The crosswalk signal flashed that the light was about to change. Emily stepped off the curb and turned to look before she crossed, but the distinctive sound of Jenny's voice stopped her progress. Emily spun around trying to figure out where it came from.

Jenny never walks on Third Avenue in the morning... She lives on Fourth Avenue and the bus stop is on Fourth Avenue...

Then Peter's car stopped directly in front of her and Jenny leaned out of the back window. "Get in Em. Peter's giving us a ride this morning."

Emily dropped her backpack from her shoulder and rolled her eyes. She opened the front passenger door and sat beside Peter.

"Morning. Long time no see," he mumbled through his marble mouth.

"Morning," she replied to her lap as she buckled her seatbelt.

"The boys found me walking along the avenue," Jenny explained.

"Sure they did," Emily said so softly it was nearly to herself, and then more loudly, "We're going to get to school so early now. I hope the back gate is already unlocked."

Peter looked to her. "I can always drop you at the front gate."

"Or we could kill some time at the park until they open the back gate," Geoff suggested.

Jenny agreed, "That's an excellent idea!"

Emily pulled out her sunglasses so she didn't have to look anyone in the eye. "Yeah, sure, great," she lied unconvincingly.

Peter looked at her. He shrugged and offered a lopsided smile.

Emily didn't smile back.

Peter drove over the Bridge, behind their school and then pulled over near one of the entrances to Silver Lake Park at seven o'clock in the morning. They had forty minutes to occupy before the boys needed to leave to make it to their school on time. Jenny and Geoff got out to head into the park. Geoff knocked twice on the roof on the car.

"See you in a half hour," Jenny said to Emily.

"Or longer," Geoff added with a wink to Peter.

Emily watched them stroll away, arm in arm.

The clicking noise as Peter removed his seatbelt startled her.

"Whoa! Jumpy huh?" he remarked and snapped his fingers the way he had the previous day.

When Emily didn't respond he added, "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Emily finally turned to look at him. "You didn't scare me."

"Could have fooled me," he garbled.

She unbuckled her seatbelt.

"Getting ready to run?" Peter joked.

Emily frowned. "I just wasn't expecting to be here, in your car, this morning. I'm not prepared," she explained and shifted her bag on her lap.

"Prepared? Prepared for what? Did you think I was going to try to kiss you or something?" he asked.

"No... I... I don't know... I meant..." she faltered and hugged her bag tighter.

"Maybe I don't even want to kiss you... because I heard from Chris that you weren't very good anyway," he declared offhandedly as he reclined his seat and closed his eyes.

So that was nameless boy's name!

Emily's anger and embarrassment fought for superiority in the moment.  Anger won and she felt the tears start to burn the back of her eyelids. She opened the car door, got out and slammed it shut. She hurried down the sidewalk towards school as swiftly as her legs would carry her.

But she heard Peter quickly catch up behind her. He spoke to her back, "Emily wait!"

She didn't even bother to turn and look at him when she yelled, "Drop dead!"

He ran around in front of her to block her way. "C'mon stop for a minute," he pleaded.

Emily ignored him and turned to cross the street, but Peter grabbed a handful of her backpack and it slid off her back.

"Give me my bag!" she demanded.

"Look... I'm sorry! Okay?" he barked back.

"No! Not okay!" she growled, "Give me back my bag now!"

He stepped back from her and said, "Come and get it."

Emily glared icily at him and remained firmly planted where she stood. "There's something seriously wrong with you," she decided aloud.

Peter didn't defend himself. Instead, he began to walk back towards his car with her bag. Emily refused follow him and continued walking towards school.

Jenny better bring my bag back to me since she's the one that got me into this mess!

The back gate was unlocked.

Thank you God and the groundskeepers...

She entered and that was when she noticed the starbursts and blind spots edging into her vision.

Not now...

She lifted her sunglasses to rest on her hair and rubbed the heels of her hands against her eye sockets. She looked at the steep cement staircase that led up to the library building. It appeared to be missing pieces as her eyesight grew more disturbed by the oncoming migraine.

I can't climb steps that I can't see...

So she sat down on them instead.

I'll have to wait for the visual aura to improve... Hopefully when the headache truly starts...

Emily took off her sunglasses completely and put them in her lap. She closed her eyes and covered her ears with her hands and squeezed her head as hard as she could. She tried to block out the too bright morning and the increasing volume of traffic and voices as other students started to arrive for their day. But the rising nausea took over her inner senses and she hunched over.

This is futile...

She wasn't sure how much time passed before she felt a hand on her shoulder. She slowly sat up and opened her eyes to find Jenny kneeling in front of her. "Are you okay Em?"

Emily's head throbbed. "Migraine," she explained.

Jenny frowned and held out Emily's bag to her.

Emily took it and said, "For the sake of our friendship, I'm warning you to never set me up with anyone ever again."

She unzipped her backpack and dug around for her medication.

"What happened? Peter wouldn't tell us," Jenny said.

"He's a total douche. He insulted me and then pretty much stole my bag. That's probably why he didn't want to tell you what happened." Emily swallowed two pills with some water.

Jenny looked appalled. "I'm really shocked! He seemed a little awkward to me, but nice. I never would have guessed that he would do anything like that to you. I'm sorry."

Emily nodded her head and turned to walk up the long winding driveway instead of the stairs.

It's the better option with the vertigo I am experiencing...

"I'm going to tell Geoff that I won't take the ride to the dance from Peter on Friday," Jenny announced beside her.

Emily pulled out her phone. She missed text messages while it was held hostage. She wouldn't be able to read them through the blind spots, so she handed it to Jenny. "Any from my Mom?" she asked.

"Nope," Jenny answered.

"Then turn it off."

Jenny did and zipped it back into Emily's bag for her. They reached the top of the driveway.

Emily said, "I'm going to the main office. I'll wait a little bit to see if I feel better but I'll probably call my Mom and get permission to go home early. There's no way I can sit through classes like this."

Jenny nodded. "I feel like all I've been doing is apologizing to you lately." 

Emily closed her eyes again. "It's not your fault that my brain is freaking out. It did this long before I ever met you."

"I know but still, I'm sorry. I'll bring home whatever work and books you'll need if you leave," Jenny offered.

Emily nodded, though it hurt. "Thanks. I'll talk to you later."