The walk to Emma's house was a nice little distance, which Allie didn't mind. It gave her a chance to try and think about other things going on in her life, such as a new cheer she had been thinking about showing to Paige and Hazel. She wanted to try out for the varsity spirit squad in the spring, and she figured that their reaction to her routine would be a good gauge of how much of a chance she really had.
As she got closer to Emma's, Allie thought about the only other time that she had been at Emma's house. It was right before her first game as a member of the junior spirit squad, and Manny had forgotten some of the squad's equipment at Emma's house. Since Manny had been the main one instructing her during cheerleader camp over the summer, Allie decided to go with her and help her carry the stuff back to school…
"So Manny, what is your friend like?" Allie asked her.
"Who, Emma? She's nice, I think you'll like her." Manny responded.
The two girls walked up to the Nelson residence and Manny rang the doorbell. As the door opened, Allie saw a lady she guessed was probably Emma's Mom.
"Hi, Ms. Nelson. Is Emma here?" Manny asked her.
"Sure she is Manny, just go upstairs." Emma's Mom replied.
As she invited Manny in, she realized Manny had brought along another visitor.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you standing over there." Ms. Nelson said as she saw the girl standing off to the side of Manny.
"This is Allie, she's on the spirit squad with me." Manny said as Allie flashed Emma's Mom a smile and waved hello.
"Well Allie, it's a pleasure to meet you. Come on in, the both of you." Emma's Mom said to the girls.
The two girls walked inside and Emma's Mom closed the door behind them. She then excused herself.
"Emma's upstairs working on her homework, I think. Just go up and knock on her door. I have to finish getting ready because I'm meeting Snake for dinner tonight. Just let yourselves out when you get ready to leave." Ms. Nelson said as she walked out of the living room.
"Wow, Emma's Mom is dating some guy named Snake. He must be in a biker gang or something." Allie said to Manny.
"Well, actually, Snake is Mr. Simpson, the M.I. teacher at school. Snake was his nickname when he was in high school." Manny informed her.
"No Way!" Allie said in astonishment.
"Yeah, he and Emma's Mom went to high school together. They used to call her Spike when she was in school."
"I guess Emma's lucky they didn't name her Hammer or something." Allie said, still surprised by what Manny had told her.
"I guess so." Manny said with a giggle, "We'd better go up and get the stuff before we miss the game completely."
The two girls walked up to Emma's room and Manny knocked on her door.
"Emma, it's me Manny. I brought another girl from school with me, her name is Allie." Manny said, talking into the door.
Emma opened the door and Allie could feel the tension between her and Manny immediately.
"So I guess you've found another friend to stab in the back." Emma said to Manny, point blank.
"What are you talking about?" Manny asked her.
"I'm talking about Craig, and how you stole him at the dance." Emma answered.
"I can't believe you're still mad at me about that. Look, he asked me to dance and the only reason I accepted was because you said it was okay." Manny replied as she followed Emma into her room.
"You're supposed to be my best friend. I may have said it was okay to dance with him, but you're supposed to know that I didn't mean it." Emma told her.
"You know Emma, I'm not a mind reader. If you didn't want me to dance with him, then you should've just said so." Manny stated, "Besides all we did was dance for a couple of songs. When we got through I came to find you, but you were gone. I was going to tell you that if you still wanted to get with him, that I would try and help you."
"Like it matters anymore. It's obvious he doesn't like me and he's probably got a new girlfriend by now." Emma said as she sat down on her bed and grabbed one of her pillows.
"Actually, he doesn't." Allie said.
The two girls stopped their argument and looked at Allie wondering what she was talking about.
"Huh?" Emma said.
"You asked about Craig having a girlfriend. He doesn't have one." Allie said, reasserting her statement.
"How can you be so sure? Craig is like one of the hottest guys in school." Emma asked, not really believing the grade seven girl that Manny had brought over.
"Never mind, forget I said anything." Allie said as she sat down in a chair near the bedroom door.
Emma and Manny turned their attention back to each other and continued to discuss what had happened with Craig Manning. Eventually they apologized to each other and Emma said if Manny was the one Craig wanted, then she wouldn't stand in their way. As they talked, Allie just sat there watching them and thinking to herself, "If anybody would know whether Craig has a girlfriend or not, I should. Especially, since I…"
Suddenly, a car came speeding by Allie on the street and interrupted her train of thought. She glanced up to realize that Emma's place was only a few houses ahead of her. Allie went up, rang the doorbell, and waited for an answer.
"Hello Mrs. Simpson, is Emma here?" Allie asked her.
"Hello…Allie isn't it?" Mrs. Simpson greeted her.
"Yes Ma'am."
"It's nice to see you again. Emma's down in her room, just go back to the kitchen and take the stairs down to the basement." Mrs. Simpson instructed her.
"The basement?" Allie thought to herself, "What, do they have her in solitary or something?"
As Allie walked through the house, she could see Mr. Simpson sitting on the sofa watching TV.
"Hello Mr. Simpson." She greeted him.
"Hi Allie" He responded.
Allie had heard that Mr. Simpson was sick with cancer, but at school he always tried to make it look like he was feeling okay, in spite of it. But seeing him sitting there today, she realized he wasn't as well as he had been letting on. Finally, Allie made it to the basement entrance and knocked on the door at the top of the stairs.
"Emma, it's me Allie. Are you down there?" Allie called out.
"Yeah, just come on down. Nadia called and said you were bringing some stuff by." Emma replied.
Allie began her journey down the stairwell, still not sure why Emma's room was now down in her basement. Once she reached the bottom, she saw that a fairly nice bedroom had been set up down there. She saw Emma sitting at a desk working on something, reminding her of what Nadia looked like in her room earlier that morning.
"You have a pretty nice room." Allie said complimenting Emma's bedroom.
"You don't have to lie, I know it sucks." Emma replied.
"Here's the stuff Nadia asked me to drop off." Allie said as she handed the entire book bag to Emma.
"Thanks, I really appreciate you bringing it over here. Hopefully our presentation will change the school board's mind." Emma replied.
"You know, I can't believe you and Nadia are doing all of this extra school work during the holidays." Allie observed.
"Might as well. I can't speak for Nadia, but there's not much else for me to do right now." Emma said to her.
"Well, you could be hanging out with your friends or something." Allie said to her.
"What friends? My best friend abandoned me so she could chase after Craig, even though he had a girlfriend. My boyfriend dumped me because I'm so boring that he'd rather hang around with a bunch of criminals." Emma revealed to her.
Allie had forgotten about the big fight Manny and Emma had in the hallways of Degrassi a couple of months ago. But she didn't really know about what had happened between her and Sean.
"Sean dumped you? Was it because of another girl?" Allie asked her.
"I wish, at least that wouldn't have hurt so bad. No, he just broke up with me because I wasn't cool enough to hang out with him and his new friends. He said that he couldn't take anymore of me and my 'goodie two-shoes' lifestyle. I'm starting to think that maybe him and Manny have a point; maybe I am a pathetic loser. I guess I should also realize that despite my best efforts, I can't change the world or the people in it on my own." Emma said, as she got up from her work desk and went to lie down on her bed.
Allie was surprised to hear Emma talking like this. Emma had always seemed so self-confident about herself. The way she stood up to Raditch last year and refused to apologize to the school had the entire student body buzzing about how the teacher's pet had crossed over to the dark side. But listening to her now, Emma sounded like somebody who just needed someone to talk to. Inside, Allie could definitely relate to that.
"Well, I think what you're trying to do, all of the things you try to do to make things better, is worth while." Allie said, trying to reassure Emma.
"I guess." Emma replied.
"It's true. Besides, who knows? Maybe you'll meet some terrific new guy when school starts back." Allie said to her.
"Well, there is this one guy I talked to at a rave a few months ago, but he had a girlfriend. Even though they were having problems, I still didn't want to get in between them and their relationship." Emma revealed.
"I can understand that. I guess its just too bad things didn't work out." Allie replied.
"Yeah, I know." Emma said.
The two girls just sat there talking to each other for a while longer. Then they stopped talking and just sat there staring off into space, absorbing the purity of the silence in the room. Eventually, Emma spoke again.
"I'd better get up and get back to work if I want to have this proposal ready before we're supposed to present it." She said as she got up from her bed.
"I guess I better get going too." Allie said as she got up from the chair by the desk.
"Thanks again for bringing the stuff over, and for listening to me drone on about my life." Emma said to Allie.
"You're welcome. Sometimes we all just need an ear to listen to us." Allie said as she turned and walked back up the stairs.
Allie went back through the house, following the same path she used to come in. As she was leaving she didn't see anybody, but she could hear the cries of a baby upstairs and the sound of Emma's Mom talking to him.
Once she left Emma's house, Allie decided she would make one more stop before heading home, since she was in the neighborhood.
"I guess that it's kinda funny, the main reason I first met them was because I just happened to be in the neighborhood." Allie thought to herself.
She walked a few more blocks from Emma's house, watching as the sun started to set. Finally, she was standing in front of a two-story house.
"It's been a few months since I've been here, I wonder how everyone's going to react?" Allie thought to herself. She then rang the doorbell and waited for an answer. Eventually, the front door opened.
"Oh, Hi Allie. I was starting to wonder why you hadn't been over for a while, come on in."
"Thanks, Mr. Jeremiah." Allie said as she walked in through the front door.
"I've told you before, just call me Joey." Joey said with a smile on his face, "All of you kids are starting to make me feel like a senior citizen or something."
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Next Chapter: Hmmm…what's the connection? (Hint: It's not an obvious reason that might occur to you...)
