15 Chapter 15 (2/2)
”What about the empty room?” Rose asks.
”Why that room in particular?” Ryan asks. ”Are you concerned that he won't get along well with another student?”.
”Well... he is a laibah” Rose says, ”but... he also doesn't know that I'm aware that he's a laibah. I don't know if he'll get along that easily with another student”.
”My main concern is...” Ryan says, ”there's a possibility that we may need to reserve the empty room for another purpose. I'll try putting him with someone in his grade. The only other option besides those two would be sticking him with a first year student. A student by the name of... Wyatt Bogan”.
”Well, I guess it's better to have the students in the same grade share a dorm” Rose says, ”so go with second year instead”.
”Alright, I'll have him registered right away” Ryan says. ”You can tell him that's he's welcome to move in at any time convenient to his schedule. I just need his name, so I can type it out”.
”It's Darren Forray” Rose says.
”Consider it done” Ryan says.
”Thank you, grandpa” Rose says.
”You're welcome, problem child” Ryan says with a childish laugh.
”Hey!” Rose complains.
Ryan waves his hand playfully and says ”I'm kidding, I'm kidding!”.
After school, while Wyatt and Emma were leaving together, Refus stopped them just outside. ”Hey, Emma!” Refus calls out, ”sorry for stopping you, but I need to talk real quick. It's nothing bad, I promise”.
”Oh, uh...” Wyatt says as he points towards the dorms, ”I've gotta go to work, so I'll go on ahead. Is that okay?”.
”Yeah, that's fine” Emma says. ”I'll see you later, Wyatt!”. Wyatt waves at Emma as he walks away. ”What did you need, Mr. Maloney?” Emma asks.
”I'm probably just being a little too paranoid” Refus says, ”but how are your living conditions?”.
”My... what?” Emma asks, confused about what Refus was referring to.
”Well, when you enrolled into Harrison, we've never seen or heard any mention of your parents” Refus says, ”and I know how the other students were teasing you during the first week about your uniform. Is everything okay at home? You didn't have to move far away from your parents to attend school, did you?”.
”Oh... right” Emma says, then thinks for a while. ”D-Don't worry, I'm fine”.
”You're fine?” Refus asks, ”are you sure?”.
Emma nods and says ”Mm-hmm! It's just... well, I'm doing better now than I was before. There's no need to worry”.
”I sure hope not” Refus says, ”but if you ever need living assistance from the school, let me know. I can talk with Principal Schafold about arranging something if you need the help”.
”No thank you, Mr. Maloney” Emma says, ”that won't be necessary”.
As Emma begins to walk away, someone suddenly bumps into her. Another student ran out of the doors, looking rather excited. He stopped and turned around to look at Emma. ”Oh, sorry” he says, ”that was my bad!”.
”O-oh, you're fine” Emma says, ”sorry for standing in the way”.
The man holds out his hand for a handshake and says ”The name's Darren, nice to meet you”.
”Emma...” Emma says as she awkwardly shakes his hand. Immediately after, Darren continues running. ”Darren...” Emma says to herself, ”why does that sound so familiar?”.
Emma sneaks into the dorm alone, and begins to work on her clothes again. ”Maybe Aeris and Jackson are right...” she thinks to herself, ”maybe I should be worrying about more important things, rather than be trying to help Emily. I should be worrying about getting closer to Wyatt. Maybe if we can get close enough, he won't be able to reject me for being a laibah!... but at the same time, maybe the longer I take to tell him, the more angry he'll be at me for lying...”. Emma begins to get frustrated with herself. ”Mmmm! I don't know what to do!” She yells at herself. ”What am I supposed to do?...”. As Emma looked down at her hands, she noticed that she messed up on the stitching, and now had to undo a mess. ”Oops” she said, then let out a sigh, ”I really need to focus”.
The night passed, and the next morning started like any other. However, after a while, Emily began to start listening in on The Rejects' conversation. ”We're finally halfway through the week!” Jessica says, ”this week has been dragging on forever!”.
”Maybe for you” Wyatt says, ”it's been a fun week for me”.
”Yeah, that figures” Jessica says, ”you two started dating finally. But the rest of us are still having boring lives”.
”No, just you” Aeris says, ”Jackson and I are still dating too”.
”WE ARE!?” Jackson panics.
”Hey, Wyatt” Aeris says, ”how about another double date?”.
”WHAT!?” Jackson panics.
”Really?” Emma asks, ”I mean, I was thinking...”.
”What is it, Emma?” Wyatt asks.
”I was thinking that maybe we could go on a regular date?” Emma asks, softly. ”We haven't gone to the festival again yet, and I'd hate for you to have to buy those passes to only go once... so I was thinking that maybe we can...”.
”Definitely!” Wyatt says quickly, ”I'm down! Should we go on Friday, after school? That way, we don't have to worry about leaving early on the last day of the festival”.
”When is the last day?” Jackson asks.
”Saturday” Wyatt says. ”They begin to close everything during the evening of the last day, or so I've heard. Apparently, they plan on holding a concert on the last day too”.
”Really?” Jessica asks.
”Yeah” Wyatt says, then pauses for a second. ”Wait, I have a better idea. Emma, do you wanna go on both Friday and Saturday? Date on Friday, then see the concert together on Saturday?”.
”Yeah!” Emma says, ”I'd love too!”.
”Lucky...” Jessica says.
”Well, it looks like you got lucky too, Jackson” Aeris says, ”you've avoided a date”.
”Yes!” Jackson says as he pumps his fist into the air. Then he looks over at Aeris and noticed she was laughing, but her face also expressed disappointment. It was like she was fake laughing to try and avoid how she really felt. Now Jackson felt guilty ”... You know” Jackson says, ”if you want to go on a real date, try not pairing us with those two”.
Aeris looks up and asks ”What do you mean?”.
Jackson sighs and asks ”Do you want to try a regular date... just you and me, maybe Friday or Saturday?”.
”Heh heh, yeah” Aeris says, her face trying to hide a nervous smile.
”You know” Jackson says, ”if you're more honest with people, and not hitting them preferably, it's easier for people to understand what you really want”.
”What do you mean?” Aeris asks.
”Ah, never mind...” Jackson says. As Aeris begins to look down, Jackson says ”So... Saturday then?”.
A smile grew on Aeris's face as she tried to hide the redness of her cheeks. ”Y-Yeah” she says.
”You're ridiculous” Jackson thinks to himself. ”If you were more honest, then I would've asked you out sooner. Instead, you have to act like the other two idiots...”.
”Definitely strange people...” Emily thinks to herself as she listened to their conversation. ”As if I should talk to people like that! Why would I ever associate myself with people that are this strange?”.