Meet and Greet

Chapter 8

Meet and Greet

Chapter 8

"C'mon Emily, hurry up! You don't want to be late for the last day of school!" My mom yelled.

"Yeah, Mom, I kinda do." I said racing down the stairs in a new shirt and jeans. Today is the last day of school and every morning of the last day of school, the principal puts on this ceremony in the morning. It's the cheesiest thing ever. It's like he thinks we're little kids. He brings out guys dressed up in mascot costumes and a bouncy house, like what kind of high school principal brings giant bounce houses to a high school event! I swear he doesn't care about us at all.

"It's not like I actually need to be there! I'm not gonna get an award or anything. Please just let me go, let's say, an hour late?" I pleaded. 

"No! For crying out loud, Emily, just go to school!" 

"But Mom! It's stupid." I said, dragging out the 'Mom'.

"Em, it's not stupid, it's just Principal Johnson's way of congratulating all of you guys. Just think of it as a party." Mom said. 

"Seriously, Mom! It's lame! All of my friends already said they weren't going for the first hour and maybe hour and a half. Even Mackenzie!" I shouted.

"Not everyone. I promised Lauren that you would walk to school with Max today since he doesn't have football practice this morning. She is still so over protective." My mom replied. We call all of our friends parents by their first name. Lauren is Max's mom, Maurine is Tom's mom, and Mackenzie's mom is Sarah. 

Almost like it was planned, when my mom was finished speaking, the door bell rang and I could see Max through the windows. I love having windows by my front door because I can see who's there. If a stranger, or someone important is at the door, than I know I need to brush my hair. If it's one of my friends , than I can answer the door in my pj's or ratty clothes.

I waved Max in. He walked in and set his backpack down beside the door and leisurely toward us. I watched his muscles flex through every step he takes. As soon as Max was in speaking range, he broke the silence.

"Hello Susan, hey Em." He said gesturing to me and my mother.

"Hello Max! It's great to see you! Are you ready to go? Do you need anything before you head out?" My mom asked in that usual 'mom' way that she would do to every single kid, or person on the planet. 

"No thank you Ma'am. I already ate back at my house. Thank you though." He responded. He is always so well behaved and he has such great manners. I wish I had that. My response would've been a simple 'I already ate, thanks.'. 

"Okay, well we better get going. We don't want to be late for the best day of the year!" I said with a cheesy grin and a sarcastic tone. My mother just rolled her eyes in return. I grabbed my back pack, gave my mom a kiss on the cheek, and we left.

"Why have you been hanging out those boys so much?" Max asked as soon as I clicked the door shut. 

"Why do you care? It's not like they are doing anything to me." I replied.

"That's exactly the reason that I care. You have been acting different since you met those guys. It's weird. You have always been the same person to me for years but now suddenly you just change. Why?" 

"I'm not acting different in any way shape or form. They aren't changing me." I said. I knew he was right, I just didn't want to admit it. I had been acting girlier if that's what he's getting at, but is there a problem with that? "Also they are nice guys. You should get to know them, I think y'all would become fast friends." 

"I'm not gonna get to know them. I have a weird feeling about them and I don't really want you to hang out with them either." He said firmly.

"You can't tell me who I can or can not hang out with. You're not my dad!"

"Yeah but I think of you like my sister! You are my best friend and I could never let anything happen to you. If you fall for one of those boys, they won't pick you back up. Either that or they will break your heart. I know how this goes, Emily. Please just understand this."

"I'm not falling for a single one of those boys! I don't 'like' any body and nobody likes me and it will always be that way. I'm glad that you care about me so much but you have to understand to let me do what I need to do. You know I think of you as a brother but sometimes your brother needs to lay back. Now can we please change the subject?" I said, obviously annoyed. 

"Fine." He said. We started walking again. I had just realized we had stopped right infront of one of the houses on our street. It was the house right next to the One Direction house and I know Max didn't want to be anywhere near here. I took his hand and sped up a bit. He gladly walked at my pace. He never let go of my hand but he squeezed tighter and tighter. Once we were far past that ''dreaded'' house, I slowed the pace down, a lot. I searched my mind for something to talk about but Max beat me to it. 

"So do you really want to go to this stupid party?" He asked putting finger quotation marks on 'party'.

"Are you kidding? Of course not! It's the stupidest thing ever!" I said. Max nodded his head in agreement. 

"You know, we don't have to go." He exclaimed.

"You heard what my mom said. She'd absolutley freak if she got a call from school saying that I wasn't there. She would think I was kidnapped."

"Yeah I know." Max said, looking a little bummed. "Maybe we could just take the long way."

"What long way?" I asked.

"Follow me." He said with a wink. 

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Aye guys I'm sooo sorry it's so late but I've been super duper busy. 

Please share, comment, vote, and read both of our stories, Summer 09' and Meet and Greet! 

Expect an update soon!

~ Emily