Hey everyone, thanks for the reviews! I know this story is going a bit fast and I'm really sorry about that!
Anyways, here is Chapter 10 of My Finest Hour and I hope you guys like it! I personally hated Chapter 9 because I hated the fact that Alex found out and then Jay got mad at Emma but oh well...happy reading!
R&R and please, no flames!
Lotsa love, degrassichick
-x-
Chapter 10
-x-
"So is it true?" Towerz asked Jay the next day at school as the two stood at their lockers, "Green Peace was tutoring you?"
"Shut up." Jay said, slamming his locker shut.
"So it is true." Towerz concluded.
"It was true, Towerz." Jay corrected him.
Towerz nodded, "That's right, you fired the girl. It's for your own good anyway…she's a total goody-goody."
"Goody-goody?" Jay practically laughed at the sound of it.
"Man shut up." Towerz said.
Jay shrugged, "Hanging around with Van Zandt again?" Jay asked.
"Now Jay, I wouldn't be going around making jokes about your new tutor." An older voice said from behind the two.
Jay spun around and was face to face with Ms. Kwan.
"Oh, uh…Ms. Kwan…what did you mean by that?" Jay questioned.
Ms. Kwan gave him a soft smile, "I heard that you and Miss Nelson had a small dispute yesterday, so she came to my class earlier today and said that she could no longer fulfill the job and she suggested that Liberty tutor you instead."
She's punishing me, damn it Emma! Jay thought to himself.
"Oh…" Jay said, not being able to comprehend much more.
"So the two of you will meet after school for your first tutor session, okay? It'll be the same as when Emma was tutoring you with the amount paid each week and hours spent each day just now instead of Emma you have Liberty. Goodbye Jay." Ms. Kwan said and with a small smile she walked off.
Jay's mouth dropped open and he turned around and punched his locker.
"Damn, I would have just stuck with Green Peace." Towerz said with a chuckle, patting his friend's back sympathetically before walking off down the hallway.
Jay sighed and turned around, leaning his head against his locker.
Just then he glanced over and saw Emma walking down the hallway close to where he was.
She was wearing a tan camisole with a dark pink lace trim around the top with a dark pink shrug over it along with a paisley ruffled miniskirt and a pair of light pink ballet flats.
Her hair was hanging down and had a small wave to it and she was walking down the hallway with Manny Santos by her side.
She looked up into Jay's brown eyes with her green ones for one single second before looking back to Manny as they continued to walk and Manny continued to talk.
However, that one look that Emma gave him, that small look that lasted one second, had made Jay's heartbeat quicken.
He sighed before leaning back up from where he stood against his locker and walking off in the other direction.
-x-
"So then you would just-" Liberty Van Zandt quit talking once she noticed that Jay Hogart was not listening to a word she said.
He was staring at the hot tub in the Van Zandt's back porch as if it held the true meaning of life.
"Jay, hello?" she asked, snapping her fingers in front of him.
Jay shot up and glanced over at her, "Oh…it's you. Were you saying something?"
Liberty rolled her eyes, "Of course it would be me, who else would it be?"
Jay shook his head and stared down at the table that they were sitting at.
"Okay, I know you don't want to be tutored by me, and I don't even want to be tutoring you…you'd be much happier if you were off with Amy and Towerz right?"
Jay shook his head, "No."
"Alex?"
Jay shook his head.
Liberty gulped, "…Emma?"
Jay nodded and glanced at her, "Yeah." Just then he remembered what happened last time he had confided in someone, he shot up from the chair he was seated in, "If you tell anyone that…I swear to God I'll-"
Liberty laughed and held out her hands in front of her face, shaking them as if to say don't worry, "Relax, I'm not going to tell anyone that you have a crush on Emma."
Jay scoffed, "I do not have a crush on her."
Liberty nodded and held out her hand to his, "Good cover…really. I won't tell. So since I'm sure you'd rather be with Emma, you can just forget about this whole episode about me being your tutor…"
Jay shook his head, "I think it's better if you stuck to tutoring me."
Liberty glanced at him wide-eyed, "Are you sure? I mean you barely pay attention…"
Jay sighed, "Yeah, I guess you're right."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ten dollar bill and handed it to her, "Here…for the brief tutoring that went on."
Liberty glanced at him and let out a soft laugh, "Gee thanks Jay…this'll pay for college." She said sarcastically.
Jay smirked before grabbing his messenger style bag and throwing it over his shoulder, hurrying off of her porch and towards the front of her house.
Liberty heard his car start and within seconds she could see the red Civic driving off down her street.
She laughed to herself before sliding the dollar into her jeans pocket and walking off into her house.
-x-
Emma sighed and dipped her spoon into her Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream and licked it off the spoon, swallowing the sweet taste.
She sighed and leaned against her couch, closing her eyes.
She was in her lime green pajama pants with hot pink polka dots on it along with a hot pink tank top.
Her blonde hair was pulled up into a half ponytail and she was wearing her white slippers that had frogs on them.
She had just finished her homework and was now sitting on the couch watching the final minutes of General Hospital…she was back to the soap operas, just as she always was whenever she was depressed.
"Dillon, watch out for her, she's gonna get hurt! These shows are so predictable." Emma sighed, as she watched the show.
Just as she had predicted, his girlfriend, Georgie, fell and hit her head on a bench.
"Ouch!" Emma exclaimed, and her hand immediately went to her forehead as if it had been her who had hit her head.
She sighed as the show went to commercials and said "Stay tuned for scenes from the next General Hospital".
"Who ends a show like that? I mean seriously…" Emma said and placed more ice cream in her mouth.
Just then she heard a car door shut.
She shot up from the couch and raced to the window, only to see Jay jogging up her walk and to her porch.
She gulped and right away heard the doorbell.
Emma took a few steps out of the living room and walked to the door, swinging it open and saw Jay, her heartbeat sped up.
"Hey Emma…" Jay said, his hands stuffed into his pockets.
Emma bit her lip, "Hey."
Jay reached into his pocket and placed a few dollar bills in her hand.
Emma glanced down at them and counted out seventy-five dollars.
"Thanks…" Emma said to him quietly.
Jay shrugged his shoulders up and down, "Well I had to pay you, I couldn't really get out of it."
Emma looked down at the ground and nodded.
It seemed like hours that the two just stood there.
Jay darted his eyes around, considering what it was that he should be saying.
"So…can I come in or what?" Jay asked.
Emma's head flung up and she stared at him confusingly before she simply nodded and stepped aside so that Jay could step into the house.
He made his way towards the living room and saw the television which was blaring with a soap opera preview; he noticed a small carton of Cherry Garcia sitting on the coffee table and then noticed that Emma was in pajamas.
"What's with you?" Jay asked, glancing around the living room before letting his eyes settle on her.
"What do you mean?" Emma asked.
"You're watching soap operas, eating Ben and Jerry's and you're in pajamas, are you sick?"
Emma shook her head, "No, I just felt like it…"
Jay rolled his eyes, "Look, I came here to say I'm sorry…"
Emma's head shot up and she stared at him suspiciously, "You're sorry?"
Jay nodded, "I was a jackass yesterday."
Emma sighed, "It was my fault…I shouldn't have told Alex all of that."
Jay glanced at his shoes.
"Jay, I'm really sorry!" Emma exclaimed.
Jay shook his head, "Its okay…I guess. I mean I am still pissed off at you for that, but its okay."
"Are you sure?" Emma asked.
Jay nodded and smirked at you, "Yeah, its okay. But you owe me for more than one thing."
"What?"
"Well first, you told Alex that you were tutoring me, and second, when you were through with tutoring me you put me with Liberty Van Zandt!"
Emma grinned at the last part, "Well it was either her or Toby."
"You owe me so bad." Jay said, trying to act angry, but he wasn't. He was just happy that they had made up, even though it had only been a day, he had really missed Emma.
Emma's lips twitched, "How can I owe you?" she asked.
Jay sighed and pretended to contemplate the situation; he looked down at her Cherry Garcia and then turned to her, "Have anymore Ben and Jerry's?"
-x-
The two sat on the couch and stuffed their faces full of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, switching off an on between cartons since Emma had the Cherry Garcia and he had the Chunky Monkey.
"Elvis, Elvis, Elvis!" he exclaimed.
Emma glanced at him before laughing as the two watched Family Feud.
"Elvis isn't that great you know…" Emma said.
Jay stared at her as if she was insane, "Elvis is the king. Take it back."
Emma laughed and leaned her head against the back of the couch and kicked her feet out on the coffee table, just as Jay had his.
Emma rolled her eyes, "Marilyn Monroe."
Jay scoffed, "Marilyn Monroe? You think she changed our world in the entertainment industry?"
Emma nodded, "She's probably one of the top six."
Just as she finished saying that, Marilyn Monroe showed up on the board as soon as the host said "Survey Says".
"Ha!" Emma said sarcastically.
Just then Elvis' name popped up in the number one spot.
"Ha-ha." Jay said and dipped his spoon in her ice cream and took a big spoonful, stuffing it in his mouth, it smeared over his lips and he licked it off.
"You're sick." Emma said, turning her head away.
Jay shrugged, "I finished the Chunky Monkey."
Emma rolled her eyes and let out a laugh.
"So should we be getting to studying?" Jay asked.
Emma nodded, "Yeah, Christmas break is about to come up which means mid-terms."
"I love those." He said sarcastically.
Emma slid her legs off of the coffee table and stood up, "I'll go get my books." She said before sitting down her carton of ice cream and heading off towards the basement.
Jay rested his head against the back of her couch before a sneaky smirk grazed across his lips.
He leaned over and grabbed her Cherry Garcia ice cream and dipped his spoon in, stuffing big spoonfuls into his mouth.
After five large swallows he felt his head hurting, "Oh brain-freeze!" he exclaimed aloud.
He could hear Emma's voice as she came up the stairs, "Stay away from my ice cream!"
-x-
I wasn't going to make them hate each other forever (or even an entire chapter!); I couldn't stand it…he-he.
Anyways, hope you liked it.
R&R and please, no flames!
Lotsa love, degrassichick