Page 20 of More Than Chemical
My heart stopped, and I almost choked.
I flung off the quilt, but it was wrapped around my legs. I moved like an inch-worm, trying to free myself. My legs went over the edge, and I landed on the ground, the quilt coming with me. I shook it off and ran. My fingers trembled as I grabbed my phone.
EMMA
No hockey players tonight
We’re on our way home
My stomach cramped, twisting into dozens of knots. I tossed my phone on my desk. I was a failure. A complete failure.
Eight
Boy Texts Girl Back
As soon as my friends arrived home, I brought an Ambien with me to Emma’s room and took it before going to sleep. The next morning Emma’s alarm went off full blast.
Thanks to the sleeping pill, I’d gotten at least eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. My back, however, screamed at me. Her cushioned chair that flipped out into a bed was the most uncomfortable thing to sleep on.
I rolled over and rested my gaze on my phone, laying on the floor next to me. Chills ran down my legs. Omigod. I’d texted Dallas.
My arm shot out like a frog’s tongue. I grabbed the phone. But there wasn’t a single new message on it.
I should throw this damn phone out the window. Or maybe take a hammer to it, break it into millions of pieces, ensure that no one could recover the data that proved how much of a loser I’d become.
“Good morning,” Emma mumbled, so softly it was like she’d put a towel over her head.
“Morning,” I said. My own voice wasn’t any better. It was deep and nasally.
I set my phone back on the carpet. I didn’t want to touch it. I wished I didn’t even own it. I wished…I wished cell phones didn’t exist.
Maybe that was what I should do. Give up my phone. No need to worry about guys or what they were thinking, or know what my friends were doing every minute of the day. Perfect.
“Are you okay, Ade? You look awful.”
“Thanks.” I glared at her. I didn’t really need her brutal honesty this early. “I’m going to the bathroom.”
I stood, slipped on my flip-flops, and trudged out of the room to the shared toilets. After taking care of business, I stood at one of the sinks, washing my hands and looking at myself in the mirror. I did look pretty horrible. The whites surrounding my eyes were red, my eyelids were puffy, and my cowlicks were making my hair stick out in all the wrong places. I was a disaster.
In the hall on the way back to Emma’s room, I decided I needed to pull it together. Maybe I should come clean to Emma. Admitting to her that I’d texted Dallas and hadn’t gotten a response might be the first step in freeing myself. If I could do that, it might be like nothing had ever happened.
I stepped into her room, and she was already dressed.
“I’m starving,” she said, putting on some mascara. “Let’s get Priya and Luke and go down to breakfast.”
The room turned on its side and spun like I’d just experienced g-force on an amusement park ride. I might be trying to forget about Dallas, but my embarrassment over him continued. I wasnotgoing to the dining hall. After that unanswered text, if I saw him there, I would die. Absolutely die.
“They’re probably not up yet,” I said.
“They are.” She switched to the other eye. “Priya just messaged.”
I walked over to my phone. “Since Luke’s here, maybe we should get breakfast somewhere else.”
“Like?”
“How about the diner on Stadium Street?” I opened my phone. There was a message from Priya saying they were awake.
A new text appeared.
