The Day We Met

Chapter 26

After calculus class, also after Thomas had to turn around in his seat several times to ask me what is going on, the bell rings and I hop out of my seat. I look over at Emma and she pushes through the crowd of classmates. She looks at me as she does it. I widen my eyes and gab onto Thomas's shirt to catch up. I NEED to get through. I'm scared of Emma. At least I am now.

I don't think Thomas even notices I pulled on his shirt, because he doesn't look back or anything.

Right when I leave the classroom, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I slowly turn around and my eyes slowly focus on Emma.

"Hey!" She happily says. "What have you been up to?" I cock an eyebrow and think of what I'll say.

"Uh..." I start.

"I want to ask specifically about what you've been up to with Edward." She quietly says Edward, and now I know it's linked to what her and Ariana were talking about.

"I don't know what you are talking abou..." I stop and recall what had happened in my sophomore year. I remember seeing Ariana walking up to a car, receiving money. I remember being late to class. I remember having to go to the principals office. I resume talking with Emma. "About." I finish and smile.

"I'll make this easier for the both of us," she says, don't hurt me! "Do you both hangout anymore?"

"Nope." I say, and swallow.

"Oh. That's all I wanted to hear." Huh? "See ya around, Davis." Why are people calling others by their last name? Anyway, she walks away, backwards, and winks. Then turns around and meets up with Ariana. What an interesting day this has become.

********

After school, I walk to the art room once again and see Edward. I have to tell him about Emma. I sort of run up to him and wear a "I just figured something out" face.

"What?" He asks.

"I need to discuss something with you!" I say as I feel my heart almost jump out of my chest, because I'm so excited...for some reason. I grab his larger biceps, and pull him down to sit next to me. What I mean by "larger" is that his biceps are larger than mine.

"I think I know who that person was in the car giving Ariana money 2 years ago." I say and hope he remembers.

"What?" He says confused.

"2 years ago when we were late to class because we were seeing what Ariana was up to." I try.

"What? I don't recall." Great. I sigh and slap my palm on my face.

"I'm just kidding. I knew what you were talking about the first time!" He laughs and throws his head back. I give him an angry look.

"I. Hate. You." I give him a punch on the arm.

"You should've seen your face!" He's still laughing.

"Ok, anyway, I know who was in the car. I think." I say.

"Ok, who?" He calms down.

"Do you know Emma Rillington?" I ask.

"Yeah." He says.

"I think it's her." I say.

"How do you know?" He asks.

"I overheard a conversation her and Ariana were having in calculus class today." I say, hoping he doesn't ask what they were saying.

"What were they saying?" He asks. Wow. Correctly predicted.

"Uh..." I pause and just tell the truth, "Emma was telling Ariana to keep and eye on you. And before that, Ariana was saying, 'So now what will we do to stop her?' Who is this her?"

"I'm not sure, but maybe you?" Edward says.

"Oh! Now it all makes sense!" a light bulb turned on, "For some reason, Emma and Ariana want to keep us apart! I know this because Ariana was telling you to stay away from me 2 years ago. And Emma must've told Ariana to do that then! Then Emma gave her money for doing it!"

"Oh! You're right!" Mind blown. Explosion in the head. Not literally, which is good.

Mrs. Crum, the art teacher, came in the room. "Okay," she claps her hands together once, the classic art teacher move.

"Did everyone read the sign the other day and get a partner, or partners?" She asks everyone.

"Yes." Everyone says, but some others say, "yupperdoodles," or, "yes, ma'am." Mrs. Crum rolls her eyes at the ones who say "yupperdoodles," and continues with some directions.

"Okay, what we will be doing is making treats and stuff to sell in the cafeteria to raise money for cancer. You will be making the treats of your choice with your partner or partners. You guys will have to decide who's house you'll be making them at." I look at Edward and I point at myself with both thumbs. He laughs.

"Also, make sure at give the money to me or Mr. France. And make sure it's all the money. You could kill a child's life if you take any for yourself." Harsh. "And I need you all come to me so I can approve what you are making and what recipe you will be following." I got. Let's do this.

"Is everyone here a senior?" She asks, "because only seniors can do this thing." No one says anything. I guess we're all senior.

"Alrighty then! You all need the treats done by August 31st." Mrs. Crum claps her hands once again.

"Now, everyone get with your partner or group and decide what you will do." Done already.

"We will be making cupcakes and at your house." Edward says to me. Haylee just now walks into the class. Where was she?

"Sorry I am late!" She squeals. "What did I miss?" Edward sighs and explains what Mrs. Crum just explained to us.

As he did that, I look over to see a latch of keys sitting on Mrs. Crum's desk. There was a label on one of them that said, "Drawers - Office" and I got curious. Maybe I could prove Emma was the one in the car, paying Ariana. I look towards Mrs. Crum to see what she was doing. It looked like she was putting some treat ideas on the board. I sneak up to the keys, and grabbed the whole latch. Edward saw me.

"Hey. What are you doing?" He asks. My heart felt like it was literally going to come out of my chest and run away.

"I have an idea, don't worry." I saw as I think Edward knows what I'm taking about.

I take the "Drawers - Office" key and take it off the latch. Then I quickly put it in my back pocket, and put the latch back on Mrs. Crum's desk. No one saw what I did...lucky me.

"Follow me after this." I whisper to him.

"Oooo! Adventures! I love adventures!" Haylee says it like she was invited. She wasn't.

"I'll look for some good recipes." I say. I open my phone and look for some cool cupcake recipes on Pinterest. There were some interesting ideas on there. There were some Oreo ones, some cookie dough ones, and some lemon ones. The lemon ones sounded yummy, but I saw one that stood out to me. There was a picture of cupcakes that had a frosting design of the poop emoji! It was so crappy, if you know what I mean. *wink* *wink*. I didn't actually think it was crappy, I was just making a joke.

"These are cool!" I say as I show Edward and Haylee.

"Cool!" They both say at the same time. They look at each other and smile. Can Haylee just go away?

"Now I'll have everyone come up and tell me what their ideas were individually. I'll approve them. You won't be able to leave until I approve you." Mrs. Crum says. Alrighty then! Let's go tell her!

"I'll go up there alone." I say to both of my partners. I walk up to Mrs. Crum and say, "My group will be making cupcakes. And we'll do chocolate cake with fudge in the middle, and some chocolate frosting of the poop emoji, and obviously a face made of candy." Mrs. Crum looks at me weird. She's frozen. Is she okay?

"You have been approved." She says. Yay! I walk back to my group. This is going to be fun. A little hard, but fun.

"She approved it." I happily say.

"Now what about that thing you told me to follow you to?" Edward brings it up.

"Oh yeah, follow me." I say.