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“It’s just a fish,” he reminds me with a smirk. “A goldfish at that…They live like thirty days and die. It’s not a human baby.”
I shrug. “A life is a life.”
“I don’t know.” He looks away, taking in the passing sights of the carnival. “I don’t know if all lives are equal. The Elites sure don’t seem to think so, anyway.”
“Well, let’s not stoop to their level,” I conclude.
As the night goes on, all I can think is that I want to tell Emmett everything, even though he’d be furious that I was here with Malcolm. If he could get over that, he’d think it was hilarious that I ‘ran from a fish,’ as Malcolm put it.
The smell of funnel cakes, hot dogs, slushies, and nachos pulls me in as we walk through the row of food vendors.
“Do you want something to eat?” He looks at me with an impish smile, knowing I’ve turned down everything he’s asked since we got here.
“Food.” I nod with a smile. “That I can get behind. I’m starving.”
He looks ecstatic to have finally found something I’ll agree to. I feel bad for him as he orders us some trays of food. He’s been trying so hard to be a nice guy, and I’ve been weird every step of the way.
“Sorry I’m such shitty company,” I offer as he returns with our grub and we settle onto a metal table lined with red rubber, and a red-and-white striped umbrella overhead. “Things have been pretty crazy lately. Or, really…I guess ever since I moved here.”
“It has to be pretty crazy to go from being Emmett’s target to being his girlfriend,” he states frankly.
“You must think I’m a fucking idiot.” I hide my face in my hands, feeling certain that he’s judging me. Hell, I’m judging me.
“No, not at all!” he assures me. “I didn’t mean anything by that.”
“It’s more than that…” I offer lightly, unsure if I should open up about everything that’s going on or not. “Have you noticed that Bernadette is gone?”
“Of course.” He nods through a big bite of a burger. “I just figured she was upset about everything with her dad. That, and avoiding school now that she doesn’t have the old Elite gang to back her up.”
“Actually…Emmett and her mom don’t know where she is,” I reveal, feeling terrible for saying it. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be telling you that. He really wants to keep it a secret.”
“Why keep it a secret?” Malcolm asks.
Relief washes over me. Something about hearing another person point out how odd it is to keep this under wraps makes me feel saner and less guilty about questioning Emmett. But I still can’t escape the nagging feeling that I should be defending him.
“He says he has too many enemies around here and doesn’t know who to trust,” I explain, swirling a fry in some ketchup. “He’s worried the cops are loyal to his father and are working against him. But we haven’t had much luck figuring anything out on our own, and it’s just been…stressful. I guess that’s what seems to be driving him straight into Vivian’s arms.”
“That is a lot to put on you.” He nods, studying my face for any sign of resentment.
“I said I would help…so I am. The best I can. But I’m feeling pretty useless at the moment. I think I’m just making things worse.” I slump down across the table, releasing a groan of exhaustion. “Sorry to be telling you all of this. Just promise you won’t tell anyone else. Whether it makes sense to me or not, Emmett wants to keep it a secret and I want to respect his wishes.”
“Of course,” he replies reassuringly. “I won’t say a word to anyone.”
We’re silent for a moment as we eat our assortment of fried foods. As much as I love my mom’s cooking, this is exactly the kind of guilty pleasure I’ve been needing without even realizing it.
“Hey, I think I might know a way to help,” Malcolm says after a while.
“With Bernadette?” I perk up, hoping he can. If we can get that mess squared away, Emmett won’t be under so much stress and will hopefully stop finding excuses to run to Vivian. Maybe we can finally have some semblance of a normal relationship.
“Yeah, have you tried hacking her phone? Tracking her through it or anything like that?” he says with a tinge of excitement in his voice. I’d forgotten he was a software guy. This kind of thing is right up his alley.
“Neither of us have any kind of clue how to do that.” I laugh. “I didn’t even know that was an option.”
“Oh, yeah,” he says confidently. “As soon as we’re done eating, I can take you back to my place. I have enough equipment there to pull it off, I think.”
“Can we do that without having her phone?” I ask. “Emmett never found it.”
“I can do it with just her phone number,” he replies with a twinkle in his eye.
