The last few weeks have felt like years to Emma Nelson. She needed something...someone...to hold onto. After she broke up with Sean, she quickly moved her excess attention to the rapping, headphone wearing new kid Chris. At first she thought it was okay. He liked her, she liked him...or so she though. But when she compared Chris to Sean, when she would give into those guilty urges, she found nothing was the same. As much as she hated saying it...her relationship with Chris lacked the passion that she and Sean had. She sort of liked hating him one minute and loving him the next. That's what made them...that's what defined their relationship. And as much as she hated Sean for stealing Snake's laptop, and the DVD player, and the many other missing articles...she still loved him, and she knew he needed help.
However her feelings' staying unchanged doesn't mean Sean's did. Emma can't pretend that she doesn't see him and Ellie in the halls holding hands. They do seem well together, in essence; troubled boy meets troubled girl...but where would it go? And then there are Sean's friends, Jay, Alex, who hates her for having morals, which seems utterly ridiculous to Emma. She's never very cautious about what they would do to her at school; she never really thought about it. After all, she's got dirt on them…and the laptop. And she's actually planning on giving that information to Radditch today after school. Why not? They deserve it anyway. So Emma got dressed quickly, giving Snake a cheerful 'good morning' and walking to school. On the way to her locker, Alex stopped her.
"Hey." She said in a normal, everyday tone. Emma cocked an eyebrow.
"Hi..." She replied, opening her locker.
"Look, I know where Jay is hiding that stuff." Alex told her secretively. "I can take you to it." She added, lowering her head and looking around. Emma looked around and stared back at Alex questioningly.
"Why are you telling me this?" She said in the same quiet tone.
"Jay and I broke up. I'm getting him back." Emma closed her locker and sighed.
"Okay. Take me there". She agreed, following. Alex smirked as she walked toward the cafeteria. Emma looked around uneasily. When she entered she felt that everyone was staring at her. Actually, what they were staring at were posters…posters everywhere. When she saw what they had on them, she felt like she was going to faint.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Jay announced to the crowd of people snickering in the background. "Our own Little Miss Save the World!" he grinned back at Emma, who was staring at them wide eyed in shock. "She's not so little anymore now is she?" He smirked as he turned one of the flyers over to let Emma read what it said. She slowly walked backwards, her eyes filling with tears. This was just what she needed, Snake's reoccurring cancer, Baby Jack's problems, Manny, Sean…this. As she was walking, she ran into someone. She quickly turned around and glanced at his face before collapsing into his arms.
"Oh look who it is, Mr. Cameron to the rescue." Jay leered as Sean whispered something in Emma's ear and let her go. Wordlessly he approached Jay and, without hesitation, gave him a quick blow to the jaw. Jay bent over, groaning in pain. Alex quickly ran to his aid, staring at Sean in disbelief.
"What the fuck was that for Sean?" Jay yelled, his lip bleeding profusely. Towerz stood in the back of the crowd and walked forward to Sean, punching him in the nose. Sean kneeled for a second and returned with a harder hit to his stomach.
"That's it, Cameron!" Jay shouted, now returning to his normal stance, blood still pouring from his lip, "We're over!" The crowd stood in shock as Sean stared at Jay and walked out of the cafeteria, taking Emma gently by the shoulders as Radditch stormed in a second later.
"Emma…" Sean breathed as he walked toward her still body, her face in her hands.
"I'm not okay." She said in between tears. "So don't ask." She looked up at him pleadingly and his eyes softened.
"I know. What those guys did…" He made an angry noise in his throat…"They'll never do again. I'm sorry for...being with them, Emma, I'm sorry for ignoring you…for…. everything." He said, trying to make eye contact. Emma finally looked up.
"Apology accepted." She said, wiping her eyes.
"Good." Sean grinned as he leaned closer to catch her lips in a kiss. Emma quickly pulled away.
"What about Ellie? And Chris?" She asked Sean.
"I think they'll understand." He told her quietly. "Em, nothings been the same since we broke up. I thought I needed to be free…but…you are what I need." Emma smiled through her tears and looked behind her. Slowly she turned back to Sean.
"I missed you." She whispered, her lips inches away from his.
"I missed you, too."