A/N: Three words:
Happy. Birthday. Sun. :)
(P.S. for Sun; I apologize for the lateness of this. I couldn't figure out what exactly what I wanted to do with this. Then it kind of just hit me after WC.)
Disclaimer: Not mine. Oh well. That's what I've got Fanfiction for, anyway.
Summary: "You pick up the pen, lying on the ground, and you know. You know you've got friends there for you and a family right beside you and dreams you aim for and maybe they're a little strange, but that's okay. It's a good thing." Emma-centric
It takes a while for you to realize it all.
Everyone's always relying on you. But it's okay, it really is. It's nice to know people look to you for support.
Sometimes it's not the right kind of support.
Whether it's homework, wedding plans for Aunty Julia and (soon-to-be) Uncle Paton, or personal problems; they beg you to help them, to be there, to just do it all for them when they can't be bothered.
But you just smile for it, because it's not a bad thing.
Olivia marches up to you one day and tells you she misses you. This term, you've got no classes with her and you're busy during lunch and breaks, trying to get everything you need to get done, well… done. You need to spend the weekend watching over Nancy and helping Aunty Julia with the shop. Olivia's lucky to find you here, because you've got so much to do. But you decided it'd be a good idea to work outside, albeit alone, and you're mentally applauding yourself because it's the right decision.
After all, you miss her too. And those passing "hi and byes" just don't cut it for either of you.
She sits down beside you and tells you, "You know, Em; you don't need to edit people's essays. Just say no to them. They can't really do anything about it."
"What can I say?" You joke, "Nobody else has our natural English talent. What a travesty."
Olivia shakes her head, and takes one from your stack. "Do your homework," she tells you while grabbing your pencil case to dig for a pen, "and edit these during the King's Room. What you have to do for yourself is more important than what you do for everyone else." She emerges the pen and starts editing the paper in her hand. You're about to tell her she's contradicting herself but she gives you a glare that makes you listen.
Later that night, when you're lying in your bed and (for the first time in a while) you've got nothing to worry about and you're glad Olivia was there.
You don't notice right away, but you realize Billy's avoiding you. You force yourself to take a break and to scope him out and confront him about it. Well, not really a confrontation; more like a comment in passing about how he's avoiding you.
It's subtle, that's for sure.
"I'm not avoiding you," he tells you, "I'm giving you your space. You need it, so I'm trying to make sure you get it. That way, everything will be easier for you. And you can hang out with us sooner."
You decide not to lie. You tell him it's the cutest thing you've heard a ten-year-old say. Ever. And it's what gets you through everything else you need to do that day.
Lysander and Tancred sneak you into one of the art rooms during lunch one day, because no one can hear you yelling at them to let you go. That could have to do with the fact that they gagged you with fabric from the sewing room. Ugh, teenage boys. They're insane, you decide.
Once they've got you in the room, they sit you down on a stool in front of a canvas and tell you to draw. When you ask them what you should (because you can, now that they've taken that hideous cloth away from your mouth), they ask you what you want to draw as a reply.
You're not sure. When you look at them, they just tell you that they will keep you here until you at least start drawing something.
By the end of lunch, you've draw a bird's nest, the eggs still round and not hatched. Tancred happily tells you it's good, while Lysander smiles at it. They let you leave to go to class and you see them covering the piece and stashing it behind a pile of other unused canvases.
You sigh, because if they wanted you to make something for their class that they didn't do, you would've. It disappoints you, for some reason, until you come back a couple of days later (you left your bracelet and it takes this long for you to realize) and notice the picture's untouched. When you ask them about it later, they tell you that they didn't have any art assignment. They just wanted to see you draw again, because you haven't for a while.
You finish everything a little faster and start drawing a meadow in the King's Room. They see and they can't stop grinning.
Fidelio and Gabriel are just something else. At least, that's what you tell yourself. When they find you in the auditorium where you're setting up some paintings for a performance happening in about two weeks, Fidelio make sure the doors are closed and Gabriel digs through a pile of props and costumes, looking for something. He finally emerges with a CD player that you think it fake until he plugs it in, and Fidelio asks you to pick a CD.
They've got a Taylor Swift one, and the other is Boys Like Girls. When you ask them what they want you to do with it, they tell you to sing; or at least, sing-along. They tell you that when they're stressed, singing helps them… Well, they say when the do something musical, but you're pretty good at reading between the lines. You tell them you don't need it, but they leave the albums with you anyway and Gabriel says he needs the Taylor Swift one back by Friday, otherwise his sisters will kill him.
That's the one you hum to without realizing it when they leave. You don't even remembering putting it in, but then you realize they planned it that way.
When you give the CD's back the next day, you whisper thank you and go back to the work you were doing. It all seems a little easier to you now.
It hits you when Charlie walks into your room on a Saturday with things Aunty Julia needs done for the wedding. He tells you that you need to choose the colour scheme and make sure everything match. You tell him that's really easy stuff and he replies by telling you he knows, which is exactly why you're doing it. Then he grabs what looks like half of your homework and leaves with it. When you finish what you have left and the colour schemes, you find Charlie downstairs, working on what he took from you and when you tell him that you could've done it yourself, he tells you that you couldn't have, because you can't do everything.
You can't do everything.
What hits harder is after; when he tells you that you don't have to.
Aunty Julia loves the colour schemes and when she thanks Charlie, he immediately corrects her and tells her you did it. She looks scared for a second until Charlie makes a joke about how you apparently made him do that half of your homework.
She's so relieved by that, you think she might cry right there and then. Nancy even quacks in a way that sounds happier than usual.
Billy asks you what your dream is. You tell him you want to be an artist, because you think it's obvious he should know. He tells you that should draw more then, because then you'll be dreaming about something everyone can see you're passionate about.
"Hey Emma," some girl in your English class says, "Can you look this over for me?"
You see Olivia in your mind and tell the girl you're sorry, but you can't.
You go to Gabriel and ask him if you can borrow a CD over the weekend. He grins and tells you he'll be right back. He never comes back (because the hunting horn rang and both of you needed to get to class) but Fidelio comes over and hands you the Boys Like Girls album you didn't listen to last time. He can tell by your smile that you're thankful, but you say it anyway.
Aunty Julia doesn't ask you to do anything because you're always so busy. Charlie's dealing with wedding plans and you think it's hysterical, especially since he's so good at them, and Lysander and Tancred are helping him by drawing out just what he's seeing and you know they're downstairs while you do everything you need to.
You look at the pile on your desk (which becomes less and less everyday, the more you say no), and then at some paper of a notepad on your dresser. It is a short pile. You look down and see exactly what you need. You pick up the pen, lying on the ground, and you know. You know that you've got friends who are always there for you, no matter what you do. And you've got a family (small as it is) right beside you, looking out for you. And maybe they're a little strange, but that's okay. And you've got dreams that you know you can get, because you've got so many people supporting you that there's no way you can't. Not because you can't let them down, but because you know that with them behind you, you can do anything.
The boys come up for a little while to see you, but all they see is a girl on her bed, her legs crossed in the air while she lays on her stomach, listening to "Love Drunk" and drawing a bird's nest with the eggs just hatching in a notepad. You're being you right now, and that's a good thing.
A/N: I think it came out more decent than the last two stories I did. :) Once again, happy birthday Sun, and I hope you have a good one. :)
- May :)