Chapter 34
DAY 44
EVE
My second day as Joshua's girlfriend was a lot mellower. This was a good thing, because my sniffles hadn't gone away from the previous morning: in fact, they'd gotten worse. My head didn't feel too good, either.
I was more than happy just to lean on his shoulder for most of recess, letting him plant the occasional kiss on me when he felt like it, which was quite often. Now that we'd crossed that bridge, he was more confident than he'd ever been. It was wonderful to see.
With my mom's permission, we made Fridays the day that he would come over to my house and hang out with me, Kirsten and Sophie for a while. Joshua had agreed to that arrangement in a second; he was obviously as taken with my little sisters as they were with him. Having no younger brothers or sisters of his own, I could totally understand that.
I found it ironic that Friday had now become our favorite day of the week, since the school year had started with Fridays being the day when he used to get beaten up. Thankfully, Joshua had been true to his word and done his best to avoid Rhonda, Brent and the bully squad. However, we still had a long way to go before the school year ended, so I kept reminding him to be careful.
Mr. Taylor gave us our fourth straight A in teamwork, and more than that, science was now a language I could speak. It was my favorite subject now, because I got to learn it with Joshua.
Unfortunately, my sniffles got worse as the day wore on. By the time I got home, my head felt like it was three feet thick. Despite taking a large dose of cough medicine, I collapsed into bed right after dinner and didn't wake up again until the following morning.
Chapter 35
DAY 45
JOSHUA
I woke up with an annoying cough, reasoning that all the time I'd spent out in the rain had taken its toll on my already-compromised lungs. I was worried when Eve didn't appear on the bus, so I called her right before English class.
“Hello, Joshua,” she said sleepily.
“You sound awful,” I said.
“I feel worse,” she said, coughing.
Dang. “Not feeling too great either. Think you'll be back tomorrow?”
“I hope so. Love you.”
I looked around, making sure no one could hear me. “Love you too.”
It sucked that we weren't going to spend time together today, but on the other hand, maybe I could turn Eve's absence into an advantage. My crazy plan regarding Emily and Susan had been foremost in my mind the night before and all morning, and I'd come to the conclusion that whatever happened between them and Eve in the past, things had changed. I simply couldn't stand to see Eve that sad again. I knew no matter how happy she seemed to be, her thoughts were never far from them. There was a void in her life that I just couldn't fill on my own.
* * *
With a stomach full of cough syrup – nasty stuff – that I'd brought with me that morning, I waited for fourth period to end. The bell finally rang, and my class filed out of Mrs. Cox's classroom on the way to the cafeteria. I slowly walked over to where Emily was putting her books away. I was ready to be shot down, but I was determined to at least try. Any risk was worth it.
Emily, when you got up close to her, was very pretty, and was even more so since she'd ditched her unflattering glasses for contact lenses. She was two inches taller than me, with straight blonde hair that came past her shoulders. We'd barely spoken to each other during our many years as classmates; she'd once been friendly and outgoing, but now she was icy and distant. It seemed she'd taken her lumps too, thanks to people like Rhonda, a girl she'd once wanted to emulate. That had to sting.
“Emily,” I said softly, as soon as I knew she'd registered my presence. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
She straightened up and faced me. Yup, contempt, there it is. Every nasty rumor Rhonda had spread about me must have been going through her mind at that moment. “What do you want?” she replied.
I looked down at the ground. “I need to talk to you … about Eve.” My eyes returned to her face, hoping to read her expression. It wasn't hard to do.
“I don't think so,” she said, grabbing her backpack and heading for the door. I stepped in front of her, and she slowed to a halt with a look of utter irritation on her face.
“Please, Emily. It's important. All I'm asking for is five minutes of your time. And Susan's, too,” I added.
She looked me up and down for a few moments, considering my request. I leapt on that moment of silence to make one more plea. “Just five minutes with the two of you. That's all. Then I'll never bother you again, I swear.”
I fully expected 'Piss off' or something like it to be her final answer, but after another awkward pause, her shoulders slumped. “Fine. After lunch, meet us on the upper concourse by the drinking fountain overlooking the playground. You know where that is?”
“Yeah,” I replied.
“Be there at exactly 12:30. You'll have five minutes, not a second more.”
I sighed with relief. This was further than Eve had gotten in the last two months.
“Come alone,” she said, “and don't tell anyone.”
“No problem,” I replied, and she quickly left.
I thought about sitting with Rick again for lunch, but I'd brown-bagged it that day, and I didn't want to be anywhere Brent and the bully squad could see me, so I left the cafeteria and found a spot where I could stake out the rendezvous point without being too exposed.
True to Emily's word, a couple of minutes before 12:30, I saw her and Susan walk up the stairs and toward the drinking fountain. I didn't want to be late, so I took the same route up. It was a relatively quiet place to meet during recess, which suited me just fine. As I approached, they both turned to look at me.
It'd been years since I'd spoken to Susan. That wasn't because she was unfriendly, just the opposite; she was one of the few girls in my class that had never mistreated me in any way. She was just an extremely shy girl, and I couldn't remember ever seeing her talking with anyone but Eve or Emily. She was my height, quite pretty but not overly so, with short, straight brown hair that barely brushed her shoulders, wide brown eyes and a very mouse-like personality. Her face was much easier to read than Emily's, and it was clear she was much more curious to hear what I had to say than her friend was.
“Thank you both for meeting with me,” I began, coughing slightly.
Emily was not in the mood for small talk. “You got five minutes, Joshua. Start talking.”
Squaring up my shoulders, I faced them both. “I assume you both heard about the falling out Eve had with Rhonda a few weeks ago.”
They both nodded, their faces blank.
“Well, it may not surprise you to know that everyone in our class is obeying Rhonda. They've all shut Eve out completely.”
Emily looked me over. “Except you.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Yeah, except me,” I said resignedly.
Emily's nostrils flared. “Did she send you?”
“No. She doesn't know I'm here.”
“How's she doing?” Susan piped up, speaking for the first time.
I studied Susan's face. She'd obviously been terribly hurt by Eve's betrayal, but that hurt hadn't transformed into bitter anger in her the way it had in Emily. She just seemed really sad. I figured Susan would be more willing to hear what I had to say than Emily.
Looking directly at Susan, I said, “Well, she's not doing too well.” I turned back to Emily. “She misses you guys. A lot.”
“Why is this any of your business at all?” Emily asked, scowling.
I turned to face her. “Because we're …” I paused, wondering just how close they thought Eve and I had become, “… friends. We've been spending a lot of time together lately. She talks about you all the time.” I let this revelation sink in. They looked at each other in apparent disbelief.
“Every day, she tells me about all the great times the three of you had together …” I looked down at the ground, “…
and then she gets really sad when she remembers what she did.”
This clearly had an effect on them. Susan was making an effort not to look at me, staring instead in the opposite direction. Emily was noticeably fidgeting, and her face had softened, but not nearly enough.
I continued, “She made a mistake. A terrible mistake. There's nothing she wouldn't give to take it all back.”
Susan turned her head slightly back in my direction, but I could only see her profile. “We thought … she hated us,” she said.
Quickly, I glanced at the time on my cell phone. Two minutes gone, time to lay it on thick. I took a step toward Susan, and she looked directly at me. With as much emotion as I could, I replied, “She loves you.” I glanced back at Emily. “Both of you. And she needs you. More than she ever has.”
Emily's icy expression was starting to waver. “What is it you want from us?”
What, it's not obvious? Damn, this girl is stubborn. “I want you to forgive her.” Susan had resumed looking in the opposite direction, and was now leaning against the nearest brick wall for support.
Emily, meanwhile, had chosen a point on the ground near my feet to stare at. “Why should we?”
I took another half-step toward Emily, who thankfully didn't react. “For three reasons. First, because that's what best friends do.” She looked me directly in the eyes at this. “No matter how bad they screw up, they forgive each other. You three have been best friends for seven years! That has to mean something!”
No response, so I kept going. “Second reason … if you don't forgive her, she'll never forgive herself. It'll tear her up inside for the rest of her life, the two best friends she drove away.” I looked back at Susan, who hadn't moved. “Don't do that to her. Even if you decide you can't be friends again, please forgive her.” Good one, Joshua.
Again, I looked at Emily for a reaction. She'd resumed staring at the ground. “And the third reason?”
Less than a minute left. Last shot out of the gun. I stepped in front of Emily, and our gaze met again. “If you don't forgive her … Rhonda wins.”
All three of us stood there, not speaking, while my time ticked off. And still, Emily's face was blank. Finally, she turned to me. “Okay. We'll talk about it.” They'd heard me out, which was more than I'd hoped for.
“One last thing,” I said, before they could walk away. I pointed over the railing toward the Island, which was just visible from our vantage point. “You see those bleachers over there?”
“Yeah, what about them?” Emily asked.
“That's where Eve and I spend most of our recess periods together. If you decide to forgive her, that's the best place you can talk in private. I'll even leave so the three of you can be alone. But if you can't …”
Susan was looking at me again, and I saw so much sadness in her big brown eyes. “If you can't, can we all just pretend this conversation never took place? I don't want her to know … that I failed.”
Emily's face had lost all of its harshness, and what I saw in her deep blue eyes was something I'd never seen before … respect. At least, I hoped it was respect. My five minutes were up, so I hitched my backpack up my shoulder, took one more glance at them and said, “Thank you for your time.”
I moved to walk away, but Susan's voice unexpectedly stopped me. “You … really care about her.”
Our eyes met, and in that instant, I saw exactly why these three had been friends for so long. They were so different in appearance, but at the same time, they were identical. They were all intelligent, deeply emotional, and placed loyalty and friendship above everything else … or, at least, they had before the Dragon Queen had come along.
My brain went through the possible responses to this statement. I could have just nodded, or said yes, or given some other vague answer, but all I could picture at that moment was Eve's face as she cried on my shoulder in the dugout.
Looking back at them, I said, “I love her.” I really didn't want any more follow-up questions, so I quickly ran back down the stairs and out of earshot.
* * *
I spent the rest of recess period in the library. I hoped like hell I'd gotten through to them. I also hoped, if forgiveness was in the future, that Eve was well enough to come to school the next day.
Chapter 36
DAY 46
JOSHUA
I was so relieved when Eve sat down next to me on the bus. My cough had diminished into some mild congestion, while her fever had broken and she was left with a slightly sore throat. From the looks of things, she hadn't gotten much quality sleep.
We agreed to keep the kissing to a minimum until we both felt better, so we just held hands. I knew today could be a critical day; I tried not to look directly at her, just in case she used her magical powers to drag yesterday's events out of me.
I'd hoped for the entire past day that whatever Emily and Susan decided to do, they'd make up their minds quickly and not drag it out. The entire conversation had gone about as well as I'd hoped, so I felt good in that I'd really 'left it all out on the field,' as athletes sometimes said.
I snuck glances at Emily all through third and fourth periods, hoping for some clue as to her mindset, but she was as unreadable as ever. When the lunch bell rang, I made sure I was the last one to leave the room, hoping Emily would also stay behind. No such luck.
I ate lunch alone again, and I spent the entire time in the cafeteria scanning the girls' section. Eve had been eating at an isolated table of her own since Rhonda passed sentence on her; we still couldn't sit together, unfortunately. Our eyes would occasionally meet, whereupon we would smile and wave at each other, but eating two tables away, Emily and Susan gave no indication that they'd made up their minds. Well, you tried. Maybe they just need the weekend to think it over.
On the Island, Eve's drowsiness had caught up with her. The moment we sat down on the third tier of the bleachers, she placed her hands on my knee, cuddled up to me, put her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes. I wondered if she was going to fall asleep on me.
“Eve?” I asked.
“Yeah?”
“You gonna make it through the day?”
“I think so.”
“Am I still invited over after school?”
“Yeah,” she replied. “My sisters would kill me if you didn't come.”
Minutes passed. I kept sneaking glances out of the corner of my eye to see if Emily and Susan were approaching, and about ten minutes after we sat down, I saw them. They were walking across the field, straight toward us. I didn't want Eve to see them until they arrived, so I tried to coax her into keeping her eyes closed.
“Evie?” I asked. I love that she lets me call her that now.
“Hmmm?” she murmured, slightly shifting her position but keeping her eyes closed.
Think of something! Okay, got one. “If … you and I could go somewhere, anywhere, right now, where would you want to go?”
“What do you mean?”
“If we could go anywhere in the world, just the two of us, right this minute … where would we go?” I looked at her eyes. Still closed. I threw out some suggestions. “Paris? Rio?” I chuckled. “Disneyland?”
She giggled. “An island,” she replied, moving her hands to around my waist.
Emily and Susan were still about a minute away. “Perfect. So let's go there,” I said.
“Hmmm?”
“Let's go there. Right now.”
Trying to remember the cover of a romance novel I'd once seen Alyson reading, I put my arms around her and gently rocked her back and forth. “We're on the beach at sunset … we're walking along, hand in hand … it's warm, but there's a nice cool breeze blowing … the ocean is softly lapping at our feet …”
She smiled. “Sounds wonderful.”
Half a minute left. “We sit down on the soft, white sand and watch the sun go down … the most beautiful sunset you've ever seen. Can you see it?”
“Mmm hmmm,” she murmured.
Emily
and Susan had arrived. They looked up at me expectantly, not speaking. Eve still had her eyes closed. I nodded at the girls, and then leaned in close to Eve's ear. “Evie? You remember how I told you that everything was going to be okay?”
“Yeah,” she whispered, unmoving.
“Well,” I said quietly, “I think it finally is.”
Puzzled, she opened her eyes. When she saw her two best friends standing a few short yards away, she sat bolt upright, wide-eyed and open-mouthed.
Eve then snapped her head around to look at me, a look of utter shock and disbelief on her face. “Joshua …?” A million unspoken words passed between us.
Smiling, I took her hands, leaned in and kissed her quickly on the lips. “It'll be okay.” I stood up, motioning for her to do the same, and then guided her down and off the bleachers until we were only ten feet away from Emily and Susan.
I grabbed my backpack, gave one more loving look to Eve, and then took a step toward Emily and Susan, who eyed me curiously. I couldn't read their expressions, and I inwardly prayed this situation didn't end in disaster.
“Thank you,” I whispered, and then I walked away across the playground. I would have given anything to see what happened next, but this was a moment for them, not me. Besides, I was sure I'd hear about it later on.
I didn't look back, eventually making my way to one of the storage sheds on the opposite side of the playground. The area behind it was overgrown with weeds, but it was a good place to kill forty-five minutes. The bully squad was nowhere in sight, and across the field, I could barely make out three figures sitting on the bottom tier of the bleachers, two hundred yards away. Well, at least they're talking. I'll take that as a positive sign.
About ten minutes before the fifth-period bell rang, I edged along the outer fence, keeping a watchful eye on both the Island and everywhere else. The girls were still talking, and I felt an intense wave of relief wash over me. God, please let this have worked.
Joshua's Island (James Madison Series Book 1) Page 13