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Chapter nine

When I wake up the next morning, I have a headache(note to self, don't cry half the night then go to bed late.) I sit up and rub my forehead, heading to the bathroom to find the tylenol.
"Emma? Are you up?" Mom asks.
"Yeah."
"I need to go to the grocery store, do you want to come with me?"
"No thanks, my head hurts, I think I'm just gonna lie down after this."
"Okay, anything special from the store?"
"No thanks."
"I'll be back, get some rest okay? You had a rough night." We all did and it's because of me.
"I will. See you later." I go to my room and lie down, staring at my ceiling. My phone chimes but I ignore it, I don't have the energy to carry on a conversation right now. When it chimes a second time, I turn it on silent.  I don't like ignoring my friends, but I don't want to talk to anyone, I just want to sleep.
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I sleep most of the day, and when I wake up, I'm starving. I go downstairs to find that dinner is done already.
"Oh good, you're awake, dinner is done, we didn't want to wake you up, but it should still be warm."
"Okay." I grab a plate and fill it. "Is it okay if I eat upstairs? I'm still kind of tired."
"Yes, just make sure to bring your plate down."
"I will." I go back upstairs and eat, then take my plate down and put it in the sink. "Dinner was good."
"Are you feeling okay? You look pale." Dad says.
"Yeah, I'm just tired, and my head kind of hurts."
"Get some rest, honey. You need it."
"I will, dad." I hug them and go back upstairs, even though I'm tired, I can't sleep. I toss and turn for a while, then finally give up and grab a book off my desk. If I can't sleep, I may as well read, I haven't read a book for fun since Eli died, I barely wanted to read anything, except the letters, those were the exception. I read until my eyes start burning and watering from being tired, then I turn out my light and go to sleep.
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"So, are you feeling any better?" Sarah asks me the next day while we're in line at the coffee shop.
"Yeah, I am."
"That's good. We didn't end up going to the drive-in, by the way, too cold."
"Yeah, I didn't feel like freezing to death so we just stayed in."
"That sounds fun too, are you guy busy tonight?"
"Nope."
"Cool, do you want to come over? We can watch movies or something, my parents will be at a Halloween party."
"Yeah, that sounds fun, I'll get some candy, we can watch scary movies and eat candy."
"I can make a pizza and some fries." I say.
"And I can bring soda."  Kayla adds.
"What are we going to do on Halloween? The carnival right?"
"Yeah, I'll be there around eight, so we should arrange a meeting place."
"How about the ticket booth?" I ask.
"Yeah." Sarah says. "That works."  We get our coffee and head to the park. We find an empty picnic table and sit down. After we finish our coffee, we go to the store and get what we need, grabbing a few extra things on the way out.
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By the time we get back to my house, my parents have already left to go to the party. They left twenty five dollars on the table and a note: Emma, we'll be out late tonight, so we left you some money to order a pizza, invite some friends over so you don't have to be alone, we love you.
I pick the money up from the table and go into the living room.
"My parents left money here, so if you guys want, we can order a pizza."
"Sounds great."
"Yeah, that way no one has to cook anything."
"What kind of pizza does everyone want?"
"Pepperoni." Sarah says.
"That works for me." Kayla says.
"Pepperoni it is, then."