CHAPTER 1: EMILY PARKER

Emily’s POV:

“What are you going to do now?” Melissa asked me on the phone.

“I don’t know. I will be fine without him, Mel” I said as I cleaned up my room.

“But Emily… You were safe when your dad was here” She argued.

“Mel… What can I do? It was important for him to go to Boston. And I can’t leave Herington. Especially not when I am entering my senior year, now” I said and opened up my wardrobe to choose an outfit.

“I understand, Em. That is why I offered you to live with me. You know my dad cares for you a lot” She said.

“I know, Mel. But I can’t be a burden on you guys. I am fine here” I insisted.

“Em, please. I am really worried about you” She said.

“Mel… Don’t scare me. We’ll talk about this tomorrow. Okay?” I assured her.

“Yeah… Tomorrow is going to be fun, no? Senior year… I am excited already” Melissa said in excitement. I could feel her enthusiasm through the phone.

I laughed and added, “What’s so exciting in that?”

“Em… Really? We are going to be the seniors of Lincoln Park High. We can have full control over the school as well as the juniors” Melissa said enthusiastically.

I laughed and added, “You are crazy, Melissa Hudson”

“And you are so boring, Emily Parker” She said and laughed.

“Anyway, did you decide what to wear tomorrow?” She asked in excitement.

“No… I am just trying to do that. I will wear something” I said clumsily.

“Something must be hot and sexy” She said and laughed.

“Mel… Stop it” I said and added, “I am going to hang up now”

She laughed again and added, “Okay, okay. See you tomorrow then”

“Okay, bye” I said and hung up the call. I shut the cupboard in frustration as I couldn’t decide what to wear and jumped onto my bed to get a long peaceful sleep. As I lay down on the bed, I looked at the ceiling and thought about how I was going to survive in Herington without my dad. After my mom died, I never lived alone and dad was always there for me. But now he had to go for his work and I couldn’t be a timid little girl in front of him who was scared to live alone. I had to act strong and confident in front of him. Although, moving with Melissa would have been wonderful but I couldn’t live happily knowing the fact that I could be a burden on them. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes and opened it again after a while. After some hours of turning left and right and looking at the window in between the intervals, I finally went into a deep sleep.

The next morning, I quickly jumped up from the bed when I saw the time on my bedside alarm clock. It was 7:45 already and I had to reach to school by 8 as that was the orientation day for the freshers. After the shower, I quickly picked out a loose blue jeans and paired it with a yellow baggy top. Leaving my hair swirling on my shoulders, I swiftly picked up my bag and head out of the house without eating anything. On the way to my school, as I was walking, I glanced at my phone and saw Melissa’s 6 missed calls.

“Oh no” I said and kept walking briskly. As I reached the school, I saw Melissa waiting at the main entrance wearing a beautiful floral blue top paired with faded skinny jeans which went beautifully with her brunette hair and fairly white skin.

“Where were you? You scared me. Do you even know the time?” She asked raising her voice.

“I am sorry. I couldn’t sleep last night and woke up late today” I said and we hastily walked in through the ground to the building.

“I told you to move in with me” She said in frustration.

“Mel… I can’t be a burden on you and your father” I said.

“Em… You are not a burden. Don’t think like that. We would love to welcome you to our home” She said as we reached the building. I watched around and saw new people walking towards the building. I felt nostalgic and remembered my time when I had my first day there. It was amazing and most importantly, we went unnoticeable to the seniors who were ragging and hazing the freshers.

“Are you listening?” Melissa stopped and looked at me.

“Yeah – Yeah, I am. Mel, listen to me” I said and held her hands.

“I am fine at my place. I know I can come to your place whenever I want and I will if I won’t feel okay. I promise” I added.

She took a deep breath and added, “Okay, fine. I won’t insist you. But please come to my place without asking, if you feel so. Okay?”

I nodded and smiled while she smiled back. We entered into the building and walked through the hall to go to the locker room.

“Guys” Oliver appeared from behind as we were putting our bags into our respective lockers. Oliver has this unique way of dressing due to his unique personality. He has black curly hair and beautiful brown skin on which he wore a colorful yellow loose fit shirt with blue jeans.

“Oh Oliver. How are you?” Melissa said excitedly.

“I am fine, girls. You know what we need to do today right?” Oliver asked.

“Yes…” Melissa said excitedly.

“Um… Enlighten me please?” I said.

“Em… We are going to roast the freshers today. You must be confident today, okay? Or else those juniors will overpower you. You need to be a senior” Oliver told me. Oliver knows me well since we were in 6^th grade.

“I am not going to be part of this, Oliver” I said clumsily.

“Come on, Em… You must do that with us. All things are planned. Just bring the juniors into room B – 1. Okay?” Oliver said hastily.

“Melissa, you go to your right and find the freshers and Em…” Oliver turned to me and added, “You go to the left and find them. Bring them all” Oliver said excitedly and ran away.

“Mel… I am…” I started.

“Come on, Em… Be a senior. This day won’t ever come again” She said and went away. I took a deep breath and walked to the left and saw four students who looked unfamiliar.

“Hey you four…” I said and they turned to me…

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