Sinking Ships

Chapter 9

***Evan's P.O.V***

       I had decided to take a word of advice from Emelia and to stop letting Chelsea hog all of my time. I bunked school one day and didn't even tell her. If she had ever asked then I would've just said I was sick, but when I came back the next day, she didn't even ask. Maybe she was just expecting me to tell her. Well no, it didn't work that way.

      I made some plans with Matt and decided that I should hang out with some of the other people in the school. Since I came to this school, I barely had a moment to stop and make any actual friends of my own. I had a couple of acquaintances, but it ended there. I needed my own little friend squad. So for the past week or so I tried. I started chatting to Jamal, and Aiden, and Mia. They were all cool people and I enjoyed spending time with them.

       It was only earlier this week that I decided to slow down with Chelsea. She seemed really hurt that I wasn't constantly by her side, and of course I didn't want her to feel bad, but it felt like that was the only way for her to kind of get the point. I didn't completely block her off. I still sat with her at lunch and stuff, but by Friday it seemed like she had moved on. Maybe she was just trying to give me a taste of my own medicine.

       She sort of excluded me from the conversations, and I noticed Emelia tried to pull me into them, which was very very sweet of her. I went home that day thinking about the gesture and how much I really appreciated it. I had a soft spot towards her, and she occupied most of my thoughts. But freeing myself from Chelsea meant that I had less and less time to talk with Emelia.  Chemistry was the only class we had alone, without Chelsea.

      In my room I sat and thought. How could I spend more time with her, without making it too obvious? Well, I pulled out my phone and started texting her. I asked her if she could come around tomorrow to help me with some chemistry. It wasn't a total lie. I did need some help. Not too much help, but any help would've been appreciated and I couldn't have chosen someone I'd prefer to help me than Emelia.

         A little while after I made plans with Emelia, Chelsea texted me too. We had a mostly normal, friendly conversation about random things. This was the kind of friendship I wanted with her. Completely chilled out and not possessive at all. She could be my best friend but that's it. I enjoyed our conversations most of the time, but only when they were just relaxed conversations.

       I went to sleep that night with a warm feeling. Emelia was coming over tomorrow. I've got to make the most of that opportunity.

🌸Emelia's P.O.V.🌸

'And I......will always love you......' was playing off of Evan's phone. We were sat on his bedroom floor surrounded by a million textbooks and notebooks. We both tried our best to match Whitney Houston's voice as we sang along to the song. I leant forward to grab a notebook and found myself face to face to Evan. Our eyes were locked onto each other. If this were a tv show, you could say we were having a moment. He smirked and we leant in closer till we kissed. After what seemed like the right time, we pulled apart before Evan's dog came and jumped over us and all the books. The dog started barking and barking and barking and barking....

          I shot up from my sleep and scrambled to turn off the alarm. I looked around as if people were watching me. I felt like I had a forbidden dream. Groggy and disorientated, I picked up my phone from the bedside table and checked all the notifications. I had loads of texts from Chelsea, a few from other friends and 2 from Evan. Naturally, those were the ones I checked first.

'Sup Em. Im awake'
'Text me when you're on your way'

           I responded telling him I was getting ready. Forgetting all my other notifications, I left my phone on my bed and proceeded to get dressed. I wasn't going to over do it, so I dressed casually. I picked up a backpack and put in a couple chemistry text books, my notebook, a plain notebook and some pens. I briskly brushed my teeth and fixed my hair. I was beaming from ear to ear.