Sean ended up at Degrassi. It was where he first met Emma. He'd noticed her right off, which wasn't hard considering that she stood taller than all of the girls and a lot of the guys. Emma was the first person he trusted outside of his brother. It was hard for Sean to trust people. His homelife wasn't the greatest. His parents were alcoholics and they cared more about their next drink than they did about him. But Emma had shown him a world where people loved each other, trusted each other, and he liked being a part of that world.

Sean walked around to the side of the building where the gymnasium stood. The site of their senior prom. It was the night that changed everything for them.

"Would you look at that dress that Mia is wearing: slut-o-rama." Manny said to Emma as they entered the gym.

"Be nice, Manny. Besides, it's not like you're going to have to see these people again after we graduate." Emma admonished.

"All the more reason to not waste my breath being nice. Now where'd my date go?" Manny questioned as she wandered off.

Emma looked over at Sean, who was busy tugging on the collar of his tuxedo shirt. "I told you that you didn't have to wear that."

Sean looked over at Emma guiltily. "I know. But it's prom and I want tonight to be perfect. Oh wow, that sounded so cliche. Okay, the truth is that I have a secret longing to be a penguin."

"You're quite the handsome penguin. Wanna dance?"

"No," Sean said with a grin as he let Emma lead him out onto the dance floor.

Then after the dance there was the motel room. Again, a big cliche. But that was prom: one big happy cliche.

The first time with Emma was nerve-racking. Sean wasn't a virgin. He wasn't full of experience, either. Emma was the one who should have been nervous because she was a virgin. But Emma was too practical to let something like that bother her.

"You do realize that I'm over here, right?" Emma asked from the top of the bed.

"Yeah, of course. We, uh, we just need some ice," Sean said as he jumped up and grabbed the ice bucket.

"If you walk out that door then you're not getting back in. Talk to me and tell me why you're so nervous."

Sean sat back down on the bed beside Emma and grabbed her hands. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Sean, I know that sex isn't going to be very comfortable the first time. It's okay, I trust you."

"It's not that. I mean, it is but it's more than that. This is a big step for us and I don't want to mess things up. And I don't want you to regret this somewhere down the line. Sometimes I feel like I'm an emotional black hole and everyone around me gets sucked in and never escapes. I don't want that to happen to you. If we have sex tonight then maybe you'll be the next victim."

"Sean, you've come such a long way from where you were. We've come such a long way. We can talk to each other now. You know, like we're doing right now. And you're not that angry boy with the kind heart I met all those years ago. You've turned into a young man with a kind heart who left that anger behind. I want us to make love because I trust you more than I've ever trusted anyone. I know that whatever the future brings I will never look back on this night with anything other than love and joy."

"Thank you," Sean whispered, "for always believing in me."

Sean felt his cheeks getting damp and realized he'd been crying again. It had been such a great night. It was the first time they'd made love but, more importantly, the first time he really believed in himself. Emma had given him that gift. She'd given him so much. Everything that was inside of him was because of her. If she was dead then everything inside of him would be dead.