Stolen Moments

I glance at Emilia from across the cafeteria. She’s been silent and subdued all week. I get why she’s so upset, but Mom and Kate don’t. They’re worried about her, and she won’t tell them what’s wrong. I guess she might be a little embarrassed about the situation. How could she not be? How do you tell someone that your mother accused you of stalking her because you sent her a Facebook friend request? I get it, but my mom and Kate don’t, and Kate especially is worried sick. As far as I know, Emilia has never kept anything from Kate, so this is a first. This is the first time my little sister is at a loss and unable to cheer up her best friend.

Kate’s eyes meet mine and she looks so sorrowful that I’m tempted to tell her what happened, but I can’t betray Emilia’s trust like that. It looks like Kate is hurting right along with Emilia. I hate seeing both of my girls so unhappy. I thought Emilia would snap out of it eventually, but it’s been a week and she’s still so sad. There’s no other way to describe Emilia’s mood. She’s heartbroken. I’ll need to do something. I need to make this better somehow.

“What’s wrong, man?” Asher asks. I turn to look at my best friend. He looks as worried as I do. “Is it the girls? They’ve been weird.”

I sigh. Even Asher noticed, huh? Both of them have been awfully silent. Emilia hasn’t pulled a single prank on me and Kate hasn’t been secretly goading her to. “Yeah,” I murmur. “It’s the girls, it’s Emilia. I’ll fix it, though.”

Asher’s eyes move back to the table the girls are at and he sighs. I follow his gaze to find Emilia looking at us. Her eyes meet mine and the edges of her lips tip up in a polite smile. That’s gotta be the first time I’d rather she glare at me than smile at me. I want to see her eyes flash. I can’t stand seeing her looking so numb.

“What can I do to help?” Asher asks. I look at him through narrowed eyes. Since when does he care about Emilia? “Kate has been so quiet lately,” he says. “Usually she hangs out with us and tries to annoy us, but she’s been weird lately.”

I exhale in relief. “Kate?” I repeat, relaxing instantly. It wasn’t Emilia he was looking at. It was Kate. I should be a lot more worried about my best friend looking at my younger sister like a lovesick puppy, but I’m not. I’m just glad it wasn’t Emilia. The mere idea of Asher with Emilia makes me feel uncomfortable.

Asher looks up at me, panicked. “I mean, Kate and Emilia. Usually they’re around to bother us, right? They’re both a bit weird.”

I bite back a smile. How did I miss that he’s got a thing for Kate? I’ll need to keep an eye on them because my sister will likely trample all over his heart. I know he won’t dare make a move on her, but I don’t trust Kate as much as I trust Asher. She’s getting more and more rebellious these days. She’d get with Asher just to mess with me.

“Hmm, yeah. I’ve got an idea. I think I know how to make this better, but I’ll need to run to the store. How much time do we have left?” I check my watch and nod to myself. Ten minutes should be enough time. “Be right back,” I tell Asher.

He takes in my wicked grin and shakes his head. “Don’t get into trouble, dude. Coach will have your ass.”

I shrug. If everything goes to plan, Coach will never even find out. I run to the store and grab the two things I need: a jar of oregano and freezer bags.

I walk out of the store with a smile on my face and empty the contents of the glass jar into the freezer bag and then rush back to school. I only have a few minutes to pull this off, but this should definitely get Emilia to snap out of the funk she’s been in.

I walk straight to her locker with a wide grin on my face. This is my best idea yet. She’s going to freak when she finds a bag of fake weed in her locker. I put in the code to her lock and frown when it won’t open. Damn. She must’ve changed the code again. I check my watch and start rolling the numbers into different combinations. I try her birthday, Kate’s, mom’s, as well as parts of her phone number, house address and zip code. Usually it’s one of those. I groan when none of them work and drop my forehead to her locker. My plan is going to fail if I can’t figure out the code. I pause and straighten. What if her code is similar to mine? The one thing she thinks I’ll never guess. I put in my own birthday and Emilia’s locker springs open. I smile and put the fake weed right at the front. It’ll fall out when she opens her locker, and I need to make sure I’m there to witness it. Better yet, to film it. I can just imagine the look on her face.

“Hey Carter, what are ya doing?” a high-pitched voice says behind me. I jump and turn around to find Jennifer staring at me. She’s wearing her cheerleader outfit for no reason whatsoever. I know for a fact that they don’t have practice today, because Kate and Emilia would’ve let me know. Much to my dismay, Emilia actually made it onto the cheerleading squad. Not that the competition is fierce in a town as tiny as Woodstock. I’m pretty sure anyone that auditions is automatically in. I was hoping Kate would quit soon, but that’s not happening now that Emilia has joined her. I don’t like my sister being around these little vipers.

Jennifer’s already minuscule skirt is pulled up even higher than usual, and she smiles at me seductively — or so she thinks. I groan inwardly. She’s been fucking following me around ever since I made out with her at the last house party we both found ourselves at. She seems to be convinced that she can just wear me down and it’ll happen again.

“Nothing,” I say, smiling.

“I’ve been looking for you all over.”

My eyes fall closed and I inhale deeply. “I know,” I mutter. I’ve been trying to avoid her, but she’s tenacious.

“We should hang out sometime,” she says as she twirls one of her long blonde locks around her fingers.

I shake my head and smile tightly. “I don’t think that’s going to happen, Jennifer. I’m sorry about last time, I was just drunk, you know how it is.”

She’s the one that kept fetching me drinks and then pretty much jumped me when I was too drunk to even function properly. I feel no remorse for turning her down flat. If our roles were reversed, I’d be making sure she got home okay. I wouldn’t be waiting for her to get so drunk that she isn’t thinking clearly. Jennifer gives me psycho vibes. I close Emilia’s locker, but she still manages to look inside it before the door shuts. She gasps and I inhale deeply, praying for patience.

“Oh, my god. Emilia Parker is a pothead? Who would’ve known… It’s always the quiet ones you need to be worried about. I knew something was off about her. She always acts like a goody two shoes, but I knew it was just an act,” she says excitedly.

I try to keep from rolling my eyes and shake my head. “She’s not a pothead,” I snap.

Jennifer nods. “I see, so she’s just selling? Can I have some? I just want to try it once.”

“It’s just a joke, Jennifer. It’s not real pot. Emilia would never do that, nor would I,” I say through clenched teeth. She fucking infuriates me.

Jennifer frowns at me, and her eyes flash. “You two are awfully close, aren’t you? Is she the reason you don’t want to hang out with me?”

I shake my head and walk past her. I literally have no time to deal with her right now. “I’m late for class, gotta go,” I shout, praying she won’t follow me to the damn classroom.