Strained

Chapter Ten

The drama with Ember had shocked us all. I felt guilty, for not checking on her sooner. We all knew her & Dolls has been extremely close. Yet, none of us had bothered to check in & see how she was doing. It felt lazy on my part. I had gotten to know Ember — more than my mom or Dara. 

Why hadn't I text her? It wasn't much effort to check on people you cared about. The guilt was eating away at me. My mom kept telling me not to think or worry about it. How did you do that? She was a person and we had neglected her. 

Sure, what she had done was not okay. Yet, I found myself feeling sorry for her. It wasn't her fault her girlfriend had been murdered. It wasn't her fault that that had made her go crazy. When I first met Ember she had been so unique and comfortable in her own skin. 

Seeing her like that had been beyond traumatizing. I couldn't even imagine how she felt. It was sad. I tried not to think about it, but it was impossible. It was hard not to think back to that day, which had already been almost a week ago. Five days ago, to be exact, but it felt like it just happened.

Ember had tried to shoot herself. When I reached for her gun it went off, but thankfully no one had been shot. Our garage door bared the mark of a single gunshot hole. My mom had been pissed about that and was planning on suing Ember. Of course, that wasn't possible without getting cops and lawyers involved. I pleaded with my mom to avoid all of that, but in the end, she had ruled in favor.

The cops were called and they took Ember away. I wasn't sure, but probably the psych ward once she started talking about bullets being suspended in the air. It didn't seem fair for Ember to go to jail or the Psychiatric Ward. She was just mourning the murder of her long-time girlfriend. I couldn't help but feel at fault for that.

My mom must have sensed my guilt since she pulled me out of class on Monday and Tuesday. Today, was my first day back since the whole Ember incident. Of course, my friends already knew about it. They had all been concerned. Kate even wondered if it had been Naomi's doing, but I didn't think that was the case. Naomi was conniving, but not cruel enough to send a widow after me.

At least, I assumed she wasn't. 

I shook my head, tossing these kinds of thoughts out. It didn't matter, it was already over with. I strode forward, walking to my first class. I knew Daniel was going to ask me a million questions, which was okay. He and I had been better around each other. It was still tense at times, but the awkwardness had slowly subsided.

When he saw me, he stood upright a look of worry covering his face. As I got closer, he grabbed my chair and held it out for me. He waited until I sat to finally relaxed. I could tell he had a lot of questions. 

"Are you okay?" That wasn't what I expected his first question to be. 

"Yeah, I'm okay. She didn't shoot me, just the garage," it was eerie how quickly I was beginning to get over things like this. The truth was I wasn't surprised anymore. 

"You were shot at," he clarified. "That's still traumatizing. Are you sure you should be here today? Maybe your mom can get you out of today. I'm sure Gellar would--

"If I skipped class every time something messed up happened to me, I would never graduate." I blurted out, my jaw clenched. Daniel was just looking out for me. I wasn't upset with him, but the idea that I would run from this was a little offensive. 

"Still, I worry." He added before dropping the subject. He knew I was too stubborn for this conversation.

Finally, it was lunch. I walked side by side with Erik through the line. Everyone was keeping an extra eye on me. It was annoying, but I knew they all meant well. They were trying to keep me safe. I tried to tell them all I didn't need that and I could take care of myself, but this was what friends did. Or, so they kept reminding me. Even Addie, who had heard on the news what happened, was sticking by my side. She even ate lunch with us.