Hey y'all! This an AU story, with a Demily storyline.
16 year old Emily is from a broken home; a drug addict mother and absent father, she moves to Chicago and meets a boy named Derek who she connects with deeply but they get separated. Almost 15 years later they're reconnected once again by fate.
(TW for drug use, & abuse)
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"I can't do this.." Emily mumbled under her breath towards her mother. She didn't actually want the woman to hear her in fear of what might come next in consequence but her tough personality sometimes let things slip out. She kept her gaze towards the ground, making sure to not make eye contact but continually looking at her from the corner of her eye. Elizabeth sat her cup down harshly against the wooden table, the ash from her cigarette falling onto it as she did. "Well that's too damn bad Emily, you have to go. I'm not going to jail for you just cause you're a freak who doesn't play well with others. You're going to this school and that's the end of it." With that the 16 year old girl knew the conversation was over. Tears pooled in her eyes and threatened to fall as she quickly walked away to her bedroom in order to get ready for the dreaded day. Why? Why was she given such a harsh mother? And why was she not good enough for her father either? These and many other thoughts ran through her head while she got her clothes on, not even realizing at first that the tears had won the fight and were rolling down her cheeks. She angrily wiped them away, and immediately putting a different face on. She was able to turn her emotions off in a way, almost like a switch. It was something she had learned to do over the years in order to live through her mother's abuse. It was the only thing that helped most days.
Making her way down the sidewalk she let her fingertips brush against the chain link fence, her other hand gripping the strap of her worn out backpack that she had used for the last 5 years now. For a second she felt complete peace. The wind was blowing gently against her pale skin, her eyes subconsciously closing for just a second, not even realizing that she had begun to hold her breath until it was nearly knocked out of her chest during a collision with someone else's body. She flinched, ready for said person to start yelling at her, before opening her eyes and looking up at them to start apologizing over and over. Instead, she was speechless.
Emily hadn't quite hit her growth spurt just yet, so she still stood at a small 5'3". Therefore when making eye contact with whoever she just ran into, she had to look up at the boy who was at least 5'10" already. Her eyes gazed from his lips to his nose and eventually their brown eyes made contact at the same time. Holding their state for too many seconds before she was able to stutter out, "I-, uh, I'm really sorry.. I wasn't paying attention." With that she tried to quickly brush past him and his friends to avoid anymore embarrassment and possible ridicule but was instead surprised hearing a stern but soft "Hey!" call for her. She stopped in her tracks, looking back at them with caution. A small smirk had formed on the caramel skinned boy's face, immediately making her blush; butterflies threatening to make her stomach explode. "It's okay baby girl. My name is Derek by the way. You're definitely new, why don't you let me show you around?" She felt herself choke on her words, eventually being able to get out a "Uh, no thank you". She turned back around and started making her way towards the front doors of the school. She had already made a fool of herself in front of people, so she made a mental note to try and keep a low profile if possible. She then dropped her gaze to the floor again as she made her way to the counselor's office to get her class schedule.
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Derek wasn't new to the area, in fact he had grown up here. He was very popular among his classmates. He wasn't always a great influence, but he was nice to every kind of person, not just his friends. Most people that met him wouldn't even think to believe that was an option though considering his social status. His father had been killed recently so he was struggling, just not out loud. He didn't want anyone, especially his mom and sisters to worry about him. He felt the weight of the world on his shoulders considering he had taken on the role 'Man of the House' since it had happened. He had been having a normal morning. He had breakfast, kissed his mom on the cheek as he was leaving, walked his sisters to school and then headed to his football practice. He absolutely loved the sport, but he had a bittersweet, but mainly unpleasant relationship with his coach.
After practice, he was standing outside of the school along the sidewalk, his back leaned up against the fence surrounding said football field. He had just showered and was having normal 16 year old conversation with his main group of friends which consisted of Luke and JD. He was mid sentence when a small body crashed into his, a whiff of coconut coming of it in the collision. He looked down to see a small raven haired girl probably the same age as him. She was very obviously reserved, not making eye contact with him at first but he watched as her brown eyes slowly examined his face before meeting his. He didn't show it, but he was mesmerized at the girl in front of him. She was different, he could just feel it. He didn't point anything out but he noticed a couple bruises on various parts of her body and the bags under her eyes which only get that bad from a different kind of tired, it wasn't a physical one, he could tell that it was her soul that needed some rest which made his heart ache for her. Not treating her with any kind of pity though he attempted to get her alone, he wanted to learn more about her. But she quickly declined and he watched as she speed walked to the double doors of the school.
He didn't want to be obvious in front of his friends but made sure to make the rest of their conversation short so that he could go try and find her, hoping and praying that they would have at least one class together.
First period passed, then second, third, fourth, fifth, and then finally in his last period of the day, language arts, he spotted her sitting in the back corner desk of the classroom. His heart racing, he made his way over to the desk next to hers, offering his signature smile and small wave in her direction as he sat down.
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Emily had managed to keep out of everyone's way for the whole day and was lowkey excited for her last period of the day. Language arts is her favorite and best subject. She was relieved to see the back desk empty and quickly shuffled her way over there before the flood of other students started coming in. She was reading a book quietly at her desk, the temple of her head resting against her hand to help keep it propped up when she smelled a familiar scent. She had to brush her bangs that were starting to become overgrown now out of her eyes a bit while she sat up, slowly flickering her eyes around the classroom to see if she could figure out what it was. That's when she saw the figure sitting down in the desk next to hers. It was him again. "Derek" she mumbled in a whisper to herself, reminiscing on the few seconds they had shared that morning. Not knowing that he had still managed to hear her. "So you remember my name huh?", he joked. She cussed herself inwardly, thinking how she really needed to work on the whole thinking out loud thing. His smile had once again caught her off guard, but at the same time made her feel almost safe. "Well, yeah.." she surprisingly replied as she marked and then closed her book, the tucking her hands into the pocket of her hoodie and sitting back in her seat, she allowed herself to make eye contact with him again finally. "Kind hard to forget someone's name when you get embarrassed in front of them like that, you know?" Her sense of humor attempting to peek through but she still kept the same plain look on her face as she said it.
Derek was surprised that she seemed to let herself be a little comfortable with him, even making enough eye contact that he was able to examine some of her features, including just how long her eyelashes were, her beautifully sculpted nose and jaw and the way that her lips sat perfectly pouted, he couldn't even imagine the kind of smile she had. He would bet money that it was the kind to light up a room. He had zoned out for a second, only catching the last thing she said, he couldn't help but to let out a little chuckle at it.
She almost seemed to get agitated, her brows furrowing in his direction but it was cute to him. "What's funny?" She questioned. He smirked as he replied, "You think THAT was making a fool out of yourself? I think it was just fate eh?" He flirted a bit, "You never told me your name by the way. I think it's kind of unfair that you know mine and I don't know yours, don't you think?"
Her pale skin turned rosy at his flirtatious comment, a small little half smile finally making its appearance. "It's Emily, uhm, Emily Prentiss. I just moved here from Oklahoma." He was sure his eyes had lit up at the fact he finally got some kind of smile out of her even if it wasn't a full one. "Emily? I like that. You already know my first name but it's Derek Morgan." He informed her.
The two sat in silence for the rest of class, periodically looking over when the other wasn't looking. But once class ended and it was time to go home, he of course couldn't help himself anymore. "You know what Emily?" He sat as he shoved things messily into his backpack. "I think we're going to be great friends.." He said, a gentle and sweet tone to his voice. She stood from her desk, nodding at his remark, careful to not let him see how much she liked it though before responding. "Well then, Derek. I don't know what direction you're going, but maybe we could kick off the beginning of this totally great friendship with us walking home together?" She said bluntly. The teenage boy smiled from ear to ear at that point and quickly agreed with an, "I would love to."
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Okay what do y'all think??
Feel free to leave criticism and things y'all might want to read in the reviews!
I don't want to spend too much time on the part of them as kids so either next chapter will be half that or the next whole chapter will be the last about their beginning and then we'll skip to part everyone is waiting for!