(Bakersville middle school, 2005)***“Ashley Brown is having a birthday party and she’s invited the whole class, can I go?” Emily asked her Mom.“Is Gabriel going?” Terry asked.“Yes.”“I’ll pick you up at 9,” she said.The party wasn’t for another two days but Emily had wanted to ask early, just in case Terry needed convincing. She hadn’t expected it to be so easy. She went up to her room. she couldn’t wait to tell Gabriel.She had been surprised that Ashley, the most popular girl in school, had invited everyone in their homeroom to her birthday party. She had expected her to only invite the popular kids and Emily had been prepared to stay in and catch up on her reading.This was new for her. She’d been to birthday parties, but never to a popular person’s birthday party. She would have to talk to Gabriel, and get a few pointers from him on how to act cool and not embarrass herself.The school was abuzz the next day. Everyone was talking about Ashley’s party. She was just as excited
EMILY *** What happened to you was hard. It’s okay that you still haven’t gotten over it. Take all the time you need. I had been thinking about this part of Juliel’s text since she sent it. It was hard to accept because I had hoped I was over what had happened. But maybe she was right. Maybe it had been too hard for me to get over as quickly as I'd hoped. I had moved from my desk to my bed because I had been bouncing my knee and tapping on my books with my pen and I feared that I was irritating Nila. But what did that mean? Did it mean that I was supposed to stay single until I had completely healed from the incident? What if I never got over it? What if it was something I was supposed to live with, not get over? Her advice was good, undisputable even, but how was I supposed to apply it to the conversation that was undoubtedly about to happen between Harry and i? It was hanging over our heads. It was bound to happen sooner if not later. I wanted to break up for good, but what if
EMILY *** “Are you ready to go?” Harry asked as I fastened my seat belt. “Yes, I am,” I said, straightening my dress. We were going on a double date, with Gabriel and his girlfriend. I hated the thought of it, but I couldn't say no. We were going bowling off campus. Gabriel and the girl he was seeing had already gone ahead of us and we were joining them in the evening because we both had classes that we couldn’t miss. It was Harry who brought up the idea, and I couldn’t refuse, mostly because he told me that Gabriel had agreed.This angered me even more. Why had he agreed? What point was he trying to prove? What message was he trying to get across? I thought that he was trying to move on. Wasn’t that the reason why he had met someone? Hadn’t that been an attempt at moving on with his life? If so, why was he still trying to involve himself with Harry and me? It was annoying, but I knew exactly what I was going to do. I was going to go on that date and act unbothered. I wasn’t goi
GABRIEL *** “Can we go now? It’s getting pretty late,” Harper said. She was seated next to Emily. They’d taken the time that Harry and I were using to play to get to know each other. They’d pretty much-exhausted everything, but Harry and I were still playing. Harper and Emily had tapped out about four rounds ago, but Harry and I were still going. There needed to be a clear winner. We weren’t leaving until one of us lost, and it wasn’t going to be me. He had accused me of cheating and had gone ahead to cheat, so fairness was off the table. We had played round after round but our egos wouldn’t let one of us relent to the other. “I’ll pay,” Harper said, “I'll pay for everything, so can we please just go?” I looked over at Harry.He had no thoughts of stopping. If he didn’t, then neither did i. I looked over at Harper, though, and I felt sorry for her. I decided to stop the game. She looked exhausted. Harper was the girl Earl had set me up with. I’d met up with her the very next day
EMILY *** “What was that about?” Harry asked. “What was that about?” I asked, knowing full well exactly what he was talking about but choosing to play dumb. I was hoping that he would bring this up when we had gotten to the campus, but I guess it couldn’t wait. “You know, the red grape green grape thing. Why did you say you like green grapes when you don’t?” “I didn’t like green grapes back when we were younger, but I do now.” This was a lie. I hated green grapes. Everything about them from the way they looked to the way they tasted disgusted me. I only said green grapes because I wanted Gabriel to see that I had changed. It was also why I said I liked formal wear when I hated dressing up. If I was being honest, I also didn’t like how I'd acted. It was petty and immature. Seeing Gabriel just brought out that side of me. I was angry because I couldn't tell him I was projected by being competitive and being petty. We had made things so awkward that we just decided to end the dat
BAKERSVILLE MIDDLE SCHOOL, 2005***“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