Not Every Story is a Fairy Tale

Chapter 17

Emmy turned away from the weather channel, not wanting to listen to something she’d heard every day for the past few weeks. The last week in November, is when the meteorologists began to predict snow, as of yet it hadn’t happened. It was currently winter break and two days before Christmas.

Emmy’s phone buzzed with a text from Summer: Just pulled into the driveway. She picked up her phone and sent Summer a quick reply: Be right there.

Emmy stood to her feet, teetering slightly in the glittery gold heels she wore. She headed towards the office, where her mother was. Emmy knocked on the open wooden door of the office. Her mother glanced up from her computer.

“Hey mom, Summer’s here. So, I’m going to head out,” Emmy said as she slid her phone into her gold clutch.

“Don’t have too much fun and be home before three,” her mother told her.

“I will, bye mom,” Emmy said as she turned.

“Bye Emmy,” her mother’s voice floated down the hallway to her.

Emmy pulled her black pea coat from the hall closet and slid it on. She stepped outside quickly locking the door. And jogging as best she could down the steps and into Summer’s car.

“Hey,” Emmy greeted her as she flipped on the seat warmer.

“Hey,” Summer said as she began backing out of Emmy’s driveway.

“It’s freezing outside,” Emmy said as they began to drive towards Ian’s house.

On the last day of school before winter break, Ian had decided to throw a Christmas party. His parents had given him their blessing. They were going to spend the night with his younger sister at his grandparents. Their only stipulation for Ian, was that the house had to be spotless by nine o’clock the next morning.

“That would be a little something called winter,” Summer pointed out.

“Don’t be a bitch, Summer,” Emmy told her.

Summer shrugged carelessly as she turned down a street; her headlights flashing across the barren trees, “It’s in my nature.”

Emmy rolled her eyes at her friend’s statement as she tried to fix her tight red dress. The dress had ridden up to an uncomfortable height when she’d gotten in the car.

“So Kara and Mia are meeting us there?” Emmy questioned as she stared out the window watching empty, frozen fields fly by.

“Yeah, actually Kara texted me, when I pulled up to your house saying they’d already made it.”

Emmy nodded as Summer turned down Ian’s street. There were cars lined up on either side of the street. All the lights were on in Ian’s house. His parents had decorated the outside festively with Christmas lights. Summer found a spot between two SUVs , three houses down from Ian.

The girls got out of the car and made the freezing walk to Ian’s house. From the sidewalk leading up to his house, it didn’t seem as if a party was going on. The door was shut, and it was pretty quiet. The only thing giving it away were the many shadows on the house lawn.

They hurried up his walkway, and turned the knob of his door stepping into his house. They stepped inside tossing their coats on the pile next to the door. The house looked the same as it always did to Emmy. Except for all the pictures and valuables had been taken down.

“I’m going to see if I can find something to drink that will warm me up,” Summer told Emmy.

“Ok, I’m going to mingle,” Emmy replied and the friends went their separate ways.