A Selfie to Die For

8)Prince Charming has a temper

Jake wound up staying the night again, and for that Emily was grateful. She couldn't imagine having to stay alone in the large house until her parents got home. Even though no one was found lurking around the enormous place, Emily was still on slight edge. She heard the squeaky toy being stepped on.
The only possible explanation behind it was Rusty was playing with the toy before running back to the kitchen to sleep. It was odd why his seat was so warm, but Emily waved the entire thought off that it was anything but him.
What was really the alternative to the kitten not being the culprit - someone broke into the house not to steal anything, but to watch Emily while she slept?
That was a creepy thought, one that Emily didn't try thinking about too much. There was no point. They checked every area of the house.







By the time she and Jake got to school that day after stopping at his house to pick up his backpack, Emily finally remembered their conversation earlier that morning regarding Declan. She had to ask him about it.
All through morning announcements Emily thought about possible explanations that could explain away why Declan would say those words to Jake.
She knew her best friend wasn't lying. He was incredibly too upset about the matter that it caused Emily to realize something was truly said.  She mostly suspected heated words were exchanged between the two, and Jake must've said something rather rude to push Declan's buttons.

By the time lunch rolled around, Emily thought it was the perfect opportunity to find Declan to talk to him about it. She was going to eat lunch with Vinessa and Jake, but she found the latter having a rather heated argument with Lauren involving him wearing a pink tux to prom.
Emily had to work hard stifling a giggle hearing that one.

She glanced around the busy café, frowning when she found Miranda Carter was seated by herself in the far corner of the room. Emily made her way over to the quiet girl with her own tray, ignoring the slight glares that were being thrown her way lately for being seen hanging around Declan. Due to the several dirty looks - all from girls -  Emily suspected people knew about the kiss they shared.
It wasn't something difficult to figure out - they had only kissed in a crowded hallway where anyone couldn't been witness to the event, sadly enough.





"Hi Miranda, may I sit here?" Emily asked politely.







Miranda's gaze didn't leave her tray of jello before she shook her caramel colored head. "No, you may not."







That was a strange response. Sensing something was troubling the young woman, Emily took a few more steps until she was standing across from her. "Did someone do something?"
That had to be the case. She didn't want to ask the girl if she was alright when something was clearly troubling her. Emily knew how cruel students could be at name calling and bullying in general. She suspected why she herself wasn't a victim of countless bullies was because Jake was a devil when it came to throwing sarcasm back at individuals. Everyone knew they were close friends. No one could touch Emily verbally unless they wanted a 6'0 hurricane of antagonistic sarcasm attacking them.
Miranda didn't seem as lucky. While Declan was flourishing around school, Miranda was far more withdrawn than her older brother.




Before Emily could receive an answer from the girl, she gasped upon noticing the bottom Miranda's wrist. There was a very distinctive blue and purple bruise that decorated a good majority of her wrist. It was barely visible considering it was hidden underneath her long-sleeved blouse, . Ignoring personal bubble space, Emily sat down her tray and took a seat beside the girl. "Oh my gosh, did you sprain your wrist??"

That definitely explained why Miranda looked so unfriendly - from how swollen her wrist looked, she must be in pain.

"Yeah" Miranda answered halfheartedly, not bothering to look up at Emily's face. She toyed around with her food, not saying anything further.





"Would you like me to escort you to the nurses office?"







"No, I would like to eat alone, thank you" Miranda answered curtly, once again not looking at Emily's face.
Even though a part of Emily wanted to walk away because of the girl's dismissive behavior, she knew from her great grandmother's time of living in a nursing home that sometimes when someone tried getting rid of you it was possibly when they needed you most.