Apollo Justice was a gifted boy. He had been able to skip a year and move straight into high school. Sure, it was a little strange, all the kids being bigger and older than him but he was sure he could bear with it. He was a month into his final year in junior high when he was pulled out and asked to go to high school. The day he started, well, it was two days until his birthday – his 14th birthday. While all the other children in his classes would be celebrating their 15th birthdays.

He was told he would stay out of the classes for a short while and he would have a lot of work to catch up on in this time. All of his old friends that had once known from his old school had separated and refused to be near him and his other friends were still at junior high…

It was his first day and he was told to navigate his way to his future science teacher – Mr Gilmore's class. He hoped the teacher would be nice, or at the very least understanding, thanks to a bad teacher the year before his science score was not quite the same as his other scores.
"Um…sorry to interrupt." He peered nervously around the door. The room was full of seniors, mostly aged 16-17 years of age, Apollo figured.

"Ah, you must be Apollo. The very clever young boy." He urged the young Apollo into the room.

"Um…Thank you sir." Apollo stepped in.

"Oh my god! He's adorable!" A girl cried out near the back, a brawny boy next to her nudged her to be quiet.

"Well, Apollo. Can I help you?" The teacher, who was fairly young and seemed to be nice asked.

"Um…I…I came to get some work…"

"Sir!" A boy dressed in a shirt which was too big called out. "He looks too young to be in high school!"

"Why yes." The man answered the boy's question as he rooted through the draws of his desk. "This young man is only 13 years old."

"He's so adorable!" Another girl cried, this time closer to the front. He noticed her this time, short blonde hair which had tiny streaks of red and brown in, she was sat next to another girl who was looking at something on the desk. The only thing Apollo could see was a strange looking set of pink glasses on her head and a while lab coat. "Wait…if he's 13 then why is he here?"

"I…uh…skipped a year." Apollo responded nervously. The girl with the pink glasses looked up, he noticed a dull shine in her eyes.

"Oh wow!" The blonde girl giggled. "How do you like High school?"

"It's okay…" Apollo replied, his voice screeched a little.

"Your voice sounds strained." The girl with the pink glasses commented.

"Oh…" Apollo mumbled.

"I notice your science grades aren't quite up to par with the other grades you have. No worries, I shall assign you a student tutor to work with you until you catch up."

"Yes sir!" Apollo chirped.

Before Apollo left he caught one last look at the blonde girl and her friend. Her friend had brown hair and now those strange glasses were upon her face, her eyes shining beneath them.

-x-x-

It was his second day, between the fifth and sixth period he saw those two girls again. Some of the older senior boys were pushing him around, they knew he was a new piece of fresh meat to pick on. They had stolen his bag, because he was so small and they were so big and strong he could not get it back.

"Give me my bag!" He cried out. Another boy was holding him back.

"You boys leave him alone!" The blonde cried out. All turned to the source of the cry and Apollo could just see the tips of her hair.

"Make us Clara!" One of the boys taunted. She was not fazed.

"If you won't move I'll get my friend on you."

"The science geek?" The one holding Apollo's shoulders sniggered.

"Listen pal, how'd you like some Collinemycin on your faces?" The brunette threatened. For several tense seconds they stared at her dumbfounded.

Before dropping Apollo to the floor and fleeing.

"Is that even real?" Her friend asked.

"Yep, it's an antibiotic agent." The proud brunette declared.

Apollo struggled up to his feet. The brown haired girl took his bag and checked he wasn't hurt.

"You ok?" She asked as she handed him the bag.

"Yeah." He nodded weakly. "T-thanks…uh…"

"Ema." Her friend told him. "Her name's Ema."

"Thank you Ema. Thank you Clara." He smiled.

"Let us know if those boys pick on you again." Clara ruffled his hair before heading off down the hall. "Em? You coming?"

"Hm…yeah." For a few seconds she stayed in her place, looking him over.

"Em!"

"Let me know if you need anything" she whispered.

"Ok…" He nodded.

That girl, Ema. She was still wearing the white coat, and the pink glasses…Apollo thought she was a little strange.

That evening, as he waited in the parking lot for his foster brother, Kai to collect him (Kai was a senior in the same school – only he was in his final year) he noticed the brunette again. Or rather, she had noticed him. She had come up behind him, clutching books to her chest.

"Everything alright then?" She asked.

"Y-yes. Thanks." Just then, two cars pulled up. The first was a fancy black car – the kind worth a lot of cash, the second was Kai's familiar silver sports car.

"Yo squirt. Get in!" He called.

"Coming!" Apollo called. "Bye Ema." He bowed slightly. As Kai drove away he saw her get into the car that was parked in front of Kai's.

-x-x-

The following day, he decided he hated high school and that he wanted to die. An old friend of his, a once kind and gentle boy from the same school as him beat him up.

"Happy birthday." He spat. Ema had heard the sounds of Apollo's cries and rushed to investigate.

"Oh my god! You poor thing!" Ema cried out. "Come on, let's get you to the nurse's office." She helped him up and let him lean on her for support.

She helped him onto the bed in the office and took the seat beside him.

"What happened?" Ema asked.

"His idea of a…nngh…birthday present." Apollo was clearly in a lot of pain and he was clutching his chest.

"It's your birthday?" Ema asked, shocked and hurt that someone would do that to him. "My god…"

"Don't you worry young lady. I'll take care of your young friend." The nurse assured. "Can you tell me your name poppet?"

"A-Apollo Justice." He struggled through his gasps.

"Ah yes. The very clever young boy." She looked to Ema. "You, young miss, are Ema Skye are you not?"

"Yes ma'am." She nodded.

"You are missing science, your favourite lesson."

"Oh my!" Ema gasped. "So I am. Please take care of him for me." Apollo looked to her, his eyes were pleading for her to stay. "I'll be back soon." She whispered.

"It's ok." He groaned as the nurse started to remove his shirt.

"Hey Lana. It's me." Ema spoke into the cellphone as she made her way into class.

"Hi Em. Aren't you supposed to be in class now."

"I'm heading there; I had to take someone to the nurse's office…" She let her voice trail. "Sis, I need a favour."

"Sure sweetie."

"If Clara rings you, can you tell her you asked me to buy a birthday card for a colleague's kid or something?"

"What?" Lana was confused by the fast mumbling.

"Look. I want to give someone a birthday card but I don't want Clara to know who it's for. So if she calls you could you lie…?"

"Sure hon. I have to go now."

"...Sure. I can get one." Clara was more than happy to oblige. She had the day off – she was off timetable for a visit to a nearby career workshop she was interested in. "So you want a card for a boy, not a baby one but not a grown up one, so for someone about our age?"

"Yes." Ema was getting closer to the science classes now, she still held tight to the note the nurse had given her to explain her lateness.

"Well I'm all done at that college. So, wanna go out for some lunch? You have free period after our lunch break?"

"Sounds nice." Ema giggled. "Okay, I gotta go."

She sat through her science, busily taking notes from her experiment. As the bell rang she grabbed her notebook and backpack and made her way back to the nurse's office. Apollo was bandaged up when she returned. He looked a little better, he was sat on the bed doing some work.

"I'm keeping him here for the day." The nurse explained.

"Ah ok." She came and sat down by Apollo, picking up an algebra sheet – sure enough – the kid was smart, she could tell the answers were correct. "Hey Apollo, how you feeling?"

"I'm ok." He replied.

"Well, I figured I should check on you before I head out for lunch. Would you like me to get you anything from the cafeteria?"

"I'm not hungry." He replied, it was hardly a surprise considering the beating he had taken.

"A drink?"

"You couldn't get me a soda could you?" He asked, his voice no higher than a whisper.

"Sure, any flavour?"

"Lemonade if they have it." Apollo pointed to his jacket on the chair. "There's some money in my jacket there."

"No. It's ok." She smiled and left to get his soda.

"It appears you and her will get along fine." The nurse chuckled. "Let's take a look at that bandage shall we?" She carefully checked his bruised torso. "I'd keep the bandage on for a while, until you start to heal."

"Yes ma'am…" Apollo mumbled.

"That young lady seems to care about you." She chuckled.

"Yeah. She seems real nice."

Ema had returned with a bottle of lemonade for him and had taken some change from his pocket to cover it.

"I'll be back later on."

-x-x-

When she returned later, she came in to Apollo asleep, curled in a ball on the bed. He looked to be in considerable pain still and the events of the day had taken a toll on him.

"Hey." She prodded him gently.

"Hm?" He rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"Happy birthday." She whispered, handing him the card. He opened the envelope and read her message.

'I'm sorry this b-day had to suck for you. I know it's tough for you too. If you ever need any help with anything, let me know. Ema x'

"T-thanks. You didn't have to get me anything. I mean, I barely know you." Apollo smiled sincerely.

"I know. Who did this?"

"His name's Daniel Waterman." Apollo replied.

"I'm sure that's Clara's sister's boyfriend, or crush or whatever." Ema spoke to the air. "I hope you get better soon."