Intermission 3: Emily Miller.

She fixes her backpack on her shoulder, steps out of the elevator and walks through the hallway of the third floor to the apartment 303. She knocks on the door, and it doesn’t take long for it to open. The person on the other knew she was coming, of course. She called her before coming here.

“Now you’ll tell me what I owe this sudden visit to, little sister?” Julia, Emily’s older sister, asks as she turns around and waves for her to enter the apartment. It’s small but elegant, with clean white walls, a couple of caramel colored sofas in the living room along with a glass coffee table and a joint white-tiled kitchen with a long counter serving as division and dinner table.

“Mom brought her new boyfriend home and I need to study.” Emily sighs, and her words make Julia groan in annoyance.

“Thought so. You can stay the night, of course. Did you bring everything? Change of clothes, uniform, toothbrush, underwear? It’s not like you can borrow mine if you forgot those.” Julia teases.

“I brought my own, thank you very much.” Emily answers unamused, then she grimaces. “Though I did forget my toothbrush.”

“Okay, that I can help you with.” She chuckles and goes into her bathroom. Meanwhile, Emily gets settled, sitting on the couch and taking out of books. She knows her sister’s comments on this newfound sense of responsibility will come. She just hopes she can keep them short.

“So, who is it this time? You said he was new, so it’s no longer the blonde guy?” Julia asks, leaning over the couch, right behind her sister as she looks over her books. “Your toothbrush is the blue one, by the way.”

“Thanks, and yeah, blonde guy’s gone. Now it’s some guy from her gym. George, I think he’s called.” The younger sister speaks without looking back, opening her science book on the page she last left it.

“Oh, that guy. Well, that won’t last long. He’ll get on mom’s nerves soon.” Julia says, sighing and shaking her head. She goes to the kitchen and opens the fridge.

“You know him?”

“A little, from when I went to the gym with mom. It’s obvious why she’s with him, but she won’t tolerate him for long.” Julia explains, then asks. “Have you eaten?” When she sees her little sister shaking her head, she takes some things from the fridge and starts preparing dinner.

“Sorry to be a bother.” Emily gives her sister an apologetic smile from the living room.

“You’re never a bother, you dork. Besides, I have all my work ready. I can afford to give you a place to study. God knows you need it.” She teases and gives Emily and grin.

“Yeah, thanks for reminding me YOU’RE the one who’ll kick us from the team if we get bad grades.” Emily groans.

“This is still more commitment than I expected.” The older sister admits with a smile.

“Yeah, well… it would be embarrassing if I was being tutored and still did badly on the exams.” Emily says hesitantly. That’s the only thing she can say without revealing her true motivation.

David has been going out of his way to tutor her and Megan in every subject. She’d feel like she disappointed him if she got anything lower than a B. He’s so serious about it he even said no sex until after midterms, a decision she has to question since she’s found herself spacing out due to the lack of release.

She’s thankful when Julia leaves her alone to study, but the questioning resumes when they’re eating dinner, each sitting at opposite sides of the long kitchen counter.

“I’ve gotta say,” Julia starts. “You’ve been in a very good mood lately. More than once I’ve caught you humming and whistling in the hallways, and you’ve been doing even better than usual at practice. Is there something you’d like to tell your big sister?” She grins as she rests her chin on her hand.

Emily allows herself to feel proud that she didn’t **** on her food at the question, but she still clears her throat before answering. “I’m just in a good mood BECAUSE I’m doing well in practice. Tournament starts in two weeks, right?”

“I’ve known you your 18 years, kid. You can’t lie to me.” Julia keeps her knowing grin, and Emily worries that she actually knows. “I won’t tell anyone, so tell me if you actually hooked up with David.”

The younger sister can’t help but click her tongue. It’s not like Julia can read her like a book, and she HAS managed to keep a few things from her in the past, but still, of all the things to have a good nose for, why this one?

“…I did.” She sighs, defeated and unwilling to even put up a fight. Maybe it’ll feel good to get it out of her system, but… should she tell her about Megan, too? How will her sister react? “…and with Megan, too.” She can feel her face heating up as she gets the words out. She tries to avoid her sister’s gaze, but still catches her as her mouth opens and her eyes widen.

“No way! Really!?” Julia leans forward on the table. “I mean, I knew it would happen eventually, but you’re really going out with David AND Megan at the same time?”

“Wait, what do you mean you knew!?” It’s Emily’s time to be surprised.

“Oh please, it was obvious that Megan had a thing for you! I was starting to feel bad for the poor girl.” She snickers. “So? How does it work? You’re not cheating on them, are you?” Her smile fades as she glares at her kid sister.

“What? No! We’re… together. All three.” She has to remember to omit Emma from the story. Even if she’s her sister, Julia is still a teacher at her school, and she doesn’t want to find out what she’ll do if she knows Emma and David are together.

“A three-way relationship? Wow, you guys got lucky. I mean, I was hoping for something to happen, but I didn’t think it’d turn out like this.”

“You mean you wanted one of us to hook up with him? Is that why you wanted him to be our tutor?”

“Nah. I picked him because he was good, like I told you. It was only a plus that he was a guy. I was hoping it would serve as an experience for dealing with men. It was why I supported his acceptance into the school.”

“What do you mean?”

“Over half the girls at Hayes have been going to all-girls schools from the start. You and Megan are like that, though you only started in middle school. The world outside is not like that. You’ll find nice guys, annoying guys, all kinds of people. I want Hayes to stop being girls only, and this was the first step. When Emma asked, of course I agreed. Maybe next year we’ll have a few more guys, though that’s unlikely considering how the headmistress treats the poor kid.” Julia sighs, then smiles at her sister. “But forget about that. I’m happy you have a boyfriend… and a girlfriend. You realize you now have to tell me everything, right?” The teasing grin is back, and Emily knows fighting is futile.