Chapter 9: School Days

“So you’ll never guess what I saw at Nicky’s this weekend!?” Alex giggled with abounding anticipation as she leaned against her grey locker, her face rather bright and cheery for a Monday.

“I don’t know, what?” Emma appeased her, as she grabbed her world history book.

“Daniel and Lauren got into a huge fight!” Her squeak of excitement slipped from her lips.

“And why is that a good thing again?” Emma asked perplexed at her rather good mood for such a thing.

“Come on Em! If they were fighting then that means that they may break up soon, and if they break up…”

“Then he’s available.”

“Exactly.”

“Alex, they always fight. It’s what they do, and besides you deserve better than Daniel McAdams.”

“Em, he’s gorgeous, talented, rich, and did I mention he’s incredibly hot!” Her eyes glazed over as she gave a slight sigh. “And besides James and him are friends.”

“Yeah, and because he’s friends with James I know that he cares more about himself than anything. A guy like him is dangerous, Alex. Look at every girl he’s gone out with.” Emma tried to make her see reason as they headed down the hall towards class. “I mean every girl he’s dated turns out either heartbroken or extremely pissed off. He’s a player, Alex.”

“Tell me how you really feel.”

“I’m sorry, I just want…you to be careful. You’re my friend, and it’s my responsibility to tell you to be cautious.” She nudged her trying to make the mood slightly less serious.

“Yeah, but I still think he’s gorgeous!” She laughed as she hooked her arm through Emma’s as they walked towards history.

--

By the time lunch came, James was glad for thirty minutes of freedom. He sat outside in the quad, his group of friends circled around their normal spot by one of the large oak trees. The weather was a bit colder, but here they sat around one large old wooden picnic table in which names and dates were etched into it from students who had possessed it before them.

“So Ace, whatcha do this weekend? We didn’t see ya around.” Blake asked as he tossed his crushed coke can into the trash.

“Not much just worked, hung around the house. I had to take care of some things.” James mumbled. Blake was one of the best, if not the best, guy friend he had. They had met when Blake had joined the baseball team a couple of years ago. Some of the guys had been hard on him for being one of the only black guys on the team; James had defended him. Yet, unfortunately James hadn’t been ready for the fist that hit him square in the jaw, but the other guy hadn’t been ready for Blake’s either. From that moment Blake and him seemed to look after one another.

“Cool.”

“What about you?” James questioned.

“Took care of my brothers mostly. Then I took Monique out to see that new movie on Saturday.”

“You guys seem to be getting serious.” Alex asked as she bit into her sandwich.

“It’s been what three weeks now?” James asked.

“No, we’re just hanging out. She’s one hell of a hottie if you know what I’m sayin.” Blake laughed as he insinuated at James.

Alex rolled her eyes. “What about you, James? No one’s caught your eye since what’s her name…”

“Kate.” James said through a breath. They had only gone out for a couple of months; it wasn’t as big of a deal as his friends made it out to be.

“What was that, like 5 months ago?” One of Alex’s friends, Carra, chimed in as she flipped through her style magazine.

“Yeah, last spring.”

“Man, Ace, you need to get back in the game!” Blake shouted, astounded that he hadn’t rebounded yet.

“I will. There just isn’t…anyone.”

“Really?” Blake wasn’t quite convinced.

“Really.” James stated bluntly wanted to change the subject as quickly as possible.

“Hey guys.” Emma said as she sat her bag on the ground and her lunch on the picnic table.

“Hey, Em.” They all greeted her as James scooted over so that she could sit down.

“How’s Monday treating you?” He asked.

“Okay, I had a calculus quiz. Which I probably failed since Mrs. Bransen wasn’t available this morning.”

“I’m sure you didn’t fail. You’re smart.” Alex tried to encourage her.

“Not math smart. That’s James territory. He could do it in his sleep.”

“I bet he could.” Carra said through a tempting smile. James almost chocked at her insinuation, but he tried to play it casually by simply laughing it off.

“What?” Emma was totally in the dark as to what was going on which just made it even more awkward.

“Nothing, Em. Alex is right, I’m sure you did better than you thought.” James placed his hand on her arm to reassure her.

“I hope so.”

Lunch quickly passed and they each headed to their next classes. Emma and James to Anatomy, the only class they had together. It was lucky for her because James excelled in the class and having him as a lab partner helped her pass. Emma was smart, very smart in fact, she loved to read, which is probably why history and English came so easily to her, but when it came to solving math problems and figuring out all the parts of the body something in her head just seemed to switch off.

“So this thing is the…”

“The kidney.” James said as he wrote down the name of the organ on their lab sheet.

“Oh, and here I assume is the other one?” Emma pointed at the other kidney on the opposite side of the cat.

“Yep. Okay, now we need to measure the intestine to see how long it is.” James pulled out the measuring tape.

“You can take this one.” Emma squinted, a look of disgust on her face.

“I thought you were afraid of nothing.” He jested.

“I’m not afraid, simply a bit unnerved. It probably wasn’t a good thing to eat lunch before.”

“Oh, its not that bad.” James said as he measured both intestines.

“Hey James?” Angie called over from the next table.

“Your fan club is waiting.” Emma smiled as he gave her a mocking laugh before heading over to their table. James was a hit when it came to Anatomy class. He knew everything, and was willing to help all those in need, especially all the girls in the class. Emma watched as he leaned over one of the girls to show her where the heart was, and how it all was connected. She could tell from the girls face that she was more interested in James than the location of the cat’s heart. Emma finished up their lab report just as the bell began to ring.

“Sorry about that.” James apologized.

“No problem.” Emma said convincingly. It didn’t bother her that he liked to help his classmates; it did bother her however that he was looked at like a piece of meat ready to be chewed.

“You can turn the papers in, I’ll clean up.”

“Thanks.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah, just tired. It’s been a long day.”

“You sure? You have that look.” He said as he began to put away their materials.

“What look?” She asked curiosity getting the better of her.

“The look, you know, the one you get when something’s bothering you, but you don’t want anyone to know because you feel bad about burdening someone else with “your problems”.”

“I don’t—’’

“Yes, you do.”

“Well, nothings wrong.” Emma’s tone harsher than she intended.

“Okay, well I’ll see you in the parking lot.” James said before turning to dispose of the trash.