Richard down by the Snack ân Go, and we were having an okay time just talking about music and movies and whatever. I was thinking heâs not such a bad guy. Heâs 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, âSo, Emily, seen
Scream 12
yet?â Or, âWhoa, nice sneakers, Emily.â Just kind of dropping it into conversation like that.
Itâs not as if Richardâs the only person whoâs 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 wasnât going to make me cry or anything. It just bugged me. I let it go a few times, but then I said, âWould you quit it with the Emily stuff?â
He got all serious and said, âOh. Sorry. I didnât mean to upset you.â
I said, âYou didnât upset me. Iâm just saying donât call me Emily.â I said it in mynormal voice. I didnât scream or anything. I just kind of âstatedâ it, if you know what I mean.
He raised his eyebrows way up. He took a step back and said, âOkay, okay,â as if I was making a big deal about it.
Where did that come from? I looked at him for a second. I wasnât 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 couldnât tell if he was laughing at me or not, but I wouldnât have been surprised. I got the distinct feeling he was
trying
to bug meâwhich, 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, Iâm a reasonable guy. Iâm 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 ân Go hadnât come out right then and told us to move along, I seriously think I would have hauled off and punched Richard.
Iâve never punched anyone before in my life!
See what I mean about the guy?
Richard makes you think things you donât want to think, do things you donât want to do. Heâs always twisting stuff around in your head. Itâs like he Photoshops reality right in front of you, and you still get tricked into believing his versionâs 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 shouldnât 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. Sheâsusually 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 ân Go for a slushie. The owner doesnât like you âloiteringâ after youâve finished your food, so we went to the
Yenthu Wentz
Aneesa Price
Suzanne Weyn
Mary Marks
Craig Johnson
Patrice Michelle
Kate McMullan
Sherryl Woods
Steven Savile
Hallie Swanson