Bakersville High School“Have a great day,” Gabriel said as he walked away from Emily.They were standing at her locker in school. Nobody else might have known this, but it was a monumental moment for her. This was the first time since kindergarten that Gabriel had acknowledged her presence in public. It was a big deal. A very big deal. She wished she could tell everyone who could listen about it but there were few people who would want to listen and even fewer people who would listen and understand and rejoice at the fact that this was good news to her. It had been a few weeks since Gabriel had sent her the note and the flowers, and she still couldn’t believe that any of this was happening. She was still expecting that at one point she would wake up and realize that all of that had been a dream. It would make more sense, given that all this was so foreign.It was surprising that Gabriel was treating her so well. So surprising in fact, that she had expected the joke to appear at som
EMILY***“We seem to be meeting a lot nowadays,” Harry said as he sat across from me.I couldn’t help but laugh. It was true. This was our second meeting since the last one was interrupted by Tiffany. He had called me out this time and it was just as well because u needed to tie up loose ends and make sure the both of us were on the same page and also to make sure I was in Tiffany's good books. I didn't want to risk getting in trouble with her. She held too much power and I couldn't anger her.She had walked away from me that day after showing me the text from Gabriel and after I had recovered I had noticed that she was not happy. She was not at all pleased with the fact that I had met with Harry, for whatever reason. She had left me with two things to worry about. Not only was I worried about Gabriel and how I would exact my revenge, but I was also worried about her and whether she would stay on my side given the new circumstances.I hoped she would. I prayed she would. She had to.
GABRIEL***I was supposed to meet Harper that day but I didn't bother going. I made an excuse about feeling extra tired and I felt bad about it but I would feel worse if I went and then proceeded to be distracted the whole time. I was distracted. I had been ever since I saw Emily and Harry at the cafe. It had been days since but I couldn't help but think about the interaction and how it had made me feel.Jealous. It had made me feel jealous and I needed to admit it, even though admitting it annoyed me. What was wrong with me? Why couldn't my heart just function normally, loving the people who loved me as normal people did? Why did it have to keep beating for someone it hated at the same time? Why couldn't it pick a side?I was getting sick and tired of the back and forth, of loving and hating and loving again. I wished I could turn my feelings on and off as I pleased. I would turn on feelings of love for Harper and turn off all the feelings I had for Emily, even the ones of hate. I
EMILY***I had one less thing to worry about now that I had wrapped things up with Harry. It freed me up to focus on the other thing that was worrying me, which was Gabriel and his infuriating response to the text I had sent him through Tiffany.It still made my blood boil when I thought about it, and it was almost two weeks since he sent it. It was just as well that we had not met in that time because I couldn't possibly imagine seeing his face. He would know I was angry because I couldn't hide it.He wouldn't know why but he would get some strange satisfaction from it given that he needed a win. I needed to work fast. I had given him enough time to gloat, whether he knew that it was a chance I'd given him or not. I needed to put him back in his place and make him quiver once again. The scores were one to one on my scoreboard and I needed to get a few punches in while he was still unaware of what was happening.For all he knew, he was just being threatened by someone behind a phone
GABRIEL***"You don’t look too happy to be going over to Emily’s. Is everything okay?" Mom asked.I was driving us to dinner and my jaw was clenched so hard I was surprised I hadn't snapped a tooth. I was not happy and everything was not okay. I had gotten a text two days before that had yet again done a good job of shaking me to my core. I had begun to get scared when my phone buzzed and I had hoped to ignore that message but I knew I couldn't ignore it for any longer. I would just have to open it.I think you’re saying that because you think I'm exposing what happened to you growing up. That's not it. It wouldn't do me any good to expose that because you're the victim. What I am about to expose shows you for who you really are. A monster. If Emily had hoped that this message would have me shaking, she was right. She was right and it infuriated me that she was right. The scores had changed. It was two to one now. But this was no longer funny. This was turning serious quicker than
Bakersville High School***“Are you okay?” Julie asked Emily who was mindlessly picking at her food.“I am, I'm just not that hungry,” Emily said.She was lying, but she couldn’t tell Julie the truth and the truth was that she could feel Gabriel beginning to ignore her again. His passing her in the halls had only been the first step and she began to notice that he was doing it more often, but not doing it completely, giving her crumbs of his attention in school so that she couldn’t say he had gone back to how he was before.She was bothered.She didn’t know how to feel. Had she counted her luck a bit too early? Had she called it too soon? Had she been too gullible to see that Gabriel was just insuring himself by making sure she was happy so that he still had that shoulder to lean on? Had she been played without even knowing it? She was sad. She was angry. She was confused. She was offended.She felt herself swaying again in the line between love and hate. She was losing control. She
EMILY***I looked outside from my bedroom window. Gabriel and his mom were supposed to get there at any moment. I was so excited I debated being the one who waited for him at the door but I didn't want to seem too enthusiastic about the fact that he was coming over. I didn’t want to explain to my Mom that it wasn’t what she thought.I was still struggling to explain to her why I had turned red in the face the last time we were at his place. I decided to just keep my cool and watch from the window. Soon enough I saw their car get into our driveway and I couldn't contain my excitement. I almost flew out of the room and down the stairs but I had to keep my cool. I couldn’t be too excited because what if he wasn’t angry?I would get disappointed. He would watch me get disappointed. The scores would change in his favor. I couldn’t have that. I needed to be composed. It was the only way out of this situation. I took a few deep breaths and waited to hear my Mom at the door before I went dow
EMILY***What had I done?I shoved Gabriel off of me.“Emily I’m-““You have to go,” I said, pushing him away from me. I couldn’t look him in the face and I looked away until I heard my door close behind me. I made my way to the bathroom and closed the door behind me. I splashed water on my face a few times until it cooled down.I had kissed Gabriel Ford.I had kissed Gabriel Ford. I had pulled his face towards mine and I had kissed him.I felt my knees go weak and I collapsed on the bathroom floor.This was definitely not what I had planned. I had planned to get him to beg for forgiveness, but I ended up kissing him. What was wrong with me? I slapped myself across the cheek. I must have been mad. I decided that what had happened was just a dream. A bad dream.I made my way out of the bathroom and onto my bed and told myself that I would wake up the next day and it would be like nothing happened because nothing happened. But I got up just as suddenly as I had laid down. I needed to g