"What about this?" Paige stood at the side of Emily's bed in front of four boxes they had been sorting things into. One was labeled store, one said donate, one said trash, and the last one said college. It was just a few weeks after graduation and Emily was in the thick of preparing to move away to start her college career.
"Em?" Paige said with a laugh, stepping around the boxes and looking toward the closet. Emily was buried deep inside, digging through her shoes. She had no idea how she had accumulated so many shoes over the years but now she had to decide which to keep and which ones she really didn't need. It seemed like an impossible choice at this point.
"Yeah?" Emily heard Paige the second time and paused, turning to look out of the doorway. "What were you saying?"
Paige smiled at her girlfriend and shook her head, thinking she was absolutely adorable when she was frazzled. She lifted up the stuffed shark she had been unsure of moments ago and showed Emily "Donate?"
"No" Emily said with a bit of panic in her voice. She turned where she sat and hurried to her feet in a quick scramble. "No, he's going with me."
"What?" Paige looked at the little shark and laughed "Em, he's a stuffed animal. One that looks like has had better days. You're really taking him to college with you?"
"Yes" Emily growled, snatching the shark now out of Paige's hands and pulling it into a protective embrace. "I can't sleep without him."
"That's ridiculous. You've slept over at my house hundreds of times and I've never once seen him."
"He was there" Emily said softly "in my bag" she added with a shrug.
Paige opened her mouth to say something but stopped and shook her head. She let out another light laugh then waved her hands at Emily in a silent surrender. "It's your reputation. Let's just hope your college roommate doesn't tell the other swim teams you still sleep with a stuffed animal. What's so special about him anyway?"
Paige's last words drifted off into a sort of distant whisper as Emily's eyes caught the soft sparkle of the plastic blue marble that served as the stuffed shark's eye, bringing a smile to her lips as the memory flooded back to her.
"Emily over here! Em!" Hanna held her hand up through the crowd of people that had filled the rotunda just outside the swimming pool doors. It was the first time in three years that the team had won a meet and the buzz of the crowd was palpable.
Emily spotted her friends and smiled softly. She quietly excused herself through the crowd until she was able to meet up with the four friends that were all smiling up at her with pride "You guys came?"
"Oh course we did, Em!" Hanna said with a wide grin, giving Emily an excited hug. "It was your first game, we couldn't miss it!"
"Meet" Spencer said with a roll of her eyes.
"Meat?" Hanna questioned.
"Swim meet. That's the technical term. It's not called a game."
"Whatever. Emily won, that's all that matters!"
"It is" Alison said with as much of a smile as she was ever able to produce, her eyes landing on Emily with a nod. "Well done, Emily."
"Thanks" Emily blushed a little and bit her lip. Priase from Alison was like a compliment from Oprah or something.
"You did awesome" Aria finally chimed in, stepping forward to offer a hug to her friend. "We were all cheering for you. Did you hear us?"
"I think so" Emily nodded slowly. "It's kind of hard to hear in the water but some sound gets through."
"Great. So, celebration party? I got wind of a killer bash at the Kahn's place tonight." Alison looked between all of her friends with a nod as she spoke, as if disagreeing with her was not an option. "Are we in?"
"I have homework" Emily said with a shrug. "And my dad told me if my grades slip I will have to give up swimming."
"Lame" Alison rolled her eyes and tossed her hair over her shoulder as she turned to the other girls "Ladies?"
"Sure" Aria said with a nod.
"Count me in" Hanna said with a smile.
"Only if you change out of those ridiculous sweats" Alison said with another roll of her eyes. Hanna frowned and looked down over her outfit and sighed before nodding quickly in agreement and giving her a forced smile.
"Well you guys have fun" Emily said as she shifted the bag over her shoulder. "I'm going to head home. Thank you so much for coming."
"What are friends for?" Alison said with a shrug. She turned and waved over her shoulder "Later." She started through the crowd, not looking back now. Both Aria and Hanna followed her through.
When Emily realized Spencer had not followed, she arched an eyebrow curiously and pointed in the direction of the other girls. "Aren't you going with them?"
"And watch Ali trying to slobber all over whatever college guys show up at the party?" Spencer's upper lip curled up in disgust and she shook her head. "My sister has a recital tonight anyway so I couldn't go even if I wanted to." She shrugged and gave one last look toward her friends, catching Ali's blonde hair sweeping out of the doorway before disappearing. She looked back to Emily now and gave her a soft smile "You were great today, Emily."
"Thanks" Emily said shyly, looking down at her feet now. It was always so intimidating to be alone with Spencer and she didn't know why. "I am just glad you guys came. I know swimming isn't always exciting and it's not the coolest sport so I was surprised Ali even allowed you guys to be seen here."
"Ali is ridiculous" Spencer said with a roll of her eyes "She is way too obsessed with popularity. You're my friend, Emily, I would have come even if Ali threatened to disown me." She let out a soft laugh and gave Emily a little nudge with her shoulder "We watched a star in the making today, I wouldn't have missed that for the world. Do you realize you broke the state freshman record?"
"I did?" Emily looked up again and smiled widely, her eyes bright with excitement.
Spencer nodded quickly "I did a bit of research before we came today. You crushed the record by three seconds!"
Emily's face lit up even more and she tried to contain the smile that was spreading so fast her face might actually crack in half.
"You're going to be something special." Spencer reached out and gave Emily's forearm a squeeze. "That's why I got you this." She held up a small stuffed shark for Emily to see. She looked at the gift and shrugged before looking back to Emily "It's not much but maybe it will inspire you to win a real trophy one day?"
"No" Emily shook her head and reached out for the stuffed animal "It's perfect. It came from you, that is all I need." She realized what she had said and her cheeks turned a soft pink "I mean, your support, you know, it means the world to me."
"What are friends for?" Spencer said with a smirk as her tone and words mocked Ali perfectly.
Emily giggled and nodded her head as she pulled the shark against her chest in a soft embrace. "You're a good friend, Spence."
Spencer gave her a wink and another nudge before sliding her arm around her shoulders and turning with her toward the doors "Let's get out of here. You have homework to do. We can't have the star of the team having to drop out because of bad grades. If you ever need help let me know, alright?"
"Thanks" Emily said with another shy nod and smile as they walked together toward the parking lot before going their separate ways, the tingle of Spencer's arm around her shoulders sticking with Emily for the rest of the night.
"Should I leave you two alone?" Paige asked with a laugh.
Emily blinked and shook her head, looking up at Paige now, the memory fading away as she was brought back to the moment. "Huh?"
"You've been staring into that creepy shark's eye for like hours. Should I be jealous?" Paige's face was twisted with a smirk of amusement, finding it hilarious that her girlfriend was so attached to a dinky toy.
"No" Emily said softly, looking back down at the one eyed shark and stroking her hand over its worn fin "There is nothing to be jealous of." She bit her bottom lip before finally looking away from the shark and walking over to the box marked for college and setting him on top "And he's not creepy. His name is Cer and I would appreciate it if you addressed him as such."
Paige snorted in a bad attempt to bite back her laughter. She nodded her head slowly then turned around to start sorting through the books on Emily's shelf "Whatever you say, dear."
Emily glanced back at the shark and sighed before slowly going back to what she had been doing before. Paige wouldn't be laughing if she knew exactly what that stuffed shark meant to her. No one knew, though. No one would ever know because it was just easier that way.