22 A PHONE CALL

Brrrrrrrrgghhh!!!

The alarm clock sounded, waking Emma up. Raising up her head groggily, the sleep still performing romantic spells on her body system, she stretched forth her left hand weakly and hit the tap button on the triangular alarm clock; a most loyal morning companion during her high school days.

She had been surprised when she saw it in one of her bags while unpacking after having the beauty sleep she had told the guys about. Amelia must have put it in there. She had thought.

The alarm clock stopped for a while, after being tapped by its sleep consumed owner. But then it went off again after some minutes; shaking in a most violent way, eager to do its duty of banishing sleep away to the land of the unknown.

Brrrrrrrrrrghhh!! It went off again, and again.

Emma mused, and tapped it again, and again; annoyed that the machine had finally succeeded in taking the reins of sleep off her eyes. She threw off her bed covers, and checked the time which the alarm clock blared out. It was 7am.

'Too early..' she muttered to herself, and laid back on the lush bed, in a bid to invoke the sleep once again. But her phone started ringing.

'Who could be calling on a Monday morning?' Emma thought, while peering at her phone steadily. The number calling didn't have a name attached to it; it wasn't saved in her phone. "Who could this be?" she asked herself, rubbing her forehead tiredly.

She had wanted to cut the call; but on a second thought, decided to pick it.

"Hello." The voice on the other side sing-songed.

The smile that found its way through Emma's chapped lips, as she heard the funny greeting, told of the story that she knew who was behind the call. It was Clem. He had collected her number yesterday.

Yesterday, being a Sunday, He had visited her in the afternoon. She had been trying to prepare noodles, but it seemed that the electric cooker had a mind of its own. It had refused to turn on.

"I had wanted to see how you were fitting in." had been his excuse. Although Emma had wished that it was Derek who had been thoughtful enough to pay her a visit, especially after using her as a circus, she was still glad that Clem visited. He seemed to be a nice person, with that cute smile of his.

He had shown her then, how to use the cooker, and the other equipments; not for once judging her or making her feel stupid for not knowing how to use the machines. He was really a gentleman. She had thought, while staring at him as he prepared the noodles himself.

And while they were eating, he had made sure to bring up conversations which got both of them talking and spilling little secrets. For one, she knew that he was scared of thunder and lightening. When he had mentioned it, she had thought that he was joking.

"How do you expect me to believe that a full fledged handsome dude like you could be scared of lightening?" she had remarked. But he had said that the phobia had started since he was little.

He had gone into the forest on a windy night, against his mother's orders, with Derek. They were still six years old. They had gone to catch rabbits or so they had let themselves to think then. They had been perambulating around the thick dark forest with torches, looking for the small minions when the weather changed further.

There was thunder and lightening so much, that the two boys ran under the shade of a tall tree to seek shelter from the angry winds for some time. Unknowing to them, there were large black soldier ants crawling over the bark of the huge tree, looking for their daily ration of food.

The ants had walked their way sneakily into their shirts and shorts before releasing their painful sting. The duo had shouted out in pain and agony, running their hands frantically over their clothes in a bid to remove the ants that had found their young bodies suitable for bites.

They shouted their way into the rain, forgetting that the weather wasn't favorable. He had been unlucky. The lightening had struck him on the buttocks while he ran sporadically with Derek. He had fainted thereafter, only to wake up to his mother's stony gaze. He had been grounded for 2 weeks.

"Do you know where I could get a job?" She had asked him, after they had finished eating. "I'm broke for now" she had continued, not feeling weird about admitting her poor state. She was comfortable around him.

"You don't have money?" He had asked, his eyes widening in surprise.

Emma had understood his bewilderment then. He thought that she shouldn't have been looking for money with the level of luxury in her house.

Waking up from her sleep on the previous day, she had unpacked and taken a walk around the house again. She had been gobsmacked at the changes she saw, changes she had missed out on when she came back from the eatery, changes she had overlooked while staring at the Derek and trying to decode the thoughts of the guys.

It was phenomenal and beautiful, a sharp contrast to what it had been. She had offered a silent thanks to her father for providing the necessities, and to the guys for cleaning up and packing her things in; although she had wondered how they were able to fix everything broken here within not so many hours. Perhaps they had invited more cleaners. She had thought.

"Not really." She had finally replied, picking invisible pellets in the table. Not finding it necessary to tell him the full story. She would have to tell him what she had done to prompt her father's rash decision; and she didn't want that. She didn't want him to think she was trouble. She had already purposed to stay out of trouble in this new place, at least if it doesn't come her way.

"Oh, okay." He had croaked out. "I know of a place. Do you want to check it out?"

And so they had taken a stroll around the county, until they came to a coffee shop. They had hired her on spot, after he had spoken to the manager. Although it was quite far from her place, it was closer to the campus. She could drop in everyday after her classes.

"Thanks Clem for this.' She had said, with every drop of sincerity in her. The dude was already in her good books.

"You're welcome." He had said. "Let me have your number. I could call you up, and pick you tomorrow morning for school, since you don't have a car yet." He had stated. And that was how they had exchanged their contacts.

But she hadn't saved his.

"Don't tell me, you don't know who is speaking." Clem said over the phone, almost getting sad at the thought.

Emma smiled at the note of sadness she heard in Clem's voice. The dude was really hooked to her. She thought.

"Clem.. how are you doing?" She said finally.