A Week In the Life

Drastic Decisions

Lexi's POV

Tuesday was the worst day imaginable. Emma, Avery, and I walked to school as usual, with Emma jabbering on and on about Ian. Talk about torture! I was having a furious battle with myself. Should I tell Emma and risk getting her mad at me? Or stay quiet, for Emma to do something bad and be crushed. UGH! It was like my head was about to split open!

"And, so I decided to risk it. I'm going to ask Ian to the dance. So then there's a chance I'll get accepted, of course. I think. I hope..."

Emma continued rambling, as I panicked. It felt like there was a swarm of very angry wasps trying to burst out of me. Emma was going to get rejected. Or else Ian would regret his choice. And Libby would be crushed.

"So? What to you think?"

Avery bit her lip. "I don't know..." Did she know too?

Right then and there, in front of the school building, I cracked. I couldn't take it anymore.

"Emma! You can't! You CAN'T! Emma, Ian doesn't like you! He likes-"

"Likes who? You?" Emma looked really mad, like she was about to scream. It was exactly what I'd feared.

"No! I. DON'T. LIKE. IAN." Now I was forcing myself to not yell, because we were right there in front of everyone.

"Sure," Emma muttered sarcastically.

"I don't!"

"Just STOP! Ok?" said Emma. Her voice was fringed with a pain that made me so, so guilty, even though I'd done nothing wrong. "I thought I could trust you. I even ASKED if you liked Ian. You lied, didn't you?" With that happy note, she stalked off.

Avery was staring at me. "You don't like him, do you?"

"No!"

Avery was quiet. Then she said, "So you know that Libby likes him."

"Yeah."

"And he probably likes her back."

"Yeah."

Avery tapped her chin and I could almost see the gears in her head turning. "We have to warn Emma before she asks Ian!"

"Duh. But HOW?!"

No light bulb moments, and soon the bell rang. How, HOW was I supposed to get through my geometry test with this on my mind?!

Emma's POV

When lunchtime came around, I was still angry. Angry and pained. How could Lexi do this? She LIED to me. My best friend. I thought she was anyways.

I was fuming, and thought, Who needs Lexi anyway? I was going to ask Ian and there was nothing she can to.

Lexi's POV

"There she is!" I pointed to Emma, stalking off to...oh, oh no...Ian.

Avery and I raced after her, but to no avail.

Ian's POV

Emma was racing up to me. I turned around. "Hey Emma."

She was talking so fast, all I heard was gibberish. "Hey, hey. Calm down. Breath." I tried to reassure her. "Now start over."

"I like you. REALLY like you. I hope you do too, and I was wondering if you wanted to go to the dance with me." she blurted out.

It took me a second to process it all. My emotions came flooding in. Surprise, then horror. And worst, disappointment. The horror was because I had no idea what to do. How could I explain that I couldn't go to the dance with her because I liked another girl?

Even worse, I was disappointed Emma wasn't Libby. How could I think that way? But I did.

"W-Well...I-I can't." I stuttered quickly, and raced off, leaving a shocked, and then heartbroken and aghast Emma. I caught a fleeting sight of her expression, making me feel like the worst person on Earth.