A/N: I'm so so so so so so so so so sorry! Things haven't been going my way, and I kinda lost my passion for writing. I can't explain. It just…simmered to an ember. I'm sorry. But, I'm going to try to do better. This chapter is a slight filler, but I think you'll be amused.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Covenant, nor any characters, actors, settings, etc.

Chapter 2: Close Encounter

Remy, Emma, and Tyler jolted awake as ACDC's "Back in Black" boomed from Debbie's side of the room. "WHAT IN GOD'S NAME IS HAPPENING?!" Remy shouted. Her heart was racing at 100 miles per hour. Eyes darting to Debbie, Remy couldn't believe what she saw as her heart began to calm down.

Debbie was still asleep despite the alarm being right next to her ear.

"I don't believe it," said Remy.

"How is that possible?" Tyler added.

Emma, being the only logical one in the morning, reached for her teddy bear (Mr. Cuddles) and threw it at her jock of a roommate. Her aim was spot on as Mr. Cuddles bopped Debbie on the head.

Her brown eyes blinked blearily at first. They closed again for a second, and her new friends almost thought she was asleep, but then Debbie stretched and sat up. "Oh, this thing's still on?" She picked up her phone and turned off the alarm to meet three stares. "What's up, guys?"

"How…You slept…But…Screw it, I'm going back to bed. It's too damn early for this," said Remy. Huffing, she lay down and turned her back to her friends.

"Debbie, why are you awake at six o'clock in the morning?" Emma asked as Debbie got out of bed to do even more stretches.

"I go for a run every morning at this time," Debbie answered nonchalantly. "Um…Tyler…are you leaving anytime soon or something? I'd like to change into my running gear."

Tyler, who was entirely too comfortable with lying on Emma's bed with her in his arms, suddenly let go of her and blushed profusely. "Um, yeah, I'm leaving," he stuttered. Standing up, he began putting on his shoes clumsily.

"I'll walk you out," said Emma as he finished with his shoes and put on his jacket.

"Okay," said Tyler. They walked out together to leave Debbie the privacy of changing.

Emma gently shut the door behind them and stood nervously, playing with a strand of wavy hair. "So…thanks for bringing me back to the dorm. It was really sweet of you."

"Yeah. Sweet. That's me. I'm always sweet," said Tyler, rolling his eyes.

"I didn't mean it to be a bad thing. A lot of guys aren't nice anymore. It's something like a movie when a guy is actually the chivalrous hero," Emma explained hurriedly, afraid she had offended him.

Tyler's smile was soft as he looked at her, "I know, Emma. I didn't mean to sneer. But sometimes…I really hate being called Baby Boy. I hate being the sweet one. It makes people forget me."

"I could never forget you," Emma almost wished could take the words back. Almost.

Tyler's smile transformed into a grin. "Really?"

Emma looked at him in surprise, "Of course. I don't think you realize how much you have to offer, Tyler Simms."

Tyler Simms looked at the girl named Emma Smith. He looked at the chipping purple polish on her toes. He looked at the faded jeans that covered her medium length legs and solid hips. He looked at the sporadic freckles that stood out against her pale arms. His eyes moved to her swan like neck, to her full lips, to her cherry colored hair, and finally stilled at her forest green eyes.

"What are you looking at?" Emma asked self-consciously.

"A really beautiful girl who I'd like to take on a date," he replied.

"What?"

"Do you want to go to Nicky's this coming Friday…with me…as my date?"

Emma's eyes gleamed at the offer. "Yes. Absolutely."

"Awesome. I'll pick you up."

"When?"

"Friday."

Emma smiled, "What time?"

"Um…how about at seven?"

"It sounds perfect."

"I'm glad," replied Tyler. A yawn overtook his actions as his body realized what time it was.

"Well, I'm gonna catch some more sleep while I can. School will be kicking my rear very soon," Emma declared. It took all of her control to not transform into a dancing frenzy.

"I'm with you on that one. I'll see you soon."

"Bye."

"Bye, Emma."

She waited until he walked up the stairs before bursting into her room and jumping on Remy. "WOULD YOU WAKE UP? THERE IS NO TIME TO SLEEP!"

Remy was not having it. Curling further into her nest of blanket and pillow, Remy tried to ignore Emma.

"EPONINE REMY DANIELS WAKE UP!"

"What's going on?" Debbie asked, coming out of the bathroom that the girls shared.

"Tyler asked me on a date!" Emma announced.

Remy shot up and collided heads with Emma. The best friends clutched their heads in pain. "Why didn't you mention this first? We have so much to do in so little time!"

"I know! Why else would I wake you up, you hard-headed mule?" Emma muttered, rubbing her head more and more as the pain went away.

"Yeah, yeah. Where is he taking you?" asked Remy.

"He's picking me up here on Friday at seven to take me to Nicky's," Emma proclaimed proudly.

"Nicky's? Really?"

"What?"

"Nothing," said Remy. "I guess I'm surprised he's taking you somewhere everyone will be. I thought he might take you somewhere more private." A yawn overtook her before she saw Emma's slightly fallen face. "Awe, Em, come on. You know I didn't mean anything. Honestly, Emmy, now that I think about it; it makes sense. He's showing you off to everyone. Plus Nicky's has an easy atmosphere. Tyler is trying to make you feel comfortable."

Emma's lip formed a small smile, "You really think so?"

"I'm positive. Why is Debbie dressed?"

Debbie was surprised when the attention of both girls suddenly came upon her. "I go for a run every morning," she explained as she brushed her raven hair into a ponytail.

Remy stared incredulously as Debbie began to stretch, "Why would you do such a thing? You're going against the Teenager Code."

"The 'Teenager Code?'" scoffed Debbie. "What is that?"

"The rule book of how teenagers are supposed to act. Rule number one is to be lazy."

"I'm a non-conformist."

"A strange creature you are."

"Bye, Remy. Bye, Emma," Debbie said as she finished her stretches and headed for the door. Putting her headphones in, she opened the door and waltzed through the threshold.

"Run in the gym or on the track field. Don't go in the woods!" Remy called after her.

The reply was the shutting of the door.

"I don't think she heard you," said Emma. "Should we chase after her?"

"Nah, she'll be fine. It's not like there's anything really wrong with the woods anyway," said Remy as her arms reached above her head in a stretch.

"Then why tell her not to go there?"

Remy brought her arms down and shrugged, "I don't know. Everything bad in T.V. shows just seem to happen in the woods. If it's on television, there must be some truth to it."

"And you call her strange," laughed Emma. The best friends went back to making plans for the date.

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Debbie's feet pounded against the earth as she jogged in the woods. She had missed Remy's warning as music overtook her hearing. Running had always been Debbie's favorite outlet. Even more than swimming. Ugh, swimming. Gotta love dear old dad. Debbie was annoyed with the turn of her thoughts. She didn't want to be mad at her father. He was doing what he thought was best for her. Mr. Gibbs knew Spencer Academy was one of the best schools to get his daughter a chance for college through scholarships and the like. She would get the scholarships through swimming. The man was so desperate to give his daughter a good future that he took out two mortgages on the house to help pay while her mother work two jobs. Neither one of them demanded Debbie to get a job, but she felt obligated to.

"Come on, Deb, go faster," she encouraged herself. There was extra pressure to be the best and it helped when "Eye of the Tiger" came on. The end of her run was coming as Debbie spotted Spencer Academy. She wasn't far when all of the sudden, she tripped. Falling upon her hands and knees, Debbie switched her position to sit on the ground to see what she tripped on.

There was nothing.

"Too weird," Debbie said. She stood and brushed the dirt off her.

"Need a hand?" a voice came from behind her.

Debbie whipped around to see no one. And like any normal person, she ran away. Not stopping until she reached the front doors of Spencer Academy, Debbie took a few breaths to calm her racing heart. Her trembling hands settled on her knees as she counted to calm down.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Debbie yelped and turned to see Pogue Parry looking concernedly at her. "Hi, Pogue. I'm fine. Just…had a little scare in the woods. No problems here. How are you? What are you even doing here? I thought you lived at home."

"I'm just peachy. I'm here to meet the boys up for a breakfast. We do it every weekend before school starts. Now, what about this little scare in the woods? You're shaking like a leaf," said Pogue. "Must've been something serious."

"No, I'm sure it was nothing. I just…I tripped when I was running, and I thought I heard someone offering me help. But when I looked for the voice…no one was there. Now that I've calmed down, I'm sure I imagined it," Debbie answered. It was only then that she registered a slight pain in her knees. She looked down to see her dirty knees bleeding a bit. "I should probably go up and take care of this."

"Need some help?" Pogue asked. He saw her wince as she took a step forward. "Nevermind, I'm not taking no for an answer. Do you want to go to your dorm or the nurse's office?"

"I guess the nurse. Is she even here? School doesn't start until Monday. Besides, I don't think Emma or Remy have any first aid stuff," replied Debbie. Normally, she would've refused Pogue's offer and just went to her dorm, but he was cute. And, frankly, it was time to look at boys again after her last boyfriend.

"Well, the nurse always comes the weekend before school starts. He says that since his job is to take care of us, he should be here when we are. His name is Dave," Pogue informed her as he slid her arm around his shoulders and put his around her waist. They entered the school and made their way to Dave's office. When they reached it, Pogue knocked on the door.

"Come in," Dave called out.

Pogue opened the door and set Debbie down in one of the chairs that faced Dave's desk. He was putting some files away before turning to face the teens. "Hey, Pogue, how's it going? And who is this?"

"My name is Debbie Gibbs. I just transferred here. I was out for a run, and I tripped. There's no band-aids in my dorm or anything so I was hoping to bum some off of you," Debbie responded. Dave was a kind looking man in his forties with salt and pepper hair and the bluest eyes Debbie had ever seen. He certainly kept up with exercising if his muscular torso that was highlighted by his tight black t-shirt gave any indication.

"Well, I'm sure I can help you out. Let me get some disinfectant while I'm at it," he said. He began rummaging through his cabinets and got all of his materials. After pulling a stool up to Debbie, he began mending her knees. "So, what brings you to Spencer Academy, Debbie? Making any plans to join a club?"

"My parents thought Spencer would improve my chances for a college scholarship. I already tried out for the swimming team and made it. Plus, my roommates want me to join their band—Remy Daniels and Emma Smith," she answered.

"Those girls are sweethearts. And, Pogue, how's the family?"

Pogue replied promptly, "They're well. Dad just got back from a trip in New York."

"What does he do?" Debbie asked, flinching from the slight sting from the disinfectant.

Pogue looked a little startled that she had spoken to him, but answered anyways, "He's in insurance. He mostly handles the international companies, but he went to New York for a conference."

"Well, Miss Debbie Gibbs, you are all set," Dave announced. He stood and cleaned everything up. "As soon as you are able, you'll want to go into town and get all the basic first-aid. I can't tell you how many times people get stuck and make everything worse because they were unprepared. But, I daresay you'll survive."

"Thanks a lot," Debbie said politely, getting up and walking to the door to stand with Pogue.

"Yeah, thanks, Dave."

"No problem. I'll see you kids around."

The two teenagers headed out the door and back to Debbie's dorm. They were quiet during the walk, but it was comfortable. Pogue gave off that vibe of being at ease in any situation. It was a nice change of pace from worrying about every detail. They reached the dorm and turned to each other.

"So, thanks for showing me to Dave's office," she said.

"It was no trouble."

"Well, it was still nice. Maybe I can thank you sometime. Grab a bite to eat or something." Debbie tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and gave him a shy smile, but it faded slowly as a look of discomfort twisted his features. "Or not."

"Look, you seem nice, but I just got out of a long relationship and—"

"That's okay. You don't need to explain yourself. It's whatever. I need to get in my dorm, so I'll see you later." She opened the door and walked inside.

"Come on, Deb, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"You didn't." And she shut the door.

Pogue stared at the door and rolled his eyes. Girls were way too confusing.

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Debbie entered the room to see Emma and Remy getting ready to head out. "Hey, where are you guys going?"

"We're gonna head into town and pick up some stuff for the dorm," Remy answered.

"Do you want to come with us?" asked Emma. "Or if you're too tired from your run you can just write down what you want on the list."

"Um…I'll just come with you. But would you mind waiting for me to wash my face first?"

"No problem," said Remy. She took in Debbie's appearance. "What happened to your knees?"

"I tripped during my run and scraped them up. Pogue, actually, took me to Dave's office. He's a nice guy."

"Pogue or Dave?" Emma inquired.

"Both, I guess," Debbie said as she headed into the bathroom.

"I'm surprised Pogue was here so early. He never struck me as a morning person," Remy called out.

Debbie responded before turning on the water, "He said that he and his friends went to an annual breakfast."

"Awe, that's cute. We should do that," Emma told Remy.

"Whatever you want, Em." Remy put on her sneakers as Debbie came out from the bathroom and changed into a pair of jeans with a red sweater. After the girls were ready, they went to Remy's car and drove to town.

They first stopped at the pharmacy that was run by Mr. Sawyer. He opened up the shop after marrying his wife and they had lived in Ipswich for 30 years. It was rumored that he was getting ready to retire and pass the shop to his daughter, Melanie, who was working the front counter when the girls entered. She greeted them before continuing to explain a medication to an elderly customer.

Emma grabbed the list out of her purse as Remy grabbed a basket. The trio walked down each aisle. "What do you need, Debbie?" Emma questioned.

"Mostly just first-aid stuff…should probably get some tampons too."

Remy chimed in with a dry voice, "God bless the ability to bear children."

"Oh, come on, kids are adorable. You can't honestly tell me you don't want one," said Emma.

"There are few men who I would be willing to bear children for. One of them being Benedict Cumberbatch. Thank God for his parents," Remy sighed dreamily.

Debbie stared at Remy in confusion, "Benedict who?"

"Cumberbatch. He's an actor. He's in Sherlock," Remy replied as if that answered everything. She noticed that Debbie still looked confused. "You've never seen it, have you? Do you watch any television?"

"Not really. I mainly focus on my studies and my exercise."

"I have so much to expose you to."

"Should I be afraid?" Debbie asked Emma.

"Only if you dread sitting in a room with Remy for hours and hours."

"Be very careful of how you answer that," the girl in question said lightly as she compared pain relievers.

"I choose not to answer," Debbie said.

"I'm proud of you," Remy replied sarcastically.

"Proud of her for what?" a deep voice pierced the conversation.

The girls turned to see Caleb Danvers with a small white bag in his hand. Remy tried to keep calm and collected as she noticed his perfect fitting jeans and tight white shirt. Seriously, no one should be allowed to look so attractive.

"Hey, Caleb," said Emma. "What are you doing here?"

"Picking up some meds for my mother," he said, holding up the white bag for them to see. His dropped his arm to his side again after a moment. "What about you?"

"We're just stocking up the dorm. The norm," Remy jumped into the conversation.

"Cool. Hey, Emma, are you feeling okay? Remy told us that you weren't well last night."

Emma blushed at his concern, "I'm a lot better. I'm sure Remy made it seem worse than what it was."

"Either way, I'm glad you're okay. Remy was pretty worried about you. You've got a really good friend."

It was Remy's turn to blush as Caleb gave her a warm smile.

"I guess I'll keep her," Emma replied with a laugh.

"Gee, thanks for not throwing me away like an old shoe," Remy rolled her gray eyes.

"You know you're adored."

"Caleb? I didn't know you were coming here," a dainty voice interrupted.

The group turned to see Sarah Wenham in all of her blonde glory. She was accompanied by Kate Tunney who eyed Remy, Emma, and Debbie with distaste. Though none of them interacted much, the awkward feelings were palpable. A lot of the tension was between Caleb and Sarah. Remy and Emma fully understood when Reid Garwin had said there was trouble in paradise.

Emma took a quick glance to Debbie and broke the silence by introducing, "Hey, guys, this is our roommate Debbie Gibbs. She just transferred here. Debbie, this is Sarah Wenham and Kate Tunney."

"It's nice to meet you," Debbie said, holding her hand out to shake theirs. Only Sarah responded to the invitation.

"My mother needed me to pick up some medication for her. I didn't know you two were coming out here too," Caleb mentioned after noticing Kate's lack of manners.

"Just stocking up the dorm," Kate said coolly.

"So are we. What a coincidence," said Remy. "Well, we should probably get back to it. See you all later." The three dormmates walked away after the others said good-bye and went to the checkout to buy their items. They then went back to Remy's car where she burst out, "That was incredibly awkward, and I'm very happy for Pogue that he and Kate broke up. My God, what a bitch."

That perked Debbie's interest, "Wait, Pogue and Kate used to date?"

"Yeah, they were together since eighth grade. I'm shocked they ever lasted as long as they did. They were always fighting. I guess Pogue finally had enough of it though," said Emma.

"I don't think it helped that he found her in bed with Ryan Hayes."

That explains a lot, Debbie thought to herself. She began to feel guilty for being cold toward him for rejecting her and made a promise to make it up to him.

The girls enjoyed the rest of their day and went back to their dorm exhausted, but prepared for school. Despite not being excited for homework and tests, they were excited to continue their growing friendship and plan Emma's date with Tyler. Of course, they didn't know what would happen on Monday.