Chapter 57: The Treasurer of Mexico

Celio stared hard at Roselle, and he was even cowering back a bit. "What do you mean by 'connection'? I don't even know you." He spun around and buried his face into his knees. "Are you here to mock me for running away?"

Roselle got up and went to the side he was facing. "Of course not. I ran away too. When I say 'connection', I mean . . . I don't know. There's something about you that reminds me of myself. I felt like I needed to talk to you." She offered out a hand towards him to help him up, but he got up by himself.

Celio turned away again. "Can't you just leave me alone, lady? I'm humiliated."

"Lady? I'm two years older than you." She sighed. "I know why you ran away."

He finally faced her. His bangs were still over one of his eyes, but the other eye was keen on her. "Do you?"

"Yeah. When that guy was talking about how great you were, you felt pressured, didn't you? He was building you up and talking about how great you were, but you were afraid that you wouldn't be able to live up to the person he was making you out to be."

He gave a small nod. "The truth is, everyone thinks I'm some huge genius and a prodigy, but I don't feel that way at all." He clenched his fist. "I have stage fright and I'm shy around other people. I was so angry when my sister forced me to give a speech at this university. I even have enough trouble as it is just being treasurer."

"Why? Have you fallen behind?"

Cielo shook his head. "I haven't. Since I became the Treasurer of Mexico, the economy has improved seven percent."

"Woah . . . That's . . . incredible."

"The problem is, since I've improved the economy so much, I'm paranoid. Everyone is depending on me. If I slip up, everyone will be disappointed. I'm supposed to be, 'Ceilo el genio', Celio the genius. I feel deep pain in my stomach whenever I'm not working. I feel like I'm a fraud. I can't fail. I'm only nineteen, but I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders."

"I completely understand that." Roselle put her hand on his shoulder and gave him a warm smile. "You're not alone, Celio. It's okay to take a break once in a while."

He pulled himself away again. "What would you know about the kind of pressure I'm under anyway? No offense, but you're a hairdresser. You're so pretty and you seem ditzy. You remind me of the kind of girls that would tease and bully me when I was in college. What could you and I possibly have in common?"

Roselle crossed her arms. "So you think that just because I'm a hairdresser that I'm 'ditzy'?"

He slouched. "Well . . . Yeah."

"Do you know why I'm a hairstylist?"

"You and your sister run a small business, right? I looked you two up online if I'm being honest . . . Your sister said it was a dream for the two of you."

"Correction. It was HER dream. This might come as a shock, but I only became a hairstylist so that I could support my sister to follow her dreams since mine were ruined." She leaned on the wall and glanced at the floor. "I used to be considered a 'prodigy' too, but I let everyone down."

Celio's eye widened. "You were a prodigy?"

"Yeah, shocker right? I never even finished high school."

"What happened?"

Roselle held her hand over her heart as though it would keep it from throbbing as she told her story. "When I was sixteen, I was in my last year of high school. I was going to finish two years early because I skipped two grades. All of my classes were advanced placement and everyone thought I was going to be valedictorian. I was the pride of my school. Everyone always assumed nothing but the best from me."

As she told the story, Celio slowly began to open up his body language more. "And then?"

She sighed. "I was getting good grades in all my classes except Spanish. I'm bad at foreign languages. I was going to fail . . ."

"And . . . you did?"

She shook her head and took a deep breath. "I wish I only failed. I could recover from that. What happened to me was much worse than that. When I was getting bad grades in Spanish class, my teacher told me to come after school one day so he could tutor me, and he . . ." Tears flowed down her cheeks, but she forced herself to keep speaking. "Well, he did things I didn't like."

Celio dropped his jaw.

"After that, I stopped going to Spanish class altogether." She clenched her shirt tight into her fist. "I went through the rest of the school year without going to that class, and I failed it. It was the only class I needed left to graduate. My parents were so disappointed in me, and so was everyone else I knew. My father assumed that I was failing because I had a boyfriend, but he didn't know the truth."

"You didn't tell them what happened to you?"

"I didn't. I was afraid. I was too unsure of what would happen. I just wanted it all to be over." She wiped her tears away, but instead of trauma, something about her felt empowered upon sharing her story. "Honestly, I don't know why I'm even telling you this, but it feels nice to finally tell someone, you know?"

"And you never went back to high school to finish that one class?"

She shook her head. "I always told myself I would finish some day, but I've always been too afraid to go back. Maybe I should have, but I always felt like it was too late for me." She sniffled and forced a giggle on her face. "I wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer. I was so ambitious. What happened that day ruined my spirit, and I've never really gotten it back."

Celio reached his hand out to her, but he pulled away--ah wait his hand was back--wait no he pulled away--and his hand was finally on his shoulder. He looked her in the eyes, shivering slightly, but he pulled away again last minute and averted his gaze. "I am so sorry I misjudged you . . . I had no idea about all that you've gone through." He looked at the ceiling in thought. "To be honest, when I was in college, I was bullied so much that I began to hate people, especially pretty girls. Pretty girls always acted the worst towards me. When I saw how pretty you were, I assumed you were just like them, but you aren't." He forced himself to look at her. "I think you're . . . different."

She blushed. "Thanks I guess."

"Maybe we're not so different after all. What was your name again?"

"Roselle."

"Roselle . . . Even your name is pretty. I guess we both have our own traumas that are holding us back."

"I guess so." She was hugging herself. When she breathed, fog escaped her nose. "On paper, Michelle told me I remind her of your sister, but I think I resonate more with you."

Celio hugged himself too. The room was colder than it had been before." Would you like to come inside my room and talk some more? There's still a lot that I don't know about you."

She gave a soft grin. "I'd like that."

* * *

Roselle and Celio spent hours talking in his hotel room. Though it was hours that they talked with one another, the time passed like it was nothing at all. They spent more time talking about their dreams, passions, fears, and what makes them tick. It was like they were cut from the same cloth.

Michelle, Josephina, and some army soldiers busted through the door.

"Dios mio, hermano!" the President of Mexico exclaimed. "We looked everywhere for them, but they were here all along."

"You were looking for me?" Celio questioned.

"Uh, YEAH!" Michelle glared at her sister. "Why haven't you been answering your calls or messages? I've been worried sick!"

Roselle checked her phone in confusion, she discovered and more time had passed than she realized. There were also, indeed, twenty missed calls and over a hundred texts. Was that conversation she had with Celio so good that she'd completely lost herself in it?

"Oh snap . . ." Roselle said. "Oopsie."

"Oopsie? IF I HAD DONE THIS TO YOU, YOU'D HAVE MY HEAD, YOU JERK!" Michelle screamed.

Roselle was taken aback by her sister's screams. "Okay, chill, would you? Why are you so high strung? You're acting like . . . well . . . me." She put her hands on my hips. "Hey, don't act like me! Getting overly dramatic for no reason is MY thing!"

"We are going home RIGHT NOW young lady." She grabbed Roselle's arm and whisked her away.

"Hey!" Roselle protested, but she was already dragged out of the room.

* * *

The Reyes were almost off the campus when there were sprinting steps behind them. Roselle turned around, and there was Celio right behind her panting and out of breath.

"Ro . . . selle . . ." He gasped for air.

"Hmm?" She eyed him in curiosity. "What is it?"

"I . . . I hope to see you again soon," he said. He blushed and turned away, hiding behind his bangs.

She was in awe for a moment, but she smiled. "I hope I see you again soon too."

He nodded and ran away again.

Something in Roselle's stomach told her she WOULD see Celio again soon. It told her that he would be playing a very important role in her life, although she wasn't sure of what that role would be.

CREATORS' THOUGHTS
maxyperson

Thank you to sreejitasamanta, Titania23, Mohammad_Sidani, Johnson_Stephanie, Emy_Emerald, purpliciousj, and Nate_Quinn for voting today. Thank you to all my wonderful readers as well <3

Bonus chap coming in a few hours.

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