Owen

10 - Escaping Emotions

10 - Escaping Emotions

The moment I get back home, my parents and my Grandma hug me as tight as they can, with Mom whispering comforting words in my ear. I cry a waterfall of tears, trying to make them understand what had happened in the city while Grandma just runs circles in my hands in an effort to calm me down. Dad even set out to get me chocolate, "To cheer her up," he tells Mom as he grabs a jacket and leaves, leaving me alone with the two females in my family.

"You're upset with Owen," Grandma repeats, after the door slams and I hiccup. "You're upset with Erica. You're confused with Edrin."

"Yes," I reply, looking up at Grandma Rose with teary eyes, wondering how she managed to get the general idea of why I'm crying. "I don't know what to feel anymore. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I feel trapped in the middle of things."

"Well, hon," Mom says, looking at me surprisingly with a serene, non-sarcastic expression. "You should do what feels right."

"I don't know the difference between what feels right and wrong anymore, Mom," I say, the memories of today flashing back through my head. Owen discovering that I am his Amy. Edrin and my adventure back to the city. Owen kissing me with a high fever. Erica strutting around with Terrence in her arms. Edrin saying some weird things.

"You can just escape," Grandma suggests, her grey-black eyebrows knotted together. "Let things simmer down for a little."

"What do you mean by escape, Grandma?" I ask, not really understanding what she meant.

"You can just try to avoid them, sweetheart," Mom adds, earning a nod from Grandma. "Just for now. All these complicated things hit you all at once today, and it must be hard for you and your emotions, so you can just try and rest them."

"Rest," I repeat, still grasping the idea of not being able to laugh with Edrin at Amy's Eatery, not eating with him during lunch, not hearing Owen cussing at him or at random passersby. "I will rest."

"Good," my Mom says, ruffling my hair despite her pleas of me combing through it. "Now let's wait for your Dad and hopes he brings home a whole pack of chocolate, because all this teenage drama is hard for a young girl."

***

I've never really been a teacher's pet. I mean, I like a few teachers, but it's hard not to, especially if they make the subject they're teaching magic. But even with Mr. Fu's monotone, droning voice, the next Monday, I try my best to figure out what he's talking about despite the fact that I'm the only one trying to do that.

"Hey," Sara, a girl I had eaten lunch with a few times last week, greets. "You shouldn't really write down that much notes, Amy. All his exams come from the textbook anyway, so you're basically just wasting your pen's ink."

"Oh," I say, sighing before dropping the blue pen on my notebook. "I'm just tired, y'know. Guess I should be tired more often 'coz apparently, when I am, I find reason to study."

She laughs, her voice soft. "You're weird."

I manage a weak smile. "I know."

My eyes unknowingly drift to a still-red splattered chair, with someone slouching while sitting on it, his hair tousled, his polo crinkled. He's yawning, not even bothered as Mr. Fu stares at him directly while he teaches. Earlier, I had felt an itch to just say "Hey" to him, but he hadn't even glanced at me the entire day. I guess avoiding them will be easier than I thought.

Edrin, however, seems to be absent, with just a denim bag on his usual seat next to me. I had prepared a list of possible things I can do when and if he tries to talk to me, but it's all been a waste of my time last night. Which I guess I should be thankful for, since it's absolutely hard to do the things I've listed, including: flip hair nonchalantly, text, read, go to the bathroom, etcetera.