Chapter Twenty-Three

                                    

                                          
Once I arrived at school the next day? I found Courtney in the car park just leaving her car. 
                          
"Hey," I said, after she had closed the door. 
                          
Courtney turned to me and her eyes glanced over my face momentarily, as if she was trying to read my expression. I simply smiled. 
                          
"Hey Phoebe," she replied. 
                          
Courtney smiled back at me for a fraction of a moment, before her eyes looked towards the red and amber leaves of a tree nearby. I had always preferred this type of year, especially when the autumn breeze began to pass by the two of us. I often found that summer was fat too warm so it was nice to have break from it. 
                          
"How are you?" I asked, as I tried to pull myself away from my thoughts. 
                          
"I'm fine. I thought I would get here earlier so that I could get on with more of my art work," she informed me. 
                          
I nodded in understanding st that. 
                          
"Sometimes you have to be a little bit of a nerd," I replied. 
                          
Courtney raised an eyebrow at me then. 
                          
"What? I'm not a nerd," she said. 
                          
I released a soft laugh at her expression, which ended up with Courtney smiling back at me. 
                          
It was only for a second, though, before she groaned. 
                          
"I have to go, alright? You can talk to me later. Maybe," she said. 
                          
I nodded in agreement and simply watched as she walked away. 
                          
I decided in that moment that it was probably about time for me to go and get on with some art work too and so I walked into the school building and headed for the library. 
                          
I knew that I was going to study for math or at least try to. My mind was occupied by other thoughts, in all honesty. One of which was this asking a girl out situation. The other was making sure that I got some of my art assignment done. Lastly, I supposed that my thoughts had been on the Halloween party. 
                          
It was a tradition at our school that a Halloween party was held every year and it was a big event. There was often Halloween themed food, too, like little orange cupcakes and anything else the organisers could come up with. 
                          
I worked for a short while until it was time for me to go and find Emmy. 
                          
I eventually found her sat in the art classroom. 
                          
"Hey," I greeted her, "What are you working on?" I asked. 
                          
My eyes glanced over Emmy's book for a moment to see that she had been drawing a picture of a tree. It was really detailed and looked amazing. That much could be expected from Emmy though. She had always been a very creative and talented person, even a few years back her art had been amazing but it had improved so much recently. 
                          
"I felt like taking a break from the assignment piece," she explained. 
                          
I gave an understanding nod of my head at that. 
                          
"As well as that, you know how I love nature," she reminded me, "I took a walk with my pumpkin spice latte earlier and found myself inspired. Anyway, how did your morning go?" she asked me. 
                          
"I saw Courtney," I replied. 
                          
Emmy's eyes brightened a little at that. 
                          
"How did that go?" she asked me. 
                          
"It's still a work in progress but I think one day the two of us could be friends," I stated. 
                          
"Yeah?" she asked me. 
                          
I gave a nod in response. 
                          
Before Emmy could bombard me with any more questions, Elijah entered the classroom  
                          
"I am so glad that this is our only class of the day," he stated, as he took a seat nearby us. 
                          
"Maybe we could go clothes shopping," Emmy suggested. 
                          
"Like right after school? I'm going to need some warning on that one," Elijah said. 
                          
I knew that he wasn't the biggest fan of clothes shopping but I couldn't blame him. Emmy didn't exactly shop lightly. 
                          
Elijah seemed thoughtful for a moment before he spoke again. 
                          
"I think I'll go to the coffee shop," he said. 
                          
"Sure. I want to see Lois again anyway," Emmy said. 
                          
I got on with some of my work after that but my mind couldn't help but think back to the whole Lois thing. I wished that I wasn't so jealous over the Emmy situation but I knew that I still had some feelings for her, even if it was getting less complicated to deal with them now. 
                          
I supposed in part I could thank Courtney for that. My mind had been occupied by her recently which had allowed for me to focus my attentions elsewhere. 
                          
The bell soon rang out in the classroom which broke me from my reverie. 
                          
Emmy and I said our goodbyes to Elijah before heading out of the school and towards Emmy's car. Moments later she had driven the both of us to the nearby cafe and we walked inside so that we could both order some cappuccinos. 
                          
I stood there and simply tried not to be jealous as Emmy and Lois met each other's gazes. Maybe my mind was making this out to be more significant than it really was. 
                          
"It's good to see you again, Emmy," Lois told her, with a friendly smile. 
                          
Emmy nodded her head in agreement, before she replied. 

"You too, Lois," she said. 
                          
Emmy and I walked over to a table and Lois soon joined us again. 
                          
"I just finished my shift, so if you wanted to hang out later we could do that," Lois suggested. 
                          
I looked down towards my cappuccino and remained quiet. I was happy for Lois. I didn't want to seem like a bad friend and not hype her up over this. 
                          
"That would be awesome, actually. The two of us could go to the local park?" Emmy suggested. 
                          
"Sure!" Lois said in her agreement, as a smile appeared upon her face. 
                          
Lois soon returned to work and I looked towards Emmy to give her a kind smile. 
                          
"I'm proud of you," I said. 
                          
"Now it's your turn," Emmy reminded me.