Author's Note: Same scenario, Jay's POV

She didn't want to go anywhere. Of course not, that would be too easy. She probably just wanted to sit here and continue to give me the third degree. I guess I wouldn't mind so much, but it felt like she didn't accept any of the answers. I bet she could ask for my name, and would be disappointed if my answer contained less than five sentences. All the questions had me even more nerved up than before. I was alone, and I had been all week. The line of questioning made it all a reality, because now she knew too.

We had to go somewhere, I couldn't sit here and talking about feelings and this girly shit any longer.

"Come on, Emma, think of all the pollution. All those trees and shit, by driving around like this, we're killing them."

I was expecting the usual "I'm Emma Nelson and I'm annoyed with you" whine, but instead she laughed. We both did.

"Am I really that neurotic?"

As I had made her out to be? No way, but she was certainly close. She cared about things, sure. Maybe even a little too much, but even I knew that it was better than not caring.

"Completely. But everyone has come to expect it by now."

It was true. It was the Emma Nelson that people had come to expect. Some trash in the river? She'd be the one you would see picking it up. It wasn't just the environment though. I once saw her arguing about Che Guevara. Someone had denounced one of his accomplishments, and she went nuts. She had so much passion in her over people she would never know, and control over things that she would only be able to change minimally. Yet she couldn't even manage her own existence.

"Well, what about you? You can't tell me that you aren't a compulsive candy bar kleptomaniac. I mean, think of the poor defenseless vending machines. S.I.T.E. was even considering a protection program."

It was the only funny thing I've ever heard her say. For once, she just got it. She summed up everyone's perspective on me in a few sentences. That's all I am to people. The bully who takes their lunch money. The guy who beats them up after school. The one making fun of them in the hallways. It was the bits and pieces of me that these people saw, never the entire product.

I pulled up behind the Dot. I picked up my cigarettes and walked as far from the car as I could. All these questions were running through my mind. How long would it be before Spinner and Alex spilt everything? What was I going to do about Alex? Without her and Cameron here, all I really had was Towerz and Amy. Towerz was the kind of guy that would have your back to the death. We respected each other for that, but he never disagreed with anything I said. Let's face it, sometimes I do need to be put in check. Amy was a mess. There was practically a bottle attached to her hand. She came to school drunk, she went home early to drink. Cameron had a thing for girls like this. You know the ones. They were even more fucked up than he was. He thought he could save her, but all he did was make things worse. Now she was constantly crying over Sean, and making plans to break him from the "Vampire" as she called Ellie, who was another piece of work. She fit perfectly into Sean's need for broken women. I guess she sliced her wrists more than a few times. He made me promise that I'd look out for her after he left, but there was no point. She wouldn't talk to anyone. I tried to check up on her a few times, and she wouldn't even answer the door.

I wonder if Emma was a mess when she and Cameron met. She had to have been in a few pieces at least. That was just the type of girl he went for. She seemed to have pulled herself together by the time I met her though, probably why he lost interest. Now that she was in shambles once again, I wouldn't be surprised if her knight in shining armor came riding home on a white stallion to save her.

I realized I was pacing with each drag I took. She was probably watching horrified that I would let such a toxic substance anywhere near my lips. I didn't look in the car, but walked closer to it until I could sit on the front. One more look of disappoint today would probably be the end of it for me.

I should have knocked on wood, because next I heard the passenger side door open. She was coming out to yell at me. She sat down next to me, and I finally made eye contact. Her eyes were red and her heart was racing. She looked like she needed a smoke more than I did.

"I could probably answer the question myself, but do you want one?"

I watched as she considered it. It wasn't a quick no, she'd put some thought into this. Maybe she wasn't the goody-goody I thought she was.

"I figured I'd ask. Everything else seems to have gotten really fucked up. Backwards, even."

I stuffed my lighter and pack into my front pocket and walked back into the car. It was almost three, and school was just getting out for the rest of Degrassi High. I had to get home to check on my Mom. She worked the night-shift at this really shitty diner on the edge of town. If I wasn't home by four to wake her up, the junkie would probably lose her job. This was all something I didn't want to explain to Emma of course, so I just asked her where she lived and brought her home.

Her house was so typical. I was hoping there would be a broken window, a dusty porch, anything to show that she wasn't living in complete perfection, but it was flawless. I shouldn't have expected any less.

"Thanks...you know, for the ride. And everything."

"You can pay me later."

She got out of the car, but turned back around and opened the door back up before leaving.

"Well, now you know where to find me if you ever see a tree in peril."

"And you know how to get to me if you are ever in desperate need of a candy bar."

Was it possible that the only person on my side right now was my worst enemy?