Celeste didn’t call before she stopped by Sarina’s place. School would be out by now and the timing felt right. She figured that if Sarina didn’t want to talk, they could at least make plans for later. It was better to deal with this in person.

As she passed Travis’s truck in the driveway, the family dog came trotting over, wagging her tail lazily. She was a black and white border collie named Patches.

“Hey, girl,” Celeste said, pausing to bend over and give Patches some ear scratches. “How are you?”

Patches rubbed against her in response. Giving the dog a couple of head pats, Celeste headed up the rickety front steps. She tried the doorbell but it didn’t seem to work so she knocked instead. After a beat, she heard sounds from inside the house. Travis’s muffled voice called out, “I got it!” before the door swung open.

Travis greeted her wearing some old sweats and a wife beater, his hair a disheveled mess. He smelled faintly of jasmine incense. His eyes widened at the sight of her and he blinked, doing a double take.

“Oh, whoa! Hey! Celeste!” he said. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see Sarina,” Celeste said. “Is she home?”

“Sarina? Yeah, sure!” Travis said, taking a step back and waving her inside. “Come on in. Sarina’s just in her room with her friends.”

“Oh, is it a bad time?” Celeste asked. “I can come back when she’s not busy.”

“No, no! It’s fine,” Travis said. “They’re just bumming around. Monique and Jolie don’t usually hang around for too long anyway. They’re probably just smoking or something–”

“Travis!” came a shout from down the hall. It sounded like Travis’s mother was in the living room.

“What, Mom?” Travis shouted back.

“Who’s at the door?!"

“It’s Celeste! One of Sarina’s friends!”

“Be a good host!”

“Sure thing!” he called back then turned to Celeste, rolling his eyes. He stopped yelling to say, “Sorry. Don’t mind her. She’s in a bitchy mood today.”

“It’s fine,” Celeste said with a smile.

She’d been over once or twice to Sarina’s place with Amber. Sarina’s family were loud, opinionated, and casual to the point of being rude. Celeste didn’t mind it since she was familiar with the attitude.

Celeste grew up around her family’s greenhouse business. That meant she saw a lot of customers. She was used to all kinds of people, especially loud, boisterous types.

“Just let me know if you need anything,” Travis said, perking back up. He was all smiles. “I actually made cookies if you want some. And, uh… Did you want anything to drink?”

“I’m good for now,” Celeste said, smiling back. “Thank you. Sarina’s room is just at the end of the hall, right?”

“Yeah. Let me knock for you,” Travis said. “Sometimes Sarina gets in a mood as bitchy as Mom, if not worse. She needs to chill out. She’s too wound up all the time.”

Celeste followed Travis down the hall and he knocked on the door. There was some upbeat pop music playing but it flicked off and the sounds of a mad scramble followed.

“What?!” Sarina demanded from inside. “What do you want?!”

“Celeste is here to see you,” Travis said. “She wants to talk.”

There was a pause and then Sarina opened the door. A smoky, cigarette scent wafted out, hitting the back of Celeste’s throat immediately. She suppressed the urge to clear her throat or cough.

“Celeste?” Sarina said in surprise. Then she frowned. “I thought you were busy being a dick to me like everyone else. What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk,” Celeste said. “If it’s a bad time, I can come back later…”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Sarina said, opening the door a little wider, turning back into the room. “These two bitches were on their way out anyway.”

Jolie was sitting on the edge of Sarina’s unmade bed and Monique was leaning against the dresser. They were like polar opposites of one another. Jolie followed most of the popular fashion trends, her blonde hair braided and pinned up. She’d always been pretty and with a touch of makeup, she looked at least a couple years older than she was.

Monique, on the other hand, had a whole goth vibe going on, dressed completely in black with dark hair and pale makeup with heavy dark accents. Her expression was almost as flat and unimpressed as Noa’s.

“Celeste is here?” Jolie sneered, taking a drag of a nearly finished cigarette. “Jesus, Sarina. Why are you hanging out with a retard like her?”

“Because I like her,” Sarina said. “You got a problem with that?”

“Family’s got issues with her side. You know that. I thought you guys were done,” Jolie snorted. She sneered at Celeste. “Everybody’s still pissed about ‘Labelle Gardens’. Like, call it ‘Labelle Jardin’ and show some pride in your heritage.”

The family history went a lot deeper than that. Both sides of the family were always finding reasons to fight and argue. Jolie was Celeste’s younger cousin on her dad’s side and their fathers didn’t get along. It was awkward. Celeste tried to stay out of it.

Celeste preferred her family on her mom’s side. The Auberts were nice. They never started problems with other people.

“Dad went with ‘Gardens’ because it’s easier for English speakers to pronounce,” Celeste said. She couldn’t help but say something, though she probably shouldn’t. “Too many people would say ‘jawr-din’ instead of ‘jahr-dain’, so dad didn’t want to bother.”

“Who cares about dumbass anglophones?” Jolie scoffed and then spared Sarina a glance, waving a hand. “Not that there’s anything wrong with you, Sarina. You’re cool.”

“Jo, I don’t give two shits about your weird-ass French family drama,” Sarina huffed. “Finish up and get out of here.”

Jolie rolled her eyes but took a long drag of her cigarette. She turned her head to blow smoke out the open bedroom window.

“You guys shouldn’t be smoking in the house,” Travis said. He was still lingering in the doorway.  His warning was half-hearted. “Mom’s in a bad mood today, Sarina. You’re gonna piss her off.”

“Whatever,” Sarina said. “It’s fine. Monique and Jolie are almost done anyway. Mom doesn’t notice shit and chances are she won’t get off her ass.”

“Your funeral,” Travis said and wandered off to his room.

“Dick,” Sarina called out after him before closing the door. She waved at the other two. “Finish up and get going. If Mom does come around, I’m throwing you both under the bus.”

“Not if I throw you under the bus first,” Monique said. She seemed to have already finished smoking.

“Ha! Good luck trying,” Sarina responded. She turned to Celeste. “Do you smoke or anything? Travis at least offered you something to drink or whatever, right?”

“Yeah,” Celeste said. “I’m good.”

Celeste hated the smell of cigarettes and being stuck in a room with Jolie was never pleasant. Still, she wanted to talk to Sarina.

“Celeste is a little goody-two-shoes,” Jolie snorted.

“Stop antagonizing her,” Monique said. “It’s boring.”

“What? You’re Celeste’s big defender now?” Jolie sneered at her.

“I’m tired of your bad taste,” Monique said. “You have the most boring, dumb ideas. The only person worse than you is Eric.”

Jolie made a face. “Wow. Low blow.”

“I’m not wrong.”

“Will you guys just hurry it up?” Sarina said.

Rolling her eyes, Jolie sucked back the last of her cigarette and crushed the butt into the ashtray on the nightstand. She got up, puffing her last lungful of smoke out the open window while Monique pushed herself away from the dresser.

“See you tomorrow, Sarina,” Monique said.

“Yeah,” Jolie added. “See you.”

They headed out. Sarina leaned out the door to watch them go. She waved at them.

“Bye!” she called.

“Sarina! Do I smell cigarettes?!” her mom’s voice came from down the hall as the other two girls slipped out the front.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake…” Sarina mumbled under her breath before shouting, “I was just burning some shitty incense with my friends!”

“Incense doesn’t smell like that!”

“Well, I’m not smoking anything! Check with Travis!” Sarina shouted and then slammed her door shut. “Fucking everyone is on my case all the fucking time… Fuck.”

“Um… I can come back later,” Celeste said.

“No, no. It’s fine,” Sarina said.

She crossed the room and stashed her ashtray, lighter, and mostly empty pack of smokes on her overcrowded vanity. She tucked everything behind an open, overflowing jewelry box. There was makeup littered all over and the vanity mirror was covered in stickers, notes, and pictures. It was a chaotic mess.

“So, what’s this about?” Sarina asked, fumbling around until she found some incense. She lit it and wafted it around to try and fill the room with the heavy smell. “If you came here to rag at me about Rion, I’ll kick you out.”

“I’m not here to rag at you,” Celeste said. “I just wanted to talk. The others… You left a pretty bad impression on them.”

“I’d say so,” Sarina grumbled, finally setting the incense up and turning to her. “You can take a seat wherever.”

Celeste sat down on the edge of the bed and Sarina leaned up against the dresser, where Monique had stood before. She crossed her arms over her chest, looking down at Celeste as if challenging her.

Celeste would be the first to admit that she wasn’t a strong person. In fact, she tended to be embarrassed by her own weakness and cowardice. When things got tough, she would run away.

Amber had been the brave one. In fact, she was probably the bravest person that Celeste had ever met. Sarina has always done her best to emulate her, but it wasn’t the same. Amber had been fearless about sticking by her beliefs.

Celeste had worried more than once that she was just a tag along when it came to Amber, someone who followed her around and didn’t contribute. But Amber trusted her and confided in her in a way that she didn’t with anyone else. They were best friends. And Amber had brought out what little confidence Celeste did have.

But she had none of that confidence now, facing Sarina. This was hard for her.

What kept her there was her concern for Sarina. Celeste didn’t want to see her part on such bad terms with everyone. Sarina needed to understand how everyone felt.

Celeste was the adult here, no matter how uncomfortable she was. She had to be responsible. She couldn’t run away from everything.

“I guess… I want you to know that I don’t hate you,” Celeste began, struggling to find the right words. “I’m not even mad, just shocked, because…because of everything. And I’m not just siding with Rion.”

Sarina’s eyebrows rose for a fraction of a second before pinching into a frown.

“No? So…you get where I’m coming from?” Sarina asked.

“Not really,” Celeste said. She wanted to emphasize that what Sarina did was wrong, but she knew she had to hear her side of things. “I think you hurt Rion and you did some bad things. But I know you. We were friends as kids. Remember all those hours we spent working on the friendship bracelets?”

Sarina’s expression wavered. Then she smiled faintly, like she couldn’t help herself.

“I was really bad at it,” she said. “I wasted so much string.”

“But you got good with practice,” Celeste said. “And Amber helped. She was so good at it.”

“Yeah. She was a pro…” Sarina said. Her expression quickly grew bitter. “I’m not sure I want to talk about Amber.”

Celeste was silent for a moment, hesitating.

“…The guys don’t really get it,” she finally said. “They liked Amber, but they had different relationships with her. She used to tell us things that she would never tell the guys. Jesse was more in on things, but… It was always different. And you and Rion never got along. That wasn’t exactly a secret.”

“He was always in the way and then he turned out to be a dick so it’s not like I was wrong,” Sarina grumbled. “Why are you telling me this? Is there a point?”

“I’m just trying to say that… I understand, kind of,” Celeste said, hoping she didn’t sound too much like she was pleading. “I understand that you’re upset, and I understand that Rion was really, really cold to us… It hurts. I know I haven’t gotten over it. But…”

She hesitated, worried about how to get her meaning across peacefully. She wanted to tell Sarina that she couldn’t just lash out at people, but she didn’t want her to feel like Celeste was accusing her.

“I just don’t get it,” Sarina said, her expression growing more and more bitter. “Like, Rion was an asshole. He was the one in the wrong. Yeah, sure, okay; maybe I antagonize him sometimes. But he hurt me first. And everyone just acts like it’s fine.”

“It’s not fine,” Celeste said. “It’s just…you shouldn’t hurt him. Sarina, you’re better than that. And… When you do things like that, it bothers people. Especially Peter. He said that he didn’t want you anywhere near Noa.”

“What?” Sarina said, eyes going wide. “Why not?”

“…Sarina, Noa’s dad was abusive,” Celeste said. “Peter sees you attacking Rion and it scares him. He doesn’t want Noa exposed to that.”

Sarina flinched, reeling back. “I would never hurt Noa! I’m not like that!”

“You hit Rion in front of all of us,” Celeste said. “You attacked him. We all saw you. I don’t think you would ever attack Noa, but… How do you think Noa would’ve felt if he’d been there with us? How do you think he would’ve felt if he’d seen you hurting his best friend?”

Sarina tried to stammer something out, but it was apparent that Celeste had at least helped her to see things in a new light. She flushed in shame, realizing how bad it looked.

“I didn’t hit Rion that hard,” she finally managed to say.

“But you can see that you might have gone too far…?” Celeste said.

“I… Maybe,” Sarina began, rubbing her arm self-consciously. “I mean… I didn’t really mean to hit him or anything, he just… He made me so mad. He just… I don’t know.”

“Listen, no one is asking you to like Rion,” Celeste said, hopeful that maybe she could talk some sense into Sarina. “You can even hate him if you want to. But you should stop hurting him. Have you tried ignoring him?”

“It’s hard,” Sarina said. “I mean, it’s not just me, you know? Sometimes he picks a fight. And he might call me names and whatever, but he agrees with me. We go to the same school, you know. We share classes. Like, you heard him say that I was right.”

“Then you have to be the bigger person,” Celeste said. “You need to at least try.”

Sarina squirmed in place, expression bitter.

“I don’t know,” Sarina finally said. “Maybe…”

There was a knock on the door before Travis popped his head in. Sarina jolted.

“Hey,” Travis said. He’d brushed his hair and changed out of his wife beater into a worn T-shirt. “Celeste, I forgot to mention that our cat, Pumpkin, had a litter of kittens before we could get her fixed. Did you wanna come and see?”

“Oh. Um…” Celeste began.

“Oh my god, Travis! Go away!” Sarina barked. “We’re having a private conversation in here!”

“Sorry,” Travis said but he didn’t look sorry, flashing Celeste a bright grin. “There’s five of them. You could probably take one or two for the farm, if you wanted. I mean, once they’re old enough to leave their mom. They’ve been living in the laundry room–”

“Travis, fuck off!” Sarina said.

She grabbed a decorative pillow from the bed and chucked it at her brother. Travis ducked out of the room, closing the door before the pillow could hit its target.

“He’s always poking his nose where it doesn’t belong,” Sarina huffed and turned to Celeste. “Do you have the same problem with Claude? Can we trade older brothers?”

“Claude is even nosier,” Celeste told Sarina with a small smile. “He’s the oldest and he thinks he needs to be responsible for me and Sophie so he’s always bothering us. Sorry, but you’d like him even less than Travis.”

“Urgh,” Sarina groaned. “That sucks.”

They were off topic because of Travis. To Celeste, it felt too awkward to go back to what they were talking about before. She didn’t know how to direct the conversation. And, honestly, she wasn’t sure she wanted to go back to talking about it again.

Maybe that was enough? They were on the right track, weren’t they?

“Um… Maybe we could do coffee sometime?” Celeste suggested. “I’d like to hang out with you, and… You know, I don’t even mind if you bring Monique along. She’s okay.”

“Really?” Sarina said. She was surprised but she perked up. “Monique has her moments, but she’s pretty cool. Yeah. We could do that. I, uh… I get why you don’t get along with Jolie.”

“It’s family stuff,” Celeste said.

“Say no more,” Sarina said. “I’ve heard the stories.”

Celeste made a face. That was the thing about living the small-town life. All your family was in the same place and your friends heard every embarrassing story about who did what.

“I don’t mind Jolie, but she doesn’t like me,” Celeste said. “I’d rather avoid her.”

“That’s fine,” Sarina said. “You, me, and Monique. I think we can do that no problem. I, uh…actually…”

Sarina hesitated.

“What is it?” Celeste asked.

“Thanks,” Sarina said. “You know…for not ditching me like everyone else did. I… That’s cool of you.”

Celeste smiled. “You’ve done some bad things and I might not agree with you…but I don’t want to ditch you. We used to have a lot of fun together, and… I want to understand. I’m not going to understand if I don’t hear you out, right?”

“Yeah,” Sarina said, smiling wider. “Still, thanks. It means a lot to me.”

“No problem,” Celeste said, and her smile became shyer. “Maybe I will look at those kittens though. We could probably use a couple more cats on the farm.”

“They’re pretty cute,” Sarina admitted. “Okay. Sure. I’ll show you their hiding spot.”

“Well, Travis was the one to offer,” Celeste said. “He seemed pretty excited to show me. I should probably ask him.”

Sarina rolled her eyes. “Urgh. He’s a goon. You’re much better off with me. Come on.”