A/N: Thanks for the reviews. Here's chapter 2.
Disclaimer: I don't own D: TNG.
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"Miss Santos, these grades are unacceptable. They're dropping, steadily, but they are. You'll need to do some extra credit if you don't want to fail my class. I know the Yearbook committee offers extra credit, along with the Math Club and the School Newspaper. I don't think you'll be able to manage my class without it. You might want to consider signing up for one of the clubs, or you might face yourself in summer school."
Manny Santos rolled her eyes. A 70 wasn't THAT bad. Oh yeah, that was her grade without her missing assignments. She sighed. "Okay, Mr. Simpson, I'll join one of these so-called clubs. Will that make you happy?"
Mr. Simpson kind of half-smiled at her, amused. "Yes. And I don't want to give you a final grade that isn't above a 75, so I suggest you work hard."
Manny turned and walked out of the classroom, heading for her locker. Eyes stared as she crossed the hall. 'What?' Manny thought, 'I'm not dressing in anything like I used to... and the whole talk about Ashley and Craig has died down a little bit... I wish they'd stop looking at me, I'm not a slut or anything.'
Manny found that each day she became more and more depressed because of her actions in the past and the way people were treating her, like she was dirt or something. It caused her to loose a lot of self confidence. Manny turned the dial to her locker quickly, or she was going to be late to English. After successfully opening it, Manny grabbed her books and practically sprinted down the hall. On the way, she knocked into someone, her binder and books sliding across the floor.
"Oh, shit," She muttered softly, reaching for all the papers that had come loose. "Sorry," Manny said louder, looking up to see who she had run into. Ashley.
She stopped in the middle of helping Manny pick up her books and dropped it disgustedly. "Oh. It's you."
Manny tried to ignore the hate in Ashley's voice as she stacked all of her things back up again on top of her binder. She stood up, barely reaching Ashley's neck. "Look, Ash-"
"Save it," Ashley said loudly, cutting her off. "I don't want to hear anything from you." She spat out the last word like it was poison and stormed off down the hall.
Manny clutched her things to her chest, tears welling up in her eyes. She had had the worst day today, and the day before, that the littlest things now made her back down in hurt and fear rather than defend herself and get angry. She turned into the girl's washroom on the right instead of entering her classroom on the left. The bell had just rung anyway, if she was going to be late why not take advantage of it?
Manny dropped her things on the floor and locked herself in a stall, curling her legs to her chest on top of the toilet. Tears started streaming down her face, making her black mascara run with it.
'Why me?' Manny thought, 'Why do I have to go through this? I'm sorry! I'm sorry, God! I never meant to hurt anyone, or do anything wrong. I want to take it all back, I really want to forget all that's happened. Why can't I just drop it? This pain hurts so much.'
She sniffed as more tears spilled across her cheeks. The bathroom door opened, and Manny held her breath, trying to stay as quiet as possible. Footsteps echoed across the tile, stopping at her door. Manny closed her eyes, praying the person wasn't going to say anything to her.
"Manny?"
The voice brought thousands and thousands of memories back to Manny. She knew exactly who it was. No one could mistake that voice, not even Sean could at this point.
"I'm fine," Manny said stubbornly, not moving an inch. "Go away."
Emma sighed from the other side of the door. "Come out. Please. I want to talk to you."
Slowly, and unwillingly, Manny slid down off the seat and opened the door. She grabbed her stuff off the floor and pushed past Emma, throwing her things on the sink counter.
Eyeing Emma through the mirror in front of her, Manny says. "You said you wanted to talk. So, talk."
Emma sighed. There was a long silence, Manny staring down at the faucet in front of her, Emma looking at Manny's face through the mirror.
"What happened between us?" Emma asked, in a voice barely above a whisper.
Manny looked up. Emma was staring intently at her. "I don't know," she replied, in the same, barely audible voice. "I guess we both just saw our differences more than our similarities and split from there."
"Oh...yeah."
Another awkward silence followed as each girl looked nervously around the room.
"Are you okay?"
Manny looked up at the voice. Emma seemed to genuinely care about her well-being. Manny opened her mouth and was about to say she was fine, and that nothing could be better, even though that was a blatant lie. She didn't need Emma worrying about her, though, or even really caring.
Or did she?
"No," Manny said truthfully. Her voice had gone back to barely above a whisper. She cleared her throat and continued clearly. "I'm not okay. Since Christmas, I've been struggling with people calling me 'slut' and 'whore', and the break up with my boyfriend. My dead beat, crappy boyfriend. The one I stole from Ashley and never even ended up with. My life has been a living hell, worse than anyone else could ever imagine."
Emma bit her tongue. She had never heard Manny open up like this before.
"I hate myself. I really, really hate myself. I've never felt like this before, Emma. I'm scared... really scared. I hate what I've become, I hate how I act, I hate how I dress...I hate everything about me, yet I still continue to dress like a slut. And I'm so tired of myself... I can't figure out what's happening. I really want to change, I do, but the other part of me wants me to stay like this so I can have attention from guys. I don't get the comfort or love I need at home, so I depend on guys for that. I don't understand, Emma, I don't understand why I've done this to myself. So many people want to turn and blame God, or someone else's actions... but I know I've done this to myself. I have completely and totally destroyed myself."
Tears freely fell from Manny's cheeks. She turned, now looking Emma directly in the eye. "I don't want to live like this."
"Manny, I'm so, so, sorry. For anything I've said-"
Emma couldn't finish her sentence as Manny collapsed in a heap of tears onto Emma, hugging her tightly. She slowly returned the hug, placing her hands on Manny's back.
"Don't be sorry," Manny whispered in between sobs, "If anyone should be sorry, it's me."
Emma just let her cry, because right then, it seemed like what a true friend would do.
--xxx—
"Well, I guess that's all the time we have for today, but I'll see you guys tomorrow." Chairs slid across the tile and everyone started talking and making little huddles around the room. Marco's heart beat fast against his chest as Dylan came over to him from across the room.
"Hey," Dylan greeted, smiling. Marco melted.
"Oh, uh, hey," he said, almost positive his cheeks were bright red.
"Do you want a ride home? I don't need to be anywhere, and I know it's a pain walking," Dylan offered, pulling his car keys out of his pocket.
"Oh, yeah, sure," Marco said nervously, grinning.
The two walked in silence out of the room, but in the hall Dylan started a conversation. "So, how are you liking the yearbook team so far? I mean, I know it's only your second day, but what do you think so far?"
"It's... fun. I really enjoy doing stuff like yearbooks, because I think it's so much fun to put different pictures together and work mostly on the computer. It's so... high tech, and... fun."
Dylan smiled again. "Yeah, it's awesome. I was about to not sign up for the committee, but I figured, hey, it's my last year, I might as well make an impact on my last yearbook."
"Yeah." Marco laughed nervously.
They headed out the double doors, to Dylan's car. Marco got into the passenger's seat as Dylan climbed in the driver's.
Just as he was about to start the ignition, Dylan turned to Marco. "You know what? I'm really craving some sherbet. You wouldn't want to go out for ice cream with me... would you?"
"Oh! Uh, sure!" Marco said, probably a little too enthusiastic than he should have.
Dylan laughed. "Okay, great. Benny's Ice Cream Parlor it is."
--x---
A/N: Ack, I know, awful stopping point, but it IS longer... I think... hehe, so anyway, click that super purple button... come on, you know you want to... it's calling your name... Hehe, just review. I'll give out cupcakes. Kaitlin only gives out cookies, but with ME you get cupcakes. Super stuff! Haha, I'm only kidding Kaitlin, I love your cookie schemes XD They're super!!! :D REVIEW!