Both Of Us

*Celia Byrne*

When I got into the bathroom stall, I leaned against the wall and a waterfall of tears bolted out. A series of whimpers followed. I was gasping for air that wasn't filling my lungs quickly enough. My body hit the floor and I was clutching onto the toilet for dear life. The thought of throwing up all over myself terrified me and I couldn't control the way I was shaking.

"Daya, it's Celia, and Piper," I heard Celia say from the other side of the stall. I could see their boots from where I was sitting.

"You have all of us worried," Celia continued. "Girl, you need a hug, and lucky for you, I'm a hugger. Come on," Piper tried to sound comforting.

A groan roared from my mouth and I wanted to say something but it just made me cry more. People pitying me made me feel even more pitiful.

"Aw, sweetie we just want to help you," I saw Celia crouch down.

"You're lucky it's us. The boys wanted to run in here," Piper's feet left my view. I assumed she was pacing. I waited a few seconds before I mustered the strength to open the door.

"You look terrible," Piper said bluntly before Celia gave her a piercing look.

They both pulled me out of the stall and into a crushing hug. I cried on their shoulders, and Celia rubbed my back. It felt odd to cry on two strangers basically, but it didn't matter. I needed someone and they cared enough to be there.

They didn't say anything or ask me any questions I didn't want to answer. They just tried to comfort me. People walked in and out of the bathroom, but no one said anything until the ringing of the bell.

"Daya, let's get you cleaned up." I nodded as Piper walked me closer to the sinks and mirrors.

I looked up at myself and immediately looked back down. My face was red and wet. I looked like I just lived through a category 4 hurricane. I felt like it emotionally. I really did look terrible. Celia gently grabbed my chin and dabbed a wet paper towel around my puffy eyes.

"Cece's the mom of the group if you couldn't tell by now," Piper stated, getting makeup from her bag.

Celia retorted, "I would say I'm the most loving."

"I can't go out there looking like this. I don't think I can handle seeing Liv's fourth block," I whispered.

"Did she say something to you?" Piper asked sounding genuinely upset about the possibility.

Celia assured me. "Don't worry about her. I'll be by your side if she says a word to you."

I shook my head lavishly, "I don't know what happened after I left. She already hates me. If she finds out, she's going to tell everyone."

"Who cares what she says," Piper asked. "She's nobody in the grand scheme of things."

They didn't understand. I backed away from them both and wiped my eyes with my hoodie sleeve. "No, I can't be here."

"Daya," she held my left hand as Piper took the right.

"I know we just got officially introduced today, but you're our girl now. Nothing breaks that," Celia affirmed with her light brown eyes looking right at me.

"We're a girl gang now. We got your back," Piper added. Looking at the three of us in the mirror I nodded, "Okay."

The three of us linked arms and walked toward the fourth period. When we got to the gymnasium doors, Piper hugged us and exclaimed, "Destroy her ladies!"

Walking through the double doors of the gymnasium almost caused me to have an aneurysm. I had to keep my face down but people still saw.

"Don't be nervous. I promise you got this."

Celia had such a calming way about her from her soft, wavy, red hair to her light makeup.  Upon entering the gym our teacher sent all of the girls in the locker room.

Piper looked startled, "oh, I forgot my clothes in my car. I'll be right back." And she ran out of the locker room.

"What am I supposed to say to her?" I was starting to panic.

Celia gently shook her head, "If she says anything to you then we'll deal with it together." I sighed as we walked over to her locker.

In one swift motion, our arms were disconnected, she was kneeling over the ground and unlocking her locker. "Everyone knows that she's all bark and no bite. She's not going to do anything to you."

I crossed my arms. "I'm not worried about her doing anything physical, it's her bark that's concerning."

"What does she know?" She had her clothes in her hand and stood up.

I released a deep breath. "It doesn't make me look the best."

She put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed, "I won't judge you for whatever you did to her. You don't have to tell me, but if you want to, I'm here to listen." And I was again, stuck in this same conversation that I was having this morning. "It's not all my business to tell. And there are too many ears."

She looked excited for some reason. "That's fine! How about Piper and I come over to your house today and you can divulge all the juicy secrets?"

My brain was hurting from the idea. "I don't want to disappoint the two of you. Everything is just so embarrassing, but it would be nice to tell someone."

"See, telling people your feelings can help. In addition, we can all share embarrassing things about ourselves. I got a few of my own, and Piper, well she is a whole mess." We both laughed at her comment. "She seems like it," I said.

Piper burst back in and ran up to us. "Pipes, we're going to Daya's house tonight."

She jumped up and down. "It'll be our first girl gang meeting."

"Sounds exciting," I said trying to hide my nervousness about it.

After we got dressed in our P.E. attire, we walked onto the maple wood planks that were so shiny we could see our reflections in them.

"Ok girls," our Physical Education teacher Mrs. Krueger deadpanned with a beach volleyball pressed against her side.

"Today, you can either play volleyball, or basketball or walk around the court. Go!" She threw the beach volleyball in my direction, but I let it fly right past me. Celia laughed and went to pick the ball up.

"Are you any good?" She asked me with a sly look on her face.

"You can't tell by that masterful catch I just pulled off," I spoke with sarcasm on my tongue and an 'are you serious' look in my eye.

We walked over to the middle of the court where the net was. Most of the girls were walking, which is what I would be doing usually, but there were enough of us to play the game.

I was standing around wondrously before Celia grabbed my arm and put me in the space to the left of her. Our side went first because Celia had the ball, "Serve!" The beach ball went soaring over the net and thus, our game began.

After the first round ended, I still was terrible at the sport but had gained a slight appreciation for it. Despite my lack of skills, no one made a big deal of it. Surprisingly, I had fun. Even when it was my time to serve and the ball slammed into the net, Celia high-fived me and encouraged me to try again.

Somewhere in the middle of the second or third round, I heard a familiar laugh and callous energy coming nearby. "Wow Daya, you look ridiculous. Why don't you go for a walk and I'll take your place?"

"Can't you wait until the round is over Liv," I pleaded in a voice that could be considered slightly over a whisper.

She leaned in, "Excuse me, I can't hear you over all the choking you're doing."

"Liv, you can either wait or take a long walk off a short bridge," Celia spoke up and put her hand on my shoulder. Still, I couldn't look around or say anything else. I stared at the reflection of the encounter through the floor.

"Who are you, her bodyguard? Little Daya can handle this all her own I'm sure." I felt her step closer to me and could see her still perfectly curled bleach-blonde hair from my peripheral vision.

The entire game was disrupted, and I could feel the eyes of all the girls burning into my skin. The middle of the court had ceased all movement.

"Aww, I think she froze up," Liv snickered. Then, I felt her press-on nails make contact with my chin, as she lifted my face to look up at hers. I jerked my face away and I heard Piper say, "Okay Liv, back off."

Liv stepped towards Piper. "Can't Daya speak for herself? She sure seems to have so much to say to my man."

I could feel my entire body getting warmer, my face especially. The fear of having everything exposed was coursing through my veins as I quivered out, "You can take my place." I gave in with my voice shaking so much I could barely get the words out of my mouth.

"I thought so. Let's finish this girls." Liv high-fived with her friends.

I could see Celia had a shocked expression as I walked over to the edges of the court to start walking. Celia and Piper ran after me. "Really, you can't just let her win like that!"

She already has. What would she have me do?

I just shook my head and shoved my hands in my pockets. "Hold on," Celia walked in front of me and blocked my path. "This whole thing is about the dude from lunch? You can't let her walk all over you. Especially over some guy. He didn't seem all that great to me."

"No Celia, I have to or she'll tell everyone," I whispered to not cause any more embarrassment.

She looked flabbergasted, "Knowing her, she'll tell it eventually no matter what you do. If you won't say something, I will."

"Please don't," I cautioned her as she looked at me with her mouth agape. "No one talks to my friends like that," and with that, she went back over to the volleyball area.

I watched as she walked over to her in slow motion and saw her speaking. I couldn't quite make out what she was saying. For a few seconds, I really considered that I could keep walking and just avoid everything that was happening over there. Despite that though, I scampered over to where the girls were.

"Liv, I think you owe Daya an apology." Celia tried to look tough but with her small frame, she looked like a mouse squeaking to a lion.

"Do I, well I think it's none of your business." Liv held onto the ball.

She saw me walking back and sassed, "Or should we make it everyone's business? Wouldn't you love that Daya?" She said it like watching me suffer was the most hilarious thing ever.

Piper chimed in, "Whatever you're holding over her head just drop it, Liv."

"Hey bodyguards, go away," she waved in her face and I could tell that Liv was becoming distraught.

"Celia, please let it go before it gets worse," I tugged on her arm.

Liv ordered, "You definitely wouldn't want that. I would listen to her. Not on most things because she's usually a bumbling idiot. Seriously, I don't get what anyone would like about her," she belittled me.

Something in me told me I had to stand up for myself. "Liv, maybe you should ask Jay what he likes about me. I'm sure he could tell you because he's told me so many times."

She scoffed, "Don't test me," she pushed Celia aside and got closer to me.

"Don't touch her and stop threatening me," my eyes were prickling with tears, but I held them back. My fist was clenched and the restraint I had was quickly going away.

She opened her mouth to say something, but I declared, "He knows what happened and he still wants me."

She put both her hands on my shoulders and shoved me to where I took a step backward. "You are so delusional," she ranted in a menacing voice.

"Me, he's been lying to the both of us to cover for his own self Olivia! He can't decide to save his life!" I put myself in a position where we were so close I could see the glue from her fake eyelashes.

"He wants the both of us," I shouted in a whisper.

I thought maybe I could reason with her. "He tells me one thing and he tells you something completely different and we both have some sort of feelings for him, so we accept it. The truth lies somewhere in between what he says to us."

I sighed, "I believe that he loves me."

She squinted her eyes and tilted her head to the side. "I believe he loves me and that you," she shoved one of my shoulders, "should back off!"

"Why do you even like him? He's the first guy that showed you any attention after you moved here and you grabbed onto him like a leech." There was more I wanted to say but I stopped myself.

She gave me a death glare, "Is it hard to believe that he's a good guy and that I like good guys? He's different from anyone else that I've dated. And it's our relationship that you keep budding into," she poked me in the chest.

"I gave you two your distance when you asked for it. He brought me back into all of this. I... I want to just let you have him but...." I was cut off.

She sneered, "Too late, he's already mine!" If I actually had a chance of winning a physical fight, her extensions would be lining the floor by now.

"Hey, what's going on over here?" As I looked away from Liv, I saw Mrs. Krueger come our way. "I don't see a volleyball in the air!" The rest of the girls started back playing and the teacher went back to sit in her chair.

Then, Liv turned around so fast that her hair struck my face and she walked off. I stood there in the aftermath. Celia put her hand on my shoulder.

"I'm so proud of you," she said as she put her head on my shoulder for a few seconds. A single tear fell out of my left eye and I stumbled a bit, before scurrying to the locker room. I proceeded to the back where my locker was, and I heard her run after me.

My back hit the locker as I scooted down to the floor. Every bump in the locker, including the actual lock, scraped against me.

Celia got down in front of me and held the side of my face. Her palm was warm against me and I was becoming redder by the second. Soft sobs dripped from my eyes as she shushed me tenderly.

"You did well," she whispered to me.

I blubbered with a weary tone. "I provoked her. She has every reason to tell now. I thought maybe if I was honest with her she would relate. I might've made it worse."

Piper played with the ends of my hair. "For all we know, she did understand. No matter what, you stood up for yourself and that's what matters."

"Girls, are you all alright?" Mrs. Krueger, questioned us as her face went from hard to soft as she saw my expression.

"Yeah... yeah," I drawled as we got onto our feet at the same time and I wiped my eyes.

Celia continued, "Yes ma'am, do you mind if we wash our faces and we'll be right out," she smiled at our teacher.

Mrs. Krueger nodded, "Don't take too long," and she left us alone. I followed her into the bathroom by the sinks.

"This is the second time I've had to wash your face today," she grabbed a paper towel, wet it, and dabbed it under my eyes.

"I'm sorry. You must think I'm such a lightweight." My face was red with even more embarrassment.

She giggled, "There's nothing to apologize for. If we are going to be friends you have to know that I do that, like a lot."

"We already are friends, and that little comment is duly noted." I smiled genuinely for what felt like the first time in years.

* It's so nice that Daya has friends that aren't Jay.

How do you feel about Celia so far?

What do you think about the speech Daya gave to Liv?

Please remember to follow, comment, and share! I'm looking forward to continuing Daya's story. *