Chapter 12

OUTSIDE

Manny didn't know what to think as she was walking down the apartment steps. Her tears had dried against her face. She was so confused about what had just happened. For a second she wanted to turn around to go back up and just hug Craig like she usually does. That didn't seem appropriate though because she had no idea what she would say to him. She wasn't thinking clearly because although she was coming down, she was still a little high. She desperately wanted to make sense of all this but she had no one to talk to. She thought of the one person that probably knew her best and headed there.

Meanwhile Craig was really beating himself up about what he did. He started to feel very guilty but he didn't know exactly why. He meant everything that he said to her. He started thinking that since Manny said the things that she said she must have not felt loved by him or something. "Manny is probably never going to talk to me again." He thought to himself. "I've fucked up such a good thing. I really wish she knew how much I love her." He tried calling her but she wouldn't answer. About 20 minutes later Trish came back. The kitchen was a mess and Craig looked different.

"What happened here?" Trish asked curiously.

Craig didn't answer her.

"Craig what's wrong? What happened?"

"Me and Manny got into a fight." Craig said softly but still with a cracky voice.

"Where is Manny?"

"I don't know. She left afterwards."

"Well what did you do to her?"

"Nothing. I didn't do anything to her." He said as if he felt interrogated.

"Well it doesn't look like that."

"What are you trying to say Trish? Do you think I hurt her something?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking."

Craig just sat down to think about what he was going to do to try and fix everything. Trish tried calling Manny but she wasn't answering her calls either.

"I'm gonna go try and find her. If she calls you tell her to call me." Craig told Trish.

EMMA'S HOUSE

Manny decided to talk to Emma. They had always been such good friends in the past. When she got to the door she hesitated. Her and Emma had not spoken in so long. She knocked anyway. It didn't take long for Emma to come to the door. When she answered the door she couldn't believe it was Manny. She had changed so much. She looked like shit. She was skinnier and had dark circles under her eyes. Her hair was a little messy. She was shaky.

"Manny." Emma said.

"Hey Em."

"Hey. Uh what's going on?"

"Nothing I just hadn't seen you in forever. I just wanted to come visit you."

"Well come in."

The two girls went down to Emma's basement.

"Manny, what's been going on with you lately?" Emma said concerned.

"Nothing much. What about you?"

"Same. Haven't seen you in school lately."

"I've ummm been busy."

"How's Craig been doing?"

Manny didn't say anything. She sat on the bed and started to cry a little.

"Manny what's wrong?" Emma said as she sat on the bed next to her.

"Things are so fucked up Em. Everything."

"Everything like what."

"Everything."

"Well what's going on?"

Manny told Emma about Kyle, how Craig was there for her, the drugs, how she got kicked out, and what happened with Craig just now and everything.

"Craig raped you?" Emma said while standing up.

"Craig didn't rape me Emma. It was nothing like that."

"You're doing drugs with him?"

"Emma why are you trying to make Craig seem like a bad guy? Doing drugs was a mutual thing."

"Nothing good has come from you being with him ever."

Manny got up and headed upstairs.

"Manny where are you going?" Emma asked.

"It was a mistake for me to come here. I knew that you wouldn't understand."

"Manny c'mon. You can stay here. Like old times. Manny."

Manny was already gone. Manny felt as if she had no one. She really wished that she didn't have to deal with any of the things that she had to deal with. Her high had completely worn off and she was thrown back to reality. She hated reality and wanted to escape it. She had never really got drugs before by herself but she was going to attempt to. She remembered where one dealer that her and Trish went to lived. That was her next stop.