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Emma wished she'd taken a leaf out of Manny's book and showered earlier when it was still light. Emma also wished that Jay and Sean weren't here. It was so damn terrifying, living in fear that the truth was gonna come out. Then she'd have to face her fears head on. She hated letting herself get dragged into Manny's little half-planned schemes. This was definitely one of those times. She perched on the edge of the driver's seat looking around nervously. It was not her idea to stay here for the night. The rickety shack where they would be sleeping looked more than uninviting. They all gathered outside, a picnic bench, a small raging bonfire, fashioned by Jay and Sean, and a lonely dried out twig, formerly known as a tree, were the only outdoor facilities to 'enjoy'.
"I'm going for a shower." Emma announced uncertainly. She leaned over to get her stuff, then rose from her seat in the front of the horizontally parked Civic, and headed over to the shower area, checking over her shoulder every step of the way.
Spinner was gathering twigs and such for the bonfire. Sean and Manny were playing a card game at the bench.
Sean noticed her looking nervous. "You OK, Em?" He called over.
Emma cringed at the sound of his voice. "Uh, yeah, I'm just going to take a shower." She reiterated.
"Oh OK." Sean said simply, before returning to his game of 21 with Manny.
Emma sighed hopelessly and carried on walking toward the shower cubicles. She clutched onto her towel, with her pajamas wrapped up inside. The floodlight above her head started to flicker and the temperature seemed to drop ten degrees almost instantly.
The shower cubicles were outdoor, square wooden compartments with the decrepit shower heads hanging limply from the rafters. She stripped from her light summer dress to reveal a black bikini which she would not be taking off. She stepped gingerly into the confinement and slung her hot pink towel over the fence. She studied the dial on the shower and realized she had absolutely no idea how to work it.
"Why the hell couldn't we find a proper motel?" She muttered to herself as she prodded at the buttons and wheels, trying to release the water.
"Because we didn't allocate enough money for fancy accommodation." She heard Jay's voice before she saw him. Her eyes darted around in the dark in panic.
"God, don't creep up on me like that Jay!" She ordered as his beaming face popped up out of the foliage.
"Having technical difficulties?" He asked, stepping inside the cubicle fully clothed.
"Uh, yeah." Emma admitted reluctantly. Emma stepped back as Jay began fiddling with the dial, preparing herself to get drenched by either freezing cold or boiling hot water. Jay worked quickly, but he didn't seem to be having much luck.
A yelp from Emma distracted him. "What?" He spun around to find out the reasoning behind her outburst.
"Oh my God, Jay it's massive!" She had her hands clamped round her face.
"Well you should already know that!" Jay winked devilishly and smirked his famous smirk.
"No, behind you!" Emma squealed like a little girl. "Omigosh! Please get rid of it right now!" She was pointing to just behind Jay, to his left.
"That's it?" Jay scoffed as he saw a spider about the size of a quarter crawl innocently towards safety away from the prospect of gushing water.
He stuck out on hand as a ledge and gently eased the creepy crawly into his palm with his other hand with ease, and even an air of professionalism.
"Don't throw it anywhere near me!" Emma backed even further into the corner as Jay led the spider away in the safety of his cupped hands. He walked a good fifty feet away from the shower area before he let it back into the wilderness.
"There you go, all safe now for you." He announced as he strolled over casually, feeling kinda heroic.
Emma's face lit up with the hugest of grins. Jay loved her smile. It was both heartwarming and heart stopping, at the same time.
His amazement at her smile meant he lost all control of his tongue; he just couldn't stop talking, like verbal diarrhea. "Don't say I never do anything nice, eh? Sorry I couldn't get the shower to work but as I got rid of the spider, I guess I acted as exterminator. That makes up for it anyway. I guess I should go now, let you shower and all that. Since that is what you came here to do. Well not here in general but to this area. You know... sorry. I'll go." His cheeks were growing hot under the pressure.
He mentally slapped himself for rambling on so much. He smiled slightly, and Emma felt a tinge of pink creeping into her cheeks as she realized how his smile made her weaker at the knees than Sean's ever had.
"Thanks, Jay." Emma's face returned to straight laced and she thanked him monotonously. She couldn't afford to have it appear she liked him, even though she actually kinda did. She did a lot.
It hurt him a little that she seemed genuinely shocked and even a little suspicious that he would go out of his way to do something nice for her.
Maybe it was true: everyone expected him to be a crude, crass obnoxious little shit-head. Maybe it was true.
"Step back a sec." Emma obeyed and waited anxiously. Jay formed a fist and slammed the shower unit forcefully. The image of Rick collapsing grabbing his abdomen as Jay lunged at him with his fist outside The Dot flashed across Emma's memory.
The shower clunked and water began cascading from the shower head, at first a feeble trickle, then soon a steady flow of lukewarm water began to splash down.
Jay turned round slowly and Emma looked like she was going to hug him, but he remained modest.
"There ya go. See ya later." He ducked out of the way of the water and was gone.
"Why are you wet, man?" Sean asked, looking up from his huge collection of twigs and dry leaves.
"Was fixing the shower." Jay replied shortly, walking straight passed his friend toward his car. He sank down in the driver's seat and tipped the seat back a few notches. He swiped his hat off and covered his face with it. What had happened with Emma in the showers had bothered him. He hadn't felt anything like this for a girl since Alex. And there was little to no chance of ever getting her back. How impossibly random was it that she was now a lesbian? That was just one of the many things that baffled Jay's mind, including most simple math, English and science equations. He and Alex were the most perfect, logical, well matched couple you could ever imagine. But somehow things managed to go seriously wrong. When he reminisced about their relationship, he was unsure why he had cheated on Alex the amount of times he had.
He loved her at the time, but repeatedly getting away with screwing other girls and getting head from others and not getting caught was a thrill and a rush of adrenaline that nothing else could quite compare to. The Emma Ravine thing had been weird. She was the last girl that he'd ever expect to see at the ravine. They'd all been affected by the consequences of the shooting, all in different ways. He and Spin had lost their education, Sean had lost his mind, and Alex lost her old friends, her boyfriend and luckily, her old life of tragedy and pain. Emma had taken the brunt of it though. She'd lost her innocence. She'd watched one guy die, and for a moment feared that it might have been Sean that took the bullet. Having a gun pointed in your face is something that he'd never wish on anyone, not even his worst enemy. He'd been there before, under slightly different circumstances, and it was horrible. To have every last moment of your life flash before your eyes, regret for things you haven't done, and a pining for a happier time, the wish to block out the worst memories.
After the shooting, Sean got off lighter, in Jay's opinion. He ran off to Wasaga and escaped the haunting halls of Degrassi. With me and Spin gone, Alex still her sworn enemy, Emma had no-one. She was left to face up to it, and tackle it day by day. When she started coming down to the ravine, Jay was taken aback to say the very least. At the time, he was pissed about being kicked out of school, and honestly, was feeling a heavy load of guilt about Rick dying. Spinner was having a hard time too. He was trying his hardest to get back to Degrassi and finish his year to graduate, but Jay had other ideas. He was working, making a go of things that way. He didn't have a family to encourage him to go back and graduate, so he never bothered. He wished he hadn't taken advantage of Emma. She was at her weakest, most fragile time, and he let her throw her innocence down the drain for a few pathetic bracelets. God that was a stupid time for him. That was a long time over.
Jay was surprised that Emma had brought both he and Sean on this road trip. Maybe she thought at the time it'd be a good idea, but now Jay was beginning to grow sick of the sight of Sean.
I know that this chapter was kinda crap, but please leave a review and let me know what you thought!