Eight

Bad influences.

After lunch the next day, I walked to my locker to grab my textbooks, only to find Emma waiting for me. When I approached her, she looked up from her phone and grinned at me.  

“Okay, Riley! Hi. We were thinking of going to Holly’s house after school today. Wanna come?” 

I hesitated. “We?” 

“Oh, you know. My friends. Chris and everyone. Maybe Jed.” Whoever Jed was. “Just come. It’ll be fun,” she promised. 

I shrugged. “Okay. But then will you come meet my parents tomorrow?” 

Emma’s face scrunched up. “Meet your parents?” 

I nodded, and she followed up with, “Why?” 

“So, they can... meet you?” I replied. 

She opened her mouth to say something, but then she closed it. “Never mind, whatever. That’s fine. Just come, please?” 

“Okay, fine. I’ll-…,” I started, but Emma cut me off. 

“Great! Just meet me at my car after seventh! See you later!” And then she rushed off to her next class, leaving me half confused. 

  

 

~ 

 

 

At the end of seventh hour, I started walking to the junior parking lot, when Gideon stopped me. 

“Hey, Riley!”  

I looked back at him and waited, as he ran up to me. 

“Hey what do you got going on?” he asked. 

“I’m going to Holly’s house.” 

“Who?” 

“Emma’s friend,” I replied. “We’re all going to hang at her house.” 

Gideon frowned. “Oh...” He hesitated. “Okay, well... I’ll see you later?” 

I nodded and walked away, but I could feel Gideon staring at the back of my head. I debated whether I should turn around and stare back. But I didn’t. I kept walking until I was outside.  

I’d never been in the junior parking lot before, because Nick always drove me and Nick was a senior. It was quite weird. Everyone stared at me as I made my way down the parking lot, trying to find Emma.

 

Then, I heard that familiar, piercing, screech. “Riley!! Over here!!” Emma was frantically waving to me at the end of the lot. Everyone glared at me, probably because I was associated with her. When I’d first met Emma, she seemed like a nice, polite girl. But the more I hung out with her, the more annoying she became. Probably because we were now ‘dating’.  

Embarrassed once again, I slowly walked over to Emma, trying to keep my head down. At least tomorrow, my parents will meet Emma. Then maybe they’d be as proud of me as they were of Nick. And maybe Nick would stop making fun of me for being inexperienced. Only... I was experienced. They just weren’t aware. 

 

When I reached Emma, she grinned and made her way around to the front of her Jeep. 

“You ready? This is gonna be so fun!!”  

I didn’t respond.  

The drive to Holly’s house was short, thankfully, because Emma was ranting about how her Trigonometry test was rigged. And she shut down the only few words I managed to get in. I asked her if she enjoyed going to the bookstore. She then went ahead to tell me how old and disgusting and moldy the bookstore was. Apparently, no one goes there. Only, I’d seen quite a lot of people at the bookstore when I’d met Gideon. 

Emma pulled into Holly’s driveway, behind a black pick-up truck and what looked to be a brand new gray Jaguar. We hopped out of the Jeep and walked to the front door, where Emma walked in without knocking. 

I followed her downstairs to the basement. Waiting for us was Holly, Dani, Chris, and an Indian boy who I didn’t know. 

“Hey guys!” Emma then turned to me and gestured toward the unknown boy. “This is Jed,” she introduced. Jed had wavy, shoulder-length black hair and he wore a black shirt that read ‘BLIND’ in Rastafarian colors. He wore a backwards black baseball cap on his head which pressed down his hair and he was smoking... something. It looked like a joint. 

“What’s up man?” His voice was scratchy. “So, you’re the boyfriend?” 

I hesitated. “Oh, uh... Yeah.”  

“Nice,” he replied. He held out the joint, offering it to me. 

“No thanks. I’m good.” 

He shrugged. “Suit yourself.” 

Emma plopped down one of the three white couches. “Drinks are in the mini-fridge, babe. Feel free to grab anything. Holly won’t mind.” 

I smiled and sat next to her. I continued to gaze around the basement as everyone talked. The walls were painted gray, and orange abstract paintings hung on the wall. In front of the couch we were sitting on, was a coffee table. On the table, three ceramic vases. There were plants and lamps placed around as well, but other than that, the room seemed bare. 

Suddenly, smoke wafted into my nose, and I looked over. Jed was passing the joint around to everyone. I watched as the joint passed from Chris, to Holly, and then to Emma.  

When Emma began to hand it to me, I shook my head and pushed her hand away from me. She shrugged and handed it back to Jed.  

Then, she leaned over and whispered, “Babe, what’s wrong?” 

I shook my head. “Nothing.” 

She frowned. “Listen, I’m sorry if I’ve been...” She hesitated. Annoying? Loud? “Enthusiastic,” she continued. “I’m just so happy that we’re dating.” 

‘Of course, you are,’ I thought to myself. “It’s okay,” I finally said aloud. 

She smiled before resuming her conversation with her high friends.