Royals

Chapter 31

~~~~Reminder: Joey and Jake go to a different school than Emily and Lillia!~~~~

School wasn't unusual.

I had to force myself to stare at the abundance of posters mounted on the walls to distract myself from sleeping through history. In English, my teacher decided to take the day off, forcing us to work on busy work. In Spanish, I think we learned a new tense, but I spent the whole time passing notes with Ashlynn, playing hangman, I-Spy, tic-tac-toe, and that game where you have to make squares. If I learned anything during that class, it was that I sucked at that square game.

During lunch, Annabel and Claire teamed up on me and tried to persuade me to attend their sleepover. No matter how many times I explained that I couldn't, they wouldn't listen. Although I couldn't blame them for wanting to hang out with me after being missing the past couple of days, it got pretty annoying.

Eventually, Ashlynn changed the subject to Thanksgiving. They all shared their plans and, for the first time in forever, I didn't have to lie. I told them how I would be eating at my grandparents and then going shopping the next day. On the outside, I acted as if it weren't a big deal, but on the inside, my blood was boiling with excitement. I couldn't remember the last time I saw my family.

In math, our teacher lectured to us about parabolas, but I was too busy wordlessly communicating with Lillia to pay attention. Within five minutes, we resorted to texting because of the six-foot-tall kid who sat in between us.

In ceramics, I finished painting a mug that I had fired about two weeks ago. Having been gone for so long, I was very far behind. If she didn't give us a "catch-up week" sometime soon, I would have to start coming in after school. And, trust me, I had better things to do than spend my afternoons with Mrs. O'Donnell.

During my last class of the day, I had to force myself to remain seated. My teacher spent he entire class period complaining about his girlfriend's cat. I swear, if the bell had rang a second later, I would have strangled someone.

"Should I buy a bigger cat to scare it?"

"Should I 'accidentally' lose track of it while taking it on a walk?"

"Should I tell her that I'm afraid of it? Or will she think I'm a wimp?"

"Should I force her to choose between me and the cat?"

"Should I tell her that the anatomy class is short on cats for their dissection unit?"

"Should I..."

Once the bell rang, I grabbed my folder and exited the room as I grumbled under my breath, "There are kids starving in Africa, and you're deciding if you should kidnap your girlfriend's cat and donate it to the science lab? My God."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The flight to Myrtle Beach was a little under two hours. Once we arrived, we checked into our hotel suite. After we had settled in, we ventured down to the hotel lobby to get something to eat.

"Emily?" Brandon asked, pulling me to the side.

"What is it?" I asked, fairly vexed that he was preventing me from eating.

"I was wondering if you had an extra heart; mine seems to have been stolen," he murmured with a sheepish smile.

"Oh boy," I said with a chuckle, secretly beginning to get tired of the cheesy, obviously plagiarized pickup lines.

He chuckled before responding. "That's actually not what I wanted to talk to you about. It's about the party tonight."

"Alright."