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I threw myself back on the couch and smiled. Home email, hey? For purpose of helping me if I got stuck? Bullshit. The guy was clearly flirting with me. What would I do about it though? Feeling ballsy, no doubt due to the several beers I'd consumed, I typed out an email and sent it to his home address.
I used to have a cat named Simon. Do you give all the girls your home email, Professor?
Emma
As my finger hovered over the send button, I felt sick and excited at the same time. Click. This was so not like me. I didn't do relationships. I could barely manage friendships. And flirting with a professor was so not my style. There was something about Simon. Something I liked. Something that made me feel fuzzy in the stomach, for lack of a better word. I was used to feeling sick in the stomach, but this feeling was different.
It was good. A nice feeling.
I'd been attracted to boys in the past, but I had never acted on it. Tom and I had tried kissing once when we were twelve, but that didn't go so well. Cass and I tried kissing also (which surprisingly went better than Tom and I), but again, nothing really there. It was hard meeting boys when you never left the house. Cass went through a phase where she had been determined to set me up, we had gone through five boys, all were nice enough, but none of them really had anything in common with me.
One of them had turned into a relationship that had actually lasted a few months, but it was far from the mind blowing attraction my addiction to romantic movies had conditioned me to look for. Is that what this was? A crush? That undeniable chemistry you find once in a lifetime? God, I was turning into a greeting card.
Emma! I screamed inside my head. He is your fucking professor who was just teasing you. DO NOT go there!
Unfortunately for me, frisky Emma had already gone there.
The next two hours were spent working on my assignment. Though it didn't help me take my mind off things, it did help me put things in perspective. I felt better than I had a few hours ago, but that could have just been the combination of Vallium and beer.
My attack hadn't taken long to prepare. I had
all the details already. I was lucky that my parents had fought to have my name withheld from all public documents. I couldn't imagine having had to go back to school with everyone knowing what had happened. And this meant my name wasn't mentioned in my essay at all. The second crime, the current one, I was having more trouble with. I flicked open my email, and headed straight to compose.
Hi Simon,
Sorry to bother you on your home email, I just wanted to see if you could run over this for me? I also have no idea what to do for the current crime. Not being able to get out into the courts and stuff makes it difficult as I only have what's happening in the news to go by.
Sorry to bother you, enjoy your weekend.
Emma
It was only after that I sent the email I saw the reply from my earlier email sitting in my in box. I suddenly felt embarrassed. Flirting with him had seemed like a great idea at the time, but now the reality of it was setting in, and so were the repercussions. I bit my lip and opened the email.
No, not all the girls. Just you.
Simon
Romantic Emma began to swoon.
“You are looking happier.” I glanced up from my computer to see Tom standing in front of me clutching two coffee cups and a bag of donuts. I hadn't even heard him come in. He handed me the coffee. Caffeine. Exactly what I needed. “Get much done?”
I shrugged. “Of the assignment? Not really. But I managed to avoid thinking for most of the afternoon.” That part was true. My emailing session with Simon had been great for distracting my thoughts.
“Cass and the twins are on their way over.” I informed him. Tom groaned, making me giggle. It was no secret he wasn't the biggest fan of the twins. I couldn't blame him. They were loud, sometimes they were crude, and they were often obnoxious. However, Cass loved them, so I did my best to tolerate them. Tom, however, did not have my patience.
“Uh, no offence, but I'm outta here.” He kissed me on the cheek and stood up. I followed him to the door. “I will call you later.” I rolled my eyes. He was such a wuss.
Cass was one of the best people I knew. Both she and Tom were two of the most selfless, caring people who would do anything for a friend, and just as much for a stranger.
Cass had been like a rock for me. I didn't know where I'd be without her in my life. We spoke about everything, from boys, to parents, to intimate details of the attack. She and Tom were the only two people not to treat me differently afterwards. Even those that didn't know avoided me on the basis of one of the many rumours flying around the school. One of my earliest memories was making friends with Tom on the first day of grade one before classes started. He'd just sort of attached himself to me, cheering me up with his humour. At lunchtime, Tom had noticed Cass crying by herself into her sandwich, and called her over to join us. The three of us had been best friends ever since.
One thing I loved most about our relationship was living vicariously through Cass's love life. She was such a beautiful girl, as much on the outside as she was inside. With her stunning figure, tumbling mane of red hair and big blue eyes that could light up a room, she had guys lining up for her attention everywhere she went. Every week she had a different story about a boy she had hooked up with. I got more entertainment out of listening to Cass than any reality show could ever provide for me.
Between the stories I'd heard from her and Gran, I was pretty sure I never wanted to date again.
Chapter Three
My heart twinged as I read over Simon's messages. Did I really have a crush after a few simple flirty emails? Or was I just reading into things to avoid thinking about Derek?
