The Next Chapter

Chapter 38

Emery's POV

"What?" I ask her.

"I can't believe she's dead..." I think she's in her own world. She's not listening to me and I don't think she's looking at me either.

"Is she okay?" Andrea asks.

"I want to say yes, but I have no idea." I turn to mom. "Mom!" She snaps out of it.

"I'm sorry." She says tearing up and leaving the room.

"Mom where are you going?" I follow her to the bathroom where she's sitting and throwing up. Why is she reacting like this?

"What's going on?" Dad comes running into the bathroom and holds mom's hair up for her.

"I don't know. We were talking and all of the sudden she ran out of my room."

"What were you talking about?"

"My friend's mom. I just- I don't get it." I'm scared, what's going on?

"Tess, baby? What happened?"

"She's dead Hardin." She cries.

"What? Who?"

"Molly."

Dad's face drops hers did.

"Can someone please explain?!"

"Your mom and I went to the same college as Molly. She wasn't exactly our friend at the beginning but then your mom- Something happened and she helped us."

"You knew my mom?" Andrea's face shows up at the door.

"Yes. But we had no idea that she moved here too." Dad says.

"We lived in the same town for a while, but when she got sick we moved here to get better help. The hospitals here were better than the ones at home."

"I'm sorry for your loss Andrea." Mom says. "I can't imagine what it would be like to lose your mother at such young age." She pauses for a while. "May I ask how she passed?"

"Cancer."

"Oh my God..." Mom breaths out.

"We're really sorry for your loss Andrea". Dad says. "So it's just your dad and you?"

"Yeah, he was a waiter but when mom passed he had to change careers to earn more money to support us."

She looks so sad. I'm sure she misses her mom so much. I have no idea what I'd do if mom died. Or dad. Or Auden. Or the baby. Or Ally. Or J- No. Not him. I mean I don't want him to die but I don't want him to live either. It's weird.

"You want to go back to my room? We can see if Ally wants to come over and watch a movie?" I ask. I feel like I need to get Andrea's mind off of her mom.

"Yeah, that sounds great." She smiles. "Oh! We can watch Footloose."

"Footloose? Never seen it."

"WHAT." Mom yells. "You have never seen Footloose?"

"No...?"

"I failed you." She shakes her head and we all start laughing.

Andrea and I go back into my room and call Ally, she said that she'll be over in a few minutes. In the meantime, we get some snacks. Popcorn, chips and ice cream. TELL ME THAT DOESN'T SOUND DELICIOUS.

She arrives about 15 minutes later and we all get on my bed and start the movie. It's actually pretty good, and I just love the songs.

When we're finished with the movie we put on Captain America: The First Avenger. 

Kind of my choice. Heh.

Kind of forced them. Heh.

Kind of fell asleep. Heh.

I wake up by Ally's arm hitting me. "Ouch!"

"Don't choose a movie and then fall asleep. I don't want you to turn into my mom." She laughs.

I laugh too. "Sorry." I look around, searching for my phone but not finding it. "What time is it?" 

"I don't know... Maybe ten?" Andrea says.

"TEN?!" Ally screams. "Shit! I told mom I'd be back by nine!" She gathers her things and runs to the door. "Got to go! Bye!" And with that, she leaves. Andrea and I are on my bed laughing our heads off. 

"Did you see her face?" I ask, still laughing.

After we've calmed down Andrea calls her dad to come and get her. I follow her down the stairs where she gets her jacket.

"Can you believe that it's Monday and that means that we graduate next week?" I ask her. "Next week!"

"I know! It's crazy how fast time flies by. I thought it was bullshit when people said 'It'll go faster than you think' but now that I'm actually here... It's crazy." I nod and look out the window as a car stops outside. 

"I think your dad is here." I say and point out, she looks out and nods.

"Thank you. Really. I had so much fun." She says and hugs me. It's still weird to see Andrea like this. 

I hug her back. "Thank you for coming. We'll have to do it again sometime." She nods and walks outside. "See you tomorrow at school!" I say as I close the door.

God, I'm tired. I go straight to bed and fall asleep immediately. 

Before I know it I'm in school with all the seniors in the gym. 

"As you know, the school always arrange something fun for the seniors to do before they graduate. Something to remember your classmates by. This year the school has decided to go into the city and do escape rooms!" The principal says. The class goes wild. I guess people really like these. I'm not going to lie. I like them too. No, I love them.

Andrea, Ally and I look at each other thinking how fun we'll have. 

"Still talking!" The principal says, which silences everyone. "They didn't have as many rooms as we had hoped for so we had to divide you up into two large groups and split it between two days. One group will do their escape room the first day and the other group will do theirs the next day. Now-" He says and looks around the room. "I don't want ANY complaints about this next part. You are already split into groups of two and there will be NO changing." 

I swear to fucking God.

I can't even focus on all of the other names, I just wait till I hear mine.

"...and in escape room 18 we have Emery Scott and Jake Evans." 

You've got to be kidding me...

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Hehehe.