EMILY
***
“YOU SAW WHO?” Julie shouted.
It was a relief Nila wasn’t in the room, otherwise, she would have given me one of those death stares that made my blood run cold. I was having a weekly face-time call with my best friend, my real best friend, who had been accepted at Yale. We were sad to be separated from each other but we had chosen to make things work despite the distance.
“You heard me the first time. Don’t make me repeat myself,” I said.
“What is Gabriel doing in Cresswell of all places? And in your school?” Julie asked the exact same questions that I had been asking myself since I saw him two days ago.
“I don’t know,” I said, “I don’t even know what to think.”
“Do you think he followed you on purpose? Has he been STALKING you?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Being friends with Julie had been an interesting ride. She was always coming up with worst-case scenarios. No wonder she was a writer, her imagination was so wild.
“None of that matters. Only two things matter right now. If he saw me or if there’s a possibility of him seeing me,” I said.
“Of course, there is,” Julie said, “if he is indeed a student there you know that you’ll see each other. Jock or not, you know how seriously he takes his studies.”
Julie was right. And I hated it.
“What actually matters is what you will choose to do about this,” Julie said, “what do you want to do with the fact that Gabriel Ford has shown up in your life once again?”
I didn’t know. Simply hearing his name made me feel so many feelings at once. There was bitterness and anger and resentment. There was sadness and regret. There was-
“Are you still with me?” Julie asked.
“Sorry,” I said, “I’ll figure it out. Enough about me. How are you doing over there?” Julie caught me up and I was happy to listen, happy to have something to distract me from what felt like the biggest setback of all time.
This was not supposed to happen. We were not supposed to meet ever again. I was supposed to move and keep moving on until he was just a speck in my past, someone I once knew but forgot about.
I ended my call with Julie and spent the rest of the afternoon laying on my bed. I had already finished all my assignments and had already read ahead, so there was nothing else to do. I could read for pleasure, a novel, maybe, but it reminded me of him so I had stopped.
I groaned at the thought that everything that came to mind led me back to him. Why him? Why couldn’t anyone else from Bakersville apply to Cresswell? Why did he have to be the one to come here? Did it mean he and his mom had moved? If so, had Louise contacted my mom? Would they go back to being close friends? What would that mean for Gabriel and me? Surely, they wouldn’t make us hang out together, I mean, we were adults now, who could do what we wanted. Right?
I tossed and turned in my bed trying to get some sleep. I knew a nap wouldn’t fix anything but it would definitely give me a temporary break from my mind that was running wild. I slept through the afternoon and only woke up to the sound of Nila coming into their room.
I woke up and had dinner then went back to sleep. I had a new day waiting for me, a day in which I could run into Gabriel at any given moment.
***
I was making my way to class, but one would think I was running away from something, someone with the way I kept looking over my shoulder. I was keeping my eyes peeled. In case I ran into him. The fact that we were on the same campus didn’t mean we had to meet. I had been telling myself this over and over as I got ready for my classes. He could be doing a whole different course. He could decide to focus on simply being popular and not attending any classes.
God knows he had it in him. He could have just been looking for a school to apply to, I thought. It was too late in the semester for Cresswell to admit him. But I knew that I was lying to myself even as I thought this. Gabriel was here and he was here to stay, and all I could do was find a way to deal with that.
For now, I had chosen to avoid him. I was going to look around for him, and if I saw him anywhere in my vicinity I was going to find somewhere else to go. I would take the longer routes if that’s what it took. In the event that I did meet him, I was planning on acting like I didn’t know him. I would act clueless. If I saw him approaching I would walk past him.
This second option was a bit of a gamble because it depended on Gabriel playing along. I could only walk past if he let me. And I wasn’t sure he would.
Still, I would try. He wouldn’t be offended if I chose to ignore him. We weren’t friends, after all. That part of our lives was in our past now. I got to class early as was my routine and did some light reading as I waited for the lecture to start. I sat at the very front of every class and it was comfortable because few people chose to sit there. I could listen and focus with no interruption.
I was surprised when someone sat in my row, a few seats away from me. I didn’t care enough to look up at who it was. I only hoped he wouldn’t be the annoying type that always asked for something. I was going to ignore him if that was the case.
That was the plan until he spoke up.
“Emily?”
(Bakersville Elementary, 1999)***“It’s reading time!” Miss Phoebe said, and all the kids groaned in disapproval.All of them except Emily and Gabriel. This was their favorite time of the week. They got to sit quietly for one hour and read as many books as they liked.Gabriel had been at Bakersville Elementary for two months now, and they had become inseparable. They had come to be known as the SmartyPants and they were yet to be offended by the nickname. They liked it, actually, being outcasts, because they could be outcasts together.They had settled into an easy friendship which was made much easier by the fact that they were also neighbors, and their mothers were friends. In those two months, they had spent countless hours at each other’s homes and they had practically become family.They sat side by side and while the rest of the class chose to spend Reading Time making spitballs and running around the class, they spent theirs doing what they both loved best: reading. It was one
EMILY***“I didn’t know you took this class,” I said to Harry.Harry was the student body president as well as the most popular person in all of Creswell. He was handsome, and smart and was also a member of the football team. He was expected to be a jerk given that he had all the qualifications, but he had a good reputation. He hadn’t dated anyone in all of Cresswell and all the girls who had tried to make a move on him couldn’t say anything bad about him even if they tried. No one dared to spread rumors about him or tarnish his name, because they knew there was no point. It was simply not true.“I do. I’ve been sitting at the back of the class this whole time,” he said, smiling.I realized something at that moment.“How do you know my name?” I asked and he laughed. I didn’t know that it was funny.“I debated asking you what your name was but I was afraid of sounding like a snob. Plus, I couldn’t pretend I didn’t know you,” he said.“How do you know me?” I asked.“Well, you sit at th
GABRIEL***“It’s my first day of classes Mom,” I said to the phone as I put on my left shoe. I had taken to calling her every day so that she didn’t feel as lonely as she was. She was all alone. She was yet to make any new friends and I didn’t want to put her in a position where she had to call me instead of the other way around.“I know you won’t have a hard time catching up, but in case you do, please let me know. I know exactly who to call,” she said.“Really? Who?” I asked, genuinely curious. Who could my mother possibly know that could help me with my studies?“I didn’t want to bring this up until the weekend when we met but I met Terry. They moved here. Emily’s at Cresswell too,” she said.I froze. She confirmed what I knew but was trying to ignore. I had seen her a few more times around the campus and had taken to avoiding her because I knew that that was what she would have wanted. But more than that, I did it because I was also upset with her. She left without saying anythin
Bakersville Elementary, 1999 *** “Can I have lunch here, Miss Phoebe?” Emily said. Miss Phoebe looked sadly over at her and nodded. She had gone to the teacher’s lounge during the lunch break, when everyone else was having lunch in the cafeteria. She had been going for the past week, because she couldn’t eat at the cafeteria anymore. And it was all because of Gabriel. She settled into a seat next to the window and opened her lunchbox. Her mother had packed the green grapes again. She didn’t like them. She always gave them to Gabriel who gave her the red ones instead, the ones he didn’t like but she loved. She wondered if they would ever be friends again. It had all started when Gabriel decided to become one of the popular kids. Emily had supported him even when she knew that it was a bad idea. She knew it would end badly. She just didn’t know that it would end badly for her. The first and most obvious step for Gabriel to become popular was to stop hanging out with Emily. She was
EMILY***“His name is Harry,” I said into the phone, ignoring the fact that Nila looked up from her books when I did.It was not yet time for our weekly phone call but I just had to call Julie and update her on what was going on in my life. It was exciting, after all. I had only ever had one other boyfriend and after things ended the way they did, Julie kept encouraging me to try and like someone else, or, at the very least, to try and not sabotage things when I actually did, but I always did.I was afraid. But there was something about Harry that made me feel brave. Maybe it was the fact that this was a new environment. Maybe it was the fact that even with Gabriel here, I felt like I could start afresh in some areas because at least here my reputation was not tarnished like the way it was back in Bakersville.Knowing people your whole life did have some disadvantages. I smiled as Julie squealed into the phone. I was just as excited as she was. I told him about our interaction in cla
GABRIEL***“You did what?” I shouted over the phone. I would regret it later but I was too shocked to remember that my Mom didn’t like it when people raised their voices at her.“I called Terry. Planned a dinner date with the both of you,” Mom said, and I had to physically stop myself from screaming into the phone.I had hoped that moving to Cresswell wouldn’t mean my Mom and Emily’s Mom getting together, but then, it was just a matter of time before it happened. I guess what I should have hoped for instead was for it to take much longer than it did.“Have you told Emily yet?” I asked, putting on my jacket. I wanted to look for her. Tell her myself. Ask her to come up with an excuse, even. Or come up with one myself, so that we could push the dinner as far as we could.“I got her number from Terry and I texted her, telling her that we’d moved here and that you’re in the same school,” Mom said.“Really? Has she responded?”“Yes. She said you haven’t met yet but she’ll look for you n
EMILY***“Emily, come get the door,” Mom said.I wanted to ignore her but I knew she knew I had heard her. It was only the two of us in the house, after all. I didn’t want to get the door. I didn’t want this day to come. I had been dreading it but that didn’t change things. It was here. Oh well, might as well get it over with.I got up from my bed and made my way downstairs. The only reason I didn’t drag my feet was that Louise was outside. The other party, I didn’t care much for. I took a deep breath then I opened the door.“Hi,” Gabriel said as he made his way past me, making sure to hit my shoulder as he did.He was so full of it. I wanted to roll my eyes but I didn’t. I put on the warmest smile I could muster for Louise.“It’s so good to see you,” she said as she gave me a hug.“It’s good to see you too,” I said and I meant it.I had missed her. She was like my second mother and my friend. I had always been sorry about the way I left things with her. I should have told her I was
(Bakersville Elementary 2001)***“You will be doing your elementary school Science Fair Project in pairs,” Mrs. Berry said. There were mixed reactions in the class. Some people were excited. Others, not so much.Emily was excited. It didn’t matter who she got as a partner, she was excited about doing the science fair project. She already had an idea in mind.“Do we get to choose our partners?” a student asked, and everyone quieted down. This was the most important part. A ‘yes’ from Mrs. Berry meant the world to the elementary school class. it would mean they could choose their crushes. It meant their dreams could come true. Mrs. Berry had the rare and unique chance of being Cupid. Would she take it?The air was thick with anticipation. Everyone was holding their breath. Well, almost everyone. Emily didn’t care much for crushes. She didn’t have one, and she was sure no one had a crush on her as well.“No,” Mrs. Berry said and the class deflated with disappointment.Mrs. Berry smiled