EMIT (THE EMIT SAGA) (4 page)

We just wanted to see her occasionally, but we gave up trying.

As I waited, I got a tex
t saying that she was sorry that she couldn’t come over after all. I wasn’t surprised because she canceled all the time, but I was still disappointed.

When Mom got home, we
decided to order Japanese food.

“What would you like?” she
asked while looking at the menu.

“Just a spicy tuna roll and firecracker shrimp.”

I went to my bedroom to wait and got on the computer. There was an invitation on Facebook from Reed, a boy from school. Reed had asked me to the last school dance in May. I only liked him as a friend, so I lucked out that we had theatre tickets for the same night.

His message was that he was going to hockey camp for the summer and was having a get-together tonight before he left. It
would be nice to see some kids from school.

When I heard the doorbell, I ran downstairs for dinner. I was starving.

Mom was paying the delivery guy and I took the bag. As I entered the kitchen, the house line rang and it was Daphne.

“Paige, I’ve be
en texting you all day. Are you still having issues with your phone?”

“I guess. One day it’s fine and the next it’s crazy. I have to go to the phone store. Are you going to Reed’s tonight?”

“Yeah, that’s why I’ve been trying to reach you. Grace and I are going. Can you go?”

“I’m not sure I should. What if he asks me out again?”

“Tell him you like somebody else or that you just want to be friends. Problem is, once a guy asks you out and you say that, they never want to be friends. Remember Colton?”

“I know. That’s exactly why I’m worried. Colton hates you now. I’ll
call you back after dinner. I’m really not sure if I’m in the mood for a party.”

Mom
walked in and overheard the ending. “Sweetie, go have fun. You were just complaining how bored you were.”

She
was right. I couldn’t hide from every boy that liked me.

I called Daphne and made plans to meet them in front of Reed’s building. Reed lived on West 79th Street and Daphne and Grace lived on West 82nd Street. 

When I got to Reed’s, they were waiting for me. As I approached, Grace was animatedly telling Daphne something. What did they have left to talk about? I suppose, that same question could apply to Lily and me, but we didn’t go to school together, work together and live on the same block.

It was impossible not to notice Grace’s striking appearance. Her mom was African-American and her dad was Irish so Grace had beautiful blended features. With long curly brown hair, big brown eyes, light brown skin and full lips, she really was stunning. Daphne was Italian with shoulder length black hair and hazel eyes. Jokingly, we called ourselves the 3D’s for ‘the dark three.’ When Eden was part of our group we had called ourselves the Four Musketeers.
After Eden ditched us for Paul, Daphne came up with our new name. Eden had red hair so the 4D’s name wouldn’t have worked for the four of us anyways.

“Hey, you two look great. Perks of working in a clothing store, huh?” I joked.

“Yep, but we also have to deal with crazy shoppers, so it’s a trade off,” Daphne said.

“Yeah. There’s this insane woman who keeps returning everything she buys,” said Grace.

Walking into the building, Daphne asked, “You ready?”

“I guess,” I answered hesitantly.

“Maybe he likes somebody else by now,” Grace added, reassuringly.

As we rode the elevator up, I hoped I wasn’t making a mistake.

Chad, Reed’s older brother, answered the door. He was really cute and had long brown wavy hair that almost reached his shoulder. He had graduated this year and I had no idea what he was doing in the fall. When I was a freshman, he was a sophomore and we had an art class together, but since then, I had barely seen him.

“Hi, girls.
”

“Hi.
How’s your band?” I asked, noticing his guitar.

“Grea
t. We have a gig tonight.”

“What are you doing next year?” I asked.

“I’m going to Julliard.”

“Wow,” we all said almost simultaneously.

“Reed…you have some more friends here,” he yelled. “Gotta go, have fun.” Although Chad and Reed were only a year apart, they had their own circle of friends. Reed was a muscular jock and sports consumed his life and Chad’s passion was music.

Reed materialized and I could tell from his expression that he was happy I came.

“Hi, come on in. We’re playing video games and just hanging out.”

There were five guys and three
girls from school standing in the living room and a pretty blonde girl I didn’t know sitting on the floor talking to Evan, Reed’s best friend. Reed’s mom told us to help ourselves with the drinks and snacks on the counter in the kitchen. After grabbing a water bottle, I returned into the living room and sat on the couch. I thought Daphne and Grace were right behind me, but Reed sat down next to me instead.

“I heard
your London trip got canceled.”

“Yeah, my grandmother broke her leg.”

“So what are you going to do this summer?”

“I don’t know yet. Hopefully find a job. When are you leaving for Cana
da?”

“In two weeks. Are you around for Fourth of July?” he asked.

Oh no! Please don’t ask me out. “No, we’re going to my grandmother’s on Long Island. It’s her birthday,” I said.

Evan came over complaining about the remote and dragged Reed away. Grace quickly sat down and squeezed my arm. I opened my eyes wide at her and breathed a sigh of relief.

Daphne was talking to Deidre, a girl from school, and the blonde girl. Wherever Reed went, she watched him like a hawk.

When Daphne came over, I asked, “Who’s that blonde girl you were talking to?”

“Her name’s Josie. She moved into Reed’s building from Paris about two weeks ago. She’s really nice,” Daphne added as an afterthought.

“Does she speak English?” I asked.

“Yeah, she’s from California. She lived in Paris for two years because of her dad’s job.”

I looked over and Josie was
watching us.

In a short time, there were about twenty people there. Daphne spent most of the night flirting with Evan, which was strange because she always said that he was a jerk.

I was talking to Grace and Deidre when I saw Vanessa walk in and I was surprised and annoyed at the same time. Vanessa’s best friend was Carla, Reed’s ex-girlfriend. When Reed broke up with Carla in the spring, she was heartbroken and she still wanted him back. The rumors were that she wouldn’t leave Reed alone and was almost stalking him.

As soon as Vanessa spotted me, it was like daggers were being thrown at me. Carla and Vanessa heard that Reed had asked me to the dance and because of that they hated me. Every time they passed me in the halls, they’d laugh and make snarky comments. Luckily, I had no classes with them,
but sometimes their comments really got to me.

All night long, Reed was nearby and always jumped into my conversations. I glanced around and saw Vanessa talking to Josie. When they both started giving me dirty
looks, it was obvious that Vanessa was talking about me. It was funny watching them together. Josie was a blond Barbie doll and Vanessa was Chinese with long black hair. They were complete opposites.

“It looks like Vanessa is talking about me,” I whispered to Grace.

Grace looked over and lifted her water bottle and mouthed, “Do you want a picture.”

Vanessa turned away and laughed
with Josie.

“
Don’t. It’s not really worth it,” I said.

“
Why not? She’s an idiot. You should go over there,” Grace insisted.

“What’s so crazy is that I never
even went out with Reed. What would they be like if I did?”

“I think you should tell
them off or tell Reed. He’d get really pissed at both of them.”

“I’ll think about it.” When I glanced back at Vanessa, she gave me the finger. I didn’t want to stay any longer and deal with this nonsense. “Grace, I’m going home.”

“Don’t let her get to you.” Grace hadn’t seen what she did and I wasn’t telling her.

“I’m just tired. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

I wasn’t in the mood for Vanessa or Josie. Perhaps with me gone, Josie and Reed would find each other. Carla and Vanessa could move on and hate Josie.

When I went over to say goodbye, Reed insisted on walking
me to the door.

“I’ll call you before I leave for camp.”

I managed to say, “Sure.”

I gave him a hug goodbye, but by the time I got to the elevato
r, I worried that he might have gotten the wrong idea and regretted it.




M
y books were strewn all over the place. While most of my friends bought clothes, I bought books and could get lost for hours in a bookstore. Lily thought I was crazy.

As I put my books away, I saw a folder protruding from under my bed. Inside, I found my school’s required summer reading lists and assignments for my classes that needed to be completed before school started. I’d signed up for a poetry class called English Poets
.

I’d taken a Shakespeare class last year and loved it so much that this year I decided to tackle poetry.
Nana loved poetry and on every visit, I’d find a poetry book in my room. Her favorite poets were Elizabeth Barrett Browning, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. Luckily, those four poets along with William Blake, Lord Tennyson and William Butler Yeats were part of the curriculum. I had to check if we had any of the poetry books and if not, I’d have to go to the library.

When
Amber started barking, it gave me an excuse to stop cleaning to go for a walk.

Back in my room, I noticed my electric and acoustic guitars and my keyboard in the corner of my room and decided to write a song.
I got so involved that I lost

Mom
called up that she was home, so I went downstairs and found her in the kitchen. She reminded me that they were having a dinner party.

I really didn't feel like being home anymore, so
I called Daphne. “What are you doing tonight?” I asked.

“Nothing special. Why?”

“I'm bored. Can I sleep over?”

“Sure. That concert we tried to get tickets for is tonight at Rumsey Field. Want to go, sit on a bench and listen?”

“Okay. We can close our eyes and pretend we’re inside,” I joked.

We
had a great time. I normally had trouble falling asleep at friends’ houses, but not tonight.




In the
morning, I walked with Daphne and Grace to Stars and went inside to find a present for Grammy’s birthday. I eventually settled on a beautiful knit peach summer scarf. While Grace gift-wrapped the gift, I asked Daphne if there were any job openings at the store. She didn’t think so, but would check with her mom later.

Before I left
, Grace asked if I wanted to meet at Café Lalo that evening. She had family visiting and had to stay for dinner, but wanted to get out of the house afterwards. I said sure.

When I got home,
I called the Museum of Natural History and a lady told me that I needed to apply with the Department of Volunteer Services. First, there was an application to complete and with that you had to send a resume. Then, there would be a preliminary interview. Since I was under eighteen, I needed a permission letter from my parents. If I passed all these steps, I would be interviewed a second time and finally placed. By the end of this long process, I fully understood, it would be fall and I would be back in school. I checked some other museums and the process was the same. Even volunteering was difficult. Nonetheless, I decided to fill out the applications online anyway. I could volunteer on the weekends during the school year if I got accepted or at least be ready for next summer if need be.

I called Mom and she was at the obelisk for the photo shoot so I jogged over.
For a research paper on Egypt in seventh grade, I wrote about obelisks and since then I’d been fascinated by them. This one was the only ancient Egyptian obelisk in America. Napoleon had admired this one, but thought it was too deteriorated, so he chose a different one for Paris. Cleopatra's Needle is the name given to all three Ancient Egyptian obelisks removed from Egypt. They were re-erected in London, Paris and New York City. Amazingly, the twin of the Manhattan obelisk was in London and I’d seen it many times. It made me feel like New York and London would forever be linked and intertwined. The obelisk in Paris came from a different site and its twin still stood in Egypt. Obelisks were placed in pairs at entrances of temples. Now most stand alone apart from their mates. It’s sad in a bizarre way because they were constructed as mates and then they were torn apart.