The Month of September

Chapter 3-Angry Birds

"Nothing's wrong," I said quickly. He looked at me dubiously, but left me alone after that. Fifteen minutes into the movie, Monique grabbed Dylan's arm. Five minutes later, they were in a heated make out session. I wanted to yell, "Get a room!" but I didn't want to draw attention to myself. I debated whether to excuse myself to the bathroom or something, but I didn't want anyone to worry about me and disrupt anyone so I sat there and tried to focus on the movie.

All the girls in the theater screamed at one point, but I didn't. Austin glanced at me like I was the weird one and I shrugged back. What was the point on wasting precious air on something that wasn't even real? I wasn't even sure what happened.

"Are you okay? You haven't screamed once during the whole movie," Austin whispered.

"I...wasn't really paying attention," I admitted.

"Why? What's wrong?"

I looked at him sideways. "You really want to talk about everything that's wrong with this picture?" He nodded. "Okay, so first, girls keep screaming every five minutes. Second, I'm talking to you, my brother's friend, about everything that's wrong, and third, my ex best friend is making out with my ex-boyfriend down six rows down from us which is totally gross and not a picture I want burned into my mind."

He frowned and looked at Dylan and Monique. "I knew he was the guy that came to your house earlier!" He started to get up, but I tugged his arm until he sat down again.

"Just leave it alone. I'm fine," I said, trying to be convincing. He didn't look like he believed me, but he sat down anyway.

When the movie was finally over, I wanted to run from the theater, but I held myself back. It would just make it more obvious that something was bothering me and I didn't want Mom to think I was too much of a handful and send me back to Illinois. I couldn't go back there now.

I also didn't want to leave Michigan, even though I'd only been here for a few days. It seemed as if I actually belonged here. The guys were funny and August didn't bother me that much. It would be perfect if I knew that Monique and Dylan were back in Illinois far away from me.

"Ember? Are you coming?" August asked, looking at me strangely. I realized that I had been staring into space while everyone was leaving the theater.

"Oh, yeah!" I said, jumping out of my seat. "Sorry, I was just...thinking."

"About Austin?" he waggled his eyebrows.

I wrinkled my forehead in confusion. "No. Why would I be thinking about Austin?"

"No reason," he said slowly, looking for a change in my expression. I rolled my eyes as I passed him. I had such a strange brother.

"So do you kids want to go shopping or something? It is the last day to have fun before school tomorrow," Mom said.

I felt butterflies in my stomach. As much as I tried not to worry about it, school was not something I was looking forward to. I didn't know what it was actually like, being new to a school, but it didn't seem fun from what I read in books. The new kid was always looked down upon until a few weeks after they arrived. I can stick out a few weeks. This is going to be a breeze. No matter how much I tried to convince myself, I didn't really believe it.

"Hmm...we should take Ember somewhere special," August said slyly, making me stiffen up. This couldn't be good.

"Actually, I—"

"Oh, yes! We have to go there!" Tom said, grinning from ear to ear.

Mom rolled her eyes. "You boys are so childish. Fine. I'll be shopping somewhere around here. Call me when you're ready to go." With that, she spun on her heel and walked away.