Outside ~ Book One (#Wattys2015)

Chapter Eight

The door opens. I'm currently on my phone at the table. I put the phone down.
"Emma! Are you alright?" Daniella cries and comes up to me. I get up and we hug.
"Yes, Daniella, I'm fine!" I reply.
"What did I do wrong?"
"Huh?"
"Why were you so upset at me?"
My tantrum before must of got her worried... "Oh, it doesn't matter..."
Daniella nods and smiles. "Okay, I'm so excited that I got accepted in too!"
"So am I!"
"You know that I'm going a day before you, right?"
"Oh, yeah, they emailed me."
"Are you alright with that?"
"Of course! It's not like they un-enrolled me or anything..." I laugh nervously and cough a few times.
"Um, yeah..."
"I'm going to go talk to Jamie, do you want to come?"
"No, it's okay. I'll stay and get ready for school."
"Okay, bye."

------

"So, this is it." I say, next to Jamie, as we lie on my bed.
"Second last day of holidays." Jamie replies.
"And then the first day of-" I'm cut off.
"School." She says plainly. I sit up on on arm.
"Not any school, Jamie! The New York School of Performing Arts!"
"Yeah, I guess..." Jamie sits up and looks at her lap.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"I'm just nervous, that's all."
"And the other reason?"
Jamie sighs. "Well, we've been in New York for two days and we still haven't done anything."
"Okay, then, tomorrow, last day of Summer vacation, you, me, Dani, and Rachel- well, and our parents of course- in New York. What do you say?"
"If our parents are up to it, then yeah!"
"Good, do you want to ask if you can sleep over?"
"Yes!"
We both raise our hands and high five. "To the last day of Summer Vacation!" We both shout.

-----

It's 8:30pm and I'm staring at myself in the mirror.
"Tomorrow will be the best! And then, the first day of school. Wait, Dani can't come tomorrow-" I say to myself.
I hear a knock at the door. I turn around.
"Shh! Jamie's sleeping! Come in," I whisper-shout.
Daniella opens the door quietly. "So, are you excited for tomorrow?" She whispers.
"Yeah, it's sucks that you can't come though..." I look at the floor.
She smiles. "About that... The school emailed me and said that I'm coming on the 2nd as well. It was just a mistake. There is another Daniella in grade 9 or something and got the surnames mixed up. So I can come!"
"Yes! That's great Dani! I really can't wait! This is going to be the best. Year. Ever!"
We hug. "Anyway, I'd better let you sleep. Good night."
"Good night Daniella."
She walks out and closes the door.
"Well, I'd better go to sleep, I have a big day tomorrow..." I turn around and quietly crawl onto my bed. I lie down and stare at the ceiling. "I wonder what happened today? It couldn't have
been a trick or a hallucination... What was it then?" I notice a dress in the corner of my eye. I look at it. "That dress... Will it float?" I think 'Float'. The dress floats. I gasp and fall off my bed. The dress falls on Jamie, waking her up.
"Huh? What?" She rubs her eyes and looks at me. "Emma? EMMA!" She runs over to me.
"J-Ja-Jamie..." I stutter.
"DANIELLA!" Jamie shouts. Daniella opens the door and runs in.
"What is it?!" Daniella asks.
I look at her. "I-I-"
Jamie cuts me off. "Emma's weak. I think she's going to-" Suddenly Jamie's voice fades. "Faint-faint-faint...." Her voice starts echoing. It rings in my ears. Then everything goes black.

------

"EMMA! You really have to stop doing that!" Daniella says to me as my eyes open.
"Doing what?" Jamie asks as she looks at Daniella. No, Jamie can't know.
I stare at Daniella and shake my head. "Nothing. I just keep... Eating something... That, I'm allergic to... And I don't get enough fresh air..." I don't look at Jamie.
"Um, okay..." I can tell Jamie thinks that Daniella and I are acting very suspicious.
"Yeah..." Daniella looks at the floor.

THE NEXT DAY

"I'm so tired!" I moan, as I drop my bags on the floor. The New York trip was a accomplishment all right, but it ended up in us all being really tired.
"Same!" Daniella nods. "My feet like they're going to drop off!" She says as she takes off her shoes and sits on the floor.
"I think it was good exercise for us all." Jamie smiles and she stretches her arms.
"Urgh!" I fall onto my bed.
"Well, at least we had fun!" Daniella smiles.
"And got ready for tomorrow."
"Speaking of tomorrow, are you two excited?" She gets off the floor and sits on the bed with me.
"Obviously!"
"I'm nervous." Jamie replies, rubbing her arm.
"Well, to be honest, I'm nervcited!" I laugh.
"Huh?" Daniella and Jamie ask at the same time.
"Nervous and excited!"
"Okay..."
Jamie sits next to me. "Anyway, after the first day is you and Daniella's fourteenth BIRTHDAY!"
"YAY!" I cheer.
"I'm excited!" Daniella replies.
"And two weeks after that, our old school comes. We still get to Paris though since our parents already paid for it."
"Damn right we will!" Jamie smiles.
"It's going to be a great year!" All three of us say in sync.