III.                                           Heartbreak Weather

      He never noticed how close their lockers were. Her locker was down the hallway from his and yet he never noticed until now. Clutching the straps of his backpack, Eli nervously made his way to the girl standing at her locker. "H-Hey, Odessa." He stuttered.

Odessa turned around and smiled when she saw him. "Hey, Eli," she said back and pressed her books to her chest.

"How are you?"

She could lie. She didn't want to lie. Not to him. "I'm okay." She lied anyway. "How are you doing?"

"Good."  He quickly nodded. "Um,  I was wondering if you were planning on going to the Halloween dance?"

The blonde girl out one of the books she was holding in her locker. "Uh,  I'm not sure, honestly. I'm not really a party girl."

"Neither am I!" He blurted out, making her flinch. His eyes widened. "Cause, uh, obviously i'm not a girl—"  he stopped himself. "Sorry."

He felt relieved when she laughed. "It's okay. Are you going to the dance?" She questioned. 

Eli lightly shrugged. "I was thinking about it."

She thought he was cute. An awkwardly adorable kind of cute. He was really shy but making an effort to talk to her. She thought it was sweet. "The I might consider it." She told him, smiling kindly.

A haunting laugh cut into their moment. "Careful, Lip, she might give you an STD if you stand too close." Kyler Park announced. He looked at Odessa and smirked. "But if you want something all you have to do is ask and she'll give it to you."

His friends that were with him burst into laughter and Odessa uncomfortably crossed her arms over her chest. Eli looked at her with sympathy, understanding completely, and he shifted on his feet. Kyler and friends walked away from them and Odessa closed her locker. "You know, I don't believe them, Odessa." He assured her.

She felt embarrassed. "I'll see you later,  Eli."  She ignored what he said and took off with tears in her eyes.

When the rumor first started, Odessa came to school and was confused why everybody was staring at her. Just the day before she had went to a party at Yasmine's house. She went the whole day feeling confused by their sudden coldness until she found Yasmine and Moon.  She would never forget the last conversation she had with them.

"Joey said that you went down on him,"  Moon had said to her.

"On the first date? Real classy, Odessa." Yasmine had said.

When she found out that it was Yasmine that started the rumor, telling everybody in school what had happened, she felt betrayed. It was like a piece of her life had been taken away. Suddenly, she was quitting the cheer team because of all the girls taking about her and she was out of the running for class president because the teachers found out what everyone was saying about her.

Popular girl turned school slut.

The boys that she thought were her friends suddenly became a bunch of horny teenagers and they saw different than they used to. She wasn't the smart, funny, and kind girl anymore. She was big boobs, a small body, pretty face, and she was easy. That's what they told her, that she was easy.

Odessa sat crouched in the corner of a bathroom stall with her back pressed against the wall.  Her knees were pulled to her chest and she held back the loud sobs that she knew were coming. Hot tears stained her red face and she covered her mouth with a shaky hand.

She should have been used to it by now. But it happened in front of Eli. He didn't know her like everyone else did. Now, he thought of her exactly like they did. She was a slut, she was easy, she was nothing more than a warm mouth to someone. She wasn't a good girl.

But maybe a part of her was to blame. The guys she always went after were the exact same. They didn't love her. Didn't respect her. They only wanted one thing. When she didn't give it to them, they lied and said that she did. She didn't want to make them mad. She didn't like to be alone. She suffered in silence because all she wanted was for someone to love her.

"Dess, you in there?"

Odessa sniffed and wiped her eyes. "Go away."

On the other side of the door, Hailey shook her head. "I can't do that, babe. Open the door."

"Why do I let them do this to me, Hailey? Why am I so weak?" Odessa said to herself, shaking her head. She closed her eyes and felt more tears fall.

Hailey sighed and bit her lip. Sitting her bag by the door, she got on her knees and crawled under the stall door. She saw the blonde cowered in the corner. "See how much I love you? I'm crawling on this nasty ass floor for you."  She saw a small smile. "Now, tell me what happened."

"I was taking to Eli at my locker and Kyler and his goons interrupted us. He told Eli not to stand too close to me or he'll get an STD."

Hailey immediately felt anger. "I'm going to neuter him." She said to herself, blazing. "Don't listen to him, Dess. He's a loser. A nobody. He follows that stupid rumor just like all these other idiots. Yasmine only made it up because she's jealous of her."

There was a laugh of disbelief. "She's not jealous of me."

"She is!" Hailey said more firmly. "You're a beautiful person who's never done anything but been kind to everyone and she hates it, so she said stuff about you to make you feel bad about yourself. But you're better than her. Better then all of them."

Odessa looked at her with teary eyes.

"Now, we're gonna leave this shit whole and go home to put together some sexy ass costumes that'll shut all these bitches up."

That got her to smile.

Eli subconsciously searched the crowded gym for sight of the blonde girl he was hoping to see. He stood with Demetri and Miguel hidden in the corner like the losers they were. Miguel was noticing the panicked look in his eyes from behind the surgical mask. "Dude, relax. She'll be here."

Eli immediately looked at him. "What? I'm not worried." He lied.

Demetri wasn't convinced. "Uh huh. Don't think I forgot that little encounter between you two at lunch."

"T-That was nothing. She was just being nice."

Oliver Benson came walking into the gym with full confidence and followed behind him. "Looking good, boys."  He announced over the music. His muscles showed through his blue and red Spider-Man costume.

Miguel smiled at them. "Hey, Oliver. Hey, Gray."

"Spiderman. Nice." Hummed Demetri, observing the costume. His eyes shifted to Grayson's Slytherin robes. "I would've chosen Ravenclaw, personally."

"They would have kicked me out."

"Where's the girls?" Miguel questioned.

Oliver checked the watch that he wasn't wearing. "Well, knowing Hailey, she likes to be fashionably late, which always makes Odessa late. So, I'd say they're about to walk in."  He noticed the quiet boy standing with them.  "Hey man,  thanks for telling Hailey about what happened with Dess. I think she made her feel a lot better."

Eli blushed red behind the surgical mask. "O-Oh,  it's not a problem." He stuttered.

With his hands on his hips, Oliver observed everyone dancing when he saw two people enter the gym. He smiled. "There's our girls!"

She was an angel. Figuratively and literally. Blonde hair and piercing eyes dressed with little silver jewels to resemble eyeliner. She was dressed in all white while Hailey was all red, red jewels aligning her eyes as well. Eli had to pull down the surgical mask to breath properly.

Odessa and Hailey approached them. Oliver held up his drink. "Looking slutty as ever, Hailey."

She faked a smile and flipped him off with both fingers.

Odessa smiled at Eli. "Are you a doctor?" She asked him over the loud music, taking in his costume.

He leaned closer to her so that she could hear him. "Plastic surgeon. I fix lips." He told her.

She nodded and smiled again. "I like it."

Hailey was getting bored of standing around. "Are we going to party or what?"

"It's a sophomore dance, Hailey," said Miguel, his brows pinched together although it wasn't viable behind his skeleton makeup.

"And?" She casually pulled out a flask from inside her tall red boot. She smirked and grabbed Grayson's arm. "Come on, Gray."

"I'm going to go mingle. I think I saw Asher Torres dressed as Captain America." Oliver announced and took off.

Miguel's eyes went wide. "Wait, so he's—"

"Gay? Very much so." Odessa laughed.

Eli sighed in relief. The blonde girl turned to him again and leaned toward him. "Are you having fun?"

He lowered the surgical mask. "I-I am now." He stuttered uncontrollably and almost groaned.

Miguel and Demetri looked at each other. "Demetri and I are going to go get some punch before Hailey spikes it. We'll be back."

"But—"

"Bye!" Demetri quickly said and he and Miguel took off.

Odessa glanced at the boy by her side, seeing him shift awkwardly on his feet. His face turned beet red. She messed with her fingers, not knowing what to say, and neither did he. "Do you want to dance?" She managed to ask.

"You want to dance with me?" He asked as if she was playing a joke on him.

"Of course I do." She confirmed. She held out her hand and wished for him to take it. He did. She dragged him with her onto the dance floor. Eli felt like he was dreaming.

Don't freak out. Don't be weird. Don't be awkward. He kept telling himself. But the second she put her arms around his neck, he felt as if he could collapse.

Odessa could feel how tense he was under her touch. It made her smile but it also made her feel awkward. They swayed side to side, his hands feeling hot against her waist. She winced when he stepped on her foot. "Ow."

"Oh,  I'm so sorry, Odessa. I didn't mean to!"

"It's okay. It's okay. I'm fine."

Eli was embarrassed but he took her lead. He forced himself to relax. Once he got into the rhythm, he felt more comfortable.

Odessa's stomach twisted when his lead leaned down and his forehead pressed against her shoulder. Her eyes pierced through the wall ahead of her, her hands placed firmly on his shoulders and neck. She was aware of eyes on them, on her specially, and she could almost guess what they were talking about.

Of course she would dress like that.

She looks so slutty.

Show off.

Do you see her dancing with that loser?

Guess she couldn't get anyone else to go out with her.

Odessa and Eli thought alike because while she was freaking out about them, he was freaking out about himself. He was Eli Moskowitz, a loser, a freak, the kid with the weird lip. He never saw himself talking or dancing with a girl like her. He was a loser and she was beautiful.

Odessa recognized the warm feeling that started inside her heart. She got it every time she was close with a boy. She felt it time and time again and it always ended the same way. She was a lover. A nice girl. A good girl. Nobody ever likes the good girls. She pulled away from Eli, abruptly, and backed away from him. "I have to go."

Eli looked startled. "What?"

"I'm sorry," was all she said before she quickly ran past him and out of the gym.

Thalia was reading a book on the couch when Odessa came running through the door. "Hey, sweetie. How was the dance?"

She got no answer. Odessa ran to her room.

"Dess? Honey, what's wrong?" Her mom quickly asked and got up from the couch. Still not answer.
"Odessa—"

doesn't tried to remember the last time she felt happy.  A time where sadness wasn't in her vocabulary.  Was it when she was still a child and didn't understand the pain of the world?  Or was it when her father was still around and actually acted like a father?  She didn't know,  she couldn't remember.  The blonde girl used to be one of the happiest people anyone ever seen and now she didn't know what or who she was.  No matter how hard she tried she could never shake away the lonely feeling that seemed to take over her. As she lied on her bed curled up in a ball,  tears staining her pillowcase,  she heard her phone buzz multiple times.  She was receiving text messages from her friend.

Mig!
Hey, is everything okay?
Eli told me you left the dance.

Demetri 🎮
I don't know how to
talk to girls in this situation
cause I've never talked to a girl
but are you okay?

Big Red
hey bitch,  I couldn't find you
at the dance. I got Asher's # btw. 
text me back so I know
you're not dead. love you!

Hails 🤍
hey babe,  is everything okay? 
you disappeared on me. 
do I need to beat a bitch up?

Alexander Hamilton
hey angel,  I hope you're alright
text me so I know you're okay.

Eli :)
i'm sorry if I did something to
make you leave. 
I would never want to make
you feel uncomfortable,  ever. 
I hope you're okay.

I love odessa with my own heart and she deserves better but unfortunately it wouldn't be a good story if I didn't add in drama!