"Is it true that you're hanging with freak?"
I turn in confusion to the redheaded girl beside me, raising my eyebrows in question.
She rolls her eyes at me, not doing a very good job at hiding her annoyance.
"Walker, you're hanging out with Walker?" She repeats, elaborating her question further.
I frown at her choice of words, fully turning around to face her.
"He's not a freak, his name is Nathan, don't call him otherwise. And he's my best friend." I smirk in satisfaction at her shocked expression, turning back around to continue my walk to the cafeteria.
Taking my premade lunch to Nathan's barren table on the opposite end of the cafeteria from where I entered, I smile in greeting at my friends when I pass them. hey smile back easily, Luke making exaggerating hand gestures for me to call him that make me laugh all the way to my seat.
"Hey Nathan!" I take my seat beside him, opening my lunch to find the left over pizza I had packed this morning along with a pack of gummy bears.
He looks at me in greeting, stuttering some words out.
"H-hey Emma."
"Last night was so much fun! Your parents are so nice." I smile, taking a bit out of my cheese pizza slice, and offering him the second one.
"It w-w-was fun-n." He agrees, nodding his head, but then rapidly shaking it to deny the pizza I offer him. I just place it before him on a napkin, knowing he'll eat it eventually.
"Nathan, do you prefer to be called Nate? Or Nathaniel? Or just Nathan?" I wipe my greasy hands on a napkin, ripping open the pack of gummy bears eagerly.
Looking around the room anxiously, his eyes dart to mine before rebounding away again.
"J-just not f-f-freak."
I frown at him, pained by the expression on his face.
"Nathan, I would never call you a freak. We're friends, friends don't say that to each other." I say, placing the package back on the table.
"Hey," I reach out touching his arm and his head whips around to face me, "Nathan, people calling you that isn't okay. You should tell someone."
"B-but t-teachers think it t-too." He mumbles, his dark blue eyes growing wide.
I slide my hand down his arm to his large hand, entwining my small fingers with his. He seems to shocked to look away, staring intently at our interlocked hands as if they hold the key to the world.
"Nathan, anybody who matters won't call you a freak. Don't listen to them." I squeeze his hand in reassurance, twisting his palm to face upwards. Unlinking our fingers, I dump a bunch of gummy bears into his hand, picking out a red one.
"People are like gummies. Some are too sour, and some are too sweet, and some are just right. But the best ones are the ones that aren't just right, but you can love em' anyways."
. . . . .
"I hate basketball Mondays." Janice grumbles, tugging her hair into a ponytail.
I laugh at her expression, tucking one side of my shirt into my running shorts, and joining the class in stretches as we exit the Locker room.
"Oh come on, basketball isn't that bad." I bend over, touching my hands to my toes with ease.
"It's Monday afternoon, how can you be looking forward to this?"
YOU ARE READING
Love, Emma
Teen Fiction"E-Emma? It's okay y-you know. I-I'm used to i-i-it." "You shouldn't have to be, some people disgust me, the nerve of them." "I can't blame t-t-th-them, I m-mean l-l-l-look at m-me." He sounds so defeated, even though I can tell he's trying to hide...
