Emily's Escape

Chapter 17

Monday

"Emily, hi," a voice spoke behind me. I closed my locker and turned to the girl. Ashley, of course. She was smiling a fake smile and curled a strand of her hair around her finger. She was giving me huge Mean Girls, Regina George vibes, and I just wasn't in the mood for that right now.

"What?" I sighed. I wanted this to be over with quickly. She gasped and looked a Nina behind her shoulder.

"Rude much? We just wanted to know if you and Carter are dating," Nina asked and looked to the ground. Why would they want to know that? We weren't, but it's not like they would have a chance anyway. He didn't like them.

"No, we're not," I mumbled and grabbed my bag from the floor. Ashley raised an eyebrow and gave Nina a look.

"Look, I told you they weren't dating, she's too ugly. You should've believed me, Nina," Ashley snickered and left. Nina stood behind and lifted her head to catch my eyes.

"I don't think you're ugly by the way. I'm sorry," she said and started to walk away. "Does Carter like me?" she said while spinning on her toes. She looked sincerely nervous.

"Uhm, I don't know," she nodded and took a breath.

"Can you ask him?" she bit her lip and gave me a small smile. She wanted me to ask Carter if he liked her? That would be a weird conversation. Also, would he say yes? What if he did? What if he wanted to date Nina?

"Uhm sure, I gotta go now," I said and hurried away.

My whole next class I couldn't stop thinking about the conversation I was going to have with Carter.

'Hey, do you like Nina?'

'Yup, I want to date her'

What if it went like that? I knew it probably wouldn't, but what if? Maybe he wouldn't be as straightforward, but maybe something like it. I felt sick by the thought. I wanted Carter to want me, want me to see his fights, to laugh with me, to hold me.

Wait, what? Stop thinking like that.

I shook my head and concentrated on the lesson, though it was hard.

I bit my nails nervously as I waited for Carter. We had texted, and I told him to meet me here. I was going to ask him about Nina, I had promised her that.

I saw Carter walking down the hall and waved at him. He smiled and waved back.

"Hey," he said and embraced me in a hug. My heart fluttered and my stomach made a flip.

"Hi, can we go outside? I have to ask you something, and I don't want everyone around." He nodded and we walked to the doors. I couldn't help but look at Carter. He was wearing a gray V-neck and some dark blue jeans. He looked really good.

Seriously, what's up with me today?

"What did you want to talk about?" Carter asked and sat down on one of the bleachers. I sat down next to him and took a breath. I felt nervous and played with the hem of my sweatshirt.

"I don't know how to ask this, so I'm just going to ask... Do you like... Nina?" he burst out laughing. I looked at him confused. What was so funny? Did he like her? Was he laughing because it was supposed to be obvious?

"Emily... Are you serious?" he looked at me with tears in his eyes from laughing. I nodded. He laughed again and tried hard to breathe through the laughter.

"Carter, what?" I asked feeling insecure. I wasn't following. He stopped laughing and looked at me. He then laughed again.

"Emily, it's cute, you just... You just can't see it, can you?" he asked when he finally stopped laughing. I shook my head.