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Barelyalive
Diane
Jackie Hollywood Girl

Kristina
Kristen


Chapter Two - Memories Last A Lifetime

With three movies in her hands, and Emma's photo album tucked under her arm, Manny headed up the steps. As she opened the door to the upstairs, she made a disgusted face. A burning smell filled the room, and she noticed Emma holding a bag of popcorn. Manny started to laugh at the smell and sight. "Burned popcorn?"

Emma grinned towards Manny. "Yeah, sorry about it. It smells really bad in here now. Could you open the front door? I'll open the windows." Manny nodded and headed towards the door, after she placed the items in her hands on the living room table. "Great. It's going to smell like this all day now," complained Emma.

"Em, don't worry about it. We'll just spray something if the scent lingers," Manny replied, as she opened the front door. Emma walked into the living room, and continued to open up windows, letting the cool air inside. Manny walked away from the door and headed over to the couch.

Emma opened up the last window, and went to go join Manny, but something caught her eye. "Hey Manny, what's this?" Emma asked, already knowing what it was. She picked it up and smiled. "Oh, my God. My old photo album. Was this under my bed?" Manny nodded her head. "Oh, my God. I haven't seen this in years!" Emma hurried, the still-dusty book in her hands, over to the couch and sat down. She gazed over at Manny. "Let's look at it together."

Instead of watching movies, for the next hour the two girls looked through the photo album and laughed with each picture they looked at. "Look at J.T.!" Manny cried of laughter. "Remember when we would always steal his hats from him? He would get so mad at us, and not talk to us for a whole day."

Emma laughed along. "Yeah, and we thought a day was forever." Manny giggled at that thought. "Remember when I thought I knew division in second grade?" She laughed. "And you and J.T. believed me, and we stayed up all night practicing it?" Emma turned the page in the photo album.

"Yeah. Remember when we would have sleepovers with J.T.?" Manny laughed. "Before sex and reputations," Manny said, a little dull. Emma looked over at her, to make sure she was alright. Manny snapped out of it after a second and laughed. "Remember when we found out that the division you thought you knew was really subtraction?"

Emma laughed so much she started to cry. "Yeah, totally. That was so funny. I thought I was so smart to know that, too." Emma started to laugh again, and pointed to a picture. "Oh, my God. Look at that picture! Halloween, grade five." Both girls stared at the picture. "You're dressed up as a baby and I'm dressed as a hippy. Typical J.T. is dressed up as a clown."

Manny laughed a little, but hadn't really listened to Emma's whole sentence. All she heard was "You're dressed up as a baby" and stopped. Her mind went back to the day she found out she was pregnant, pregnant with Craig's baby. She thought about how scared she had been, and how she reacted. She knew she couldn't take care of a baby, she was only fourteen. Some people would have said that she was a baby herself, and maybe they were right. "I, uh...can we watch the movies now?" Manny asked, out of no where.

Emma looked over at her, and noticed she wasn't all there. "Um, yeah. Sure," she replied, closing the book and getting up out of seat. She picked up one of movies and popped it into the DVD player. She walked back over, and sat back down. "Are you okay? A second ago you were laughing, and now you look upset."

"I'm fine, Emma. Really," Manny replied. "I just thought we were going to watch movies, not sit around looking at old pictures all night. That's all." Manny crossed her arms, and sat there emotionless. She stared at the television screen as Emma hit the remote control button.

"They aren't just old pictures, Manny. They are memories, and the past. They are a part of your past," Emma explained to her, as she turned whatever movie she had put in the DVD player on. Emma didn't bother to look over at Manny, she knew that Manny wouldn't look back at her.

"Well, my memories and past sucks. So, why would I want to be reminded of it?"