Emma: Seventh Grade

Chapter 6: First Impressions

Emma must have fallen asleep, because she woke up to her mom's voice conversing with the voice of a strange man whom Emma didn't recognize. Her mom's voice sounded way more upbeat than usual, and she was giggling and laughing quite a bit. She reached over and checked the time on her phone; it was 7:15pm. The voices gradually grew louder; Emma knew they were coming up the stairs. All of a sudden, her door burst open. 

"This is my daughter, Emma," her mom's voice was higher pitched than normal. "Emma, this is my new boyfriend Craig."

Emma slowly opened her eyes and sat up. Her mom stood in the doorway with a scruffy man with dirty blonde hair that fell to his shoulders. His face was tan and full of whiskers, and he was wearing a checkered flannel button-up shirt and stained blue jeans. She flopped back down on the bed, with her arm covering her eyes. She felt totally creeped out by this guy; the last thing she wanted was for her mom to be dating a creep.

"Hey there, Emma," Craig greeted her with a voice that reminded Emma of a druggie.

"Go away," Emma replied, not moving from the bed. "I'm trying to sleep." She wanted absolutely nothing to with her mom's creepy boyfriend.

"Emma!" Her mom scolded. "I'm sorry," she said to Craig. "She's very moody."

Craig laughed. "It's okay babe," he replied. "That's a middle-schooler for ya. I have one of them too. She'll come around I'm sure. Let's go and eat."

"Emma, come on! Get up!" her mom called. "Supper is ready!"

Emma peeked out an eye from under her arm, and saw Craig put an around her mom's shoulder as the both of them left the room, leaving the door wide open, to Emma's annoyance. She slowly crawled out of bed and stretched. Even though she wasn't very hungry, Emma figured she should still go downstairs and eat something so she wouldn't confirm her mom's suspicions about Emma not eating at school.

Emma slowly made her way downstairs, her brain still clouded with sleep. She was still wearing her T-shirt and tight, black spandex shorts she wore to volleyball practice. She entered the kitchen and saw her mom and Craig eating pizza that Craig had picked up on the way here.

"Ah, there she is!" Craig exclaimed, taking a bite of pizza. "You're such a skinny Minnie too," he commented.

"Yeah, her volleyball coach just informed me today that she doesn't eat at school," Emma's mom declared. "So we have to make sure she eats all her food tonight."

"Gotcha, babe," Craig replied, winking at Emma. "You're a stubborn skinny Minnie, aren't you?" he said to her.

Emma said nothing and took her place at the table. She always felt embarrassed when her mom talked bad about her to others. If she had the guts to say that much in Emma's presence, how much did she say without Emma around? She didn't want to know; she was scared to find out. She grabbed the smallest slice of pizza and carefully placed it on her plate.

"Stubborn indeed," Emma's mom sighed, rolling her eyes. "Just last night, she was throwing a temper tantrum because she didn't want to go to bed."

Emma was even more annoyed upon hearing that. It was her mom that was throwing more of a tantrum than her. But she dare not say anything, for it would only create a deeper hole. She took a small bite of pizza.

Craig laughed. "My daughter does the same thing. Sometimes I just give in and let her stay up, hoping she'll figure out the consequences on her own."

Emma felt very awkward. She took her phone out and texted Hannah, asking if she could come and hang out. That way, she wouldn't feel as embarrassed as if she was by herself.