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 class and I was sure Nila was listening in, but I had to trust in the fact that she minded her own business and wouldn’t go around telling people what she had heard. More than that, though, I simply did not care.
“I’m happy for you,” Julie said.
“Nothing’s even happened yet,” I said in response.
“I mean I’m happy that you’ve decided to give someone new a chance. You deserve it,” she said and I smiled.
“I’m happy for me too,” I said in response.
We caught each other up on the other things that were going on in our lives and when the call was over I stayed lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling.
I didn’t have much to do again today, given that I had already caught up on all my schoolwork, but it was a nice day so I decided to go out for a walk. I left Nila in our room and walked aimlessly around campus. Rather, I walked around aimlessly but my goal was to run into Harry somehow.
I’d never been the type of girl to do things like this. I’d never allowed liking someone to overtake my life in such a big way, but this was a chance to reinvent myself and try something new. Besides, I didn’t want my past experiences to affect how I dealt with life and love in general.
I walked around for quite a while before I decided to take a break at a bench. I was taking in the cool afternoon air when I got a text:
Hi Emmy, it’s Louise. Gabriel and I moved over to Cresswell and he’s in school with you. I’m not sure if the both of you have met but I hope you have. Will you be coming home this weekend? I would love to see you.
I let out a deep breath. Avoiding Gabriel was one thing but I couldn’t avoid his mother. She was a sweet woman who was heartbroken when our friendship ended the second time and she was also my mother’s friend. More than that, she was going through a hard time and I didn’t want to make things even harder for her. I decided to text her back, to give her one less thing to worry about.
Hi Louise, I’m so happy to hear from you. Gabriel and I haven’t met yet, but now that I know he’s here, I’ll make a point of looking for him. See you on the weekend!
I sent the text and put my phone back into my pocket. I was just about to get up and resume my walk when someone sat next to me.
“Would you believe it if I told you I was looking for you?” It was Harry.
“It’s not that hard to believe,” I said, smiling. He laughed.
“I couldn’t wait ‘till our next class to see you again,” he said, suddenly turning serious. My heart pounded in my chest. I didn’t care whether my face turned red. I was going to wear my heart on my sleeve, even if just a little.
“I’m glad you found me,” I said, “one week felt like a long time for me, too.” We smiled at each other.
“Did you ever get a proper tour of the school?” he asked and I laughed. He looked at me quizzically.
“Isn’t it a bit too late for that? Even if I didn’t, I’ve already figured my way around,” I said and he nodded in realization.
“Couldn’t you just say no and give me a reason to walk with you?” he asked.
“Okay. Let’s do it again, then. Make it look natural,” I said. He cleared his throat.
“Do you know your way around the school?” he asked.
“Not really, I keep getting lost,” I responded.
“Would you like for me to show you around?” he asked and I had to stifle a laugh.
“I would love it if you did that,” I said and we both got up.
We walked around the school and he actually showed me around, but it didn’t matter that I knew all the spots he showed me. We walked around for a while and ended up at the bench where he found me.
“Thanks for the tour,” I said.
“You’re welcome,” he said, “can I ask you something before you leave?”
“Sure,” I said.
“Could I have your number? So that I don’t have to run around the whole campus looking for you next time?” he asked and I laughed. I nodded. He patted his pockets and looked at me.
“I think I left my phone in my dorm,” he said. I took out mine and handed it over to him. He typed in his number and as he hid I heard a ping from my phone. He smiled.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“I didn’t mean to intrude, but your Mom sent you a text saying to go home on the weekend, for dinner,” he said, “she said Gabriel’s coming over.” My smile faded.
“Who’s Gabriel?” Harry asked.
“That would be me,” a voice behind me responded.
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
GABRIEL***“I’m so happy for you,” Mom said as she reached her hand across the table to hold Emily’s.Emily had just announced that she was dating Harry. And I hoped she was lying. Besides, it didn’t make sense. The only reason Harry could have been holding Emily’s phone on the day we met was that he was giving her his number, and he’d also told her to call him. If they were dating, they wouldn’t need to tell each other that. Moreso, he wouldn’t need to tell her to call him. He would call her, right? Isn’t that what boyfriends did?I’d only come to this conclusion because I had been thinking about it for the four days that had gone by since it happened. It bothered me that they might have been dating this whole time. But that’s not what bothered me the most. What bothered me was how she acted when I grabbed her wrist. She said she was okay but I doubted it. I was worried for her. What had happened to make her so scared?I had debated texting her, to ask her if she was okay. I knew sh
EMILY***This is not what I had planned. I shouldn’t have allowed my desire for revenge to take over. I regretted it as soon as I said it, not only because I was dragging Harry into my drama with Gabriel, but also because Gabriel seemed unaffected by the news. I had a feeling he knew I was lying. It pissed me off all the more that he knew but he chose to play along.What pissed me off even more, though, was the fact that when he was asked if he was dating he said no. He didn’t play along. He didn’t try to pretend the way I was. It was like he was uninterested, unbothered. But the Gabriel I knew was not the type to be upstaged. I had hit him where it hurt. It’s not that he wasn’t affected. It’s that he was coming up with a strategy.I could tell by the way he got silent for the rest of the dinner. I could almost hear his brain turning. As soon as we waved them goodbye I ran up to my room. I needed to text Harry. I paced around my room. What was I even going to say? How would I bring i
EMILY*** “Thanks again for agreeing to meet me,” I said to Harry as I sat down. We’d decided to meet at a coffee shop off campus. It was my suggestion. I didn’t know where Gabriel was and I didn’t want to run the risk of running into him before I told Harry what I had done. “Sure,” Harry said, “is everything okay? You look pale.” I was anxious. I had never done anything like this, and I hated that I was doing it to someone who didn’t deserve it. Someone who was genuinely interested in me, that I was genuinely interested in as well. I hated that I was dragging him into this. “I’m okay,” I said, “probably just tired from the weekend. It was a lot.” “How was the dinner?” he asked. I guess we were getting straight to the point. “It was great. I hadn’t seen Gabriel and his Mom in a while so it was great to catch up on things,” I said, sipping on my Iced Americano. “That’s great to hear. What did you want to tell me?” he asked. I placed my drink on the table and took a deep breath
GABRIEL***“Glad you could make it,” I said to Harry as he sat down across from me. He’d asked to meet at a coffee shop off campus. He didn’t seem happy to be here. Emily must have told him about what happened between us. I didn’t blame him, though, that he’d chosen to take Emily’s side over mine. It made sense. I would just have to plead my case. “Make it quick,” he said.He was acting hostile, probably because of what Emily told him about me but I needed to make sure that he felt that I was genuine. It was going to have to be Emily’s words over mine. “I told you when we first met, that Emily and I have been best friends since kindergarten,” I said.“I remember that, yes,” he said. I could tell he was getting irritated. I needed to choose my words carefully, to make sure he didn’t feel threatened by me. “We’re not best friends anymore. I’m sure she’s told you that. I hurt her so many times and our friendship ended completely when she moved here. It’s all my fault.”Harry’s face
(Bakersville Elementary, 2002)***Emily was woken up by the sound of a soft knock at the window. She had gotten used to it by now, and she had become a light sleeper as a result. She needed to hear Gabriel coming in, otherwise, he would sleep outside in the cold. This had been their routine for the past few months. Ever since the day Gabriel showed up at Emily’s door, she had been allowing him to sneak into her room when her parent’s fighting got worse.Their parents didn’t know that he had been sneaking out, and she hoped they wouldn’t because it seemed that the fighting was getting so bad that he couldn’t sleep. She got out of bed and opened the window for him. It was dangerous, because her room was not on the ground floor of the house, and he had to do some serious climbing to get there.He climbed into the room. She had already set out some snacks for him in case he had not eaten, and his sleeping bag for when he was ready to sleep. He had been crying, she could tell. She hugged