Emma finally stopped crying long enough to realize the state of her house. There were about 20 empty Smirnoff bottles, and tons of plastic cups. The empty bottles of Malibu, Absolut, and Jack Daniels still stood on the kitchen counter. They walked around with two garbage bags, picking up every bit of trash they could find. Finally, the house bore no evidence of a party. The girls walked down to the garage can at the end of the driveway, quickly realizing the full bags wouldn't fit inside.
"Maybe we should just leave them next to the garbage can," Manny suggested. "That's what we always do if we have too much trash."
"But what if my mom sees the bottles?" She groaned. "I'm so screwed!"
Just then Chuck came waling around the corner.
"Need help, ladies?"
"Yeah, what should we do with all of this?" Emma asked. Manny seemed to be avoiding his gaze.
"How much room do you have in your trash?"
"It's about half-way full. But I can't put all the bottles on top, the next time Snake takes out the trash he'll see them!"
Chuck kicked over her garbage can, trash spilling out everywhere. He took some of the bottles and put them at the bottom of the garbage can, covering them with the rest of the trash. Emma marveled at his genius.
"Now we do the same at our house."
"Your house?" What Emma really wanted to know was, did this involve seeing Chester?
"Yeah."
They walked around the corner to his house, covering up the rest of the bottles, and most of the plastic cups. Chuck stood back to admire his work before turning back to the girls. "Now as for the rest of this crap... Manny how far away do you live?"
"What?" She took a minute to answer, still not looking him in the eye. "Oh, not far. Ten blocks, maybe?"
"Well, lucky for you, I have a car." He went over to the garage, entered the security code, and started a red Toyota Camry. He beckoned for them to get in.
They cruised along to Manny's house, emptied her garbage cans, and piled the cups and other trash into it, covering it up with her regular garbage.
"Now what?" said Emma.
"Now... we go home and take a shower." He laughed. "Manny, are you coming back to Emma's?"
"Umm... no, It's fine."
"But Manny all your stuff is there!"
"I'll come by and get it later. My parents will be home soon."
"Okay... bye." Emma got back in Chuck's car and they drove to his house, parking in the garage. Chester was waiting.
"Chuck, where have you been I needed the car!" he saw Emma. "Oh. Chuck, she's getting with you now, too?"
"Stop being an ass. I was helping her clean up last night's mess." He stepped up to Chester and glared at him. Chester grabbed the car keys from him, got in, and sped away.
Emma started walking home. She saw Darcy walking into the corner store down the block. Tears sprang to her eyes. She walked up to her house to find Joey dropping off Spike, Snake, and Jack.
"Bye Joey!" Spike waved as Joey drove off slowly. "Emma! I'm so glad to be home."
"Why was Joey here?"
"He drove picked us up at the train station. You must have wondered why the car was in the garage," Snake told her.
"Oh," she said flatly. "I didn't check."
"Em, what's wrong, baby? You look upset." Spike could always tell when something was wrong. "Here, Archie, take him." Snake took Jack and went inside the house.
"It's nothing, mom." Emma's voice was shaking. "Just the normal drama."
Spike gave her daughter a hug, knowing not to pry anymore. It was just what Emma needed.

That night Emma could hear the distant sound of music coming from Chester's house. Was he throwing a party? Maybe. Not that he would've told her. She lay awake, tossing and turning, pulling the covers over her head. Anything to drown out the laughter and music. Suddenly, she heard a tap on the window. She sat up, breathing heavily. She slowly turned to face the window, and saw Chad motioning wildly for her to open it. She walked over to it and slid it up.
"Hey Emma," Chad slid into her room. "You feel like partying tonight?"
"At your house? Chester wouldn't want me there."
"It's not just his party. It's mine and Chuck's, too. And we want you there."
She smiled. "The neighborhood is gonna hate us. Two parties right after each other?"
"So are you coming or not?"
She thought for a minute. "Yeah."
He grinned. "Meet me out front in ten minutes."
Chad went back outside, leaving the window open for Emma to sneak out of. She found a pair of jeans on top of the dryer, and opened her drawer and put on a white Hollister shirt with pink lettering. She put on some eyeliner and mascara, and snuck out.

She met Chad out in front of his house, as planned. He grabbed her waist, and led her in the house.
It was busier than Emma's party had been, but then again there were three groups of people- Chester's friends, Chad's grade 12 friends, and Chuck and his friends, who spent every night partying and getting ready for college. Emma was in kind of a daze; there were so many people here she didn't recognize, and it seemed as if every time she saw a girl and guy together, they were hooking up. In front of everybody. Someone handed Chad two Mike's Hard Lemonades. He opened them and handed one to Emma. She took a sip, vowing not to get drunk two nights in a row. She would control herself tonight.
"I would've told you about the party earlier, but Chuck kind of surprised us," Chad explained. "He said he was gonna have his friends over, and so me and Chester decided to have people over, too."
Emma nodded. Speaking of Chester, where was he?
"You wanna go downstairs?" Chad looked so hopeful Emma couldn't say no.
They walked through a crowd of slutty girls doing body shots off each other while a few excited guys looked on. Two girls started making out with each other, clearly pleased with all of the attention they were getting.
Chad lead Emma down to his basement. There was another full living room down there. People were dancing to blasting hip-hop music, there was even a strobe light going, making everything seem to be going in slow motion. A couple was heavily making out on the couch. There was a closed off room in the corner. Chad opened the door. It was just a small laundry room. A washer, dryer, and two huge baskets, one filled with clean clothes and the other with dirty ones. He closed the door behind them.
Emma hopped up onto the dryer. Chad was so tall they were exactly face-to-face. He leaned in and kiss her, she kissed him back. It was warm and sensual, but soon got very heated. She slid off the dryer and into his arms. For some reason there was a beanbag chair in the corner, and they moved their make-out session onto the chair. it was even better than the last time; for one thing, Emma was much more sober and could appreciate their connection.

They emerged upstairs a half hour later, smiling. The two girls who had been making out with each other were now on top of some "lucky" guy, taking turns making out with him and stopping every few minutes or so to make out with each other again. Chad pulled her to a less pornographic area, the kitchen. There were a few people in there, drinking from plastic cups. Paige and Hazel stood by the fridge talking to Jimmy and Marco. Emma could hear bits and pieces of their conversation.
"Marco, Dylan's ready for a commitment with you. Isn't that what you wanted?"
"Yeah, Paige. Wanted. Past tense. He didn't want to be exclusive. And I did. But now I'm just fine without him."
Paige's reply was interrupted by a loud yell.
"YOU!"
Emma turned around; Chester was in the kitchen doorway pointing at her. Chad stepped protectively in front of her. "Lay off. I invited her."
"Chester stormed over. "How dare you bring her here! After what she did to me! And Darcy!"
"Look, Chester. You and Darcy hooked up, me and Emma hooked up."
"The only reason she hooked up with you was to get me jealous!"
"Well, then it's working because you seem pretty jealous to me!" Chad said hotly.
A small voice came from the doorway. "You do seem jealous, Chester."
Emma turned again. Darcy, just great.
"It was a nasty thing to do, yelling at us," she said, stepping forward, "but why do you care so much if she hooks up with Chad? Unless you like her." She cocked her head quizitively to the side.
"No... no, of course not, Darce." He seemed to be tripping on his words.
"Then let if go. If you don't like her, then you shouldn't care so much."
"Right. Absolutely right. Let's go." He grabbed Darcy's arm and they headed downstairs.
Emma's face burned. She walked over to the fridge and opened it, taking out a Smirnoff. She could feel Paige and Hazel's eyes following her. Why did the two biggest gossipers in DeGrassi history have to witness every pivotal moment of Emma's summer?

Emma stayed long enough to finish her Smirnoff and give Chad a hug before she headed home. She snuck back in through the basement window and changed into an over-sized tee. She laid on her bed, expecting another sleepless night analyzing Chester's actions, but she was so tired she fell asleep as soon as she hit the pillow.