Reaching Emma

3.

I woke up on Tuesday, almost eager to get to school. I know, I couldn't believe it either. I walked downstairs and could already hear my youngest sister chatting with my parents about all the friends she's making at school.

"Hi Lukeie!" She squealed as I walked in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Catherine!" I said grabbing a piece of toast. I hummed along as I listened to Catherine blab on about the drama that comes with being the most popular girl in the 3rd grade. My middle sister, Sarah came downstairs soon after me, barely looking up from her phone. She was constantly glued to it, constantly texting her friends.

"And what about you Luke, how's your first week going? You're up surprisingly early for school," my mom asked while bringing over some bacon.

"It's good, I actually should get going though." I grabbed my keys and snatched a piece of bacon, while shouting a final goodbye over my shoulder. I knew my parents would be leaving soon anyways to drop Catherine and Sarah off at school on their way to work.

David met me at my locker, complaining about last night's science homework. I agreed with him, but my mind was elsewhere as I subtly scanned the halls for a certain blonde. I spotted Emma a few feet away, her locker was just across the hall.

"Dude. You're staring again," David said. I snapped out of my daze and turned to face David, apologizing under my breath as I closed my locker.

"Let's go talk to them," he suggested as he pushed his back off of the locker. I looked back at Emma to see that Anna had beat me over there. They were talking like they were old friends.

"Hey ladies," David greeted them, swinging a friendly arm over Anna's shoulder. I knew he had a small crush on her, but whenever I brought it up he just brushed it off. The four of us talked for a while before the first bell rang and David and Anna left, leaving Emma and I to walk to our first class together.

"Is Roosevelt a lot like your old school in California?" I asked as we made our way towards our history class.

She chuckled to herself before looking up at me,"Definitely not. My other school was more relaxed, we didn't have as many rules. Oh and no sports teams."

"No sports? I can't imagine!" I shook my head skeptically. I loved that Roosevelt offered so many sports and had no idea what I would do without football or basketball. We sat down in class and the rest of the morning went by uneventfully.

I set my lunch tray down next to David's at our usual table and Emma and Anna took the seats across from us. They were giggling about how their English teacher spits on everyone in the front row whenever he talked about punctuation, which somehow led to us all catching Emma up on the latest Roosevelt gossip.

"Wait, who is that?" Emma asked again. She was trying to keep up with the complicated story Anna was telling, which was probably especially difficult for her to remember all these people she just met.

"Come on Emma! He's in our 4th period class! Okay, I'll find a picture" Anna grabbed her phone to pull up photos to show Emma. I could barely keep up with Anna's story and I knew all the people involved.

"Oh wait! What's your insta? I'll follow you!" Anna suggested, as she continued to scroll through her phone.

"Oh, uh-" Emma hesitated, "I'm actually taking a break from social media for a while..." she trailed off, looking uncomfortable.

"WHAT? HOW!?" Anna just about shrieked at Emma, who looked even more uncomfortable after Anna's outburst.

"I just- I needed a break from social media for a while?" It came out as more of a question, but seemed to please Anna for the time being.