33. Highschool célébrité.

[Emily]

"Do you know why she would say that?" Marisa asked me and I stood staring at her dumbfounded.

Honestly, I had no idea why she would say that but I didn't want to spread out my family's dirty linen in public so I pretended to understand.

"Yeah, she probably doesn't want to bother him, he has a very important presentation tomorrow, if I inform him now, he'll leave the presentation and come here immediately and he's been working so hard for this opportunity." I said and somehow it made sense to me.

"Yeah, of course, that's your mother, always putting people's needs before her own." Marisa smiled sadly.

"Yeah." I chuckled nervously and looked away before my expression could give anything away.

"Okay, please relax Emily, your mother will be fine, you should go home, take a rest and come back to see her after school."

"No, Marisa, no, I can't leave her alone." I shook my head and refused.

"Emily, listen to me, I'll stay with her, I'll not leave her side but you need to go home. You know the first thing she'll ask once she wakes up right?"

"Yeah." I sighed sadly. "But I'll call to check on her, please call the house immediately when she wakes up, or my cell phone."

"Yes, Emily, now go, I'll call you." She pulled me into a hug and like my mother she drew the sign of the cross on my forehead and whispered in my ear.

"Vaya con dios." Then she turned to Jenny. "Please, let me trouble you to take care of her for the meantime, she can't possibly be left alone and her father—"

"Oh, it's no trouble at all, Emily is my best friend and I'll always be there for her." Jenny replied.

"Alright then, tomorrow is a school day, you have to get going." She said,

"Yeah but can I see her once?" I asked.

"Alright." She sighed. "Let me check if she's out of surgery and I'll be back to take you."

Jenny and I waited a while and then Marisa came back with good news. My mother's surgery had gone well and she was currently being transferred to the ICU. She was still asleep and in critical condition so I was only allowed to see her through the window and then Jenny and I went home.

Jenny's parents heard about my mother's accident and then came over to see how I was doing when we got back home. They gave Jenny permission to stay with me as long as I needed and I was glad that they didn't insist I stay at their house.

"You're skipping school tomorrow, right?" They'd asked before leaving.

"No, my mother wouldn't like that." I replied and they nodded before dropping the usual 'if you need anything don't hesitate to call' line.

"She's going to be fine, Emmy, I promise." Jenny said and I broke into tears as she hugged me.

Jenny hadn't called me Emmy in a long time, she couldn't pronounce my name when we first met in kindergarten and so she'd started calling me Emmy.

"Thanks for being here, Jen." I smiled weakly.

"Of course, you'd do the same for me." She said and pulled me into a hug.

That night Jen and I cuddled together in my bed mostly because we were afraid to be sleeping alone in my house but it was also her way of consoling me and I appreciated it.

The next day we woke up extremely late and for once in my life I considered skipping school, of course Jenny agreed with me but then I remembered Marissa's words and so off we went to school.

From the moment we stepped into the hallway, I knew something was wrong, everyone was pointing and staring at me, they were conversing in hushed tones and some were even smiling at me.

"Hey Emily, what's up?" Olivia said as she walked past me with her minions.

"Heyyyy." I replied, staring at her in shock.

"Didn't think you were so cool." Her minions said and walked behind her.

"What the fuck just happened?" I turned to Jenny and asked my mouth agape, I was so stunned.

In all my almost twelve years of knowing Olivia because we've practically attended the same school since kindergarten, she had never greeted me before and that too without a snide comment.

"Emily, you just cursed." Jenny laughed and I covered my mouth immediately.

"Forgive me, God." I muttered quietly. "What is going on, Jen, where are the bullies? Olivia didn't insult me."

"Yeah, that's a little strange, everyone was waving. I guess after you stood up for yourself against Olivia, they've begun to see what I've always seen. You're cool, Emmy." She said,

"Yeah, no, I'm not convinced. I really don't need this right now, I'm sure Olivia is planning something, she's not the type to let things go, you know that." I said, a little panicked.

"Calm down, Emily, I'm sure it's nothing besides if she tries something, you can be rest assured that I'll make her pay for it." Jenny said and grabbed my arm. "Now, let's go to class before we're late. What do we have again?"

"Mathematics." I said and I instantly felt better.

"Oh no." Jenny groaned.

"Don't you dare spoil it for me." I scolded her and she chuckled.

Everyone was still acting weird as we made it to class, there were more smiles and greetings from some of my classmates that never used to give me the time of day, throughout the math lesson as I answered questions the teacher posed at us there were no snide comments or mocking laughter at least non were directed at me.

I tried not to get too comfortable with their friendliness but I couldn't deny the fact that it felt nice to be seen for once, it felt good to be acknowledged and treated like one of the cool kids.

Children were cruel. I realized as I stood at my locker waiting for Jen to join me so that we could go to the cafeteria together for lunch, they literally had the power to make or break you in their hands.

It was funny how a few smiles and greetings could change my entire mood for the day.

"Oh." I thought to myself as Jen approached me.

"Jen, is there any way anyone could have found out in school about my mom?" I asked her.

"I don't know, I mean parents talk and your mother works at the hospital, there's a possibility, why?" She asked me.

"I guess I'm not really cool." I frowned and shut my locker slowly.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"They're probably nice to me because they found out about my mother." I sighed.

"I'm not so sure about that Jen, these kids are pretty mean, I don't think their heart softened because your mother had an accident, it probably has to do with Ace, you've been seen hanging around him a lot recently, it automatically means you're cool." Jen said.

Ace?

"Yeah, I guess, I mean, have you seen him today?" I asked.

"Nope, he hasn't texted you?" She asked.

"I mean, he might not even know about it." I said and turned my face away so that she could not see the disappointment written on my face.

"Sure, I heard the guys talking, there was a fight at some bar downtown and Ace was involved, I heard he was badly injured." She said and I gasped.

"What! And you're just saying this now?" I glared at her.

"What? It's not like you can do anything about it."

"I know, but I could've called to see how he was doing and I could've…"I trailed off when I noticed that she was staring at me weirdly.

"What?" I asked.

"You like him, Emily, you can't deny it now."

"I-i-i mean, it's-its, c-can't I care, he's hurt." I sputtered out angrily.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say but you know that I can always tell when you're lying, Em."

"Don't call me that." I said and then groaned as I realized that I'd just proved her right.

"Why, because a certain someone calls you that mmh?" She wiggled her eyebrows at me and then chuckled.

"Let's just go and eat in peace please."

As we both walked into the cafeteria I was shocked to see a bunch of people seated at our table, since I began highschool it had only ever been Jenny and I at our lunch table.