The Tale of Tara and Emiko

III. Tara

I knew more!

So fire had something to do with Emiko's absence. Fire, and her finding out something I wasn't supposed to know.

What could that thing be?

I opened the photos app on my phone, swiping back to see if there were any photos taken on that day. Only one was taken: a selfie of Emiko and me with silly faces. Upon closer inspection, I noticed Emiko's bag was open, and there was a piece of paper poking out. I tried zooming in, but it only got blurrier and blurrier.

Ugh!

Luckily, I knew a girl who was an absolute tech whiz from my sophomore year, Zia Willows. I found her number in my phone, and texted her the picture, waiting for her response.

Hey! So sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you would be able to find a way to enhance this picture? I'm having trouble figuring out what the paper in Emiko's bag says. If you're able to help, please let me know so you can get a spot reserved for you on the guest list for the next party Emiko will be going to! (Psst-I'm pretty sure it's this weekend 😉)

The image is pretty pixelated, but I'll see what I can do. And I appreciate the offer, but I gotta say no. I might end up meeting MIT alumni for coffee that weekend anyway. Thanks for reaching out to me though, I'd thought I'd been forgotten. I'm not that popular with E's friend group.

I didn't forget about you! You were in a lot of my classes in our sophomore year, and I still use a few programs and study tips you gave me back then. We should hang out sometime, catch up with each other.

Alright then. Maybe after graduation? My schedule's pretty hectic up until that date.

Great! Ttyl!

Bye 🙂

I clicked my phone off, softly smiling. It was really nice to talk to someone I was friends with before Emiko showed up in my life. The conversation was a lot more...natural, I decided. Talking to Emiko was hard, mainly because the only things she'd blabber on about were gossip, luxury shopping brands, and her older sister's latest boyfriend.

Part of me shouldn't have wanted to think this, but the other part of me was wondering how freeing life would be without school and Emiko in my life.

Exactly as I'd predicted before, Emiko's next big bash was this Saturday evening, at her house. She had practically a mansion, with a giant pool plus waterslide, fully decked out in LED lights that could be any color your heart desired.

Basically, it was the perfect place for a party-and the perfect place to get some answers.

"Who's got you smiling like that?" Emiko asked as I slid into the shotgun seat of her car. It was really kind of her to personally drive me to her house."You look like you're either madly in love, or about to murder someone."

I laughed, hoping it didn't sound too tense. "I kinda want to be a little more of an extrovert at the party? Like, maybe talk to some people, find some more friends, not be solitary all the time? You make it look so easy, with your huge group of friends and your popularity. You bask in the attention, you shine in the spotlight, and I've spent my whole life trying to avoid all of that. But at the same time, I don't really want to give up my friendship with you, though, so I'm kinda at a crossroads here." My smile faded. "I want to be your friend without losing the parts of myself I like, is that too much to ask?"

Emiko looked shocked, but it was pretty obvious most of it was faked."Oh, Tay, I'm so sorry I ever made you feel that way! Honestly, I wanted to reach out to you to kinda prove you don't have to be beautiful, popular, or smart to be noticed. I wanted to show the public that you could be a nobody, a wallflower, a loner, and still have a hope to be a functioning member of society." Emiko's eyes were on the road, which made her sound a little less believable and simultaneously stopped her from noticing the appalled look on my face. I'd rather that than us getting into an accident, though.

Still, that girl just insulted me five or six times in a single breath while, at the same time, acting like she actually cared.

"You don't have to be like me to be friends with me. Look, we're here!" Emiko pointed across the road, and woah was that wild.

I couldn't even begin to describe it. Not the mansion. I'd seen enough of it when Emiko invited me over for her "study" sessions. No, this was something else entirely.

The house was covered in brightly colored streamers, and rainbow lights could be seen through the curtains. Music was blasting at a volume that seemed to be higher than the maximum. I instinctively shrunk away from the crowd, but Emiko's iron grip on my wrist pulled me through the front gates.

It was a total sensory overload. High schoolers were everywhere, drinking and laughing and dancing and playing games and fighting and arm wrestling and screaming and making out and oh my god there was so much screaming, and I couldn't handle it all, everything was too bright and too loud and too cramped and too much and I was falling, falling, falling, and then suddenly freezing cold-

My head snapped up, the chaos dimming for a short second. Wait. Cold?

Ah. One of the junior boys had insulted a senior, who had punched him in reply, sending the junior's drink flying...right into my face. I wiped off the sticky mystery liquid with a fistful of napkins from a table beside one of the many fancy leather couches in the room.

"HERE, THIS WAY! THE POOL AREA IS A LITTLE CALMER THAN THIS, I PROMISE!" Emiko shouted in my ear above the din. I followed her through the writhing mass of people, nearly losing her once or twice.

She was right, thank god. The backyard was emptier than the house. Sure, there were still a bunch of people playing volleyball with a beach ball in the giant pool, but it was calmer, and you could actually hear the music here. My senses weren't in trouble of imploding here too, so that was a plus. I plopped down on one of the pool chairs, letting out a sigh. Emiko plopped down beside me.

"Hey, you good?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You wanna swim?"

"Uh-"

"I've got a few swimsuits on the smaller side you can borrow. You want one?"

"...sure?"

After getting changed, I slipped into the pool. I'd rather have used the stairs, but the volleyball kids were mainly in that area, so I used the ladder instead, clambering into a donut floatie and hooking my arms over the sides, focusing on the soft ripples of the water. I definitely felt calmer, I decided, slowly waving my legs so it felt like I was floating. Kinda cool.

Later, when the sky twinkled with stars, I munched on a hamburger, pulling the oversized denim jacket Em had lent me around my arms, trying to soak up some more warmth. I'd gotten out of the pool, and some kids were debating on whether to light the firepit to make s'mores. Emiko was in the house feeding her pet poodle, and they thought they'd surprise her with a yummy treat. I was leaning towards the side that wanted to do it since I could use some warmth right about now.

I think I can safely say they did no such thing.

Emiko walked outside just as one of the kids struck the match. Her face paled, and she sprinted over, trying to stop him from lighting the pile of dry wood and newspaper ablaze.

"STOP! Stop, don't you dare do that, stop, stop stop stop STOP!-"

Whatever she was trying to get them to stop doing, it didn't work. Instead, she startled the boy holding the match so badly that he dropped it right into the firepit.

fwooofffshhhh

My eyes widened. I knew! I knew exactly what was going on, I knew Emiko's reason for befriending me, and I knew how she scored so high on the test, and I knew what happened at the party, I knew it all-