Nine Doors by Vicki Grant Page A

Richard down by the Snack ’n Go, and we were having an okay time just talking about music and movies and whatever. I was thinking he’s not such a bad guy. He’s actually pretty funny. It was the middle of August. Everyone else was away. I figured, why not spend some time with him?
    Then, out of the blue, he started calling me Emily. As in, “So, Emily, seen
Scream 12
yet?” Or, “Whoa, nice sneakers, Emily.” Just kind of dropping it into conversation like that.
    It’s not as if Richard’s the only person who’s ever called me Emily. I got it all the time in elementary school. It used to drive me crazy, but I was just a kid then. Calling me Emily now wasn’t going to make me cry or anything. It just bugged me. I let it go a few times, but then I said, “Would you quit it with the Emily stuff?”
    He got all serious and said, “Oh. Sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
    I said, “You didn’t upset me. I’m just saying don’t call me Emily.” I said it in mynormal voice. I didn’t scream or anything. I just kind of “stated” it, if you know what I mean.
    He raised his eyebrows way up. He took a step back and said, “Okay, okay,” as if I was making a big deal about it.
    Where did that come from? I looked at him for a second. I wasn’t sure how to react. If I said anything more, I figured it really
would
look like I was turning it into a big deal.
    He bit the side of his lip and turned away as if he suddenly just had to read the Ice Blaster poster in the store window. I couldn’t tell if he was laughing at me or not, but I wouldn’t have been surprised. I got the distinct feeling he was
trying
to bug me—which, of course, just bugged me more.
    I took a big breath. I could feel my whole face twisting up into a knot. I felt like calling him Ricky or Rachel or Jerk and seeing how much he liked that.
    A couple of seconds later, he turned around as if nothing had happened. I wasall ready to let it go. I mean, I’m a reasonable guy. I’m not looking for trouble.
    Then he started calling me Emery.
    Emery, this. Emery, that. Over and over again. He made a point of really laying into that middle syllable every time he said it too. It was my own name, but somehow Richard managed to make it sound even more irritating than when he was calling me Emily.
    If the owner of the Snack ’n Go hadn’t come out right then and told us to move along, I seriously think I would have hauled off and punched Richard.
    I’ve never punched anyone before in my life!
    See what I mean about the guy?
    Richard makes you think things you don’t want to think, do things you don’t want to do. He’s always twisting stuff around in your head. It’s like he Photoshops reality right in front of you, and you still get tricked into believing his version’s the real thing.
    Sure I was bored, but I knew Richard was like that right from the start. I knewI should have kept my distance. I knew I shouldn’t have let him weasel his way into my brain.
    I guess that makes me as much to blame as he is for what happened next.

door number one
    It all started out innocently enough.
    A few days later, I was riding my bike around the neighborhood just for something to do. I saw Richard come out of his house. I was only going to say hi and keep moving, but somehow we started talking about school and the closing ceremonies. Richard did this hilarious impression of Mr. Moffatt tripping over the microphone cord and practically flattening Kalli Harvey. (He did a pretty good impression of Kalli too. She’susually so perfect that we were all shocked to hear her swear like that.)
    Next thing I knew we were hanging out for the day.
    We rode our bikes for a while. Then we went to the Snack ’n Go for a slushie. The owner doesn’t like you “loitering” after you’ve finished your food, so we went to the