As Ambrosia peered into Callum’s empty car, she jumped, startled, as someone uttered, “Are you looking for me?”

Turning around to see Callum, she replied, “Yeah. I thought you might be inside your car.” Callum shook his head. “Where were you?”

“I saw you near the forest. I figured you would need a ride home, so I waited. I didn’t know how long you would be though, so I sat down on the bench. I hope that’s okay.” Callum smiled apologetically. Ambrosia’s eyes widened in disbelief. If the roles were reversed, she imagined she would have fought off her curiosity and left, thinking Callum had personal affairs to deal with.

“I’m glad you did,” Ambrosia assured, smiling gratefully.

“Why were you in the forest?” Callum questioned. At his words, Rose felt her body twitch.

“I was supposed to be meeting someone,” she vaguely answered.

“Who?”

“A friend,” Rose muttered, avoiding eye contact.

“Have I met her before?” Ambrosia shook her head. “Oh. What happened? You were only out there for a few minutes.”

“He stood me up,” Rose sadly confessed, her sound judgment faltering. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Callum’s mouth drop. Damn, I shouldn’t have said that. Demetri’s supposed to remain anonymous.

“A boy? You were supposed to be meeting a boy?!” he exclaimed. Fearful of what’s to come, Ambrosia hesitantly nodded, bracing herself. Callum, waving his arms about, screamed, “What were you thinking?! He--”

Seeing the wavering of Rose’s eyes, Callum took a deep breathe to clear out his anger. Trying his best to sound intrigued, Callum asked, “Do I know this boy?”

“You may have met him, though I only met him yesterday. He’s new.”

“I don’t think I’ve met anyone new. What’s his name?”

Hearing the skepticism in Callum’s voice, Ambrosia silently mouthed, “Demetri.”

“What? I didn’t hear you.”

“His name’s Demetri,” she repeated louder, searching for any unwanted emotions in her brother’s eyes.

“Wait, is he the boy who gave you an attitude yesterday morning?” Ambrosia swallowed nervously, cursing for having told Callum about the insignificant fact.

“Yes, but he was only having a rough day. He’s actually pretty caring and nice,” Ambrosia explained.

“Then, why would he stand you up? Someone nice and caring would never do such a thing, no matter how much they might hate the person,” Callum argued, making a whole lot of sense. Rose nodded in agreement.

“You’re right. I don’t know if he’s nice or not. I thought Demetri was, but next thing I know, he’s gone. He left me as soon as he could, as soon as our last class ended. I guess I was wrong about him,” Ambrosia mumbled. In the back of her mind, she prayed to be mistaken. Her instincts told her to trust Demetri.

Gazing at Ambrosia sympathetically, Callum consoled, “I’m sorry. I have no right to judge. I haven’t met this Demetri yet. For all I know, he could be nice after all. You seem pretty upset about it. You must have really liked him.” Ambrosia looked away, not ready to talk about boys with her overprotective brother. He wouldn’t understand, even if she tried to tell him her worries.

“Can we go home, please?” she asked, avoiding the subject.

The engine roared, and the siblings zipped out of the school parking lot. Like that morning, the two sat in utter silence. Awkwardness claimed the air surrounding them. Similarly, Ambrosia couldn’t wait until she was home where she planned on staying in her room all night.

Rose preferred to be alone when upset. She’d bottle her problems inside until exploding one day, going months experiencing random, uncontrollable, crying fits. This way no one worried over her or felt she was weak-willed.

When Rose told others about her troubles, she knew they saw her as someone who only wanted attention, a girl who cried anguish. It was better to keep everything inside.