old friend

Her gaze moves upon hearing the door bells, suspecting that it is her food delivery. "Wait here, I will come back in a few seconds," she tells Harlan who is sitting on the same bed as hers. She stands up from the bed, walking her way down the stairs to the door, opening it revealing a boy about her age.

The guy takes a glance at her as his gaze is stuck on her while Emily couldn't help but sensing something familiar. As she gets closer to the gate, she stops her track as the both of them stare at each other in quite shocked.

"Emily?" the boy says, confirming her thoughts.

"Owen?" Emily says, feeling a sense of joy in her.

A small smile form on his lips as he heard his nickname that wasn't used since two years ago.

"What are you doing here?" Zach asks as he walks closer to gate to get a better look at his old friend. "I just moved in," she answers. "Oh, so you are the new girl."

"Sorry for not trying to greet you earlier. I don't even know you are moving here." He says as he looks at her in the eyes. "I don't really follow up news about people" he looks down into his hand, realizing the food that he has in his hands.

"Oh, and here is your food," he hands the food on the gate to her as she passes him the total of the food and delivery. As he counts the money and keep it in his hand, he look up to speak again. "And, that is quite some food for a person. You have someone else in the house?"

Emily let out a small smile, "yeah, I have a friend inside."

"Oh wow, Emily Ryan making friends?" he jokes as his eyebrows raised. Emily just reply with a smile. "And before you go in," he says with a pause as them both look at each other. "Can I have your number?"

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Harlan move his head to look at the door which is opening, revealing Emily with a box of pizza with other sides on top of the box. Harlan lift his body up to help her when she said "It's fine."

Emily walks to the mini table on the floor, placing the foods as the door behind her closes by itself. She sits herself in front of the table, looking at Harlan who is still sitting on the bed obediently. "Sit down here."

He follows her word, standing up and sit down in front of her while she is opening the box of pizza. Sitting comfortably on the cow pattern rug, he looks at her, not really comfortable to look at the food.

Emily looks at him, sensing what is going on inside of him. "Dig in."

~*~

He closes his eyes to be met with the dark. Taking a deep breath, he let it out as his head sinks comfortably on his hand. The sound of nothingness surrounds him as he rests on the couch, all alone by himself.

As he was about to dive into his dreamland, the sound of door opening wakes him up. His body jerk up as his eyes are open with evident fading eyebags under his eyes. He looks at the door to find his best friend at the door, his bag resting on one of shoulder as his face expressing the bad vibes inside of him.

Uh-oh. Red flag.

"You are from basketball practice?" Cameron asks him as he watches his friend walking to the other couch that surround the table besides him. Liam put his bag on the couch before throwing himself on the bouncy material. "Hm," he hummed.

Still, his face is showing his feelings. His eyebrows are slightly pulled together, jaw tight, clenching together in his mouth. "What's wrong?"

Silence wash over the room. Liam didn't answer Cameron's question instead staying still staring at his hands. Cameron watch his friend, slightly worried as curiosity lingers.

He has never seen him like this for a long time. The last time Liam gives off bad aura like this was years ago, when they fought over the last piece of pizza. It was bad that they didn't talk for days, but thankfully they eventually made up while eating ice cream after school.

"Liam?" Cameron call his friend for any reaction, only to receive another wave of silence. Liam let out a heavy sigh before finally talking. "Nothing, it is just..." another wave of silence wash over before he let out another exhale as he put his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

"We don't keep secrets, remember?" Cameron remind his friends as he raises his eyebrows at the sight of his friend resting his back that sinks into the couch. "Yeah, I know. But it is just.."

Upon noticing the difficulty his friend is having to tell what is actually going on inside of his mind, he ease up the situation a little bit. "It is fine. You can tell me when you are ready."

"No, I want to tell you now." Liam lean his body to the front, his elbows resting on his knees as his fingers intertwine with each other. He stare at his hands, his thoughts clouding his mind that he doesn't bother to look at Cameron in front of him.

"I.... I saw Zach in front of Emily's house." Liam begins to play with his fingers as Cameron stare at his friend, processing the sentence Liam just let out. "Zach?"

"What is he doing there?" Cameron asks. "Food delivery," Liam answers shortly.

Cameron sigh out of reliefs, the tip of his lips minimally rising. "Then, why do you look so effected by it?" Liam kept quiet, not really wanting to answer the question.

A small mischievous smile form on Cameron's tired face. "Do you like her?"

Liam immediately shift his position, a little bit taken aback at the sentence that he knew is coming. On the other hand, Liam's quietness confirms Cameron's theory. His smile become bigger, seeing another aspect of his bestfriend that he can tease him about.

"Since when?" Cameron asks, making the teen in front of him flustered as a tint of red can be seen on his cheeks.

Cameron laughs at his reaction, first time seeing him blushing because of someone. "Hey, I'm just worried about Zach because you know how he is," Liam defends himself.

With the smile from the previous laugh, Cameron nodded, understanding exactly what Liam's point is. Zach is definitely known in school. Known for his 'bad boy' attitude that every high school is said to have.

"Plus, Zach got her phone number," Liam adds.

He doesn't really play around with girls, but he is definitely popular among them. That is why he doesn't really mind that Halle have this thing going back and forth with Zach, teasing each other non-stop.

Other thing about Zach, he doesn't really care of news about school, including any festivals, program, project, moreover new students. So, to see him talking to the new student in the 6 months, moreover in the first month the new student just moved in is something new.

Worse, when the student is someone that the best friend pair need to keep an eye on.

From his thought process, Cameron just hope that Zach won't mess up the perfect flow that they are having right now. As Cameron think about this, the same thing occur in Liam's head. The difference is, something click in Liam's head.

"But the food that was delivered doesn't look like it is for one person though." The words uttered by Liam is loud enough to be heard by Cameron. Cameron look at is watch on his wrist before looking back at his friend. "Her parents shouldn't be home at this time."

"I know. It could be Harlan." Cameron raises his eyebrows. "I saw them talking in the hallway when I was at the vending machine." He pauses. "They walk together, plus it looks like Emily invited him to hang out at her place."

Full curiosity now takes over him. That is definitely not the Emily that they know from this one month befriending her. Plus, that is definitely not really the description that her parents gave him on her current behavior.

A hint of concern starts to seed in him. He looks at his friend who is still staring at his intertwine fingers that are playing with each other, sharp gazed, eyebrows furrowed, indicating he might be thinking similar to him. "Do you think it is going to effect her?"

Liam shift his position. "I'm not sure."

Liam wonders in his mind. Is his similarity is going to wake up something in her? What is going to happen if she keep hanging around with him?

However, it is too early to obtain the answer. This probably the third time Harlan went into her house which the first two were when she had to help him with science assignment. It doesn't seem 'Emily' to hang out with someone in her house.

Upon thinking, Liam open up his mouth. "Let's just watch for now. If it starting to look bruise, then we will do something. Our job is to watch over her overall."

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5.13 pm

The middle aged lady closes the car door, pushing on the lock button of her car key as the car produce the 'locked' sound. Using a remote control that was sitting on its place by the wall, she closes the garage. As the garage door is closing, she put the remote back to its place before coming into the house, closing the door that connect the garage to the house.

She walk straight to the kitchen, putting down the grocery for today's dinner on the countertop. She takes a look at the receipt as she walks to the trash can. Her foot pushes down the pedal, revealing the pizza box inside. The mother raises her eyebrows.

"Emily cannot eat that much," she thought, looking at the regular boxed pizza.

"Did she invite someone?"

It is definitely odd for her to invite someone. However, this change manage to calm her heart. Looks like her daughter is making speedy recovery. How cannot she be excited for that?

Subtle curiosity lingers in her mind. She definitely did not mind if she invites anyone because she knows her daughter is smart enough to get herself in trouble. Plus, her daughter is choosy in making friends.

Sandra notices that her daughter will only mostly make friends with people who are similar to her. Not from communication wise, but their manners, responsibilities, and students who actually think before saying something.

You know, teens. Sometimes some of them just follows trends without actually checking the backstory or trying to understand in-depth about that certain topic. To simply put it, she is more comfortable making friends with intellectuals.

For that reason, she always have this small friend circle. Of course, she do talk to others sometimes, but only for general topic that doesn't have to spark much thinking into. Still, most of the time, she prefers to spend her time by herself, reading books or exploring the forest that they had back in the old house.

If Sandra is being honest, she does miss the house, however, not that much. She is getting used to the house they are staying right now, where everything seems to be going right.

Back to the question, "who came by?" She thinks in her mind.

Who?