Page 4 of Fixing Emilee

My chest hurts, and no words form as I follow her to the passenger side, sliding into the seat. Sliding in behind the wheel, she hits the turn signal and pulls out into traffic. She looks over at me every couple of minutes but never speaks. My emotions are all over the place, jumping from one to the next, never settling. I’m sad, hurt, and lonely, but mostly I’m pissed off. Pissed at Em’s family, Christian, and Vanessa, but the person who pissed me off the most was myself. No one has to tell me that I fucked up royally. I know this. Luna’s voice breaks through my self-hatred.

“Parker, where’s your bike?”

Shaking my head, I plead with her in a low, quiet voice, “I can’t go there right now. Please don’t make me go back there.” I can’t see that house right now. Knowing that the girl I’m in love with almost died there tonight due to something I did is too much for me. Not to mention, to get there, we will have to drive by the cemetery where I had the best night of my life. How is it possible that wasn’t even twenty-four hours ago? “I’ll get it later.”

“Park..”

“Please. You don’t… I can’t….” The sentences run together.

“Okay, sweetie.” she replies, reaching over and taking my hand in hers.

With my emotions going crazy, I can’t calm down. My legs constantly bounce, my hands shake, and sweat rolls down my back. All I want to do is find the two individuals who set me up to hurt my girl and continue my assault on them. I have a feeling Aunt Luna won’t let me out of her sight for the rest of the night, so I’m going to have to find another way to relieve some of this anger coursing through me.

As we pull into the driveway, the lights illuminate someone on the porch. “Shit,” I mumble, because, by the looks of it, my night is about to get worse. Larry is standing there with his arms crossed over his chest looking pissed off.

“Everything will be okay.” Luna tries to reassure me, but I don’t believe her.

Crossing the yard and climbing the steps, no one says anything. The tension rises, and it makes my skin crawl. The urge to run away settles deep in my stomach. Reaching forward, I slip my key into the door, turn it letting us into the house. Walking into the living room, they follow behind me, unaware I’m seconds away from losing my mind. The door shuts, and before I can turn around, Larry starts in. “Parker, what the hell were you thinking? You can’t attack another student and then run off.”

My body aches, and all my strength fades away. With every step forward, the weight attached to my legs becomes heavier and heavier. I collapse in the arm chair and sink into the overstuffed cushions. Fuck this day, fuck this conversation, and fuck him. When I don’t say anything, Luna speaks up. “Larry, what are you talking about? Parker’s had a very, very stressful day. Can we just not right now?” Larry scoffs at her, shaking his head, but carries on berating me.

“Luna, he attacked another student today at lunch. Christian had to leave school and be taken to the doctor. He has a broken nose and a pretty busted-up lip. Parker even knocked out one of his front teeth.” Larry points his finger at me like I’m the only one to blame for this mess.

The exhaustion that stole all my energy a second ago is quickly replaced with fury. He can go to hell for trying to put all this shit on me. I’m proud of what I did today. Not only did I stick up for the girl who owns me, but an innocent person being mistreated for no reason. “He fucking got what he deserved. Actually, he deserves way more than I did in that short amount of time. I won’t feel bad for sending him to the doctor. He and that bitch niece of yours deserves to feel just as bad as they made Emilee feel. If I had it my way, neither of them would be breathing right now. So you,” I point at him, “can go fuck yourself with trying to put all the blame on me.”

Larry’s face turns an off shade of white, then, in a second, turns red. I’m afraid he is about to have a heart attack or try to punch me. I really don’t want either to happen, but I’m done keeping my goddamn mouth shut. Luna’s hand comes up and covers her mouth. She turns to me, “Parker West, I don’t care what’s happening at this moment. That is not how you will speak to him. That won’t help anything, but what will is if you tell us what has been going on.”

Even though my stomach turns at the thought of betraying Emilee by telling her story, Luna is right. It’s past time that Christian and Vanessa’s torture is shouted from the roof. They won’t be held responsible unless I do something. I explain everything from September to the most recent torture they have inflicted on her. I don’t leave out the threats thrown my way, and I explain how I was set up this afternoon with that fucked up kiss. I make sure to stress that I would never hurt Emilee, and I don’t have anything to do with our messages getting distributed throughout the school. I voice how I have no proof that I’m innocent and how that’s killing me. They never interrupt me. They stand there listening to me spill all the secrets I’ve been keeping. As I finish, my head drops to my hands, and for the second time today, I find myself crying. I have never cried this much in my whole life. Arms wrap around me from behind, Luna’s perfume surrounds me, the feeling of being believed seeps into my veins.

I cling to her arms, pulling her closer to me. “Aunt Luna, I don’t know how to prove to Emilee and everyone else that I would never betray her. I’m in love with her. I’m scared she isn’t going to listen to me. I want her to be happy, safe, but mine,” I sob. My heart is broken, and I’m not sure I can ever put it back together without my butterfly.

To my surprise, it’s Larry that speaks up first. “Parker, the school reviewed the cameras while waiting for Christian’s parents to arrive. Christian and Vanessa can be seen taping the papers up and throwing them on the tables in the lunchroom. They said you gave them the papers when the video was played.”

“That’s fucking bullshit. I would never do that,” I say, jumping up so fast that the room spins. Luna almost falls off the back of the chair.

Larry holds out his hand and backs up away from me. “Calm down, son. Mrs. Moore was one of the adults in the cafeteria when the fight happened, so she was in the office. She called them out on lying and reminded them that they ran the printers out of ink this morning. She remembered that they brought their own multicolored paper.”

“But that doesn’t prove I didn’t send the messages to them. All that proves is I wasn’t there when they were printed off or hung up,” I say, dropping back down into the chair. “At least the school knows I didn’t take part in putting them up, but I don’t fucking care about what the school thinks. I care about getting my girl to listen to me and proving that I would never hurt her.” I groan out because all this feels impossible and useless.

Luna sits on the couch, “What happened to Christian and Vanessa? What will the school do about them putting the papers up?”

Sighing, Larry walks over and sits beside her. grabbing her hand as he answers. “They have been suspended for three days. Since they have never been in trouble before, the principal thought that was appropriate. He plans to reach out to Emilee’s family to get her side of the story and inform them that the school will be looking into all of this.” I’m about to lose my shit on him when he looks up and catches my gaze. “You’ll have to report to the principal’s office in the morning to get your punishment for the fight and the use of foul language.”

Once he’s done, I let my rage consume me, raising my voice, “Three days? Three fucking days! How in the hell is that fair? They have done way more than tape papers up. What about all the times they physically hurt her while at school? Or all the shit they put in and on her damn locker? Is none of that against the rules here? They made her put a gun in her mouth and pull the trigger, for fucks sake.”

“Parker, no one knew about all of that. Now that it’s been brought to my attention, we can say something to them tomorrow. The school will look into it, I promise you. There are cameras everywhere, so if they did this….”

Jumping up from the chair, I cross the room and get in his face as he stands up at the same time I do. “If? If? I’m telling you I have seen the fucking aftermath of everything. There is no if. They did this. Just because it’s your niece doesn’t mean shit to me….” I’m cut off when Luna grabs my arm and pulls me back.

“Calm down, Parker. Getting into another fight will not solve anything,” she says, not letting go of me. Turning to look at Larry, she continues, “Emilee and Parker would never make something like this up. We are not waiting until tomorrow to say something to the school. Get on your phone now and call Mr. Clark. Don’t look at me like that, Larry, do it. Tell him that we expect the footage to have been reviewed first thing in the morning or else…. Well, I don’t know what I’ll do, but so help me, Larry. I’ll do something if you don’t do as I say.”

I swallow the laugh that bubbles up as he stands there, opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water. When she places her hands on her hips and huffs at him, we both know she is about to get her way because he can never tell her no. He turns, mumbling under his breath as he pulls out his phone. At the same time, my phone starts ringing in my pocket. I fumble, trying to get it out quickly, hoping it’s Emilee or her family calling me to say she wants me back. My hope is squashed when I look at the screen and see Vanessa’s name flashing. I grind my teeth together and seriously think about not answering it, but this shit needs to end, and end now. “What do you want?”

“I want to talk to you. Meet me somewhere.” Her voice instantly makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

“Why should I meet you anywhere? Didn’t this afternoon prove to you that I could care fucking less about you and your feelings?”

“Parker, you don’t understand….”

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