The Dawn of Autumn

Damage Control

Chapter 3:

Damage Control

Emily avoided an awkward breakfast with her parents the next morning by telling them that she was going in to school early to get a jump on some of her classwork. Her mother didn't argue with anything studious. She gave Emily her blessing.

Emily grabbed her swimsuit and goggles from a pile of clothes she'd yet to put away. She wanted to see what Rosewood's pool was like.

Emily stopped by the pool before she went to homeroom. It was quiet and dark. The lights at her old school had been on a motion sensor timer, but the only lights Emily saw in the dark pool area were the underwater lights.

She looked up and could see the sky through the natural glass ceiling. The swimmers probably thrived off of the sunlight during races. She always had. She took a step towards the pool. Several motion sensor lights surrounding the glass ceiling flickered on.

The pool was huge. It looked clean, too. The administrators had probably gotten it fresh for the new school year. Emily really missed being part of a team. She missed being in the water. She couldn't wait to try it out.

She thought about jumping in for a few minutes, but she knew if she did she'd never want to leave and then she'd be late to class. She thought about what Toby said about how the best time to swim a few laps was after school. And she decided to be patient.

She pulled out her phone and checked her messages. She saw another ominous threat from an unknown number.

If you don't talk, I will.

She wanted to reply with "New fone, who dis?" but the last thing she needed was some angry troll mad at her. She assumed if she didn't feed it, it would go away. She put her phone away and focused on school.

She sat through homeroom and her first period class watching the clock. She knew she wouldn't have to do that in her second period class.

She tried to make it to her Econ class early so she could spend a few minutes alone with Alison. When she got close to the classroom she heard the sound of two heated voices arguing. One of them was Alison.

Emily immediately recognized the other voice.

Wilden.

She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she caught the tail end of the teacher snapping at her.

"Don't test me."

Emily stopped when she reached the door. She saw Alison standing in front of him with a defiant stance. He was looming over her, an angry look on his face.

They both moved the second they saw her.

He walked over to the door as Emily walked into the classroom. She glared at him.

He stopped outside the door to monitor the hallway traffic.

"Hey, you okay?" Emily walked over to Alison.

Alison loved that Emily's first response was to nurture her, to care. No one had ever cared about her before. She'd never had love she hadn't manipulated out of people. It was different.

"I'm fine." Alison walked towards her desk.

"Ali..." She gently reached out for her arm. Alison stopped walking the second she felt Emily's fingers against her skin. She felt the hair on the back of her neck standing up. She wanted to scream. Because why did Emily make her feel these things? "What was that about?"