A/N: Thanks for the reviews everyone. Hope you all like the next chapter!

Stop it. Stop staring at her. Sean Cameron tried to look away, but he couldn't. Damn it, Cameron, would you stop staring at Emma? It was just that she looked so different. So empty. It was if she had stopped caring. As if she had stopped feeling. It wasn't the Emma he knew. She's worried, worried about Snake. That's all. He tried to convince himself that Snake's cancer was why Emma was so depressed, but Sean knew that it wasn't that. It was his fault as well. Not only had he dumped her in front of Jay and his gang, but he watched silently as Jay tormented her every day.

The bell rang, and Sean watched as Emma gathered her books and started to walk out the door. Kwan stopped her and asked her if she was all right.

Emma smiled, a smile so different than the smiles that Sean remembered. Then Sean realized it was faked.

"I'm fine, Ms. Kwan. Just a little tired. But thanks for asking. See you tomorrow."

Sean knew Emma wasn't fine. He watched as she moved silently down the hallways like a ghost.

"Cameron!" Sean turned. It was Jay, followed closely by Alex, Amy, and Towerz. Sean nodded in acknowledgment at Jay, and then slipped into the group. Jay noticed Emma walking up ahead, and smiled. "Oh, good. I've been lookin' for someone to yell at."

"Maybe we should just leave her alone." Sean said casually, as if he really couldn't care less.

Jay laughed shortly. "You hot for the tree hugger? Again? What about the vampire?"

Sean shrugged. "We broke up. And you know I can't stand Emm- her. It's just, it's stupid. Gets boring, messing with her every day."

"If you'd rather go hang with someone else, go right ahead." Jay wasn't joking anymore. Sean didn't say anything in response. "Yeah, I thought so."

Sean watched as Jay started teasing Emma about- what else? The environment. Then her looks. Sean wanted to stop Jay, wanted to tell him how beautiful she was. No, he wanted to tell Emma how beautiful she was. Tell her how every single night, he dreamed about her. Tell her how much he missed her, how worried he was about her. He wanted to tell her that sometimes, when he was kissing Ellie, he would close his eyes so tightly and pretend he was kissing Emma instead. He wanted to tell her that he loved her, that he had always loved her. He wanted to tell her that when Ellie had called it quits, he had waited for the pain to hit him. And that when he felt no emotions at all, that was the moment he realized that he couldn't live without her. He wanted to tell Emma everything. And more than anything, he wanted her to love him. He needed her to love him.

Emma suddenly slammed her locker. "Fuck you." That was unexpected. Sean had never heard Emma swear before, and to say something like that to Jay. You just didn't do it. Emma looked at Sean. He felt a jolt running through him. "Fuck you all."

So she still hated him. That hurt. She ran off, and instantly he started to follow her. Jay grabbed his arm, holding him back.

"You're not seriously going to follow her," he said, smiling uncertainly.

Sean jerked his arm away. "I'll be right back." He turned around, and ran after Emma.

xXx

Sean had dreams that went just like this. Dreams in which he would follow Emma, and talk to her, and he would know exactly what to say. But this wasn't a dream. He followed Emma as she walked down into an empty hallway, watched as she leaned against a locker. He walked over to her.

"Hey," he said, hoping she wouldn't be mad.

Emma looked at him and narrowed her eyes. "Leave me alone."

Ah, well. He knew it wouldn't be easy. "Nah, I'm good here. I want to talk to you."

"Now you want to talk to me? I practically begged you to talk to me a few months ago. What did you do? You dumped me in front of all your stupid friends, ignored me, and then spat in my face."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorrier than you can even imagine." Please believe me he silently begged.

"You're always sorry! Always! I'm so tired of you being sorry!"

"Well, what am I supposed to say?"

"Nothing! Don't say anything! Just leave me the hell alone like you usually do!"

Did she have to be so goddamned stubborn? "Look, I'm just trying to do the right thing!" he said a little louder than he meant to.

Emma snorted. "For the first time in your entire life."

"Why are you like this?" he yelled.

"Like what?"

"Like, the way you judge me! The way you think you're so much better than me, acting as if our break-up was completely my fault. What about you? Maybe if you actually had time to spend five minutes with me we'd still be together!"

Emma threw her books at the locker as hard as she could. "I'M SORRY!" she yelled so loudly a couple of students poked their heads in and out of the classroom. Sean jumped back, startled by her outburst. Then just as sudden, her anger seemed to fall away, as if her mask was finally slipping. Emma burst into tears, and slipped down the locker sobbing quietly. Sean sat down next to her, and loosely put his arms around her, waiting to see if she would push him away. When she slipped her arms around his neck, he pulled her onto his lap and held her tightly.

"It never stops," she sobbed.

"Shh...it's okay. It's okay," he comforted.

"I get up, take care the baby, go to school and basically let Jay torment me, work for hours, come home exhausted, but I have to take care of the baby again, then at about midnight I get into bed, but I can't sleep. I can't sleep at night, Sean. I get about four hours sleep if I'm lucky. Then it all starts over again. Every day. This happens every day. Every day of my life." She pushed her face into his shirt and cried even harder. She felt so weak. And Sean knew, he could tell that she had been broken. Because when you put the pieces back together, you're never quite the same as you used to be. "I can't do it. I just can't do it anymore," she cried. Sean rubbed small circles onto her back and held her tighter. She buried her head into his neck. She felt so cold against his skin, yet he felt as if she had burned a mark onto his skin. They sat there, holding each other, until Emma suddenly pulled away.

"No," she said shaking her head. "Not again." She pulled away from him.

He looked at her. "I'm sorry."

"Just...just go away."

"Not a chance." Emma looked away, suddenly interested in the back wall.

"Emma. Emma, look at me." He grabbed her wrist, and she tugged her hand back. "Leave me alone!" she snapped. But when she jerked her hand back, her sleeve had pulled back reveling her arm. Her arm...

There was angry red scars up and down her arm. No. Not Emma. Sean felt sick at the thought of Emma hurting herself. Emma tried to cover up the marks, but he wouldn't let her.

"Em," he said, his voice slightly shaking.

"Sometimes I have to cut myself to make sure that I'm still human. To make sure that I'll still bleed, that I'm still capable of feeling pain," she whispered. She jumped up.

"I have to go. I'm late for class."

"Don't walk away from me," he said.

She looked him in the eyes, and he could see her anger returning. "You walked away from me. Why can't I walk away from you?"

Sean tried to think of the right answer. Because I want to help you, because I want to talk, because I need you. Then he realized he was being selfish. "You're right. You should. You should walk away from me and never look back."

Emma looked surprised. She took a step closer. "At midnight, come to my home. I'll leave my bedroom window open and my lights on. We can talk then."

She turned her back to him and started to walk to her class. But she didn't just walk away. Before she turned the corner she looked back. "Thank you," she said. Then she smiled. Sean took that smile and tucked it deep within his heart.

A/N: Don't forget to review!