights. Nate whispered into her ear that it was all going to be fine and the final cut of the video was great. As the video played Celeste gripped onto Nate’s arm and turned her face into his shoulder. She couldn’t watch the video and she didn’t want to see the looks on their classmates faces.
To Celeste the video seemed to go on forever. Celeste laughed softly here and there as she heard the bickering that she and Jay had done during their practices. Every time she heard one theirs arguments it was like she was back in her basement practicing. She knew that if she looked over to the tv that’s exactly what she would see.
“You should really watch this, I think we all did a really good job with the different video and the final product.” Nate whispered
“I’ll watch it later, I’m pretty surer that you have a copy of the final edit on your computer.” Celeste said not moving her face an inch from where it was plastered against his shoulder.
The video came to an end with Celeste and Jay on stage after being the announced the winners. The whole class was silent, no one uttered a word not even their teacher. Celeste bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut. Was it really that bad? Did everyone hate it? Celeste was ready to bolt as the silence stretched on.
“Wow. . .” their teacher breathed. “That was amazing, great job to the both of you. A+”
“What?” Celeste gasped spinning around to look at their teacher. “Seriously?”
“That was one of the best that I’ve seen for this part of the project. Great job,” the teacher smiled.
Whispers broke out around the room and Celeste caught some of the glances that her classmates were giving her. None of them were bad like she had though they would be. A lot of the students eyes were wide with shock as they gazed her. None of them knew that she could dance like that or that she dance period. There weren’t many people in the school that knew she danced since her dance class held underclassmen. The only other dance class she had consisted of younger kids who hadn’t even reached high school yet.
“I told you it was going to be fine,” Nate grinned. All Celeste could muster up was a nod.