Ethan's POV
Emma was asleep with her head on my chest when I woke up the next morning. The rising sun created a beautiful glow around her face. I shifted a little and her eyes fluttered open.
"Hello, beautiful." She fake smiled and rolled her eyes.
"Where's Matt? Why are we back at the house?" She asked, sitting up and frantically looking around the room.
"Um, he's in his room. And it's where we fell asleep last night." I told her, chuckling. She raked a hand through her blonde hair.
"No, I ran into a tree because you tied your shirt around my eyes. Y-you were on fire and I was a wolf and then a fox and then a dragon!" I busted into laughter.
"You must've had the best fucking dream in the history of dreams. I literally dreamed about-well that doesn't matter." She sighed and looked over at me.
"Your brother was here. In this house. He r-raped me. You killed him." Her words stung.
"Emma, Grayson's been dead for ten years. That's not possible." She looked down at her hands.
"Ethan, I'm sorry. I didn't know-" I cut her off and held a hand up.
"It's okay. It was just a dream."
"Kids, breakfast!" I heard Elise call. Emma's eyes went wide.
"You go first and then I'll come out after a few seconds." She smiled and nodded, pulling her hair into a ponytail and jogging out the door.
Her dream freaked me out but I ignored it and pulled on a black tee. I waited a minute and then ran down the stairs, plopping down in my usual seat. Across from Emma and beside Matthew and Annie. I didn't know Annie that much-she always had her nose in a book. Matt, I did know. We played ball all the time. He wanted to be on the lacrosse team when he went to high school next year. I played back at my old school and told him I would help him. He loved it and wanted to play all the time.
"Ethan?" I looked up and saw everyone staring.
"Sorry, I zoned out. What?" Elise and Emma laughed and shook their heads. They were so similar yet so different. They acted the same and thought the same about one thing but thought and acted completely different about another.
"We were talking about school. Do you think you're ready to go back tomorrow?" I swallowed. I wanted to go back so I would have something to do, but then again, I hate basing the new kid all the time. It sucked.
"Sure," I mumbled and picked at my eggs.
"If you don't want to go, I can ca-" I shook my head.
"No, no, I'll go." Emma smiled-actually smiled-softly at me. I could tell she was proud of me.
"Okay. Well, today we can go clothes shopping and school shopping if you want." I smiled at Elise.
"Actually, can Emma take me? She would know more about the fashion that goes on considering she goes there." Emma blushed and stared down at her feet under the table.
"That's fine. I'll give you my card. Don't go crazy!" We all laughed and I stood to take my plate.
I was washing the dishes when Emma walked in beside me.
"When do you want to go?" She asked, hopping on the counter and swinging her bare legs.
"Uhhh, around three?" She nodded.
"Sure. I'm going to take a shower." I turned and watched her swaying hips as she walked out and up the stairs.
"Hey, Ethan?" Elise walked in the kitchen and stood by the stove. I turned the water off and dried my hands.
"What's up?" She smiled softly and looked down at her hands.
"I was just checking in. See how things are going in that head of yours." I raked a hand through my hair.
"Pretty good actually. I love it here. I love the atmosphere, I love the kids, I love helping Matt with lacrosse, and I love making Emma smile. I noticed she doesn't do it much so it's my goal to make he smile once a day." Elise's face lit up.
"That's amazing, E. Thank you for that. Now, go get ready." I laughed and ran up the stairs towards my room.
