You guys are lucky! Three chapters in one day! Possibly four? Wow, being sick does come in handy!
Troy and Emily both had doctor's appointments, and didn't make it until after free period. They arrived to find the school in an absolute uproar. Emily passed Sharpay and Ryan coming into the school. Ryan was ranting and raving about being Punk'd and Sharpay was yelling at him to shut up. She passed them as quickly as possible.
During third period U.S. History, her father was droning on and on about World War 2. Emily was doodling on her paper and forcing herself to stay awake. She glanced around the classroom only to find half of them asleep. Emily secretly envied those people who could sleep without having haunting images disrupt them. But, right after she thought that, she scolded herself.
"Em, you coming to lunch?" Nat broke her thoughts.
"Oh," she saw everyone standing up walking out of the classroom, "No, I think I'm going to go to the library."
"You sure? Don't you want to eat?"
"No, I'm not hungry. Big breakfast." She smiled through her lie.
Natalie shrugged, "Ok." She turned and walked out of the classroom. Emily watched her go out the door, then busied herself getting her things together.
"Emily, what are you still doing in here?" Her father looked up from the stack of papers he had in front of him.
"I was talking to Nat, but I'm going to lunch now." She lied…again.
"Oh, ok. Have a good day sweetheart." Her father smiled at her and she exited the door.
Emily sat at the back table of the library. She was beating her head on the table.
"Um...Emily?" A soft voice called out.
Emily looked up to see Gabriella looking back at her.
"Oh, hey Gabriella." Emily went back to banging her head on the table.
"I don't think that's good for your brain." She laughed sitting in the seat beside her.
Emily stopped and propped her chin on the table top.
"Something wrong?"
"Yeah." Emily replied simply.
"Want to tell me what?" She gave her an encouraging look.
Next thing Emily knew, she was launching herself again into the story of her nightmares-- to an almost complete stranger. Sure, she saw Gabriella once and a while in the hallways or at lunch, but they never really talked. Something about Gabriella made it comfortable for Emily to talk about it.
"Well, that's quite a story you got there." She remarked.
"What are you doing in here anyway? Shouldn't you be at lunch?" Emily tried to change the subject.
"I accidentally spilt my lunch on Sharpay. I couldn't stay in that cafeteria alive." She laughed. "What are you doing here?"
"Avoiding everyone."
"Well, that didn't work did it?" She smiled gently.
"Apparently not." Emily sighed.
"Emily, you've got great friends around you. I say don't worry about this murder. Put it in the past instead of the present. You can't let it stop your life."
Emily blinked. 'She's right.' she thought. Before Emily could answer, the bell rang and Gabriella whisked off to class, which left Emily feeling alone.
"May I be excused?" Emily stated at the dinner table.
"Um, Em, you haven't eaten anything." Troy looked at her plate.
"I'm not hungry."
"How can you not be hungry? You're always hungry!"
"I'm not hungry ok?"
"Em-" Troy started before he was interrupted.
"Yes you may." Their father interjected. He sensed the beginning of an argument and wanted to stop it immediately.
Emily threw herself on her bed. She stared at the ceiling for a while thinking about everything. She jumped when her cell phone began to ring.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Emster." It was Chad.
Emily sat up and smiled to herself. "Hey! What's up?"
"Nothing. Just calling to say I didn't see you in lunch today."
"Oh yeah, I was in the library. I heard there was some major commotion though."
"Yeah, everyone's changing. All because Troy tried out for that stupid musical."
"He WHAT?!?" Emily shrieked.
"Uh-oh." Chad said, but Emily didn't hear him. Or she did but just ignored him.
"Babe, I'm gonna have to call you back." She hung up the phone. She stormed out of her bedroom and stomped down the hall.
Emily threw open Troy's bedroom door.
"Em, what's your problem? Can't you knock?!"
"Something you want to tell me, Troy?"
"Nope."
"Something involving a certain musical?" Emily tapped her foot and crossed her arms.
"Ok, Em, I totally meant to tell you." Troy really didn't want another fight.
"You made it to callbacks?" Her eyes narrowed into a glare.
"Yeah." He said quietly.
"With Gabriella?"
"Yeah."
Emily's eyes turned from a glare into a huge smile. "Congrats!" She gave her brother a huge hug.
"What?" Troy was confused. He seemed to be confused a lot lately.
"I'm happy for you. You sounded great when you sang for me the first day back. And Gabriella is a really sweet girl." She smiled at him.
"Really?" Troy didn't sound convinced.
"Of course!" She smiled, "Aren't the other guys?"
"No, not really."
"So, how hard did you go on Troy?" Chad put another forkful of spaghetti into his mouth.
"I didn't." Emily sat picking at her food…again. She never ate at lunch anymore. Actually, she hardly ate anymore.
"What do you mean 'you didn't'?" Chad couldn't believe this. His girlfriend didn't care that Troy signed up for a musical a week before the championship game.
"I'm happy for him. He's really talented."
"Yeah, in BASKETBALL."
"Why can't he be both?" Emily retorted.
"Because he needs to focus. Who's ever heard of a basketball star singing in the musical?!" Chad fired back.
"So he's being different? Is that a crime?" She retaliated.
"No, but we can't lose-"
"It's a game. Just ONE game."
"It's not just a game, Emster."
"You're his teammates! Shouldn't you be supportive of him?" Emily stood from the table and stormed out of the cafeteria. She bumped into Troy, but kept on walking. Troy walked over to Chad's table and took a seat.
"What was that all about?" Troy said pulling out his lunch.
"N-nothing." Chad said staring at the door Emily had just burst through.
"Dude you okay?" Troy stopped inches from taking the bite of his sandwich.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He blinked and shook his head.
Emily was sitting on the couch, flipping through a magazine, when she heard the front door click shut.
"I wouldn't go in there if I were you." She said without looking up. Troy froze in his position. His hand was on his father's study's doorknob.
"What?" Troy said.
"Dad's upset with you. Seems like you missed practice today." She said nonchalantly. She flipped another page in her magazine.
"Yeah, well...I heard you got into a fight with Chad today." He tried to retaliate.
"And?"
"So there." Troy said making up anything to say.
Emily lifted her eyebrows. "Yeah, nice comeback." She picked up her magazine and walked upstairs.
"Hey, Em?"
"Yeah?" She turned around on the landing.
"Thanks for sticking up for me with Chad."
"How did you-?"
"Gabriella overheard."
"Oh."
"Thanks, Em."
Emily smiled. "Anytime."
"Hey, Em!" Sadie called out to her. Nat was trailing behind her.
"Hey guys. What's up?" She smiled.
"Did you break up with Chad?" Nat blurted out.
"Beat around the bush." Sadie mumbled in a sing-song voice.
"Um, no," She laughed, "Why do you say that?"
Natalie and Sadie's faces paled.
"Well, we just saw him with Taylor McKessie. They were whisperi-"
"They were REALLY close and whispering to each other." Natalie interjected.
Sadie smiled and elbowed Natalie hard. Natalie winced and put her hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming.
"What?" Emily's face fell.
"They looked like they were...together." Natalie blurted again. This time Sadie stepped on her foot. Natalie hopped off.
"I'm sure they weren't together." Sadie reassured her.
Emily backed against the lockers and slid gently to the floor. She remained silent.
"Come on, Ems. I'm sure he wouldn't do that."
A single tear slid down Emily's cheek. "Unless we fought."
Uh-oh! Emily's friends saw Chad talking with Taylor. Now she thinks he might be cheating on her. Of course if you saw the movie you would know that he wasn't! (Allyn, if they SAW the movie, would they be READING THIS STORY?!?! -Jordan)
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please Review! (YES! SHE'S LEAVING MY BAKED GOODS/DESSERTS ALONE! -Jordan)
Also, I'm thinking about doing a sequel. What do you guys think?