Craig was sitting in science class, hand to chin, as Mrs. Hatzilakos strutting around the room in her white lab coat. He had been steadily avoiding Ashley since the night of the rave, and pretty much everyone else, but there was one person that refused to leave him alone: Spinner.
"Dude, I didn't know you had a thing for Emma."
"What?"
"Yeah, I didn't know you didn't like Ashley, Mr. I Change Girlfriends Every Five Minutes."
"Spin, that's not even a good joke."
"Mr. Manning," Mrs. Hatzilakos had decided to interrupt. "Will you keep your voice down?"
Craig nodded, turning back to Spinner. "What makes you think I like Emma?"
"Uhh, only the fact you stare at her for like ten hours every time we pass her in the hall."
"I do not!" Craig said loudly, alerting the rest of the class.
"Mr. Manning!" Mrs. Hatzilakos scolded, "Will you sit down and keep your mouth shut?"
"Craig, Craig," Spinner beckoned him back into he conversation. "Emma spent the night at your house."
"So?"
"So... did you have sex?"
"Spin, could you be anymore blunt?"
"Dude, don't worry, think of me as, like, your man of honor. I won't say a word."
It turned out that Mr. Simpson had just suffered a punctured lung, a problem eaily, however painfully, fixed. Emma couldn't believe she had jumped to conclusions before; it had just sounded so serious on the phone.
"Emma, are you going to eat your fish?" Mrs. Nelson asked, pointing to Emma's plate with her fork.
They were eating at the hospital again.
"Yeah... Mom, how long is Dad gonna be here?"
"Doctors say six weeks," Mrs. Nelson answered, taking a gulp of water, "Gotta give time for that lung to heal."
she had lost her virginity to a boy who had cheated on his girlfreind twice, and failed toa pologize for it. And it was Craig, old friend of the family Craig.
Had he -- had he enjoyed it?
"Em, what the matter, you haven't said anything."
Manny was going to think she'd been backstabbed... Sean was going to think her a whore. They were all going to hate her. And Craig... he would hate her if Ashley found out.
"Em?"
"What? Oh, mom, I'm fine. I'm tired."
Craig was sitting in science class, hand to chin, as Mrs. Hatzilakos strutted around the room in her white lab coat. He had been steadily avoiding Ashley since the night of the rave, and pretty much everyone else, but there was one person that refused to leave him alone: Spinner.
"Dude, I didn't know you had a thing for Emma."
"What?"
"Yeah, I didn't know you didn't like Ashley, Mr. I Change Girlfriends Every Five Minutes."
"Spin, that's not even a good joke."
"Mr. Manning," Mrs. Hatzilakos had decided to interrupt. "Will you keep your voice down?"
Craig nodded, turning back to Spinner. "What makes you think I like Emma?"
"Uhh, only the fact you stare at her for like ten hours every time we pass her in the hall."
"I do not!" Craig said loudly, alerting the rest of the class.
"Mr. Manning!" Mrs. Hatzilakos scolded, "Will you sit down and keep your mouth shut?"
"Craig, Craig," Spinner beckoned him back into he conversation. "Emma spent the night at your house."
"So?"
"So... did you have sex?"
"Spin, could you be anymore blunt?"
"Dude, don't worry, think of me as, like, your Secret-Keeper."
So Spinner knew -- this could turn out to be not so bad, Craig told himself as he hastily served mashed potatoes at the dinner table later that evening late that night. He could be sort of a go to for advice... or not. But really, Spinner probably didn't care enough to tell.
"So Spinner told me something interesting," Joey said, picking at his steak.
Craig's nerves were suffering a beating these days -- at the slight mention of Emma, or anything related to her, he would automatically assume he'd been caught, that it was all over.
"Uhh... what'd he tell you? I mean, did it have somethingt o do with me?"
"Well, it could."
Spinner! Bastard!
"He mentioned that there's a Christmas show in the works at your school, you know like last year."
Or... again, maybe not. Great, now he felt guilty for doubting Spinner.
"Oh... yeah, I heard about that."
"Well, are you going to enter?"
"Umm... no. No, I don't think so."
"Hmm... well, Snake's better. He'll be out in a few weeks."
Craig took a long drink of his juice and slammed it down on the table. "Great,"
"Oh, before I forget, Manny called for you, Craig."
"Manny?" Craig asked. "What would she be calling for?"
Joey shrugged, pushing peas onto his spoon. "You know on second thought... it might not have been Manny. She didn't leave a name."
"Well, then, who was it?"
"I think it was Ashley."
Groan. Ashley. Calling.
"What'd she want?"
"She's your girlfriend, doesn't she have a right to call?" Joey joked.
"I thought Emma was your girlfriend!" Angela piped up. She had been watching the two of them for quite some time.
Craig gave her a warning glance and quickly changed the subject, letting the outburst go unnoticed.
It wouldn't have been such a big deal, if him and Emma had started going out. Their parents would probably think it was adorable... or something. Well, they would have been plenty mad if they knew how far they'd gone...
The thing of it was that there were still plenty of people that would object to the two of them... Sean, Ashely, Manny... that and the fact it was obvious Emma still had feelings for Sean. She didn't want to be with him.
They hadn't even talked to each other since the incident. Hah... referrring to it as an incident... ithey had done it all wrong/i. They had went about it all in the exact wrong way.
"History class is such a bore," Manny yawned a week later while in the middle of a lesson. "European history... so pointless."
"Manny, without European History, we would be nowhere." Emma reminded her in a whisper. She hated when people talked in the middle of a lesson.
"Em, you do know that you still have a stand of black in the back of your head."
"Shh... wait, I do?"
"Emma," Mrs. Kwan said as she placed a paper on her desk. "Quiet, please."
Emma sunk deeper into her seat while Mrs. Kwan continued to pass papers out to the remainder of the class. Her stomach gave a rumble... she hadn't eaten since morning.
It was hard talking to Manny these days. There was a constant anchor of guilt and sorrow hanging over her head whenever she tried.
"This -- is your project." Mrs. Kwan announced, holding the stack of papers int he air. "You're to research one European Country and what the effects of the Great Depression were."
Manny leaned closer. "So, you wanna come over to my house later? Watch movies?"
"...I would, but I've got this project, I should really get it out of the way." Emma lied. She couldnt' stand being with Manny for a whole night, not with what she had done.
"You're allowed one solitary partner." Mrs. Kwan then announced, causing Emma to sink into her seat even further.
"Do you want to work together? We could get it over with and so movies later?"
She owed it to her to accept. "Yeah... sounds good."
With the passing of a week, Snake was making decent progress with his lungs. The doctors had set him up on a machine to help him breathe while they had taken to calling him by his first name. All in alll, with Spike's faily visits and the nurse's sense of humor, the hospital was turning out to be a pretty friendly place.
"Snake?" Nurse Forda called from the doorway. "Your wife's here to see you."
Massaging his chest a bit, Snake yawned. "Let 'em in."
Spike stopped by every day to make sure he wasn't lonely, which, when thinking of her busy schedule, made Snake feel very special. It's nice to know that you're loved... really.
"Hey!" he greeted as he saw her tread in with Joey at her side. "You brought Joey! Great, this should take my mind of the chest pain."
After kissing him on the cheek and setting her bag down, she sat, motioning for Joey to follow suit.
"So, Joe and I were talking about your situation. Six weeks until you're out... then of course the extra four off the school gave you. Got quite a vacation ahead of you!"
Snake shifted in his bed. "Yeah... so how's Emma, haven't seen her in a few days?"
"Oh, you're not going to believe it." Joey said. "Dyed her hair. All over my kitchen sink. I came home to find this huge mess in there and Craig doesn't even offer to help clean it up."
"At least Craig's normal. Emma's just been acting weird lately. She's just quiet, I can't get her to talk."
Joey chuckled. "Don't go around thinking you're the only one with a weird kid. Mine's all up in his own world all the time. And you know, he's been like that for a while, but I just thought it was Ashley. She's here, though, I don't know what's wrong with him. But ever since we left for British Columbia, he's just not going out anymore. He's always in his room, playing with his guitar or lying around."
Snake listened with interest as Spike continued.
"Emma's just been weird for this past week or so. Since she spent the night at your house."
A moment's time past before the three of them simultaneously halted, their eyes each traveling upward to meet each other's.