Everything Changes

Chapter 3: Mall and torture time

       

     The silence was deafening when I began to rouse from my slumber, the warmth of the covers enveloping me in its entirety bringing a sense of security. I twist beneath them, repositioning to a more comfortable position and that's when I felt as though I was actively being watched.

     If anything, as the warm breath of whomever was beside me filtered across my face only solidified the feeling. I opened my eyes groggily and found Emma's with an unnerving smile as a greeting.

     "Hey." She said as she rocked back on her heels.

      I groan as I bring the back of my hand to my eyes to try and wipe away any remnants of sleep.  "What're you doing?"

      "Nothing much," Emma replied. "I was just waiting to see how long it'd take for you to notice I was staring at you."

      I crane my neck to check the time, the little lilac clock sitting precariously on my nightstand ticking over to a little past ten o'clock.

      "I was sleeping." I state matter-of-factly, turning back towards her and propping myself up on an elbow. "How long have you been here... watching me?"

      "Not long, maybe fifteen minutes?" She shrugs, moves to kneel on the other side of my bed and begins to bounce. "What're we doing today, huh?"
The bed shakes as I roll onto my back and stretch my arms above me. "We could stay home and do a movie marathon?

      "No way–we just can't stay home and waste a single day on our last week of freedom." Emma groaned and flopped down alongside me, "Oh, I know. We should go to the mall, check out cute boys and find some even cuter outfits!"

      "Uh huh. I doubt Andrew will take us there." I say, skeptical.

      "Ri–ght..." She gave me the look, one I found myself knowing all too well, tumbled off of my bed and all but sprinted from the bedroom.

     I sit up, bringing my legs from beneath the covers and shiver as the cool air caresses the bare skin of them. My feet touch the floor gently and I lean forward to peer outside my bedroom door, watching as Emma repeatedly smacks the adjacent door across the hall.

     "An–drew!" Emma sang, "Aria and I want to go to the mall. Can you take us, please?"

      On the other side I could hear a loud groan followed by a concerning thud before the door opened hesitantly. "That's why you woke me up? No."

      With a dramatic puff of her cheeks and a flip of her hair she stood her ground and made another attempt, her voice raising an octave. "Pretty pl–ease?"

      Andrew begins to shoo her away with a wave of her hand, the door of his bedroom inching closed. "Go away."

      I could see Emma's sweet smile tighten and she placed a foot into the last few inches of space of the door and its frame which caused Andrew to turn back with a grimace and reopen it.

      "You know you want to. Get us two girls out of the house so we can get some things for school." She wagged a finger at Andrew and brought her foot back.

      "Em–" He began only for Emma to give him a pointed look.

      Lowering her voice to a whisper, Emma continued. "Can you just, like, play along? I'm trying to get Aria out of this gloomy house, you idiot."

      Pursing my lips, I look away from them as a conflicting barrage of emotions swelling in my chest.

      "Dude, let's just take them." Zack chimed in from deeper within the depths of the bedroom. "We could check out Game Stop while we're there. I've been dying to buy this game."