MPHFPC HIGH SCHOOL AU

7

I hope you're as confused as I was. I had the question "Who the hell is Julia?" at the tip of my tongue, but after seeing Emma's expression I saw that she's somebody close to her and after seeing her reaction a moment later, when she completely swallowed the truth, I saw that she's someone very very close to her.

"You can go now," I heard another voice and as I turned around, I saw Fiona and Hugh standing in the doorway. I wanted to stay and tell Emma that I'm sorry for her loss, but I didn't feel comfortable doing that in front of everyone else, so I just gulped and left. Hugh gave me a weak smile and before I exited the room, I gave Emma one more sad look and saw that she was now hugging Fiona, sobbing, while tears were running down her cheeks and moisturizing Fiona's shirt.

And then I walked out, but being a Portman I couldn't not listen to the rest of the conversation so I hid behind a curtain and waited for the Headmistress to arrive. She was a tall woman with weird hair and big eyes. She hurried into the room, but all she said was that she was sorry and that everyone will understand if she doesn't want to go to the funeral. Then she left and after a few minutes of silent sobbing and people saying they're sorry, I left.

Emma wasn't in school for the next three days. On the fourth day, I decided to text her. I got her phone number a few days ago and I never thought I'd need it, but my life was empty without spending the afternoons with Emma and my father started being suspicious.

"How come you suddenly aren't examining the slugs anymore?" he asked. "I thought you were gonna do it for the entire semester.

"I am," I responded. "But there aren't any slugs out there now." Then, before he could ask anything else, I hurried back into my room and locked the door.

Anyway let's return to the present. In the middle of chemistry, Emma and I used to send looks to each other every time the teacher mentioned something that we found funny in our project. It was like we were having inside jokes. Not even Ricky and I had inside jokes. All we had were your momma jokes. And your momma jokes don't count as inside jokes.

Anyway. I texted her asking if she's okay. It sounded like I was the sweet unrealistic boyfriend, but I was just trying to be nice. She replied almost immediately saying 'why'. I asked her if she was serious and she told me to leave her alone. I asked who Julia was and she ignored me. So the rest of the week, I sat in silence, not talking to anyone, but Hugh (only saying hi though).

She finally returned the next week and I have never felt so blessed in my life. She didn't come to school with the others and when she arrived, she didn't walk to them, but to me. Well, not exactly to me. She walked past me, but she made a sign saying to follow her. I counted to five, stood up and left my lunch on the table. I barely saw her, but it was enough. I hurried behind her and she pulled me into the broom closet closed the doors behind us. She started breathing heavily and her eyes began tearing up, as she wrapped her arms around my neck and burried her head into my shirt.