Something’s not right

Renée had been watching Emma for a good chunk of the day and hadn't seen any noticeable suspicious behaviour. Emma had been acting somewhat unlike herself, but not too much to be overly worried. Emma had gone through various phases in which she acted in various strange ways before, so it wasn't anything new. Once, Emma had dyed neon green highlights into her hair, she'd worn the types of clothes, and acted in ways which resembled a punk or a bad-boy, except she was a girl. However, she quickly stopped acting like this after her first taste of a cigarette that made her cough non-stop for ages.

Somehow Ren felt this time seemed different, even when she had acted weirdly before Emma had still had her quirky qualities and her bubbly nature. She'd tried those things out of pure curiosity and interest, but she didn't have a hint of her usually charming and charismatic demeanour. She didn't look particularly happy either, even with a smile plastered on her delicate face. She had been smiling all day, but the smile had yet to reach her eyes, which were dreary and looked several tones darker than usual.

As Ren was thinking she saw Emma check her phone for the time and look at their surroundings again. She'd been doing this for a while now, Emma looked impatient or anxious as if waiting for something, or someone. As if to prove Ren's thoughts, someone walked through the door and immediately Emma turned her head and looked at who was coming in. A hint of excitement and anticipation was evident in her eyes.

Emma saw who it was, seemingly not recognising them and turned back to the table they were sitting at, they were currently sitting in the cafeteria. The large rectangular table they were sitting around was empty apart from the two spots occupied by them.

Ren observed Emma for a few more seconds before rummaging through her bag and fishing out a notebook. She quickly flipped the pages and landed on the one she had been writing on earlier. On the page read:

Emma's Weird Behaviour:

- She's been studying diligently even though she hates studying.

- She hasn't gone to make the rounds with her friends, surprisingly, since she likes talking to everyone

- She hasn't cracked one stupid joke about my waifus and husbandos since yesterday. Weird but not too alarming.

There was one more, it was underlined multiple times and had spam of questions and exclamation marks following the statement as if this was unheard of situation.

- Emma hasn't been dazedly staring at Mr Thomas?! She always does???!!!!?!!? Wtf is going on?!?!???

She quickly added another she'd just confirmed:

- She's been checking the time and looking at the door, probably waiting for someone-?

Ren couldn't guess what was on her mind, she wasn't a mind reader. "Waiting for someone?" She asked carefully, observing her reaction.

Emma looked at her and looked away, she wasn't watching anything in particular, "Maybe… perhaps no one's coming though."

Ren continued, "Well, who're you waiting for? Oh, and why?"

Emma decided to change the subject quickly and looked her dead in the eyes, "…My organs hurt."

Ren sighed, "C'mon just tell me~!"

"…But I'm being serious."

Ren put her head on the desk in exasperation and looked up at her again. Well if Emma wouldn't tell her if she saw who was coming she'd know.

In the end, both of the girls were looking for someone but the person Emma was waiting for never came. It was nearing the end of lunch and Emma looked rather down, Ren couldn't control her murderous glare, promising to kill whoever stood up to her best friend.

The cold and ruthless gaze only returned to normal after Ren saw Emma turning to look at her. Not wanting to make Emma anxious she smiled half-heartedly.

"Should we get going? We wouldn't want to be late."

"Yeah… let's get going then." Emma forced a very strained smile and stood up lifting her bag.

A thought struck Ren, "Ah, we might see who you were waiting for in-class…?" She probed in a question-like manner.

"Yeah, we will." She replied without thinking much about the questioning statement.

Ren smiled gently with devilish intent, it was hard to keep the evilness of her smile from her face, so she hurriedly turned to look away from Emma. She quickly grabbed her bag and walked at a pace fast enough that she'd soon left Emma behind, causing Emma to hurriedly scramble after her, calling for her to slow down.

As they got closer to the classroom, Ren pushed open the door in triumph, barely breaking a sweat from the punishing pace she walked at, "I won! You're such a slowpoke, Emma."

"Huff, that's, huff, not fair!" Emma came to the door a few moments later, looking exhausted and sweating buckets. "You had a huff, head start and it was, huff, never a race!"

"Yeah, that's what a loser would say~ no need to be a bad sport, Emma. After all, I am your best friend, I love you the most even if you're a loser." Ren laughed tauntingly without holding back.

Huffing is not only an attempt to regain the oxygen that had just left her body but also in slight anger for being bullied, Emma went to sit at the back of the class with Ren before the teacher arrived.

Mr Thomas soon came into the classroom and the lecture began, Emma looked at him bittersweetly. She felt angry at herself for feeling upset that he hadn't come. After all, she'd never asked him to come, but he went to the cafeteria every day so she was certain he would. He just picked this day not to come, but it also saved her since she still had no idea what she was going to do or say after meeting him there.

What could she possibly do that would make him see her in a different light anyway…? Emma held in a sigh and turned her sharp gaze away from Mr Thomas and focused her attention on her work, she needed a distraction.