Chapter Eight: You Turn Me Around

When the sun sets around me my daydreams confound me and the long night surrounds me, you turn me around.

Spinner

Emma and I were in the van, sitting silently, me drinking my beer, and her smoking another joint. She caught me staring at her hair. I'm not sure why I was doing it, but her hair just caught my attention. It was a golden blonde color, with natural light blonde highlights and some brown ones too. Really beautiful. Like her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, tilting her head and laughing. She blew smoke at me, laughing again, before inching forward, closer to me.

"You know you shouldn't smoke," I said, slurring a little.

"And you shouldn't drink either," she pointed out. "But we're both doing it. So why even make a comment about it?" she asked. I didn't know how to answer her, so I just smiled.

"Your hair is really pretty," I told her.

"So is yours," she said, laughing and moving even closer to me.

"What do you want to do?" I asked. This time it was me who moved closer to her.

"I dunno," I said, suddenly turning around and leaning backwards until I felt my head touch her legs. It just felt like the right thing to do. I looked up at her and smiled.

"You wanna play Spiderman?" she asked.

"How do you play that?"

Instead of answering me, she leaned down and kissed me like that. It wasn't until the next day that I realized she was kissing me like that girl kissed Spiderman in the movie. I felt something weird go on in my stomach just then, but I ignored it.

After we broke apart, Emma giggled and looked away from me. Her face was turning red.

"What now?" I asked, closing my eyes. I felt her move out from under my head and gently place it on the floor of the van. After some more movement, I finally opened my eyes and sat up to see her lying down with a pillow at the back.

"Come here," she said, smiling and holding out her arms. I lay down next to her and she gripped her arms around my waist. "You know," she said, running one hand up my thigh, "I really like you Spinner. Maybe…" she stopped talking and moving her hand.

"Emma?" I asked. When she didn't answer, I turned my head to see that she had fallen asleep. It was probably for the best. I smiled and turned back over, closing my eyes and holding onto her arms that were still draped across me.

Craig

I walked into the mall with Angie. I know, really lame. I was definitely trying to get some girls to notice me by using my little sister. Hey, if it works, it works. We headed over to the movie theater and bought tickets to see Over The Hedge, some cartoon about animals going into people's backyards or something.

"Hey Alex, Paige," I greeted two girls who had recently become better friends than they used to be.

"Hi Craig," Paige smiled at me.

"Hey loser," Alex said in her usual dull tone.

"Looking lovely today," I replied, smirking.

"Using your little sister to get chicks huh? That's pretty sad Manning," Alex countered.

"No," I said, knowing very well I had started blushing. "I just decided to take her out to a movie.

"He's lying," Angela whispered, giggling into her hand.

"We'll take a large popcorn and two small cokes please," I said, changing the subject.

"Sure thing," Paige said. "That'll be nine dollars even," she added, holding out her hand.

Alex put the popcorn on the counter as I handed Paige a ten.

"Keep the change," I told her.

"Oh the curly headed god has sent us each fifty cents!" Alex exclaimed. "We must now worship him until the day we die," she joked, handing over the sodas.

I smirked at her and took them, handing one to Angie. Grabbing the popcorn, I nodded my head in thanks to both of them and we headed into the theater.

"Do you like her?" Angie asked suddenly.

"Who?"

"The one with dark hair."

"Alex? Are you kidding? We're just friends," I told her.

Alex

"Well, well, well," Paige said, grinning at me.

"What?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"You like him, don't you?" she asked.

"Craig? No way!" I said, laughing. "Why would you even think that?"

"Because you two were totally flirting. When did you decide to leave the dark side anyway?" she asked.

"First of all, we were not flirting. And second, I haven't been to the ravine since the shooting. I don't want anything to do with Jay or any of those other losers."

"No…you just want Craaaaaaaaig," she said, dragging out the 'a' in his name.

"Shut up Paige and get back to work. I'll deal with you later!" I told her, throwing a piece of popcorn at her. It stuck in her hair and she made a face, slowly pulling it out.

"Is that a threat?" she asked, throwing it back at me. It completely missed, and hit Meeri, who just so happened to be standing right behind me.

"Back to work!" she snapped, throwing the popcorn in the trash.

Ellie

I don't know why I did it. I lost control, and I just did. I was standing in the bathroom, washing my arms off and watching the blood, mixed with water, run down the drain. I started to cry then, feeling the pain of my fresh cuts and of my broken heart.

This is all because of Sean. His leaving started this whole mess; me sleeping with Jay, possibly being pregnant, and starting to cut again. Maybe if he had stayed, I would be fine. I'd still be happy.

Who am I kidding? Our relationship was destined to fall apart from the beginning. Sean may not have noticed, but I saw the way he looked at Emma every day when he passed her in the hall. In the middle of a conversation, he'd stop to look up at her if she was anywhere near.

But then, Rick almost killed her. Sean got in the way and saved her life. After that, she threw herself onto him, thanking him profusely and crying to him…the whole nine yards. I saw them that day. The way she hugged him kinda freaked him out, even though I knew he still had feelings for her. And then he left.

I never harbored any bad feelings towards Emma. It wasn't her fault that she left a lasting impression on the guy. In fact, right now, she's probably my best friend.

After bandaging up my arms, I decided to give her a call. I might as well try and do something fun tonight to make up for my past activity. The phone rang seven times before her voice mail picked up. I frowned and hung up the phone. I knew exactly where she was. The ravine.

I picked up the phone again and dialed a new number.

"Hello?" he answered in the second ring.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"Ellie?"

"Yes, it's me. Now where are you?"

"Can't stop thinking about me can you? You can't resist the sexual pull I've developed over you," he said, laughing.

"Oh yes Jay. All I can think about is your sexy body and how much I want it," I said sarcastically. "Actually, I was going to ask you to help me find Emma. I think she's at the ravine again. And I know something bad happened there, she just won't tell us."

"I'll be there in a few."

Marco

I sipped my soda at The Dot and sulked. I was so sick of being all alone. Of course, at the moment, I was with Alex and Paige. After they got done with work, they called me to ask if I wanted to eat dinner with them. Pretty pathetic huh? Gay guy spending his night out with two girls. This is why I'm so alone. I need a boyfriend.

"Are you even listening?" Paige complained as I snapped back to reality.

"Yes, I am," I lied. "What happened after you hit Meeri with the popcorn?"

"She yelled at us to get back to work. But then when our shift ended she lectured us on being professional and all kinds of other crap, before telling us that we'd both be fired if it ever happened again," she explained.

"Oh please, like she'd ever actually fire us," Alex said, rolling her eyes.

"Probably not," I agreed.

"Something wrong Marco?" Alex asked. "You look like you need a boyfriend," she added.

"Since when do you care about my relationships? I seem to remember you almost outing me to the whole school, constantly teasing me about my orientation, and…" but she interrupted me before I could finish.

"Just shut your mouth and go talk to him," she told me.

"Who?" I asked, looking around.

"You know who. He's sitting three booths behind you. The kid that bumped into you in the hall today…" she whispered.

"I don't even know if he's gay," I hissed.

"He definitely is," Paige said, smiling.

Just to shut them up, I stood up and walked over to the table. He was sitting alone, eating a hamburger. I sat across from him as his eyes widened and he quickly wiped his face off.

"Hi, I'm Marco," I said, extending my hand across the table.

"I'm Tim."

Paige

"That's so cute!" I gushed, watching Marco and the new kid talk and laugh together.

"Maybe he actually will move on from your idiot older brother," Alex said.

"He's not an idiot. I don't approve what he did to Marco, but he's still my brother," I said, somewhat defending Dylan.

"Yeah, whatever. Hey look, super nerd is coming over," she said.

"Hey Paige."

"Um, hi JT. What's up?" I asked.

"I was wondering if maybe I could talk to you…alone?" he asked me, shifting from one foot to the other. He was nervous for some reason. He turned to look at Alex.

"Fine, I'll go," she said.

"Hey this'll just be a minute and then I'll drive you home," I told her as she stood up.

"That's okay. I'll walk."

As soon as she left, JT sat down in her place.

"So…what is it that you want?" I asked him.

"I want…I want a date. With you."

Alex

I walked home as slowly as I could. I didn't really want to go there, but where else could I go? I'd left the ravine and Jay behind for good. We used to spend our nights at the ravine, or at his place, but since I'd broken up with him, I lost all that. And now I have to go back home.

A car pulled up and started to slow down near me. I whipped around, ready to give the driver a piece of my mind when I realized who it was.

"Need a ride?" Craig asked.

"Sure…" I trailed off, getting in the car. His little sister was asleep in the backseat.

"Where to?" he asked.

"Your place," I said, half joking and half serious. He turned and looked in my eyes.

"Seriously?"

"If you're up for it."

"Okay then," he said, shrugging and heading home.

Jay

"Thanks for doing this," Ellie said as I parked my car at the ravine.

"No problem. I'm worried about her too," I confessed.

We got out and started calling her name. After walking around for over an hour and not finding her, we got a little worried.

"Maybe she's not really here," I suggested.

"I guess not. But we didn't check the van," Ellie pointed out.

I opened the van door and spotted Spinner, fast asleep, probably sleeping off his beer. I didn't see anyone else.

"Nope, just Spinner," Ellie said, sighing.

"Think we should wake him up?" I asked.

"Nah. He'll just get pissed." I agreed with her and we walked back to my car. Stopping at the passenger side, I held the door open for her. Before she got in, she paused and turned to face me. "Thanks again," she said.

I didn't know why, but I couldn't resist. I leaned in and kissed her.

Emma

I woke up to the incessant chirping of some nearby birds. My back was stiff, and I was lying close to someone. Before I even opened my eyes, I realized where I was, and with who.

I sat up and stretched, finally opening my eyes to see Spinner lying there, passed out with his mouth wide open. He was snoring softly. I had to smile at the way he looked, and wished I had a camera with me. I remembered that my phone took pictures, so I quickly snapped one.

Then I looked at the time. It was already nine, so no need for going to school. I didn't feel like it anyway. I checked my voicemail. The first one was from my mom, saying she guessed I got up and went to school, but the next two were from Snake. He yelled in both messages that I 'better get my butt to school' or he'd tell my mom that I didn't come home last night.

She's bound to find out anyway, so I figured I'd just skip it. At least I had some company. I decided to get up and take a quick walk. I knew Spinner wasn't waking up any time soon.

A/N: I in no way own Over the Hedge, I was just picking a random movie for them to see. The lyrics and the title of the chapter come from "You Turn Me Round" by Aqualung and they own it.

Syd: As you can probably already tell, I'm not putting the story on hiatus. I didn't really get enough reviews at all but I'm not gonna worry about it anymore. You won't find out about who raped Emma for a little while longer. Sorry.