The Hanahaki Club: Episode 19
Episode 19: A Burden Shared, Part 2
So far…
Emery has bet Lila, her rival and the unwitting cause of her hanahaki, that she can get Lila to like her before Easter.
Episode 19: A Burden Shared, Part 2
Emery
Lila looked pissed when she came out of the Lecture Theatre at the end of film club and saw Emery waiting for her in the hallway. She glanced up and down the corridor first, as if to make sure there would be no one to witness their exchange and then folded her arms and quirked an irritated eyebrow at Emery.
“How was film club?” Emery asked cheerfully.
“I told you to not stalk me.”
“And I made no promises.”
“What do you want?”
“I would like your number.” And then because she remembered that being polite probably wouldn’t hurt: “Please.”
Lila’s answer was swift. “No.”
“Please?” Emery tried again.
Lila unfolded her arms, and for a second Emery thought she was going to relent, but instead she started walking down the corridor to the exit. Emery followed after her, making sure to catch up until she was walking by her side. Lila increased her pace in response, but Emery wasn’t to be shaken off that easily.
“Pretty please?” she tried one more time, closely observing Lila’s profile so she could gauge how much further she could likely push her luck. She watched Lila’s jaw clench momentarily before she finally spoke.
“Why?”
Emery scoffed. “So I can message you, of course.”
“What for?”
“You promised to give me a chance, right?”
Lila’s jaw clenched again as she shoved on the fire door at the end of the corridor with enough force that Emery had to quickly put out a hand to stop it swinging back in her face. Squeezing through the door herself, she caught up with Lila again, and counted to five before she tried again.
“So, are you going to give me your number?”
Lila huffed in exasperation. “You’re not going to leave me alone until I do, are you?”
“Probably not,” Emery admitted. And then added, more honestly: “No.”
As they reached the bike stand, Lila stopped and turned to face Emery, one hand held out impatiently towards her. “Phone,” she demanded.
Emery obediently unlocked her phone and handed it over. She watched Lila put her number into her contact list and then took the phone back and immediately called the new number. Lila looked annoyed as she fished her own phone out of her pocket and rejected the call.
“Just had to check,” Emery explained with her toothiest smile.
“If you spam me, I’m going to block you.”
“Define ‘spam’?” Lila looked unimpressed so Emery rolled her eyes and tucked her phone back into her coat pocket. “I’m kidding. I promise I won’t text you unless absolutely necessary.”
Lila’s expression turned from unimpressed to openly sceptical, but she didn’t make any further comment as she unlocked her bike and put on her helmet. Emery finished unlocking her bike at the same time and they awkwardly walked their bikes to the school gate together. Emery tried to make small talk by asking Lila about her plans for the weekend, but Lila told her to mind her own business, and since Emery didn’t want to risk giving her a reason to immediately block her number, she kept quiet and dropped back to give Lila a head start once they reached the road. She knew they lived in the same direction and they’d be taking the same route most of the way, and she didn’t want Lila to think she really was stalking her, even though she couldn’t help that they lived in the same neighbourhood.
The ride home left Emery breathless and hacking up her guts as she stumbled through the front door of her house and upstairs to the bathroom. She spat blackened petals and a clot of blood into the toilet, washed her hands and face and then went to change out of her school uniform and into a pair of jeans and her warmest jumper. She grabbed the overnight bag she had packed the previous night, let herself out the front door again and jumped onto her bike to head to Maisie’s house.
“Oh my life! Did you cycle here?” Maisie exclaimed as she opened the door.
“Mum’s working today,” Emery explained, as she wheeled her bike into the porch and hung her helmet up on the coat rack.
“My mum would have picked you up.”
“It’s fine,” Emery replied, covering her mouth with her sleeve as she coughed dryly.
“Are you sure you should still be cycling?”
“The doctor says its fine.”
Maisie tugged Emery’s bag out of her grip, despite her weak protest, and led the way up to her bedroom. “Do you need a drink?” she asked.
“I’m okay, thanks.”
“Are you warm enough?”
“Yep.”
“Do you need a nap?”
“Nope.”
Maisie brought Emery a glass of water and a bowl of sliced fruit anyway, wrapped her in a fluffy throw on a pile of pillows at the foot of her bed, shoved a lavender scented heat pack up her jumper and generally made a fuss until Emery forcefully yanked her down on to the bed next to her and shoved a slice of apple in her mouth.
“Come on,” she said, laughing at Maisie’s pout as she chomped on the apple, wriggled under a blanket, and shifted into a more comfortable position on the pillow mountain, “Let’s get Operation First Date started.”
Maisie wrinkled her nose as she pulled her laptop out from under a pillow and flipped it open. “We’ve got to change that name; it gives completely the wrong impression.”
Emery shrugged as she opened several social media apps on her phone. “What else would you call it?”
“I don’t know. Anything but a ‘date’.”
“Well, what’s the name then for when two people meet up so that one of them can persuade the other to like them?”
Maisie sighed. “Never mind.” She opened a file on her laptop and angled the screen so that Emery could see it better. “This is the research I’ve been doing on Lila’s social media feeds. She doesn’t seem to actually post much on her accounts, but she gets tagged a lot in other people’s posts.”
Emery scrolled through the screenshots Maisie had taken, with Maisie sharing her observations as she went and answering Emery’s many questions.
“So,” Emery concluded, after twenty minutes or so, “Lila likes shopping and ice-cream?”
“Why are you pulling that face? That’s perfectly normal for girls our age. I like shopping and ice-cream.”
Emery frowned at a screenshot of Lila with three other girls from school, posing in an assortment of sunhats and sunglasses together, all smiles and pouts and peace signs as they huddled in a changing room for their group selfie. “I know,” she agreed, unable to keep the disdain from her voice, “But you also like plushies, musical theatre and collecting fossils.” She gestured at the laptop screen. “This just seems a bit shallow for the president of the chess club.”
Maisie hit her with a cushion. “You’re a snob. It is possible to enjoy both chess and shopping, you know.”
Emery shoved the cushion she’d been attacked with under her chest as she moved to lay on her front. “What about Lila’s own posts?” she asked, kicking up her legs and crossing them at the ankles.
“Only her Netbook account is public and it’s mostly just a few landscape pictures from holidays. Her Piktagram account is private, so I can’t see what she’s posted. There is a link to a Critter account on her profile, but that’s set to private too. You’d have to send a friend request to get access to those. Did you get her number?”
“Yeah.”
“Really?”
Emery rested her chin on the cushion she was hugging and gave Maisie a wry look. “You don’t need to sound so surprised.”
“I honestly didn’t think she’d give it to you.”
“I’m a master of persuasion.”
“So, what’s the plan?”
“I guess it’s going to have to be shopping and ice-cream.”
Maisie hummed with half-hearted agreement and slid the laptop away from Emery and onto her own lap. Emery watched her friend from the corner of her eye, anticipating that she was about to voice a concern, one of many that she had voiced since Emery had first put her plan to her, but one never came. Instead, Maisie only reached for the last chunk of melon in the fruit bowl and popped it in her mouth. Emery felt a sudden surge of gratitude. There had been a time, not that long ago, when Maisie had been the only friend Emery had had—the only person she could count on when she discovered what it meant, for the first time, to face cruel and completely arbitrary social exclusion from her peers.
“Thanks, Maise.”
Maisie raised her eyebrows and tilted her head as she sucked on the lump of melon.
“I know this plan is a little unhinged, but I really appreciate you helping me with it anyway.”
Maisie smiled around her full mouth and patted Emery on the head in a manner that was both affectionate and condescending. In return, Emery reached up an arm and poked Maisie in the cheek as she swallowed the melon.
Maisie hummed again softly. “Don’t worry, my lovely,” she said, with a confidence Emery wished she felt too, “You’ve got me as your wing-woman. We’ll make Lila fall head over heels for you in no time.”
Sam
Unknown number: 20:52—What are the details for the social tomorrow?
Reply to Unknown number: 20:53—Exposure therapy starts at 11 a.m. Send me your address. I’ll pick you up.
Next time: Episode 20—A Burden Shared, Part 3
Teaser:
Remi was not ready to deal with Saturday-morning Gio, at all. Bright, smiling, casual, Saturday-morning Gio, who looked disturbingly good, wrapped up in a grey pea coat, dark navy jeans and a red woolly hat that had no right looking as stylish on anyone as it did on him. He flashed Remi a bright smile, and she absolutely felt a new bloom bud in her left lung at the sight. Oh crap, this was a horrible idea that was going to kill her faster.
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Author’s Notes:
I’m also partial to some retail therapy and ice-cream.
Next time: Episode 20—A Burden Shared, Part 3
PJ
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