Operation Beautiful

Chapter 18: i'm not going to deny it. i am terrified.

Chapter 18: i'm not going to deny it. i am terrified.

Five minutes later I hear the doorbell ring. Both Haley and Emmaleigh are outside, engaged in some pretty basic but slightly awkward conversation. It’s a good thing I’m tagging along.

We enter the mall no problem. It’s really boring to sit through all the stores, but thankfully both Emmaleigh and Haley are great lovers of food.

“That’s, uh, that’s a lot of fries,” Haley says, looking at the monster plate Emmaleigh sets in front of herself.

“Yeah. I’ve been feeling really hungry lately. Mom says I must be growing.”

“It could be increased excersize. Have you been going to the gym?” Haley asks, sipping from her shake. From there the conversation goes into exercise, something I can, at least, discuss without sounding like an idiot.

“Wow,” Emmaleigh says with a laugh. “I can’t even bench half of that.” I just nod proudly and get up to throw out the trash.

Now that the ice is broken, Emmaleigh talks to Haley like she’s an old friend. As we walk down one of the hallways, Emmaleigh slips her arm through Haley’s. Haley stops talking.

“Hey, look! Wigs! Let’s go try some on!” Haley doesn’t reply, but her new friend pulls her along anyway. “You look funny,” Emmaleigh says with a smile, putting the wig on Haley’s head. Haley takes one look in the mirror and puts the wig back.

“Yeah, really funny,” she says with a smile. “Let’s go somewhere else, okay?” The girls keep walking, me standing next to Emmaleigh.

“You know, I’ve never got to sit in a photobooth,” Emmaleigh says quietly, pointing to one in the corner.

“Let’s not,” Haley says, trying to move past it. “It’s over-rated.”

“I guess so,” says Emmaleigh, preparing to keep going. Haley stops and puts her hand on Emmaleigh’s shoulder.

“That’s it?”

“What do you mean?”

“I say ‘let’s not’ and you automatically agree with me? How about what you want?” Haley questions a little harshly. What's wrong with her? I've never seen her act like this before.

“Well, I mean, you looked like you didn’t want to and--”

“We’re going,” Haley snaps. “Next time have a little more spine about it.”

The three of us crowd into the booth. At first it’s hard to loosen up. I mean, it’s three rather shy people. A few seconds in, Emmaleigh attempts to stick her toungue out at the camera.

“Ah loo’ thilly,” she attempts to say. This causes me to giggle and fall over into Emmaleigh’s lap, causing her to let out the smallest of shrieks. Haley chuckles drily.

“Are you always this scared?”

“I’m a jittery person, okay? Geez, no need to give me a hard time about it.”

I don’t expect what happens next. I mean, how was I supposed to know it was coming?

Haley’s face shuts down, her whole body starts shaking.

“Haley?” Emmaleigh pokes Haley in the shoulder but it goes unnoticed. “Corey, what’s wrong with her?”

“Haley are you okay?” I ask, grabbing her by the shoulders.

“I’m fine. I think I’m going to go to the bathroom.” But the voice that comes out isn’t hers. I climb over Emmaleigh to sit next to Haley.