A Selfie to Die For

9) Watched

"Somebody's watching me" by Michael Jackson



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Emily knew the entire situation with Declan in the music room had been bizarre at best. He was never normally so cold. Granted, she had only known the young man a short period of time, but she figured if he was always temperamental  like that, Emily would've have noticed it sooner. She ultimately figured she had just caught him on a very bad day.
Her opinion changed by the time classes had ended later that day. Emily tried approaching Declan to talk to him on two separate occasions.
One time in the hall after History, Declan put a single finger up as if to silence Emily while he approached a random girl in the hall. He proceeded to ask the pretty blonde about some project in class, and then he laughed a little too loudly when the girl said a lame joke that Emily thought wasn't particularly funny.
The next time Emily tried approaching him after school ended, she was greeted with a strong silent treatment that was incredibly cold. When she tried asking him a question, Declan stuck his nose in the air and refused to answer her.
Emily gave up at that  point. If Declan wanted to ignore her, she wasn't going to chase around after him as Rusty would chase a toy ball.
Declan attempted to approach her after she shared a conversation with Jake near her car, but at that point she just got into her truck and left. She didn't know why he was being so rude, but she didn't really care to have a public spectacle about it.
Declan then attempted to call her four separate times, but Emily let them all go to voicemail.






She then called Vinessa when  she pulled into the parking lot of the downtown YMCA for art class later on in the evening. Emily thought she needed some girl advice on what she said that got Declan so miffed. She tried not letting that it looked like he was flirting with another girl bother her, but it was hard. It all struck Emily as something that she thought he was intentionally doing in a bid to get under her skin.




"You accused him of lying??" Vinessa groaned over the line. Emily could practically see Vinessa's eyes closing in exasperation.  "Girl, you don't accuse a guy of lying....Plus, how do you think Declan would lie over Jake!?"




Emily had to distance the  phone from her ear due to Vinessa's high-pitched volume. She could sometimes talk a little too loudly without really meaning to.
"I didn't accuse him of lying....All I was trying to ask was what was said, and he then got really defensive about it."






"Because it sounded like you were accusing him of lying, Em!" Vinessa sighed bitterly. "What happened after school when you tried talking to him?"






"He ignored me.....Well, that's not true.....he flirted with another girl in front of me before he ignored me." Emily explained bitterly. "And after what happened with Peter....Declan just seemed like a real jerk, so I didn't want to stick around to talk to him."






"Peter can sometimes be annoying, though..." Vinessa allowed.






Emily shook her head even though she was in the parking lot and Vee had no way of seeing her. "You weren't there.....He corrected his speech, and you could just tell he was just trying to be more attacking to Peter than anything else."





"How can anyone purposely be mean to Peter?" Vinessa wondered aloud before gasping. "Oh! You totally missed it - Lauren and Jake were arguing over him wearing a pink tux to match her dress, and then Lauren said maybe I just wont go with you. Wanna know what Jake said next??"





Emily winced. "Do I want to know what he said next?"
She knew it most likely was not anything nice.





"Damn straight" Vinessa laughed. "He said and I quote, you say that like I'm supposed to care. You should've seen the look on Lauren's face after that, people were laughing!"

"That sounds like Jake" Emily agreed, suppressing a groan. She really wished he wouldn't have bothered asking Lauren to prom if he was just going to flake on her. Lauren would be an all-around terror to put up with at the reporting club meeting tomorrow if she were suddenly dateless to prom with only two weeks to go before the shindig. She was really bubbly, but Emily has heard around the girls bathroom that Lauren Hodges had the ability to be a huge gossip if you ticked her off.




It was as Emily tucked her cell phone between her ear and shoulder while closing her truck door did she develop an eerie feeling. She glanced around the very crowded parking lot, feeling someone's eyes on her. Making sure to lock her car, Emily made her way to the front of the building.

Vinessa started to ramble about having to study, but Emily cut her off. "Could you stay on the line with me a few more minutes? I'm in the parking lot of the Y and it's creeping me out walking alone."

Vinessa chuckled. "Sure, girl. Aren't you a safety scout....I barely notice when I'm walking alone places."
She started to talk about matching jewelry she found for the yellow prom dress she recently acquired, but Emily was barely listening as she glanced around the crowded parking lot. She had the same bizarre feeling she did when she was at work the one night cleaning up the watery mess. She felt someone was watching her.





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A near two hours later, Emily was making her way out of the building and back towards her truck when Peter trailed behind her through the glass doors. "I don't think I should sign up for the art show..."

This had been a back and forth discussion between the pair for the last twenty minutes. Emily was adamant Peter should sign up, Peter was embarrassed people might make fun of him.
"Pete!" Emily scolded gently. "You're really gifted. It would be an incredible waste if you of all people weren't presented at the show."






Peter frowned, staring at his scuffed up shoes as he followed Emily. "Charlotte says I waste time drawing."






Emily had to resist scowling. Peter's older sister wasn't her favorite person by any means. She'd only met his sister on a handful of occasions, but Emily automatically came to a conclusion she never vocally said aloud to anyone. Charlotte Mccarri was a class-A bitch. That was rather serious coming from Emily - she doesn't like to judge people let alone name call.
Peter's sister just wasn't a nice person. Charlotte was a recently graduated student who was going to some in-town university for a psychology degree. Charlotte was a no-nonsense type of person who in Emily's opinion took things entirely too seriously. She always seemed angry at Peter, and for what Emily wasn't sure of - he was a really nice boy who kept himself out of trouble.
"Peter, I know you want to sign up for the show" Emily reasoned gently. "No pretending otherwise."







Peter bit his bottom lip as he gave a small shrug.
"What are you worried about?" Emily asked curiously. She knew why she herself wasn't entering the contest - she was a terrible artist who made the freakiest looking clay pots and vases. She could paint well, but her molding abilities were atrocious. Peter practically begged Emily to be in his class, so that was actually the only reason she signed up for it.

"Mmhmm." Peter shrugged, still staring at his shoes. A goofy grin suddenly made its was across his lips as he looked up. "Wanna see my portfolio?? I have to finish trace outlines, but still!"






Emily near chuckled over how quickly the boy could go from sad to happy. It was similar to a light-switch. She examined in awe as Peter quickly flipped through his notepad, different drawings passing by at a quickened speed. Peter was talented at charcoal drawings - Emily could make out different places and individuals in every picture. One was of John Addams High, another was of the old shed out on the school property. Emily recognized familiar classrooms along with faces of people around school. Mrs. Johnson the Algebra teacher, the elderly Principal Moore, and there were even a few of his sister along with a picture of a man labeled Jackson.
It was as Peter neared the end of the book did he beam as he showed Emily the picture. She recognized it - it was herself.
Emily sat at the small center molding a flower vase to surprise her grandmother with for her birthday. This was just today. Vases were practically the only sculpture Emily was able to craft. Peter was a very talented artist. His charcoal drawing captured everything about Emily in that given moment. The creases of her shirt, the posture of her entire body. He even captured the way her hands shaped the vase and the way her feet were pointed as she sat.
Emily's brows had been furrowed in the drawing as she watched the vase carefully. Peter was good. He even captured her facial expression perfectly.




It wasn't anything about Emily's structure in the drawing that had her suddenly frowning. It was the back of the picture, in the far window that looked in on the small art room of the Y. It was a hooded object, that looked remarkably like a person decked out in a hoodie. The person's face was absolutely concealed, making them appear frightening to look at as they looked in through the window.
"Peter, what's that supposed to be?" Emily asked, trying to re-grab his attention as Peter now adamantly spoke of colored pencils. She figured maybe the cloaked person was supposed to stand for some type of artistic meaning - a type of silent way to express creativity as their art teacher was always trying to encourage.




Peter looked to where Emily was pointing before he gave a small shrug. His boyish face smiled wistfully showing he was proud of capturing that entire moment. "That's the guy in the window who watched you the entire class."