If You Had Stayed (published)

Chapter 2

Gabby laughs like what I said was one big joke. Lake doesn't laugh as hard as his girlfriend, but it was more of a smirk.

"Are you seriously asking me that question?" Gabby says. "Please, even if Freak was the last person on earth, I wouldn't invite him." She turns to Lake. "Come on, babe. Let's go."

Haylie and I watch as Gabby walks away with her boyfriend, whose arm, was still linked around hers.

"Are you going to go to her party?" Haylie asks me once Gabby was out of earshot.

I shake my head. Was she kidding? She knows very well that I would never go. "Why would I after the way she speaks about Josh?"

Haylie nods. "True, it isn't right. But listen..." She bites her lip. "I might go to it. Well, I may go if I find out that Jensen is going to it."

Of course that would be the reason why she would attend Gabby's party. She had been crushing on Jensen Peters for a while.

"If he is coming," Haylie continues, "would you come with me, Emily? You know, just to be at my side. But if things don't work out with Jensen or if the party gets boring, we can leave."

"I will think about it, Haylie. If I don't have too much homework, I will go."

I didn't have the heart to tell her that I wasn't interested in going, especially to a party where someone despised Josh. Besides, I wanted to stay home and maybe do something with him tonight. I know he has been working on some new music that I thought he could play for me on his guitar.

Just thinking about Josh, I see Lynn's Honda pulling up to the kerb. Josh was in the front seat, arguing with her about the music from last night.

"Honey, I understand, but there is no reason for you to listen to it that loud," Lynn was saying.

"No, you don't understand. It helps me to block out the voices."

Lynn pats his shoulders. "I know it does, Josh, and I want you to know that I won't stop you from listening to it. I'm just saying to lower the volume next time."

Josh takes a deep breath and nods. He unbuckles his seat belt. "Okay."

He opens the door as Lynn tells him to have a good day. She smiles at Hailey and I. She winds down the window just as Josh closes it and stands beside me.

"Hello, Hailey, Emily," she greets us.

"Hello, Lynn," we greet her back.

"Have a good day, girls."

She closes the window and then pulls away from the kerb.

"How are you today, Josh?" I ask.

He smiles. "I'm good."

"Everything okay between you and Lynn?"

He nods. "Yeah, we are okay. You know, just talking about my music."

The three of us head inside the school grounds. The bell was due to ring in ten minutes. We weren't allowed inside the building until the bell rings, so we head to our favourite spot to sit in the mornings before school started. Sometimes we even had lunch there. As we walk, I notice Josh looking in different directions and I wonder what hallucinations he was seeing today. He was quiet this morning and I hoped he was feeling okay.

We reach our favourite spot near the front entrance of the administration office and outside the visual arts classrooms, sitting down on the seat underneath the tree. Thankfully no one is sitting there this morning, and I'm glad. It's a place the three of us can sit and relax before school started. The tree was the perfect shady place during the summer. It wasn't so great for the winter months, but it was a place we liked to hang and talk. For Josh, nature often calms him when he is feeling anxious, and sitting under the tree was something he liked to do.