The English Teacher ➳ Emison

Chapter 20 | Tide Over

"I just don't understand how Mr. Sheldrik could give me an A- on an airtight thesis like the one I wrote," Spencer rattled heatedly, stabbing the dry lettuce on her plate repeatedly with her fork. "Why the minus?"

"It's still an A, Spence," Toby tried to soothe her by her side, "now, come on, you have to eat–"

"I mean, he was the one who nominated me for a Golden Orchid last year, he always gives me an A+. This is absurd," Spencer piped up, shooting an incredulous look at Aria across the table. "Right?"

The brainiac kept complaining, not waiting for an answer, and Aria would've found the whole argument comical, if she hadn't been highly distracted by something else. She kept her gaze fixated on the bowl of grapes on her tray even as Hanna and Caleb joined the lunch table. She just couldn't get her mind off the topic of Emily.

Aria hadn't tried talking to the girl about what she had seen outside the restaurant in Philly. She frankly wouldn't even know what to say. Out of all the girls, she figured she would have some comments to make about Emily's situation, but she couldn't bring herself to articulate them, too much in shock to do so. She used to think Emily was so sweet and innocent that she wouldn't have lied to any one of them about a relationship like that, but this completely torpedoed her thesis.

"Okay, Spence, we get it!" Hanna cut in, stopping Spencer's long-winded rant in its tracks. "You got a minus instead of a plus this one time. Now, eat your stupid salad, or I'll be borrowing your hundred-year-old sewing machine to stitch my ears shut."

Spencer narrowed her eyes and muttered under her breath as she resumed to stabbing her crunchy lettuce.

Emily came over with her lunch tray and sat down next to Spencer, oblivious to the conversation. Upon the swimmer's late arrival, Aria found herself spying on the doors of the cafeteria.

"What's wrong?" Emily asked a dejected Spencer, which only got the brainiac to fuss again, causing Hanna to groan out loud, not caring that people at the adjacent tables glanced her way oddly.

Aria's hazel eyes continuously shifted to the entrance, widening a bit when she saw Ms. DiLaurentis walking in. Her gaze flew over to Emily, who was speaking casually, seemingly not seeing anything out of place.

Aria did the math in her head. Emily came to lunch from English class, the same one as Toby's, who was there at least ten minutes before her. And Ms. DiLaurentis, who taught that class, only came to the cafeteria now, with Emily cutting it a mere minute before her. This had to have meant Emily stayed behind talking to her all this time. Aria's head spun as she considered the amount of times this had happened this year and she hadn't thought much of it. Now, looking back, she should've known it was a bit suspicious.

Aria didn't notice she was blatantly staring at Emily until the taller brunette raised her eyebrows, innocently questioning, "What?"

"Nothing," Aria forced herself to fake a harmless grin, "h-have you done something new with your hair?"

Emily looked at her quizzically, "Uh... no. It's the same."

"Oh," Aria lamented, "I guess I just imagined it, then."

Emily gave her a small nod, returning to her conversation with Spencer. Fortunately, nobody noticed Aria's weird state, which allowed the girl to simply switch her view every few minutes from one of her best friends to the teacher on the other side of the cafeteria.

The key to all of this was Emily's car. It was unmistakably recognizable with the 'Go Sharks' sticker that Emily had stuck on its gas tank door a few years ago and hadn't been able to peel off since, and the tiny scratch of paint on one of the back doors from when Emily's car was fixed at the beginning of the school year.