The Girl Across the Street

The Girl Across the Street 16

Coach Kran glances at Emma quizzically when she walks in, still holding the ice pack to her head, but he doesn't say anything to her. I notice a few other people give her strange glances but she ignores them all, focusing solely on her desk and chair.

When she gets there, she opens her now bright pink backpack, takes out her yellow binder and reviews yesterday's notes, written in purple pen. Everything about her screams bright color and because of this, she has no way to blend in, even when she wants to.

I try to catch her eye but she ignores me, refusing to look up. She simply sits there, staring at her notes, holding the ice pack to her head. Someone in the back of the classroom laughs and whispers "what a loser." no one but me notices the tear that splashes down onto the paper.

At 2:05 Coach Kran starts class. I notice he picks on the boy who laughed, Martin, a lot during the period. It was rather fun to watch because usually this period was one of Martin's choice nap periods.

At 2:50 the bells rings and Martin slumps out quickly, avoiding Coach Kran's gaze. I walk out and wave but Coach is already busy talking to Emma. She nods a few times and smiles before walking out.

I spin my lock quickly around and throw my locker open. I want to get to detention as early as possible in hopes to talk to Emma today. I don't even notice at first when Kate comes up behind me until she taps on my shoulder.

"A little preoccupied?" She asks.

"Yeah, sorry. A little." I admit.

She laughs and kisses me lightly. "No problem. I'll bet you're really looking forward to being stuck with Olivers today right?"

"Oh of course. There is no place I'd rather be more." Kate laughs and shakes her head.

"Come on, let's get you there before you're late." She takes my hand and pulls me toward Mrs. Olivers' classroom. Before I walk in, she gives me one more fleeting kiss then walks down the hall to the library.

When I enter the room, I'm alone. This surprises me until I remember that Emma probably has to go return her ice pack. It's 2:56 so she had better hurry. The only thing worse than getting detention with Olivers is being late to detention with Olivers.

By 2:59, Emma still hasn't arrived and Mrs. Olivers walks in with the largest mound of posters yet. At 3:00 she drops them with a huge bang! on my desk. "Where is Miss Moore?"

"I don't know ma'am. I think she had to go drop something off at the nurse. Maybe she got held up there?"

"No excuses. You start this pile, I'm going to go find out where she is." She leaves me alone in the classroom and storms out, making her way down the hall in the direction of the nurse's office.

I start to work on the stack of projects and get about five or six deep when Mrs. Olivers comes back in, practically dragging Emma in behind her. "And I'm sure now you will never, ever be late to another one of my detentions again!"

Emma winces at the loud screaming in her ears and staggers over to the desk next to mine. She doesn't fight Mrs. Olivers at all, she simply sits and rubs her temples for a moment. "Well get to work now! Or Are you going to leave Mr. Barnes with all of the work?"

"Please ma'am, just give me a second. My head was already pounding, now it's combatting your screaming and being dragged down the hall." She defends. However, she grabs a poster and slowly starts to grade it. I try to grade my posters faster to make up for Emma's slow movements and grading. It seems she has to read the poster twice or three times before she can put a grade at the top.

At 4:30, we finally finish grading the posters. My pile has over three fourths of the posters. I take both piles up to Mrs. Olivers' desk, quickly putting them together so she can't see who did more. "You may go now." She allows once the projects hit her desk.

I grab my bag and wait for Emma. She narrows her eyes when she sees me. "Aren't you worried about my 'taboo on your social status?'" She asks, using Kate's words from before. I groan inwardly.

"Kate was being insensitive. She didn't mean it. Plus, she doesn't know you. You're new to her so she isn't going to be nice." I defend.

"Your making excuses for her rude behavior?" She shakes her head, then winces at the movement.

"What happened to you?" I ask her, stopping her in the middle of the hallway.

"Why should you care? Nobody else does."

"Because someone has to care. And I feel bad about the way people, even my girlfriend, are treating you."

"I got shoved into a locker on my way to lunch. The door was open but the force of the push was enough to make me close it with my head. The nurse thinks I have a minor concussion but I insisted on going back to class." She explains, shrugging when she's done.

"You aren't just going to let whoever did that get away with it are you?" I ask, my fists clenching. "Who did it?"

"It really doesn't matter who did it. If I say, then it'll just cause me more trouble than it's worth. It's fine Dylan. I know what I'm going to do."

"If it happens again and I find out who did it, I swear I'm going to beat him up. No one should ever do that to a person, especially a girl, especially when she hasn't done anything to instigate anything other than wearing a pair of brightly colored jeans."

"It's fine Dylan, I'm fine. I should go... Your girlfriend is waiting for you." She says, pointing to the end of the hall where Kate is watching Emma and me walk toward her.

"Is your mom home tonight? You shouldn't be alone. If you have a concussion, someone needs to make sure you're okay."

"I'll be fine Dylan, I don't need you watching out for me-"

"I've had a few concussions before. Emma please, just listen to me. Walk home with Kate and me, stay for dinner, then I'm going to expect a text from you every few hours."

We meet Kate and she nods at Emma, "is she walking home with us?"

"Yes. She is walking home with us. She might stay for dinner." I answer then whisper in Kate's ear, "be nice to her. She's had a really tough day and she has a concussion because of some idiots." Kate nods but takes my hand possessively.

"Dylan, are you sure?" Emma asks hesitantly, glancing at Kate.

"I'm positive. You don't have a choice. As soon as my mother finds out, she'll freak if we don't help you. Come on."

Emma follows behind Kate and me. I nudge Kate's side and she sighs, "so Emma, how do you like Oakland?"

Emma thinks before answering. "Well, it's very different from where I used to live." She replies simply. Kate nods and the awkward tension in the air is so thick that I decide not to push too much more.