The soft ping from Emily's cracked phone stirred her awake from the light slumber that had enveloped her body. The time on the screen read twenty-two minutes past two in the night. She still had her shoes on, which had gotten a little muddy after running in the rain to get home on time.

Emily grabbed her phone from beneath an unused pillow and peered at the screen. Two new emails from her university, as deciphered from the bright red logo, and a private chat from Mickey's number. Emily kicked her shoes off together with her socks, and stripped down to her undies before picking a faded high school t-shirt from her creaky closet for her nightdress. Ignoring the pile of damp clothes on the floor, Emily jumped over to grab her laptop before getting inside the covers.

True to her suspicions, her university was informing the students about completed grading and the dates for retakes on failed units. Usually, Emily never burdened herself with information about the latter. However, Ms. Emily had had a trying semester, and her fingers tapped on the second email to see if the dates would work out for her.

Five minutes later, Emily's laptop was open, displaying a bright screen full of smiling students and her campus colors; red, orange, and white decorating each and every nook. Emily clicked to log in, typed in her credentials, and bit her cheek, waiting for the page to load. She then closed the tabs to events popping up on the screen and went straight to Academics. With bated breath, Emily roamed the page from right to left, grade scored to unit.

For the first time, Emily had failed a unit and received E's on two more. She had a weak C on Stereochemistry and a single A on a common campus unit on communications. The rest were a couple of B's and C's. Emily turned to her pillow and expressed her anger through a muffled scream. Once she felt sane enough, Emily rolled back on her back. She opened Mickey's text and sent him a short reply. Mickey replied seconds later, and the two of them ended up texting for the rest of the night. Mickey even managed to crack Emily up thrice in a row.

***

The next day, Emily awoke with a new mission. She still visioned smoking her way into destruction but that would have to wait. She needed a way to acquire a few hundreds to pay for her resit. She decided that she wasn't going to tell anyone she failed; that would be embarrassing. Yet for some reason, she found herself disclosing the information freely to Mickey.

He had picked her for biking, after a late-night promise of a beautiful trail. Emily's bike used to be Jordan's and had sat in the unused garage for years. The pedals were too stiff, and the handle kept swerving left without warning.
 

"So what's the unit about?" Mickey posed as they descended a bumpy hill from her home.

"Just maths and stuff." Emily voiced, leaning to the right. Falling in front of Mickey would be way more embarrassing. "Integral calculus or some shit."

"I'll be no help," Mickey said, flashing her an apologetic smile. Emily biked behind Mickey, watched him do tricks, stopping twice off-course for his drops before biking into a private entrance. "Don't fret. I'm cool with the groundsman." Emily nodded, bumping on her saddle on a close call.

The tarmac road they biked on was enclosed by two gated communities. It was long, about a kilometer long before a sharp diversion at the end. The road, about three trucks wide, was shaded by beautiful old trees and exotic-looking flowers. Electric poles stood on either side on the grass, lining up the road. Emily watched the sun peer past the tree leaves and branches, casting gentle rays of morning sunshine onto them.
 
 
"Did I lie?" Mickey teased.

Emily took a deep breath, relishing the fresh air, and exhaled slowly, feeling a sense of cleansing. "It's okay." Emily replied with a smile. The beauty of the place, accompanied by the melodious birdsong, filled her with a sense of peace and contentment.

Encouraged by the view, Mickey rode ahead into the trees, and Emily captured the moment with a snapshot on her phone, preserving the image of their bikes against the backdrop of lush greenery.

"So, what's your plan?" Mickey inquired, slowing down to ride beside Emily.

"I'll have to retake the exam if I want any hope of graduating," Emily sighed, not feeling overly worried. "Maybe even consider taking some retakes for better grades."

Mickey had a suggestion up his sleeve. "I might know someone who can help you," he said with a grin. They reached the end of the tarmac, where a dirt trail led into thicker forest growth up the hills. They sat down among construction blocks, continuing their conversation. "He's good with math and could sit in for your supplementary exam."

Emily was intrigued. "Really?"

"Yeah, we used to be partners in the business before I differed."

"You went to college?" Emily sounded surprised.

"Yeah, I had plans to become a chemical engineer." Mickey confessed.

"Wow," Emily said, impressed. Mickey's friend seemed like a promising solution to her academic worries.

"He'll do it for half the price of your resit, and you just need to pass. A B's good enough, right?" Mickey reassured her. "It saves you from re-reading something you loathe and facing the risk of failure again." Mickey added.

"I'm actually really smart." Emily tried to defend her honor. She grabbed a rock by her feet.

"Never thought you weren't." Mickey's eyes locked with Emily's for a millisecond. Since the two of them met, Emily had always felt like Mickey had a secret key to her, and it was beyond scary.

"Sweet." She mocked to dismiss the silent remark. "Let's switch bikes."
 
  

As the days passed, Emily and Mickey spent the rest of spring break biking and enjoying each other's company, along with some secret smoking sessions. Mickey's smart friend, Oliver, had sat for her paper and scribbled the few answers on his question booklet for Emily to counter check. To her relief, no invigilator had been keen enough to ID him or the answer booklet he had submitted.

Emily hadn't registered for a trimester and the spring break was slowly turning to summer. Dr. Melinda was attributing Emily's improvement on her new mystery friend. She hadn't mentioned a name or face, just that they watched sunsets often and talked a lot. If the woman knew she was associating with another drug dealer, Emily was sure that a change of heart was apparent.
 
 
One Friday evening, after Emily was done with her therapist appointment and the two of them were exploring town on a street food hunt, Emily felt a familiar sensation of being watched. She caught a glimpse of a shadow among the crowd, but quickly dismissed it.

Two minutes later and the feeling of being watched still lingered on her back. Emily turned and scanned the premises. They were inside a fresh produce market and lighting wasn't really a priority. Even though, Emily was certain that it was the man. The man she ran away from one fateful and rainy night.

"Chilli or sauce?" Mickey's voice rised above the chaos to gain her attention. Emily blinked away the incident and focused on the guy standing in front of him. Around her, customers and sellers chattered and hawkers shouted their suspiciously low prices on items. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine." Emily ignored his remark and stared at the rollex stand behind him. Her appetite was long gone but for her future munchies, she smiled and declined chilli on hers.

"Wanna talk about whatever that was?" Mickey asked biting into his juicy mess of food.

"T'was nothing really." Mickey chewed in silence, awaiting additional information. "Thought I saw something."

"Something bad?"

"Yeah." Emily swallowed. They made their way through an apple stand to a different line of sellers. Emily made eye contact with a few random people who appeared to be staring first. She smoothened her Ralph Lauren jumpsuit and shrugged off the whispers of doubt inside her head.

"I see things too." Mickey divulged with a shrug. "Sometimes a shadow, sometimes it's as real as it gets."

Emily remained silent as the information sunk. "Well that's interesting.

"Started when a friend of mine died." Mickey continued. Emily nodded and stared at her shoes. She never knew how to make conversation on such topics. It was best to stay quiet and let the situation play out, lest she say something hurtful. But with Mickey, everything felt so easy. He provided a space even Dr. Melinda couldn't. Emily felt like she could tell Mickey anything and never have to worry about opening up.

"How'd they die?" Emily's curiosity had taken the better part of her.

"Suicide." Mickey replied. "I guess she just didn't want to live anymore."

"That sucks." Emily responded. Without putting much thought to it, Emily lifted her right hand to tap his shoulder lightly. Mickey's interpretation was a hug and so he leaned in, swooping his arms around Emily's body in a warm, tight hug. Emily took a second to relax before doing the same. She pushed into the hug and rubbed the closet part of Mickey's body she could reach with her hands; the nape of his neck. "I'm sorry." Emily whispered. Only she knew the gravity of seating with grief and the strength it took to speak out their story.

"Yeah, well shit happens." Mickey quipped withdrawing from the hug.

Emily smiled and turned her focus back on the pavement. "I was thinking we hit the pipe." She began. Mickey chuckled as they walked towards the exit.

"Let's do that."

Emily took in a deep breath and walked into the openings created as Mickey pushed through the crowd. At the exit, Mickey crumbled his foil paper and serviette before dumping it inside a blue trashcan. Emily jogged to his side as they strolled aimlessly to a non-designated spot. Anywhere they would roll up. Mickey texted Oliver of their plans who just happened to be within town too.

"Your curls look great in the sun." Oliver informed Emily as soon as they met up with him. He was wearing an old suit paired with cheap official shoes. In his hands was a brown A4 size envelope that remained without a crease. Emily beamed and leaned to the right.

"Really?" Emily had dyed it brown a week a go to spice up the two inch short hair.

"Yeah." Oliver affirmed with a nod. "Had a shit morning my friends," he sighed and loosened his tie a little. "The job market is a farm full of rocks."

"Don't worry blud." Mickey fisted his bicep. "You'll get it tomorrow."

"Yap, tomorrow." Oliver agreed. "Today, however, I need to hit the pot." Oliver carelessly threw his arms around Emily's and Mickey's shoulders. "So what are you two love birds up to this day?"

"Quickies behind stalls." Mickey jested with a wink. "Trynna get the adrenaline rush from doing it in public." Emily chuckled and shoved Mickey aside.

"In your dreams." She vowed between laughter.

Emily's short-lived happiness was destroyed with the thought of the man she'd nearly forgotten and the chain of events the ordeal had brought up. Emily forced a smiled and chimed into a conversation the two boys were having, choosing to deal with her concerns another day. Today, she would smoke some pot.

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