Chapter 10

Emma's Point of View

Finn was running up the basketball court doing a layup, I think? Sports weren't really my thing. They were all a little too Neanderthal for my taste. Guys running and crashing into each other with some form of ball. I probably only felt that way about them because I've never been able to play an sports. I pressed the button on my camera and heard the shutter, capturing him dribbling the ball.

"How's this?" Finn called out, taking the basketball and spinning it on the tip of his index finger. He was obviously showing off for my benefit and I'm not gonna lie, I kind of liked it.

I'd had a crush on Finn for so long. But I knew he would never go for a girl like me. He dates girls that are like fine wine, not beer.

I couldn't help but smile at him though. He was incredibly charming when he wanted to be. Lip was charming too. The fact that I was thinking about Lip right now unnerved me a little. We were just joking around in the diner and on our walk home yesterday, but when he held my hand it felt…nice.

"The whole point is to pretend I'm not here, not look directly at the camera." I arched my eyebrow at him and snapped another photo, trying my best to hide my smile.

"The camera just calls to me." He smirked, walking towards me, tucking the basketball under his arm. "Did you get everything you needed for the yearbook?"

"I think so, yeah. Thanks for doing this." I smiled, putting my camera back in my bag, avoiding looking into his honey colored eyes. If I looked at them too long I was afraid I'd get lost in them. I was so stupid for even having a crush on this guy.

His father worked at some law firm for Chicago's elite, while his mom had her own interior design business. The watch on his wrist yesterday cost more than my entire wardrobe.

"So there's a party tonight that Shane Upton is throwing. It's his last hurrah before he moves to Michigan." Finn explained, tossing the ball between his hands. "It's gonna be at this old foreclosed house up in Hillcrest."

I scoffed. "You guys are totally project x'ing someone's house then?"

He grinned. "Something like that. Do you wanna go…with me?"

My eyes shot up to meet his for the first time. "You were serious about that the other day?" I felt heat creep up neck instantly.

"Yeah. Look, we could meet at Stella's, grab some food and head to the party from there? How's that sound? I'm an awesome date. Just ask around." Finn boasted. Okay, he was a bit full of himself, but aren't we all sometimes?

After everything that happened with Andrew I didn't if I was even ready to go out with a guy. But it would be nice to have fun. I could use the distraction, plus we'd be in public places the whole time.

"Sure, that sounds like a plan." I smiled.

Finn and I fell in stride next to one another as we walked towards the gyms exit. I glanced at him and noticed he had a nice bruise forming under his eye. "What happened to your face?"

He absently touched his cheek and shrugged. "Dodge ball in gym earlier got out of hand." He brushed it off, spinning the basket ball on his index finger again.

I nodded. We walked into the hall and I paused, turning to face him. "I'll see you tonight then?"

"Tonight." He gave me one of those bright cheeky grins that made me adore him in the first place.

•••••

Once I finished up in the photo lab I headed home, well, back to the Gallagher's, and decided to tear through all of my clothes to find something to wear tonight. Fiona's room looked like a literal bomb had gone off where I'd tossed clothing in every direction. I sat knelt on my knees on the floor, picking through what little clothes I had to choose from.

"This is pretty!" Debby smiled, holding up a t shirt that had the Cookie Monster on it. Yes, I owned a Cookie Monster t shirt and felt no shame. Maybe a little shame on that one.

I cringed inwardly. "I'll keep that as an option, but let's keep looking." I nodded, not wanting to reveal my true opinion and hurt her feelings. It was cute she was helping me. Debby had sort of become my shadow in the days I've been staying here.

The front door opened and slammed shut, laughter echoing up the stairs. After a moment Fiona and Veronica appeared at the doorway. I looked up and smiled sheepishly, embarrassed I'd wrecked Fiona's room. I honestly didn't even know why I even cared about going on this date. It was the last thing I needed to be worrying about. I needed to be worried about not wearing out my welcome here until I found somewhere else to live.

"What's going on here?" Veronica questioned, walking into the room and taking a seat on the bed next to Debby.

"It looks like a tornado blew into town." Fiona laughed, pushing a pile of clothes on the floor with her boot.

She leaned against the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Emma has a date!" Debby chimed in.

"Who's the lucky guy?" Veronica inquired, clearly intrigued.

I sighed and rubbed my neck. "His name is Finn. He's the star shooting guard. I don't know if I even wanna go though…"

Fiona walked into the room a bit more and glanced at Debby. "Hey, Debs, go check on the spaghetti noodles I put on the stove for dinner, yeah." Debby nodded and crawled off the bed, trudging through the clothes on the floor out of the room.

I smirked. "Sorry for the mess."

"Don't worry about it." Fiona waved it off as she knelt down on the floor across from me and started sifting through my clothes. "Why don't you wanna go on the date?"

"Well for starters I have nothing to wear and he's completely out of my league." I replied.

"Please, I ain't even seen this boy and already know you're the one out of his league." Veronica grinned.

"Come on, after everything you've been through, have some fun." Fiona tossed a shirt at me playfully. I laughed and caught it. "V and I will help you get ready."

I'd never had sisters growing up to help with boys. I never even had girlfriends really. The closest thing I had to a girlfriend was Mandy Milkovich.

"Alright, what the hell." I tossed my hands in the air.

Within an hour Fiona and Veronika had found me a decent outfit; a grey sweatshirt, floral skirt, leggings and boots. It was the perfect winter outfit according to Veronica. Fiona braided my hair into a sideways fishtail braid and helped me apply a light layer of makeup, something I didn't normally really wear.

I was staring at myself in the bathroom mirror astonished that you could hardly see the bruises on my face and lip with the make up on. I looked almost normal. Not like some foster kid freak with a crutch.

I hobbled out of the bathroom and noticed Lip and Ian's and Carl's door was ajar. I knocked on t and stuck my head inside. Ian looked up from the notebook he was writing in and grinned. "Smoke show alert." He laughed, making me toss a pair of balled up socks at him.

"Shut up." I laughed. "But really? I look okay?"

"You look great, Em's." He nodded. "Where you headed?"

"Out on a date." The words felt foreign coming out of my mouth. Could I really be the kinda girl that got dolled up and went on dates? "Finn asked me out."

"Nice." Ian nodded. "Have fun."

"Thanks. Where's Lip? I haven't seen him since we left for school this morning. He wasn't in Mr. Peters class either." I asked, a little worried he'd skipped.

"He's downstairs, I think." Ian informed me.

I nodded and headed down the back flight of stairs that led into the kitchen. Fiona was cooking at the stove. Debby was setting the table for dinner. The fridge door closed revealing Lip. He glanced at me and his eyes went wide a little. He gave me a noticeable once over and cleared his throat.

"Doesn't she look great, Lip?" Fiona nudged Lip with her elbow as she moved around him to get plates out of the cabinet.

"Yeah. You look great, really nice. You actually look like a girl." He smirked. "Guess Finn wasn't kidding?" He avoided making eye contact with me.

"Fuck you." I joked, following him into the living room.

"I'll see you guys later." I grabbed my coat off the sofa and pulled it on, then wrapped a scarf around my neck since it was snowing again.

I was about to head to the front door when I felt someone touch my arm. I turned to see Lips hand on me. "Look, I don't think you should go tonight."

"What, why?" My eyebrows knitted together out of confusion.

Lip thought for a moment, choosing his words wisely. "Because you can do better then some douchebag jockstrap who thinks that H20 and water are two separate things."

I rolled my eyes. "Lip, I'll admit he's a little dense, okay? But he seems sweet and he actually wanted to hang out with me. I'll be fine."

Lip blocked my path to the door and stared at me, popping his knuckles. I noticed his right hand was red and slightly swollen looking. Finn had a mark over his left cheek. It can't be related.

"Can you move?" I nudged his foot with my crutch.

"Don't go." He insisted again.

"What aren't you telling me?" I finally snapped, harsher than I wanted too.

"I overheard Finn and Kyle talking in the locker room after gym today. Kyles paying him to bring you out tonight. It's all a set up. I don't know what they have planned but it's not good."

A sick feeling grabbed ahold of my stomach and twisted it into knots. Of course it was too good to be true.

Lip lowered his eyes then met mine. He knew I was hurt but didn't know what to say. I didn't even know what the hell to say.

"I'm gonna go for a walk." I whispered, pushing past him and walking out the front door.

Cold air smacked me in the face as soon as I stepped foot on the porch. If Kyle and Finn wanted to conspire to set me up for something, they had another thing coming.