okay so I realize now that I have yet to put up a disclaimer. So to avoid a copy right, here goes:
I, blahicantthinkofaname, do not own any aspect of Pretty Little Liars(sadly), in any way, shape, or form. I only own Emma and her family, Chad, Chase, Damion, and Royce, and my plot line.
Pushover
By the time I was seated in my final class of the day, the school was abuzz. Everyone was talking about it. Teachers, students, even the costodians could be caught gossiping about it while they changed the garbage bags in the hallway. If the school had a trashy gossip magazine, this would be on the front cover in big, bold letters.
Ian Thomas' funeral is today.
I was particularly indifferent. Not that I wasn't appalled at what the man had done. Or that I wasn't surprised that the family of his fiance was even bothering to hold a service for him. But unlike every person in this town, I didn't know either of them. It didn't feel appropriate for me to make comments about things that I really had no right to form an opinion on in the first place.
So, I carried on with my work. I chose to ignore the chatter that was floating around the classroom while we were working on our assignment. By this rate, I would be the only person finishing my paper before class was over.
And I was.
Just as I handed in my paper to the teacher the final bell of the day rang. Every other student scrambled to scribble down half-ass answers just so they could practically throw them at the teacher. I took my time though.
I was in no rush. No place to be, no people to see. I was completely and utterly void of any responsibilities. I was almost care-free in that moment.
Until I rounded the corner that would lead me to the stairs and saw the devil herself. All dressed in pink with red lips to boot. I almost gagged.
"Hello Emma," She greeted, smiling at me as if we were old friends. The burrito I ate today for lunch was one more fake smile away from being all over her pristine attire.
"Hi Mona," I said back, also smiling at her. Though, by her expression, she was aware that it was strained.
"I don't want to keep you from whatever you're in no rush to get to so I'll make sure to keep it short and sweet." She said, dropping her act. In doing so, I dropped mine. Glad that we weren't playing cheredes any longer. "I don't like you spending time with Noel."
I deadpanned. "You can't be serious."
"I don't know if you may have heard, being new and all, but me and him are sort of an item now." Her face was as serious as I've ever seen it. Even more so than when she was screaming obscenities at Noel on my first day. "I will not let our relationship be tarnished by a home-wrecker."
"Uh, I can assure you I am no home-wrecker." I said, not letting her continue accusing me of these ridiculous things. I mean, I admit, Noel is sweet and cute and nice and has so far made the most effort in probably the whole school to make me feel welcome. But if he was already taken, who was I to wreck a relationship he obviously wanted to be in? Even if I some how grew a pair of lady-balls, and decided to go after what I wanted for a change. He didn't want to be with me anyways. I had to face facts. "Noel and I are just friends." And I added for good measure: "and I plan on keeping it that way."
"Is that so?" She asked. I could tell by the way she crossed her arms over her chest that she didn't believe me. Did I believe me?
"Yeah, it is." My voice didn't waver an inch.
"Well it's not like I had much to worry about anyways." She shrugged, trying to pry a reacted from me. "You aren't exactly the type of girl guys go chasing after." I tried to keep my temper from flaring. But how did people let her talk like that? How has she not been slapped into her place by now?
"Well I never thought that guys had eyes for girls like you."
"Oh yeah?" She snarled. "How am I like?"
"Well I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for you, now would I?" My teeth were bared and I prayed that would be enough to scare her off for the time being. I did not have the patience to be in a screaming match with Mona."So I hope you don't mind, but I have to be somewhere." I lied, maneuvering around her to hasten down the stairs and rush to my locker. Adrenaline was pumping throughout my body, making my hands tremble as they worked at my combination lock. Everything was just too much. One second I was gushing about how care-free I was and now I'm practically shaking from a verbal altercation I had with Mona of all people.
My eyes skated down each end of the hallway, making sure I was alone before I sank against my locker. Letting a dense breath out of my mouth. I was never one who had a stomach for confrontation. Even a mere vocal match had me in hysterics. My eyes shut as I attempted to gather my bearings.
Being over-dramatic was always a flaw of mine.
"Emma?" I looked up and saw probably the last person I would expect to see an even remotely sympathetic facial expression on their face in regards to me. "Are you alright?" Hanna asked, standing in front of me wearing a face that told me, "Aw, look at this poor injured little animal. How could I leave it here all alone without a person in the world?" I loathed pity.
"Yes," I said, shaking off my momentary insanity. "I'm fine." Whether she hated me or not, she certainly wasn't going to buy that bogus lie.
"Yeah, okay. And Selena didn't talk Justin into getting that hair cut." My eyebrows knotted in confusion.
"What are you-"
"Oh, never mind." She waved it off irritated. "What I mean is; why were you just acting like you saw someone commit a mortal sin in the middle of the hallway?"
"I-I, well that's not-not really, um," I stuttered out. It's not that I didn't want to talk to Hanna. Which I shouldn't. She did, after all, absolutely despise me before properly getting to know me. She is only acting as if she cares right now because I remind her of an injured kitten.
"Well, spit it out." I sighed at her persistence.
"Do you know Mona?" I asked, deciding to build up to a confession.
"Vanderwaal?" She asked, leaning her shoulder against the lockers. I shrugged.
"Not sure, how many Mona's are in this school?" Hanna rolled her eyes. If I didn't know any better I would have thought that she did it kindheartedly.
"Yes I know her." She conceded. "I'm actually good friends with her, best friends." I nodded, turning back to my locker to start placing things in my bag. In all honesty, I just didn't want to look Hanna in the face while I bad-mouthed her best friend.
"Well, she just accused me of being a home-wrecker. Insulted me, too." I could see her nod from the corner of my eyes. I couldn't resist, I looked over to see Hanna looking the least-bit surprised.
"Yeah, well," Her eyes met mine. "That's Mona for you." She pushed off the lockers.
"Yeah, well, I'm sorry if I'm a human being and I don't like it when people belittle my reputation over petty jealousy." I spat back. Maybe the adrenaline hadn't left my system yet. Maybe I was running on left over fumes from Mona and I's fight.
Or maybe I'm done being a pushover.
"Pointless jealousy, too. Her accusations where way out of the spectrum." I said, shutting my locker and placing my maroon beanie on my head.
"Mona is a bit of a drama-queen." Tell me about it. "She just doesn't want to loose the things she has. She wasn't always as popular as she is now." Her lack of defense took me by surprise. I was expecting her to get in my face, scream, tell me to never say those things about her best friend. Not an explanation.
"Well, please tell your best friend that she has nothing to worry about." I calmed down. Hanna wasn't verbally attacking me. I didn't need to act like it. "I'm not going to steal Noel away from her."
"I'll pass on the message." I nodded, walking around her to exit through the front doors of the school.
The next two days weren't nearly as eventful as that day. Noel was distant on Thursday at lunch. He didn't talk to me as much. Didn't react positively when the other boys made jokes about me or with me. He was indifferent towards me, and it bothered me. More than it probably should. It bothered me so much, I stooped low enough to ask the guys what his problem was.
"Why is Noel ignoring me?" I openly asked the table after Noel got up to buy an extra bag of chips for his afternoon classes.
"Apparently his old lady got super pissed that he's been hanging out with you." Royce said before he shoved an entire chocolate chip cookie into his mouth. Chad nodded.
"Told him to stay away from you. Almost made him cancel the party because she knew you were gonna be there." I sighed. "He didn't of course, I mean they've only been dating a little bit. If he let her cancel a party at this point, he's a psycho."
"She also demanded that he not go to your house on Saturday." Damion added.
"Wait, he isn't-"
"No he's still coming." Chase reassured from next to me. "He just had to tell somewhat of a lie to come."
"Yeah, he said he was going to my house to watch a football game." I nodded. This whole thing was starting to feel dirty. I mean, he had to lie to hang out with me? I didn't like it.
Then on Friday I could tell that the guys told him that I was hurt from his distance. They constantly directed the conversation to me, eliciting a response from him one way or another. And every time he rolled his eyes in knowing irritation. Their excitement from the party tonight didn't help.
"What color are you painting your room Emma?" Chase wondered from next to me. I saw all the boys look at me expectantly awaiting an answer.
"Blue." I said, trying to get the attention away from me by responding with clips. Hoping to bore the table into talking about something other than me. It hasn't worked yet though.
"What shade?" Royce asked beside me. "You have to be more specific than that"
"Light blue." I deadpanned.
"What did the card say when you bought the paint?" Chad asked, clearly getting annoyed.
"I don't know," I said, not bothering to look at the boys in front of me. I only looked at the food on my tray as my plastic fork pushed it around. "My dad bought it for me. I imagine it said something along the lines of light blue."
"Okay then," Chase said, looking at the other guys for help. My attitude was clearly not factored into his plan.
"What time are we coming to your house tomorrow?" Royce asked. I shrugged, raking my eyes around the table.
"It's up to you guys."
"Noel what time do you want to go to Emma's?" Chad asked. Noel snapped from his reverie and looked at all of us. Even me.
"Um, I don't- uh, eleven?" He stuttered. If I wasn't so irritated with him, I would have thought it was cute. "Is that good?" He asked me stiffly. I nodded, looking back down at my food quickly. I heard the collective sigh of irritation from around the table.
I looked through my closet, hunting for an outfit fit for a party. A party with boys. Hot boys. Who, if drunk enough, will want to kiss me. Dance with me, hang out with me. But I didn't want to try too hard. Because if I do, some how, it will fly back in my face and humiliate me. So with that in mind, I reluctantly picked a white tank top with sheen on the top. I paired it with a pair of shorts and white sandals. I stood in front of my dresser for a few minutes, debating whether wearing a bunch of jewelry was the best idea. In the end, I decided on a black pair of necklaces, one with an anchor on it and the other had a helm. Then, I wore black and white earrings. My hair, well, I was at a loss.
I had absolutely no idea how I was going to do my hair. Up? Down? Half up-half down? There was too much stress. So, I calmly exited my room, walked down the hall, and rapped on my parents door. Only one person could help me at this point.
"Karen?" I called through the door. "Can you help me?" The door opened, revealing my step-mom.
"What do you need?" She asked, assessing me. "You look beautiful."
"Thanks," I said, flushing with pride. "Can you help me with my hair?" She smiled at me, the smile that she only wore when she was around me.
"Sure sweetie." I smiled, relieved. "What do you want?" An exasperated sigh puffed from my lips.
"I don't know!" I exclaimed. "Just- surprise me." She smiled devilishly. Karen lived for the moments I let her have complete control over my appearance.
After what seemed too long, she finally pulled her fingers from my hair. I sighed, relieved to have her not-so-nimble fingers away from my head. But as always, the result was well worth it in the end.
She had used a curling iron to wave my hair, as if using a make-shift wand. My hair was pulled back at the sides, braided to the back to meet in the middle in a seamless headband appearance. I would have never been able to do anything like that. She truly had a gift.
"Thank you so much." I said earnestly. But, she merely waved it off and suggested I speed off if I want to make it on time to the party. It was being held at Noel's house, since his parents were going to be out of town until Sunday morning. He had given me the address and directions on Wednesday at lunch. I was confident I wouldn't get lost, Rosewood was a rather small place. Getting lost almost took effort.
The drive took a little over ten minutes. Each time I looked at the clock on my dash board, I realized how nervous I was. And it only got worse each time. Eventually, I pulled up to a house. A nice sized, brick one, with a red door and white shudders. I turned my car off. But I made no move to get out. I sat in the seat, breathing deeply through my nose. After sitting there for two minutes, thinking, I pulled on the handle and pushed open the door. No amount of deep breathing was going to make me any more prepared for my first high school party.
My feet carried me to the front door. My hand twisted the handle to let me enter the cramped house.
A/N
okay so i didn't lie this time. the party was in this chapter. short, very short. but what kind of an author am i if i dont end on a cliff hanger?
and the next chapter will be up soon.
aye i also didn't lie about this chapter being up soon.
insert me with a huge freaking smile the size of a banana on my face.
i also have finally put up a bio on my account so you can go read that if you car but if you dont well thats okay too. i have all of emma's outfits on there also so if you dont care about me at least go check that out.
alrighty so read, review, follow, favorite.
thanks to all of my beautiful readers
and a special thank you to no one because it only took me three days to update and I didn't give anyone a chance to read and review but hey I live life dangerously.
xoxo
