15 hang out
Monday / 2.27 p.m
Emily pushes the glass door, walking out of the school building. She makes her way to the table where three guys and a girl can be seen sitting on the same spot last Friday, where they had their first meeting. The four heads are now looking at her as she walks to them.
"Hey," Emily says in her usual tone, which is low but is loud enough for everybody to hear. Some people can be heard replying to her 'hey' while she puts her bag on the empty spot besides Halle before sitting down with them.
"Since everybody is here, let's get started."
~*~
After an hour and half of serious discussion, we finally decides to take a break for 15 minutes which was Cameron's idea. There is a nearby vending machine, inside the glass window which was used to get to the school yard. Two people was chosen to go and buy the drinks, which was Halle and Liam.
There left, Matthew, Cameron and Emily. Three of them are sitting quietly at the table until Cameron decided to break it. "Emily," he calls the girl who is sitting in front of him. "Yes?"
"Did you eat lunch?" He asks, looking directly at her. Emily go quiet for a second. She knew, for a fact that eating in class is not allowed, since the school thought the students would make a mess, or probably for there not be any false accusation about stealing or maybe for whatever reason they have.
Now, telling the student's president you break one of the school laws? Probably not the best idea. So she lies. "No."
"You should eat. Lunch is important. I know a science enthusiast would know that," he says looking at you as your face wears a puzzled expression. "I'm the student's president remember? I have my ways," he declare, playfully winking to her.
"By the way, I was asking because we couldn't find you in the cafeteria," he mentions as she maintains her eyes on him. "We were talking about meeting the with Cleston High School team. Everybody agreed to meet them on Wednesday, right after school. Are you okay with that?"
"Yeah sure," she answers. It is such an improvement to see her going out more. A few weeks ago, she cannot even leave her room.
"Okay, everything is set then," Cameron says with his beautiful smile. "And, can I ask you something?" Emily speak. "Yeah sure, go ahead."
"I couldn't recall the part where anyone said that we are going to meet each other at the cafeteria on Monday. And I am sorry for not appearing."
"Oh, no no. No need for sorry. We talked about meeting at the cafeteria in a chatroom so it makes sense if you had no idea," Cameron says reassuring her. Her mouth form an 'o' shape , taking the information.
That makes sense, just like the time where they were going to the restaurant and everybody seems to know where they were heading except for Emily. For this time, it is the cafeteria. This might happen in the future too, considering that it already happens before she knows it.
"Will it be convenient if I am in the chatroom?" Emily asks again as Cameron answers. "Yeah sure. It will be very convenient." This reminds Cameron the moment when Emily said she had no phones. "Can I give my number to you then?"
"Yeah sure," he answers. Well, it seems like she got a new phone. Emily takes a piece of paper from her book, writing down her phone number, passing it to Cameron. He takes a look at the number before folding the small paper, keeping it in his pocket. "I will add you to the group."
As Emily express her "thank you,", Liam and Halle finally comes back to the table, walking with hands full of canned drinks. "No worries," Cameron says to Emily, giving her a warm smile before moving his gaze to the two people who just got back.
"What took you so long?" Matthew asks. "The machine was stuck so we had to do some vandalism," Halle answers, putting down the canned drinks on the table. "Thanks," Emily says as Halle put down the cold chocolate canned drink in front of Emily. "You're welcome."
On the other hand, Cameron looks at Halle with a 'done' face, not blinking at all, which later Halle realized. "Come on Mister Perfect, we cannot lose our money to a money eating machine. Every penny is valuable," Halle says, deadpan rolling her eyes.
"Fine, fine. I'll let it pass," Cameron says, playfully rolling his eyes at her back.
Cameron and Matthew opens their can while Halle takes a seat besides Emily. Emily follows their action, opening the can until suddenly another can of the chocolate drink were slide to her front. Taking a seat besides her, the hands that were sliding her the chocolate milk is Liam.
She looks at Liam, slightly confuse with his action. "You didn't eat lunch right? Drink a little bit more. You need energy," he says, not even looking at her as he opens his won can of soda.
"Thank you," the third time she said that today. "You're welcome," and the second time she heard that today.
All of them begins to take a sip of the drink as they slips in some conversation, that is blindly bringing all of them close together.
:)
~*~
Unknown added you into the group.
unknown; 'who is this'
unknown; 'that is emily'
unknown; 'ah, got it.' 'welcome emily'
'thanks' Emily types on screen, sending her text. 'however, which one is which?'
Halle and Cameron, who were the active member at the moment informs her, helping her filling their names in her contacts.
Emily; 'thank you'
Halle; 'glad to help!'
Cameron; "no worries'
She puts her phone down on the bed, throwing her back on the mattress. "What should I do for this afternoon and tomorrow's afternoon?" She says in her mind, already bored thinking about having nothing to do. Until something crosses her mind.
Harlan.
Is he free tomorrow after school? Probably he goes to the Crafties? But that may not be possible since the other day when she straightly invited Harlan to her house after school, he didn't say anything.
"I will just asks him tomorrow," she tells herself.
With that, her boring afternoon starts as she lock herself in her room.
~*~
The next day //
Her morning go as usual. She takes a quick warm shower before wearing her clothing, making sure she looks presentable. After checking herself in the mirror, she go and checks her bag, making sure every material needed for the day's subject is ready and safe in her bag.
She grabs her bag as she walks out of her room, making sure she turned off any unused switch. Closing the door behind her, she walks to and down the stairs, heading straight towards the kitchen.
"Good morning,' her mother says in a light tone, showing that she is in a good mood. "Morning," Emily quietly replies. Emily takes a seat on the table as the sounds of loud footsteps are heading to the kitchen.
"Good morning," the father figure says, also in a good mood, opposite to their daughter who have almost the same emotion anytime, anywhere. How did two social butterflies ended up having a quiet, reserved child?
The father sits in front of Emily, followed by his wife who finished putting the breakfast on the table.
Emily looks down to her food, realizing what it is. "We made you pancake," the mother says with a smile on her face, stealing her attention. "And I know it seems like I didn't do anything, but I did help with the pancakes. I was just running upstairs because I forgot my cologne," the father says with a playful smile.
Emily just minimally nodded at her parents.
Pancakes are Emily's favorite breakfast. She used to had them with a beautiful light layer of butter along with a rich amount of maple syrup. However, she had stopped eating them about a few months ago, which she didn't really think why.
"Now, let's get to eating," the mother says, looking at the members of the table. Her hands are holding a butter knife and a fork, ready to dig in. Her actions were followed by them as they now begins to take the first bite of their first meal of the day.
As they are done eating, they put the dishes in the sink, washing their own plate.
"Let's go," the father says to her daughter who is swinging the backpack, sliding one of the shoulder strap onto her. Emily walks as she follows him while the mother is bidding a good bye.
~*~
She walks through the corridor, as usual filled with students, to her locker. She unlocks it, putting in her books for subject periods that are quite far from the time it is now. Suddenly, a familiar footsteps can be heard coming closer to her until a voice calls her.
"Emily," Halle calls as Emily turns to her back, facing a group of three. "What's up?" Cameron says with a morning smile with his bestfriend standing besides him. The only one that is missing is Matthew.
"Good," she simply reply. Cameron nodded while slightly pouting his lips. "Do you want to eat lunch with us?" He asks as a glimpse of hope can be seen on his face.
Not really wanting to crush his hope, Emily just accepts his request. "Sure." An evident small form on his face. "Cool," Cameron says right before the bell rings. "Oh, see you guys on recess then," he says, looking at the three of them.
"Sure," Halle replies. Cameron gives another big smile before walking away, leaving his bestfriend and Halle behind. "See you later," Halle says at Emily with a wink before following Cameron's action.
That leaves Liam and Emily together, looking at each other as they are the ones left. "See you at the cafeteria," he says after flashing a small smile, looking charismatic as his hands are sitting in his pockets.
Did I mention that his bangs are almost covering his eyes?
She looks into his eyes as his smile grows wider. He patted her head before swiftly walking away, putting his hand back into his pocket. "Don't be late to class," he says, loud enough for her to listen as she watches him walking away.
On the other hand, Liam walks away with a smile on his face.
~*~
She scribble down the notes in her book as the English teacher is writing on the whiteboard. Her eyes went back and forth from the board to her book, secretly processing information as she writes.
Nothing interesting really happened during lunch. All four of them except for Matthew just sat and ate together at a table, as it is a form of 'team bonding' activity said by Cameron. Apparently, Matthew didn't attend school.
Nobody knew why since he didn't text any of them beforehand. The first one to found out is Halle since she is in the same class as him.
As she finished writing down her notes, she looks at the teacher who is looking at her wrist, specifically her watch. "Okay students, five minutes left before you can go home. Finish your notes then you can keep your stuff." She looks around the class where majority of students are done with their notes and keeping their stuff in their bag while some is still holding their pens.
Emily secretly watches Harlan at the side if her eyes. He is still writing looking back and forth from the board to his book.
The teacher looks at her watch again, the needle showing her that it is one minute left before the school bell rings. "Okay guys, clean up. For those who are not done with their notes can asks your classmates for help." She walks to the teachers table, keeping in her papers and files into her laptop bag just as the bell rings.
"Okay class, you are dismissed." That powerful sentence brings joy into the students heart, thinking about the leisure time they will have at home.
Emily begins to clean up too, on purpose doing it last minute so that she will be in sync with Harlan. She wears her bag and slide her chair under her table while watching Harlan who is also doing the same action.
"Come on class," the teacher says, observing her student who is still in the class. Emily and Harlan are the last to leaves as they walk behind their classmates. Just as both of them step outside of the classroom, Emily calls his name.
"Harlan."
He stops his track as he is a few steps away in front of her. He turns around, looking at her. He definitely looks more comfortable with her than the last time.
"Are free this afternoon?" She asks, looking at Harlan. He nods. "You want to hang out at my place?"
He moves his eyes onto the floor, seems like he is thinking. He minimally nod, but that is not convincing enough for Emily. "Well, we can play board and card games," she says looking at him with a pause in her sentence. "I also have banana milk," she says sneakily with a small smile.
Now he nods, definitely convinced by the mention of banana milk. "Let's go then," Emily says with a smile as she looks at him. He doesn't look away now that she is looking at him. Usually, he will look nervous and shy but now it can be seen that he is getting comfortable.
Emily walks to him as he follows her step once she reach her side.
What she didn't notice is another figure in the hallway, looking right at them while they are 'talking' to each other.
.
.
.
"Hm."
