Outside ~ Book One (#Wattys2015)

Chapter Two

I sprint home from school before Daniella (who is still talking to her math teacher) and go down the driveway.
I run into the house and nearly fall over as I stop in front of the lounge room table. "Mum!" I say.
"How was your day Emma? Did something happen?" Mum replies, looking up from today's newspaper. There aren't usually any big headlines in there so I'm not surprised when I see a front page article about some kid's lost dog.
"Guess what?" I ask, excited.
"What? I'm not a mind reader, remember."
"All of eighth grade are going on a trip to NEW YORK!"
Mum rolls her eyes and looks back at the paper. "Sure they are."
"No, really! I'm serious! See, here's the permission slip." I produce a piece of paper out of my pocket and stick it in front of Mum's face.
"Okay..."
"It's in three weeks!"
Mum's eyes widen and she swings her head around to me. "THREE WEEKS?"
"Yep! And we go to Paris after! Best camp ever!"
"Okay, I'll think about it." Mum looks down as she turns a page.
"You do know it's compulsory, right?"
"Alright. Emma, can you please go clean your room?" Mum starts reading again and I try to protest.
"But-"
"No arguing." She doesn't even look up at me before taking a drink of her tea.
"Fine." I moan as I walk into my bedroom.
I look around and there are lots of things on the floor. "I swear it wasn't this messy this morning..."
I start to pick up my clothes but stop after about five. "I want everything to just pick up itself!" I sit on bed and sigh. Suddenly a dress flies into the air and into a drawer.
I gasp. "What the?"
I rub my eyes. I must be seeing things. Suddenly there's a horrible pain in my head. I rub my eyes. "Ow, my head really hurts."
My vision goes blurry and room spins. I shout but it seems like no one can hear me. A buzzing fills my ears and everything is too bright and too loud.
I faint and fall off my bed and on to the floor. That's the last thing I remember before everything goes black.

--------

My eyes flutter open but my vision is all blurred.
I blink a few times and two blurry figures appear over my head. I hear a familiar voice. "She's waking up!" I can tell it's Daniella.
"Emma, are you okay?" That's mum. I open my eyes more and sit up, rubbing my head. My vision turns normal and I look around the room.
"What... what happened?" I ask.
"You fainted." Daniella replies.
"We heard a crash and ran in to see you on the floor." Mum says.
"We were really worried."
"Oh, okay. I-I'm fine." I reply.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Mum asks.
I look up at her. "Um, yeah."
"You should sleep, I'll clean your room." Daniella smiles.
"Thanks Dani, you don't have to tho-" I'm cut off.
"No, I'm doing it and you will rest."
Wait, why am I arguing?
"You can sleep in my room Emma." Mum says.
"Thank you." I reply as I get up from the floor and walk into my mum's bedroom. I get into her bed and lie there, staring back at the ceiling.
"Was that real? Did I really see that dress fly?" I ask myself. I shake my head slowly." No, don't be ridiculous, that can't happen! It's not like I have powers... Th-that's impossible!"
I close my eyes and go to to sleep, hearing the soft humming of my sister vacuuming my room.

------

The next day I run up to Jamie, who is standing at her locker and looking at her phone.
"Hey Emma." She says as she looks up and turns off her phone.
"Jamie, have you ever fainted before?" I ask.
Jamie has a confused expression on her face. "No, why?"
"Oh..." How am I going to find out now if seeing a flying dress is normal or not?
"Hello? Why?" Jamie waves her hand I front of my face, snapping me back to reality.
"Oh, um, because I fainted yesterday."
"Really? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." I manage to pull off a smile
"That's good then."
"Do you know anyone who has fainted before? "
"Um..." Jamie thinks for a few seconds and then smiles. "My cousin Kelley has."
"Really?"
"Yes. This year actually. She goes to this school."
Duh, it's the only school in town.
"What grade is she in?" I ask.
"Eight. She's in your science class."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes!"
"Okay, thanks. I'll ask her about when she fainted."
"Why?"
"Um... for what happened." I'm saved by the bell.
"Better go to home room."
"Okay..." Jamie eyes me suspiciously before I walk away to home room, with her following behind me.

------

Science class has been on for half an hour and I still haven't found Kelley. I've only got ten minutes left to find and talk to her.
"Hi, are you Kelley?" I say to a girl who seems to match Jamie's description - brown hair, brown eyes, lightly tanned skin..
"Yes. Why?" Kelley answers.
"Oh, I'm Emmalee, or Emma, Jamie's best friend."
"Oh, hi!" Kelley smiles.
"Um, Jamie told me that you had fainted this year." I start. It's a very strange thing to talk about...
"Yes..." Kelley looks as though she feels as awkward as me.
"Well, I fainted yesterday afternoon and I need some advice."
Kelley's awkward expression fades and she looks at me kindly. "Oh, what kind of advice?"
"Just did you get hallucinations when you fainted?"
"No. The room just kind of went darker that's all."
"Oh okay. Thanks,"
"No problem, anytime."
"Thanks," I turn to leave.
"Wait, what was your name?"
I turn back. "Emmalee, but you can call me Emma."
"Sorry, I thought it was Daniella." Kelley laughs and looks confused.
I laugh. "Daniella is my identical twin."
"Okay, that makes more sense. It's because she's in my math class." She smiles.
"When is your maths class?" I ask, suddenly getting an idea.
"Next, why?" Kelley raises an eyebrow.
"Can you deliver her a message for me?"
"Sure."
I write down 'Meet me at lunch in toilets ~Emma :)' on a piece of paper and I fold it up. I write 'Daniella' on the top and hand it to Kelley.
"Thank you." I say.
"Your welcome." Kelley smiles and the bell goes. "Better go deliver this, bye!" She waves as she walks towards the door.
"Bye!" I shout.

-------

It's lunch and Daniella still hasn't come.
"I hope Dani got the message..." I whisper to myself as I pace across the bathroom floor.
Just then, I hear the door open. "Hello? Anyone here? Emma?" Daniella asks.
"Daniella!" I run up and hug her.
"What's wrong?" She looks concerned.
"You know how I fainted yesterday..."
"Yeah." She nods.
"Well, I saw one of my dresses fly into a drawer."
"Sure." She rolls her eyes.
"No, really. I think it was a hallucination though. I mean, it's not like I have powers!"
"Okay..." She nods.
"And when I fainted, the room went all blurry and spun forever before it faded."
"Alright... just don't think too much of it. I'm sure it's nothing."
"Okay."