Emily had a big smile on her face as she combed out her hair, watching her reflection in the bathroom mirror. The long dark brown locks leading all the way down her back. She felt beautiful, the opposite reflection of herself alluring in all ways. Emily's bright green eyes shone like gems when she smiled at herself. After the last stroke of her comb, she set it down on the bathroom counter and preceded to put two clear diamond stud earings into her ears. 100% real and antique. Her father was very wealthy so it was only natural she wore the very best jewelry. He was a very well-known software architect in the business while her mother was an author of major psychology studies. It all added up to Emily living mostly by herself as an only child in the spacious mansion. You could imagine it might be lonely, but Emily found it magnificent. She felt like a rare diamond herself.
Emily pulled a black-sleeveless button up shirt over her head, poking her arms out of both arm-holes easily one by one. The simple shirt fit beautifully on Emily's small yet lengthy frame and the short, yet flouncy, lacy-white skirt she added made her feel even more like a princess. Next, she added a pair of lavenderblush colored flats with pure white ribbons as laces to her whole ensemble. Emily smiled to herself in the mirror again, doing a small twirl for herself before deciding she was ready to go and left the bathroom.
Really, it was just another typical day at Philia High School. Emily had her favorite class first; Art, but first she had to visit her boyfriend at the football field down by the track. It was just apart of her daily morning routine at this point. Emily always drove her pristine Cadillac ELR to school and blasted every song on the radio the whole drive there. After parking and gathering her backpack from the passenger seat, Emily would still be humming some lyrics to the last song she was listening to. From the parking lot she could spot the track feild accross the way, the football team was still out practicing like they did every morning from 6am to 7am. She could spot the large '9' on the back of one of the jerseys. It was Travis' number, her boyfriend.
Emily walked the short distance towards the track field. She yelled "Hey!" and smiled and waved when Travis spotted her. Her boyfriend came jogging over immediately to the sound of Emily's voice. He already had a big smile on his face at the sight of her and greeted her with the casual "Hey baby" and a kiss on the lips. Travis was tall and powerful, lean muscle covering all over his frame, making Emily look like a fragile doll in comparison. He had sexy cunning dark hazel eyes and messy blonde hair to match.
"Ew, get away from me, you smell terrible!" Emily giggled and pushed him away by his chest, the glint in her eyes saying the complete opposite.
Travis saw this as a challenge and quickly grasped Emily, pickering her up off the ground bridal style and holding her close to him. They both giggled obnoxiously as Emily kicked and lashed out at her playful boyfriend. She ended up giving Travis one last kiss before he put her down, adding a light pat onto her rear. Emily fake growled back at him, only making him laugh more. But she could never stay mad at him for long anyway.
"You got Art today right?" Travis prodded, "You know that class is pretty much useless. You should come skip with me and the guys, we're gonna go hang by the lake. Johnny's gonna bring the beer and everything! And I won't look at any of the other girl's I swear!" He flashed an award winning smile as a way of begging his girlfriend.
Emily was not to keen on the idea. Personally, she loved class, especially art class. It was apart of her. Art class was her favorite class! But of course, she's never mentioned it to her boyfriend or her friends because they wouldn't understand anything about the "creative process". But at the same time, she would look like a total bookworm if she didn't agree to skip out. And it's not that she didn't like drinking with her friends but she did think art class was somewhat important to her. Was she just going to have to decline? What would Travis and the others think about her then..?
Emily's smile was already turning into an indecisive frown, her gaze wandering away unintentionally. "I don't know Travis..."
"Oh, come on baby! You never wanna hang out with me anymore," Travis whined, spinning Emily around easily and hugging her tightly from behind. "Look, I have to go change, but if you change your mind meet me back at the parking lot before class," he encouraged into her ear. "Hope to see you there."
In moments Emily had forgotten, Travis had left, joining his buddies to go to the changing rooms inside the gym. Her heart sped up for a little bit, the words, Should I really skip Art just to impress Travis? repeating in her brain. She stared off in thought as she subconsciously walked towards the school front doors. She ended up walking all the way upstairs and to class without even thinking about it. She's pretty sure a bunch of people said "Hi" to her on the way in but she wasn't really listening.
Emily found her familiar table at the front row of the class. Speaking of, class would start in less than 10 minutes and she still wasn't sure if she should flee or stay. Would Travis be upset with her? ...Most likely. She's tried talking her way around skipping a class before and he wasn't very happy about that. He'd called her "lame", but he was probably just joking.
Her eye caught a figure at the back of the room; her brain had been so occupied she must not have noticed them as soon as she walked in, but she'd recongized the guy pretty much instantaneously.
It was just Justin, sitting in the back as usual. Emily had recently caught him staring at her more and more in the last few days this week, even though it had probably been going on for months but she hadn't realized it. As predicted he had already started staring at her from the moment she entered the room. Usually, they were the first two to enter the classroom before anybody else, and Emily loathed it. Honestly, why can't he just fuck off already?
Justin had those big annoying clear blue eyes that always seemed to be studying something. He had messy short jet-black hair and an attractively handsome face to match. Dark brown freckles marking all over his face and down the long length of his neck, the enormous hoodie he liked to wear hiding more of them. Emily visibly grimaced at him when their eyes locked and she turned away, quickly sitting in her seat. Justin let out a small huff that could only be described as amusement and Emily could tell he was smiling. She turned her head and stuck her tongue out at him, the small ball of her tongue piercing making an appearance. Justin mocked the action back at her but with a playful grin added.
Emily rolled her eyes and turned around again, taking off her backpack and setting it on the floor. If there's one thing she didn't like, it was Justin. He was a fucking weirdo for all she cared. The last time she ever remembered giving him any attention was when she threw a paper ball at him a couple days ago, along with her friends. Makes sense since Justin was just a piece of trash in general. Emily really had to resist the urge to call him a "stupid fag" before their teacher, Mr. Rose, entered. He greeted Emily promptly and didn't seem to quite notice Justin. Emily let out a quiet "Hah" for Justin to hear.
As students began to filter in the classroom, Emily got her sketch book and pencils out. The various little drawings in her book had already made her forget about her earlier doubts about Travis, instead she focused on what art techniques they would discuss soon. A few of Emily's girlfriends sat around her in a group and immediately began to gossip about girl stuff. Lauren, one of Emily's best friends, bragged loudly about how she and Emily were going to go skinny-dipping down by the lake this weekend for a huge upcoming party. The other girls quickly jumped in on the topic and wanted to go as well. Yina was about to dare all the girls 'who could get the most guys to talk to them' on said day before the teacher quickly interrupted and forced everyone to pay attention to the board.
For the next 30 minutes they proceeded to go over serveral different types of lines and shadowing. Emily already knew all of this stuff and raised her hand to answer every question asked. As usual, Mr. Rose was very impressed with her high degree of learning and declared Emily would have no homework while everyone else would be getting practice sheets over lines and shadows. A groan washed over the room while Emily playfully stuck her tongue out at her friends.
Once they'd finished with the rest of the review, Mr. Rose announced, "Okay, now I want everyone to get in pairs for our next assignment." Emily and Lauren immediately looked at each other in tandem, silly grins on their faces. They always partnered up on assignments; so it was only natural.
But Mr. Rose quickly cut in, "I will be choosing your groups so don't get to excited! When I call out the group pairings you will need to move and sit together. Alright, ready? Allison and Pearl...Yina and June...Crystal and Chris...Lauren and...Diana...(more pairs later) -and Emily and Justin. Go get in your groups and wait for my instruction."
A few of Emily's friends "ooo" -ed in unison when the teacher finished. Emily immediately pretended to gag and throw up on the spot, making the other girls and guys around her laugh.
"I can't believe I have to work with him. I would take anyone else besides him!" Emily whined, the other girls giggling. "Good luck," Yina laughed, already getting up to move to her partner. "Give him hell," Lauren added in, patting Emily on the back as extra encouragement.
Emily groaned audibly loud and turned to look back at her new partner, who was already looking at her with wildly surprised blue eyes. She rolled her eyes again until they might have gone back into her head and then unhappily gathered her things. Diana took Emily's seat once she moved to go to the back where Justin was waiting patiently. Emily tried not to throw up at the sight of him and grabbed a chair to sit opposite of him at the table, creating at least some distance between them.
Mr. Rose cleared his thoat, getting his class' attention. "In your pairs, you will all be doing a project that will last the rest of this month. I'll be coming around to hand out each groups' different assignments."
Mr. Rose went around the room and gave each group a piece of paper with an assignment listed at the top. He came by and handed their assignment to Justin and informed them they were group number 5. When he left, Emily quickly snatched the paper from Justin's hands so she could look at it first, but mostly because she was pissed. The title read "Assignment #5: Reflection of Life." The instructions were quite simple. Their group needed to create a sculpture, painting, or drawing based on anything they thought represented life.
Once everyone recieved an assignment and group number, Mr. Rose told the students to go over the project themselves and come up with a few ideas by the end of class. Ideas had already quickly came to Emily's mind and she began writing them on the paper, ignoring Justin at all costs.
Things like clothes, parties, and makeup were firstly added to the list. Emily was so lost in thought with her work she almost jumped when she heard the words, "Uhm Emily," spoke out in front of her. She'd quickly come to the conclusion she'd never actually heard Justin's voice before, he was just in general a very quiet and shy person. His voice was indeed quiet but deep at the same time, and a little hoarse (most likely from a lack of use). Somehow she'd forgotten he was even there.
Emily groaned at the sound and elected to ignore him, her eyebrows drawing together in frustration as she continued writing. He only made her more upset when he repeated the words, but louder. Emily looked up to glare at him, quickly telling him, "Shut up!" It worked for a little bit until he added, "But I have an idea..."
"I don't care."
"It's a group project-"
"Shut up! I don't need your input. I can do this myself."
"Emily-"
"I. Do. Not. Care."
"Emily-"
"Don't care!" Emily hissed, effectively getting him to shut up. "And don't say my name ever again loser, it's annoying."
Maybe Emily was being a little bit harsh, but she really didn't like him. If she was a cat; he would be water. It's as simple as that. The creep shouldn't even know her name, let alone talk to her. Just in a way his existence ruined everyone elses', but Emily had a good heart not to say that to his face.
They sat in a strained silence for most of the class. Justin keeping perfectly quiet as suggested and watching Emily as she wrote out her ideas on the paper; little doodles and sketches filling up the page of her ideas. One was a little simple dress with a flouncy bottom, another of a tiny shopping mall. They were pretty well drawn.
"You're a good artist," Justin commented quietly, trying to seem less annoying but ending up failing in the process.
"Don't need you to tell me that," Emily replied and rolled her eyes. "Just sit there and be quiet."
"I want to help you."
"You can help me by shutting up."
"...you don't have to be so harsh you know. I'm just saying I'm pretty good at drawing too."
"Yeah, I doubt it. The only thing you're good at is being a fucking creep."
Justin decided not to gloss over the rude comment this time. "Creep? How am I a creep?"
"More like how are you not a creep! I've seen you staring at me more than once and it's gross! I have a boyfriend you know, and don't think I wouldn't make him beat you up more than you probably already do get beat up!" Emily did not look happy and she continued to glare directly into Justin's eyes, threatening him.
He actually seemed hurt by this. Good, Emily was finally hitting some soft spots.
Still, Justin had some choice words to say himself. "I was only looking at you because I think you're...pretty. I didn't know that was wrong."
"Well it is wrong! I'm way better than you and it's just wrong to have any interest whatsoever. You're just an ugly worthless lowlife that needs to butt out! Get a life and stay out of mine."
The bell rang loudly, cutting off the rest of the conversation. Emily couldn't be more grateful. She stuffed her items randomly into her backpack in a hurry. On the other hand, Justin kept his head low and his mouth shut, Emily's last words carefully sinking into his head. They'd probably stick like a mantra for the rest of the day. Emily didn't seem to notice (or care). She hurriedly went to join her friends promptly at the door and quickly left into the hallway.
-
It took most of lunch before Emily got a text from her boyfriend. The bright screen reading:
Travis: thought u were coming babe :(
Butterflies of regret quickly fluttered around her stomach when she remembered her boyfriend wanted her to skip with him. She felt terrible for abandoning him, especially since art turned out to be a disaster. Through the rest of lunch she had to work up enough nerve to send a text back.
Emily: sorry...maybe next time okay?
It was a lame response but really what was she going to say? I ditched you because I love class instead of hanging out with you. Yeah if she knew Travis he would hate that response. Travis hated going to school and he probably hated the part of Emily that liked it. Even after hoping she could hide that part of herself, her boyfriend might find out one way or another. And she was afraid his opinion of her might change.
Luckily her friends served as a great distraction for her last 2 classes. Talks about parties and celebrities easily helped relax Emily's mind. And it only got better when cheer practice came around. It was mandatory for the cheerleaders to stay afterschool somedays and practice their routines, but this was one of Emily's favorite things in the world. When she was cheering all her trouble melted away in an instant and she could focus on being a team with her other cheerleaders.
Lauren and Yina assisted Emily to the locker rooms as usual, all three of them talking loudly about whatever it was best friends blabbed about. Lauren, with her light brown eyes and long straight blonde hair; and Yina, with her solid black fox-like eyes and long thin black hair, made the perfect best friends. They were both pretty and smart but they loved to party just like Emily. They all had their first drunk experiences together and talked about their first times exclusively with one another. They were a tight trio that were inseparable always. Emily trusted them both with her life and they both thought the same about her.
As usual, their conversation drifted from bitching about assignments towards the party on the upcomming weekend at the lake. Yina talked about her latest yellow bikini that would get her all the atrention at the party. Lauren, being competitive, argued that less was better, and that she would wear nothing to the party. All of the girls laughed in unison at that as they reached the locker room and to Emily's locker. Yina was the first to peel away, explaining about how her mom would kill her if she were another minute late. Meanwhile, Lauren stuck around a little longer, sitting on the thin but long bench that ran through the middle of the walls of lockers.
She gawked and made catcalls as Emily stripped out of her regular clothes to change into her cheer outfit. Lauren's seen her naked before so a bra and panties did little to embarass her. She stuck her tongue out at her friend as she put the cheer top on. The hem resting just above her bellybutton she was so tall, the skirt she added on only looking shorter.
"You look like a whore," Lauren commented, a playful tone to her voice. "A sexy whore."
"You should hear what the guys say," Emily replied with a wink, striking a lame model pose for her friend.
Lauren busted out laughing like she was high. "I bet $50 you make all the guys hard by the first 60 seconds of the show."
"More like 30 seconds," Emily goofed back.
Lauren pursed her lips and put her hands to her chest, pushing her boobs up. "At least mines are bigger."
Emily growled at that, giving Lauren's boobs a good squeeze before determining it as fact.
They both continued to talk about lewd things that popped up into their brains, not caring who hears, until 3 o' clock rolled around. Emily's practice was starting soon. Lauren had to make her goodbyes.
"Wish I could watch you practice girlfriend but I have to get to my boyfriend's house. If I'm lucky I'll be getting some," she whispered, causing Emily to giggle.
They yelled a loud best friend goodbye to each other before Lauren left. Emily was still laughing about their conversation as she opened up her bag to find her water bottle. When she finally spotted it, she noticed a strange black notebook amoung her other belongings that looked nothing like something that might belong to her. She was surprised and decided to examine it quickly before practice started.
The alleged notebook turned out to be a sketchbook when she opened it, the pages without lines and perfect for creating art. The first image was of a mother cat with her 6 kittens, each a mix of their calico colors. The image was simply beautiful, the expressions on each kitty's face realistic and detailed. The orange, white, and black of each pelt looking special and unique. It only made Emily more curious to continue. She flipped to the next page, this time a running horse popping out at her. Again, the realism was beyond her. The dark brown mane and the light brown fur looked like something out of a western photograph. The next number of pages consisted of a rainbow lorikeet, a pack of wild doberman dogs, a field of red roses, and a partly cloudy sky during sunset, which turned out to be Emily's favorite one so far. A grin went easily on her face as she admired the art. The bright colors made it feel like she was traveling to a new world. But her smile slowly dissipated when she turned to the next page. The drawing staring back at her was a detalied and colored drawing of a beautiful girl with long brown hair and green eyes. The girl in the image had a genuine smile on her face and she wore a bright red lipstick on her lips. She appeared to be wearing a rose colored tank top from were Emily looked at the bottom of the image. It looked exactly like her. The resemblance was striking. Emily was almost to surprised to admit it before she saw the word 'Emily' written in small cursive in the bottom corner of the page. She couldn't decide if it was fucking scary or fantastic. And she definitely didn't know if she should turn the page.
An abrupt whistle startled Emily half to death as she slammed the sketchbook shut. The coach and the other girls were already practicing. Emily quickly shoved the book back into her backpack and zipped it up as if to protect it. Somehow she knew she was going to need to see the rest of the art after practice.