Chapter Nine

                                    

                                          
"All I'm saying, Emmy, is that she was smiling at me and then all of a sudden she was smiling at me a lot less," I told my friend, as the two of us made our way out of the classroom.
                          
Emmy turned to me with sympathetic eyes, as she appeared to plan what she wanted to say.
                          
"Maybe you're just being a little paranoid, Clarke," she told me.
                          
"No. I'm being completely serious. She smiled. Then she stopped smiling at me and looked all angry," I said.
                          
Emmy released a soft laugh at that statement.
                          
"We are eighteen and nineteen. Don't you think we are getting a little old for this high school level drama?" she asked me, "And as I've said before, you have no reason to be worried. She only just joined the school. She can't have already formed an opinion about you," Emmy told me. "Didn't you think that it was so nice yesterday evening? There were so many stars out!" she said.
                          
"I didn't realise. I was far too busy suffocating from the heat," I said.
                          
Emmy could only smile in amusement at that.
                          
"Don't be a debby downer, Clarke," she said.
                          
"I'm sorry. Aren't you anxious about things like...ever?" I asked her.
                          
"All the time!" she told me, as we approached her locker.
                          
I gave her an expression then that just asked the question, "Like what?".
                          
"Like this whole joining the sports team thing," she explained, as she began to sort through her locker.
                          
I supposed that made sense.
                          
"You're going to be fine, Emmy. I just know it," I assured her.
                          
Emmy smiled back at me then with a kind expression upon her face.
                          
"Thank you, honey. Now, let's go and get some of that good cafeteria spaghetti. I can already smell it now," she joked.
                          
I simply smirked back at her, but then my stomach grumbled which signalled to me that I was hungrier than I had originally thought.
                          
Emmy chuckled as she heard my stomach growl.
                          
"Come on, you. Let's get going," she told me.
                          
The two of us made our way into the cafeteria so that we could purchase some spaghetti. Once that was done, we walked over to a nearby table so that the two of us could sit down there.
                          
"I understand you getting unsettled. Sometimes I'm not good with new people either," she told me.
                          
"Really?" I asked her, as I began to cut up one of the meatballs on my plate.
                          
"Really," she said.
                          
"I find that one hard to believe," I said, before I blew on the meatball in some desperate attempt to cool it down.
                          
"Listen, Phoebe. You're beautiful and anyone would be lucky to date you. I, on the other hand, am going to stick to my anime boys. I hope you can understand," she said.
                          
I sighed.
                          
"You're nearly as bad as Callie. She's back together with Ben now, by the way," I said.
                          
Emmy eyes widened at that so much I was concerned that she had choked on her meatball.
                          
"No," she said.
                          
"That's what I said! I only wish that Callie would realise that he's bad for her. Bad news, you know?" I asked Emmy.
                          
"Not good at all," she replied simply.
                          
"Exactly. I hate it. I hardly ever hate anything but I hold contempt for Ben," I told her.
                          
Emmy only looked towards me with sympathy in her eyes then.
                          
"I'm sorry, Phoebe," she said.
                          
It wasn't as though she had made my sister get back together with Ben though and so I couldn't blame her.
                          
"It's okay," I managed to say, although I wasn't sure how much truth there was behind my words. 

Emmy and I chattered away for a few more moments until a figure joined our table. 
                          
"Hey," she said. 
                          
Emmy and I looked towards Courtney. 
                          
"Hi," I managed to say. 
                          
Emmy just looked towards me with playfulness in her eyes, before she replied to Courtney. 
                          
"Hey Courtney. Do you want to sit with us?" Emmy asked her. 
                          
Courtney shrugged. 
                          
"Sure," she said, as she sat down beside us. 
                          
This table could only seat three people. 
                          
I was going to have to talk to her. 
                          
I was barely ever shy. My sister was the shy one! 
                          
Here I was, though, not knowing what to say. Honestly, as soon as I saw a pretty girl it was as though my brain short-circuited. 
                          
"How are you, Courtney?" I asked her. 
                          
Courtney adjusted the collar on her leather jacket before she turned to me. As she spoke, I found myself wondering how she was even wearing that thing indoors. It may have been September but it was still incredibly warm outside. I felt as though I was melting into the cafeteria seat. It was not comfortable in any way shape or form. I had to get used to that, though, just as I had to get used to the nervousness I felt around Courtney. 
                          
"Same old, same old. I suppose I'm just getting used to being at a new school again," Courtney stated, "It's nice to have gotten away from my ex-girlfriend's town," she said. 


                          
She continued to speak once she caught notice of mine and Emmy's expressions of curiosity. 
                          
"Uh...I suppose I probably should have prefaced that by letting you both know that I didn't move because of my ex-girlfriend. I'm also gay," she said, "I said that I wasn't going to admit that to the first person I met just like I have done in the past but here we are..." she trailed off.
                          
"Why did you break up?" I blurted.
                          
"Commitment issues. On my part, not hers," Courtney explained.
                          
I nodded my head understandingly at that. At least, I pretended that I could understand. I had never truly understood all the drama around relationships. It was something that I was still working on.
                          
"I guess it would be nice to just date someone and have no drama, you know?" Courtney asked us both then.
                          
"Yeah, I get you," Emmy said, even though she didn't. I think this time around she had become a fraction anxious. 
                          
Either way, before we could bombard Courtney with any more questions, the school bell rang out and signalled to us all that it was time for us to leave.