Tiny Crown

Chapter 3

"Do you have any siblings or anything?" asked Nathan as he kicked at some longer tufts of grass at the edge of the road.
"No," said Emilia as she shook her head. "I always used to want one when I was younger though."
"Eh, they're not that great." Nathan shrugged and stopped kicking the grass as he walked. "I mean, Olivia is okay... I guess. My older half brother isn't so great but Liv likes him."

"Older brother?" asked Emilia with raised eyebrows. Mr Miranda mentioning Evan Harper came to the forefront of her mind. "Does he happen to be called Evan?"
Nathan stopped for a moment before nodding slowly. "Half brother but... yeah, actually. How would you know that?"
"Mr Miranda mentioned him," said Emilia, furrowing her brow. Did it really matter that much to him? It wasn't as if she'd met his brother or anything. Well, half brother. He had corrected her on that so it must have meant something to him. "Said I reminded him of someone called Evan Harper, I just assumed you might be related to him or something."
"You're nothing like him, trust me," Nathan said. He sounded a little irritated.
"Oh, okay," said Emilia, shrugging it off. How Nathan and how Mr Miranda viewed Evan Harper were probably pretty different.

Emilia put her hand in her jacket pockets, they had quickly gotten filled with bits of paper, her rubber and some pens and pencils she hadn't bothered putting away. At the bottom of her right pocket was a circular and cool piece of metal. Pulling the familiar object out, Emilia put the ring on her finger and smiled.

"You aren't allowed to wear rings at school," Nathan said. He still sounded a little bit irritated.
"I know, I wasn't wearing it at school. I just put it on."
"Can I look?" he asked. Biting her lip, she looked down at it and reluctantly slipped it off her finger. She placed it in his hand and he looked at the silver tiny crown-shaped ring. "This is nice."

Nathan stumbled and it fell from his hand onto the grass near the road. As he went to pick it up, he stumbled again and it rolled down into the ditch.
"I am so sorry," he said. He looked into the ditch to try to see it.
"It's okay, I'll just go get it," said Emilia, slightly disappointed in her friend. Although, it was an accident.

As she went to slide down into the ditch, Nathan grabbed her arm. Emilia furrowed her brow.
"Nathan, get off." She yanked her arm out of his grip.
"No one goes down there, it's someone's land."
"Well I'm sure they won't mind if some girl gets a ring she dropped because her friend dropped it," she sighed. He seemed oddly nervous despite his usual confidence.
"Well fine, but I'm going," he decided. Emilia rolled her eyes at him and shrugged.

She didn't realise how dark it was while she was down in the ditch. Light was fading as it was but the trees seemed to block out a lot of light. Spotting her ring, she crouched down to pick it up.
"Get off." Glancing up, she saw a tall man towering over her. She grabbed the ring and some dirt with it.
"I was just-"
"Get off," he repeated. Frightened, she clenched her fist tighter and scrambled back up to the road. Nathan couldn't be seen on the edge of the road which was odd, she hadn't been in the ditch for more than a few minutes. Looking back at the trees, she couldn't see whoever the tall man was and she quickly decided to make her way back to Aunt Kat's house.

When she reached home, Em headed straight to her room and put a CD into the CD player. She turned it up as she kicked off her shoes. They were kind of dirty and so were her hands.
"Hey, are you okay?" asked Kat, poking her head through the door. "I can tell you're worried."
"I'm fine," she lied, looking away. She stuffed her hands into her pockets to hide the dirt on them. Kat opened the door further.
"I know you're not. You do the exact same thing as your Mom, you look anywhere but at the person you're talking to."

"I'm just worried," she admitted. Then she realised how stupid she might sound if she told the truth. "I'm just worried that some of my friends won't really like me. That they're only talking to me because I'm the new kid." Kat sat next to her niece and wrapped her arm around her.
"You'll be fine, Emilia." She smiled weakly at Kat. "Anyone who doesn't want you as a friend is missing out big time. They'd be lucky to have a friend like you."
"Thanks," Emilia mumbled. Her phone began ringing and the Skype call appeared on her phone.
"I'll let you answer that." Aunt Kat left Emilia to open up her laptop and talk to her old friend.

The black screen changed at last and the face of her old friend appeared. They both smiled at each other.
"Sam! How are you?"
"Good, you?" he asked.
"Fine," she said.
"I'm still surprised you still talk to me," said Sam.
"Aww no, Sam!" she said, surprised her friend would say such a thing. "I could never replace you! Listen, why don't me and my Aunt come and visit in a few weeks? I'm sure she won't mind."

Almost two hours later, the friends had finally said goodbye to each other and Emilia lay back on her bed. Her phone began to ring and she looked at the screen. Nathan. Her finger slid the phone icon over to the answer part and held the phone to her ear.

"Hey Emilia."
"Hi," she said awkwardly, wondering why he didn't just text her.
"I won't be in school for a few days cause-" Nathan sneezed on the other side of the call. "I'm sick."
"I can tell. You should have just messaged."
"Yeah, but typing takes more effort. Anyway, you'll have to walk alone unless you want to walk with my sister?"
"I'm fine, thanks, I'm meeting Eddie by the but anyway."
"Eddie?" asked Nathan. "I didn't think you were the musical theatre type."
"Right..." Emilia said slowly, unsure of how to respond to him. "What type did you think I was?"
"I don't know, anyway, I'm going to go now." Nathan hung up and Emilia just looked at the phone in confusion. Nathan was a little bit weird.

Emilia walked to the bus alone the next day and the day after that. Eddie stood by the bus stop and began walking over when he noticed her. Eddie hugged his friend and Emilia tensed. He quickly pulled away and she awkwardly looked away.
"S-sorry, I didn't-"
"I wasn't expecting it," Emilia said, laughing a little. "I didn't mean to react so badly."
"It's fine, it was a bit weird though," admitted Eddie. Emilia nodded. "You were supposed to say it wasn't!" They laughed to avoid any more awkwardness.

At the end of the day, with the bonus of having Mr Miranda last lesson so they finished five minutes earlier, the two friends boarded the bus and headed back home.
"Hug?" Emilia offered. Eddie nodded and hugged the girl. "See you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow," he said. They both waved to each other as they walked in opposite directions away from the bus stop.