Disclaimer: I do not own Skins, please don't rub it in. :-( Especially now that series 4 has started.

Author Note: It's been a hectic few weeks, trying to fit in time to write all these stories I have going on and this one isn't exactly easy. So I'm sorry that it's taken so long to write, but I hope it's worth it. Thanks for sticking by me and enjoy!

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Carry Me Away

Chapter Four: Never Gonna Be The Same

She was broken. Again. No matter how hard Emily tried to fight, to win, something would always knock her back down.

That final year of school, Kara, the leader; the one who pushed the first cigarette against her thigh, had left. It was supposed to be a chance to start again. To move on from the pain, from the suffering. It was supposed to be over then. A summer of possibilities that lay ahead for the next year. Six weeks of thoughts; of fixing old friendships, starting new ones, meeting girls who might like her for her. Who might want to be with her.

She didn't anticipate Samantha, Kara's best friend, her second in command; who seemed to take charge, was actually a lot worse. Within a week, Emily was broken down again. Pushed to the floor both figuratively and literally. By Christmas she'd given up. Every night spent in her bedroom, still torturing herself by browsing Facebook. Messages from classmates, from those girls, in her inbox, on her wall. It didn't go away. It didn't stop the out of control feelings that overwhelmed her entire body. She thought about ending it, more than once. Every single day until February when she finally made an attempt.

The day had started like all of them. She got up, read the dozen or so messages she'd received through the night, picked at her breakfast even though she didn't feel much like eating. It wasn't that she didn't like food, or didn't want to eat. She just couldn't. Her stomach would twist itself up in knots, making her feel sick. The moment any food went down, it wasn't long before it came back up again. She took as many days off as possible, but with Rob as a dad, that wasn't often or enough. She managed to take that day off, he wasn't there when she got up, had some early meeting to get to. She was thankful. It gave her time, time to plan, time to think; time to write and rewrite the message she'd started but never found the motivation to end.

'Dear dad, I love you, but I can't do this anymore. It's too hard, it's too painful to live like this. You're a good dad, you do everything right and I couldn't have asked for a better parent. This isn't your fault. I'm sorry. Love, Emily xxx'

Then she did it, she took the blade she usually used, swiped it across her wrists until blood seeped from the wounds. It felt good. The pain was unlike anything she'd ever felt before; blinding, suffocating, stopping her from feeling every little thing she had ever felt. A brief thought for her dad passed through her mind. Regret that he'd lose his only child, that he'd have to go through the pain of finding her. Of holding her there on her bed as she bled to death. She gasped for breath, panic setting in. She wanted it all to be over, but not like this. Not when her dad was a good man. She started to scream out, the pain increasing, overtaking her until it became too much. It wasn't the kind of pain that masked her feelings anymore, it just made them worse.

'Emily,' her dads voice was screaming, filling the room. She wondered why he was there, why he had found her when she was still alive. She asked him, muttered a sentence that she thought made sense. Heard him talking on the phone, holding her in his arms as he wrapped something around the bloody wrists. She fell unconscious in the ambulance and by the time she was awake, it was the next day; she had drips hanging up beside the bed and her dad had hold of her hand, looking like he hadn't let it go in all of the hours they'd been there. She'd apologised, told him she was fine, but there was no hiding it anymore. He knew. He knew she was broken, he knew she had hurt herself time again and he knew it was bad enough that she'd tried to end her life.

'You don't have to stay with me dad,' she muttered, lay in her bed with his arms wrapped around her. It was a comfort, a warming embrace that made her feel only comfortable. He was her dad and he could do that, easily, without fail.

'I want to.'

He worried. He always worried. He barely wanted to take his eyes off her, though he knew he had to. She was his baby girl, she was vulnerable and broken and he needed to be there for her. No matter what.

'I'm not going to do anything stupid,' Emily whispered. 'I wouldn't, not again.'

But Rob didn't move, his hands still gripping the sides of her pyjamas like he was clinging on for life. He was. He was clinging on for her life. His eyes wild with worry and concern, shocked and faltered with emotions that Emily couldn't place.

'I love Naomi, dad,' she whispered, her voice breaking up as she spoke her name.

'I love her too,' Rob smiled. 'Shame we haven't seen her much, Gina says she had her heart broken.'

'No, dad,' Emily sighed. 'She did, by me. I love-love her.'

He seemed to grow rigid, his clutch loosening as he pulled away. Emily pressed her lips together, begged that he would be okay with how she felt, that she hadn't told him.

'How? When?'

'You made us share a room, we got close, too close.'

'Oh.'

Emily pushed a couple of tears from her eyes, wished it didn't hurt so much to think of Naomi.

'I hurt her. I had to get better, I couldn't be with her, but it really hurt her.'

'I'm sure you didn't mean,'

Emily interrupted him. 'No, but it still happened. Last night she left me a message, telling me that she was over feeling like she has been. That she doesn't want to think of me that way and it hurt, she did to me exactly what I did to her and I couldn't stand it, because I love her.'

'Last night?'

'Right before we went to dinner. It was bad timing dad.'

'So it wasn't about Katie? Or your mother?'

Emily wrapped her arms around Rob's waist, didn't want to contemplate her exact feelings on the two females invading her life. 'I don't need anyone but you dad.'

He pulled away again, unlinking her arms from his body. 'No, no.'

'What?' she asked, frowning.

'You do need people Emily, you've lived too many years without a mother. You need a mother.'

'I don't want her.'

Rob's voice grew small. 'I don't want to lose you Emily, but I'm scared for you every day, since you last ended up in hospital. I don't want you to get into that place again.'

'I won't, I already told you. I won't do that. Besides, I'm seeing a counsellor, I'll be okay.'

'I worry about you Emsy.'

'I know you do dad,' she whispered. 'But I'm doing good, really good. I don't need her to make me do better because I have everything I need.'

It didn't stop him from worrying. Emily was his baby girl, he wanted her to be okay, he needed her to be. Everything that had happened scared him. He didn't expect her to embrace Jenna with open arms, but he hadn't expected such a rejection either. He wanted what was best. He knew pushing wasn't going to get him anywhere, so instead, he held her and they continued to talk about nothing and everything, like they always had.

*

JJ's arms came down around Katie's bare shoulders, his cold fingers retracing steps along her collar bone, making her shiver under his touch. She settled into his embrace, rested her head against his chest and enjoyed the moment beside him.

'I feel like I haven't seen you in weeks,' Katie muttered.

'It's only been five days so it's not really a week,' he assured her.

It annoyed her. She didn't want it to annoy her. But it did. He liked to correct her, when she made an exaggeration, like she didn't realise it was not the complete truth. She knew it was just who he was, had learnt that about him within a month of them being together. But on this occasion, it frustrated her.

'I know that Jonah,' she snapped, pulling out of his arms and edging closer to the wall.

'Are you okay?' he asked, reaching his arm around her shoulders.

'Why do you ask me that? Do I not seem okay?'

'Not really,' he informed her. 'You sound like maybe you're on your lady time because mum says that when girls get their period, they sometimes get very cranky and out of character. So I conclude that you must be.'

Katie sighed. 'If I was, I wouldn't have just had sex with you Jonah, or at least, you'd know about it.'

He frowned, looked at her until she turned away. He couldn't understand her sometimes, when she was acting weird. He didn't get why girls said things and did things that were completely different to each other.

'I'm sorry if I offended you, I didn't mean to upset you. I obviously don't know enough about the female reproductive system to come to a proper conclusion.'

He talked a lot too, she realised. Not just talking, but talking properly, in full sentences about weird things. Like female reproductive systems. She'd never met anyone who talked about that, except the teacher who taught her sex education in school.

'You didn't offend me,' she assured him. Willing herself to be a bit nicer, she curled back up against his side.

'I'm sorry anyway, mum says that I sometimes talk a bit too much about things I shouldn't and that can scare people.'

'You don't scare me Jonah.'

'But I do annoy you.'

Katie took a deep breath, let her fingers circle his small nipple. 'No, sometimes, but not all the time.'

'It's okay to annoy each other I think as long as it's not all the time.'

'Yeah,' Katie sighed. 'Not all the time.'

*

Every day seemed to be a little bit easier. It all started about six weeks after Emily started taking her medication, it was like a giant transparent roof over her head had opened up and was allowing her to see her life for the first time. Things weren't perfect, she knew they probably wouldn't be for a long time. But they were better than she had been anticipating.

'I'll see you the same time next week Emily.'

She nodded, smiled at the counsellor and left the room. She'd cried, she'd talked, she'd listened all in the space of an hour. It helped. She'd been sceptical at first, unsure about whether talking to a stranger would help. But it did. She didn't even know why or how. Things suddenly started to become clearer, issues messed up in her mind straightened themselves out, became easier to understand. Even recent things, like with Naomi. She made sense of her feelings, decided what to do next and realised that every knock down didn't have to be a bad thing. Emily had actually rebuilt her foundations, without knowing, those sessions had allowed her to start from the bottom and work her way through to create a sturdy surface to walk upon. She felt stronger, more confident and empowered to live her life again. She had a floor to fall down on, something to stop herself from freefalling continuously and it was an amazing comfort.

*

The few words Naomi didn't want to hear were spoken so clearly that she wondered if the teacher was doing it on purpose. Group assignments were never something Naomi liked doing, she preferred to work alone. Always had trouble trusting someone else to complete a project.

'Naomi, Steve, Nicky and Emily, you will be group two.'

She scanned the room, begged the world itself for a second Emily to have appeared in the room since they took attendance a few minutes earlier. No luck. Naomi cursed the world, silently sent messages of hate and revenge to whatever might have been listening to her thoughts. She officially hated her teacher, had never loved her much, but now found reason to loathe her entirely. Emily caught her eye, forcing her to look away. She hated seeing her face, hated her being in the room; so close when nothing was as she wanted it to be. She wasn't even sure she wanted it anymore, was too angry to contemplate the possibility that things could, under some odd situation, change for the better.

'It's a debate, who's good at debates?' Steve mumbled, reading from the assignment sheet they'd been given.

Naomi looked briefly at Emily, didn't need to look for long to realise the paled faced girl was on the verge of crying or throwing up, or both. She wished she could comfort her, could tell her that they would practice together and make it easier. But sitting beside her was only filling her with dread.

*

'Stop being such a fucking dyke about everything.'

Naomi knew as soon as she'd spoken, that it was the wrong thing to say. The memories of Emily telling her about her past came flooding back, taking control of her thought process and sending messages of guilt and regret around her system. She looked away, couldn't face looking Emily in the eye through fear of what she might see. Then skin collided with her cheek and she was forced to look up. Emily's irate eyes dancing wildly inside her head, unsettling Naomi's nerves more than the thought of silence. She'd never seen Emily like that, didn't think Emily had ever been like that. Then red flashed before her eyes, fingers digging into her hair until it hurt.

Emily pushed, tugged, jumped across to Naomi. Rage building inside of her. She'd never felt it before; anger that made her want to lash out. Every angry moment from her life thus far seemed to come flooding into her mind. Naomi's original statement, the one that merely hit a nerve, was now swallowed up by years of hurt. She tugged harder, felt hair in her hands. It was too far, she knew it was too far. Except that she couldn't stop herself. She climbed on top of Naomi, not caring where her hands and feet landed on the blonde until the chair fell backwards and they were on the floor.

Falling off the chair didn't hurt as much as Naomi expected it to, was more surprised by the weight of Emily's body pressed against her own. She bit her lip, tried to ignore the desire to kiss Emily, as she writhed for control. Emily was winning and though Naomi hated to lose, she found herself helpless to the seemingly stronger girl.

'Naomi, Emily.'

A deep, feminine voice bellowed behind them. Everyone had gathered round, people were shouting their names, trying to pull Emily away. Naomi just lay there, took the slaps and the hair pulling that Emily gave out because she didn't think she had any right to defend herself. Not against Emily. Not against the one who was right.

The strength she'd been feeling seemed to waver. Emily's reaction seemed to hit her hard, made her realise what she'd done. She didn't want to be that way, she didn't want to feel angry. She'd spent too long trying to fix herself and that loss of control only seemed to push her backwards.

By the time they'd been separated, Emily had recoiled, reverted back to her quiet, introverted self. It didn't escape Naomi's notice that she looked a little shocked, unfamiliar with her own actions. They sat in the headteachers office, her steely expression too chilling to look at.

'If you both weren't having issues at home, then I would have expelled you before you entered the room. Do you understand me?'

The two girls nodded, accepted their punishment begrudgingly as they were handed a set of scrubbing brushes and told to clean up the graffiti by the science block. Emily took the bucket full of brushes, rushed out of the college and set to work because she didn't want to spend any time thinking about what had happened. She didn't want to find time to think about Naomi following behind, or the memories she'd been attempting to forget.

*

'Did you hear about Emily and Naomi?'

The only thing Katie didn't want to think about, was the one thing that JJ had brought up. They'd been together for just thirty seconds, their lessons for the day having barely finished. She'd tried to ignore the thought of Emily and Naomi, had ignored them as best as she could. But JJ's stark reminder brought images of the two of them kissing, that seemed to come out of nowhere and actually made her want to cry.

'You heard about them?' she asked, worry hitting her. How could everyone know that they'd been together? That Emily and Naomi had been more than just friends?

'About their fight, yes.'

'Their fight?' Katie was confused, didn't understand what he was talking about, but felt relieved that it wasn't about them having sex. Sex. Girls having sex. She couldn't understand it.

'Yes, Emily jumped on Naomi in their psychology lesson and kept slapping her, Cook said she kissed her, but I think he's making that bit up. Freddie said that Hayley Barnes, who is in their class, just said that they'd been fighting and got sent to see Harriet.'

'I haven't seen Naomi in a while,' Katie mumbled, not really to anyone, just thinking aloud.

'But you're her best friend, I thought best friends were supposed to spend time together,' JJ concluded.

Katie took a deep breath. They were, she told herself. Tried not to stare down, as her eyes landed on the front of JJ's trousers. A memory came flooding back, infiltrating her brain when she didn't want it to.

'I'm sorry,' she whispered, talking to his crotch.

'Sorry for what?' JJ asked, stopping and lifting her chin to stare into her eyes. 'Why would you be sorry when you haven't done anything wrong?'

She shrugged. 'I wasn't very nice to you yesterday.'

'It's okay, sometimes I get into a really bad mood and I break my models. So you were just in a little bit of a bad mood and that's okay. In fact, mum said that when girls are in bad moods you should buy them chocolate because it makes them feel better, so I have got you a bar of Dairy Milk.'

The large bar of chocolate appeared in JJ's hand, pushed under Katie's nose with force. She stared at the purple wrapper, felt guilt rising up inside her chest. He was nice. JJ was nice. She liked him, she loved him. He bought her chocolate because she'd been horrible to him, he was too nice.

'You shouldn't have, but thanks,' she smiled.

It shouldn't have annoyed her, it was a kind gesture. But it was a little weird. If anyone should have made it up to someone, it should have been her. She bit her lip, tried to ignore the conflicting feelings that overtook her. She loved JJ, she cared about him.

'I wanted to, sometimes it's nice to spoil your girlfriend, that's what mum says.'

His mum, why did he always ask his mum? She asked her mum things too, but she didn't tell him that. It was weird, it was odd. She used to like it, always liked that he didn't just do what he thought was best. She couldn't understand why she despised it so much now.

'Well, thanks,' she smiled again, felt the falseness of the action. It wasn't right. He was her boyfriend, he was the love of her life, he was her first and only. He was special. Special. He was special, but maybe not in the way she had always thought.

'Would you like to come back to my house?' JJ asked. 'My mum is cooking a special dinner and you're invited, if you want to come.'

'I have to go home,' Katie whispered, kissing him briefly on the cheek, rushing away from him.

She didn't look back, couldn't bare the thought of seeing his reaction to her frostiness. She didn't understand it, couldn't comprehend what was going on. He was special to her, he was, she knew he was. She thought she loved him, that her feelings were strong, but now she wasn't so sure. She wondered if it was just her lack of experience, that maybe she was letting herself be more open to boys. She couldn't understand why it had happened, how it had happened.

Things with Naomi had changed so quickly, and Emily, even her mother. JJ was the one consistent thing, the stable part of her life that stayed exactly as it was. Everything was fine, everything was perfect. But so much had changed in her life, so many things had happened that now she wasn't sure about anything.

*

'This is your fault, you know?' Naomi groaned, scrubbing the wall with as much frustration as possible.

She hated the idea of detention, or 'community service' as Harriet had called it. But the second she'd got a scrubbing brush in her hand, the frustrations she felt seemed to be directed to cleaning up the mess. It wasn't mess really, it was actually a really clever piece of art, something someone would have been proud of. She couldn't be proud of anything; she wasn't good at art, she wasn't into fashion, she hated sports, she couldn't sing to save her life. She could argue, she could be sarcastic. They weren't really things to be proud of.

Emily sighed. 'I'm not the one who fucked someone else.'

Another thing Naomi couldn't be proud of. She gritted her teeth, tried to brush aside how much Emily's words hurt, turned instead to her sarcastic wit.

'Wow Emily, you're really on fire today.'

'Fuck off.'

Naomi rolled her eyes. 'I already tried that, but here we are, with you having jumped me in the middle of psychology.'

'Shut up. You stupid, fucking tit.'

The redhead wasn't Emily, not the Emily she'd got to know. Sure she could be a bit snippy at times, always appeared happy to make comments that weren't nice. But Naomi had got past that, had seen the Emily underneath. The broken, quiet girl that just needed people to be there for her.

Naomi frowned. 'Seriously Ems, what has got into you?'

'You think it's fucking clever don't you, being the way you are, saying things without thinking. You're fucking pathetic. Ever made anyone kill themselves Naomi?'

She was confused. 'What?'

'Sticks and stones might break bones, but words fucking kill people.'

Naomi sighed, her heart tugging inside her chest. Regret lacing her present existence. She would have told Emily she'd lost it, except that it was her fault she had. She'd pushed her too far. She didn't even know why she'd done it. They were only discussing the topic of their debate.

'What I said, I didn't mean to upset you. I just didn't think.'

'You never think,' Emily stated, continuing to scrub the wall with as much rigour as Naomi.

'How would you know?' Naomi scoffed, wished she could stop being so harsh. 'You fucked off before I had chance to show you what I'm like.'

'Stop, just fucking stop,' Emily ordered, her voice panicked, she couldn't stand the direction their conversation was going. She didn't want to get angry again, she didn't want to feel anything anymore, not for the rest of the day at least.

'No, Emily, you can't keep blaming me for all of this. I didn't do anything to you, I didn't fuck you over. You fucked me over.'

Emily turned away, stopped scrubbing the wall. Naomi was right. Her counsellor didn't tell her how to fix things, but something they'd come to the conclusion over, was that Emily needed to take control. She had to take responsibility over her actions and her words. She stayed silent. Responding would mean acknowledging to Naomi that she was right. Whilst she didn't mind telling herself that, she wasn't ready to tell Naomi.

After a long silence, Emily found herself changing the conversation, her curiosity getting the better of her. 'Who is she?'

'Who's who?' Naomi asked, confused.

'The girl you're seeing.'

'I'm not 'seeing' her,' Naomi snapped, wishing it wasn't assumed. 'We're friends, we were friends. We just, we,'

'You fucked her Naomi, that's not friends. That's, how could you do that if you were just friends?'

Naomi chewed on her lip, just shrugged. She didn't have an answer. She didn't know why she did it.

Emily continued, her voice growing stronger. She felt her control coming back, seeping through her feelings again. Allowing her to feel the power she had over herself. 'I didn't even think you were, well you always made it seem like you didn't, you didn't like...'

'Girls?'

Emily nodded.

'I don't know what I like Emily, you didn't give me a chance to. All I know is that I want to be with you.'

'Want?'

An overwhelming panic hit Naomi. Want. She did want Emily, she just couldn't say that, didn't want her to know that. Not after she'd tried to persuade her she didn't care. Her feelings were beating too fast around her body, making her feel sick.

'Wanted,' she rushed. 'I wanted to be with you.'

'You don't anymore?' Emily's words came out so small, vulnerable. It made Naomi regret her desire to hide the strength of her feelings.

She chewed on her lip again. 'I don't know. I don't, you, I just, it's different now.'

'It hurt me too,' Emily sighed, forcing herself to be honest. 'Seeing you with her really hurt Naomi.'

'You don't have a right to say that Emily, it's not fair. You can't act like you care, not now.'

'Of course I care Naomi, you're the one who said otherwise. I thought you didn't care about me, when you were fucking that girl, you made it seem like you don't care at all.'

'I do care,' Naomi admitted, fighting through the urge to be sick. 'Why do you think I feel so fucking betrayed? I fucking changed things, changed what I thought was true, for you. I thought I only wanted to be with guys. You changed that. You made it different.'

'I had to do it the way I did Naomi. I don't regret that. I only regret that you got hurt,' Emily assured her.

'Hurt?' Naomi scoffed, her eyes rolling back into her head. 'You don't know the meaning of the word Emily, fucks sake.'

'You think I don't know?' Emily scoffed back, the painful look in her eyes. Naomi knew she was wrong. 'Have you forgotten everything I ever told you? If anyone doesn't understand Naomi, it's you. What has been so bad in your life? Other than this, with us.'

Naomi bit her lip, knew that Emily was right. So she grew up without a dad, that never mattered because Gina made up for it. Her life was good, it had always been really good, in comparison. Except for what happened with Emily.

Silence overtook them. The only sound, the scrubbing of the brushes against the surface of the wall. Emily focused on the one spot, let the sea of blue spray paint focus and unfocus as she scrubbed as hard as she could, until it began to fade. Naomi beside her carried on working, ignored the large image beside the letter she was trying to remove. She didn't want to remove it really, wished she could ignore the job. She didn't want someone else's pride to be shattered, not when they were so talented.

'Are you better?' she finally asked, breaking the silence. 'Is that why you came round?'

'No,' Emily sighed, not taking her attention off the wall. 'I came around because you broke our parents hearts. They love each other, they were getting married and you not being there hurt them.'

'I know,' Naomi sighed. 'I fucked up.'

Emily shook her head, turned back to the blonde. 'No Naomi, you fucked that girl.'

'I know that too Emily, stop telling me what I did wrong. I know, I can't forget it. Any of it.'

Each painful memory travelled through Naomi's brain like a slideshow. She bit her lip, tried to keep her focus on that letter that didn't seem to want to be removed. She regretted starting the conversation, wished she could go back in time the whole day, the whole year to a time when she didn't even know who Emily was. It would hurt less, she realised.

'Maybe you should start acting like you can't then, instead of playing the lonely victim.'

'Are you better?' Naomi repeated, ignoring the original conversation, wanting to return to that moment where she'd been hopeful of a real, productive conversation.

'A bit. It's not going to happen overnight. This is bigger than that, you know what happened, all of it. You know how big it is. They said it'll probably take years.'

'Oh.'

Disappointed. Nothing but disappointment reached into Naomi's chest, tugged at her heart until she couldn't breath properly. She couldn't wait years, she couldn't even wait weeks for Emily without ending up a mess.

'I am in a better place though,' Emily assured her. 'My medication is really working out now. It took a while, at first it didn't feel like it was doing anything.'

'What's that like?' Naomi asked, her voice barely working.

'It's horrible. I was so numb. I couldn't feel anything Naomi, I couldn't feel everything that I wanted to feel about you.'

A tiny ray of hope sprung up out of nowhere. 'And now?'

'Now it's better. Now I feel more than I thought I'd ever feel...about anyone.'

It confused Naomi. She couldn't work out if Emily was telling her they could never be together, or if maybe there was a chance. She silently begged for a chance, hoped and prayed to nobody that it would work out.

'What does that mean then?'

'I'm ready Naomi,' Emily whispered, dropping her brush, taking a step closer to Naomi. 'I want to be with you, Naomi. I'm ready to be with you.'

Emily's fingers reached out, took Naomi's hand, carefully trailed across Naomi's own slender fingers.

'You think it's that easy?' Naomi asked, cursing herself for not letting it just happen. 'That we can forget what happened, that I can forget, that I don't still hurt.'

'I'm sorry,' Emily cried out, brushing a couple of tears from her cheeks. 'I really am.'

Naomi tugged her hands away, her eyes growing wild with frustration. It overwhelmed her. She didn't want it, she just wanted to let Emily back in. But she was scared.

'I thought, I thought you wanted to be with me Emily. I wanted it so much, I wanted you so much. I've never felt like that before,' she cried back, tears building up in the back of her throat. 'I haven't ever let myself be like that. I don't open myself up, not like that and you just stood all over it, like it was easy.'

'No. Naomi, it wasn't easy. It was horrible. It hurt me too. To do that when all I wanted was to be with you.'

Without hesitation, Emily leant forwards, pushed her lips against Naomi's until she reacted to the touch, kissed back for a moment before pulling away. It was nice. A smile crept onto Emily's face, her feelings dancing around inside her chest like a fly trapped in a jar.

'No. Emily. No. I can't, not right now. Not when I've made such a mess of my life,' Naomi whispered, turning away. 'I need to make things better first, I need to forgive you.'

She'd expected too much. Emily grabbed the side of her jacket with her fingers, tried to ignore the disappointment. She shouldn't feel so hurt, Naomi didn't invite her to kiss her. She shouldn't have pushed too hard. 'But, I, well, can we at least be friends? For a bit.'

'I don't know,' Naomi muttered, sending a very brief, very small smile back. 'Just give me some time, yeah?'

Emily bit her lip, returned to scrubbing the wall with as much frustration as had built up. 'Yeah, okay.'

Chapter One Voting Options:

Naomi 1: Naomi takes tentative steps towards repairing the rifts she caused, which is easier said than done when others have their own problems.

Naomi 2: Naomi's confidence is shattered once more, with surprising consequences.

Twins 1: Katie is struggling with all of the changes in her life, causing her to lash out to the people who should matter the most. Whilst Emily makes a decision about her current relationships.

Twins 2: Katie's actions push her to the limit, which surprises Emily the most, changing their relationship in more ways than one.

TO HAVE YOUR SAY, REVIEW WITH YOUR CHOICES!