Chapter 22 The Beginning (20)

Zach laughed, "You didn't know?" Emily just shook her head. "Yeah I'm sleeping at Lizzie's and Monica's house tonight," Zach said, "Zane told me about it and invited me so I thought it would be fun."

"Oh" Was all Emily said. She then looked away and walked over to where the group that was heading back to Lizzie and Monica's stood. Zach quietly chuckled at her response.

When they got to the group, everyone was deciding how they were all going to get back to the house. There were a total of 8 people going back to the twin's house and one car. Zane was the only one who had a car and a drivers license, and his car could only hold 5 people at most. So, Emily and Monica offered to walk and Zach said he'd go with them. While they walked back, Zane, Lizzie, Ashley, Dilla, and Terra ride in Zane's truck.

(Terra is one of our close friends who doesn't have gym class with the rest of us.)

After everyone decided how they were going to get to Lizzie and Monica's house, the groups started leaving the beach. Soon Zane's car was out of sight and Emily, Monica, and Zach were on the boardwalk leading to the sidewalk. When they started walking Emily and Monica were walking and talking in the front while Zach was walking a few feet behind them. Then Emily and Monica stopped talking and everyone was walking quietly for a few minutes before Emily decided to go and walk with Zach for a little while.

"Hey," Emily said when she was walking with Zach.

"Hey" Zach replied, with an amused expression.

"Why do you look like that, is there something on my face or in my hair?" Emily asked, she was very confused.

"No." Zach said, "There isn't anything in your face or hair. I just thought it was kinda amusing that you came back here to talk to me."

"Why?" Emily asked.

"I don't know, I just thought you wouldn't initiate any conversations and you would try to stay away from me more." Zane answered.

"But why would I do that? We said that we would be friends and friends talk to each other, right? I already agreed to be your friend and I am a friendly person. Plus conversation is the key to friendship and I am used to initiating these things, I've made a lot of quiet friends." Emily said.

"Are you calling me a quiet person?" Zane teased.

Emily laughed, "Well I don't know you that well, but I wouldn't call you an obnoxiously loud person."

"Really? I think I could prove you wrong."

"Prove me wrong? Pfft, alright. Go ahead, I'm good at reading most people, so surprise me."

"Hmm, ok then." Zach said before shouting at the top of his lungs, "I REALLY AM NOT A QUIET PERSON, YOU JUST DON'T KNOW ME THAT WEL--" He didn't get to finish his sentence because Emily clamped her hand over his mouth. Zach looked down at Emily and saw her laughing. He grinned and took her hand that was covering her mouth and lowered it. "Why did you stop me?" Zach said.

"You didn't need to shout anymore, you proved your point." Emily said while laughing. "But also, I didn't want you to wake up the whole neighborhood we are in and I didn't want you to draw any unwanted attention. I didn't want the world to think I recently met a psychopath"

After Emily said this to Zach he laughed and asked, "Was I embarrassing you?"

She looked up at him and answered slyly, "Maybe just a little."

She then looked down and noticed that her hand was still in Zach's grip. She looked back up at him for a split second before he released her hand and she pulled away and looked down quietly as she walked. There was an awkward silence for a few minutes before Emily looked up and said, "Well we made it to the twin's house, I'm going to go inside and put my bag down instead of standing outside looking like an idiot. I'll save that part for you if you want" She laughed and started walking inside, "I'll see you inside." Then she finished walked inside.

Zach watched her walk inside and smiled, he liked that she got shy when she realized he was holding her hand. It was cute, and he had fun with her playful and carefree attitude also. Zach walked inside and sat on a chair in the living room. Lizzie and Zane we sitting on the couch and the three of them talked for a while before Lizzie went upstairs to see what the rest of the girls were doing. Zach watched Zane pout as Lizzie left him and he started laughing, until Zane started teasing him by saying that he couldn't wait until Zach got a girlfriend because he said Zach was going to be more clingy and worse than Zane was. (Who knows if Zane will be correct 🤷🏻‍♀️ Zach might be a complete Boyfriendzilla or a Girlfriend slave)

~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~ Meanwhile Upstairs

The girls were all sitting in Lizzie and Monica's room. The twin's had a large room they shared that had dividers starting a small space from the door in the middle of the room all the way to the wall, so they could have their privacy, during sleepovers the dividers would be opened. Each of their different sides of the room were a little different based on the twins different personalities but the room was very cozy.

On the left side coming in from the door was Lizzie's room half, her white bed was in the corner near the window. On the window sill there was a picture of her family and a little succulent. Next to the bed on the right was a closet, sitting in front of the bed was a cushioned bench that had storage space, a few feet next to the door there was a dresser with pictures, little figures, and mementos, and near the divider there was a big white bean bag sitting on a grey furry rug. On her wall there was a personalized Softball quote with her Softball number on it and some paintings.

On the right side of the door was Monica's room. Monica's teal and coral colored bed was on the opposite wall as Lizzie's was. Monica's bed was in the corner backed up against the same wall the door was in. Her bed was also near a window. Her closet was across from the bed and a little night stand was placed by the bed. Her dresser was placed against the divider (although it was moved against a wall during most sleepovers) and she had a jewelry organizer hanging from the back wall in her room, on the left of her closet. Her walls were covered with Softball Quotes and her drawings.

Monica and Terra sat on Monica's bed, Lizzie and Emily sat on Lizzie's bed, Dilla was sitting in a bean bag chair, and Ashley sat on Lizzie's big furry rug. The girls were goofing around doing makeup when Lizzie joined them. Then they decided to play truth or dare.

Monica was the first to play, she chose truth. Emily said, "Monica is there someone you like?"

Monica blushed slightly and said, "Well there is this boy in my 1st and 2nd Block that I think is really cute and funny. He is also very sweet and nice to me, we normally walk together from 1st Block to 2nd Block and sometimes he will sit with us at lunch."

Dilla said, "Oh My Gosh!! Who is it?!"

Lizzie, "Yeah, you have to tell us. Even I don't know and I'm your twin."

Monica laughed and said, "Fine, I'll tell you. But I don't need to always tell you everything right away just because we are twins Liz."

Lizzie then said, "We came from the same Womb! We were together in there for NINE months, I feel we should be very close. Just saying."

Everyone laughed and Monica said, "His name is Jake. He sat with us during lunch last Tuesday Em."

Emily gasped, "You like him, aww you guys would be so cute together!! He does seem cool, but I'm going to do a background check of him, intero--- I mean talk to him some more, view him as a potential boyfriend candidate and, I want to find his phone number, address, or class schedule."

Everyone in the room started to laugh until Emily said she was dead serious. Then Monica started begging Emily to not go overboard because she sounded stalkerish while Lizzie and Ashley were already trying to get more information about Jake. Everyone was talking and having a good time teasing Monica when Monica decided to change the topic and said, "I thought we were playing truth or dare, why are we still talking about me? Lizzie, truth or dare?"

Lizzie chose to do a dare. Monica dared Lizzie to have Zane come upstairs into the room and then Lizzie would have to randomly give him a kiss. Lizzie turned beet red and asked if she could do something else but everyone insisted that she do that dare because she *had to do it*. So Lizzie called Zane upstairs, when Zane came into the room Zach followed behind him. Lizzie told Zane to come to her and then she quickly gave him a small kiss which made all the girls say, "OoooOoOOo" Then start laughing.

Zach then made and joke, "Is this some girl cult thing you guys do every Friday night in Lizzie and Monica's room?" In response Emily threw a pillow at him and then he was then pelted with pillows and blankets that the girls threw at him.

Zane chuckled and looked at Lizzie before saying, "I don't know what you guys are doing but I am one hundred percent ok with what just happened and if it should happen again I wouldn't complain." After he said he sat down and pulled Lizzie, who was as pink as a flamingo, into his lap.

Zach also decided to stay and he sat down across from Emily, who was now sitting in the floor with everybody else. Emily asked Zach if he had Jake's number or knew anything about him, and after explaining the story and Lizzie telling Zane to not let Emily get involved yet, Zane said he didn't know Jake well and didn't have his number. Then after Lizzie recovered from her embarrassment, she explained to the two boys that they were playing truth or dare. Zach and Zane said they would play and the next person decided to take a turn was Emily. Emily chose truth and she was asked if she had a crush on anyone.

Emily immediately replied that she tried not to have crushes on anyone and that she has always stopped herself from liking anybody whenever she starts feeling anything for someone.

"Girl, we know that you have a big, strong wall around yourself but you didn't really answer the question. You can have a crush on someone and not completely acknowledge it or try to push it down but you still have the physical and mental attraction for someone. So do you have a crush on someone right now, or are you an emotionally empty pit?" Dilla said.

Emily laughed and she noticed Zach's deep gaze on her, she looked back at Dilla and said, "There is one person who I recently met and don't know very well but I am starting to like a bit. I am planning to not get anymore feelings though, so it's not a big deal.

"Not a big deal?!" Lizzie practically shouted, "Of course it is a big deal, why would you want the feelings to go away? You are so amazing and should be able to get any guy you want, so why should you remain single your entire life?!"

Emily sighed and said, "It really isn't a big deal Liz. I do this with every crush or whatever you would call it. I will not be single for the rest of my life but I always catch little feelings for the wrong type of person or someone who I wouldn't work out with. Most boys in our grade are immature idiots and I already know that any sort of high school romance I might have wanted is very unlikely. You got lucky with Zane and I'm happy for you, but I am happy and don't need to settle for someone who will end up hurting me because we just have no chance at working out as a couple. You guys should know and my thoughts by now so can we please move on with the game?"

Emily knows her reasoning might not make sense to others and she doesn't want to be rude but she was uncomfortable with the boyfriend and crush topic. She was glad when everyone started playing truth or dare again. They went for a few more rounds of people being weird, sharing secrets, teasing one another, and having fun when Emily was given a dare.

Terra was trying to come up with a good dare for Emily when Ashley whispered something into Terra's ear. Both Terra and Ashley looked suspicious and then Terra gave Emily her dare. Terra said, "Emily, I dare you to kiss Zach."

Emily's eyes widened and she looked at Zach who looked kind of pleasantly surprised. She then stood up and said, "I'm tired of playing Truth or Dare. You guys can keep playing if you want, I'm going to go downstairs and set up the air mattress for later tonight." She then gave a quick glance at Zach before leaving the room and shutting the door.