The Ordinary Life of Emily P. Bates

by Anna Cackler

  “Cute,” Finn said. He was reading the novelization of the movie X-Men today and I couldn’t tell if he was commenting on Margo’s rhyme or on the book.

  “Good, it’s all settled,” Shannon said. She pulled her thick hair away from her face and secured it with a pony tail. Her eyes glanced across the room, and I knew she was watching Charlie again. It hadn’t taken her long to stop crying over the whole mess, but she still hadn’t gotten completely over it. He wasn’t sitting with the blond today, but just the sight of the back of his head was considered offensive.

  I didn’t have time to try to distract my friend before lunch ended and classes resumed. We all trudged off to our respective dooms when the bell shrilled through the cafeteria.

  “I’ll pick you up around five on Saturday,” Ethan said to me as we pushed our way through the hallway.

  I glanced up at him and winced. He was looking me right in the eye the same way he used to. It was the kind of look that was meant to unsettle me and now that I knew that, I didn’t like it. “Don’t worry about it, I can drive myself,” I said with a half-hearted smile.

  “And deprive me of the pleasure? I don’t think so. You be ready and waiting on your doorstep ‘cause I’m barely gonna slow down.”

  “You and I are the only ones with a ride,” I said, “and we won’t all fit into your dinky little truck. I’ll drive.” This was true, but I was more grateful for the excuse to be in a crowd rather than alone with him.

  “Fine.” He flashed his perfect grin at me once before his eyes finally left my face and I could relax. “See you later.”

  “Now?” I asked.

  “Not yet,” Mom said, staring at the TV screen. She was mindlessly channel surfing, which I took to be a huge insult considering I was trying to have a conversation with her.

  “How about now?”

  “The more you ask, the more I’m going to put it off.” She looked so relaxed. Dad was snoring on the sofa with his feet in her lap, and she had one hand resting on her ever growing stomach in a protective sort of way. That made sense; Dad tended to kick in his sleep.

  “I’m going out!” Aaron called from the front door.

  “See ya!” Mom replied.

  “Come on, Mom! Please? Aaron gets to leave the house!”

  “Just keep asking, I’m warning you!” she said.

  “You’re enjoying this.” I sank into the recliner. My punishment had been slowly but surely slackened to the point where the TV, phone, and computer were no longer off limits. Now the only thing left was for Mom to let me leave the house unsupervised.

  Mom finally settled on a show about marine life in the Amazon. I stared sullenly at the screen without really seeing it for about ten minutes before she suddenly said, “All right now.”

  “Thank you!” I exclaimed, making Dad snort and roll over in his sleep. Mom shielded herself from his feet with an amused smile.

  “Don’t be too late. Dinner’s at six.”

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I grabbed my coat and dashed out of the door before she could change her mind. It had started raining again, and the temperature had dropped about fifteen degrees since yesterday. I was in my car before I even knew where I was going. I couldn’t go see Shannon because she was still on lock down. I didn’t even want to go see Ethan. The thought of being alone with him, even after the party, still made me nervous. There hadn’t been a repeat of that fateful kiss, nor had he even shown the slightest interest in me other than as a friend for the full month of my incarceration.

  But then again, maybe people in a relationship really were just friends that went on dates.

  Somehow that seemed a little off to me.

  I knew that Finn was at work, which was definitely a possibility. I started the engine and pulled out of the gravel drive.

  “Hey, you’re free!” Finn said when I entered the cool library ten minutes later.

  “I’m free!” I repeated happily. “What are you doing?”

  “The usual.”

  “Okay, what are you reading?” I came around to his side of the counter and took his book away from him to look at the cover. I sank into the one desk chair while Finn hopped up on the counter. There was a rickety old wooden straight back chair near the wall, but everyone avoided that one for fear of crushing it.

  “Lisa Wall’s pick of the week: A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle,” he said.

  “Never heard of it.”

  “Me either, but Lisa seems to think it’s all right.”

  “Who is Lisa Wall?” I asked.

  “She’s a reporter on the local news. Spunky old lady.”

  “And what do you think?”

  “About Lisa? She’s a fox.”

  “No, about the book.”

  He shrugged. “It’s all right.”

  I looked up at him. “You know, I think you read too much.”

  “What?”

  “You read too much. You don’t have any friends.”

  “What about you?”

  “I don’t count.”

  “And why not?”

  I shrugged off his argument. “I’m just saying that you don’t have any time for real life because you’ve always got your nose stuck in a book.” I picked up his new book again. “And you’ve got really random taste in reading materials.”

  “What’s this about ‘no time’?” he asked. “I’ve got friends.” He waved one hand in my general direction. “I’ve got a job. I’ve even got a girlfriend. What have you got that so much better than me?”

  “Oh, so you’re admitting that she’s your girlfriend now, I see.” I raised one eyebrow and flipped through his book.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Nothing,” I said “I’m just glad to know you’re really committed.”

  “Hey now. I never said I was committed.”

  I put on my best innocent face. “But she’s your girlfriend.”

  “But… she’s–no. Wait.” He looked confused. “What are you getting at?”

  “You know? I really don’t know. I think that you and Margo still weird me out a little.”

  “Well this was all your idea in the first place,” he said. “You and my stupid sister.”

  “Don’t lump me in with her. I was just going along for the ride. I never thought that it would be this strange. That it would go this far.”

  “In the grand scheme of things, it’s not gone very far at all, though,” he said. “I haven’t even gotten to third base yet.”

  “Finnegan! I did not need that particular mental picture!” I shuddered involuntarily.

  He grinned. “Sorry.” He watched my face for a few seconds, though I wasn’t paying much attention to him. “If it makes you feel any better, I think it’s just as weird that you and Cavanaugh are together.”

  “We’re not really together,” I said brusquely, then looked up. “I, unlike you, have not committed to anything.” I remembered again the look on Ethan’s face when he’d tried to convince me to let him drive on Saturday. When he’d first arrived at St. John High, that penetrating stare had undone me, but now I was starting to get the idea that this was a regular practice for Ethan. How many other girls had he gone through to perfect that stare?

  “But it’s still there. You’ve got a thing, you and him.”

  I shrugged and went back to the book. It was actually kind of interesting. “I guess.”

  “And it’s weird.”

  “That’s the second time in all the time I’ve known you to use the word ‘weird.’” I laughed. “Odd that they would both happen in the same conversation.”

  “Gimme back my book,” he said.

  “Fine.” I handed it over, but he sat it down on the counter.

  “So tell me something,” he said. “Why is it that on your first day of freedom, in what I assume to be your first moments, you decided to come here?”

  I shrugged. “I can’t go see Shannon at your house, and you’re here–away from the prying eyes of y
our jailer. It just seemed logical.”

  “And what about Cavanaugh?”

  There it was. He’d hit the tender spot. “I dunno. You’re more my friend than he is, right?”

  He studied my face. “I guess.” I squirmed under his scrutiny.

  “Stop staring at me,” I said. “Let’s play scrabble or something.”

  “Bill’s cat ate about a quarter of the tiles.”

  “Poor cat.”

  “Yeah. Bill tried to salvage them from the litter box, but I just made him buy a whole new set.”

  “So what’s the problem?”

  “Who said there was a problem?”

  After thinking about that a moment, I said, “I guess no one did. I’ll keep score.”

  “Yeah right. The last time you kept score you won by two thousand points.”

  “Shut up. It was an accident and you know it.”

  “Yes, an accident. You are prone to accidents, and I’d rather avoid as many as possible please. I’ll keep score.”

  I shrugged. “Whatever. Just don’t let me catch you feeling the tiles before you draw them.”

  “Me? Never!”

  “So are we gonna resume our homework sessions after school today?” I asked Ethan at breakfast the next day, doing my best at nonchalance. I didn’t want him to think I was avoiding him. “I have some serious catching up to do.”

  “Oh, sorry,” he said around his French toast sticks. “I thought I told you I joined an intramural basketball team a few weeks ago.”

  “You did, but what does that have to do with anything?”

  “Practice is right after school.” He took a massive gulp of milk and flashed the usual grin at me. “But afterwards maybe. You could come by my house.”

  “No. I promised Mom we’d have a family dinner tonight.” I’d promised no such thing, but I didn’t want to bother with going all the way to Ethan’s house tonight.

  “Too bad.” He shrugged and got up to dump his trash.

  I looked back to the group and found everyone’s eyes on me. “What?” I asked.

  “Nothing,” Shannon said. They all kept right on staring. Finn even put down his book to make his staring a little easier. Margo’s eyes had gone all big, like she was watching one of those charity commercials about homeless kids in Africa.

  I jammed the rest of my doughnut into my mouth, chewed quickly, and then opened my mouth wide for all to see.

  “Gross!” Margo exclaimed. Shannon glowered at me and went back to her notebook.

  Finn just rolled his eyes and picked up his book again. “Since you have no plans after school you should drop me off at work,” he said without looking up.

  “All right, whatever,” I mumbled around the mass of food in my mouth. With a considerable effort I was able to finally swallow, and I grinned toothily at Shannon, who still looked quite disgusted.

  Twelve

  I had nothing to do that Saturday before our planned outing at the bowling alley, so I invited myself over to Shannon’s that morning, just me and her. It had been a very long time since she and I had had some alone time, and I figured now was just as good a time as any.

  “What do you want to do?” Shannon asked. She was sprawled out on her bed, her head in her hands.

  “I dunno, just hang out, I guess.” I pulled the bowl of potpourri from her desk into my lap and started sorting out all of the leaves and other vegetable matter into separate piles on the floor. She watched me do it, ignoring the bits and pieces that were getting all over her otherwise spotless carpet. The stuff was ancient, but it still smelled great. Maybe it would make my cast a little less stinky.

  “So what’s the deal with you and Ethan?” she asked.

  “Why is everybody so hung up on that?”

  “Because he’s practically your boyfriend.”

  “He’s no such thing.”

  “Yes he is.”

  “No! He is not.” I exclaimed. “So we’ve gone out on a couple of dates. So we kissed a little. In case you haven’t noticed, he and I haven’t been alone together in over a month. He doesn’t even act like he wants to get me on my own at school, and now I’m not sure that I want that either.”

  Her forehead crinkled with worry. “Really?”

  “Really.” I held up a red petal to examine it more closely, and then dropped it into the appropriate pile on my right. “He used to be really fun, you know? Now all he does is sit and wait for the bell to ring. Or he up and goes to sit with his friends. He doesn’t care about me, not really. It’s getting uncomfortable.”

  “Hm.”

  I glared up at her. “What do you think I should do? I think he’s still trying to get together with me, however half-heartedly, and I don’t think I want him to.”

  “So don’t get together with him.”

  “But what if he asks?”

  “I thought you said he didn’t even act like he wanted to.”

  “He doesn’t, but what if he does?”

  “Then say no.”

  “But what if he gets mad because I’ve led him on?”

  “Emily, watch it! You’re crushing those into the carpet with your gargantuan cast! That potpourri was my mom’s, man!”

  “Sorry.” I lifted my left arm just in time to avoid catastrophe. “I’m so glad this thing is coming off next week. I can’t wait to have my arm back.”

  “Seriously.” She studied her perpetually ruined nails with the vain hope of finding one long enough to bite off. Evidently she didn’t succeed because she let her hands fall back to the bed. “Too bad it wasn’t this week. I can’t imagine you bowling with that thing.”

  “I’ll manage.”

  “If you say so,” she shrugged. “And if Ethan puts up a fuss, just tell him to deal with it.”

  I grinned at her. “Good you have you back.”

  “What?” she asked, looking annoyed.

  “You’ve just been so ominously silent for a long time now. Glad to hear you butting in again.”

  “I’m not butting in,” she grumbled, picking at her nails. “And you shouldn’t draw this out with that boy. He’s got feelings, too. Don’t tell him tonight, though. We’ve all got to get along. Maybe he’ll fall for Maggie Hanson afterwards; they’d be good together. I should give her a call. I’m pretty sure I saw her eyeing him in Spanish class the other day.”

  I was laughing at her now, and she even had the grace to smile a little, too. “Go for it. And I won’t tell him anything tonight, you’re right about that. It’s a celebration!”

  “Oh yeah! Party time!”

  “No! Please no parties.”

  She laughed and drew an X across her heart. “Cross my heart, no parties.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Until college.”

  Around four-thirty, we made our way downstairs. I ran down the hall and banged on Finn’s door. “Let’s go! We’ve got some celebrating to do!”

  “Yeah, yeah!” he called through the door, and then wrenched it open from the inside. He had a bag slung over one shoulder, and I knew good and well there was at least one book hidden away in there somewhere. “Where’s the fire?”

  “It’s gonna be under your butt in a minute. Let’s go!” I stopped short and stared up at him for a couple of seconds before adding, “I thought you were gonna get a haircut.”

  He grinned crookedly and shook the hair out of his face. “I did, a month ago.”

  “Well it’s time for another one.”

  “So you say.”

  “I’m dying of old age down here!” Shannon called from downstairs, and Finn pulled his door shut behind him. He pushed me along in front of him and I didn’t argue. At least we were leaving now.

  It took us a good half an hour just to get all the way to Margo’s house and even longer to get back to town for Ethan. It was almost six before we finally pulled up to the Pine Bowl and piled out of my wheezing old Taurus into the cool night air. I’d forgotten my jacket and must have been shivering because Ethan put hi
s arm around my shoulders. I looked to Shannon for help, but she just shrugged and went on ahead with Margo. I resolved to remember to make her pay for this later, but for now I just went along with Ethan’s sudden physical proximity.

  We were hit with a blast of hot air and a wave of noise like a brick wall when we pushed inside the squat little building. I used the sudden heat as an excuse to shrug Ethan’s arm off of my shoulders. Our ears were assailed with the crashing and thunderous rolling of the balls on the polished lanes, not to mention the cheering and the disappointed “Aww’s!!” coming from the almost booked solid bowling alley. In a large alcove on our right, three pool tables stood, and off to the left, just on the other side of the little diner, was an entire wall lined with pinball machines, arcade games, and various little entertainments for the dozens of screaming kids running around.

  It was heaven.

  “I’m starved,” Shannon said as Finn took off to reserve a lane for us. “Emily, come get something to eat with me.”

  “Okay!” She winked at me as I left Ethan’s side to join her at the counter. “Thank you,” I muttered under my breath as soon as we were alone. I glanced over to the far side of the building where Finn was helping Margo pick out a bowling ball from the rack. Ethan was nearby, saying something that was evidently very funny because Margo’s peal of laughter was audible over the general din all the way across the room.

  “I’m sorry you’re stuck with him tonight.”

  “Not if I can help it.”

  A large man behind the counter grunted something that sounded like “Take your order?” at us.

  “I’ll have a burger with everything, no onions, and curly fries. And a chocolate shake,” Shannon rattled off.

  “Same for me,” I said, and then a thought occurred to me. “Except I want extra onions.”

  “Your breath’s gonna stink all night,” Shannon warned.

  “Exactly.”

  She pursed her mouth and her eyebrows shot up under her bangs. “Ah, so it’s a ruse.”

  “No ruse. I just like onions.”

  “Sure.”

  Finn was suddenly right behind us, his arms around both our waists. “You two are the ones who dragged me out here, so get your lazy butts to the lanes!” He winked at me.