It's my third day at my new school in America and I have to say, I'm enjoying it. No, I haven't made any friends, but no one knows a thing about me, which, in my case, is always good.
“Hey Emma, you look happy” Adam said as he walked into the kitchen.
“Yeah, I like it here” I said.
“That's good, made any friends?” Dad asked.
“Nope, but I still like it” I said. He smiled at me.
“That's good hun, I'm glad” He said as he left for work.
“I don't see why you can't just talk to people and make friends like a normal person. It's not that hard you know” Mum said. I looked down at my cereal.
“Mum, Em doesn't need this right now, you just need to understand that everyday life is a struggle for her, just be supportive” Adam said, Mum tutted and went upstairs.
“Thanks Ads” I said.
“Any time. Now come on, we need to leave or we'll be late” He said.
“Yeah, wouldn't wanna be late for English” I said sarcastically.
“It can't be that bad” Adam said.
“Miss Main is setting a 'big homework' today and I already know everything she's going over, we did it back in England.”
“Well the homework wont be that hard then will it?” Adam said as we left the house.
“That's true, I just hope its not a group project” I said.
“Well, if it is, then just split the work down the middle and do half each” He said.
“That's a good idea Adam, thanks” I said. He smiled. We got to school and went our separate ways and I mad it to my English class just as Miss Main was starting the lesson.
“Nice of you to join us Emma” She said.
“Sorry miss” I took my seat at the back next to Zack and listened.
“Right, so this lesson, we will be going over the homework project. It's a group project and you'll be working very closely with your partner. Interviewing each other, writing each others opinions about the play, re writing your own version of the play together and I expect you to spend 10 hours in total together to get this done. You have 3 weeks. Now I'll explain it more then pair everyone up” Miss Main said. Shit. A group project. Working closely together. I was starting to have a panic attack and a few people noticed.
“Are you okay?” Zack asked. I just shook my head.
“Miss” A girl in front of me shouted Miss Main looked over and saw me.
“Emma, would you like a moment outside?” She asked. I nodded, took the hall pass and left. I texted Adam to get out of lesson to meet me.
“Em, what happened?” He asked.
“Group project. Working closely together” Was all I managed to get out between breaths.
“Calm down, I'll be there, it'll be all right” He said. Eventually, I calmed down and went back to class. I got back just in time for Miss Main to start reading out the partners. She got through most of the class when I heard my name.
“Emma Hankin will be paired with, lets see, um Zachary Merrick” She said. Shit, he'll try to be friends with me. I can't have that. No no no, I can't have friends.
“At least you're not with Alex” Zack said bitterly as he saw me tense up. He had a point. I could've been paired with Alex which would of resulted in a major panic attack and possible passing out. I just smiled at Zack and listened for the last 10 minutes of the lesson.

“So, when do you want to start this project?” Zack asked, before I could leave.
“Whenever is fine. But can it be at my house?” I asked.
“Sure. What about tonight?”
“Yeah, sure see you later” I said and rushed off to science, begging for the rest of the day to go as slowly as it could.

At lunch, I filled Adam in on everything that happened in English, he told me I could do it and to stay strong more times than I could handle so I ended up going to music earlier than planned. Nothing happened in music, I just learned a few more chords on guitar and it was over. I was now stuck doing a stupid project with some guy I hardly even knew. See, it's times like this I really fucking wished I was normal.
“Hey Emma” Zack said cheerfully as I walked to the front gate.
“Hey, we need to wait for Adam” I said.
“Who's Adam?” He asked.
“My brother” I replied.
“Oh right” We were both stuck in an awkward silence until Adam got there.
“You must be Emma's project partner. Sorry if she gets awkward, she's shy around new people” Adam said. This is why I was glad he's my brother. He knew exactly how to save me in situations like these.
“That explains a lot” Zack said, winking at me. I couldn't help but smile. What? He made me smile? No way. We walked the rest of the way in silence, Zack kept on glancing over at me every two minutes and I blushed every time. This is wrong, very wrong. I can't be friends with him. I just can't.

We got home and Mum and Dad looked at all three of us in shock.
“So Adam, who's your friend?” Mum asked. Adam laughed.
“Mum, he's not my friend, he's Emma's. They're doing a project together” Adam said. Dad smiled at me.
“I'm glad you're finally making friends, Em, you go upstairs and I'll bring snacks up in a bit” Dad said. I smiled at him and we went upstairs, I shut the door and kicked my shoes off.
“Well they're nice” Zack said.
“Yeah, I know” I said. He smiled at me.
“Right, if you get the pink folder off the book shelf, its got all my old Shakespeare work from England in it and we can make a start” I said, he walked over and grabbed the folder.
“Hey Emma, what's this?” He asked holding up a box. My blade box. I snatched it off him.
“That, my friend, is private.” I said and put it back on the shelf. “And don't even think about looking in it” I said. He just nodded.
“Right, so what do we do first?” He asked.
“We read my old notes for help.” I said. We started reading them and Zack kept inching closer and closer to me and put his arm round my shoulder. I shrugged it off.
“Zack look, I uh, I have this uh, thing. I can't have friends. This is just for the project and then we can go back to pretending like we don't exist to each other.” I said.
“You can't have friends? Or you don't want friends?” He asked. I looked at him. He knew what I was getting at, but he couldn't. No, he couldn't know a thing about me.
“Let's just do the project” I said and turned my attention back to the folder. But my mind kept wondering off and thinking about what Zack just said. It's like he understands. There was a knock at my bedroom door.
“Come in” I shouted. Dad walked in with a tray of food.
“I got crackers, biscuits and orange juice for you both” He said.
“Thanks” Zack said.
“Thank you Dad” I said. He smiled at us and left. We ate and drank up and Zack turned to me.
“I'm sorry” He said.
“You don't need to apologise about earlier” I said.
“This isn't about earlier.” He replied.
“What then?”
“You said you didn't want friends, but you clearly need some. I wanna be your friend Emma, and I wont give up” He said.
“What are you apologising for?” I asked, trying to dodge what he just said.
“You're not getting rid of me any time soon” He smirked and turned back to the folder. I knew this would go badly, but I never expected this to happen. Let's just hope he doesn't mean what he says.

After we finished reading through the folder, Zack left and I went downstairs to find Adam and Dad playing cards at the table.
“So how did it go?” Dad asked.
“Horrible. He tried putting his arm around me, so I said we couldn't be friends and he pretty much said he wont give up on trying to be my friend.” I said.
“He seems like a nice guy, Em. Give him a chance. Anyway, how did you find eating in front of him?” Adam asked.
“You know I can handle eating in front of just one person. Plus, he didn't really look at me” I said.
“Give him a chance Emma” Dad said.
“You know I can't do that.” I said.
“You can't, or you wont?” He asked. I rolled my eyes.
“Whatever.” I said.
“He clearly wants to be your friend” Adam said.
“No, because he'll find out about everything and tell everyone. I can't have that, Adam. Not again.” I said.
“There's about 10 schools in the area, if anything goes wrong and you really want to move, then you can” Dad said.
“Thanks guys, but I think I'll just play it safe for now. I'm gonna get an early night” I said and walked upstairs. I was actually quite tired and I fell straight asleep.

The next day at school was pretty boring, but Zack was coming over after he drops his Dads car off at home, I'm not looking forward to it.
“It'll be fine Em” Adam said after listening to me moan about the project all the way home.
“But what if it isn't?” I asked. Adam just rolled his eyes and went to his room. I pulled the hair tie off my wrist and put my hair up in a messy bun. There was a knock at the door, I walked over and let Zack in.
“I stopped off at the library and picked up a copy of the play” Zack said.
“Good idea, now let's get started” I said as we walked up to my room.
“So what are we gonna do first?” I asked.
“Well we have to write a fact file about each other so why don't we get that out of the way?” He suggested.
“Good idea, I'll get my note books” I said and picked up 2 writing pads and 2 pens.
“You start” Zack said.
“Full name?” I asked.
“Zachary Steven Merrick” He said. I wrote it down and looked back up at him.
“Full name?” He copied my question.
“Emma Chloe Sasha Beth Hankin” I said.
“Wow, that's long” He said. I just smiled. I hated my name.
“When's your birthday?” He asked.
“15th of October” I said. He wrote it down.
“When's yours?” I asked.
“21st of April” He said. I wrote it down.
“Your turn” I said.
“What's that?” He asked, nodding to my wrist, my sleeve had moved up slightly and you could see a few scars. Panic washed over me and I yanked my sleeve down quickly.
“Next question” I said.
“But, I asked a perfectly decent one” He replied.
“Next” I repeated.
“Emma, you can trust me” He said.
“Just ask another one, please” I begged.
“Fine. Do you play any instruments?” He asked.
“Guitar, violin, ukulele, piano, flute and drums” I said.
“Impressive. Your turn” He said.
“Do you play any instruments?” I asked, copying his question.
“Just guitar” He replied. I wrote it down and looked back up at him.
“Why don't you want friends?” He asked.
“Next question” I said.
“No, can you at least answer this one? Please?” He asked.
“Because everyone leaves eventually” I said.
“I wont” He replied.
“I can't take that risk.” I replied.
“Suit yourself” He shrugged. “Its your turn”
“I always see you walking round school on your own, why's that?” I asked.
“Everyone's too bitchy and all they ever want is gossip, so I don't normally bother with people” He said.
“Then why do you want to bother with me?” I asked.
“Its my turn, remember?” I nodded.
“Favourite colour?”
“Purple, black, red or dark blue” I said. He wrote it down.
“Your turn” He smiled.
“Why do you want to bother being my friend?” I asked.
“Next question” He said.
“No, answer it” I replied.
“You got to skip a question, so I do too. Next question.”
“Favourite song?” I asked, not wanting to argue.
“And the snakes start to sing by bring me the horizon” He said. I wrote it down, not wanting to tell him it was my favourite song too.
“Favourite song?” He asked.
“Same as yours” I replied.
“Good choice” He nodded. I smiled. We carried on asking each other questions until he had to go home. I took a minute to think about everything that just happened before going downstairs.
“So how did it go today?” Adam asked.
“We had to find random things out about each other like favourite songs and colours” I said.
“He obviously likes you, he's cute too” Mum said.
“Eww Mum gross, you're married!” Adam said.

“Don't tell your father I said that” She said. We all laughed and waited for Dad to get home so we could eat. I have a bad feeling about the rest of this project.

Notes

Okay so I wrote this up yesterday but didn't have time to post it! I'm sorry for being so crappy at updating but I'm just so busy right now and I've got a big fight to train for! I wont forget about this story but updates will be slower than usual for a while
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Lave you all :3
-AllTimeSloth x