The Way Things Change

Chapter 7

I got to Nick's house with the rest of my stuff from Katy's house and I dropped it off in Vicki's (Nick's mom) room and went back into the living room. Nick gets up as soon as I walk in the room. "Emily what if the killer really is one of us? Then we just put 5 other people in a confined space with them." He says.

"If the killer is one of us they probably wouldn't kill one of us." I say.

"Really? Tell that to Alexus." He says and a flash of regret comes on his face for a second. "I'm sorry Emily I didn't mean-"

"No, Nick you're right, but that's why we're doing this. We are going to stay together so we will know if someone is acting really weird when we talk about her, and to maybe help catch the killer." The doorbell rings throughout the house. "Whether it's one of us or not." I say to Nick. I open the door and Seth walks in and throws his bag down.

"What are we going to do tonight roomies?" He asks as he plops down on the couch, I sit down next to him and lay my head on his shoulder

"Well first we need to wait for everyone else to get here so we can talk about everything that's happened." Nick says. The door opens and Dawson steps inside and stands next to me, so close to me I can feel the heat coming off of him. Nick looks at me then at Dawson and then asks "Okay so where's Katy and Payton?"

"They should be here any minute." Seth says. We all turn to look at him.

"And how do you know that?" I ask with my hands on my hips.

"I just got a text from Payton saying she's almost here and her and Katy are carpooling so therefore they will both be here in a minute." Seth says. I pull out my phone and check it, nothing from Payton.

"Oh did she not text you, weird, right?" Seth says to me and smiles at me. I kick his leg and he stands up and says "Oh you started it now." Nick smiles so wide he looks like a clown and Dawson asks "What's going on?"

"The biggest showdown since Thanksgiving." Nick says.

"Which I won by the way." I say and then Seth comes at me. I sidestep Seth and get where he was just standing. Seth turns around and smiles at me, he comes at me again and I sidestep again, but this time I throw my leg out and hit his stomach. I can hear Dawson and Nick yelling and I grab Seth's arm and twist it behind his back. The doorbell rings and the door opens again, but I don't let him go.

"You know you're supposed to anticipate the other persons move." I say to Seth. I can hear Katy telling Dawson and Payton that both Seth and I have done kick boxing and karate for 4 years. Seth says "And you're not supposed to let your guard down." Seth says.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask. Seth brings his free elbow up to my stomach and elbows me lightly but hard enough to make me let go of him.

I immediately do a spin kick but Seth catches my leg and keeps it in place. I put all my momentum on my other leg and kick up off the floor towards his side. The kick lands and he lets me go, I catch myself on the floor and push up and stand up. Yet again yells from the group make their way over to us. He is already standing up too and throws a punch which I easily block and back up, he keeps throwing punches and I keep blocking them and keep backing up until my back hits the wall and Seth puts his forearm against my neck. The room is quiet then and Seth asks "Would you say I won this one?"

"No." I say and kick him in the thigh, hard. He goes down and I put my knee on right below his throat and say "I won." He pushes me off him and puts his sweaty armpit in my face.

"Seth! You're so nasty." I yell. and push him away but then start laughing as everyone else comes up to us. Payton wraps her arm around my shoulder then immediately pulls it off and says "You're sweaty." Seth pulls his shorts up enough to see the bruise already forming on his thigh. "I'm sorry Seth." I say genuinely meaning it and he shakes his head and says "It's no big deal." He wraps his arms around me and Nick says "At least no one has any broken bones this time."