Cinnamon Buns

"Ew, Hope! You couldn't have made it to the bathroom," Sky asks her, looking down at what used to be a pretty carpet.

"I'm sorry. Crap, my head is pounding," Hope says. A knock comes from the bedroom door.

"Come in," Sky says and a woman walks in with a tray.

"I come with cinnamon buns. I've been told one of you has a hangover. You must be Spencer. Nice to finally meet you."

At first glance, you can automatically tell that this is Sky's mother. She didn't have the same blue eyes, but all their other facial features are the same. They both have thick eyebrows, little wrinkles around their smilies from smiling a lot, and there is this glimmering joy in her eyes that I always see in Sky's. It explains why Sky isn't a tall person. Both of her parents are pretty short.

"Nice to meet you. Should I call you Mama Joe," I ask her and she chuckles loudly.

"You can call me Martha. You feeling alright over there, Honey," Martha asks Hope, setting the tray of cinnamon buns on the Sky's bedside table.

"That would be me, Ms. Martha. The drunk girl," Hope tells her, groaning in misery.

"Well, you deserve that headache, thinking you could get drunk before school," Martha says, laughing.

"My mom's a little feistier than my dad. He's 64 and she's 54, but it doesn't stop them from being more active than me. They love to shove their morning runs in my face," Sky says and her mother laughs.

"It's harder to stay healthy as you grow older. Drink this, sweetie. Papa Joe used to be wild in his younger years and knows the perfect solution to a hangover," Martha says, handing Hope a green drink.

It looks like the same one Sky gave me my first week here after the party they took me too. I gag at the reminder of the drink's taste.

"I'm going to put this in the washing machine," Sky says, picking up her vomit infested rug and walking out the room.

"Try the cinnamon buns," Martha tells me, putting the tray in my lap. I giggle at her eagerness and pick up one of the buns and take a bite. I'm expecting it to taste like any other cinnamon bun I've eaten, but I'm surprised. It's like a warm blanket in my mouth.

"These are good," I tell her with my mouth full.

"Thank you. I'll be in the kitchen if you girls need anything." Martha leaves the room as Sky comes back. Hope tries to sneak a bun off the tray without drawing attention to herself, but we catch her.

"Don't think we're letting you go without talking," I tell her and she groans.

"Do we really have to talk about this," she asks and I send a serious face.

"We just carried you from school and brung you here passed out. Of course we need to talk about this," Sky says, speaking with her hands and having them fly everywhere.

"What happened," I asked Hope. I watch her expression drop into a frown, but it quickly changes to anger.

"Why do you care," Hope asks.

"What do you mean," I ask her. She's really confusing me and all I want to do is talk to her about what happened. Why is she mad?

"You know, from the first day you got here, you've always held yourself higher than all of us." I pause for a second, trying to understand what she just said.

"What? I just helped you out of getting in trouble at school. How does that say I'm a stuck up person that thinks I'm better than everyone?"

"So, your telling me, you go around giving everyone advice about their lives, judging them, and you don't think your higher than them? You act like you know their situation when you really don't. Everything isn't black and white, Spencer."

"Hope, I'm not forcing you to tell me anything. If you don't want to talk about why you got drunk, fine, but don't try to deflect the situation onto me. I'm just trying to help."

My phone buzzes in my pocket, but I ignore it, wanting to focus on the situation I'm in right now.

"You know what I've noticed about you, Spencer? You always want to know what's going on in other people's lives. Why don't you mind your own damn business and focus on yourself. Your not perfect no matter how much you pretend to be."

A pain strikes through my heart. I can tell something serious is going on with Hope, but she obviously doesn't want to say and is using cruelty like she did when we first met to push people away.

"No ones perfect and I don't pretend to be perfect. The person hiding their true feelings is you. I know you don't mean what your saying and it hurts to hear, but I'll be here to listen when your ready," I tell her.

I feel like I'm repeating the same things over and over with this group of friends. No matter how tight knitted they seem to be, their all hiding things from each other and they all have trust issues. They've known each other for years and I don't understand how it got this way.

Hope hangs her head low and my phone buzzes again. I pull it out of my pocket and read messages from an unknown number. The first text reads, "Hey, I got your number from your friend, Alexandra. This is David. I'm waiting for you by the swimming pool incase you forgot."

I take a look at the time and I notice that school has been out for about half an hour now. I read the second message and he asks where am I.

"I have to go, guys. I have an art project to do and I have to meet up with my partner." I get up from Sky's bed and rush to her bedroom door. "I'll talk to you guys soon or I'll see you in school tomorrow."

Sky waves me goodbye, but Hope stays silent. Sky looks like she's ready to give Hope a lecture once I leave. On my way out I tell Papa Joe and Martha goodbye and text David that I'm on my way.