20 days before Valentine’s Day

I don’t know why I didn’t tell Emma about what Jason had said yesterday. It’s not like I didn’t get any chances because I did. I had plenty of chances to tell her.

But I didn’t.

I could’ve told her when we drove to my house, or when we were watching TV, or when we were doing homework or maybe when we were eating dinner. Or even when I waved goodbye as she drove away.

Why didn’t I tell her?

My head was beginning to hurt from the inner turmoil and it was only 7:30 in the morning. I haven’t even stepped into school yet.  I continued to push my food around my plate and buried my head in my hands.

“Avery, sweetie, are you okay?” My mother asked, putting a warm hand on my shoulder and then my forehead, immediately checking me for a fever.

I sighed heavily, “I’m fine, Mum. I’m just tired, that’s all. It’s been a long week.” I answered.

She chuckled lightly, “Tell me about it.” She gave me one last worried glance before walking over to the sink to wash the dishes.

“At least, it’s Friday which means that I can relax over the week-end. Fancy a trip to the spa?” I offered.

She kept her head down, her brown hair curtaining her face. “Actually, I’m working this week-end. I’m on duty with Andrea again.” She paused for a moment before half-turning to face me.

“I know that look...” I said. This can’t be good.

“I’m going to have to ask you to a favour,” she started and I grimaced. “It’s only a tiny little favour.” She pleaded, and dried her soapy hands.

“Fine. What now?” I frowned.

“Dylan, Aaron and Chris will be here for the week-end.” She said quickly and my jaw dropped to the ground. “It’s fine! I’m going to be here too, just at night. When everyone is sleeping.” She hastily added. “And Emma can come too!”

I tried to smile and pretend to be okay with it for her sake but my smile faltered and I probably looked constipated. “Okay...” I wanted to cry so badly. “But who’s Chris?”

“He’s Andrea’s nephew, it’s fine. He’s a nice boy; I’ve met him, very polite.” She smiled, nodding to herself. “Just think of it this way, you’ll get more work done for your Art project!”

Sigh.

More people to drive me insane. I swear they’ll be the death of me.

“Great. That’s great. Should be a fun week-end then.” I mumbled sadly.

“That’s the spirit!” My Mum chirped and craned her neck towards the window to see Dylan’s car pulling in our driveway. “Now, get going. Dylan is here. You wouldn’t want to be late for school, do you?”

I gave her thumbs up trying to be as enthusiastic as I possibly could. “Okay, see you later.” I shrugged and grabbed my bag from the corner.

She gave me a warm smile and hugged me, “Thanks, honey.” She whispered softly into my hair. I hugged her back, “Oh! And I forgot to tell you. Your fun week-end starts tonight, not tomorrow because I’m working late.”

My arms immediately dropped awkwardly to my sides.

Help me.

“Great!” I forced my lips to form a smile which quickly faded from my face as my lips started to quiver as soon I turned away from my Mum and she ushered me out of the house.

*** *** *** *** ***

I sluggishly walked to my locker, gripping my bag. I felt like all my energy had been sucked out of my body. “Hey, Emma.”

Emma shut her locker door and looked at me, “What the hell happened to you?” she exclaimed.

Is there something on my face?

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“You just look so tired. And no offense but, you kind of look like a mess.”

“That’s because I am tired. And yeah, sorry I didn’t have time to do my hair.”

“Oh. Really? I couldn’t tell. I thought your hair always looked like that.” Emma stated nonchalantly.

I scowled at her, “Thanks, Emma. Thank you so much.” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

“You’re very welcome.” She smiled.

I shook my head, “hey, remember yesterday at lunch when you told me that Dylan and Jason hated each other?”

A wide grin grew on her face, she always did love gossip. Almost as much as she loved Logan Lerman. “Yeah,” she answered excitedly. “What did you find out?”

I shrugged, “Well, I asked Jason about it yesterday on the way to French and he said that it was true. They do hate each other.”

“And,” she beckoned me to continue.

“I asked him why and he said that it was because they wanted the same thing.” I paused and watched Emma’s face as she took in what I had told her. “What does he mean?”

She gaped at me, wide-eyed. “Okay, really?” she asked in disbelief.

“Yes, really.” I replied plainly.

She sighed, “1. I can’t believe you’re only telling me this now, when you could’ve told me yesterday but whatever.  And 2. Are you blind or just stupid?”

I glared at her. What? Now she’s going to insult me? What is that?

“Okay, I know. I’m sorry. I guess, I just wanted to think about it first, to see if I could figure it out myself and-“

“which obviously you can’t because you’re coming to me for help and you have no clue what he meant.” She interjected.

“And,” I continued. “I’m not blind, obviously. But, I’m not stupid either.” I stuck my tongue out at her but she only rolled her eyes.

“So would you like to know what I think he meant?”

“Emma, do you even have to ask?”

“I guess not. So, what I think he meant is that –“

“Emma!” Mrs. Holmes called out and gestured for Emma to walk over to her.

“Wait, no! Emma, tell me first.” I begged, clutching her arm.

“What the –“ she looked at her arm and I tugged at her sleeve.

“Ms.Carter!” Mrs. Holmes shouted loudly.

“Tell me.”

“Avery. Let. Go.” She managed to pull away from my grip. “I’ll tell you later.” She promised. Then I watched her leave me in front of my locker.

Ugh. I don’t have the patience to wait. I want to find out, right now. Not later, now. Curse that stupid Art teacher.

I think it’s fair to say that I was not having a good morning. But at least I have Math first period. It’s not a good thing because it’s Math, it’s a good thing because I sit next to Jason which means that I can ask him what he meant about what he said yesterday.

*** *** *** *** ***

I sat down on my seat in Math with a textbook open on my desk. But I couldn’t concentrate. Where is he? The bell has gone and everyone is here.

Maybe he’s just late; I tried to reason with myself.

I listened to the loud tik tok sounds of the clock which seemed to echo in the silence of the room. Seconds and minutes passed by and he still wasn’t there. I kept looking at the door thinking that Jason was about to walk in any second, but he didn’t.

Half way through the lesson, I leaned backwards to talk to Joe, who was sat behind me and ask him if he knew where Jason was. They’re friends, so I think he’d know where he is.

“Joe,” I whispered quietly, keeping my eye to the front to make sure that Mrs. Wilson wouldn’t suddenly look up and see me talking. I really don’t want her to shout at me because I’m afraid I might faint from the smell of her breath and get another concussion.

Joe looked up from his book, “Yeah?” he whispered back.

“Do you know where Jason is?” I asked as quietly as I could.

“He had to go talk to Mrs. Rogerson.”

“The head teacher? What for?”  Did he get in that much trouble all ready?

He shrugged, “’Cause he’s new. I guess she wants to check up on how he’s adjusting.” Joe explained in a hushed tone.

“Okay, thanks.” I spoke in a soft voice.

“Anytime.”

I guess this is going to continue being a boring lesson. When Jason is here, he usually makes jokes about Mrs. Wilson and the entire class erupts in laughter and she never has a clue what happened so she just glares at everyone.

*** *** *** *** ***

I almost ran to our table at lunch when I saw that Emma was already there. “Emma!”

“Yes?” she looked up from her lunch.

“Will you tell me now?” I asked eagerly.

“Tell you what?” she furrowed her brows.

“What we were talking about this morning.” I replied, slightly annoyed.

“Oh that! Yeah, so...” she started.

“So...” I waited impatiently.

“I think, that...” she paused.

“Emma! Just tell me already!”

She held her hands up in front of her, “Wow, okay. Jeeze don’t rip my head off. I think, well, what does it matter what I think?”

I groaned, “Emma, come on!”

“Oh!” she cried out. “You!” she pointed at someone behind me. “Jake, Jacob, whatever your face,” she shouted.

I turned around to see who she was rudely pointing at, “Jason.” I corrected her.

“Yeah, what she said.”

“Me?” Jason asked.

“Duh, who else?” Emma answered. “Come sit, with us.”

I looked at Emma in disbelief, “What are you doing?” I hissed.

Emma ignored me and Jason nodded and sat next to me.

“Hey, Avery.” He smiled.

“Hi.” I replied.

“So, you and Dylan want the same thing. What exactly do you mean by that?” Emma asked Jason who was slightly taken aback by her question.

“Does it matter?” he answered.

“Yes.”

“It means that we want the same thing. Simple as that.” He simply stated. He made it sound so straightforward.

I didn’t say a word, I just watched as Emma interrogated Jason for the entire lunch hour. He tried to avoid answering her questions and if he did answer them, his answers were very vague and unclear. Maybe he loves mysteries and puzzles so much that he wanted to become one.

When the bell rang, Emma quickly stood up and picked up her bag and books.

“Emma, before I forget. How does spending the week-end at my house sound?” I asked. I had no intention of telling her that Dylan, Aaron and that Chris guy was going to be there too in fear that she would say no.

“Sounds good.” She responded before nodding towards Jason and waving goodbye to me.

“Sorry about that. Emma is just, well, Emma.” I gave Jason an apologetic look.

“It’s alright.” He shrugged, “I didn’t mind.”

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{Unedited}

Ooh, new character! What do you reckon Chris will be like?

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Who else hates it when you have to wait to find out about something?