BAKERSVILLE MIDDLE SCHOOL, 2005
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“Good night,” Louise said to Emily as she closed her bedroom door behind her.
"Good night Mom," she said.
They had just come from the party, and Emily had told her mother that she wasn’t hungry, that she just wanted to sleep. It was a lie. She wasn’t sleepy. She was anything but. Her heart had been pounding like crazy ever since she kissed Gabriel.
It was her first kiss and it was exactly what she’d expected it to be.
GABRIEL *** We need to plan another double date. Why? Is someone being a sore loser right now? First of all, I didn't lose and you know it. Second of all, we need to make it up to bloom and Harry. You’re right. Any ideas? Obviously can’t be anything with games involved. Agreed. A picnic? Green and red grapes?? Hello?? My bad. Since when did you start liking green grapes, by the way? Focus. Sorry. Hike? Not bad. You and Harry can bond and Harper and I can bond over the fact that our boyfriends have a bit too much in common. Hiking it is. I’ll tell Harper. Cool. good night or whatever. Good night. I threw my phone on my bed and took off my jacket. I was smiling to myself until I felt guilty. I was smiling over the texts of someone who’d just caused me to argue with my girlfriend. It wasn’t an argument, per se, it was just her expressing her sense of discomfort at the fact that I knew that Emily hated green grapes and that she knew I hated the red ones. I had expected t
EMILY *** “I’m so sorry you have to go through this,” I said to Harper as we waited for Harry and Gabriel. It was the very next weekend, and Harper and I had managed to convince Harry and Gabriel to go on the hike with us. Harry was fairly easy to convince and if he saw right through me to the fact that I was trying to make it up to him for the ruined date, he did not mention it. I was thankful that he didn’t. I could do without the guilt of it. I had suffered for long enough. I had spent the whole week after our date feeling guilty, not because of what Gabriel and I had done but because of what it had implied. I was afraid of what Harry really thought. Worse, I was afraid of Harper. What if they didn’t see it as me standing up for myself, but they saw the discomfort as something else entirely? What if they questioned why he was making me uncomfortable? I knew that I didn't know how to hide my feelings, so I was sure someone if not everyone in the room had seen through me, and my
EMILY *** Harry was on the ground, feeling sorry for himself. “I should have stretched before we started climbing. I’m sorry guys,” he said. The three of us were standing over him, wondering what was next. He had sprained his ankle and couldn’t stand or move. It was unfortunate, but he had saved me from Harper and her questions. I couldn’t show it, but I was relieved. I couldn’t thank him for it either, but I was thankful. “I guess that’s the end of our hike,” Gabriel said. He looked genuinely disappointed that it was ending so soon. “How do we get him down there?” Harper asked. I should have asked the question as his girlfriend to show a little bit of concern but I was too stunned to speak. Harper’s question still rang loud in my head. Did you two ever date in the past? I was right. At least one person had seen through me and it was her. Now that it had happened, now that she had confronted me, I didn’t know what to do. She didn’t seem like the type of person to ignore thi
GABRIEL***“Thanks, man,” Harry said as I helped him onto his bed.“Don’t mention it,” I said. I made sure he was comfortable in his bed and that he had everything he needed so that he didn’t have to limp around the room.“Will that be all?” I asked after I made sure he was as comfortable as possible.“I’m so sorry for ruining the hike,” he said.“It’s the perfect payback for how I ruined the bowling date,” I said and smiled.“Thanks again, and thanks for driving us here, too,” he said.“Stop saying ‘thanks’. You’re making things weird,” I said, making my way to the door. “See you tomorrow,” he said as I walked out of his room.I was walking towards my room when my phone buzzed. It was a call from Harper.“Are you too tired or can I see you for a minute?” she asked when I answered.“Where are you? I'll come to you,” I said, turning around.“Meet me at the statue,” she said.I hung up and made my way toward the statue and for a moment I have tempted to text Emily and ask her if her
(Bakersville middle school)***“Is it true that you and Gabriel kissed at Ashley Brown’s party?” Julie asked.Emily was stunned. Her eyes went wide in shock and she felt her knees go weak.Julie had ushered her into the library during their lunch break, claiming that she had a secret to tell her. Emily was hoping that she was telling her about her own kiss that she had had at the party so that she could tell her about hers and that she felt less alone.She had wanted to share it with Julie herself but what Gabriel had told her had left her feeling embarrassed. How was she supposed to tell her that her first kiss had been a fake? A dare? A game? But now she didn’t have to tell her and that scared Emily more because it meant that her fears were true. Julie clearly hadn’t heard it from Gabriel, which meant that it was just as she had suspected. It was either that Gabriel had told the other kids or worse, the kids who had dared Gabriel had been standing at the door that whole time, watch
EMILY***My knee only began to hurt after Gabriel pointed it out. I hadn’t even noticed that I had gotten hurt. I was too busy trying to run away from Harper before she saw right through me again.I was in the dorm and had taken a shower and was disinfecting the wound that had appeared on my knee and I couldn't help but worry as I did it. Had Harper noticed my knee? Had she known that it was the reason why Gabriel offered to drive? I didn’t have to worry about Harry. I was sure he had no idea what was going on. He was in too much pain.I hated the feeling of walking on eggshells around Harper. She proved herself to be observant and it scared me. She would end up being the reason why I broke up with Harry, especially if she decided to ask me these questions in public. I couldn’t wait for it to happen. We would just have to stop going on these double dates. I would tell Harry and I would also tell Gabriel just in case Harry needed more convincing.If there was anything to be thankful f
GABRIEL***“It’s the same person,” I said, pacing around my room.We’d chosen to go to my room instead of Emily’s because her roommate did not seem happy about the fact that I had gone knocking at their door. It wasn’t even late but she seemed to want to turn in early so we left.Emily was seated in the chair at my desk. She looked shaken. She had been concerned when she got her own message but when she saw mine she couldn’t even handle it.It didn’t even matter that I didn't know what happened to Emily in high school. It didn’t matter if I never even knew, what mattered now was the fact that we needed to find whoever had sent these messages to us before it was too late. Emily needed to be safe. She had moved here for a reason and I wasn't going to let that person ruin her new start for her. I had already done that by simply being here.“What do they want?” Emily asked, “there must be a reason why they sent our messages to each other instead of directly.”“But what could that reason
EMILY***I know what happened to Emily in high school and I am going to expose it to the whole school.That statement had been ringing in my mind ever since Gabriel showed me the message. There was someone who knew about what happened to me in high school, the reason why I moved to Cresswell just before my senior year. But that’s not what fazed me. I was sure there were people who knew outside of my family and Gabriel. What shook me to my core was the fact that they were going to expose me to the whole school.It had taken all of my strength to walk from my dorm to Gabriel’s after he had shown me that text. I felt like my legs wanted to give way under me. I wanted them to give way, them and the ground beneath my feet, because I could not imagine being the topic of attention. I could not imagine people knowing what I had kept to myself for years, something that I hadn't even told Harry. We went to Gabriel’s room and I tried to be as cooperative as I could but I was scared. I wanted t