Chapter 3

EMERY||

By Monday morning, Emery had decided America wasn't so bad.

The giant mansion was still a little scary. He was fairly certain there were rooms he hadn't discovered yet, and he suspected if he wandered around long enough he'd eventually find a secret passageway or a ghost. But overall? Not bad.

The biggest downside was that Jackie still hadn't answered any of his messages.

That thought lingered in the back of his mind as he stood in front of his closet.

Today was his first day at a new school.

A new school in a new country.

Which meant his outfit was very important.

After twenty minutes of changing his mind, he finally settled on a cream oversized sweater with tiny embroidered flowers around the cuffs, a light blue pleated skirt that swished around his knees when he moved, white sneakers decorated with colorful charms, and several rings spread across his fingers.

He clipped a pastel star-shaped hair clip into his curls and applied a tiny bit of lip gloss.

Not too much.

Just enough.

He smiled at his reflection.

"Pretty."

Then immediately felt embarrassed for saying it out loud.

Nobody was there.

Still.

The mirror knew.

When he got downstairs, Rachel looked up from her breakfast and groaned dramatically.

"You spent half an hour getting ready."

"It was twenty minutes."

"It was thirty-seven."

Emery gasped.

"You timed me?"

"Of course I timed you."

"That's creepy."

Rachel pointed at him with her fork.

"You're wearing lip gloss."

"It's moisturizing."

"Sure."

Their mother laughed from the other side of the table.

Before Emery could defend himself, footsteps echoed through the dining room.

Roman entered.

For a second, Emery forgot what he was about to say.

Roman looked annoyingly good for someone who acted like he hated everyone.

Black cargo pants.

White fitted T-shirt.

Black varsity jacket.

Dark hair slightly messy.

Lip piercing catching the morning light.

Emery immediately looked away before anyone noticed he was staring.

Roman grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Morning."

It sounded less like a greeting and more like an unfortunate observation.

"Good morning," their mother replied cheerfully.

Dimitri folded his newspaper.

"Roman, you'll be taking Emery to school today."

Roman paused.

"No."

The answer was immediate.

Dimitri sighed.

"Roman."

"No."

"You're going to the same school."

"I know."

"So you'll take him."

Roman took a sip of water.

"No."

Emery looked down at his cereal.

Maybe if he became invisible this conversation would stop.

Dimitri clearly disagreed.

"He's new."

Roman shrugged.

"Then he'll survive."

Their mother gave Roman a look.

Rachel looked like she was enjoying herself.

And Emery wanted to crawl under the table.

Dimitri finally set his newspaper down.

"Roman."

"What?"

"Take him."

Roman stared at his father.

His father stared back.

The silence stretched.

Then Roman muttered something under his breath.

"What was that?" Dimitri asked.

"I said fine."

Dimitri smiled immediately.

Roman looked annoyed enough to start a war.

Emery smiled nervously.

"Thank you."

Roman didn't answer.

A few minutes later they stepped outside.

Roman headed toward the driveway.

Emery followed.

And then stopped.

"Oh."

Parked outside was a black Porsche 911 Turbo S.

It gleamed in the morning sunlight.

Emery stared.

The car looked expensive enough to buy his entire street back in London.

"Your car is really pretty."

Roman unlocked it.

No response.

Emery's smile faltered slightly.

Maybe he didn't hear him.

That happened sometimes.

When Roman climbed into the driver's seat, Emery reached for the passenger door.

Nothing happened.

He tried again.

Still nothing.

The handle looked completely different from the ones he was used to.

Emery glanced at Roman.

Then looked away.

Then looked back.

"Um..."

Roman sighed.

"What?"

"How do I open it?"

The words came out so quietly Emery barely heard himself.

For a second he thought Roman might ignore him again.

Instead, Roman got out, walked around the car, and opened the door.

"Oh."

Emery's face warmed.

"Thank you."

Roman simply shut the door after him and returned to the driver's seat.

The inside of the car was even prettier than the outside.

Everything looked sleek and expensive.

Emery felt like he should ask permission before breathing on anything.

The engine roared to life.

Then they were moving.

Fast.

Very fast.

Very very fast.

Emery gripped the seat.

Trees blurred past the windows.

Buildings blurred past the windows.

His soul briefly blurred past the windows.

Then Roman suddenly spoke.

"Why aren't you wearing your seatbelt?"

Emery blinked.

His hands flew to his lap.

"Oh."

Right.

Seatbelt.

He'd forgotten.

His face immediately turned pink.

"Sorry. I forgot."

Roman sighed.

The car slowed slightly.

Then, using one hand, he reached over and clicked the seatbelt into place for him.

Emery stared.

"Thanks."

Roman nodded once.

Nothing more.

The silence returned.

Emery decided this was the perfect opportunity.

"My name is Emery."

Roman glanced at him.

"I know."

"Oh."

Emery fidgeted with one of his rings.

"I like drawing and listening to music and my favorite color changes depending on my mood and I used to have a goldfish named Pickles and—"

The school appeared.

Huge.

Massive.

Terrifying.

"Oh."

Roman pulled into the parking lot.

Emery stared at the building.

His old school suddenly seemed tiny.

Maybe everything really was bigger in America.

When they got out, heads immediately turned.

People waved.

Students called Roman's name.

A group of girls openly stared.

Emery looked around.

Oh.

Roman was famous.

Before he could say anything, Roman started walking.

Fast.

Emery hurried after him.

"Wait."

Roman didn't stop.

Emery finally caught up and lightly tapped his arm.

Roman looked down.

"What?"

"Could you maybe show me around?"

"No."

"Oh."

"Find somebody else."

Then Roman walked away with a group of friends.

Just like that.

Leaving Emery standing alone.

Surrounded by strangers.

For the first time all morning, nerves fluttered in his stomach.

America suddenly felt very far from home.

Leaving Emery standing there alone.

Wonderful. Fantastic. Amazing.

He definitely wasn't panicking.

A little later, after asking the school secretary for help, a cheerful girl with dark curly hair appeared.

"Hi! I'm Sam."

Emery smiled.

"I'm Emery."

Her eyes lit up immediately.

"Wait. Are you British?"

"...Yes."

"Your accent is adorable."

Emery's face warmed. "Oh thank you uhh I love your accent too"

Sam grinned. "Come on. I'll show you around."

For the first time that morning, Emery relaxed.

His first class went surprisingly well.

When the teacher introduced him, every pair of eyes landed on him at once.

His palms immediately started sweating.

Wonderful.

The teacher smiled.

"Would you like to introduce yourself?"

No.

Not really.

But saying no would be weird.

So Emery stood.

"My name is Emery. I'm from London. I like music and art and I moved here last week because my mum is getting married and I accidentally dyed my eyebrows pink when I was twelve." Maybe he overshared

The room exploded with laughter.

Emery froze.

Then realized they were laughing with him.

Not at him.

The difference felt strange.

But nice. Very nice.

At lunch, Sam invited him to sit with her friends.

There were five of them.

They immediately made room for him.

Nobody seemed bothered by his questions.

Nobody looked annoyed when he talked too much.

Nobody laughed when he missed a joke.

It felt...

Easy.

There was Olivia, who always looked like she was judging everyone but was secretly nice.

Noah, who made jokes every ten seconds.

Maya, who complimented Emery's hair clip within thirty seconds of meeting him.

Ethan, who somehow had enough energy for five people.

And Aiden.

Aiden smiled way too much. He was just weird

Emery wasn't sure how else to describe him. He was also weird he stared at him too much.

Lunch had barely started before Noah pointed at him.

"So."

Emery blinked. "So?"

"You're new."

"Yes."

"You have an accent."

"...I guess so..?"

"You dress cooler than everyone here."

Emery laughed.

"Thank you."

Maya leaned forward.

"I love your aesthetic."

"Aesthetic?"

"Your whole vibe."

Emery giggled.

"Oh."

Then Roman's name came up because apparently news travels fast around here and someone saw Emery coming out of his car.

"Wait," Sam said suddenly. "You live with Roman Moretti?"

Emery nodded.

"Sort of."

The table froze.

"Sort of?" Ethan repeated.

"What does sort of mean?"

"Our parents are getting married."

Silence.

Then chaos.

"WHAT?"

"No way."

"Roman Moretti?"

"The quarterback?"

"THE Roman Moretti?"

Emery laughed. "Yes?"

Noah looked intrigued "So does that mean we can get invites to his parties?"

"What parties?"

"Roman throws the best parties in the whole school but you have to be popular to get an invite elites only I guess" Maya said

"Oh" Emery was confused

"So what does that have to do with me"

Sam then decided to explain to him " What they are trying to say is since you're going to be his brother you practically live with him you'll get invited and that means as your friends they'll get invited too I don't like parties so nahh"

"I've never been to a party before maybe if he does throw one I'll let you know Noah"

Noah threw his fist in the air and said "Yes"

The table burst out laughing.

Emery giggled so hard his shoulders shook.

By the end of lunch, everyone except Aiden had already exchanged numbers with him.

As everyone stood up to leave, Aiden suddenly spoke.

"Hold on."

The group turned.

Aiden pointed at Emery.

"I don't have his number."

Noah groaned. "Dude."

"What?"

"You've known him for an hour and we all collected his number what was going through your head"

"Exactly."

"That's not helping your case."

Aiden ignored him and held out his phone.

"Number."

Emery giggled.

"Okay."

Aiden grinned victoriously.

"See? He likes me."

"No I don't." He really didn't but no one realized he was serious because the entire table laughed

anyway.

For the first time in a very long time, Emery felt something warm settle inside his chest.

Maybe this place wouldn't be so bad after all.

School ended much faster than Emery expected.

Sam walked with him towards the parking lot.

Roman's car was there but Roman wasn't.

"Where is he?" Emery asked

Sam looked confused "Who?"

"Roman"

"Ohh he's probably at football practice"

"Okay let's go there"

So they headed to the field.

When the got there Emery decided that the game made absolutely no sense. They called it football when they didn't even use their feet to play it. It clearly looked like rugby.

America was strange.

Finding Roman wasn't difficult. He was the tallest person on the field.

Emery grabbed Sam's hand and started walking towards them.

Sam immediately froze.

"We can for him here" Sam said obviously shy of going to a field full of hot men she was just a girl for crying out loud.

But Emery obviously didn't get it. "Why?"

"Because....."

That obviously wasn't an answer so he continued walking towards them.

When they reached the players, several heads turned.

One player blinked whispered to the person beside him.

"Who's the tiny colourful human"

Emery smiled at Roman to get his attention.

Roman was giving instructions when Emery tugged on his shirt.

Roman looked down already annoyed.

"What?"

"Isn't it time to go home?"

The field went silent.

Roman stared.

"So you walked to my practice field..."

Emery nodded.

"....to ask if it was time to leave?"

"Yes, why is there a problem"

Several players burst out laughing

Roman looked angry and annoyed and exhausted all together.

He inhaled as though he were mentally calming himself down. "As you can see, I'm practicing, so either you wait or find your way home yourself".

"But I came with you"

"Then wait"

One player grinned "Well hello there"

Emery waved a little dejected at the fact he's going to wait for Roman for God knows how long.

"Hi"

"Roman didn't tell us he had a cute new friend what's your name sweetie"

"I'm Emery"

Roman muttered under his breath. "Here we go again" already knowing Emery's going to launch in to introduce himself.

By the time practice ended, one of the players approached Emery.

"Hey give me your number so we can hangout sometime"

"Sure" Emery said.

He pulled out his phone.

Before he could unlock it, Roman suddenly grabbed the guy by the back of his shirt and dragged him away.

"What—"

The two disappeared a short distance away.

Emery couldn't hear much.

Only pieces.

".....fucking back off"

"..... seriously?"

A minute later Roman returned.

The other player looked annoyed.

Emery blinked.

That was strange. Very strange.

When Roman started walking towards the car, Emery followed him.

"Can Sam come with us?"

"No"

"But—"

"No that's final"

Sam laughed awkwardly. "It's okay Em Trevor can take me we kind of know each other"

She waved "See you tomorrow"

Inside the car Emery buckled himself immediately.

He had learned from this morning.

Then he remembered something.

"Oh"

Roman started the engine.

"I was making a new friend what did you tell him that made him leave?"

"No you weren't" Roman surprisingly answered him.

Emery frowned. "What do you mean?"

Roman sighed already tired of the conversation. "Not everyone who smiles at you wants to be your friend"

"... What?"

Roman rubbed his face.

He looked tired from practice.

And no matter how many times Emery asked after that, he never answered.

When they got home, Roman went straight upstairs.

Emery's mother found Emery in the kitchen.

"There you are."

He smiled at her.

"Hi mom"

"How was your first day" his mom asked

And for the next ten minutes Emery told her every good thing that happened.

The new friends.

Sam.

The lunch table.

The class.

Everything.

And his mother looked happy to see that her baby boy is fitting in just fine.

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Your gurll

Ivelisse❤️

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