EMILY
***
Nothing was standing in my way now. I had nothing to lose. I had one goal and one goal only: I was going to ruin Gabriel’s life so badly that he would break out in hives every time he thought about me. I was tired of being the victim.
I was tired of being at his mercy. I was tired of allowing my life to be determined by how he had woken up that day and what kind of mood he was in. I was going to raise hell. I was going to treat him exactly how he had treated me.
I was no longer going to be the bigger person. It was overrated and for me, all it had meant was shrinking myself, making myself small so that the impact of his actions didn’t affect me as much.
But now, I was going to the depths of hell and I was goin
EMILY***I have a deal for you that will be hard to pass up.You should be telling me whether you and your teammate got on the same page.We didn't. But that's not what matters. I think you misunderstood me. I'm not suggesting the deal. You have no other choice.And why's that?Because I know who you are and I can easily report you for stalking and threatening me.You're bluffing.Would you rather find out I'm not?I'll meet you on the
GABRIEL***"Are you okay?" Harper asked me from across the table."Sure," I said, placing my phone back in my pocket.I was not okay. I could feel my heart fall all the way to my feet. I was overwhelmed by a sinking feeling. Something was not right. Things were about to go wrong. Extremely wrong.I decided to think about that later. I decided instead to focus on my date with Harper. I had told myself that she was my priority and I wasn't going to let anything change that. I would think about the text when I got to my dorm room.I was somehow able to forget about th
EMILY***“Why?” I asked, not knowing what else to ask.It was the question that summarised all the other ones that had been swimming in my mind ever since I got that first text. Tiffany was seated next to me, and as soon as I asked that question she started crying. I hadn’t expected that sudden burst of emotion.Why was she crying? If anyone should have been crying at that moment, it was me. Wasn’t I the one who had been wronged? Wasn’t I the one who was under threat of being exposed? I found myself getting angry but I decided against it.I patted her back softly as she cried and rummaged through the jacket pocket for tissues that I handed to her. She calmed down and wiped her face. She took a dee
EMILY***“I’m glad you’re happy but could you tone it down a bit?” Nila asked.I stopped what I was doing. What had I done? I realized that I was humming as I folded my laundry.“Oops. I'm sorry,” I said.It was a day after Tiffany and I had met at the football field, and she had just texted me to inform me that she had sent the text to Gabriel, the one that we had composed together. The games were just beginning and I was excited for what lay ahead. I was giddy with excitement. Nothing else mattered. Nothing.I could only imagine what he wo
Bakersville high school *** “Aren’t you going to lunch?” Phoebe, one of Emily’s classmates asked her. “I’m not that hungry,” she said and offered Phoebe a smile to assure her that she was okay and she was definitely lying. She was hungry, but she couldn’t go to the cafeteria anymore because she had no one to sit with. Her only other friend, the only one who related to her both inside and outside of school was no longer interested in being friends with her. She had gotten sick and tired of the same old story, of picking up the same old pieces of Emily’s heart. Jullie had given Emily an ultimatum. She told her that if she kept defending Gabriel and his problematic behavior she
GABRIEL***“Gabriel! Come get the door!” my Mom shouted from downstairs.I rolled my eyes so far back that they almost got stuck. I wanted every part of me to vanish into thin air. If I was asked at that moment what kind of superpower I wanted, it would be the power to be invisible.The power to disappear at any moment. But I knew it couldn’t happen, and I also knew I needed to make it downstairs as quickly as possible before Mom found a reason to get upset. I heaved myself off of my bed and dragged myself to the door.Emily and her Mom were coming over for dinner. When I decided to hate her I forgot the fact that our mothers were inseparable and there would always be a way for us to meet. We would never be e
EMILY *** “She’s great. Everything is going great. It couldn’t be better,” Gabriel said and I couldn't help but smile. My Mom had just asked him how Harper was and not only did he give an update on her, he gave an update on his life as if trying to assure himself that everything was indeed going well. That moment alone gave me so much satisfaction that I knew I needed to go on with what I was doing. If this was what Gabriel looked like when he was scared out of his wits then I would spend the rest of my life trying to get that face from him. Our Moms had planned yet another dinner that we couldn’t get out of and I was actually excited for this one, unlike the other one. I had not seen him ever since he decided to disown me and throw me under the bus, and I had not seen him especially since I had taken back my sense of control and chosen to flip this over on him. He was pretending to hate my guts since I walked into the house but I could see beneath the surface and beneath the su
GABRIEL***Now that I was sitting across from Emily, I could see that she had a crazy look in her eye that I hadn't noticed before and it made me uncomfortable. What was she up to? She knew what I was talking about, but she dared to ask. What game was she playing?I had never shied away from a confrontation but I knew that this was the kind of confrontation I couldn't have in front of our Moms. This was strictly between her and me and so I decided to change the battlefield to my room. She wouldn’t have a chance there. It was as if God was smiling at me that day because she played right into my trap and asked me if I was okay, saying I looked pale. I played along, made it look like I was feeling unwell and to her, like I was running away from whatever she was doing. The crazy look in her eye intensified and I knew I had caught her.There was nothing better than setting a trap for someone who thought they were winning. She didn’t know she would never win against me. She was smart but