Sean and Emma had settled themselves on a large and comfortable couch, getting comfy in the cushions. They hadn't spoken the whole time so far, leading Emma to think that this confrontation might be a lot stiffer than she wanted. Sean was hunched over, elbow to his knees, breathing deeply.

"So," Emma said happily, "Wasaga Beach, how was it?"

Sean looked up to her ecstatic face, apparently not in the same light mood. Emma compared the two of their expressions: His was grim, brooding, while she had this excited, childish smile plastered on her face. It wasn't a wonder that he looks annoyed.

"Wasaga Beach was good. It was fine. Emma -- Jay, you and Jay, you gave Jay a blow job."

Complete silence. His eyebrows -- his large, bushy eyebrows -- were furrowed, his eyes still, not blinking. It was as if he could never get over this, nothing she said could penetrate though his head. However, Emma's face was emotionless, not in the least bit guilty, even though she knew she was.

"...Sean, I don't want you to be mad. I just -- we weren't even toether at the time, why does it matter?"

"Emma, what's wrong with you? You don't get it? You and Jay, together. It's sick! And you let it happen!"

Nodding, she let her face fall into her hands. Everything, the guilt, the shame, the regret, it all was piling back onto her now. Everything she had worked past in the last few months. It was all coming back because of Sean.

"What is it?" Craig asked sincerely, stepping forward. "Is it something with her mom?"

Manny looked as though she was searching for the words. "Actually, Craig, it involves you, too."

"Well what? What is it?"

"It's a car accident!" Manny shouted as the music volume was turned up. "Joey -- he was driving. But he's okay," she added at Craig's worried face, "Joey's fine. It's just Mr. Simpson."

Craig's eyes widened. "Well, we have to go tell Emma!"

He set off, Manny on his heels, still holding the phone. It was unfortunate that the rave was so large. If it hadn't been, they could have been over to Emma in no time.

"Craig! Aren't you forgetting Ashley?" Manny yelled, hurrying to keep up with him.

Craig couldn't hear what she was saying anymore. Chris and his cousin had turned the volume up so loud he couldn't even hear his own footsteps.

"There it is! There's the door!"

Manny reached for the handle when Craig stopped her.

"Wait! Wait! We don't know what they're doing in there!" he exclaimed.

"Even more reason to go in," Manny reasoned logically.

Craig was still a bit flustered, squeamish, even, but he knew it wasn't the time.

"C'mon, Craig, Mr. Simpson's in a car accident, it's not like she wouldn't want to know!"

Sean laid his hand on Emma's shoulder, massaging it lightly. Emma had been crying for five minutes straight. It was a miracle he had put up with it for so long.

"Sean, thank you, thank you so much. I'm sorry I'm such a mess!" she said, her long fingers wiping away running mascara.

"No, it's no problem, Emma. I shouldn't be mad at you for the whole Jay thing. I mean, it's not like you haven't hear it all before... did you hear your name being called?"

Emma peered over at the door inquisitively. "I don't think so. Why? Did you?"

"Yeah, I just heard it again."

Sean stood and walked over to the door, opening it to reveal Manny and Craig.

Craig had developed this nervous twitch about him by the time Manny spoke up. She took a step forward, extending her arm to Emma, giving her the cell phone back. Curious but concerned, Emma idly took it.

"Manny, what's wrong?"

"It's Snake. Your --" she was in an anxious fret. Looking back to Craig for help, she stuttered a bit. Such horrible news... and here they were with the worst newscaster ever.

"Snake got in a car accident," Craig said. "Him and Joey..."

Why was it that some people (Manny) were terrible at dealing with stress?

Manny had recovered from her spasms by now. "It's okay, Emma, he's in the hospital already."

Understandably, Emma looked worried. Then, to Craig's discomfort, Sean took Emma's hand, trying to soothe her. It wasn't like Craig was this big stud or anything -- but how could he make this seem good? It wasn't like he bragged or anything -- but if he did -- he could just imagine himself --

Emma Nelson? Oh, really, you know her? Yeah, she spent last night crying on my shoulder. That's right. Mine. She was upset about her dad, so I just gave her a hug while Sean stood pointlessly by...

That was the geekiest fantasy ever.

Manny stepped forward again, taking Emma's arm considerately then speaking delicately, "Em, your mom said to just go on about as normal. To go to Craig's... umm, Mrs. Valaz should be dropping the kids off and... Em, I'm really sorry."

She truly did look it. Emma smiled slightly at Sean and detatched their hands, turning back to Manny and embracing her in a hug. So, great -- no, really, great -- Craig was the only one going to survive leaving the room with absolutely no physical contact.

"Do you think you could come by Craig's house and stay there for a while?"

"Well, it's up to Craig. He's got to go to Ashley's, right?"

Emma, Manny and Sean all stared at him, wanting an answer. Craig noticed this a bit late.

"Oh! My house? Yeah, sure, go... how long are you gonna be there?"

The girls looked at each other, then back at Craig.

"Eleven?"

Craig nodded. He'd go find Ashley, spend whatever time with her until eleven, then leaveb Manny smiled gratefully, taking hold of a sullen Emma. "Thanks, Craig."

Nodding in reply, Craig sighed, looking away. Well, this night was ruined.

"Jt and Toby!" Emma exclaimed in frustration. "Ugg! C'mon, Manny, we've got to go get them!"

Emma tramped off, now a bit more angry than sad, Manny trotting behind her.

"But -- Em? We don't know where they are!"

"Emma, I'll uh, I'll talk to you later?" Sean called, trying to be supportive.

The two disappeared from sight, leaving Craig and Sean with nothing. There was the option of making nice manly talk with Sean, pardoning himself and leaving. After doing exactly that, Craig found himself moving along the hyper crowd of the rave, seeking Ashley out. To his fortune, Ashley was busy too having fun with paige to notice he had been gone, which made him feel a bit unimportant, but was nevertheless helpful.

"Hey!" Ashely shouted, running up to him. "Craig, c'mon, let's dance."

Emma and Manny had found Jt and Toby in the middle of the dance floor trying to dance. Toby had been doing a pretty good job, but for Jt there was no hope. After a lot of complaining, the boys agreed to tag along, muttering to themselves as they inched closer to the door.

"Were barely here for an hour..." Jt moped, which was actually true.

"Where are we going?" Toby asked.

Manny turned her head to him. "Drugstore, then to Craig's."

Craig had planned to stay with Ashley until eleven o'clock, and he had meant to stick by that promise, he really had -- but the pull to Emma was too strong now, so fifteen minutes later, the plan was gone.

"Ashley!" Craig yelled, walking across the parking lot.

Ashley, Spinner, Paige and Marco had taken to running around the cars like maniacs. The whole thing had started with Paige.

"Uhhg, Marco, I'm dying of thirst, can you please get me some water?"

She had proceeded to complain of the heat, then scurried off outside for relief.

"Paige -- it's not that bad!" Spinner yelled, following her.

From then on, it was inevitable. Craig was stuck watching them all have the time of their lives while he was too busy anxiously awaiting the rest of the night.

"Ah! Spinner! What's wrong with you?"

Craig had fallen to his knees in pain, after Spinner had run up to him and hit him in the ribcage as a joke.

"You've been standing there for the past ten minutes -- hitting you was like my duty."

In reality, the offense wasn't even that hard. The pain had subsided and thinking back, Spinner hadn't even hit him that hard. Just as he was about to stand and claim himself alright, the rest of the group ran over.

"Craig?" Marco asked, helping him up.

"Spin, what'd you do now?" Ashley groaned.

"I didn't do anything!" Spinner defended himself.

"No, it's okay," Craig said, deciding to use this to his advantage. "I've just got to go home and put some ice on it."

"You sure?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Craig suddenly wanted to thrash his way down the streets. To fully live out this panicky, anxious feeling he was having. This elation. There was no way to do it justice with words, so he wasn't even going to try.