The Girl Across the Street

The Girl Across the Street 22

Monday, December 10th, my alarm goes off at 6:30 in the morning. I hit snooze once and go back to sleep for five minutes. At 6:35, my alarm goes off and I jump into the shower, still exhausted. Getting home at 1:25 last night was not my best idea in a while. Still, it was nice seeing Kate and going to Rosie's, I hadn't been there in a while.

I fumble around in my drawers for today's clothes. I had forgotten to lay them out last night which is very unusual for me. My phone buzzes on the bookshelf, vibrating loudly on the hollow surface. A text from Emma shows up. "What time is Simon coming to pick us up? I don't want to be late again." I text her back saying seven o'clock, then shrug on a button down shirt.

Glancing in the mirror at the top of the stairs, I see that my bruise is still pretty purple. At least it doesn't hurt any more. Cassidy tried to poke it as I walked out the door but when I didn't react, she gave up.

I walk outside and see Emma walking up my driveway to Simon's car. She waves but slowly stops when she sees me staring at her. Simon goes to beep his horn but when he sees my expression, he turns and sees Emma and his face morphs into the same disbelief I feel.

Emma's hair is now only brown and it's pulled back into a pin straight ponytail. She must have gone shopping this weekend with her mom because gone are her converse and colorful jeans, replaced by really dark skinny jeans and brown boots. Her cream sweater looks pretty but the opposite of her vibrant green shirt from Friday. She's even gone as far as getting rid of her backpack and replacing it with a brown bag like the rest of the girls.

Her expression turns to horror when she sees how we're staring at her. "Do I really look that bad? Oh no! I knew the bag didn't match my shoes! It's too late to change now..." She trails off, looking back at her house.

"No, no, you look fine just, it's not what we expected from you. I was still waiting for the rainbow shirt." I joke.

"I know it's different but that's what you wanted right? That's what you said would get people off my back." Emma states simply, shrugging.

"Yeah I mean, you make it sound like I made you change, I just wanted you to know that you might be more accepted by everyone at school if you're more like us..." I start. She moves into the car, nodding her head.

"In my opinion, you look nice like that." Simon chimes in, pulling out of my driveway to go to Nathan's. "A little less of a wake-up call in the morning though."

Emma laughs and the smile reaches her eyes. It's nice to see her laughing again after seeing how much everyone's behavior had been affecting her, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. "I have to say, I like this look. It may not have the bright colors that I'm used to wearing, but it's nice. I feel more polished and a little more grown up."

This time the smile doesn't totally reach her eyes, but she really does seem to be happier. "That's great! See, we told you it would get better." Simon cheers as we pull up to Nathan's house. He lumbers down to the car and gets in, nose buried in a book. Nathan glances up briefly, sees Emma, notices her outfit, but doesn't say anything. Instead, he simply looks back down at his book.

"You have officially been accepted by Nathan." Simon announces to Emma, referring to Nathan's lack of protest and opinion.

We get to school and just like yesterday, Emma waits outside the gym for Simon and me to come out.

While Simon and I run, Emma studies on the bleachers. Today however, we keep a careful eye on the clock so that we don't have to do another mad race against the clock.

Instead, today we go inside at 7:40, right on schedule, and walk to home room with Emma.

The silence in the class when they see her is almost as quiet and movie worthy as the first time, but it doesn't last nearly as long as that very first day. However, the roar after is no louder than it usually is before home room. Mrs. Olivers even seems pleasantly surprised about Emma's change in appearance.