Crush Vision

Chapter 4

"Is it just me or are you a lot taller now?"

I hear a familiar voice and look up to see Troy and Delaney walking towards me.

Delaney shrugs at her brother. "I can't tell. I live with you, after all."

"Hey, guys," I turn to them. "What's new?"

"Not much, honestly," Delaney replies as Troy stretches and yawns, grumbling something about how summer vacation felt too short. "What about you?"

"Yeah, I mainly just—" My words are cut off by a loud noise behind me.

"There he is! HEY HENRY!"

"Emmy, watch out; there's a—"

I wheel around just in time to see Emmy running towards me. She waves a piece of paper in her hand and looks super excited—until she trips over a wire and falls mid-sentence.

Hannah stops short behind her. "—cord..."

I lunge forward, and Emmy rams into me. She almost takes us both down, but I hold onto her arms and keep us steady.

"Ow...sorry, Henry." She rubs her head and brushes her hair out of her face. I notice Emmy tilt her head to look up at me—maybe I have grown taller?—and flush.

"It's fine." I realize I'm still holding her and let go. "Are you okay?"

Emmy nods and steps back as she picks up the piece of paper she dropped. I try to play it cool and pretend my face isn't red right now.

I spot Jacob across the room with a gleam in his eye. He must have seen that.

No. Don't do it. I glare at him and hope he gets the message.

A grin spreads over his face as Emmy dusts herself off.

I shake my head. Don't you dare, "Jacob, no—"

"I think she's just fallen for you, Henry!"

Now my face is really red. I facepalm inwardly as everyone laughs, including Emmy.

"At least you didn't sprain your ankle again," Hannah teases.

"That was one time!" Emmy huffs. She turns to me. "Anyway, Henry, I wanted to—"

The bell cuts her off. Come on, what is this timing? Delaney, Troy, and Jacob all pick up their bags and leave.

Hannah tugs on Emmy's arm. "Class is starting; we better go."

Emmy hesitates. "Hang on, I—"

"Can you tell him at lunch? You know I have no idea where we're supposed to go; I need your help." Hannah pleads.

"You're right." Emmy nods and waves to me. "I'll see you later, Henry."

Hannah drags her down the hallway. I watch them leave. What were they talking about? What does Emmy wanna tell me? It could be anything, I think to myself. My mind goes crazy over all the possibilities.

Hannah turns and mouths something, I think "sorry", between glancing at all the doors in the hallway. Emmy points and they turn a corner. What?

I shake my head. I have no idea...

The morning passes in a haze of confusion as I wonder what could possibly be so important for Hannah to apologize for dragging Emmy away. I bolt out of my seat the second the lunch bell rings.

Emmy runs up to me not long after I sit down by the tree. "Henry, let me see your schedule." She waves the piece of paper from before.

I swallow my mouthful of chips and dig mine out of my pocket. "Here." I hand it over.

"Are you gonna finish that?" Jacob points to my bag.

I give him a look. "Don't touch my Doritos."

He holds up his hands in surrender.

Emmy takes it, her eyes scanning over the two papers before an outburst. "Yes!"

She hands the paper back to me. "What?"

"We have two afternoon classes together, look!" She shows me her schedule, and sure enough, our last two classes of the day are exactly the same.

"Nice." I grin as Hannah comes up behind us.

"Wait, is that seriously what you were so excited to talk to Henry about?" She voices what we're both thinking.

Emmy pauses. "Yeah, why?"

"Girl, you made it sound super important, like life-and-death!"

"I did not," Emmy flicks a crumb at her.

"You did too," Hannah fires back.

"What's going on?" Delaney and Troy walk up the hill.

"We're comparing schedules," I answer.

Delaney sits down next to the girls and unwraps her food while Troy pulls something out of his pocket and shoves it in his mouth.

"Do you wanna choke?! It's not a race!" she exclaims.

"Ih go geh af owr oll." Whatever Troy just said is blocked by the food in his mouth.

Jacob sneaks his hand towards my chips. "Come again?"

Troy tries to repeat himself while still chewing. Delaney just shrugs and continues eating her sandwich.

I glance sideways at Jacob. "You can't have my Doritos."

"Why not? I promise I'll just take one—"

I smirk. "They're Nacho Doritos."

Jacob stares. "Wha—?" Emmy and Hannah burst out laughing as the realization hits him.

"'Not your Doritos'—seriously? I'm the one with the pun game!" Jacob complains.

"Well you've just got a player number two."

Suddenly, Hannah starts coughing and sets down her water bottle. "Stop making us laugh; you're gonna kill me." Apparently she can't handle bad puns.

Emmy pats her back. "Don't die Hannah."

"That's so helpful, Emmy," Delaney chuckles.

Emmy grins at her. "I know, right?"

Troy sprints off somewhere. "Is he gonna go play soccer again?"

"Oh, so that's what that was about earlier," Emmy says.

"You gonna play too?" I look at Jacob.

"Nah—I challenge you to a pun battle!" He points at me. "Winner gets the rest of the chips."

"You really want these, don't you? If you didn't pack enough lunch you could have just said so—"

Jacob shakes his head. "No; this is a fight to the death!"

Hannah puts her water away this time. "Here we go again."

"You'd better make it quick; lunch ends in five minutes." Delaney looks at her watch and grins.

"Oh good, I don't know how much more of this I can handle," Hannah sighs.

Emmy grabs her arm. "No, I wanna see this. Henry, Jacob, go!"

Jacob starts the first round and I glance at the "prize". All this for some leftover chips...but as we all start laughing, I can tell this is going to be fun.

Author's Note: Hello! I hope you're enjoying the story so far. I wrote the first half of the chapter and then realized it was too short; everyone would've been wondering what Emmy was gonna say like Henry was, so I wrote some more. The rest is what happens after I answered that question. You're welcome. ; - )