AN: Thanks to those who reviewed...it appears that FFnet may be having a problem at the moment. I started to experience the issues others have told me about. So some people may not be reading as I'm writing? If you're having problems, I'm sorry that it's not working properly for you, it's such a shame!

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The sun was shining, deceiving Emily and Naomi as they sat in the college's "memorial garden". Naomi pulled her jacket tightly around her body, while Emily rubbed her hands together.

"This isn't working," Emily muttered, her teeth chattering as she spoke.

"What?" Naomi replied, staring at Emily, "I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to get so mad at you, it wasn't fair. I don't want this to be it for us,"

Emily's lips curled up at the edges and Naomi wanted to shout at her for laughing in her face, "I was talking about the weather," Emily sighed, "It's too cold."

"Oh," Naomi whispered, her face growing red.

"But you're right, you shouldn't have spoken to me the way you did, it wasn't fair."

"I'm sorry," Naomi repeated, wishing she could tell her just how much she was sorry for.

"Why did you do it? I'd just found out about Katie and you acted like I'd been keeping it a secret for months,"

Naomi stared at her knees, it was a neutral place where she didn't have to feel guilty looking at, "I don't know,"

"You don't know?" Emily asked, confused, "How can you not know why you got so angry?"

"I just don't alright," Naomi snapped, regretting her tone instantly.

"We're not going to get anywhere if you keep speaking to me like that Naomi, we're supposed to be in a relationship, how can it be a healthy one if you don't even know why you're angry with me,"

"I'm not angry with you," Naomi assured her.

"Maybe not anymore, but you were,"

Naomi took a deep breath, "I wasn't angry with you then,"

The two girls looked at each other, their eyes locked with a mixture of confusion and sadness. Neither of them wanted to be stuck in a conversation they struggled to resolve.

"Then what were you because the way you spoke to me, I half expected you to rip my head off,"

"I was just angry," Naomi muttered quietly.

"Angry at what?" Emily asked, "People don't just get angry for no reason."

"Well I did," Naomi lied, feeling guilty for making things worse.

"I don't believe you, you're fucking lying to me,"

Lying. The word, coming from Emily's lips, no matter how true, flicked a switch inside of Naomi.

"I'm not lying to you, don't you fucking say I'm lying, so I don't want to tell you why I'm fucking angry, the whole world doesn't revolve around Emily, I don't have to tell you everything."

"Then what do you expect to happen between us Naomi?" Emily asked, remaining calm, "You either want to be in a relationship, or you don't."

"I didn't go through everything last year just for things to end like this," Naomi snapped.

"Then talk to me," Emily sighed, "Lets fix this."

"There's nothing to fix, I'm sorry for the way I behaved, can we just get back to how things were?"

Emily rolled her eyes, they weren't getting anywhere, "And it's that simple? You pretend there's nothing going on and we forget this whole thing happened?"

Naomi closed her eyes. Tears were building and she wished they would go away. She hated how she was treating Emily, she hated how angry she was all of the time. She didn't want to make a mess of the only good thing in her life. It was like someone had pressed the self destruct button on her life and she had no way of reversing it. Emily's hand touched her shoulder as she leaned over. It was a sympathetic act that Naomi had always loved about Emily, even when they were in the middle of an argument.

"There's obviously something going on that you won't talk to me about," Emily sighed, "I can't make you tell me, but I want you to remember that you can."

Naomi nodded, wiping away the few tears that had slid down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," Naomi muttered, "We shouldn't be talking about this, we should be talking about you...about Katie,"

"I talk enough about Katie at home, I just want being with you to be about enjoying myself,"

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The house was okay. It was clean enough and didn't smell like someone's bowels had emptied all over the bathroom. Considering it was a temporary place for Naomi and Gina to stay, Naomi decided that it wasn't so bad. She'd barely met Gina's friend, who worked nights and was always asleep whenever Naomi was home. She didn't mind. It felt weird living in someone else's house, knowing they had no immediate plans to leave.

"What do you want for dinner?" Gina asked.

"Do we even have any food?" Naomi asked, looking at her mother.

"Tony said we could borrow some of his, until we have a little money,"

"When is that going to be?" Naomi asked, not caring that her voice sounded accusational.

"Next week," Gina told her, "I signed on at the job centre, we just have to wait for the first payment."

"What about a job?" Naomi asked.

"I've looked, but there's very little out there,"

"What about the four admin jobs I found in the paper?"

"Admin, do you really think that's all I'm suited to?" Gina asked, sounding a bit upset.

Naomi was losing her patience, "We have no house, no money and you want to start picking and choosing between jobs that you think are above or beneath you?"

"I don't think its quite like that," Gina muttered, her voice shaking.

"I've applied for a job at McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Burger King; three places I never even eat in to help out, the least you can do is apply for anything you're capable of."

"You don't understand how hard this is for me love," Gina muttered.

"I understand all that I need to," Naomi snapped, walking out of the room.

She knew her mother had a selfish streak, but she didn't expect it to be so bad. She lay down on the bed in the room she shared with Gina and took several deep breaths. She was angry at her mum. They needed money, they needed to find a way back onto their feet. It was Gina's job to be the parent and do everything she could to fix their financial problems. But the more Naomi thought about it, the more she was acting like the parent and her mother like the helpless child.

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AN: Thanks to everyone who has read this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to review, particularly since reviews are down, I miss getting reviews, I really do love them. Plus, if you read someone's work, it's only fair to drop them a message of how you're liking the story!