skylines - michael clifford

jealousy

Chapter 2

Age 9

When i first moved from Australia to New York I was sad, like very very sad. I felt like i"d been ripped away from everything I'd ever known, and it hurt like a bitch. My mum kept telling me "don't worry Michael our new house is so much nicer you'll love it!" but I didn't care. I wanted my old house back, my friends, I wanted to see all the snakes in my backyard again not live in a city with a bunch of yellow cars. When we got to New York i couldn't stop crying. I was sobbing until the day we moved into our apartment because that day i met Ember. The same day I met ember I ate dinner with her family, and her family was so interesting to me. Ember's mom is from Venezuela, and her dad is American. Ember was born in Venezuela too, and to be honest, it made me feel so much better knowing that i wasn't the only person that had to leave their home country. It made me feel like someone understood me. From that day on I knew Ember was meant to be my best friend.

Age 12

The first time i ever fought Ember was after one of the many times i'd eaten dinner with her family. We were sitting up on the building's rooftop watching the sun go down, and we were eating these things called tequenos. To this day I still don't understand what they are, but i just know ember's mom makes them and that they're good. I took a bite out of my food and the melted cheese flew out and onto her Curious George t-shirt. "Michael!" she gasped and started crying. I started laughing, but could you blame me? "I hate you!" she screamed at me, but I just kept on laughing. "You're not my best friend anymore," she said while crossing her arms and walking away. I remember that's when I stopped laughing and even I almost cried. "I'm sorry Em. Don't ever say that to me again though." That night I realized i had a crush on my 10-year-old best friend.

Age 16

"Ember is so beautiful" i whispered to Calum. "Dude she's in middle school!" Calum laughed at me. "Yeah like that's ever stopped you before" I scoffed. "Look at her though" I sighed. Every morning before school Ember and I would walk together since we did go to the same school just different parts of it, but we would separate the moment we got there because we had entirely different friend groups. She would sit with Serina, Clarie, Dean, and Logan on a bench in the school courtyard while i would sit on the opposite side of the courtyard with Calum, Luke, and Ashton. It was really hard to look at her from afar. I hated not being with her, as much as i love being with my boys there was always something about Ember i could never stay away from. Her shoulder-length brown hair always looked amazing, her bright green eyes, and even her braces look amazing on her. I missed her even when she was less than a minute away from me. "You're down bad Mike" Calum sighed. "Sorry man, but I'm going to have to agree. Dude, you could get bitches and you're choosing to whine over an 8th grader what's wrong with you?" Luke laughed. "She's not just an 8th grader to me Luke she's my best friend, and you know how I feel about it." I sighed "Mike I know," was all Luke said to me as he and Ashton got back to whatever conversation they were having.

Age 18

It was one of the many afternoons after school that Ember and I would go to my apartment, but lately, we would only go to my apartment. I was started to get worried because she never wanted to do anything other than come over. All she would do was talk to me about her boyfriend Dean and how apparently great he was while i had to try to act like i'm not jealous. I've hooked up with countless girls just trying to see if i could move on from Ember, and I was finally starting to but her talking about Dean all the time really didn't help. "Dean and I went out to that new sushi place downstairs yesterday, and Mike you need to try it!" she exclaimed with a bright beautiful smile on her face. "Will do," was all I said as I nodded getting back to playing my video game while she sat on my bed talking to me.