I followed her and saw Drake drinking milk and eating cookies. Drake looked up at me and smiled. “She made me cookies!” I glanced at Emily.
She shrugged and said, “I like those better.” I sat down at the table. “Would you like something to drink?” Emily asked as she opened the fridge. Her quiet voice carried over to me.
“Whatcha got?”She named a few sodas and I settled on Pepsi. She fixed a glass of Pepsi and a glass of Dr. Pepper before she sat down. “Thanks,” I said, taking my glass. She nodded then turned her attention to Drake as he began talking to her.
“You’ll never believe what happened today! The guy who brought the snake… You remember that, right?” Emily nodded. “Well, he came back today and brought different lizards and a baby alligator! Everyone got to hold all the animals. It was so cool!”
“It seems like you go to a dangerous school,” Emily commented.
Drake laughed and continued in detail about the way the lizards and gator felt. Emily looked grossed out. I tried to hold in a chuckle, but to no avail. Emily looked over at me and then back at Drake.
Emily shook her head as Drake said he wanted one of the lizards as a pet. Her hair fell into her eyes and she quickly pushed it behind her ear. “You sure are a brave young man, Drake,” she said, causing Drake to grin wildly.
Drake looked at me and said, “Did you hear that, Jake? I’m a man.”
I laughed and said, “A young man.”
That didn’t faze Drake at all. “A man is a man, Jake.”
Emily started laughing and said, “It’s true.”
Drake beamed at the affirmation. “We should get started on our project,” Emily said, taking the smile off Drake’s face. “Don’t worry, Drake. We have plenty of channels on TV for you to watch. Come on, I’ll show you.”
Drake followed Emily out of the room and into the living room. I could hear Emily showing him the cartoon channels and Drake’s
enthusiasm about one of the shows. A few minutes later, she returned with her hands full of papers, a poster and glue.
“You want to finish it all today? Trying to get rid of me?”
Emily’s cheeks turned scarlet as she set everything down on the table. “I don’t like waiting until the last minute,” she said quietly.
“Why are you quiet now? You don’t talk like that with Drake. You look him in the eye too,” I asked, hoping I wasn’t overstepping some unseen boundary.
She bit her lip and I wondered if she knew she did that. She plopped into her seat and said, “It’s easier.” She left it at that while I gathered my papers from my bag. “Why do you keep asking me questions?”
I looked up and asked myself the same question: Why did I keep asking her questions? Why did I want to know the answer? “Curious, I guess.”
“Curiosity killed the cat.”
What? Was she trying to say that I didn’t want to know the answers? Was she saying that it was bad enough to kill? What was she trying to say? Before I could ask, she changed the subject over to our project.
We had been working for about an hour when Mike came in. He kissed the top of Emily’s head and said hello. Emily got up abruptly and went to check on Drake. Did her behavior have something to do with her dad? Had he done something to her? He seemed too nice and down to earth. I didn’t think that was it.
“How’s the project goin’?”
“Pretty good. Making a lot of progress. I think Emily is ready to get rid of me and Drake.”
Mike chuckled. “She probably wants to get rid of you more than Drake.”
I had a feeling that he was right. I wanted to ask why but I didn’t think he would tell me. I looked into the living room and saw Emily sitting with Drake, watching TV. The question that had been on my mind since being paired up with Emily was what happened to her. The possibilities that came to mind were not ones that would sit well with anyone.
I watched her laugh at something Drake said. “We should probably get back to work,” I stated, not knowing what else to say.
I had a crazy urge to see her as I saw her in the pictures, like I saw her with Drake. However, would it ever happen? What would bring her out of her shell?
I stood and made my way into the living room. I rested my arms on the back of the couch in-between Emily and Drake. “I thought we were working?” Emily jumped and I immediately regretted sneaking up on them. Drake glared at me and patted Emily’s hand.
She smiled at him and said, “You can hang out with my dad while we work.” Mike walked in and sat in the recliner. Emily got up and walked into the kitchen while Mike started talking to Drake who jumped into his story about the alligator and lizards.