Chapter Five: The Fight

Craig

When Alex went out with Spinner, Marco, and Manny, my parents also decided to go out. They thought it would be a great idea to go to dinner with Emma's parents.

"You know the rules Craig," my dad reminded me before he closed the door behind them. Did they really think I was going to stay in my room all night and do nothing? The only good thing about being grounded was getting good grades, therefore keeping them off my back about school. But I was not about to stay home and do homework on a Friday night.

As soon as I knew they were gone, I grabbed my house keys, locked the place up, and headed over to Emma's. Before I could even knock on the door, it opened and I was dragged inside. I found a guy my age sitting on the couch, flipping through the channels on TV, looking for something good to watch.

"Is he your boyfriend?" I asked Emma. Both of them made faces so I assumed I was wrong.

"Ew, no! He's my cousin. He's spending the night while his mom is away; apparently she doesn't trust him," she told me.

"You're the one who shouldn't be trusted," the guy said, rolling his eyes. "I'm not the one who sneaks out and parties at the ravine almost every night."

"Well then maybe you should get a life, JASON!" Emma snapped. "It's not my fault that Paige Michalchuk is your only friend."

"Shut up Emma. She's a lot better than the scum you hang out with," he said back. "No offense," he added, looking over at me. "Just try not to get sucked too far into her little world; you'll probably end up with a social disease." I nodded my head and shoved my hands in my pockets, suddenly very uncomfortable.

"As you can tell, we don't get along," Emma told me. "Let's go upstairs."

Before I could answer, she grabbed my hand and dragged me up the stairs. As soon as we got into her room, she closed the door and locked it.

"Hurry up, we probably only have about an hour," she said, walking over to me and kissing me hard. I didn't even know it was going to happen; she caught me completely by surprise. I still felt uncomfortable, but I didn't know why. Maybe because her cousin was downstairs, or maybe because I wasn't planning on doing anything with her at all.

She backed me up onto her bed and got on top of me, kissing me the entire time. Her tongue snaked into my mouth and I felt her hands on my belt, trying to get it off quickly. Once she had it off, she started to pull my pants down and stopped kissing me. I knew what she was about to do and I almost let her, but then I pushed her head away at the last minute.

"What's wrong?" she asked, sitting back. I was still exposed, but she was sitting on my legs, so I couldn't exactly do anything about it at the moment.

"I wasn't planning on…doing this," I said, motioning towards my pants that were down around my ankles.

"Oh…" she said, slowly getting off of me. "I just thought that…"

"Emma, I have to tell you something," I said, sitting up and fixing my pants. "About Monday night."

"I already know you had sex with Ashley, if that's what you were going to say," she blurted out.

"You do?" I asked in surprise.

"Of course, she told me."

"And you're not mad at me? Or at her?" I asked.

"No, why would I be? I mean, I was the one who shoved all the drinks in your hands. And I knew that if Ashley got drunk she would drag any guy into the van with her," she said, shrugging, as if it were no big deal at all.

"Okay then," I said. I still didn't understand. If she liked me at all, which I assumed she did because of the spectacle that occurred only a minute ago, why did she get me drunk and let me sleep with her best friend?

"Ashley is just miserable all the time. Sean won't sleep with her so she finds sex in other places; mainly the ravine. Who am I to keep her from being happy?" she explained, shrugging again.

"Why won't he sleep with her?" I asked.

"I don't know, maybe he's a virgin or something," she said, laughing. I didn't laugh along with her, so she assumed something about me.

"Wait…you're not a virgin, are you?" she asked.

"No, definitely not. But I like you and I want to take things slow. We have only known each other for a week," I explained.

"Actually, we've known each other all our lives. We just haven't spoken since we were little," she said, grinning.

"But still…why don't we get to know each other better first?"

"Fine," she sighed. "But can we still make out?"

"Sure," I said. Within seconds, she was on me again, pressing her lips to mine and lifting up my shirt.

"Can we make out…naked?" she asked, grinning.

"Not yet."

I got home an hour and a half later, to a still empty house. I went into Alex's room and sat in her window seat to wait for her to get home. While I looked out and up at the sky, Jay's words repeated over and over in my head. He'd properly introduced himself when I was on my way out; Emma had stayed up in her room.

"You should really be more careful, you know," he said, catching me off-guard. I'd forgotten he was even there. "I really don't think Emma has anything, but if you had sex with Ashley, you should probably be worried."

"Were you listening to us?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

"The main reason Emma's parents let her have boys in her room is because you can hear everything that goes on through the vents. They know she likes to party; but they only listen when they're concerned," he explained.

"But that's still invading her privacy," I said, annoyed that anyone could overhear us at all, no matter what the reason.

"When Emma was twelve, she met a guy off the internet who turned out to be over thirty. He tried to rape her and when she wouldn't cooperate, he beat the shit out of her," he said sternly. "I think my aunt and uncle are concerned with a little more than her privacy."

"Are you serious?" I asked. "She never said anything about it…"

"It was all on tape since the guy wanted to film them having sex," he said, suddenly getting quiet. "She's only known you for a week, so it's no surprise that she hasn't told you. I shouldn't have even told you."

"I gotta go," I said, grabbing my jacket and rushing out the door.

I felt so confused. If Emma was hurt by this guy that badly, and only three years ago, why was she trying to rush into sex with me? I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, then leaned my head back against the wall behind me.

"What are you doing in my room?"

I opened my eyes and looked around. Everything was blurry. I hadn't realized how tired I was and I didn't know I was going to fall asleep. As soon as my eyesight adjusted, I stretched and sat up.

"Alex," I sighed," getting up and walking over to her. "I was waiting for you." I threw my arms around her and hugged her tightly. After a moment of hesitation, she hugged back.

"What's wrong?" she asked, sitting on her bed and motioning for me to join her.

I poured out the whole story in a matter of minutes, including my interaction with Ashley and Jay's advice.

"Spinner warned me about her," she said. "He told me she's a slut and that practically everyone at this ravine place has some form of STD. You really dug yourself into a hole this time, didn't you?" she asked.

I nodded and put my head on her shoulder. Ever since we were little, Alex had always been able to make me feel better. But I wasn't really sure she'd be able to this time.

"Tomorrow, we'll have to find some way to sneak out so you can go to the clinic. They'll have to test you."

"I can't get caught or I'll have to explain what happened. I don't want to do that to them. They'd be crushed if they knew how much I screwed up this time," I cried.

"We'll have to be extra careful then. Or we could tell them there's a club thing at school," she suggested.

"They'd never buy it," I said. "Why don't I just wait until after I'm not grounded anymore? That way, they won't find out."

"I don't think it's such a good idea to wait so long," she said. "Do you?"

"I might not have anything at all," I said, wiping my cheeks off and straightening up a little. "Nothing's wrong with me, so why am I worrying?"

"Ever heard the expression 'better safe than sorry?' Of course, if you'd been safe to begin with, you wouldn't be in this mess."

"Emma's the one who got me drunk. Believe me, I would've never had sex with Ashley if I hadn't been drunk," I said in an attempt to defend myself.

"I'm sure she didn't force the stuff down your throat. You chose to drink, and now you're paying for it."

"Everyone makes mistakes Alex, and this is the first big one I've made. So give me a break. I'll wait three weeks. If nothing has happened, I'll know I'm fine," I said, standing up. "Thanks for listening."

"Craig, I really think you should go sooner," she advised.

"Alex, I'm okay, really." I patted her on the shoulder. "I love you."

"I love you too," she sighed, shaking her head.

By Monday I had convinced myself that I was STD free. Besides, if I did have one, I'd know by now. The thing with Ashley happened a whole week ago. Since then I'd gone out of my way to avoid her, but I wasn't so lucky that morning.

"Hey Craig," she said as she sat down next to me in homeroom.

"Hi," I replied. I drummed my fingers on the desktop and avoided eye contact at all costs.

"You coming to the party tonight?" she asked, leaning closer to me.

"Nope, grounded," I told her, suddenly becoming interested with the cover of my notebook. I counted the rings on the side in order to focus my attention elsewhere. That didn't work.

"But I'm sure you could sneak out," she said. "Besides," I could feel her breath on my ear, "I was hoping we could have some more fun."

Before I could answer her, she placed her hand in my lap and moved it slowly upward. She'd just reached a certain sensitive area when Sean walked into the room. I pulled my entire desk away and turned my back to her but it was too late. If looks could kill, I would have died on the spot. Sean walked up to my desk and stopped.

"Move," he said through gritted teeth.

"This is my seat," I told him, standing up. I was taller, but that didn't matter to him.

"I don't care. Move."

He pushed me in the chest, and if I hadn't caught myself on the desk behind me, I would have fallen on my ass. I pushed him back but he caught himself too. Moments later we were on the floor, punching and kicking blindly. A crowd was around us, chanting, but mostly for Sean. From what they'd seen, I was in the wrong.

I pulled my hand back and let my fist fly forward, connecting with Sean's left eye. Then I felt hands pulling me away. I wanted to get back to him and finish the fight, but whoever was holding me wouldn't let me.

I turned around and looked into the eyes of Emma's dad. Great, just great.

As Sean and I sat outside Ms. Hatzilakos' office, we were completely silent. That is, until he broke the silence and started talking to me.

"You picked the wrong day to piss me off," he said, looking over at me.

"Says the kid with the black eye," I replied, looking at his face. Sure enough, a nice black and blue mark surrounded his eye.

"I know that she screws around with everyone, but did you have to let her do that in the middle of class, where everyone could see? That shit only confirms the rumors."

"I didn't let her do anything. If I wanted to, I could press sexual harassment charges against her," I said, crossing my arms.

"Yeah, I'm sure that it really sucked to have a girl's hand on your dick," he said sarcastically.

"Seriously Sean, your girlfriend's a slut." I pulled away from him a bit and braced myself for a punch to the head, but it never came.

"I know," he said, sighing.

"Then why did you come after me?"

"I couldn't let everyone think that I just let guys sleep with her. They'll all know you had sex with her now too," he told me.

"Great. Strike two of the day. Hopefully it can't get any worse."

"Famous last words buddy. Strike three will be your suspension for being in a fight. A week without school does have its benefits though," he said.

"Not for me. It'll probably mean another month of being grounded."

"Let me guess, the first month is for having sex with Ashley; or being there anyway," he said, grinning.

"Yeah. Worst mistake of my life so far."

"She must not be very good in bed because everyone says that."

"You've really never had sex with her?" I had to ask.

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Craig Jeremiah?" A voice called out.

"Well, here I go," I said, ignoring the fact that Sean hadn't answered my question. "Are we cool?" I asked, standing up.

"Yeah, I guess we are," he said, shaking my hand. "Good luck."

A/N: If you watched the first episode of Degrassi, you'll know that I changed the Emma/Jordan thing a big by saying that he beat her. I wanted to make it more dramatic.

Thanks to Grifter and jeffrey for reviewing. (and everyone else who i've already replied to).

Next week I'll be on spring break so hopefully I'll get a lot more of this story finished.