Alright, so here's chapter two. This is going to be the only chapter that will be in 1st POV. Everything else will be in third person.

Important: This chapter is just placing Emma into the picture. Sorry if it's boring, it's loaded with information that I needed to get in there somehow.

Thank you to Mopiece and Ak for reviewing the first chapter. It's much appreciated.

I forgot to mention, it takes place before the book.

After this chapter, my writing style will become more like last chapter. So please bear with me. Thanks =)

-start-

When I was little, my parents and I lived in a small house with my mother and father. We lived in the suburbs on the less fortunate side of town. It didn't really matter to me much though, I had the best parents ever and my innocent self was happy and ignorant of the problems that would face me later in life.

I was a very happy kid. I was a single child and my parents had more than enough love for me. Every summer we would take a trip to visit my cousins in Tulsa. I would always love going down South to visit those just as much friends as family. Darry was my protector. He was three years older than me, and at that time, three years is a lot older. Sodapop was my twin practically. We did everything together and with his friend Steve Randle. Ponyboy was my baby. When I was really young, I'd pretend he was mine. The parents all got a few laughs out of it but it he became a close friend once we grew up more.

Once I started getting older, things changed. I started highschool, which for most is not a big deal, but when you go to MLK, it is. They have this tradition that on your first day of school, you get 'kicked in'. It doesn't matter if you're a boy or girl, or your race, or your social status, you get kicked in. Instead of learning how to prepare for your future, I learned how to protect myself for each day of life. I lived for summer vacations where I could go back down to Tulsa and be me again. I was no longer Emma Curtis, the girl who had to help others hide whenever certain people walked down the halls to avoid being beaten up. I was Emma Curtis, who had three cousins that were more like brothers and friends who with them, didn't have to worry about protecting everyone anymore. I was the one being protected now.

Just before my 16th birthday disaster struck my family. I woke up to the smell of burning and an intense heat. My house was burning down and my family and I were still in it! My room was on the ground floor close to a window so I knew I could get out if I needed to, but I needed to get my parents, since they were on the top floor. I ran through the flames, only caring to get to my parents room, but the stairs were blocked off by a wall of flames. Frantic, I was about to run up to go save my parents when I was grabbed around the waist by a fireman and pulled me out of the house. I passed out before we reached the front door.

See, this is my problem. When I first wake up, I dont remember anything of what's been happening. It takes about half an hour on average for me to come to. If I didn't have this problem, I would have remembered that my parents were with my aunt and uncle in Tulsa for the week and that I was home alone. I could have just ran out of my house and everything would have been fine. My parents were never in their room to start with therefore I wouldn't of had to save them.

My memories between then and when I fully woke up are fuzzy. I was badly burned up my side where the flames had licked at my skin. I kept asking when I was going to be able to see my parents, but everyone just gave me sad smiles and no answer. By this time, I knew for sure that my parents were not in the house. So where were they?

I found out a few days later that my parents and my aunt and uncle were in a car accident and all of them had died

My cousins and I, we dont have any other family. We dont have any grandparents anymore, not for the past 6 years. I was told that Darry was allowed to keep Soda and Ponyboy and live alone at their house but I didn't have that option. I didn't have an older brother just about to become a legal adult.

I was set up with a social worker who was helping me cope with the loss of my family. Ms. Patricia Reynolds said that she'd do her best to keep me close to family and pull as many strings as possible to keep it that way. She sounded so sure of herself I couldn't help but smile up at her from my hospital bed.

Three months later I was finally allowed to be released form hospital. I had been in there long enough and was just itching to get outside and move around again. More good news soon followed. Ms. Reynolds said that I was to go down to Tulsa to live with my cousins. I was very happy to be able to go live with them, but at the same time, their parents died recently as well and I doubted that me joining that household would make things easier on them, that I was just going to be another mouth to feed.

But here I am, sitting in the front seat of my social workers car, who drove me all the way to Tulsa herself. Arrangements had been made for my stay as well as monthly cheques to pay for me to live there. Now, a month and a half before my 16th birthday, I started my new life in Tulsa, Oklahoma

-finished-

Alright. Now that I got that awkwardness out, I can start on the actual plot =) horray! Honestly, this chapter I wish I didnt have to do. The actual story will start, with people talking and everything. Also anything that sounds confusing will all get explained in due time.

Also I appologize in advance if I have trouble with past and present tenses, I have a habbit of switching between the two. But I'm trying to get on top of that.

Hope you enjoyed and dont be afraid to leave a review of anything you liked, didn't like, thinks it needs to be changed. C=