alive | ethma

8.

emma chamberlain

I haven't seen Ethan since I watched the movie at his apartment. That was Thursday, and today is Monday.

The first day of classes.

"EMMA! GET YOUR ASS UP! WE'RE GONNA BE LATE!" Fuck.

My roommate Olivia also doubled as the closest thing I had to a best friend.

I don't like to stay in one place doing one thing for too long, I get bored. But, that also made it harder for me to keep quality friends around.

Olivia and I met last year during one of our business classes and kind of just stuck together.

Personally, I think we balanced each other out perfectly.

I started to shove away the suffocating sheets and throw my tan legs over the side of the bed.

I took my time sitting there, rubbing the palms of my manicured hands over my eyes until I saw stars.

"Okay! Let's do this," I gave myself a pep talk while throwing on a pair of thrifted high waisted shorts and a crop top.

I started to slide down the railing of the stairway, Olivia hated when I did that.

"It's gonna break one day, and YOU'RE gonna have to pay for it," she always told me.

Once I was in the kitchen I realized Olivia was already waiting in the car for me. I quickly grabbed a banana and raced to the car.

"About time," Olivia muttered under her breath.

I just smiled at her.

We walked into the classroom right on time.

"Emma?" My eyes gaze over every student until they focus in on the one who said my name.

"Grayson?"

Olivia nudged me with her elbow, her eyes conveying nothing but confusion.

I look back at her with an expression that I hope tells her to just go along with it and that I'll explain later.

Olivia and I start heading towards the seats next to Grayson.

"Hey, look," Grayson tapped the guy next to him on the shoulder, "I got two pretty girls coming to sit next to me." He smirked at me while crossing his arms.

Definitely not similar to Ethan.

I then realized I recognized the kid next to Grayson.

It was either Chase or Wyatt, I couldn't remember which one was which. Eh.

"Where the fuck did you find this kid?" Olivia mumbled towards me, knowing Grayson was just out of earshot.

I shooed away her comment with a shake of my hand.

"Hey," I shot him a million dollar smile. I've only talked to Grayson once before this, and I wanted him to like me. I wanted Ethan to stay in my life, and I knew that'd be harder if his twin brother hated me.

"If it ain't the girl my brother won't shutup about."

That statement caught me off guard, which doesn't happen often. I didn't know how to answer so I just replied "uh, this is Olivia," and gestured to my best friend sitting next to me.

Grayson's eyes focused in on her like he was her next meal and he was starving.

"I'm Grayson," he winked, "and this is Wyatt."

Ah, it was Wyatt.

Wyatt's blonde curly hair shook as he shuffled his body to wave to Olivia.

Olivia was fucking blushing of course.

"Alright class! I don't have time to go over your syllabus so open up your notebooks we're starting lecture now," the professor stated with no emotion.

The whole class groaned.

I started to reach for my notebook when Grayson interrupted me, "ya know, I've never seen Ethan open up to someone like this, especially this soon."

I could feel every cell in my body jumping.

"Really?" My smile was so big and my voice was so squeaky that I was sure Grayson was rethinking telling me all this.

I didn't know what had come over me, all I knew is that every fiber of my being felt dangerously alive in that moment.

"Yeah, he must have something special for you," Grayson said nonchalantly, like he hadn't just messed with every single one of my emotions.

I didn't trust my body to answer him. Instead I just smiled down at my notebook and wondered how I was supposed to focus on the professor's lecture now.