IV.                                             Heartbreak Weather

      When he said her name, Odessa tensed up. She wanted to hide inside her locker. She'd been avoiding him and everyone all day. But at some point she needed to grow up. She turned around and faced him. "Hey, Eli."

The boy stood there nervously, his eyes darting all over the place. "I-I was just checking on you." He stuttered, his mouth feeling dry.

The blonde girl nodded slightly and pressed her books for her chest. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to run out like that. But I really can't explain why I did it." She didn't know how.

She didn't want to be seen with someone like him. Eli thought. He knew this. He was used to it. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I'm really sorry." He looked side to side of them and leaned towards her. "But, I want to you that I'm not like them. Kylee, Yasmine, Joey. . . I would never do anything like that."

"I know that."  She quickly nodded, hating that that's what he thought. "I would never think of you to do something like that. It's just. . ." She paused. "I really can't explain it."

"I understand," he muttered. He was disappointed and it showed, but he didn't want to hurt her feelings. "Um, Miguel, Demetri, and I are studying in the library during free period? Do you want to come?"

He watched her shut her locker and she turned to him with a smile. "I'll see you there." She brushed his shoulder with hers and walked down the hallway.

Eli stared at her from across the library. He watched her scan the rows of books with delicate eyes. His chin was rested on his hand, spaced out, his lips parted slightly. Miguel snapped his fingers in front of his face, making him snap out of it. "Stare at her long enough and your eyes will dry out."

The boy went back to studying with a red face.

"So that's it? No more karate?" Demetri continued their conversation.

"I guess so."

"Karate?"  Odessa joined them and sat in the empty chair beside Eli, putting her book on the table.

Miguel nodded. "Yeah,  my sensei—Well, I guess ex sensei—tried opening up a karate dojo but I was the only student and my mom doesn't want me to do it so he had no choice but to quit."

"It's probably for the best. It was starting to boost your confidence." Said Demetri.

Odessa furrowed her brows. "Isn't that a good thing?"

"No!  What has confidence ever gotten anybody except for a black eye and their backpacks thrown in the trash?" He said with a grumble.

Eli glanced up from his textbook. "I thought it was kind of cool how you stood up to Kyler." He said shyly, surprising them all.

Demetri looked appalled. "No!  Are you insane? Let me ask you guys. . . What is the best superpower anyone can have?"

"Super strength,"

"Teleportation."

"Mind reader," said Odessa

The boy pointed to her. "Kind of, but no. Invisibility. A distant second could be teleportation to get away fast."

"Get away from who?"

Odessa rolled her eyes when Kyler and Brucks showed up.

"Whom,"  Brucks corrected,  making everyone turn to him. Kyler looked at him weirdly. He shrugged. "It's
the object of a preposition.  Remember in English
class—"

"We were just leaving."  Miguel interrupted and everyone began to scramble from their seats.

Kyler pulled Eli up by his shirt. "Hey,  where are you going?  Oh,  look at this freak." He turned Eli's face to look at the scar on his face. "What kind of girl would ever kiss this shit?"

Brucks faked a gag and laughed after.

Odessa grabbed Eli's arm and tried to pull him away. "Let go of him." She demanded.

Kyler looked at her.  "What'd you say,  slut?  You want to kiss this?  Since you get with anything that moves." Brucks laughed again. "Hey, how come you've never given me a chance, Odessa? Is your line too long?"

Tears shined in her eyes and Miguel stepped forward. "Shut the hell up." He defended her.

Embarrassed took over and Odessa quickly left the library, their haunting laughs following her.

It was the lowest she'd felt in a long time. Odessa gripped the white bathroom sink until it felt like her fingernails would break. Her mascara was smudged from tears and her face was bright red from crying. The double standard she lived in was implausible. A girl could sleep with one boy and she was called a slut where a guy could sleep with multiple people and get praised for it.  She thought it was complete and utter bullshit.

She wanted to meet a boy without his first intention being to sleep with her. She wanted a boy to see her for who she was, for her heart, for her intelligence like her father had once seen with her mom. But that didn't exist anymore.

Hailey came into the bathroom and saw her best friend leaning against the sink. "Dess,  what happened?"  She quickly asked and stood by her side.

"I can't do it anymore,  Hailey. It's not fair. I didn't do anything." Odessa cried again and lowered her head.

Hailey rubbed her back and looked at her reflection on the mirror, seeing the glare show up on her face. "Don't worry,  i'll take care of it."

If there's one thing everybody should know, it's not to piss of Hailey Cooper. Her long dark ponytail flared behind her back as she marched down the hallway at full speed causing many of the students around her to cower in fear. She found her target standing with her group of asshole friends in the front area of the school. "Hey, you blonde bitch!" She stopped in front of Yasmine.

Kyler clearly didn't understand the rule. "What's up,  Cooper?  Decide to take up my offer on that date?" He stupidly said to her.

She looked at him in disgust.  "I'd rather choke on needles." She looked at Yasmine again. "I don't know what kind of power you think you can gain by trashing Odessa's reputation like you have but it's not right.  She's been nothing but kind to everyone and you are making her life miserable. All of you!" She yelled at them, dramatically waving her hand. She got close to her face.  "If I hear you say one more thing about her,  or any of you,  i'm going to knock your teeth in so far you'll swallow them and shit them back out. Am I clear?"

Yasmin shifted on her feet, fear showing up on her face.  "Yeah,  okay, whatever. . ." She dismissed and backed up away from her.

Hailey looked at Moon and Samantha.  "I thought you two were better than this.  Odessa's never said anything but nice stuff about you and this is how you repay her?  You're all fucking cunts!" She stormed off with her heels clicking down the hallway floor.

Eli nearly tripped over his feet when he walked in Geometry. "Odessa?" He spoke quickly, standing in front of her. 

Odessa lifted her and he saw the tear stains on her natural pink cheeks. "Hey." She quietly said back.

"Look,  about what happened in the library—"

"Can we not talk about?" She interrupted. "Please, I just want to forget about it."

Eli's heart sank. "Oh,  yeah. Of course." He agreed and a frown settled on his face. For the rest of class they stayed quiet and he peeked over to see her silently crying to herself behind her golden blonde curls.

Thalia and Odessa were a lot alike. When Thalia Reid was a child, her father walked out on her and her mother. He was an alcoholic. She tried getting him help multiple times. He didn't want help. So he left. Thalia watched her mom struggle for years with the loss of her husband and she tried so hard to make sure the cycle didn't repeat with her daughter.

But everybody has a breaking point and she had reached hers.

Christian Beaumont was a beautiful man. Physical and on the inside, but his attractiveness was also his worst enemy. Wherever they went Thalia would see woman fawning over her husband. Their lust filled eyes didn't go unnoticed by him either. Odessa was too young to understand her mother's insecurities when it came to strange women taking a liking to her husband until she was old enough to start seeing their fights.

It went on for years and years until the conversation of divorce came up. For a while after that, things started to get better. Thalia loved her husband. Christian loved her. He loved his daughter. They were more important than anything.

That wasn't true. Thalia figured that out. The first time she caught Christian stealing from them was when she noticed money missing from her purse. It started as a few dollars and gradually went up until she caught him in person. There was so many questions. What do you need money for? Are you having an affair? Are you on drugs?

Odessa didn't expect to see her father again after he moved out. It started out that she would stay with him on weekends, then weekend turned to every other weekend until they turned into not at all. By the time she was thirteen, Odessa was getting used to the fact that her father didn't want to be a part of her life anymore. Until she randomly got a call from him in the middle of the night.

She'd never forget his tired, red rimmed eyes and the spaced out look on his face. Or the scars that dotted his arms. The way he was shaking. How skinny he was. Odessa, baby, can I borrow some money? I promise I'll pay you back. We can go get ice cream some day.

That day never came.

Now, the mother and daughter were forced to live in the same broken home, tip toeing around each other because they were scared. Thalia's fingers shuffled through the old photos she kept inside a box in the closet. Young Thalia, young Christian, their wedding, dates, dances, when she was pregnant with Odessa, Odessa's birth. They were all reminders of the life she used to have – the life she missed. She cried to herself (She always cried to herself. She didn't want Odessa to see her upset) and held the photo of her and Christian close to her as if he was still there with her.