When he saw you

CHAPTER TWENTY - FOUR: REAL OR FAKE

Zion

The days have gone by pretty fast. Our teachers still stare at me weirdly in the hallways but they stopped gossiping about me because my grades were near perfect. Emma walked right next to me every day, and that made me feel so much better. We came to school together on most days. I would have picked her up at the park she used to take her nephew to. It made me wonder if she was hiding me from her family but after the incident with Kayla, I was sure that wasn't the case.

However, there were so many things I could as curious about but I couldn't ask Emma. Even though this was our senior year and we barely had a few months left before we graduated, I never had the college talk with Emma. She seems to be a traveller girl so I suspect she's like to go back to Europe after high school. I didn't realize I thought about it until I caught myself looking up things to do in a long-distance relationship.

It was official, I would stay with her and visit when I could. I didn't want to be at home during the holidays so I could just go to her instead. The money for my travel expenses would always be there and my dad won't be able to stop me since I would be an adult.

"I'll see you after class," Emma says walking off with faster steps.

There was something strange about her this morning. She didn't kiss my cheek like she would before heading to any class we didn't have together. Emma was pissed at me again and I lost track of what I could have possibly done wrong. For the past few days, we fought over aimless things and Kayla's name eventually gets mentioned. I didn't realize Emma was that insecure about losing me.

The whole situation made me consider the possibilities of what my life would look like if I ever cheated on Emma with my friend Kayla. Why would I do that? Why did Emma assume I would do that? I was nothing like the shitty boys at our school. I decided to think nothing else of it and focus on my classes.

It was an easy way out of unwanted thoughts. At Evans' apartment, I was mostly alone and the few times Evans was home; he was always on the phone. I fought the urge to join their conversation, but I promised Emma I would stay away from her. Instead, I focused on school and got all my assignments and essays done weeks before the deadline. My body experiences some kind of hyperactivity when I'm not wallowing in mystery and when I need an excellent distraction.

The teacher walked in and collected our assignments. I wondered if Kayla could finish hers before the deadline. She mentioned having trouble with it the week it was given, but I forgot to ask about her progress. I turned to the seat beside me to see if she turned in hers, but it was empty. Kayla was not here. Was she skipping school because of what happened?

My classes were so bland and time passed painfully and slowly. After my classes, I was walking alone to my next one and like all the other classes I had with my friends, Kayla was missing in everyone. I couldn't stop myself from checking the seat next to me. Whenever we had the same class, Kayla would always sit with me.

Evans didn't care where he sat. We'd share our notes after class if there was confusion, but Kayla she always say never to me. The space in her seat was so blank and no one was willing to fill it up. It made me wonder if people still thought of me as a psychopath. That life was in the past, but I knew it was still possible to be haunted by it, especially when everyone at school had seen me that way.

It didn't matter what the situation was, the empty chair bothered me too much. I was supposed to have this class with Kayla and Evans, but her seat next to mine was empty. It didn't seem like Evans wanted to fill in for Kayla, so he took a random seat at the back of the class. For my last class, I expected the same thing to happen again, but I wanted to remove Kayla from my mind and focus on school, so I approached a random girl.