29. Celine
Celine
It has been so boring without Alex here.
I need him to come back and save me from this misery.
I mean, this place was dull before he left, but at least I had him to occupy me when I had nothing else to do.
I’ve been filling my time for the past two days with reorganizing the library, hiding out with Esther, and sneaking phone calls to my friends.
I also had to sit through meals listening to Joanna drone on and on about pointless shit, while all I can picture while she talks is that she is screwing Father Keaton.
While we sit here at breakfast, she talks about the movie night. It’s a shame that Alex is missing out on this spectacular event. If he were here, I would have asked him to sneak away with me since I’m not going.
Now I have to find something to keep me busy. I could go to the library while everyone is in the chapel watching it. Or I could hang out in my room. Maybe Esther will want to sneak away with me.
“Celine?” Joanna’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts.
“Hmm?” I hum, stabbing a piece of scrambled egg on my plate.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come watch the movie with us?” she asks again. “Not only are they giving out snacks, but they are also providing blankets!”
“Tempting, but like I said the other day, I have to help Sister Greta tonight.”
Joanna huffs in disappointment. “Fine, but promise you’ll come to the next movie night?”
Not a chance. “Sure.”
That makes her happy enough to drop the subject and continue talking to Bekah. I meet Esther’s eyes, which are shining with humor. I twist my lips to hold back a smile and start eating my food again.
When I lift my eyes to the table behind ours, my heart deflates when I remember Alex isn’t sitting there. It’s been a few days since he left, and I already miss messing with him while we are in the dining hall. It’s fun to see him get all fidgety when I do something to tease him.
I feel someone staring at me, and when I slide my gaze over, I find Father Keaton is observing me. His dark eyes make my skin break out in goosebumps, but I fight the shiver that travels down my spine.
Instead, I swallow down the awkward feeling and flash him a smile.
Father Keaton returns the gesture, and once he does, I divert my eyes quickly.
When my attention falls back on the table I’m sitting at, I don’t miss the way Joanna stares at me.
There is a subtle, angered expression on her face as her eyes leave mine to look at Father Keaton.
The tension in the dining hall thickens, growing uncomfortable. “I’m going to use the bathroom before our lesson.”
After I make the announcement, I stand and leave the dining hall. In the corridor, I wring my hands together while I walk toward the bathroom. The sensation of someone following me weighs heavily on my back, and when I peek over my shoulder, Father Keaton is walking down the hall.
I stop, not wanting to rush away from him because I don’t want him to think that I’m running. Turning around, I face him with my hands behind my back.
“Father Keaton, is something wrong?”
“You left the dining hall abruptly. I wanted to check on you.”
“Will you be following me around now that Father Alexander is gone?”
A slight smile appears on his face. “I hope you don’t mind me having him keep an eye on you. Given your first day here and trying to run.”
“It’s been almost a month since then. I’m not going to do anything stupid.”
“I would hope not.” He inches towards me. “I figured having a friend by your side throughout all of this would make it easier.”
“I have Esther.”
His mouth opens slightly as he says, “Ah, yes. Not the person I would hope you would be friends with.”
It’s the same thing Alex said to me, except Father Keaton doesn’t elaborate on why being friends with Esther is such a bad idea.
“Would you rather me be friends with Joanna?”
I watch closely for his reaction to her name. A flicker of his eyes, or a twitch of his lip, but he gives nothing away. “Aren’t you friends?”
Inhaling deeply, I tell him, “I merely sit with her at meals.”
“I see,” he says. “And will you be joining us for movie night?”
“I’ve already seen the movie when I was little, so no, I will not. I have a lot of things to get done in the library for Sister Greta.”
He hums, disappointment flashing across his face from the news that I will not be attending movie night.
“Maybe next time, then.” Father Keaton takes one more step, the gap between us almost non-existent.
His chest is eye-level, and I stare at it as my heart begins to pound in my chest from the lack of space.
“If you’d like, I can tell Father Alexander to tone down his watch on you. Unless you enjoy your time with him.”
I lift my eyes to meet his, and with the way his eyes gleam, I know he knows. When and how he found out, I’m not sure, but the man knows what Alex and I have been doing behind closed doors.
Standing tall, I don’t let my face falter when I say, “As you said, it is nice to have a friend in this place.”
His gaze leaves mine, dipping down to glance at my body. Chills litter my skin again at his sudden switch in demeanor, disgust rolling through me as a slight smirk tugs at his lips.
With dark eyes, Father Keaton meets my gaze and says, “It is nice.”
A motion catches my attention, and with how we are positioned, I can slightly see a figure standing a few paces outside the dining hall.
Joanna.
From here, the rage on her face is evident. It seeps out of her, flowing down to where we stand, and sinks its claws deep into my skin. This is another side to her that I’m not sure anyone has seen before.
Not even Bekah.
And it’s a bit terrifying knowing that behind that sweet, innocent face, something wicked lives within her. I try my best to ignore how tense the air has become and glance up at Father Keaton.
“Seems like your friend is looking for you.” Father Keaton glances over his shoulder at Joanna, who hasn’t taken her eyes off me.
He silently laughs before turning to face me again. “Have a good lesson today, Celine.”
Taking a step back, I distance myself from him. He turns, heading towards Joanna, who immediately begins scolding him. Her voice is too quiet to hear what she is saying, but she is pissed at him.
Her eyes find mine, and when she goes to come my way, he grips her arm. The action removes her attention from me, and he faintly says something to her. Her shoulders drop, and she rips her arm from his grasp, storming off towards his office.
Exhaling, I enter the bathroom and go into one of the stalls. I wonder if I could skip my lesson and hide out here until the day is over? As much as I would like to hide away, it wouldn’t be a good look for me.
And now I have to get ready for Joanna’s fury because, even though Father Keaton stopped her from freaking out on me, he isn’t always around her. Which means it’s only a matter of time before she confronts me.
I didn’t have to wait long for Joanna to say something. With the death stares I was getting from her during the lesson, I knew it was going to happen soon. She followed me in the hall, somehow leaving Bekah behind.
Esther stands by my side as Joanna approaches and asks harshly, “Can I speak with you alone?”
She doesn’t even look at Esther. Only keeps her hate-filled eyes on mine. I break the stare down and look to Esther.
“I’ll find you later.”
“You sure?” she asks.
“She said she would find you later,” Joanna snaps.
Esther stares at the blonde in shock. “I wasn’t asking you.”
“It’s fine,” I reassure Esther, diffusing the tension between them. With a nod, she walks away, glancing back with a concerned expression. Once she is out of sight, I sigh. “What do you want, Joanna?”
“What were you and Father Keaton talking about?”
Getting straight to the point, I see.
My brows dip, and my lips fall into a pout. “I believe whatever it was we were discussing is none of your business.”
Her jaw clenches, more anger building in her small body. “Why were the two of you standing so close?”
“Jealousy doesn’t look good on you, Joanna.”
Her eyes grow wide with fury at what I’m implying. Joanna’s hand flies up and tightens around my arm.
“Listen here, you little bitch. Stay away from him or else I will—”
“What? Hurt me?” I tear my arm from her grasp.
The way her eyes turn murderous tells me she has other thoughts churning in her mind.
Sinister thoughts.
“Kill me?” I laugh sarcastically. “Sweet, sweet Joanna. You wouldn’t have it in you to kill me. Besides, if you did, then you can say goodbye to your ticket to Heaven. Well, I guess you can already say goodbye to that since you are fucking Father Keaton.”
She falls silent for a moment, lowering her voice. “He said God would forgive us.”
“And you believed him?” I push myself off the wall she trapped me against. “He’s got your mind so twisted, Joanna. Father Keaton can’t dictate what God will and will not forgive.”
In the blink of an eye, she slaps me across the face. My head whips to the side, and I lift my hand to my cheek, pressing against the hot flesh. I hold my hand there for a moment, letting the heat of my skin warm my fingertips before my eyes slide to hers in shock.
“Joanna!” Father Keaton’s voice booms down the hallway.
She instantly freezes at the sound of the volume and the displeased tone, and when she hears his footsteps approaching, her face goes white and her shoulders droop. When he stands next to us, he pulls Joanna away from me.
“Celine, I am so sorry for her outburst.”
My teeth grind together, and now I’m the angry one. I step around them, heading down the hall to find Esther. Before I get too far, I look over my shoulder.
“Might want to keep her on a tight leash, Father.”
From here, I can see his jaw roll, but I don’t pay attention to him any longer. I keep walking, letting the tension build between them. I have more important things to attend to. Like, telling Esther about what the hell just happened.
“She slapped you across the face?!” Amelia screeches from the other end of the phone.
Esther and I sit in my room, criss-cross on the bed, with the phone on speaker between us. “Yup.”
“Because you called her out for fucking the priest?” Vince questions.
“No, because I told her he was messing with her head. He’s been telling her that God would forgive them for having sex and she’d still get into Heaven.”
“What a creep,” Amelia says with disgust.
“I mean, I don’t like Joanna at all, but even she doesn’t deserve to go through that,” Esther chimes in. “Makes me look at Father Keaton differently.”
“Giving that he had sex with her?” Amelia asks.
“That and the ridiculous lies he is putting in her head,” Esther says.
“Do you look at the hot priest differently, too?” Vince asks.
My body tenses. I hadn’t told them that Esther doesn’t know about Alex and me, so I can’t really be mad at him for bringing it up.
Esther’s brows dip in confusion when she looks at me. “Hot priest?”
“Father Alexander,” I tell her.
She throws her head back, laughing over the nickname. “Oh, that’s great! And very accurate, but why would I look at him differently?” she asks my friends, then pauses, her gaze meeting mine. “Celine…”
“I was going to tell you—”
“Oops! Sorry!” Vince apologizes.
“You sneaky little thing!” Esther laughs and pokes my arm. “I need all the details.”
“Get ready, girl,” Vince begins to warn her. “It’s juicy, and you might not want to go into that booth thing anymore.”
“Vincent Taylor!” I scold him.
“The confessional booth? Really?” Esther asks, to which I nod. “Sexy.”
“You were right,” Amelia chimes in. “Esther would fit in very well with our group.”
I lift my eyes to Esther, who is smiling from ear to ear, happy to have found a place where she feels like she belongs.
“We need to go before someone comes looking for us and finds the phone,” I tell the two, remembering what happened last time Alex caught me breaking my promise.
Even though he isn’t here, I wouldn’t put it past Father Keaton to show up at my room after today’s events. “I’ll try to call you in a few days.”
“Give hot priest a kiss for me!” Vince says, and I hang up on him, shaking my head.
“How is everyone hooking up with a priest except me?” Esther sighs, repositioning herself so that her back is against the wall.
I do the same, bringing my knees to my chest. “You may have a chance with Father Keaton. With the way he scoped out my body, I’m sure he’d be down for another woman.”
“Gross.” She sticks her tongue out. “I thought he was good-looking for his age, but knowing that he is taking advantage of Joanna? No, thanks.”
“Don’t blame you.”
“So… Father Alexander.” She playfully nudges my shoulder. “He’s not spewing shit to get you to sleep with him, is he?”
“No. I’m far too smart to fall for that. It’s a mutual agreement.”
“Good.” She stares forward. “I won’t tell anyone.”
“I didn’t think you would.”
A comfortable silence passes between us before she speaks up. “When we get out of here, I think you, me, Amelia, and Vince need to go out for bottomless margaritas.”
I chuckle. “Is there such a thing as bottomless margaritas?”
“Probably not.” She intertwines her arm with mine, resting her head on my shoulder. “But we can for sure make them bottomless.”
I smile to myself, resting my head on top of hers. I didn’t think Esther would be the type to show affection like this, but I’m welcoming it. After the day I had, this is much needed.
“Sounds like a plan.”