“What do you think?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Emma said. “What does that weird cartoon mean?”
“It’s the rice bal from Fruits Basket,” I said. The rice bal cartoon was smiling, had little stick-figure arms and legs and the arms were raised in a cheer. “See she’s cheering because she’s proud to be different. In the Fruits Basket anime, there’s this girl who gets ridiculed as an outsider—the lone rice bal in a fruits basket—and she comes to realize that being a rice bal may not be cool, but it does make her special.”
“Wel , at least no one at school wil know what it’s from,” Emma said, shrugging.
“Hey, don’t diss the shirt,” I said, laughing. “It was your ex who bought it for me.”
Emma looked kind of upset at my Gordy comment.
Gordy and Emma had dated a few months ago, but things had been a little awkward ever since their breakup. Gordy and I were final y hanging out some again, but Emma always managed to disappear when he came around.
“Sorry, that came out al wrong,” I said. “I didn’t mean to tease about Gordy. I’d even change the shirt, but it’s the only clean thing I have to wear.”
I may not have time for a shower, but I was going to make an effort not to smel bad.
“Okay,” Emma said, running her hand through her messy hair. “Can we just, like, skip the boy talk? We’re already late and we need to get to school.” She looked like she hadn’t showered either. In fact, Emma looked like she had been up al night and was on her way to school in the same clothes from yesterday.
Ewww.
Emma never wore wrinkled clothes or had messy hair, but here she was standing in my bedroom wearing a dirty outfit and sporting some serious bed head. Maybe she was stil feeling sick?
I grabbed my backpack and snuck a look at Emma while I slung the bag over my shoulder. Her eyes were red and puffy and she was holding her car keys so tightly that I thought she might turn them into diamonds. She was total y wound up and it was freaking me out.
“Feeling any better today?” I asked.
“Right as rain,” Emma said, fidgeting with the button on her blouse. “Wel , you know, so long as it isn’t, like, acid rain. If I was right as acid rain, then I wouldn’t be alright, right?”
Woah.
Emma was one of the most eloquent people I knew. She never talked in muddled up run-on sentences.
That was my job.
“Dude, you sure you’re okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” Emma said, rol ing her eyes. Her big, scared, open a bit too wide alien eyes.
Agitated ghosts, irritated witches, angry werewolves, and the horrors of high school were al things that I could face head on. But Emma’s bugged out alien eyes? That was truly spooky.
I tried to think of my biggest fear. What was making my spidey sense go al tingly? Why was Emma’s behavior making my skin itch?
Oh no. There was one thing I never thought that I’d have to worry about with Emma. I mean, of al my friends she was the most level headed. There was no way she’d go al crazy and start experimenting with something harder than herbal teas and tinctures, right?
“You’re not, like, on drugs, are you?” I asked.
Oh yeah,
Yuki. That was smooth.
“What?” she asked, indignant. Emma put her hands on her hips and glared at me.
I was never so happy to see the Emma glare…even if it was, for once, aimed at me.
“Never mind,” I mumbled. “So, uhm, you hungry?” I pul ed a granola bar from the side pocket of my backpack and waved it in front of Emma’s face. Food always works to distract me, so it was worth a try. Maybe she had skipped breakfast.
“You are not getting away with this that easily,” Emma said.
The hardness of her glare was beginning to soften, but she stil appeared irritated when she looked imperiously down at me with one eyebrow raised. How do people
do
that?
I began picking at my nail polish, trying to think of how to explain myself, but Emma let out a giggle.
“How could you think I was
On The Drugs
?” Emma asked. She imitated our old guidance counselor from middle school, which made me start to giggle too.
“Seriously, girl, I don’t know,” I said. I raised my hands in surrender and managed to drop my granola bar. “See, I’m a total mess. No way I’m thinking straight.”
“Obviously,” Emma said. She reached down and snatched my granola bar from the carpet. “This is payment for the insult.”
“No way!” I said, laughing. “That was my breakfast.”
“Halfsies?” Emma asked.
“Deal,” I agreed.
We ran to the car, but stil arrived late for school.
Emma was back to her normal, sensible self and drove the exact speed limit the entire way. I tried urging her to go faster, but she either didn’t listen or couldn’t understand what I was saying around my mouthful of granola bar.
The school lobby was already empty when my boots hit the tile. We didn’t have time to talk so we just waved as I ran toward homeroom hoping to beat the final tardy bel . I caught one last glimpse of Emma’s disheveled appearance as she disappeared down the east hal and felt a pang of worry.
She may have dodged my questions so far, but I would get to the bottom of this. Emma had always been there for me, no matter how weird or dangerous my problems were, and I wasn’t going to let her face whatever she was going through alone.
*****
My butt hit the seat just as the final tardy bel rang.
Phew!
Saved by the bel . I was breathing heavy from my sprint down the school hal s and suddenly realized that I hadn’t had time to brush my teeth.
Gross.
I snuck a glance at Cal and hoped I didn’t have morning breath. He flashed me a toothy grin and I looked back to the front of the room where our teacher was droning on about an assembly later in the day.
I rested my chin on my hand and tried to turn my head and sneak a ninja stealthy breath check.
Smells like
granola bar…and motor oil.
Great, I either had motor oil breath or the ghost of Dylan Jacobs was back. I wondered if he was doomed to haunt the hal s of Wakefield High. The thought fil ed me with dread. Being trapped in High School, to wander the rooms where I was scorned and ridiculed, for al eternity was one of my long-standing nightmares. Welcome to my own personal Hel .
No, I wasn’t going to let Dylan’s spirit suffer that fate. I may have been distracted from my task yesterday, but my goal remained the same. I would solve the mystery behind the death of Dylan Jacobs and help lead his soul out of this High School and into the light.
A shadow crossed my desk and I jumped, punching myself in the face. I didn’t sulk for long. Cal stood over my desk looking swoon-worthy in faded blue jeans, gray graphic tee, and black hoodie.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “You seem kind of out of it today.”
That was the understatement of the year.
“Sure, I just thought, you know, that Simon made having a black eye look so cool,” I said. “I wanted to be one of the cool kids too, so I punched myself in the face. How does it look?”
“Beautiful as always,” Cal said, leaning in to kiss my cheek. His lips brushing my skin raised goosebumps on my arms and I stifled a shudder. “Walk with me to class?”
“Did the bel ring already?” I asked. I hadn’t heard anything, but I had been deep in thought.
“Yes,” Cal said, raising one eyebrow. “Are you sure that you’re okay?”
“I’m fine, just a little spacey,” I replied. “I overslept this morning and I stil feel like I’m half asleep.”
“Smel impressions keeping you awake?” Cal asked.
Cal’s brow furrowed and he looked concerned. He slung my backpack over his shoulder, adding it to his own, with ease and waited for me to get up from my desk.
“No, I’m actual y starting to think that Dylan’s ghost is trapped here at school,” I said. “I think I’m just exhausted from al of the drama yesterday. I went straight to bed after Simon dropped me off, and I forgot to set my alarm.”
“Sorry I couldn’t drive you home last night,” Cal said. “I didn’t think it would be a good idea to leave Gabriel and Simon alone.”
“Yeah, Gabriel seems like a hot head,” I said, “and he obviously came here to pick a fight with Simon.”
“They both have some issues to work out, which I’m sure they can fix with time, but I do have one regret from last night,” Cal said.
Cal reached down and pul ed me up from my seat and into his arms. His touch was electric. I had been trying to motivate myself to stand up and now found myself pressed against his wel -muscled chest.
Okay, now I’m motivated
and, like, completely awake.
Who needs caffeine when you have your very own hot werewolf boyfriend?
“Um, what do you regret from last night?” I asked.
“Not having a chance to do this,” Cal said.
Cal lifted my chin with his right hand and sank his left into my hair as he leaned down for a kiss. His lips were soft and warm and his kiss sent a tingle down my spine and made my legs feel weak.
“You are amazing,” I said, gazing into Cal’s mesmerizing blue eyes.
“That’s my line,” Cal said, a smile touching his lips.
Until that moment when we touched, I had been drowning in my worries. I was fearful of a dangerous tooth and claw death-match between Gabriel and Simon, concerned about Emma’s odd behavior, and anxious to solve the mystery of Dylan’s ghost. As Cal pul ed me to him, al of those thoughts were washed away. When we kissed, our love was the only thing that mattered. No worries could enter the safety of Cal’s arms.
My fingers traced Cal’s bicep where I knew a tattoo representing our connection as soul mates lay beneath the thin fabric of his hoodie. Cal’s eyes fol owed the movement of my hand and recognition showed on his face as our eyes met.
He always was good at reading my thoughts.
“You complete me,” Cal said simply.
He kissed my lips, my cheek, and my forehead then gently pul ed away. His kisses left me wobbly, but I managed to steady myself against the desk as I caught my breath.
“We should go,” I said.
I felt a sil y, uncontrol able grin take over my face and hoped I wasn’t blushing.
Pesky hormones.
Cal, stil shouldering my backpack, gave me his hand. I floated al the way to class with Cal at my side. The smel of motor oil shadowed me as I walked to class, but my worries didn’t return. Nothing could intrude on our little bubble of happy.
*****
Lunch was a chal enge. I had to run the gauntlet of social terror and avoid al of the non-veggie menu options the cafeteria provided. The J-team, and their partners in slime the footbal team, stil had it out for me. While playing dodge the jock, I also had to cautiously hang with Gordy for a few minutes before heading to my table, but without actual y inviting him to come sit with me. This situation majorly sucked.
Gordy stopped sitting with us after the Emma breakup.
Emma didn’t just break off their relationship, she also broke his heart. Gordy always had an emo streak, it was part of how we met, but Emma had sent him off the emo tip. Now the cute hipster boy I used to have so much fun with in Anime Club never smiled. In fact, he rarely looked away from his shoes.
Today, at least, was different. Gordy smiled as I came over to sit with him.
“You wore the shirt,” he said happily. “I knew you couldn’t resist the positive power of the rice bal .”
Son of a dung beetle.
I should have worn the shirt to school sooner. I’d been waiting months to see that smile again.
“Yeah, I’m a total fan,” I said, starting to laugh. “Wel , so long as it’s a veggie rice bal .”
“You’re in luck then,” Gordy said. “I think they’re serving rice pudding today. You could total y shape it into rice bal s.”
“Sweet,” I said, raising my fist to bump knuckles. “I better motor if I’m going to get any. I’m starving.”
“Cool,” Gordy said. “See you later. And Yuki…I’m glad you like the shirt.”
I went in search of food, though my stomach was feeling twisty. Guilt wil do that to you.
Note to self—spend
more time with Gordy.
When I final y made it to our table, Emma and Cal were in the middle of a heated discussion. Cal was eating his creamy rice pudding and Emma was arguing that the only creatures that should be ingesting cow’s milk, and hence rice pudding, were baby cows. I could tel by the loud sighs escaping Cal that he just wanted to eat his lunch in peace.
I love Emma, but sometimes it’s best to distract her from her rant of choice before things spiral out of control. I knew this particular anti-milk topic and I could guess where Emma planned to take things next. If I didn’t help to change the subject soon, we’d be doomed to eat our lunches while listening to stories of chapped cow udders next and that would be udderly disgusting.
Tee hee.
I clunked my tray down with a bit too much force and Emma looked away from Cal to glare at my food.
“Oh no, not you too,” Emma said. “How can you both be so barbaric?”
“Um, Emma, you know I’m never giving up dairy,” I said. “It’s a thing. But I was hoping to ask a favor.”
“What kind of favor?” Emma asked.
“I need some pieces of fruit, preferably colorful little bits, and was hoping you might have some trail mix or something,” I said.
I knew Emma usual y kept an emergency stash in her bag.
“Wel , I do have some with me,” Emma said. “Why do you need colorful fruit?”
I had a heaping tray of food, so it was obvious that I wasn’t scrounging for food.
“I want to make rice bal s with my pudding,” I said.
Emma raised an eyebrow, but handed over the bag of trail mix.
“Here, take it,” she said. “Just don’t expect me to eat any of your little rice creatures. That pudding has cow juice in it. Plus, eating smiling little rice people is just creepy.” Emma shuddered dramatical y and I laughed. Cal mouthed, “thank you” and dove into his own food. I tackled the rice bal s, while tel ing Emma more about the Fruits Basket anime. When I was done, I had five rice bal s with colorful pieces of fruit on their backs. Cal had added some toothpicks for little arms and legs.