Operation Beautiful

Chapter 41: hoping she won't stop smiling like that

Chapter 41: hoping she won't stop smiling like that

“Emma!” I yell loudly, walking up to her. “Where’s Jessica?”

“She had a cheerleading meeting,” Emma says with a sigh, leading me towards the grass. We sit down carefully and pull out our lunches.

“What’s with the tape?” I ask, pointing to the strip of masking tape on her box of pasta.

“The amount of carbs,” she explains, looking down at the number scribbled on the tape. “It says...fourty grams and my I to C ratio is 1 to 12, so...”

I to C? I ponder the phrase for a second. Oh, insulin to carbohydrates. Carbs is just a scientific way of saying sugar. “Ten over three,” I say, trying to be helpful. “So...about three and one-third units of insulin.”

“Thanks,” she mutters. “I’ll just take three and a half. Nutritional info is always off.” She pulls out a little notebook and start scribbling in it.

“What’s that?” I ask.

“My parents,” she snaps, “want me to keep track of what I eat and how much I take for it and my numbers afterwards.” She doesn’t say whether it’s me or her parents she’s snapping at, but I have a feeling it’s me.

“Emma, listen to me,” I plead, turning away briefly as she injects herself. “I screwed up, okay? I shouldn’t have kissed you in the first place and I shouldn’t have said I didn’t mean it or have asked you to forget it ever happened. And I definitely shouldn’t have been a complete ass-hole and ignored you afterwards. Please, can we just start over? Please?”

She stares at me blankly for a second. I stand up, pulling her with me and wrapping her in a hug. “I’m really sorry, okay?”

She hugs me back for a second, then moves away, her body stiffening slightly. She sticks her hand out in front of her.

“Hi, my name is Emmaleigh. Nice to meet you. I don’t like you and you don’t like me. Let’s be friends.”

Oh, shit. This is not happening.

“Hi. I’m Corey. Nice to meet you, Emma.”

“Emmaleigh.”

We sit back down awkwardly. “So...anything exciting happen today?”

She shrugs, then smiles and waves to a brunette girl walking by. Miranda Summers.

“Oh! So you know Miranda?” she asks, turning back to me. I silently thank Miranda for dispelling the awkward atmosphere.

“Yeah.”

Emmaleigh laughs. “So, we’re talking about some poem in English class and there’s this line about ‘death’s dream kingdom’ and she randomly goes, “You know, that reminds me of ‘Barbie’s Dream House’”!”

I snort in laughter. “Out loud?”

“Yes! To the teacher! And then he goes, “Oh, really? Is there a Ken’s dream kingdom, too?”” We both laugh together, falling back into our old friendly routine. I’ve decided that starting all over isn’t going to stop me. I don’t care is she likes Matt anymore. I want her to like me.

***

Jessica eyes me carefully as Emma and I come inside.

“Well?” she hisses as Emmaleigh sits on the dining room table.

“Back to square one,” I say with a sigh.

“Better than nothing,” Jessica says, giving me a look which says I deserve less.