"That party was so insane!" Paige squealed as she stumbled into her house. "Heather Sinclair's eyeballs almost popped out of her head when she saw me kissing Eric. It was so cool!"

"Uh huh," Sean agreed. He locked his arm firmly around Paige so that they could make their way upstairs.

"Aren't your parents' going to hear us?" Emma asked as she kept a guiding arm on Manny's back.

"They don't care so as long as don't drive." Paige said. "My parents are cool."

"Or completely insane," Sean mumbled under his breath. He glanced at Emma to see if she was laughing but she was completely engrossed in helping Manny make it up the stairs.

"It's my bed!" Paige cheered as she entered her room. "I love my bed! And I know you love my bed," she said, giving Sean a big hug. "Everybody loves my bed!"

"At least all the boys," Manny slurred as she lay down on the trundle bed that Sean slid out.

Emma stood there and watched as Sean took care of Paige and Manny. He took off their shoes and pulled the blankets over them. It was really nice of him to be so helpful to two girls who probably wouldn't even remember enough about tonight to say thank you in the morning.

"Okay, there's a trash can next to both of you. I'm leaving water on the nightstand. I'll be back to check on you in a little while. You can come downstairs with me, Emma. I'll set you up with a pillow and a blanket."

"You're really nice to them." Emma commented as she followed Sean back downstairs.

"Someone has to take care of them," Sean said. He stopped at a closet and pulled out a pillow and blanket before continuing through the house. "I mean Paige's parents have a lot of money and everything but they don't have a lot of time for their daughter. I'm not sure if Manny's parents know what's going on. She's a straight A student so I guess they figure things are okay as long as she's doing well in school. You can sleep in here." Sean opened the door to a small room that held a couch and a couple of chairs and a TV.

"Thanks."

"I'm going to stay here for a little while and make sure they're okay. You can go to sleep if you're tired."

"Not that tired. I'm kind of a night owl." Emma sat down on the couch. "I want to ask you something but I'm not sure if it's too personal."

"You'll never know if you don't ask." Sean replied before sitting beside her. "I'm actually pretty open."

"Okay. What's up with you and Paige? You're not a couple but she talks about having sex with you."

"Ah, that. We have dated on and off for a couple of years. But we're just too different to be in any sort of relationship with each other. We always end up spending more time fighting than anything else. Now we just occasionally have sex."

"Like friends with benefits?"

"Yeah. We both know where we stand so it's not like either one of us is getting hurt."

"But what about if either one of you starts dating someone else?"

"Then it stops. Why, are you interested?" Sean asked, only half joking.

Emma felt her face getting hot but tried to cover by scoffing. "I was just curious, that's all."

"Sure. I guess it's my turn to ask a question." Sean noticed the blush on Emma's face but chose not to comment on it. "So what was up with you and Jay at the party? You two were pretty into your conversation when I walked up."

"I told him I didn't want anything to do with him because I thought he only wanted one thing and he called me on it. He's not as big of a jerk as I thought he was."

"But you know that he still wants to have sex with you, right?"

"Of course I do. But he wants to have casual sex and I'm just not into that sort of thing."

"So you disapprove of what Paige and I do?"

"Does it matter?"

"I'm just curious."

"Okay, it's not my thing because that's how I was conceived. My parents were just friends who were having sex and they got me out of it. They ended up getting married and then making each other miserable for the next seventeen years."

"But you're here and you seem okay so it must not have been all bad between them."

"Yeah, but I think that things would have been better if they'd been in love."

"You're a romantic, fair enough. Umm, I'm just going to throw something out there and then check on the drunkards upstairs."

"Okay. Should I be scared?"

"No, it's just that I think you're hiding something from everyone. There are certain times that I just get this feeling that something is off about you. I know that sounds really bad but I don't mean it in a bad way. I just wanted to mention it in case you wanted to talk about something. But if you don't want to say anything then that's cool and I understand. I just know you don't reaally know anyone in Toronto and maybe you need someone you can trust. You can think about it. I'll be back in a few minutes." Sean got off the couch and went upstairs, leaving Emma to contemplate his words.

Emma watched Sean leave. She didn't even know how to respond to Sean. She'd been so careful about hiding her secret but he'd still figured out that she was hiding something. Maybe he wasn't sure about what it was. He didn't seem to want to push her into saying anything. Now it was decision time for Emma: full disclosure or keeping quiet. What was the right thing to do?

You all know by now that I like to build the suspense. A lot of you have guesses about Emma's secret. I'm not sure when the big reveal will come. It's up to Emma to tell me when she feels comfortable with everyone knowing. Go check out Bringing Back Degrassi on the forums page. It's going to a place where writers can get help with their stories and bounce ideas off each other. I'm trying to help Jess get the forum going so stop in and check it out. As always, thanks for reading and reviewing.