Chapter 5

Emma slowly opened her eyes. The room was immaculately white. A woman’s face was stared back at her.

‘Hello Emma Matthews. It’s good to see that you’re awake,’ the woman in white said pleasently

‘Where am I?’

‘Heaven,’ said a voice behind the woman. Well, that sucked. Did she really die from falling over a gnome?

Hey wait a second, why does that voice sound so-

‘Tom! Not funny,’

He took a seat and dragged it over to her bedside.

‘You’re in hospital. You lost a lot of blood from the accident but good thing that young man from before was there with his quick thinking. You could have lost a lot more,’ said the doctor.

‘Eric? Where’s Eric?’

‘His mum called for him to go home,’ said Tom

‘And dad?’

‘Down in the cafeteria with your little sister,’ he said.

‘Now Emma, I‘ve just given you a few stitches and I gave you some morphine to help with the pain. Lucky for you the shards of porcelain had just missed the bone so nothing’s broken. Okay I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone,’ she winked

‘Oh! We’re not-’ called Emma but the doctor was already gone before she could finish her sentence. She turned her attention to Tom.

‘When can I leave?’

‘When your dad’s done with the buffet I guess,’ he said

‘We might be here all night then,’ she joked. Tom pulled his chair in closer.

‘How much does it hurt?’ he asked

‘Thank God for painkillers. Still hurts like hell though. Distract me from my pain,’ she said

‘I got hit in the head by a volleyball. And she said no.’

‘Bummer. Her loss I guess.’

A smile crept up from the corner of his mouth. ‘This is just the beginning. Mark my words Emma, Californian girl will go to the prom with me. She’s making the game more fun. I like that,’ he sighed

 ‘You still don’t know her name do you?’

‘Nope.’

Emma rolled her eyes.

‘Okay so I did some snooping around,’ Shah said. Shah was paying a visit to Emma afterschool. The doctor had recommended she take off a week from school. Shah lay next to Emma on the bed.

‘Shah, what are you talking about?’

‘Uhh girl don’t you remember? You got some Gemma ho’ standing in the way between you and your man,’ she said and waggled her head.

‘Eric is not ‘my man’,’ she imitated ‘He sat next to me at math once, that’s all.’

‘Girl he is so warm for your form and he’s been worrying about you all day,’ she said

Emma sat up a little ‘…Really?’

‘Mhmm. He told me he wanted to come by and check you out but his coach said he’d be kicked off the soccer team if he missed another practice.’

‘Oh…But if he has a girlfriend I don’t want to get involved,’ said Emma.

‘It’s a dawg eat dawg world honey,’

‘Er-’            

‘Okay,’ Shah ignored Emma and continued. ‘There aren’t any Gemmas in our senior class. There’s one in year nine but I checked her out and she is definitely not the one we heard on the phone. So I went on Facebook and looked up Eric’s friend list and what do you know, there’s a Gemma. My sources from other schools have told me that there’s a Gemma Lovett in their senior class around them rich city areas. Everyone knows her. I’m sure this is our girl. Here, I printed a photo,’ Shah handed over a picture of a pretty blond girl in a tight black singlet who had taken a photo of a reflection of herself from her bathroom mirror.

‘Shah! This is so creepy. Put it away,’

‘You’ll thank me for this someday.’ She said as she folded it back into her bag.

‘Now you know what you’re competing with,’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘No offense sweetie you’re hot. But when I look at this girl, it makes me wish I was playing for the same team mhmm. It wouldn’t hurt to show some boot-tay once in a while. Maybe let your hair out. Ya feelin’ me?

‘Not happening,’            

‘Fine I gotta go, mama’s making gumbo for dinner. Bye honey,’ she said and left.

For the rest of the night Emma lay in bed, reading her English novel by her study lamp. Suddenly her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and picked it up.

‘Hello?’

‘Open the window for me will you?’

‘Are you serious? It’s almost ten and you have school tomorrow.’

‘So?’

Emma hung up and hopped out of bed and to the window.

‘Thanks,’ he said and jumped inside her room. Ever since she had watched her first episode of Dawson’s Creek when she was seven Emma thought it would be coolest thing to have a ladder leading to her room. Now that she was a little older she knew that it probably wasn’t such a great idea having a ladder leading to her bedroom. Only few people knew about the ladder hidden in the bushes and Tom rarely used it unless it was important.

‘Tom, what are you doing here?’