A massive thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! It's nice to see that people are interested in this story I'm going to try my best to update every few weeks. Sorry this chapter isn't as long as normal but I wanted to get it up today as I'm going away for the weekend and won't be back until Monday. With all that said, here's the latest chapter.

Chapter 4

After lunch, Emily walked to History with Amanda as both Nolan and Jack were taking Geography. Everyone still stared as she walked by but it didn't bother her as much as it had. She was getting used to it. Amanda observed them and rolled her eyes. "Just ignore them; the novelty will wear off soon enough, I promise."

"Here's hoping," she replied briefly before entering the classroom. The teacher was already there, sitting at his desk. He looked a lot more welcoming than the other teachers, more relaxed. He had blue eyes, short mousy hair that was slightly greyed around his ears and wore a welcoming smile.

"Good afternoon, ladies," The history teacher said good-naturedly. "You must be Ms. Thorne?"

Emily nodded. "I am." If she had a dollar for every time someone had said that to her that day…

"It's a pleasure to have you in the class. I'm Mr. Clarke," he introduced himself.

Amanda took Emily by the hand and led her down to two desks at the bottom of the classroom. Mr. Clarke shook his head. "You know the tradition Amanda, the first to come to class always get the privilege of sitting in the front row!" He stood and walked to where the desks began, patting two right in the centre.

The curly haired girl grimaced and begrudgingly got up, taking her books with her. Emily followed suit. "You know dad, I get to have you at home. Why not let the other students soak up all of your awesomeness? It's hardly fair. They'll think I'm getting special treatment," she commented sarcastically much to the teacher's amusement.

Emily arched an eyebrow. Dad? "Oh, you two are father and daughter?" she wondered, comparing them physically. Amanda definitely had his smile but other than that there was no immediate resemblance. From what she could tell so far, their temperament was similar.

Amanda nodded. "Unfortunately. You know, I didn't even want to take History. He bribed me," she accused and sat down in her chair, making no attempt to seem graceful.

Mr. Clarke laughed. "And aren't you happy now? History is the coolest subject ever!"

"Yeah, if learning about dead guys who lived two thousand years ago is considered cool," his daughter replied with a hint of playfulness in her tone. "It might have been back in the stone age when you were my age but this is 2013!"

He looked at Emily. "Amanda is just afraid to admit that she may actually enjoy anything to do with me. Isn't that right?"

The dough eyed teenager nodded. "Totally!" she said, her voice full of sarcasm.

Other students began filing in and Mr. Clarke greeted them all with a smile. It was evident that he really enjoyed teaching his students. He was completely engaging in his lessons as Emily soon found out. He even made the Wall Street Crash seem somewhat interesting.

After History, which Emily found intriguing and was the first class that day she had genuinely enjoyed, she and Amanda met Jack and Nolan in the English room. That class was definitely an experience. She had not been prepared for the eccentricities of the English teacher, Mr. Treadwell. He was very strange and unnerved her a slight bit. Mr. Treadwell had been more interested in her than any of the other teachers so far that day. When the bell had finally rung, Emily was definitely relieved.

Unfortunately, she had to venture to Humanities by herself as Nolan, Jack and Amanda all had gym. She had gotten used to having at least one of them around, so Emily felt a bit exposed on her own. When she got to room 16, the blond quickly picked a random desk in the middle of the class and sat down in one of the two seats. All the other students looked in her direction as they took their respective seats and Emily lowered her head slightly.

She didn't look up again until she heard someone speak. "Do you mind if I sit here?" Daniel asked timidly, "All the other seats are taken…"

Emily shook her head. "No, go ahead."

He sat and the two remained awkwardly silent for a few minutes. She had a feeling Daniel wanted to say something. He eventually did. "I'm sorry about leaving so quickly the other day. It's just Tyler…"

The blond shook her head. "Don't worry about it."

"No, it was rude. The truth is, I wasn't even there to see Tyler. He just assumed and you know he's finding all this a bit hard…"

Emily smiled softly. "Seriously Daniel, don't worry about it. I wasn't much company anyway," she said politely. Maybe Daniel was different to her adopted brother? Either way, he definitely wasn't what she had expected. He seemed actually genuine.

They didn't have any more time to talk as the teacher walked in. She was slightly below average height and wore a stern expression that intimidated Emily. She didn't even bother introducing herself to the new student, which Emily had to admit she was thankful for, so Daniel filled her in. "That's Ms. Crowley. Scary, isn't she?" The blond nodded briefly and paid particular attention as Ms. Crowley began her lesson.

Emily clenched her jaw as she listened to her teacher talking about the Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. Everything she said made the sixteen year old angrier; it was completely one sided. It wasn't that she actually really cared about religion; it was the fact that she was willingly excluding important details to present one side in a favourable and righteous light.

"- the forces were perfectly right to use mass internment in that situation-"

She could hold her tongue no longer. "Bullshit," the blond said a little too loudly and everyone turned to look at her. Daniel stiffened beside her as Ms. Crowley looked at the new student in disbelief.

"Excuse me?" the teacher said indignantly.

Daniel looked at her with incredulity and discreetly shook his head. "Let it go, Emily," he warned her lowly.

Emily couldn't do that. "There would be no reason for mass internment if the Catholics weren't being discriminated against. None of the Civil Rights movements would have taken place and hundreds of people's lives would have been spared. Neither side was without fault," she told her straight out. There had been lots of time for reading books in juvie and Emily had become very knowledgeable about a variety of different subjects.

The boy at her side still stared at her as if she was mad but the blond didn't care. Teachers are supposed to give an objective view of the material they teach, especially when it was sensitive.

"Well, Ms. Thorne," Ms. Crowley said coldly, "If you feel so strongly about this I suggest you continue the conversation with the principal," she said pointing towards the door.

Emily picked up her books and stood, "Happily," she replied sarcastically and exited the room. Even though she had been sent to the principal's office on the first day, Emily didn't care. Ms. Crowley was a bitch.

She walked down the corridor until she reached the office in question but sighed when she saw the plaque on the door:

Conrad Grayson,

Headmaster

Emily put her books on the floor and sat down in one of the two chairs that were in the alcove next to the office. She fidgeted with the hem of her skirt as she waited, contemplating just knocking on the door. The blond smiled when she thought of the inevitable humorous comments Nolan would make. That alone was nearly worth it.

She was pulled from her reverie by the sound of footsteps getting nearer and nearer. Emily looked up and saw Mr. Mathis, the one she had had a collision with earlier that morning, standing there with both a smile and concern on his face. "I must say I'm impressed Ms. Thorne. Only," he looked at his watch, "five hours and you've already found yourself outside the principal's office." The sixteen year old said nothing in reply. He frowned. "Come with me."

Emily arched and eyebrow. "I was told to go to the principal's office…"

Mr. Mathis shrugged. "It's okay; I can talk to Mr. Grayson later." He gestured for her to follow him. Not needing another invitation, she grabbed her books and walked down the hall with the Guidance Counsellor.

When they reached his office, the Englishman opened the door and gestured for her to go in. It was a simple room with a desk and three chairs, a computer and lots of college brochures and pamphlets occupying a bookshelf. "Have a seat," he told her and sat on the other side of the desk. She did as she was told. "So, my name is Mr. Mathis and you probably already know that I am the Guidance Counsellor. You want to tell my why you were banished to the principal's office already? You set a new record," Mr. Mathis said with a hint of a smile.

"Ms Crowley was talking about the Protestants being right to use mass internment and I told her she was wrong," she informed him plainly and bitterly.

He frowned. "What exactly did you say?"

"I told her it was bullshit," Emily told him without any reservations.

Mr. Mathis chuckled briefly. "Probably wasn't the best way to inform her that you disagree…"

The blond shrugged. Like she cared. "It was her own fault for not giving all of the facts. You can't just paint one side as completely innocent." She knew all too well about that. There was nothing she hated more than people who abused their power.

The Guidance Counsellor paused for a moment. He wanted to approach this as delicately as possible. "This wouldn't have anything to do with what's happened in your life, would it? The Catholics and the Protestants? Maybe your anger is to do with the principle?" He paused again, this time for longer. "It wouldn't have anything to do with the fire?"

Emily glared at him. "So you read my file. That doesn't mean you know me," she informed him coldly. The sixteen year old had seen many a shrink in her life and they always thought they knew everything about her after reading a few words printed on a page.

"That's not what I-"

She stood. "You don't know anything about me," Emily informed him in a matter of fact tone.

He stood as well. "Emily-" Mr. Mathis began but it was too late. She had left. He sat back down in his chair and sighed. He shouldn't have said that. He should have known that she would get defensive. It was probably in her nature to do so. Emily intrigued him; there was no doubt about that. The Guidance Counsellor knew that he had to be sensitive with her but wasn't and that was a big mistake. She probably had to deal with people assuming things about her all her life and he tried hard not to do that. Somehow he managed to anyway. He feared that he had ruined any chances of her ever trusting him.

Disclaimer: The use of the Northern Irish history is just for effect. These are not my views nor am I suggesting that what Emily says is true. I really hope I haven't offended anyone! I just wanted to use a situation that I'm very familiar with that is not so black and white to give you the readers a bit of an insight into how Emily's mind works.

P.S.: Internment is the act of putting someone in prison without trial.