51 Unintentional Spy

Emily hadn't meant to spy on them. When she came into the library she fully intended to find a comfortable chair and work on her reading homework for her European history class.

What she didn't expect was that Justin would walk in and sit down at a table in the middle of the study area. She was about to go over and see if she could join him when a familiar unpleasant face showed up. Alexa.

She was too far away to hear what they were saying but she could tell that she was making fun of him by the look on his face. Her hands balled into fists. What was this girl's problem? Why did she have to be so mean to him when he treated her so sincerely?

Emily tried really hard to focus on her chapter but the words wouldn't stick in her brain no matter how many times she read them. She continued sneaking glances. The two of them were hunched over some papers before Alexa practically jumped out of her chair. What on earth could they be talking about over there?!

The next time she sneaked a peek she saw that Justin was trying to get up but Alexa pushed him back down. That really made her blood boil.

Who did this girl think she was to push him around like that? Yes, she was pretty, but her personality was horrible. It didn't make sense to her that sweet, sincere Justin liked such a brat.

Snapping her book shut, Emily gave up on trying to concentrate and stalked out the library to get some fresh air. Maybe that would clear her head. On her way to the door she overheard a snippet of their conversation.

"So next Wednesday night," Alexa said firmly. "You better show up or I'll drag you there myself."

"You don't know where I live," Justin muttered.

"Then I'll hunt you down after class and hold you hostage," she said sweetly. "You're not getting out of this."

"Alexa…"

What exactly was this girl trying to force her friend into? Justin certainly didn't seem willing so it couldn't be a date…what horrible thing did Alexa want him to do? Knowing Justin, he would do it simply to please her.

The thought made Emily sad. He didn't need someone who was always tossing him to the sharks. He deserved someone who accepted him exactly as he was.

Emily was quiet on the ride home from school that day, so much so that Justin asked her what was wrong. Looking at his earnest face made her feel even worse. Here he was, worried about her, when he should have been worried about himself being trapped under the spell of that turquoise-haired witch.

"I'm fine, just worried about a friend." She decided to ask him a hypothetical question to see where he stood on the issue. "If your friend liked someone who was bad for them, what would you do?"

Justin frowned. "I've actually had this happen to me before. In the end I didn't say anything and let it run its course."

"You didn't try to warn your friend or anything?" she asked, making a disbelieving face.

She could tell that Justin cared deeply about his friends. So why wouldn't he do anything if he knew his friend was going to get hurt?

"It wasn't my business," he said. "But when it didn't work out I was there for my friend. It was all I could do, really."

Emily thought about this. Justin and Alexa seemed too different to ever truly be together…and he previously said that if she knew he liked her she would hit him. But if they never got together, what if he held onto his crush for years like RoboCat and kept getting hurt? How could she stand back and watch that happen to him?

"I don't know if I can do that."

"It's your call," he said. "I was only telling you what I did. That doesn't necessarily make it the right thing to do. In fact, looking back I wish I had intervened. I'm too passive for my own good. If you really think your friend is being hurt, do what you feel right about."

It was so tempting to tell him that Alexa was bad news right then but seeing his face…she couldn't do it. She didn't want to hurt him. Just because she got a bad vibe from his crush didn't mean that he shouldn't like her, right?

Emily wanted him to be happy because he was always so nice to her. From what she had seen, Alexa wasn't nice to him.

Why do the nice ones always end up with the bad apples? Don't they deserve niceness too? Or were they always stuck with the bad ones because no one but super nice people would take them? It didn't seem fair.