It wasn't days later that she started to feel regret about opening her house to Manny. She talked all night, always asked questions about where Emma had gone, or planned to go, and her Mom had started to treat Manny as if she was the daughter they'd been raising all these years.
"Honey, I don't understand how Manny has hours of homework in front of her every afternoon, and you have enough time to be in all these clubs, and participate in activities until late into the day. Aren't you two in some of the same classes?" Spike asked her.
All of the same classes, actually.
"No, Mom. I get my work done, you know, study hall. And come on, you know Manny, she's not…the brightest bulb in the bunch. Just because it takes her three hours to get through pre-calculus, doesn't mean it will take me the same," I replied. "Plus, have I ever given you a reason to worry about my grades? Wait, don't answer that, but you saw my progress report, A's across the board, I'm doing fine and helping to save the environment at the same time."
Environmental Crusader Emma Nelson had vanished a long time ago. The trees were going to die, just like everything else; there was no point in trying to delay the inevitable. Sean was right when he shouted those words to me. I was a babysitter, a nurse, a nerd, and whatever else he called me. I'd forgotten how to have fun, and he risked his life to save some no-fun, boring, mind-numbing girl. Well no more, life was about having fun in any way that you can. Sean had fun busting up vending machines with some wannabe gang members, and I fun any time I wasn't trapped between the walls of this house.
"Manny, could you know, not sit at the kitchen table for six hours under the rouse of doing homework? My parents are starting to ask questions," Emma said, in an angered tone.
"Em, Mr. Simpson, your Dad, he's great with helping me. You know I have to keep my grades up if I want to go to University. I'm not smart like you, Emma, it takes me a long time to do it all," Manny replied.
"Funny, you never seemed to care until you moved in here."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You should know by now, shouldn't you? It all relates for your deep-rooted need for attention. Do you homework, Manny, it's still not going to make my parents love you more than me."
"Thanks, Em. You're real supportive."
"Supportive? I'll tell you what supportive is. Supportive is Grade 8, having the biggest crush in the world on Craig Manning. Day-dreaming about him, telling you how much I cared about him, and sneaking to the Grade 9 dance, just to get a chance at seeing him. Supportive is when he asks you to dance, instead of me, nodding my head to tell you I was okay with it. But do you know what I did that night? Do you even care? I went home and cried on my bed for hours. Because I was jealous of you, Manny Santos, I was jealous. Isn't that your classic line? Well you know what, maybe you're right, everyone is jealous that they aren't naïve enough to walk around in barely any clothing and steal other people's boyfriends. They are jealous that they know better, and therefore have no excuse. And you know what, the night I found you two on my bed, after you'd ditched me, yet again, forgiving you for that, that was support. Then you found out you were pregnant, right? I was there for you then, too. And let's fast-forward to now, just to see if anything's changed. I spend all summer crushing on one guy, one guy you promise me you have no interest in. But, of course, as always, you do. And you take him up to some room and let him film you while you take off your clothing. How do I react? By letting you live in my damn house. That's what support is, Manny Santos," Emma's voice was cracking as she spoke.
"Wow, Em. That's a pretty good recap of everything that I've done wrong the past few years. I'm not perfect like you are, tall, brainy, blonde. I don't have the same support system…" Manny trailed off as she spoke through tears.
"It's not about what I have, you know that. It's about you. All I'm saying, all I'm asking, is that you let me have my time. It's my turn to be care-free, and do things how I want to do them. You can't get mad at me for it," Emma said.
"Fine," Manny said as she climbed up the stairs.