A Selfie to Die For

6)Personal space

Chapter song: "Creep" by Michelle Branch



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Emily had always found herself as someone who was able to disappear within a large crowd. That changed upon the first few days of officially being seen hanging around Declan Carter. It was when he came up and enveloped her in a hug after class one day that Emily realized a small audience was watching them. Numerous girls that she recognized from class or tables at lunch stared at her with a hungry type of envy.




Even Lauren Hodges stared at Emily hugging Declan back. Even though no one said anything, Emily could automatically tell what they were all thinking. What does he see in someone like her?
She couldn't blame them.
If she were honest with herself, Emily couldn't really tell what Declan was liking about her. Maybe it was low confidence, but she couldn't understand his appeal for her.
She and Jake made up after their small spat, but he was still adamant there was something wrong with Declan, much to Vinessa's amusement. Emily wondered if he was miffed at something - he'd purposely been avoiding coming over ever since the incident at the house over the weekend.





Even though Emily knew Jake better than practically anyone, she couldn't see what had him so wound up. He was adamant Declan was bad news, but that seemed like a complete joke. The only genuine problem the Declan seemed to have was he always had too many people constantly buzzing around him wanting to be his friend. He was good-looking, smart, funny, and it didn't hurt that the guy lived in a mansion in an extremely wealthy area of Dallas. The party he was throwing this weekend just happened to help boost his popularity he already had. No one really left the guy alone because everyone wanted to get to know him.

"How's your day, darling?" Declan asked politely, silently slipping his hand to wrap around Emily's smaller one.






"Going well....It got even better when a cute British guy came up to me in the hallway." Emily nodded seriously before breaking out in a chuckle. She was slowly learning how to flirt with the opposite sex, little by little. Vinessa would be so very proud of her.







"Oh no....I'm terribly jealous." Declan grinned, sparing her a small wink. "Is the bloke anyone I know?"




"I don't think so....He's a new student originally from England" Emily played along, suppressing a grin as she tried - and failed - to remain serious.





"God, you're both hilarious and cute - a deadly combination." Declan agreed, watching Emily as she undid her locker. He watched her lips for a moment, but Emily wasn't anticipating Declan quickly leaning down and in,  pressing his warm mouth against hers as his hands gripped the top of her shoulders.
Emily's mind stopped working for two reasons. The first being this was her first kiss with Declan. Even though they had gone out three times the last few days, the slow way Declan now pressed his lips against Emily's  was the first time he's ever done such a  thing.
As Emily hesitantly allowed her soft lips to press back against his, her second realization was remembering this wasn't just her first kiss with Declan - this was her first kiss in general. She'd never kissed a boy before now. Declan was the more experienced one by far as he pressed his lips against hers a tad harder. As soon as Emily closed her eyes, Declan stepped closer, pressing her against the hard lockers.
He soon gently cupped both sides of her neck before pulling away, a grin to him. "I think I may have wanted to do that since first meeting you" he said softly, his fingers gently caressing her neck.







"Good! Then you wont have regrets while being  placed in detention for your make out session" a familiar voice sighed in annoyance.




Emily and Declan both turned to find coach Cartwright standing behind them, his eyes narrowed. The tall man had with him a bag of soccer balls and a clipboard. Emily winced while instantly remembering the John Addams code of conduct. There is no amount of PDA kissing-wise supposed to be shown on campus.
This was because of a rather ugly incident involving two foreign exchange students when they conducted very inappropriate behavior inside the  janitors closet last semester. Ever since then, John Addams High has been quick to shut down any kissing being witnessed with minor punishments. It was unfortunate coach Cartwright just happened to be in the hallway at the exact moment Declan kissed Emily.




"I don't quite understand - detention for showing affection?" Declan asked, his voice full of surprise. He looked baffled by such a statement. His grey eyes were wide with shock.






"What is going on, here?" A new voice asked, coming into view. Emily soon spotted the new assistant teachers aide. According to the ever so reliable school rumor mill, the new guy had taken on a job as a teacher's aide while he was finishing getting his masters in publishing. Girl's were cooing over the new guy almost as much as they were cooing  over Declan's arrival.
Coach Cartwright turned to find Mr. Turner standing behind him.





"Two students messing around in the hallway" coach Cartwright shrugged. "They get detention."




Mr. Tuner rolled his eyes lightly. Emily hadn't had him in her class yet, all she really knew about the guy was he was bouncing from room to room assisting different teachers while his last semester of college was in progress.
"I believe Edmund, it's only detention if the students don't already know the school policy" Mr. Turner pointed out. "I happen to know Mr. Carter is a new student who transferred from a London-based school, he wouldn't have been made clear of this new rule. That would hardly seem fair punishing the boy for not knowing the only-recently made rules."






Coach Cartwright released a snort as Emily noticed Declan seemed annoyed by the teacher's aide usage of the word boy. The look on his face was rather cold.
"This gal is on the school newspaper - she knows the rules" Cartwright said, nodding his head at Emily.





Mr. Tuner carefully poked his head around the coach to spot Emily standing behind him. A blush invaded Emily's cheeks as the young man watched her. This was the most embarrassing thing a person could live through after experiencing their first kiss. 
Mr. Turner's brows raised before shrugging. "Guess that means you get detention, miss Daz."





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Emily couldn't help but wonder how the aide knew her last name.
Declan had attempted to protest that the kiss was solely his fault, but no amount of attempted persuasion on his part changed the mind of coach Cartwright.
Even though Mr. Turner seemed more on the fair side of this newly registered rule to disagree with it, he ultimately didn't get a say in the matter. Technically, he wasn't actually a member of the faculty.



This meant Emily had detention. It was she either had the option of staying after school that day to clean up the gym, or coming back this weekend to do a group detention in study hall. This was no mental debate. Everyone knew cleaning was a far better detention than study hall. That meant sitting around for up to five hours on a Saturday with a group of unsavory individuals who had done far worse to get themselves thrown into detention. The last time Jake had been there for back talking to the principal, he claimed the goth girl October Miller had tried getting others to smoke pot with her after detention was over.





Emily grew very bored organizing the basketballs. According to coach Cartwright, they had to be in alphabetical order based on the brand names. It wouldn't really be so terrible of a feat to accomplish if not for the fact there were over thirty balls in all. It was a very slow process. Gathering the left out basketballs, and then placing them in the correct areas was also very boring.




Emily spent her time thinking about the rumor regarding Cartwright and the underage girl. It was a juicy piece of gossip that would be perfect to reveal for the paper, but Emily had trouble seeing what appeal a girl could have in the hotheaded coach. He was good looking - tall, with wavy blonde hair and a nice athletic build - but he had a rather negative attitude that Emily didn't find attractive in the slightest. What was so appealing about an older guy who was almost always covered in dirt and sweat anyhow?





Eventually an hour and a half passed by, and Emily felt certain she finally managed to organize every last basket ball, soccer ball, and tennis ball. Coach Cartwright didn't clarify whether the tennis balls were to be an alphabetical order, but Emily deemed that thought too ridiculous to even entertain. She just packed them away in the large container. She'd successfully accomplished her detention, the only thing left now was to go home.






It was making her way out the gym door with her backpack that Emily realized there wasn't really anyone left at this time of day. It was still light outside with the sun setting, but there was no one fluttering around the school. All after school sports either finished up, or were outside somewhere on campus running conditioning drills. There was no one inside the school as the majority of lights were shut off.


Part of Emily wondered if anyone realized she was actually still inside the school to turn off all the lights. They wouldn't have locked her in accidently - would they have?