Free Book of Love by Abra Ebner Page A

the house this
time.” He pulled the bottle from his pocket and took my hand. His
grasp was cold and strange, but it didn’t seem to matter anymore.
He pressed the pills into my palm, curling my fingers over the
smooth, orange plastic.
    I never stopped watching his eyes,
mesmerized by the black, shimmery glow.
    “ My treat.” He let go of my
hand and it dropped idly to my side.
    “ Thanks,” I managed to
squeak.
    His smile was compelling. He leaned in and
kissed me on the cheek. “See you later, Emily.” He winked and
brushed past me, the hold over me released like a weight had been
lifted.
    I took a deep breath,
exhaling as I once again found myself able to breathe
freely. What was that? The feeling I’d been left with was one of admiration, but it
didn’t seem right. I turned around to look for Greg, but he was
already gone. I looked down into my hand, curling open my fingers
and seeing the orange bottle of pills. I felt my head, feeling as
though I’d just woken up from an all night bender, which I had; but
this was worse. I opened the bottle and took one of the small red
pills that were inside.
    Did I even know what it was?
    Did I really care?

    Wes:

    No, not again.
    My hand began throbbing as I sat in third
period Math. The prickling began at the fingertips, and then crept
up my arm. I dropped my pencil, unable to grip it any longer. I
wriggled in my seat, the movement giving me little comfort. Sweat
slowly began to seep from my pores, my shirt clinging to my skin. I
felt trapped behind my desk as the teacher droned, the anxiety
spiraling out of control. My jaw began to hurt and I tried to
massage it. I leaned back as far as I could as the bones in my back
ached and cracked. I looked up at the clock with blurring vision,
afraid that there was too much time left—afraid that something
would happen to me in front of everyone.
    How could I get out of here?
    I looked down the line of desks, seeing
Emily at the end. I was a year behind in math, but I was horrible
at it so it made sense. Emily, on the other hand, was smarter than
she led on and was actually ahead, placing us together. Her eyes
were half open in a dopey daze.
    She had taken something.
    Looking back at my hands, I clenched my jaw,
grinding my teeth. The roots of every tooth hurt as though
infected, sending spikes of pain through my head. In desperation, I
looked toward Emily once more, and this time, I found she was
looking at me. She quickly looked away when our eyes met, shocked
that I’d caught her staring.
    No. Turn back, I thought.
    As I silently begged, her gaze returned, her
eyes narrowed as though hearing my cries, her lips forming a
question.
    I didn’t know exactly what she was thinking,
but I supposed she understood because she stood immediately,
disrupting the whole class. A group of girls giggled from the back
of the room, but she didn’t seem to care. Neither did I. The
teacher stopped talking, glaring at her.
    “ Emily, please sit.” The
teacher pointed at her, his face beginning to turn red as his blood
pressure rose. He liked Emily. Otherwise, he would have immediately
sent her to the principal’s office, no questions asked. He was a
zero tolerance kind of man.
    She frowned at him, and then at the girls
that were laughing. They laughed harder now. She looked at me one
last time as I watched her eyes flutter. She fell to the ground
then, her eyes closed as though she’d fainted. The whole class
stared, the giggles silenced by a wave of gasps.
    The teacher dropped his pen and rushed to
her side, the whole group now craning their necks in order to see
what was happening. Shocked, I shot from my chair, but instead of
rushing toward her, I grabbed my bag and rushed to the door. Wiping
the sweat from my brow, no one noticed as I slipped out and into
the hall. I let a low cry of agony pass my lips as I leaned against
the lockers. Recovering, I forced my body to move.
    How had she known what to do?

    Emily:

    I was on the ground, the