Chapter 3
Emily lifted her head from her pillow, and smiled as she looked over at the calendar on her wall.

"It's Derek's birthday." she whispered, and hopped out of bed. She pulled her clothes on, then her shoes, and jogged down the steps, straightening her hat on her head. "Mom! I'm gonna go find Derek!" she called, and ran out the door.

"Hey, Derek! Derek!" she called. He turned away from Race, and smiled.

"What?"

"Happy birthday.I made this for you," she said, handing him a little box. Raising his right eyebrow, he opened it, and found a leather eye patch.

"Thanks, sis," he said. He kissed her forehead, and replaced his crappy patch with the one she just gave him.

"No problem, Derek.You're my big brother."

"And you'se my little sister."

"Mom and dad say happy birthday," she said.

"Tell 'em thanks," he said. Emily raised her eyes to Race, and smiled.

"Hiya, Em," he said.

"Hey, Race. Howse it rollin?" she asked.

"Fine. You?"

"Good."

"Listen, Em, you should go home."

"Why, Derek?" "Because.just get outta here!" he said. Emily stumbled back, frightened by her brother. He never told her to just leave, not without a reason.

"Derek, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Go!" he cried. She turned and ran off, crying. He turned back, and said, "I don't want her to get hurt, Race. Whatever you do, don't tell her my reasoning."

Emily sat on the front porch of her house, crying into her hands. "Hey, goily, what's wrong?" a voice asked. Emily choked on her tears, and looked up. She quickly wiped away her tears, and said, "Hi, Cowboy." He walked over and sat beside her. "Alright, what's wrong?" he asked. Emily shrugged. "My brother.Derek loves me, I know that, but today he told me to leave him alone, but without a reason." she said. Jack hesitated, and then put his arm around her shoulder. "Hey, it'll be aight. I'm sure he had a really good reason, but just didn't feel like tellin ya what it was," he said. Emily sniffed, and looked up at him, and said, "You think?" "Yeah, I really do. I mean, I don't know him like you do, or at all, but I know you, and you'se really sweet," he said. Emily smiled, and said, "Thank you, Cowboy." "Emily! Time to come in!" Sarah called. Emily stood up, and said, "Well, I'll see you around, Cowboy." "You too, Emma," he said, and headed off.
Emily lay in her bed that night, and sniffled. "Derek." she whispered. Emily sighed, closed her eyes, and fell asleep. Teddy and Sarah stood in the doorway, and sighed sadly. "She always looked up to him. I wouldn't be surprised if she refused to see him again, or even talk about him," Sarah whispered. Teddy nodded, blew out the lamp, and closed the door as they went downstairs.
Emily jogged down the steps and said, "Mom! I'm goin out!" She then grabbed her jacket, and ran outside without a word from her parents. Emily jogged down the street, hoping to see Jack that morning. She turned her head, and ran into someone. "Oomph! Oh, sorry." she said. "Man, talk about a week." she trailed off, and looked up into Derek's eye. She stumbled back, walked around him, and kept running. Derek turned and looked at her, then sighed sadly as he continued down the street with his papes.
"Ey, Cowboy!" she called. Jack stopped and turned around, then smiled. "Hey, Emma." "I wanted to say.thanks again, for keeping me comp'ny last night." He put his hand up, saying, "No prob.youse me pal, Emmy." She smiled, and said, "Thanks, Cowboy." Jack saw her smile, then looked into her eyes, and saw pain inside. "Hey, you aight?" he asked. Emily shrugged. "I wanna believe I am." "But are you really?" "I don' know." Emily looked up at the sky, and said, "You hungry?" Jack smiled, and said, "Yeah, actually, I am, why?" "Come on, I'll get ya sometin ta eat," she said. He watched as she began to head down the street, and she turned to him, saying, "Well, are you just gonna stand there, or are you going to come with me?" He jogged up, saying, "Goin witchu."
Emily shut the door to her house that night and smiled to herself. Sarah poked her head out of the study, then said, "Where have you been, young lady?" "I was out with a friend, mom. I'm tired, so I'm goin on to bed. Goodnight, mom. Tell papa I said goodnight." Emily headed up the steps, and then into her room. She looked out her window, and saw Jack running down the street, towards the lodging house.and she smiled.