The Conflict

Emma Nelson sighed as she twisted her blonde hair on her fingers. Staring at the bottom left corner of her computer screen, she stifled a groan as she stared at the slide show flashing across the screen. She glanced over at her friend Manny, who had her face in her hands, undoubtedly sleeping. Emma poked her with her pen, presuming to look innocent when Manny looked around for the culprit. Heaving a sigh as she smiled at Emma, Manny focused on the screen as the slide show ended.

"And that kids…is how-" The bell rang, cutting Mr. Simpson off. Thrity or so kids looked at him impatiently, and shaking his head, he dismissed the class, stepping out of the way as the words escaped his mouth to avoid being trampled by the stampede of kids ready to leave for home. Emma waited for Manny at the door, and smiling at her friend, she walked with her to the locker.

"I hear there's a party on Saturday." The young girl said, flittering her long black hair as three boys walked by, whistling at her and Emma. Emma rolled her eyes as she fished for her bookbag under her coat.

"And your telling me because? I'll probably end up babysitting Jack anyway." She said with a sigh. She was doing that more and more often lately. Manny rolled her eyes.

"Ask your mom if you could have a break." Manny said as she adjusted her low rise jeans. "We never go out like we used to. I can hardly blame you though." She said, thinking about all Emma had went through. Her step father had just ran out of the depth of death from cancer, and her mom just had a baby, not to mention she had almost gotten killed by a guy who thought she liked him. She could understand if she didn't go out as often as she used to. She watched as Emma tugged out her book bag and dropped her books into it.

"I know, I'll ask her." She said as she reached for her gloves and slipped them on. She reached for her scarf, but stopped when she saw Sean walking by. He was alone, and Emma's heart began doing flips. She almost forgot to live, and the one moment when Sean looked at her, Emma felt as if nothing else mattered. They had become close friends after Sean saved her life. His face darkened a little as they waved at each other, and Emma quickly turned around and picked up her matching blue scarf.

"I hear he's going to the party." She whispered once Sean disappeared through the school doors, and watched as Emma put her coat on and dropped her bookbag on the floor, slamming her locker closed. Clucking her teeth as she bent down to pick up her bookbag, they walked outside as Ellie ran over to Sean and kissed him sweetly. Manny rolled her eyes and suppressed a groan of disgust.

"What does he see in her?" She said as Emma began walking down the stiars and to the waiting car of her stepdad. Manny climbed in the backseat as Emma climbed into the passenger seat, and silently buckled her seatbelt. They rode in silence as Snake parked infront of Manny's house.

"Thank's a lot Mr.S!" Manny said as she closed the door and ran inside. Instead of driving, Snake looked at Emma.

"You should go out." He said softly. Emma shrugged.

"It's ok. I'll watch Jack if you two need me to."

"No, you haven't gone out in a while. I want you to have fun." Emma grimaced. How many times had she heard that? She was fine, why couldn't anybody understand that? They were all crazy in her opinion.

"Ok, but I need money for a new outfit." She said slyly, giggled when Snake punched her in her arm lightly. "No, but really. There's this party that's on Saturday. Can I go?" Snake nodded.

"Ok, but be back by midnight, understand." Emma nodded.

Sean sighed as he walked into his house. He sat on the couch and turned on the T.V, until his phone began ringing. He picked it up after looking at the caller I.D.

"Hey Craig? What's up?"

"Nothing, you coming to the party this Saturday."

"I wasn't planning to do anything, Ellie has to go to a funeral, so I was just going to sit home." Craig opened his mouth, but thought against it.

"Come one Cameron, Emma's going…" He nudged on. Sean sighed.

"We are just friends."

"Whatever. I expect to see you Saturday." He said, and before Sean could say anything else, hung up. Mumbling, Sean put the phone back on the hook, before picking it up and dialing Emma's number.

"Hello, Nelson-Simpson Residence. How may I help you?"

"Um, hi, this is Sean. Is Em available?"

"Oh, Sean? She isn't home….Oh! They just walked in. Hold on." He heard Spike put the phone down.

"Hello?" Emma said. Sean smiled.

"Hey. It's Sean."

"Hey."

"Hey, whaddaya doing Saturday?"

"Going to the party? Why? Aren't you going?" Sean smiled at her tone of voice.

"Yeah, but I was wondering if we could go together."

"I thought you were going with Ellie…" She said, and Sean grimaced at the hint of sadness in her voice.

"She's going out of town? So?" There was silence for a while, until Emma sighed.

"Ok, sure. I'll call you back when I finish my homework." She said, and waited until he agreed till she hung up. Sean thinks that she wanted to get off the phone with him, but Emma was the type to always do her homework, always does her work, and then some. Sighing as he stood up, he proceeded to his room, where he laid down and took a much needed nap.

Emma growled as she stared at the empty piece of paper sitting on the table. She couldn't think. Was it a date, or just going as friends? She knew that he didn't like her like that, but one part of her was still excited. She didn't understand why, and she knew that if she picked up the phone and asked Manny, she would only go to bed with a headache and grudge against her best friend. Maybe if she had nothing else to do. A last resort. She said as she tried to focus on the question in front of her. Sneering as she rubbed her eyeballs with the palm of her hands, and kept her eyes closed. She didn't inderstand why she couldn't think.

Her and Sean had a history. She would always have feelings for him, she knew that, but there were certain times where they were stronger than usual, and then there were times she wondered why she even did. True sometimes he made her mad, but she knew he never meant to do it on purpose. Glancing at the phone and resisting the urge to call him, she was glad she decided to keep her feelings on the D.L. Him and Ellie was in a decent relationship, and she would have herself if she came into the middle of that. She wanted him to be happy, and as much as she would probably hate it, if happiness for Sean was in Ellie, then she would let it be. She knew she hated seeing them hug, smile, or kiss each other, and she did a good job of only letting it show when she wanted it to, and sometimes it doesn't show the lot that she wanted it to.

Emma knew that Ellie meant a lot to Sean, and whether they were meant to be together she wasn't sure. But she wasn't the type to judge a person by their outward appearance, but the girl was downright weird-and tacky. She never understood what Sean saw in her (in Emma's opinion she's not the slightest bit pretty) but she knew that she hated the look in his eyes whenever he looked at her, because he used to look at her the same way. The look that meant only you, and that you was all that was on his mind right then, was taken by someone else. Even after they stopped dating, he still held that look, until he started dating her. Emma, if she was the type of person to do that, would despise Ellie greatly by now, and would do everything in her power to make sure that they hated each other's guts. But she wanted nothing but for Sean to be happy.

And whenever we was together, he always made the wrong decisions. Against her better judgement, she picked up the phone and called Sean.

"Hello?" A sleepy voice said. She couldn't overcome the feeling of guilt that swept through her.

"I'm sorry, this is Emma. Were you sleep? I can call you back-" Sean grunted as he threw his legs over the side of the bed.

"No, I'm fine." He said as he yawned, missing Emma's giggle as his husky voice.

"I don't think it's a good idea if me and you go to the party together." Emma played with her hair as her heart tore in two. She ignored it and winced at Sean's sad tone of voice.

"Why not?"

"Ellie, I don't want her to think anything, and I know you to are happy…"

"Ellie? Your worried about Ellie. If she can't understand that I'm friends with my ex-girlfriend, then she's got another thing coming. Em, don't worry about it." Emma became silent for a while, but smiled.

"Ok, sure. Talk to ya later Sleeping Beauty." Sean chuckled as he bid Emma goodbye and almost instantly fell back to sleep, before the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey babe. Whatcha doin?"

"Sleepin. What's up?" He heard Ellie sigh.

"Nothing. You going to that party?"

"Yea, why?"

"You do know I'm not going?"

"Yup. I'm going with Emma."

"What?" He winced at the tone of anger and jealousy in her voice.

"I'm going with Emma, since you are not going to be there." Ellie sighed as there was a tension filled silence.

"Do you still like her?" She asked out of the blue. Sean's breath caught into his throat, and he couldn't breath. His face began to warm up, and suddenly everything seemed to malfunction.

"What?" He asked in a squeaky voice.

"You still like her. I understand. Sean, I think we should see other people."

"El? What? Why?"

"I mean, I love you and everything, but it's not working out. You still love Emma, and I still like Marco, even though he's gay. I just can't do it anymore." She hung up, leaving Sean feeling completely empty. He didn't understand what just happened. Ellie just broke up with him, all because she thought he still liked Emma? He laid back on the bed, putting his head on his forearms and groaned.