Chapter Six #2
‘You’re really taking this Cadence and Emmett thing badly, then, huh?’ Mae appeared out of the front door, looking down at Luna’s sketch where she was resting her book on her knee.
‘What makes you say that?’ She dug the pencil into where she was shading the edges of the heart. She wanted it to be dark. She’d never say this out loud, but really, she wanted it dead. As dead as possible. So dead and drained that it was nothing more than a black void, a place of zero feeling.
‘It’s not exactly sunshine and rainbows, is it?’ Mae nudged Luna’s sketch book with her big toe.
Luna made a sound to say that she neither agreed nor disagreed.
She wished that she was drawn to drawing sunshine and rainbows.
She was sure that she’d be the sort of person Emmett wanted to kiss if she were.
To stop herself thinking these miserable thoughts, she unwrapped a melted chocolate bar and drank down the silky warmth.
Emmett appeared at the end of the driveway. Cadence wasn’t with him, for once.
‘Emmett, hi!’ Luna was awkward, scrambling to her feet, dropping her sketchbook so that it landed open on her disfigured self-portrait.
It had been a warm summer, and the backs of her legs were hot and gritty where she’d been sitting on the front step.
There was likely melted chocolate all over her teeth.
‘Hi,’ she said again as he got closer. She was so lame around Emmett now.
Mae coughed and said ‘tragic’ at the same time.
‘Hi.’ Emmett smiled. The cut on his eyebrows was healing now, and the bridge of his nose was a bit pink. He had a few freckles, though you had to look pretty close to spot them. ‘The others are down the beach – want to come?’ he asked.
‘Er.’ The others meant Cadence. One hundred per cent.
This was the way things were now. Luna felt like a total baby compared to everyone else.
She didn’t want to go to the beach. Not with Cadence and Emmett.
She didn’t want to watch them snog as the sun went down when all she had was melted chocolate.
‘Come on, I’ve hardly seen you this summer.’
‘Mate, you haven’t seen anything other than Cadence’s tonsils.
’ That was Mae; she made Emmett go red and now they had to go to the beach because Luna didn’t want Emmett to think that they weren’t going because she didn’t want to see him and Cadence kissing some more.
Even though that was the reason, he couldn’t know.
Luna was sure that if Emmett ever found out how much it hurt watching him and Cadence kiss, she’d have to just walk right on out to the sea and let her desperate crush drag her under.
‘Just one second. We’ll grab some stuff and be right out.’
Luna and Mae bickered quietly and quickly in their bedroom. Luna didn’t want Mae to mention Emmett and Cadence because then Emmett might realise that Luna cared. And that would be terrible. Mae wanted Luna to chill out and lend her a bikini.
When they got back outside, Emmett was looking at Luna’s drawing.
‘Luna, this is amazing.’ It was like looking at the sun, watching him run a finger along the edge of her self-portrait. ‘You’re really good.’
Deep inside, her stomach fizzed like a cola-bottle sweet as she grabbed her sketch book back. She didn’t want Emmett to look at it for too long and figure out that she’d just sketched herself half dead and heartless.
‘Ready?’ he asked, and they set off towards the beach. It was a lot easier to talk to Emmett when he wasn’t kissing Cadence, and for the whole walk, it felt like it did all the other summers, with Mae and Emmett teasing each other and Luna laughing the whole time.
But then soon enough they were at the beach. Ahmed and Zadie were there, Cadence too. Luna took a breath and made herself smile and wave.
Cadence began to run towards Emmett. She was always doing that. If she saw him with Luna, she literally ran over to him. None of her body, not even her tummy, wobbled when she ran in a bikini. She’d pinned the front of her hair back with butterfly clips.
‘There you are!’ She reached us. ‘What took you so long?’
‘Just took a moment to partake in a séance together. How’s your day going, Cadence?’
Luna snorted a laugh and so did Emmett, but Cadence didn’t get it. She never got Mae’s jokes. ‘Never mind,’ Mae said. ‘Does Zadie have some more of them sherbet dipsticks?’
Mae made off towards Zadie and her sweets, leaving Luna with Emmett and Cadence. Luna was taller than both of them. She felt like a giant.
‘I like your top,’ Cadence said to her. This was the worst thing of all. Cadence was always nice to Luna. It just seemed really unfair that someone nice like that could look like she did.
‘Thanks, it’s from Tammy Girl.’
‘Aw, I used to love shopping there.’
Cadence put her arm around Emmett’s waist, where his trousers were being held up with a piece of rope. She rested her head on his shoulder. They were so perfect together. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cadence and Emmett start to kiss again.
‘Please let it end,’ Zadie said, sucking on the dib-dab she was sharing with Mae. Emmett stuck a finger up at her without breaking the kiss.