Cross Fade

chapter 2// sandstone orange

CROSS FADE

chapter 2: sandstone orange

[sandstone: the color of your mother's unconditional, and eternal, love on the days you have done something disappointing or silly.]

           IF one asked Celeste to name the things she loathed most, she wouldn't have hesitated before stating: liars and fighting with her father. Today, however, there were two additions to that list.

Being stuck in glue and Kieran Core.

Celeste gaped at the boy, afraid to move."What do you mean, stuck in glue?"

"I mean, the crazy teacher in the front was supposed to take this seat. You sat in it. There's super strong glue all over the seat," he was grinning so wide at her misery that it almost made her want to laugh at the situation. "Don't believe me? Try to get up."

She clutched the armrests with all of her power and willed herself to get up. Celeste believed in the law of attraction in the grand scheme of her life. If it manifested right here and now, she would apply it everywhere else.

I can get off the chair, she whispered internally. I can get up. I will get up.

And lifting herself up, her horror was visible. Her lower body, up to the upper thighs, was one with the chair. Sensing tears of panic on the verge of falling, she let her anger manifest as a deadly glare to the handsome boy next to her.

"Pendejo," she breathed, low enough for only him to hear. "Que te den."

His eyes glowed. "Now, I only took two spanish classes, but I know that was rude. Anger looks good on you, Suarez. Very, might I say, caliente."

A comment of this sort would've made a nice flush appear on Celeste's cheeks, as compliments towards her were hard to come by and never felt real. He was too goodlooking to see any beauty in her, but she pushed that thought out of the way. She was, after all, stuck to a chair.

"Core. How do I get up?"

"Like this," he got up and stretched. "Basics, Celeste."

Celeste reached over and pinched his arm with all the force she could muster. He only cringed, "I have a high pain tolerance. That was nothing but a poke. Speak up, Suarez. You won't get up like that."

"No," she shook her head. "I'm going to be subtle. It's my first day, I don't want Ms. Jolene to get a bad impression. Fuck you, Core, by the way."

Trying to lift her derriere up over and over, Celeste finally felt a rip in her jeans. And they were expensive jeans, the kind that fit her perfectly and hugged every curve. They were her favorite jeans, she had paid for them with her first paycheck from her shit retail job.

And now, they were about to get ripped apart by a chair.

The sound of her jeans ripping fell synonymously as Ms. Jolene had taken a pause to relish in the magic of the theatre, a tradition before beginning the preparations for a play. The thirty actors, set designers, techs and her teacher turned to look at her. Bo looked at her with wide eyes, afraid for her best friend.

"You okay, Miss Suarez?" Her teacher asked kindly.

"Not really," Celeste's face bordered on a lovely scarlett red. She glanced at Kieran, who shook his head fervently, sinking into his seat. "Someone put super strong glue on my seat."

Small gasps of laughter filled the room. "Oh dear," Jolene sighed. "Who would do such a thing? The theater is not a place for these pleasantries."