Chapter 6

THE SCALDING LIQUID burned where it fell on Emily’s hand and seeped through her cardigan. The added weight of the person staring at her with horrified wide-eyed gaze didn’t help either. This would have been a cliché romantic moment right out of a movie at any other time, where she would have had gazed back into the green orbs of the stranger who fell on her. She would have had admired his perfectly sculpted face with a high bridge nose, defined cheekbones and sharp jawline. She would have had the urge to gently push the stray strands that escaped his neatly gelled dark brown hair that fell over his eyes — but given the current circumstances the only thing Emily could register was the searing pain where the coffee burned her hand.

“What will it take for you to get off me?” Emily wheezed under the guy who still seemed to be in quite a shock as he didn’t make any effort to get off of her after a few seconds, “Please move will you? You’re kind of heavy.” Registering her words, the person managed to quickly scramble on his feet meticulously dusting off his clothes. He bend down reaching out his hand to pick his phone up, completely oblivious as he ignored Emily’s outstretched hand ¬— who thought he was going to assist her in getting up from the floor. Sensing something amiss, he looked down and saw Emily’s incredulous expressions as realization dawned upon him, profusely apologizing while hurriedly helping Emily up with her hand that wasn’t singed. “About time you did that, thank you.” Emily huffed, cradling her burnt hand to her chest.

“I’m so sorry, I was distracted and didn’t see you were in my way.” The guy sheepishly spoke, rubbing the back of his neck, “Let me take you to the nurse’s office, your hand looks pretty bad.” He offered, gently taking her hand in his and examining it. Emily hissed in pain as his fingers touched the inflamed area around her wrist. “Shite, I’m sorry.” Before Emily could reply the boy who had a worried frown etched to his forehead, two more people came running towards them from the lockers’ area.

“Hey, are you okay?” Emily looked up from her hand to see a girl of 5’7, almost an inch taller than herself, with olive skin tone that glowed like warm sun-kissed honey. Her hair cascaded in a symphony of curls, playfully embracing her face. They were a mixture of shades, from rich brown to hints of auburn, adding depth and charm to her already captivating appearance. Her honey-brown almond shaped eyes reflected worry and concern as she directed her gaze towards Emily’s hand. Standing next to her was a boy who looked almost identical to the girl except for his tousled blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. He had freckles splattered across his cheeks and nose adding to his boyish charm. Tall and lean, he possessed an athletic grace to his movements, a testament to him wearing the team jersey.

“Yeah thank heavens, I’m completely—” The boy who fell on Emily started to answer nodding his head when the girl who asked the question abruptly cut him off mid-sentence,

“My question wasn’t directed towards you Nathan, because unlike you I do have eyes and can clearly see that you’re completely unscathed. It was directed towards the poor girl you just happened to spill your coffee onto and then crush under your weight just about now.” The girl spoke rolling her eyes.

“I love the concern that you have for me Vivienne, it really is very touching.” Nathan scoffed then added while smirking, “Also, did you just call me fat? If you did then you should know that I have a well-built body that girls would die for.”

“I will be concerned for you when you’ll be in dire need of that, which currently you’re clearly not.” Vivienne fake smiled slightly tilting her head, “And I didn’t mean to imply that you’re fat, it’s just that you and gravity have a special bond where gravity pays you a bit more attention just like those girls you mentioned.”

Emily snorted at the last response despite the pain in her hand earning a quick wink from Vivienne, while the other boy who was watching the back and forth argument with amusement, covered his chuckle with a cough. Nathan frowned at Vivienne and was about to say something back when the other boy stopped him by stepping forward and placing a hand on his shoulder. “My man please leave this banter for another day, we both know that you’ll never be able to get the last say. Right now we have more pressing matter at the hand, which is taking her to the nurse’s office before her hand gets any worse.” He said pointing towards Emily’s hand which was red and slightly swollen.

“Finally Alex! Someone finally spoke sense in the midst of a moronic presence.” Vivienne’s eyes glinted with mischief as she spoke pointing in Nathan’s direction with her eyes.

“Vivie please, can you drop your childish antics for once?” Alex said glaring at her.

“Okay, I’m sorry. Let’s take—hey we never asked your name, what is it?” Vivienne asked looking at Emily.

“Emily Lockwood.” Emily spoke reaching out her good hand to shake it with Vivienne’s. Vivienne gave a her hand a firm shake before introducing herself and the two boys next to her, “I’m Vivienne Langston and this here is my brother Alexander. The clumsy idiot who fell on you is Nathaniel Winchester, more commonly known as Vivienne’s underling.” Vivienne said pointing towards the boys respectively while simultaneously teasing Nathan in the process, earning herself a heated glare. “Listen here you little—”

“I think that’s enough with the introductions for now. We should get going, as we can see Emily’s in a lot of pain right now.” Alex said looking pointedly towards Emily, silently begging her to put an end to the ensuing childish dispute so that they should quickly head towards the nurse’s office.

“Ow, ow, ow, yes please we should go or you can just tell me the directions to the nurse’s office, my hand’s hurting really bad.” Emily spoke clutching her hand quickly catching onto Alex’s hint.

“Nonsense, we’re taking you there, come on let’s go.” Vivienne said shaking her head and putting an arm around Emily’s shoulder guiding her forward while the two boys followed suit.

……………….

After helping her wash her burned hand with cold water, the school nurse, Ms. Jenkins, softly patted Emily’s hand dry before applying a non-stick sterile gauze to the affected area and loosely wrapping a bandage around as to secure the dressing in place. Ms. Jenkins handed Emily some over-the-counter pain medication to alleviate her pain and inflammation which Emily quickly swallowed with two big gulps of water from the water bottle handed to her by Nathan.

“There, it’s all done.” Ms. Jenkins said gently patting her shoulder, “Just make sure to change the dressing once or twice a day until the wound heals and avoid scratching the area if it itches. Try keep your hand elevated while you can to reduce the swelling.”

“Thank you Ms. Jenkins.” Emily smiled towards the middle aged woman giving her a polite nod.

“It’s no problem dear. You can drop by if there’s any other problem or if the pain worsens.” Ms. Jenkins said as she stood up from her seat, starting to move towards her desk. Emily took that as her cue to leave and head towards the principal’s office without any further delay.

As she walked towards the exit door, she heard hushed whispers coming from the outside corridor belonging to the three people she had met earlier today.

“I was talking to him earlier this morning when I bumped into Emily,” Nathan’s voice came as Emily opened the door further, her ears perking up at the mention of her name, “The messages and threats are getting more frequent.” There was short pause before Vivienne spoke, “Were you able to get the number traced?”

“Yeah I was able to but unfortunately it proved to be futile because the number traced back to a burner phone which, Theo discovered, was discarded.” Nathan replied back.

“Whoever it is, I’ll give them for being so meticulous in doing their dirty work.” Alexander sighed. “It probably might be one of his father’s rivals in business.”

“This is so ridiculous honestly, why would someone stoop so low and pick a fight with a high schooler?” Vivienne huffed irritated.

Feeling uncomfortable and guilty on eavesdropping on the conversation that probably wasn’t meant for her to hear, Emily lightly coughed to make her presence known to the unsuspecting trio who immediately looked up in her direction.

“Hey you’re here,” Nathan was the first one to speak as he stepped towards Emily, the others following suit, “How’s your hand?”

“It’s pretty much alright, nothing to worry.” Emily said brushing off his concern with a one-shoulder shrug as she sent a small smile his way. Nathan looked towards Emily with guilt swimming in his eyes finding himself culpable for the incident earlier. “Listen I’m really sorry I—” Emily cut Nathan off shaking her head at his apology, “Hey, look I’m completely fine. You don’t need to apologize, for it was a mere accident. It isn’t your fault.”

“Still if there’s anything that I can do for you, please let me know.” Nathan offered giving her a small smile.

“Well, if you’re insisting, then there is something that I can do with.” Emily said looking at the lot who gave her curious looks as she spoke, “I’m new here and I suppose I can do with some friends who can make my time bearable here.” Emily outstretched her hand, smiling warmly at them. She was barreled into a hug by Vivienne as she staggered back from the impact but returning the gesture nonetheless. “I told you guys that she was a good sort.” Vivienne said slinging an arm around Emily’s neck.

“You never said anything of that sort as far as I remember.” Nathan muttered loud enough for them to hear. In one quick stride, Vivienne went up to him and soundly flicked him on the forehead with her fingers as a red spot formed on his pale skin. “Ow! What was that for?” Nathan glared, rubbing his forehead.

“That was a gentle reminder for you to update your brain because you’re being quite forgetful nowadays.” Vivienne said sarcastically smiling looking at him. Alex chuckled at his sister and best friend who childishly bickered back and forth, while Emily looked at them with amusement flickering in her eyes. “Guys as much as I’m thoroughly enjoying your company, I must head to the principal’s office now,” Emily spoke cutting in between squabbling duo, “And I’ll be much obliged if you could give me the directions.”

“Oh we’ll be more than happy to escort you there.” Vivienne happily chirped, looping her arm through Emily’s. “No, please, that’s quite alright. I’ve troubled you enough already, making you miss the first two classes — I’ll be able to manage from here.” Emily quickly began shaking her head at Vivienne’s offer.

“It really isn’t any trouble Emily, we’re friends now aren’t we? Plus I’m in no mood to listen to the muppet drone on and on about wave properties.” Nathan said rolling his eyes at the last bit.

“The muppet?” Emily asked as she curiously gazed towards Nathan, who just shrugged in response. “He’s talking about his AP Physics teacher, who I agree, kind of looks like the muppet.” Vivienne chuckled answering Emily’s question. They started walking together towards the principal’s office which was located at the opposite end of the lobby where she had entered the building from. Emily’s heart was filled with nothing but immense gratitude as she looked with a slight smile on her face at the people walking beside her, whom she was now able to call as friends. Something good finally happened since the time she had shifted here, Emily thought. However, the smile quickly wiped from Emily’s face as a scowl took its stead when she saw the person leaving the principal’s office a couple feet away. She completely disregarded something that Alex asked her as she angrily marched towards the person.

“What are you doing here?”

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