The Beard

Chapter Seven

The drive to school was mostly quiet, the sound of the radio only being a distant background noise. My thoughts were really the only thing I heard. They were loud, clear, and causing my headache to expand. Not only were my temples on fire, but I could also feel a painful throb behind my left eye.

Pulling up to the school, the area was already full of students. Elderwood High only had one school bus. Yes, one. It seems strange, but in a town where you can take one step outside your house and already be at the local Kroger, you didn't exactly need vehicle transportation. Plus, the bus on went close to the outskirts where the neighborhoods there were too far for students to walk, but still close enough that they were considered Elderwood citizens. It was a weird system, but it worked and no one normally questioned it.

"Stop with your daydreaming, Emerson Badgely." Micah clapped loudly as she pulled her hand away from the ignition, keys in her grasp. "You've been down in the dumps, but I'm making it my job to cheer you up."

I said nothing to that, but only because she had chosen to continue speaking. "Plus," Micah added. "When you tell Jenny, which I know you will, I can rub it in her stupid, little, smug face that I was the one you called."

Her words cause a laugh to burst from my lips. It feels good at the same time it doesn't. On one hand, I'm happy to show some emotion other than sadness, and I can see Micah's brown eyes light up. On the other hand, my throat is extremely dry and it kind of burns having my throat contract in such a way. But the pros outweigh the cons.

"Don't talk about Jenny like that," I finish my laughs off in small giggles. "She's still my best friend and I have to protect her from your words."

"It got you to laugh, didn't it?" Micah mentions smugly, her lips pressed together in a smirk. I shake my head and push the car door open.

As the both of us walk towards the school, I give small greetings to some people, a soft smile on my face. Elderwood High School should be the poster school of all schools. While we did have the occasional bully, it was like a once in a lifetime thing. People were quick to put a stop to anything traumatizing. In a small town, all your business was easy to become confiscated. It also sucked that all parents basically knew each other, so it would be extremely hard to get away with bullying.

Giving another wave to someone, I feel a force knock into me. It throws me off balance and makes me stumble into Micah. I look over to see Jenny, a frantic look in her eyes. Her brown eyes are widened and worried as she searches my own.

"Jennifer!" Micah exclaims, breaking our stare. We both look over at her to see her fuming, her hands stretched down onto my waist. I hadn't even noticed that. "Can you be anymore of an annoying spaz? Jesus, you nearly trampled Em."

"Shut up, Micah!" Jenny snaps. Her worried look falls away into one of annoyance. "You act like I tried to run her over with my car or something, which I didn't, so chill out."

Micah only grumbles as she drops her hands from my waist. She crosses her arms and looks over at me expectantly. With a small sigh, I turn to Jenny with a raised eyebrow, wondering what's gotten into her.

"What;s up, Jenny?" I ask. My voice takes on a soft tone, knowing that I'd need to approach her lightly. Jenny could be very...rambunctious when she wanted to be.

"I know." Is all she says.

My eyes shoot from side to side as if some prankster would come out and shout "sike!" Letting my eyes go back to her, I give her a small, confused smile.

"Okay, what do you know?" I decide to play along.

Jenny scoffs. "Don't you mock me, Emerson!"

Okay, what's up with everyone saying my full name lately? I'm getting tired of constantly feeling like something is wrong. It's my last year of high school and I'm not ready for any stress. Soon I'll have to worry about keeping my grades how they are so I can graduate with honors, passing finals and midterms, and applying to college. The last one is almost laughable really. Kids always talk about wanting to get out of Elderwood and travel or live somewhere more populated like New York or California, but that's rarely the case for Elderwood people. You often stay here, get married with your high school sweetheart, an get knocked up within the first year of marriage. You grow old in Elderwood and you die in Elderwood.