Chapter Twenty Seven: A Picture Says a Thousand Words

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            “Ugh, God. My back,” I complained. “I feel like an old lady.”

            “You’re not too far from looking like one, either,” Ricky commented dully, engrossed in his handheld videogame.

            I slapped the thing out of his hands and shot him with eye-daggers. Even though he’d saved my butt from that ridiculous party, I wasn’t going to let him tease me.

            “I know sitting in this car for hours can be a bit painful, but we’re ten minutes from home,” Michelle said from the passenger seat.

            A vibration from my hand caught my attention. I pulled up my cell phone and checked the alert.

            2 New Messages from: Jameyyy Lynnnn Spearzzzz<3333 and Nate-o!

            I grinned as I read the nickname James had given himself in my phone. I checked his message first.

            Hey babe. Just got back from Colorado and heading back to town. Can’t believe the break’s already over! I miss you like crazy. We need to catch up on some cuddling. Play date at my house after school tomorrow? I’ve got some big news to tell you, so let’s do this ASAP!

            Finally! A text from my boyfriend! He’d been on vacation for Thanksgiving break and hadn’t been able to text me during the whole thing. I hit ‘reply’ and started tapping.

            Fo sho! I missed you. Got lots to tell ya! See you tomorrow. Love, Em.

            I clicked ‘send’ and opened up Nathan’s message.

            Em! You get home today, right? I haven’t seen you all break! Let’s hang when you get back home. I’ll swing by to pick you up.  We can chill at my house! Sound okay?

            The idea of spending the rest of the day with Nate sounded awesome. I needed to be with a friend today. I hit ‘reply’ and quickly typed him a message.

            That sounds nice! I’m almost home, so you might want to start driving now.

            As soon as I hit ‘send’, we turned onto the Stephens’ drive and headed back to the house. I basically jumped from the car, eager to get inside and see Nathan. I dragged my bag up the porch, waited impatiently for Henry to unlock the front door, and dove inside and straight to my room.

            Everything looked to be the same, just tidier since the maids had come for their daily cleaning. I grabbed a brush and tugged it through my hair; it didn’t do too much to help. I wiped the sleep from my eyes and changed out of my sweatpants and into some jeans and a jacket. The temperature had plummeted since Thanksgiving.

            “In a hurry?” I heard Ricky say.

            I turned around to see him propped up against the doorframe, a questionable look on his face.

            “Yeah. I’m meeting with Nathan to go to his house for a while.”

            “Oh,” he said, his face dropping. “I was thinking maybe…we could hang out. There’s that new movie out that you’ve been dying to see. What’s it called? Breaking Down?”

            “It’s Breaking Dawn, and I already saw it. The midnight premiere, remember?” I busied myself by unpacking my bag.

            “Oh, yeah,” Ricky murmured, shot down. “Well, we could always just go for some pizza.”

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