Chapter One

 

The cold, dreary rain mingled with her hot, furious tears as Emma sat huddled and shivering on the old stone bench. She licked the moisture from her cheeks with the tip of her tongue. It tasted of salt. The bench was well hidden behind a large bush. Hopefully, no one would notice her. 

I thought I was special to him. What an idiot.

With clenched fists, she punched her backpack as a fresh set of tears spilled from her eyes and silently coursed down her face.

Shawna. She didn’t have to be so nasty...and Cally... Cally is MY friend, or at least I thought she was. 

Now Emma was alone, and her chest felt as if a huge rock was pushing on it, making it hard to breathe.

The girls had cornered her when she left the school earlier.

“Are you still here?” said Shawna, her eyes narrowing as she stalked towards Emma. “I told you before, Kyle doesn’t want to hang out with you. If you don’t believe me, go to the gym. You’ll see.” 

The other girls covered their mouths and giggled. White faced, Emma didn’t say a word but turned and ran back into the school.

“Emma, come back,” called Cally. “Don’t go in there.”

Yeah, right, like I’d stop for you. That’s so not gonna happen.

She walked down the hallway to the gym, thinking about Shawna. She had always been a bully and a liar. Emma didn’t believe anything she said, did she? Just yesterday Kyle had given her a small heart bracelet. That meant he liked her, didn’t it? 

Hesitating, she approached the room. “Stupid, stupid, stupid,” she muttered to herself as she paced up and down in front of the door fingering the bracelet. “There’s probably no one in there.” She took a deep breath. “Ok, I’ll just take a quick peek and then go home.”
Emma put her hand on the door handle, gradually pushing it open as she peeked in. The room was dark and quiet. Emma realized she had stopped breathing and blew out a huge sigh of relief. Thank goodness. Shawna had been lying. 

She heard laughter from the grandstand. Her heart jumped into her throat and started to beat faster. Opening the door wider, she slipped through. With her sneakers making no noise, she tiptoed across the floor to the corner of the bleachers. Emma gasped. She gripped her stomach as it flipped over, and heat rushed into her belly. She didn’t think her legs were going to hold her up. Kyle was there and he was laughing with Cindy.