Nobody Can Know

Chapter Thirty-Two

                *Emma's POV*

Sammy and I watched amusedly as Nick, Jeannine, and Bekah had a marshmallow war. I laughed at Nick when he got an eyeful of marshmallow. I suddenly felt someone grab my hand. I turned and saw Joey standing there. "Follow me!" he whispered urgently. I followed him through the crowd. Joey snuck around the side of the house and into the garage, where nobody was. "What?" I asked him. He looked at me. "Lauren was coming onto me. The only way she'll stop is if she knows. And if she knows, then really, everybody knows. So should we tell them?" I smiled a bit, but then stopped. "But what if she's angry? What if..." I trailed off, but Joey still knew what was on my mind. "I'll keep you safe," he said, and wrapped his arms around me. We stayed like that for a minute. When we broke apart, he led me into the house and onto the porch. He stepped out first, me following tentatively behind him. He pressed pause on his computer, and the music stopped. Everyone went quiet, and looked at Joey. I gulped. "Hey everyone!" Joey grabbed my hand, pulled me towards him, dipped me down, and kissed me. There was a collective gasp, and everything was silent. My mind was going a mile a minute. Then, the cheers started. Mainly from the girls, but then the guys started whooping too. They loved something new. The quiet girl dating the popular boy. Such a cliche. I smiled into the kiss and wrapped my arms around his neck. He pulled me up and hugged me. We smiled. "Carry on!" Joey shouted. I grabbed his hand, happy to be finally free. I looked around to see almost everyone smiling at us. But then I caught sight of Lauren and her friends standing in a huddle on the edge of the crowd. They were whispering and looking extremely angry. I pressed into Joey. He let go of my hand and wrapped an arm around me. 

We walked over to where my friends were standing. I shrugged out from under Joey's arm and ran over to hug them. They all squealed. Meanwhile, Nick and Joey started talking about music. I looked at Joey. "I'm hungry," I said. He laughed, and led me over to the food tables. I loaded up a plate and stuffed my face. He started laughing at me. We walked out to the yard again, where the sky was almost completely dark. Someone had gotten beer, so people were drinking. I didn't drink, and didn't plan to until it was legal for me to. Joey and I sat down under a tree. It was so nice to be out of school. I leaned my head on his shoulder and relished the moment.