Half Wit

Chapter 9

After eating breakfast with her mother (and being forced to take the necessary pills like she had to every morning), Emelie made her way upstairs in order to get dressed for school. Standing in the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body, Emelie carefully removed the bandage around her arm. It had been almost four days since she had her tattoo and it was time to see if her tattoo had healed already. Wincing in pain as she removed the sticker, Emelie slowly saw her skin turn red before she saw her tattoo fixated on her arm.

Emelie smiled brightly as she saw the design on her arm. Her arm was still slightly swollen but that was rather normal. Later on, that would go away and the tattoo would only be more visible. Her mouth was slightly open as she watched the design crafted in her skin. Nodding satisfied and deciding that her tattoo was ready to be seen, the young girl walked out of the room and opened her closet to see for any clothes after she had put on some underwear.

Taking out a sleeveless black dress, she looked at herself in the mirror and nodded satisfied. Normally she wouldn't choose to wear a dress but the fact that Emelie finally felt good in her body for once, she decided to take the risk and wear the dress that has been hanging in her closet for quite some time. She had bought it some time ago but never really dared to wear it. Not even when during the summer when the temperatures were rather high.

Watching herself in the mirror as the dress showed her curves slightly while her shoulders were bare and so, showing her tattoo on her left arm perfectly and also making the wrist tattoo's nicely visible. Putting on some of her usual bracelets (and so hiding the ink around her wrists), Emelie smiled at herself and nodded satisfied. She grabbed her black-and-white striped socks and put them on, making sure that they covered her bare legs before she put on her combat boots that reached until her knees.

The bags under her eyes were clearly visible and a sign of her father waking her up several nights before and the previous night too (claiming he was bored and Mike and Tré had already crashed in their bunks). Picking up the pencil of eyeliner that was laying on her desk, Emelie put on a certain amount of the black make-up, just enough to frame her eyes perfectly and to make sure that any signs of tiredness was hidden.

Picking up her sweater (with the sleeves until her elbows, making it easier for her bracelets and so hiding her still new tattoo) that was only to be closed just in front of her chest, Emelie looked at herself in the mirror and nodded satisfied. She didn't really care about wearing her school uniform that day and wasn't planning on doing so, the short sleeved sweater was part of their uniform anyway so they couldn't really complain. Some of her dreads were hanging over her shoulder, still a little damp from the shower earlier. The young girl sighed and picked up her hairpin, half-pinning up her dreads and mixing in some of her still loose hair.

She had never been a girl that would spend a lot of time in front of the mirror, especially not on how her hair looked that day or if the amount of eyeliner was equal on each eye. Instead, she'd rather be dressed in anything that was comfortable to her, no matter how it didn't fit with each other or anything.

Emelie sighed and picked up her schoolbag (which she had managed to close completely without missing out books for once) and her usual reading material for when she was bored before she stalked out of her room, running down the stairs as fast as she could. Joey and Jakob were sitting at the breakfast table, slowly munching away on some cereal while Adrienne was reading the newspaper (probably searching for some reviews about the new Green Day album) and sipping on her cup of coffee.

After bidding a 'goodbye' to her mother and brothers, Emelie made her way to school, meeting up with Andrea who complemented her on wearing a dress, especially adoring the combination of her combat boots and striped socks. Emelie looked at her for a moment, feeling a strange sense of sadness coming from the girl but ignored it, telling it was just herself probably since Andrea herself showed no real sign of being sad at that moment, but Emelie could never see anyway since the girl's eyes were hidden behind the sunglasses just like every other day.

“Oh right, there is a gig tomorrow night. Several bands are coming, I think there'll be a total of 7 bands or something,” Emelie shrugged, “I might go and check it out, you know, potential bands for Adeline, you never know...”

Andrea looked at her friend and raised an eyebrow, knowing there had to be a catch to her friend asking her to go to a concert with her. Everyone that knew Andrea knew that she could give some harsh critic on the bands they like or planning to see. Then again, the girl was studying to become some sort of tour manager or just a columnist with the local newspaper (writing the reviews to the new Cd's, books and concerts) so knowing how to put out some good -and sometimes harsh- critic was a good thing for her.

“I mean, it would be quite handy since you're pretty good at seeing these little details and give critic on them,” Emelie added, looking rather uncomfortable under the gaze of her best friend. Andrea nodded and shrugged, looking alright with it and silently agreeing to go with her to see the bands, being in her own little world in her mind once again, thinking that her friend didn't notice while she did as she quietly observed her friend. Emelie let out a breath and relief and tried to keep up with Andrea as she walked pretty fast and was already ahead of her.

“Do you know what kind of bands are coming?” Andrea asked with a frown while she sat down on their regular bench and making sure her coat wasn't in her way. Emelie nodded and sat down herself first before she grabbed her backpack and took out a flyer for the show out of the front pocket. Andrea took it from her and looked at the line-up. Some unknown bands, trying to build a steady fan base first with the songs they had now.

“So, how is the ink on your arm doing?” Lyra appeared behind Andrea and wrapped her arm around the young girls neck, only receiving a scowl from the girl and a roll of her eyes. Emelie smiled as Lyra ignored the glare Andrea was sending her and gave the girl a kiss on the cheek before she moved to sit next to Emelie, claiming Andrea didn't have a comfortable shoulder to sleep on.

“Pretty good, I got the bandage off earlier today so its still a little swollen. But your design looks beautiful on my arm, don't worry about it,” Emelie informed her friend who rested her head on her shoulder and half-closed her eyes, still ignoring the glare Andrea was giving her.

“Have you talked to your dad lately?” Andrea questioned Emelie, who looked up from her book and nodded, looking a little annoyed at first which caused Andrea to frown.

“If you call picking up your phone around 4 am and both being half-asleep, then yeah, I talked to him,” Emelie informed her. Lyra looked at her and gave her a kiss on the cheek before laying her head back down on her shoulder since it was still early and she was supposed to be laying in her bed at that hour.

Deciding that it would be better if they got inside the school and attend to the lessons even though they didn't really want to listen, or would listen for that matter. Emelie felt rather uncomfortable as some of the younger girls with their platinum blond hair looked at her with a glare and disgusted glance, having her friends there with her certainly helped her from not lashing out (of course she was powerless when Andrea chose to walk up to one of the girls and just kick her shin and then smirk before walking about smugly, telling her friends that it was something personal).

*

“Now people, listen up. I'm putting you on another assignment,” the teacher announced just before the bell rang, receiving some groans from the class. Emelie's head shot up, waking her up from her daze of looking at her wrists again. She saw Andrea looking rather interested at the teacher, hoping that it would be another assignment she would like.

“You'll have to read a book,” the teacher continued, some of the boys, and even some girls, in the class sighed and threw their heads back, not liking this assignment already.

“And give me your favorite snippet from the book and make sure its longer than a few lines folks because you'll have to present it in front of the class!” Andrea and Emelie met each others eye and nodded, knowing exactly what book the other would pick.

A small smile was visible on Emelie's lips as she packed up her books and thought of a small snippet from the book she was reading now. She already had something in mind but typing it over would be annoying since she didn't like working on the computer that much.

“You have a month to do this. Class dismissed,” the teacher ended and walked over to her desk, putting away some of the papers she had used during the lesson while her class was buzzing with students talking to each other about this assignment. Emelie sighed and stood up, swinging her closed backpack over her shoulder before she walked out of the class room with Andrea following suit.

When they found Lyra and Lou on their usual spot, Emelie sat down and sighed, placing her head in her hands. Lyra frowned and took another sip from her coffee, wondering what was wrong with her friend. She raised an eyebrow at Andrea and nodded to Emelie, asking without words what was wrong with the young girl but Andrea could only shrug, telling her that she didn't know.

Lou shook her head and grabbed her own cup of coffee, taking a sip from it and being lost in her own thoughts. It took a few minutes before Emelie decided to lift her head back up from watching the table.

“You okay again?” Lyra asked, looking over the border of the cup that was lifted to her lips. Emelie looked at her for a moment and nodded, calming herself a little bit before she frowned and looked at the coffee.

“Where did you get that coffee?” she asked, nodding towards the two cups on the table. Lou and Lyra looked at each other before she turned their gazes back on Andrea and Emelie and then just pointed at the label of 'Starbucks' printed on the cups.

“I should've known,” Andrea muttered, shaking her head and slightly glaring at the two other girls who looked as innocent as they could as they took another long, teasing sip from their coffee. Emelie groaned and threw her head back, not being able to bear the sight of her friends teasing her by drinking coffee.

Hearing a disturbed sigh behind them, Andrea and Emelie rolled their eyes and turned around, facing whoever had sighed and ignoring Lyra and Lou who were now in a deep conversation about the bands that would come to the gig, looking at the flyer Andrea had passed them earlier.

Emelie raised her eyebrow at the girl in front of them, dressed in her regular jeans just reached her knees. She was clad in a long white top that hung loosely around her thin body while half of her cleavage was visible to see. Not that the boys around the school minded, like she cared whenever they would stare at her breasts while she was talking to them.

“Really Emelie, when will you realize that, you don't belong with these...people!” the girl shook her head, faking some sadness and looking Emelie straight in the eye. Andrea glared at her and wanted to stand up but was stopped by her friend who shook her head.

“I mean, they are not worth your time, you're better than the rest of them anyway,” the girl pointed at Lyra and Lou, who were now busy yelling at each other about their favorite bands and what else. Emelie looked over her shoulder at her two friends and smiled brightly, amused by them and shaking her head before she faced the girl again.

Andrea glared at the girl, making fists with her hands and squeezing them so hard that her knuckles turned white. Emelie looked at her with a warning look but didn't say anything as the girl just let out a deep breath and looked away scowling at the girl in front of them. Emelie could see that she was having trouble keeping her emotions in line and knew that it wouldn't be long before either she would break down or hurt somebody. Perhaps even both.

“Keep your pet in line Emelie,” the girl glared at Andrea who stood up before Emelie could stop her. Her fist collided with the girls face, causing her to fall down on the ground, holding a hand to the bridge of her nose and looked at Andrea with fearful eyes and a slight glare.

Emelie didn't flinch, she had rather expected something like this happening and knew that Andrea couldn't hold in her anger and frustration at the girl any longer. She sighed and shook her head at the foolishness of the girl. Andrea towered over her, taking deep breaths to calm herself before she glared at the girl and walked away from her and the group. Emelie watched her retreating form, concerned about the girl might all do while her head was so messed up.

“She hit me!” the girl screamed, holding her nose as it started to bleed and cover her white top with blood spats. Emelie glared at her, knowing that she had provoked it and this was how she got it back.

“It's fun until someone gets hurt...” Emelie started, receiving a confused glance from the girl laying on the grass and trying to stop her nose from bleeding and make sure that her long brown hair wasn't hanging in front of her face, “then it's hilarious,” she added quickly.

The girl was surrounded by several of her friends that had stood on a safe distance from the group and their friend when she was talking to them and kept shooting glares at Emelie who was only concerned about her friend than the fact that she was now the main point of attention.

Lou and Lyra had stood up in the mean time, ready to do whatever it took to make sure there wouldn't be more blood than there already was. Emelie greatly appreciated the girls' worry and protectiveness over her and smiled at them before she walked away from the girl's reach and ran after Andrea who had disappeared in the building.

Walking through the hallways, she was more worried about the fact that her friend was probably somewhere in a, previously locked, classroom, hitting and throwing stuff, depending on how angry she really was. Emelie sighed and shook her head, it was on days like these that she just wished that the preps and fans of her father would leave her and her friends alone, not knowing what might happen.

“Andrea?” Emelie poked her head in one of the empty class rooms. Her eyes scanned the room, trying to find the girl as she heard some soft sobs coming from the room. She walked in the room and closed the door behind her before she walked to the middle of the room, looking for Andrea. Finding her in one of the corners, Emelie bit her lip and stalked towards her friend, kneeling down in front of her and stroking her hair as she tried to make Andrea look at her.

“Hey hon',” Emelie said with a small smile, looking at Andrea before she sat next to her friend and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. Andrea took a shaky breath and buried her head in Emelie's shoulder as the young girl just softly stroke her hair and whispered some kind words to her friend.

“I shouldn't have reacted like that,” Andrea whispered to herself, shaking her head and sniffing a little, already calming down by the presence of her friend and knowing that she could tell Emelie everything without being judged.

“Actually I was kind of expecting you to lash out earlier,” Emelie admitted, shrugging a little before she showed Andrea a small smiled and rubbed her arm.

“I still should've tried to keep it in until she was gone and hit a tree or something...” Andrea said to herself, probably feeling bad about letting her emotions out of control and blaming herself for it. Emelie sighed and shook her head, looking at her friend with a sympathetic smile.

“Don't worry about it. She deserved it,” Emelie whispered in Andrea's hair, giving her a small kiss on the crown of her head. Andrea nodded briefly and calmed down after a few minutes. Sitting back up, she smiled at Emelie and silently thanked her. She adjusted her sunglasses, ever-present on her nose even though it was dark outside and sniffed a little.

“I should stop freaking out on random moments of the day, damn my stupid mental state on some days,” Andrea muttered as she stood up from the floor, giving Emelie a hand to stand up too. Emelie chuckled and shook her head, placing her hand on Andrea's shoulder and giving it a light squeeze.

“Don't worry about it. We all got to freak out one day or another..” she said silently, showing her friend a small wink before wrapped one of her arms around Andrea's waist while the girl did the same to her.

While they were walking through the hallway, they got some odd glances by the people standing in their little groups, some of them even shouted something at Andrea and Emelie but the girls didn't really care. Andrea smirked at the girl she had punched in the nose earlier and winked, making her freak out.

The two girls looked at their watch at the same time, freaking each other out but they shrugged it off, telling themselves it was just coincidence. It was far from time for them to be able to leave school, causing Emelie to sigh and look annoyed. She just wanted to go home already and lay down on her bed for the rest of the day, reading a book or trying to reach her father on his cellphone.

Andrea gave Emelie a sloppy kiss on the cheek and then released her hold on the girls waist before she ran after away from her friend. Emelie frowned a little at the kiss and held her hand on the place the girl had kissed before a grin came visible on her lips and she chased the girl.

Lyra and Lou were still sitting at their table, playing with the cards Lou had brought with her that day. Lyra looked like she was winning, at least, that was when Emelie arrived at the table, out of breath from running behind Andrea and eventually loosing her.

“Tree,” Lyra muttered without looking up from her cards but glanced at Lou was deep in thought and staring at her cards like they were telling her something. Emelie frowned and looked up to the tree who's branches were towering over the three girls. Andrea was sitting in one of the highest, relaxing against the bark of the tree with her chin against her chest and her arms crossed on her stomach. Either she was sleeping or trying to be elusive. The former more likely.

“I'm elusive! I should be on Discovery Channel!” Andrea yelled from her hiding spot in the tree. Emelie chuckled and shook her head, looking up to her friend and raising an eyebrow at the girl who had woken up and was now staring down to her friends from the height.

“Emelie?!” Andrea yelled down from her tree, “this is my pirate ship now!” she said, cupping her mouth with her hands, “if only I'd had Darwin, my umbrella, to keep my company,” she muttered, somewhat more to herself as she let out a little sigh. Andrea moved a little, making sure she wouldn't fall down from her tree branch and went back to sleep, using the shadows of the tree's leaves to block out the sun.

Emelie frowned at her friend and rubbed the back of her head, wondering if Andrea was really okay at that moment but shrugged and let the feeling fade away again, knowing that her friend was probably just messing and joking around with her.

“Andrea! Just...whatever you do..don't eat the tree okay?”