A/N: This is a Ms. Sauve chapter. In this chapter, the students continue where they left off, as we go further into their feelings about the shooting. Thanks for feedback! Thank you! By the way, updates are probably going to take a little longer between chapters starting next week. Unfortunately, summer vacation is officially over, and I have to go back to school – which will cut into the amount of time I have for writing. But I promise to try to get a chapter a week done! That is my goal – a chapter a week. Anyway, enough about me, it's time for the story!

Chapter 12: The Layers of Truth

My job was hard – there were so many troubled kids in this school, and only one of me. The problem was, I idealistically wanted to save them all. Life would be so easy if I could just wave a magic wand or sprinkle fairy dust or something, and make all the kids in the school better. But it just doesn't work that way. Some days, I felt like I wasn't getting through to anyone. Some days, I felt like I had no real purpose in this school – that all my idealistic thoughts of being the person that the kids could talk to were just a silly childhood dream.

But today, as I listened to the kids in this group – talking, I felt like maybe I wasn't completely useless. These kids who I brought together – they wouldn't have ever talked about any of this before. There were still a couple of students that weren't really talking about anything – but Spinner and Jimmy were currently talking about things honestly – they were actually dealing with the feelings of guilt and betrayal that had destroyed their friendship. They were getting beyond those surface layers of truth that we use to shield ourselves from the painful things underneath. For the first time in a long time, I felt like my job had a purpose. I felt slightly better about what I devoted my life to doing.

I sat back and just listened to what the kids were saying. It was only the second session, and they were actually talking – I felt very encouraged about that.

Spinner's head was currently on his desk, and he was crying. I glanced at the other students – Jimmy was looking away from Spinner with an angry look on his face, Toby was looking at Spinner thoughtfully – but is was the looks on the other two kids faces that surprised me. Jay was looking at Spinner – well, I don't know quite how to describe the look on his face, but if I had to guess, I would say that he was looking at Spinner sympathetically. Which completely surprised me, because from past experiences in trying to counsel Jay, I had thought that feelings of sympathy and empathy were things he had never learned. As much as that surprised me, I was even more surprised by the look on Emma's face, as she looked at Spinner, who was crying. She looked so guilty as she looked at him. I wondered why she looked that way.

I started to say something, to try to comfort Spinner, but Emma's words interrupted me before I could say anything.

"It's not all your fault, Spinner. It was never all your fault." She said, as Spinner lifted his head up off the table, and wiped the tears off his face with the back of his hand.

"Yes it was!" He said.

I watched, surprised, as Emma started to cry.

"No it wasn't. I could have done something – I could have said something different. I could have stopped him." She said, as tears started to roll down her cheeks.

All of the guys in the group looked at her, surprised, and concerned – even Jay.

"Emma" Toby said, "You couldn't have done anything. He was pushed over the edge. You couldn't have stopped him."

"You just don't get it, Toby. Nobody gets it – nobody knows. It was my fault he went home and got that gun. It was all my fault!" She said, and got up from her chair, pushing it back roughly.

"Emma" I said, as she turned and started to run out of the room. "Emma, wait!" I shouted, but she kept going, out the door. I saw all of the guys look at each other in shock, then look towards me. I was placed in a moment of indecision – should I follow her now, or should I wait to talk to her tomorrow morning? I guessed that she was probably well on her way out the door of the building right now, and decided to give her time to calm down. I would talk to her tomorrow, and find out what she had meant by that statement.

"Well…" I said to the remaining students, who were all looking at me with very concerned eyes "I will talk to her tomorrow – I think she needs some time to calm down." I said.

I saw the boys all watching me, with questions in their eyes. All except for Jay, who was looking at the closed door Emma had exited through, with a hard to read expression in his eyes.

"Ms. Sauve…" Toby started, but trailed off, as if he couldn't think of what to say.

Spinner looked at me for a moment, before he asked the question on everyone's minds. "What was that all about? She didn't do anything – she stood up for him." he said.

Toby looked like he wanted to say something, but didn't speak up. "Toby?" I inquired softly. "Is there something you wanted to say?"

"It's just that – I don't know." Toby said.

"Go ahead Toby. You can talk about anything here." I said.

"It's just that – I think something happened between her and Rick – right after the contest." Toby said, quietly.

"What do you mean?" Jimmy asked. "I remember she ran off with the trophy to give him, after he ran off. I thought she didn't find him."

"I don't know for sure – but I think she did catch up with him. She was acting sort of strange during lunch and when she saw Rick had come back to the school – but I don't know." Toby said.

"Well, Toby, thank you for telling me that." I said, as I looked into Toby's worried eyes. "I'll talk to her tomorrow – see if I can find out what's bothering her." I said.

Toby looked at me for a moment, then spoke again. "I'm just worried about her – you know. She's been acting differently since the shooting, and Manny told me she did something last year that got her into trouble. She's my friend, and I'm worried about her – she just hasn't been the same since the shooting." Toby said, honestly.

"What kind of trouble did she get into?" I asked, hoping to find out so that I could help her deal with that.

"Manny really didn't tell me much – she just said something about Emma making a mistake that she won't talk about – but I've heard the rumors. We've all heard the rumors." He said.

"Yeah, right, like any of us believed THAT about Emma." Jimmy said, with a little laugh.

"What rumors?" Spinner asked, curious.

"I'll make a long story short. Emma, some random guy, bracelets, the ravine, gonorrhea." Jimmy said. "I heard it last year shortly after I came back. Never did hear who the guy supposedly was, but I thought it was completely ridiculous."

Spinner said nothing for a moment, and appeared to be deep in thought.

"Maybe Jay could tell us if the rumor is true or not. After all, didn't I hear something about you, Amy and the Ravine?" Jimmy inquired with a raised eyebrow. "Did you ever get antibiotics for that?"

Jay glared at Jimmy. "Not that it's any of your business – but yeah – I got treated. As to the whole Emma at the ravine thing – are you serious? I never saw her there with some random guy." He said, with a smirk. "The rumors you hear…" he said, and shook his head in amusement.

I looked over at Spinner, and saw him looking at Jay with a look of shock on his face. I wondered what that was all about.

"Well, we should probably talk about something else, now, boys. Rumors are just that, rumors." I said. "We're here to talk about what's real – we're here to talk about the truth."

"What truth is that, Ms. Sauve?" Jay asked with a smirk on his face. "Are you going to start telling us it's ok to cry, now?" Jay asked sarcastically. "Because I've heard that lecture before."

"Jay" I said, warningly.

"No offense, but your sentimental crap is getting on my nerves." Jay stated.

"Jason, that's enough." I said.

"I mean, look at how pathetic this is. Let's see – we have the geek over there – I'm so sad, because my friend was a psycho who died – and we have Wheels here, who is so pissed off at Spinner because he's in a wheelchair and is refusing to admit that he was as much of a big, bad bully as Spin and I. And we have Spinner here, whose constant crying is getting on my nerves – somebody get the big baby a pacifier or something." Jay said.

"That's enough, Jay." I said, angry. "You can leave now, if you can't contribute anything worthwhile to this discussion."

He got up and smiled at me, as he walked out the door. "But remember, Mr. Hogart – I'll be documenting this for Mr. Simpson. He'll have a little talk to you about RESPECT." I thought I saw him pause slightly at my words, but continued to open the door, and exit the room.

I looked at the last three students left in the room, and I thought about Jay's exit. I couldn't shake the feeling that I had just been manipulated into kicking him out. I pushed that thought out of my head, as I looked at my remaining three students. I still had three students left, and they all needed to talk – and that's what I'm here for – to listen.