Chapter 21

Emma

I see a flash of black hair and freeze, then relax as another random student walks past me. I turn a corner and then lean against the wall, taking a deep breath.

Calm down Emma, I tell myself.

I've been so paranoid, trying my best to avoid Jax ever since Saturday.

"Emma!" An accented voice called.

No, no, no... I thought.

"Hey, what's up?" Jamie appeared beside me.

"Nothing really, you?" I responded, trying not to sound too relieved.

"I was about to head out with Luke, wanna come with?" She asked me.

"Thats fine, you guys go have fun."

"Are you sure? You've been a little jumpy these past few days, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I have to go meet up with Mia anyways for our project." I tell her.

"Okay, I'll see you later then." She said, as Luke appeared beside her.

"You ready to go?" He asked her, putting an arm across her shoulders.

"Yeah, come on." They waved at me before they headed out the double doors.

I sighed and started towards Mia's room. I finally got her to talk to me and settle on a day to start working on this paper. But there's something about her, not necessarily that I don't trust, just a little strange.

Someone bumped into me and I turned to face Daniel. He grinned at me and I tried to do the same.

"Hey, Emma." He said, falling into step with me.

"Um, hi." I said back.

"You wanna get something to eat?" He asked.

"I actually have to start working on my paper for class, sorry. I was just headed to Mia's dorm." I said, avoiding his eyes.

He didn't seem to notice. "Oh, okay. I'll walk you there."

"You don't have to!" I rushed, and he looked at me, confused. "I mean, I can go on my own. Sorry about lunch though, maybe another time."

Daniel still had a confused look on his face but nodded. "Okay, then. See you around." He bent down and kissed my cheek.

I managed a small smile, then went down the hallway. Daniel's my boyfriend, that should've comforted me in some way. Instead, it just makes me feel more guilty.

Mia

I ran the brush through my hair one more time. If I have to convince Emma, nothing can be out of place. I look in the mirror at my reflection and my eyes widen.

I quickly tug off the amulet I usually wear around my neck and place it in a drawer, a safe distance away. Just in time too, because at that moment I hear a knock at the door.

"Its Emma!" Comes her voice from the outside.

"One second!" I call back.

I grab my perfume from the table and spray it all over me, disguising my scent. Once I'm satisfied, I place it back on the table and open the door.

"Hey." I say.

She smiles at me. "Hi, can I come in?"

"Oh yeah, sure." I open the door wider and let her in.

"You have a single room? Thats cool." She comments.

I guess, its just the only way I can keep my secret, I thought to myself.

"Yeah, you can sit down." I motion to one of the chairs and then I take a seat on my bed.

"Thanks." She takes a seat on the reclining chair. "So, have you thought about your answer at all?"

"No." I answer automatically. She looks at me quizzically. "Not no, like I haven't thought about it but no, I don't think she would have accepted these other...creatures, I guess."

She nods. "Same here."

"I would know firsthand." I mutter quietly.

"What was that?" Emma looks up from her notebook.

"Oh, nothing." I said, hoping she doesn't look into it.

She doesn't. She just shrugs and goes back to writing stuff down in her book.

"Okay, so yesterday in class we learned that Clara Von Bell didn't like things that weren't normal to her when she was younger. She didn't want anything to do with anything that wasn't status quo. We could use that as evidence." Emma said.

I nodded, then pulled out a notebook. I guess I should be writing this stuff down too.

We worked for a little over an hour, bouncing ideas off each other and starting rough drafts. Emma really wasn't that bad.

"Okay, I think that's enough for today. We did pretty good." I said.

"Yeah, I guess we did." She looked down at the full pages on her paper. "When is this due again?"

"Next week, we still have time. And I'm sure we'll learn more to use over the next few days." I told her, getting up and stretching.

"Whoa, thats cool. What is it?" She asked, staring at my arm.

I looked up at my arm in the air and realized my mark was showing. I had forgotten to cover it up. I quickly pulled my arm down.

"Its nothing. Um, temporary tattoo." I said, that being the first thing that came to my mind.

Emma raised her eyebrows, clearly not expecting my reaction. "Okay then."

I exhaled. "Um, maybe you should go. I have some work to catch up on."

"Oh, sure." She packed everything back in her bag. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

I nodded. "Bye."

She gave me a little wave on her way out. The door closed and I collapsed onto my bed. I have got to be more careful, I thought.

Andi

"Hey, no fair!" Philip complained as I blasted the last zombie and won the game.

"I told you, I'm the master at Zombie Apocalypse 5." I said smugly.

"Whatever, I bet you were cheating." He eyes me suspiciously.

We were in my dorm room, sitting on the couch playing Zombie Apocalypse 5, multiple bowls of popcorn surrounding us. My mouth dropped open at his accusation.

"I do not cheat!" I threw a handful of popcorn at him.

He laughed and picked up a piece of popcorn that landed on his shirt, popping it into his mouth. "Mmm, its always better when its given to you."

I rolled my eyes. "You are such a child."

"Hey, you decided to date me." He plucked off another popcorn from his shirt. "Now you gotta live with it."

I gave him a shy smile, then looked back at the screen. I'm dating Philip. The phrase still sounds unfamiliar...but nice. Philip and I have been together a lot this past week and its really easy to get used to him. We went on another date after classes on Tuesday to laser tag and it was so much fun. I couldn't believe I ever doubted that Philip wouldn't take me out on fun dates.

But was he my boyfriend? I mean, what classified you as boyfriend and girlfriend? Did you have to go on a certain amount of dates first, or does it just happen along the way? Or do you have to kiss first? Well then, that would be out of the picture. Philip and I haven't kissed yet.

But I don't even know if I want to. I mean, obviously I want to, I've just never done it before. I mentally shook my head. I sound like Emma for goodness sakes! I'm Andi, I've never worried about stuff like this.

But then again... I sneak a look at Philip. I've never been around someone who causes butterflies to appear in my stomach. Or a guy who understands me and how I'm not like most girls. Philip is different. I'm different.

"–one, go!" I hear Philip call out.

I snap out of my thoughts and turn to face him. "What?"

He just laughs and I see him using his controller. I gasp and look at the TV screen, where a new game has restarted.

"Philip!" I yell and hurriedly grab my controller to play.

"You snooze, you lose." Is all he says, a big grin on his face.

I realize that even as the great player that I am, I'd never be able to catch up to him and win. So, when his focus is completely on the screen and he's holding his controller not-so-tightly, I grab it and chuck it across the room.

"What the hell?" Philip exclaims when he realizes his hands are empty.

I smile and continue playing the game, knowing that will buy me some time. "Maybe it was a draft."

"Yeah, maybe." He says sarcastically.

I ignore him as I keep going, seeing my points get higher and higher until...

"Agh!" I call out as my controller falls from my grip and I'm tossed on the bed.

I pick my head up and glare at Philip, who is doubled over laughing. "What was that for?"

"My controller. And besides, you're really light, it wasn't that hard." He said between laughter.

I silently cursed my height as I got off the bed, grabbing a pillow. I realized this was Jamie's bed and silently apologized to her.

"Okay, so now we're ev–" He didn't get to finish his sentence as I had threw a pillow at him, square in the face.

He removed it from his face and I smile triumphantly. "I may be small, but I am pretty strong."

A wicked grin passed on his face. "Oh, its on." He crossed the room grabbed a pillow off the nearest bed, which happened to be Emma's, and started walking towards me.

I squealed and went to grab mine, but I wasn't quick enough. Philip's pillow hit my back and I started laughing, picking it up from where it fell on the floor and jumping on top of Jamie's bed.

Philip stood atop Emma's, also armed. "And...now!" He announced and it started.

We started picking up the pillows that were on the bed and throwing them at each other, some hitting us, some just falling to the ground. We were laughing hysterically as we threw them, slowly running out of energy.

The door opened and Emma walked in. Her eyes widened as she slowly took in the scene before her. "What is happening here?"

Philip and I froze and a pillow that I had thrown seconds before dropped to the ground. Emma looked around the room, her eyes landing on her side. "My bed!"

Philip slowly stepped down from it and I got down from Jamie's. That was when I really looked around. Pillows and popcorn littered the floor, Emma and Jamie's beds a mess. In fact, the only clean part of the room, was my bed. "Whoops?"

"Yeah, whoops." Emma says. She puts a hand on her forehead. "I'm gonna go to the lounge, and when I come back, this room better look like how I left it this morning."

I nodded. "Got it."

She sighed and walked out.

"Is everything okay with her?" Philip asked me.

I shook my head. "I don't know. She's been acting really weird lately. I mean, Emma would usually have screamed if she saw a mess like this."

"Huh." He says.

"Do you mind if I–?" I start, but Philip waves it off.

"Go ahead. I'll start in here." He gave me a warm smile, then stepped forward and kissed my forehead, spreading warmth through me. "Go." He whispers.

"Thank you." I say back quietly.

"No problem." With that, he turns back to the mess we made and groans. "Oh, boy."

I giggle. "I'll be back as soon as I can to help."

I open the door and walk out to the lounge. I look around at the couches set up in there but don't see Emma. I see Daniel working at the counter and head towards him. "Hey Daniel have you seen–ah!" Someone grabs my arm and pulls me into a hallway.

"Okay, ow." I mutter, pulling my arm from their grip.

"Andi, its me." A voice hisses.

"Emma?" I look up. She nods. "What are you doing back here?"

She bites her lip. "Avoiding Daniel."

"Really? Why?" I tried to keep any form of joy out of my voice.

Like Jamie, I wasn't thrilled when Emma started dating Emma. But not for the same reasons. Emma was the Chosen One. She needed someone that would always be there for her, even if I couldn't, to help with magic and protect her. Daniel was a guardian, and one, she already had an amazing guardian right here(thats me). And two, everything about this kid screamed wimp. How on earth was he supposed to protect her from anything?

"Okay, if I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone." She said.

I nodded. "Of course."

She takes a deep breath and starts talking really fast. "The night of your date we all fell asleep so technically Luke and Jax spent the night there and in the morning when they were leaving I almost kissed Jax I didn't but I wanted to and now I'm feeling really guilty about dating Daniel but I don't know if I should break up with him so I'm avoiding him cause he still doesn't know and I'm also avoiding Jax because I don't know what will happen if I see him again and please help me!"

Wow.

"Okay, Emma. Breathe." I tell her.

She nods, inhaling and exhaling. When she's caught her breath she slumps down against the wall. "What do I do?"

"Well Emma, the first thing you have to do is break up with Daniel. It's isn't fair to him to be dating him while you feel this way about someone else." I tell her.

"I know but..." She sighs. "I want to break up with Daniel so I can date Jax, thats true. But, after all the hell that I've put Jax through, who knows if he'll still want to date me?"

I roll my eyes. "Oh please. Of course Jax still likes you. You may be a pain," Emma gives me a look. "but you're worth it to him."

"You think so?"

"I know so. Now come on, let's go back to our room and watch Philip clean." I say cheerfully.

She gets up. "Oh yeah, how's that going by the way?"

"Well I think Philip's doing fine on his own but–"

"Not the cleaning!" Emma says on our way back. "You two."

"Oh." A blush creeps across my face. "Its good. Really good, actually."

"Ooo, Andi!" She teases.

"Shut up." I mutter as we go inside our room.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait guys, but its here! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. We are finally looking into Mia more, what do you guys think of her? I don't know yet if I'm going to make her "evil" or not yet, what do you think? We do get to see Phandi in their natural element. Aw, they're so cute.

What did you think of them together? And Andi's thoughts on dating and her relationship with Philip? And Emma's reaction the mess? How about that confession? Did anybody think that would happen? What do you think will happen next?

Random Question: Anybody else currently obssesed with Hamilton? I am absolutely in love with the soundtrack and I really want to see it but I don't have the money! And if you people don't know what Hamilton is, it's a musical, currently only playing in NYC about Alexander Hamilton's life. If you haven't already, go on YouTube and look up the soundtrack cause its amazing.

angelcreature13: Thank you! And Damien will be taken care of, he actually plays a very important role in this story.

Jemmalover: Thank you so much, here's an update!

TTluv19: Thank you :)