from behind. “Emily, Mr. Gallagher is calling out your name. Respond,” her classmate said.
“Emily, you seem to be distracted a lot lately. Mind sharing with us your troubles?” Mr. Gallagher asked.
Emily stood up from her seat and looked him in the eye. He reminded her of someone, someone she had seen. Her mind raced back and forth to remember who he exactly looked like and in doing so, forgot the question she was asked in the first place.
“You are lost again,” Mr. Gallagher intervened.
Emily saw the look on the faces of her classmates, and for a fleeting second, wished that she could read their minds. What are they thinking? She soon remembered that she was asked a question. Emily fumbled for quite a bit not knowing what to say. She was indeed unmindful and Mr. Gallagher had noticed that over the course of the week.
“It’s nothing, Mr. Gallagher,” she said in an almost inaudible tone.
“Don’t be shy. You can share it with us,” Mr. Gallagher insisted.
It was impossible for Emily to share the information with everyone. She kept quiet as the class looked at her in confusion; no one said anything for a whole minute. Finally, someone cleared their throat and it prompted Emily to speak.
“I am a little unwell,” she finally said.
“Do you want to take a break?” he asked and Emily noticed a tinge of worry in his eyes.
Emily considered if she should, but that would mean she would have to stay away from her classes. That would stop her from finding out what she was looking for, and she already promised to meet Jamie.
“No,” she said resolutely. “I will pay attention.” Emily apologized a little and took her seat.
Scott tapped her from behind. “What is wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing, I am just a little tired,” she said casually.
“Where is Grace? I haven't seen her for quite some time,” Scott said in his thick English accent. “Is she all right?” He was quite fond of Grace, and it was apparent.
He must have tried to contact her like me , Emily told herself. “She is with her family,” she said, with little assurance as to the validity of that statement. She hoped that would console him.
Before she received a response from Scott, Mr. Gallagher announced that he was leaving for the day. It wasn’t time for class to conclude, but he let them all go early. Emily didn’t mind so much. She had completely checked out a long time ago.
Scott called Emily to one side and asked her again, “Did she contact you?”
Emily didn’t know what to say. She could either say that Grace didn’t even inform her before leaving, or that she left her phone behind. She didn’t know if Scott should be told any of that. It took her ages to form a proper response.
She didn’t get to complete her sentence before Scott said, “I tried calling her, but no one answered. Didn’t she take her phone with her?”
“No, she accidentally left it behind,” Emily said without knowing if it was the truth. Grace could have left it behind purposefully. Although she had no idea why Grace would have done such a thing, she simply nodded her head.
“Did you contact her family? You said she was with them.”
“I didn’t want to bother them,” Emily said sheepishly, hoping not to get caught in her lies.
“But the holidays just got over, and she decided to visit them now?” he interrogated her further.
Emily opened her mouth in a wide o shape. She was saved by Scott's phone ringing in his pocket. He looked at it, and then muttered something which Emily didn’t understand. Then he said, “I have to go,” and left abruptly.
This left Emily a bit confused. She stopped in the hallway and stood there thinking about how many lies she needed to make up before she could escape from this situation. It was almost noon and still there was no news from Jamie. Emily felt dejected and sad. She thought about calling her up, but decided it was better to give her some time. Emily didn’t want to come off as
C. J. Cherryh
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