Summary- Emma Summers is a girl who gets invited into the Camden's home because she needs help getting back on her feet. Martin Brewer is a depressed wreck because Ruthie rejected his love although he spends all his time at her house to try and remember the memories they shared. When Martin meets Emma, he finds that maybe he wasn't in love with Ruthie. Could a romance happen? MB/OC.

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Emma Summers was an AP student who got straight a's. Emma Summers held two jobs. Emma Summers was practically a mother. Emma Summers needed to get out of the predicament she was currently in. Her mother worked as a stripper at a local club and was hardly ever home, her mother was a heavy drug user. She yearned for her mother to come to her senses and take responsibility of Emma and her baby brother Micah but it didn't seem as though she would. Her daughter would be eighteen in July and would be entering her senior year at Glenoak High School. Micah would be entering Pre-School. What she needed was an intervention for her mother, and Emma needed to get out of the house with her younger brother and provide the best she could for him. Our story begins on a cold Tuesday in February.

"Come on, Micah, we need to get you ready for day care." Emma moaned trying to get the screaming three year old into his car seat.

"But Emmy, I don't want to." She took a deep breath and calmed down a little bit before talking to him.

"Honey, why don't you want to go?" Emma murmured to him, pushing his hair out of his eyes. She'd need to trim his hair soon.

"I want to stay with you." The young boy replied. "Mama's never here and now you never are." Emma wasn't expecting such words from him.

"Do you really feel like that, hon?" He already didn't have a mother, she didn't want him to not have her as well. Micah nodded as he sniffled. "I promise I'll spend time with you tomorrow because I only have to work for three hours. We can spend the rest of the time together and do whatever you want." Micah smiled.

"Ok." He now got into his car seat with no more problem and Emma shut the door and went to the driver's side and got in. She was going to be late for first period, no surprise. Emma drove her beat up Chevy Malibu and eventually made it to the day care center across the street from the school.
"Ms. Summers." A voice from behind her said as soon as she got out of the car. Emma got out of the car adbrutly and in the process, hit her head on the roof. She rubbed her head for a few seconds and then faced one of the people at the day care center. One of her favorites, Pattie.

"Good morning, Pattie, and you can call me Emma you know." She answered, naming the same request as she did whenever the two of them talked.

"I know you're late for school, but I need to talk to you privately for a moment." Emma nodded.

"I'm already late enough as it is, I can skip first period." She got her brother out of the car and set him down with his back pack. He was dropped off in the room and Emma continued following Pattie. When they reached her office, Pattie sat behind the desk and Emma sat in a chair in front.
"I want to know how your mother is doing. I haven't seen her drop him off in a while." She knew everything that was happening in Emma's life and had even helped the teen and her brother a few times.

"She hasn't been home in four days." Emma replied firmly, looking her straight in the face. Sure, there was nothing to be proud of but nothing to be ashamed either because it wasn't Emma's choice or her fault that all of this was happening.

"I think it's time to call the court system and get you full custody of Micah, and an emancipation order from the courts." Pattie continued. "You're being neglected and your mother has pretty much abandoned you and I can't stand here while you are stuck doing everything."
"Will I be helped? IS there stuff the state can do for me if I become the primary caregiver of him?"
"That's something that we're going to have to ask the courts." Pattie was looking at her knees. "Listen, I'm the mandated reporter, I'm supposed to tell the police and the Department of Social Services if something's going on that shouldn't." Emma nodded.

"I haven't called. I wanted to tell you what was going on because I don't want you to remain out of everything, it's your life."

"I'm going to fight for custody of Micah no matter what when I turn eighteen, as far as I'm concerned, he's my son. My mother hasn't ever been there for him except for the few days they spent in the hospital." Emma told her. "But I'm turning eighteen in June so if we can just get the court order right now so she gets some jail time, I'm good but I can't go into foster care." Pattie nodded.

"Get to school and we'll talk some more when you come to pick up Micah after work." She nodded and walked out of the day care center and to her car. She signed in with her Dean and went to the last few minutes of first period. Her Pre-Calculus teacher didn't think anything of it. He didn't care about any of his students. She copied down the homework and got a promise from Dana that she could copy his notes at lunch.

"Emma!" Somebody called from down the hallway, Emma looked over and saw her friend T Bone who was currently dating Ruthie Camden, the daughter of Reverend Camden.

"Hi T Bone." She walked towards him and they met at the middle. He gave her a quick hug.

"I didn't see you this morning, where were you?" His eyes were questioning and Emma smiled.

"Micah was being kind of difficult this morning." She replied. "And they had to keep me at the day care a little while." T Bone shook his head angrily.

"What did he do, he's a good kid."

"It was about our mother actually. Pattie, the lady that's in charge, is a mandated reporter and we are thinking of calling DSS for neglect. If it happens, I'm going to get full custody of Micah." They continued walking to Geography while they talked.

"Where are you going to stay?" Emma shook her head.

"I don't know… that's the thing. Both sets of grandparents are dead and my mom's not there. Never met my dad. I'm the only one that I want Micah to go to. He's pretty much my son as it is. We don't have anywhere to go unless my landlord lets us stay there."

"Well, you make money, don't you?"
"T-Bone, Summers, be quiet, in case you two haven't noticed our class has begun." Their teacher had walked in and Emma and T-Bone were quiet and the teacher began the lesson.

Emma's cell phone vibrated and she glanced at the seat next to her at T-Bone. He was busy taking notes but looked as though he had just done something wrong. She took the phone out of her pocket and read the text message that he had just sent her.

Look mansons back

Emma glanced up at her teacher and glanced at his back. There was chalk all over it from when he, no doubt, had leaned on the chalk board. She resisted the urge to giggle, finally feeling for the first time that day that she was a teenager and not an adult yet. The bell rang and she wrote down the homework quickly, following T-Bone when she was done.

"Do you have work today? After school I mean?" He asked her and she nodded.

"I work everyday." She reminded him.
"Is there a chance you could take a day off? I want to take you out."
"I can't. I need the money for Micah… and you can't either, Ruthie would say something." He shook his head.

"No she wouldn't, she knows we're best friends, okay? Sure, she doesn't know what's going on but we could bring her too, and she could talk to her parents." His face lit up, "Wait, Emma, maybe you and Micah could stay with her. I mean, I'm there all the time, it's like I never left but you'd be safe, you'd be a family that could help you out. You can trust them Emma, they won't hurt you."

"I don't know what I'm doing yet." She reminded him. "As soon as I figure that out, then I'll tell you but for now just give me time to think." They split up at the part of the hallway that they usually did.