Disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi or any of the songs or song titles used in the story.

A/N: Finally. I've actually begun to post my JTEmma story. I have an issue with commitment on chapter stories it seems… I have most of the others done so updating should be frequent. This story will not really follow the actual season four, with what happened in "Secret" and "Back In Black". But I did decide to incorporate the shooting.

This whole thing leads up to what happened in My Last Breath, just any case anyone is curious.

Enjoy.

I lay on my bed, tangled up in the thin white sheets, thoroughly exhausted from the day's events. Another round of counseling had taken its toll on my mental stamina. They all claimed that talking helps, but so far talking had only made me relive the experience, more graphic and realistic with each visit. But nobody seemed to care how it was affecting me, everyone was more concerned about the victim, Jimmy, and Toby, Rick's only real friend.

No one cared about Emma Nelson…

This was slowly becoming a fact of life that I found myself having to get used to. With Jack constantly needing attention and the mini soap opera occurring at Degrassi since the shooting, I was just a minor nuisance. They all thought thatthrowing a little counseling at me would make everything better.

Suddenly, the sound of Lifehouse's "Hanging By a Moment" began to play in my room. I looked over and grabbed my cell phone as it rang out the melody to the song. Hitting the green button, I held it up to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Emma?" A familiar voice sounded from the receiver.

"Hey J.T…." I muttered, the exhaustion taking an effect on my vocal chords.

"Sorry for calling so late…. I just wanted to see how you were holding up."

"I'm fine. Just tired, it's been another long day."

"Good. I was worried about you Em. Well, I'm gonna go, good night Emma."

"Night JT. See you tomorrow."

I hung up, a faint smile on my face.

JT had been the only one who had actually fulfilled the definition of being a true friend since the crisis. He'd understood that I wanted to remain silent when everyone else was begging me to talk. He'd even made me laugh the day after the shooting, when I had to return to the very hall I had witnessed a fellow student shot.

As I finally set the cell phone back down on my bedside table, I glanced over at my clock, resting on my bedside table. The neon numbers glowed "12:43". Great, another night of insomnia, at this rate I could probably set a record for least amount of sleep.

After several moments of silently willing my legs to move, I unwrapped the sheets from around the lower half of my body and brought my bare feet down on the stiff carpet flooring.

My fingers grazed over the collection of objects covering the top of my dresser, a stale bag of chips, a worn copy of Chicken Soup for the Environmentalist's Soul, the bracelet I had lost a month ago, ah, and a stack of CD cases. I picked up the top CD and brought it within millimeters of my eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of the artist's name amidst the blackness of my room. The cover of the case lacked too much color to see anything so I flipped it over to reveal "page avenue" written in a big blaring white font.

I smiled faintly. Nothing like Story of The Year to bring a person out of a state of depression.

I moved my fingers over to the large black box sitting on the dresser and groped the front of my boom box to find the on switch. My fingers grazed over it and flipped the switch, causing the buttons to light up. I pressed open and slid the CD in. After closing the CD cover down I brought my face to the front of the boom box, squinting to see the faintly glowing numbers in the dark. I pushed the forward button a few times to get to number six and hit play.

I then stumbled over to my bed and slipped in it, dragging the thin covers over my shoulders as the familiar lyrics of Swallow the Knife washed over me.

"So swallow the knife
Carve the way for your pride
As we pray for night
To start over again…"

I closed my eyes, letting the sound carry me off to sleep, away from the world ofof stressI was living in.

Hopefully tomorrow would be better.