At Manny's house, there was chaos. Emma was working furiously, trying to make Manny's hair hold the curls that she had done. "Oh this is hopeless. EM. Just forget the curls." "Are you sure? I really think that this time they will stay." "No. Hand me the flat iron will you?" "Here ya go." Manny quickly grabbed locks of her long black hair and set them between the two edges of the straightener. Manny worked very quickly because she was running out of time. "There. That is all I'm gonna do with my hair." Manny said in a defeated voice. "Manny it looks great! Really shiny, like in the commercials." Manny rolled her eyes. "EM, you don't have to say that, I don't blame you for messing up the curls." "Hey, wait a second, I didn't mess anything up. It was..." "Lets not argue." Manny said finally.
Manny walked into her room and put on the new clothes she had purchased earlier. She spritzed on a little Chanel and walked out in the living room to show Emma. "Wow. You do look great." "I thought I was slutty." Emma rolled her eyes. "Give me a break, it was a shock, okay?" "Okay EM." The door bell rang. Manny's eyes quickly diverted over to the solid door. It was like she could see him standing there, straight through it. She became very nervous. "Okay. He's here. How do I look?" "I told you. Great. Now go get the door." Manny took a deep breathe. "Okay..." She grabbed the handle and pulled.
"Hey...wow, look at you!" Craig said as he got a good look at Manny. "Hey Craig! Everything okay?" He had a strange misty look as he stared her down. "What? Oh...ya, lets go!" "Wait!" Emma called, running out of the living room. "Oh, look...it's Emma!" Craig said sarcastically. "Picture!" Emma exclaimed. Craig and Manny posed together for the picture. "Aww, now wasn't that just too cute!" Emma said, "Ah, look what time it is! Go leave...now! Have fun!" Emma pushed them out the door. "Wow. um...Emma was happy." Craig said. He glanced at the front window and saw Emma hiding behind the curtain, watching them. When she saw him look at her, Emma quickly disappeared. "Yeah...she's been like that lately."
Something fell from Craig's pocket onto the sidewalk. Manny bent down to get it. "No!" Craig said. He reached for the object but Manny got it first. She looked up at him. In her hand was a condom. "Manny...I'm sorry...it was just..." "It's okay." She said. She struggled to get the words out. "I want to, too." Craig looked intently at her. After a few seconds, her face was set. "Soo...do you want to forget about the movie? Do you maybe want to go somewhere...more private?" "Yeah, I do." Manny said. She was not nervous for some reason. Craig on the other hand...his heart was pounding so hard, he thought it might burst out of his chest. Manny couldn't control her excitement. She grabbed his hand and ran off to the school. "Nobody will see us here." They were off at the side of the building, completely hidden from passerby view.
Craig pulled Manny close, right up against him. Manny gave a little giggle. Craig slowly unzipped his pants and put the condom on. He pulled Manny close again and undid the top buttons on her jeans. He bent down and easily and slowly pulled her jeans to her ankles. Manny stepped out of them and removed her blue thong. Craig stared at her, taking it all in, but said nothing. He moved quickly and pushed Manny up against the brick wall. He pushed into her hard. Manny wrapped her legs around his lower waist and arched her back against the wall. She gripped her hands tightly on his shoulders and could already feel the sweat soaking through his shirt. Manny made little gasps with each push, each harder than the first. It was somewhat exhilarating.
Craig was not nervous anymore. It felt so natural, moving as one with the girl he loved. He was going into her harder and harder. Manny felt a small twinge of pain. The pain grew little by little. But she didn't want to stop it. Manny felt something trickle down her bare leg. She looked over his shoulder and down at her leg. It was blood. Craig was going too hard, she was bleeding. "Craig." She whispered in his ear, "Craig, stop!" But he wouldn't stop. He couldn't now that he knew what it felt like to be inside her. With each push, more blood came trickling out. "Craig, stop! I'm bleeding, Craig!" She tried to push him away. Something came over Craig. He grabbed her arms and pinned them against the wall. She was panicking now. "What's wrong with you?" She asked him quietly. He did not respond. Manny winced now, the pain was so severe.
Manny started to cry. It was only then, after Craig could hear and see the pain he was causing her, did he come to see what he was doing. He quickly pulled himself from her and put his hand over his mouth. He looked down on her; her leg was covered in a fair amount of blood. She was still crying. "Look! What is wrong with you, Craig?" He snapped his attention back to her. Manny was still rapidly bleeding. "My god, Manny, I...I am so sorry." He tried to help her up but she pulled her arm away. "Don't ever touch me again." Her voice wavered. "Manny, please, we need to get you to a hospital." She looked up at him, disbelieving. "And what, Craig? Say I was having sex and what? That you sexually assaulted me? You'd be so arrested." "I know! I probably should be! God, I knew this was a bad idea." "Craig." Manny said, getting up and swaying slightly, "I need to go home. Don't tell anyone about this." "Dammit, Manny! You're fucking bleeding from...there. You need to get that looked at!" "No!" She grabbed her pants and quickly pulled them on.
Before Craig could do anything to stop her, Manny took off running. "Manny!" Craig yelled. "Dammit!" he cried. Manny was running as fast as she could. She was still leaking blood. Every pounding step made her feel more and more dizzy. Before she knew what was happening, she passed out, cold, on the sidewalk. Craig, who had started to run after her, dropped down next to her. "Manny. Manny, wake up." he picked her up and carried her to the hospital.
The room seemed fuzzy. Manny was waking up. She tilted her head and saw Craig. "Craig?" "Oh, god." he said, startled, "You're awake." "Yeah...what happened to me?" "You passed out. You remember what happened before then, right?" "Yeah, I do. But what happened after I passed out?" "Oh, I brought you here. There was some sort of tearing...down there...so they had to give you stitches." "Do my parents know?" "Yeah...I called them. They're outside." A look of panic spread on Manny's exhausted face. "My parents know that I had sex. I think I'm gonna pass out again." "Manny, I am so sorry." he said as he moved closer. Then he said something very unexpected. "Manny?" "Yeah?" "I love you." he blurted out. He moved even closer and touched her shoulder. She flinched. That hurt him bad. "I know I shouldn't. I'm sorry."
They remained quite for a few minutes. "So...this was an interesting second date, huh?" Manny said. "Yeah...so what do you think is gonna happen on the third date?" Manny looked uncomfortable. "Craig...there isn't going to be a third date. This will never work. I hope you understand." "Oh...yeah, no problem. I understand." Craig felt a burning in his eyes. A mixture of guilt and sadness and humiliation were tempting him to cry and let it all out. He just swallowed hard. "I...I should go. See you in school...sometime." "Yeah, okay. Craig...thanks for bringing me here." "Yeah." He left on that one word. Craig couldn't believe all the things he had done tonight. He had committed a crime, endangered Manny's life, and said the three little words to the only girl he had ever loved.
Craig wanted to get away, to feel nothing. There were no drugs or alcohol attainable. Craig walked past the his and Manny's wall. There was a fair amount of blood soaked into the dusty dirt floor. He stopped and stared at it. He scanned the ground for something, anything that would help him now. Something caught the light on the ground. A shard of green tinted glass from a beer bottle. Craig walked over and picked it up. What he did next was completely spur-of-the-moment. He found the sharpest edge that he could and gently placed it on the under of his left forearm. He pressed down sharply and dug deep into his skin. Blood rose to the top of the wound and bubbled slightly before leaking out. He moved the glass back about an inch on his forearm and repeated the same dirty deed. He felt that all the pain he had caused Manny should be somehow repaid to her, with his own pain. The cuts stung and bled through the long sleeve of his shirt. Craig walked over to the dirt where Manny's blood had been spilled and threw the glass on top of it. Now their blood could be mixed as one, he thought.
He ran back to Joey's. When he got there, Sean was lying on the couch. "Hey man." he said. "You're up late." Craig said, looking around for Joey. "Yeah. Couldn't sleep. Can't stop thinking about Tracker and Emma. So...how was your date?" "I'd rather not talk about it." "Aw, come on man. It can't have been that bad." "Oh...it was." "Man, what did she do this time?" "Nothing." Craig said. He smiled a little. "she was beautiful. It's what I did to her." His smile faded now. "Craig, I'm sure that..." Craig cut him off. "I almost killed her, man." "Wa...what?" Sean asked, confused. "I bought a condom, and she found it." "Woah! You guys didn't." "Yeah. We did. It was great. But then...she started to bleed really bad because...well you know why...and I was hurting her man. But I wouldn't let up." "Woah...man..." "I know. She took off running and passed out. She's at the hospital now." "Damn, that's hard." "Oh yeah, I told her I loved her." Craig said as an after thought. "And...she doesn't want anything to do with me now!" "Sorry man. I know how you feel." "How? You and Emma are perfect." "Craig, are you kidding me? Have you not been around for the last week? She is furious with me. We're not perfect. But...in grade seven I pushed Emma down while I was fighting. It was horrible...she wouldn't let me touch her. She wouldn't speak to me. She was so scared of me. It sucks really bad." "Yeah...hey, where's Joey?" "Upstairs, I'm pretty sure. I think he is sleeping." "Oh no..." a voice said behind them. Both Craig and Sean turned to look. Joey was standing in his pajamas on the staircase.