Meet and Greet

Chapter 9

Meet and Greet

Chapter 9

**Max's POV** 

"Follow me." I said without thinking. I grabbed Emily's hand and took a couple of steps forward. What am I thinking? Emily's mom would never let me do this! She can barley stay home when she's sick! She definitely won't let a boy take her to skip school. But what the heck! It's the last day of school. I started walking again. I looked back at Emily and she had a kinda scared look on her face. I flashed her a smile and her fear disappeared.

I've been needing to spend some time with her lately. Emily has been spending all of her free time with those stupid British boys. It's getting quite annoying if I do say so myself. You know what, I don't even want to talk about them any more.

"Max where are we going?" Emily asked. 

"Don't worry, we're almost there." I replied. After a couple minutes we were at the old play house that we went to as kids. I hadn't been there in years and I don't think Emily had been either. 

"We're here." I said with a giddy grin. I stepped out of her way and a huge smile came upon her face.

"Oh my god, Max!" She said. "I haven't been here since I was like 7."

"Same goes for me. I thought we could hang out here just like we did 8 years ago. Not caring about anything that's going on in our lives and just play pretend or a board game or just anything." I said.

"I would love that." She said. Her voice sounded sweet and almost child like. The next thing I know, I'm back 8 years ago with Emily. I miss those days. Being able to be best friends with a girl without it being anything more. But I wouldn't mind it being something more. I don't think. Stop thinking Max. You do it to much. I just need to have fun with Emily. 

We walked into the playhouse and all of our old stuff was there. All of our old board games, our toys- Emily's dolls and my action figures, and all of our old furniture. We had a mini chair and a couch and all those pretend kitchen appliances and utensils. 

"What do you want to do?" Emily asked. "We can play dress up, play with action heroes, we can-" 

"Let's play action heroes!" I interrupted. She looked at me with a straight face and burst into laughter. 

"What? Can't a guy play with action figures without being made fun of?" I asked.

"No, he can't.'' She said through laughter.

~

For the next 45 minutes, we laughed and played action figures where Emily's dolls were in danger and my super heroes had to save the damsel in distress. It was just like a couple years ago. Like when I could hold Emily's hand all around school and it being ''so cute''. 

After a while of speaking through our characters, Emily brought me back to reality.

"I wish we could become our characters. There would never be any trouble in our little city." 

"We would call our town Mamily." I said laughing. Emily gave me a puzzled look.

"Max and Emily. Mamily." I explained. "And we would be the co-mayors. There would be no crime and everyone would always be happy. They'd have to be because it's perfect." 

"But that's only in a perfect life." Emily sighed. "And my life is far from perfect. You on the other hand, you have it all. I wouldn't be surprised if you grow up and you do become the mayor of your own town."

Moments of silence passed by then I had something to ask that I never thought I would say.

"Why do you always think so lowly of yourself? You always think that you are the last person on earth that anyone would like, which is definitely not the truth. Why?"

Emily thought about it for a moment. It looked like she was judging whether it was safe to tell me or not.

"You can trust me, I am your best friend." I said thinking I read her mind. Immediately she talked back.

"It's not that I don't trust you, It's just that it's kind of embarrassing." She said. I nodded as if trying to say 'well go on then'. "It all started in sixth grade. Don't you remember that girl Marissa Patree? Well she seemed nice and sweet and popular to everyone, including me, until I spilled my juice on her in fifth period. The teacher told us we could have a snack it we brought one and I did. I had a juice box and some goldfish and I was parched. I took out my juice box really fast and I tried to poke a hole in the top but it didn't work. Next thing I know, I jam my straw in and juice starts splurting out everywhere! It got all over Marissa's new outfit and her homework. I thought she would forgive me but Marissa was a little more shallow than that. She claimed that I did it on purpose and told everyone that I was trying to steal her popularity. If anything I was trying to hide it her shadow." She exclaimed.

"Okay, well what does this have to do with your low self-esteem?" I asked. 

"I wasn't finished yet." She said. "You see, Marissa swore she would make my life miserable and when no one was looking, she would either trip me, or slip me a note saying that I was ugly and had no friends. Or she would tell her friends to stay away from me. I only had like three friends and they kinda had to be friends with me." She said.

"Mackenzie, Tom, and I chose to be friends with you. We could've left you if we wanted to but we couldn't even think about that. Emily, you are beautiful and smart and fun to be around. You need to let that go, it was in sixth grade for crying out loud! Just forget about her." I said trying to calm her down. Then I realized a tear traveling down her face. I walked over to where she was sitting and planted myself next to her. I pulled her head into my chest and wiped her tear away. This was big. Emily never cries. I think the last time she cried was when she broke her leg, and she barely shed tear when that happened. 

The important thing is that I understand Emily better. I had no idea that any of this had happened. I have to admit that she wasn't herself after sixth grade. She was quieter and she kind of kept to herself more. She wasn't as popular but for that reason, everyone was talking about her. They were all wondering what happened to the Emily we all know and loved. The loud and energetic Emily that we missed. And I still miss her, a lot. 

"I'm sorry, Emily. I had no idea any of this happened." I said with sympathy in my voice.

"That's because I've been trying to cover it all up. Everyday when I came home from school, I was hurting inside. I felt like I wanted to curl up in a ball but I had to stay strong. I have always told myself I wasn't allowed to cry, and that has gotten me here. Years and years of tears all coming out all at once." She said. 

Now this really hurt me. I didn't know any of this had happened and now I feel very bad. I should've noticed. I should've said something. 

I wish I could redo the last four years. I would have saved Emily. I'd be her superman. 

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Hey guys I updated on time! YAY! And I think it's long, but that's just me. 

Sooooo we might come out with another story but it's still in the works. Tell us if we should start a new one. 

Read, vote, comment, and follow! Keep up the good work. 

~Emily