The Red String | ONC 2024

6. Jackson

When the final bell rang, Emma was still thinking about who she could set Abby up with. She hated to admit it, but she hadn't found anyone good. The problem with setting her best friend up with the most annoying kid in class for homecoming— other than the fact that Logan was already taken and she'd have to settle for second place— was that it meant Emma would also have to spend time with whoever she found. She just didn't think she could stomach the idea of Logan and anyone else duking it out all night, trying to see who could be the most grating kid at the dance.

She walked into the room where her debate team held their meetings. During the school day, it was used to teach French. Posters lined the walls, trying to get the students into the "French" mood, whatever that was. There were posters with scenic villas from around the French countryside mixed in with posters teaching words you'd use in various scenarios— at the grocery store, to describe your house, things like that. She glanced vaguely at one titled Quel temps fait-il? that seemed to be about the weather before moving on to something a little more interesting.

Emma found herself staring at a clear blue river lazily sweeping around buildings that had to be at least two centuries old. Pink and red flowers were snuggled up in little planter boxes against the water's edge. It was almost enough to make her wonder about transferring there. But she didn't actually speak a word of French, so that would almost definitely impact her GPA if she did. Her parents probably wouldn't be too thrilled about it either.

"Everything ok?" Jackson asked, taking a seat on top of the desk in front of her. He slid his feet around and planted them in the chair.

Emma just shrugged, barely flicking her eyes in his direction. She wasn't really sure what she was supposed to tell him. Everything had been way too weird lately for her to be ok, but she also wasn't really sure what she was supposed to say about any of it. And 'I can't seem to get away from Logan Harris,' would sound way too whiny.

"I'm fine." she said eventually, mostly because she felt like he wanted to hear something.

"You sure?" he asked. "Because it looks like you're trying to teleport yourself to..."

He trailed off, leaning towards the poster Emma was currently staring at. His hair fell into his face as he searched for the name of the city. As he did, he got just a little too close to Emma, and she could smell whatever it was he'd put in his hair that morning— something vaguely woodsy, she thought. She backed away a half a step, but Jackson didn't seem to notice.

"To... France?" he said, eying the looping purple script in the bottom right corner. "Really? They couldn't have given the name of the city or anything? How are you ever supposed to find it then?"

"It's probably from some travel agency that doesn't even exist anymore." Emma grinned. "Trying to trick you into calling them up for a dream vacation. You can't book it on your own, because you don't actually know where it is."

"Well, naturally. How else would they get all those sales?" he nodded sagely before breaking into a grin. He paused a moment before asking, "So why weren't you here on Friday?"

"I was planning on coming. It's just that I was..." Emma thought quickly, trying to come up with something to say. "...exhausted." she said finally. After the lousy sleep she'd gotten in the gym the night before, it had been kind of an understatement.

"Exhausted? You?" Jackson feigned shock. "But I thought you were a machine!"

"Machines get tired too." Emma said defensively.

"No they don't— that's literally the entire point of a machine." he told her.

"They break down then." she retorted.