Hello my peoples!
Okay, I'm going straight into the chapter!
Why? Because I'm awesome.
Oh yeshhh. JORDAN DON'T MOCK ME! (Fiiiiiiiiiiiiine...-Jordan)
Oh yes, Jesus-is-my-Savior, I read your story! I forgot if I sent a review or not. It's awesome! Keep up the good work!
Enjoy the chapter!
Emily stared at Troy, awaiting the answer to her question. Troy opened his mouth to say something, but a furious knock at the door interrupted him.
Troy sighed and went to answer the door. A crying Natalie stood at the front door.
"Nat? What's wrong?" Emily walked to the door."My mom's getting married--again."
"Oh, Natalie!" Emily hugged her best friend.
The two girls sat in Chad's house, stealing all his chocolate. Emily's mom - who she now referred to only as 'Laura' - had come back into the house. They immediately left the house, and took refuge in Chad's home.
"Em, if I told you something, would you think I'm stupid?" Natalie turned to her.
"Nope," she stuffed another bite of chocolate into her mouth.
"I'm scared."
"Of what?"
"What if I end up like my mom? Never able to find love at all?"
"Nat, you'll find love. I mean, what about Ryan?"
She just sighed.
"Besides, I'm worried I'm going to end up like my mother."
"Em, that's completely insane! You could never cheat on Chad, even if you tried!"
"What if he thinks I'm like my mother?"
"Again: Em, that's completely insane!"
They both smiled gently at each other. They collided in a hug.
"Where would I be without you, Nat?"
"You'd be lost in the Gobi Desert," she laughed.
Two hours had passed by and the girls had forced Chad to go on two more runs to the store for refills on chocolate.
Natalie was smiling and laughing, but Emily knew Natalie was faking. She knew her all too well.
"I'm gonna go outside for a minute," Natalie got up from the couch.
"Okay," Emily watched her go outside and climb up to the old tree house.
"Worried much?" Chad's voice said from behind her.
"She's scared she's going to end up like her mom," she said as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"And you are, too."
"What?!" she turned around to look at him.
"I overheard. Emily, I want you to know that I could never think that of you. I love you, more than you can possibly ever know."
"I think I have an idea," she smirked.
"Emster, I'm being serious."
"So am I," she softly kissed him on the lips. They broke apart by the sound of thunder crashing. Emily turned to see it pouring down rain.
"Nat should be getting inside," Chad looked at the storm outside.
"I'll go ge-" Emily was interrupted by an earsplitting crash.
The two ran to the back window. The scene they saw was horrible. The tree house had given way in the center; Right where Natalie was sitting.
"NATALIE!" Emily ran to her friend out in the storm.
"Emily! Get out from there. The rest of the tree house could fall!" Chad screamed at her from the backdoor.
"Help me get Natalie," Emily looked around for her friend. "I can't see her!"
"Em?" a faint cry called out. She could barely hear it over the roar of the storm.
"Natalie?" Emily searched even more frantically. Finally, Emily found her curled up near the base of the tree.
"Natalie, are you okay?" Chad jogged out to them.
"My ankle," she held her ankle. It was swelling horribly, but what Emily noticed were her friend's arms and legs. They had splinters all over them.
Chad leaned down and picked up Natalie as a bolt of lighting crashed down.
"Get her inside!" Emily yelled over the boom of thunder that followed it.
Chad jogged into the house, with Natalie in his arms. Emily trailed behind them.
"How is she?" Troy ran into the waiting room.
"I don't know," Emily whispered.
The group waited together for half an hour. Ryan remained quiet. Portraying no emotion whatsoever. Their silence was broken by someone Emily knew Natalie would not want to see: her mother.
"Emily! Oh there you are! How is my darling daughter?" Natalie's mother's shrill voice filled her ears. Emily winced at the sound of such a high voice.
"The doctor hasn't come out yet. Hey, Charlie. Hey, Ellie," she added the last part to the two girls trailing behind Mrs. Goodwin. Or whatever her last name was nowadays; Emily didn't keep track.
"What happened, Em?" Charlie - her proper name was Charlotte - asked.
"She was sitting in the tree house and then the storm hit. I guess the wood getting soaked like that weakened it, and it fell through."
"Nothing, like, major is wrong with her, right?" Ellie - Elaine was her proper name - asked with a look of concern on her face.
"She was conscious," Emily looked at her.
"Mrs. Goodwin?" the doctor asked.
"Actually it's Mrs. Reynolds now," Natalie's mother crossed to the doctor.
"Well, yes, anyway," the doctor shuffled through some papers, "Natalie's ankle has been broken. We have two options here. We can go in and perform a new type of surgery in which we set the bone with screws and therefore no cast will be used, or we can put on a cast which has more chance of working."
"Which will heal faster?" her mother cocked her eyebrow at the doctor.
"The surgery, if it's successful."
"Then, let's wheel her into surgery. I have a wedding coming up and I can't have one of my bridesmaids hopping around in a cast!"
"Mom! What if the surgery doesn't work? Her ankle will get worse!" Charlie came up beside her mother.
"Yeah, we know the cast will work. Let's go with the cast!" Ellie came beside Charlie.
"I will not have my youngest bridesmaid looking like a wreck because of her dumb mistake to climb into a rickety old tree house!"
"Miss! There's a Natalie Goodwin calling for you," the nurse stepped into the waiting room.
"Of course, the girl needs to see her mother," Amanda Reynolds fixed her hair.
"Actually, I was talking about the young lady sitting down," she nodded towards Emily.
"She wants to see me?" Emily stammered.
"Yes, she says it's urgent."
Emily stood up and walked cautiously past Natalie's mother, who looked ready to blow a gasket.
"Nat, you should have seen your mother. Not me!" Emily hissed once she entered the room.
"My mom doesn't care about me. You do," Natalie said simply.
"Oh, Nat."
"My mom wants the surgery doesn't she? Doesn't want to ruin her wedding I suppose--"
Emily nodded quietly.
"Well, I want the cast. But, I can't decide because I'm a minor. Emily I need you to convince my mother to get the cast."
"Natalie, your mother is as stubborn as you are."
"Please, Emily."
"I'll try," Emily sighed.
Ultimately, Amanda's stubbornness won the fight. Natalie was wheeled into surgery, and the group was left in silence once more.
"Waiting isn't as much fun without Natalie screaming French at the doctors," Troy sighed.
"I'm sure she is back there," Jason said sadly.
"You mean if she was conscious back there, she would be," Emily laid her head on Chad's shoulder.
Chad wrapped his arm around Emily. He hated seeing her so upset.
"Mrs. Reynolds? I'm sorry to tell you, but the surgery was unsuccessful," the doctor came out once more.
"She's alright, isn't she?" Ellie sped up to the doctor.
"Oh yes, she's fine. But, her ankle was broken in more places than we thought. Our only option is the cast."
"That's fine. As long as Natalie's okay," Charlie looked up from her seat.
"She'll be out in a few minutes," the doctor stated and walked to another family.
"She's okay," Emily sighed with relief.
"Did you ever have a doubt?" Jason looked at her.
"Oh shut up, Jason."
Natalie hopped out on crutches minutes later.
"Natalie!" Ryan stood up and walked to her, enveloping her in a hug.
Natalie smiled as Ryan hugged her. Emily smiled as well, as she watched the two. Natalie had finally found love.
She wasn't going to end up like her mother.
"I DIDN'T WANT TO GO WITH YOU ANYWAYS!" Natalie screamed at the top of her lungs as she stood in the ER doorway.
"Natalie, I leave to go to the bathroom and I come back and you're yelling. What happened?" Emily walked up.
"My mother refuses to take me home. She said she has a wedding to prepare for and she doesn't have time to take care of a cripple," Natalie looked down.
"Then you can come to my house," Emily put her arm around her friends shoulder.
"You mean it, Em?"
"DUH!" Emily laughed.
"You really are the best friend ever," Natalie hugged her.
Emily smiled and looked back at her tray of food. Chad did the same from across the cafeteria.
"Em, why don't you just go sit with him?" Natalie looked at her confused.
"Because, I'm going to have lunch with my best friend," Emily said and focused back on the conversation.
"There's more than three seats at this table, Em," Ryan laughed.
Emily glanced back to Chad's table and caught his eye. They both smiled at each other. Emily looked away shyly.
"CHAD! JUST GET OVER HERE ALREADY!" Natalie turned around and screamed.
"Smooth, Nat. Smooth," Emily laughed as Chad picked up his tray and his bookbag and headed towards their table.
Ryan and Natalie held hands during lunch and free period and well, pretty much every time Natalie was next to Ryan and she wasn't on crutches.
Emily thought it was cute. Chad was being a regular boy, though, and didn't think anything of it.
Chad sat next to Emily. They smiled at each other.
"Long time, no see," Emily giggled.
"No see? You guys have been looking at each other the whole lunch period!" Natalie screeched.
Emily blushed slightly and Chad laughed.
"Shut up, Nat, and keep in your own relationship!" Emily teased.
"Um, Natalie, what are you doing?" Emily came up behind her.
"Shh, look at this!" Natalie hissed and pointed in the direction she had been looking.
Emily peered at the scene Natalie had been studying. She couldn't believe it!
Ryan was sitting on a bench reading over the musical script. Sadie was sitting next to him; VERY close.
"Oh, come on, Ryan. You know you don't really like Natalie," Sadie moved closer.
"Sadie, for the umpteenth time, I don't like her."
Emily's jaw dropped.
"I love her," Ryan turned to look at Sadie.
Natalie felt herself go flushed.
"Ryan, don't lie like that. I know you're just pretending to like her."
"Sadie, shut up."
"Okay, if you say so," Sadie sighed.
All of a sudden, Sadie's lips collided with Ryan's.
Emily felt Natalie tense up beside her. She quickly grabbed Natalie's arm, preventing her from lunging herself at Sadie.
Ryan pushed Sadie off. "Sadie, leave me alone. You're just trying to ruin things with me and Natalie. But I'll tell you this: It won't work." With that, Ryan picked up his things and left.
The girls waited to see what Sadie would do. Taylor peeked around from another corner and moved to sit next to Sadie.
"Well…that went well," Taylor sighed.
"You can't break any of them up!" Sadie sighed too.
Emily lost grip on Natalie's arm, and Natalie sprang towards the bench Sadie and Taylor were sitting.
Emily ran to catch up with her, which wasn't hard since Natalie was on crutches.
"Oh, look who it is: The Loser Twins," Taylor scowled.
"Oh, look, Emily. It's the Slut Sisters," Natalie grinned.
"Natalie, you just missed it. Ryan was totally hitting on me," Sadie smirked.
"Nice try. I was watching."
"Well you little sneak--"
"Sadie, shut up. You're just mad because Ryan loves me and not you. You can't get your own way and it scares you," Natalie crossed her arms.
"Ok, Goodwin, I don't know who you think you are, but you really need to stop with Ryan."
Natalie scowled and turned around to hobble away.
"You're just going to end up like your mother. What marriage is she on now? Her sixth? Might as well give up now," Sadie called to her retreating back.
Natalie stopped and clenched her fists. She turned around and started advancing on Sadie.
"Nat, stop this. She doesn't have her way right now. Keep it that way," Emily whispered.
Emily grabbed Natalie's arm and started to turn her back around.
"Oh, Sadie, you know Chad's a good kisser? But, it's even better when we're kissing behind Emily's back," Taylor said loudly.
This time, it was Emily's turn to stop.
"Oh, crap. I left my notebook outside," Ryan searched through his bag.
"Come on, we'll all go get it," Troy got up. Chad and Ryan followed behind him.
Once they reached the bench Ryan had been sitting on moments before, they found an interesting scene.
"Oh, Natalie! You know how it's fun to call Taylor a whore? It's even better when you're calling her one to her face," Emily snarled.
"Shall we try that now?" Natalie offered.
"We shall." Both girls turned around to see Taylor looking furious.
"Hello, whore," Emily gave her a fake smile filled with attitude.
"Goodbye, whore," Natalie gave her the same look.
Taylor started walking towards Emily. "Why I outta--"
"Go right ahead, dear," Emily maintained her smile.
Taylor slapped Emily across the face. Emily quickly retaliated.
"EMILY!" Chad ran over to her.
"Don't defend that whore, Chad," Taylor said.
"I'm not defending you, Taylor."
Natalie stifled her laughter, but was quickly silenced by Sadie kicking one of her crutches. She was thrown off-balance and quickly fell.
"Whoa, there," Ryan caught her.
"Thanks," Natalie smiled.
"Anytime," Ryan smiled.
Natalie quickly turned her attention back to Emily and Taylor.
"OH PLEASE, YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS!" Taylor screeched.
"OF WHAT? YOUR MULTIPLE SEX PARTNERS? NO THANKS, I THINK I'LL LIVE WITHOUT THEM," Emily screamed back.
"Both of you stop this!" Chad stood between them.
Taylor kicked him lightly on the back of Chad's right knee. His knee gave way again and he fell.
"TAYLOR! I'M GOING TO--"
"EMILY! STOP!" Troy stood between them. "Taylor, get out. NOW," he snarled at her.
Taylor and Sadie left with scowls on their faces.
"Chad, are you okay?" Emily looked down.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Chad grumbled as Troy helped him up.
"You guys are crazy!" Troy looked from Natalie to Emily.
"Hey, they mess with our boyfriends," Natalie started.
"We mess back," Emily finished for Natalie.
Dude, this chapter is WAYYY long.
And, I don't think I even fit everything into it. Oh well, there will be more chapters! (You bet there will be! -Jordan)
Hope you liked this one.
Ok, off to start Chapter 17. Don't forget to check out Jordan's oneshots! She has one that explains in more detail about Natalie's family. (Oh yeah. -Jordan)
Keep reviewing, people!