"I'll carry that." Rocky lifts Emily's tray from her grasp.

"No. It's fine. You've got your tray..."

"It's not a problem." He assures her. Rocky steered Emily towards the table where he and his friends are seated. However, Sadie has other plans. He cut his eyes at her discretely when hearing.

"Emily, we're over here." Accompanied by a wave for direction.

Emily smiled. She extracted her lunch tray from Rocky, then heads for her female friend's table.

Rocky followed after her. He took a seat where, he hoped, would be empty of someone's claim. If need be he'd remain silent. He ate his lunch through audible observation. The girl's didn't talk about anything especially interesting, and his silence was apparently seen as 'ignoring', because the topic of guys came up. His ears perked up.

Alyssa set her fork down. Leaning forward a bit, she lowered her voice, though it was not do to Rocky, who has seemingly turned to stone due to silence. Her discretion was to prevent the person she's talking about from hearing.

"So, Ricky Botuchis is top-tier hawt lately. Like, what camp did he go to because the training has paid off." Her green eyes glanced at his back. He's seated a table ahead of their's and to the left.

"I think it's because his braces are gone." Sadie speculated.

Her friend furrowed her brow. "He had braces?"

"Ugh, how could you miss 'em?"

Alyssa snickered. "Because he was so ugly I just couldn't look at him in the face."

Emily chuckled.

Rocky found that odd. Emily was not one for jabs or 'dog-piles'. Amnesia sure is strong to be able to change a person so completely.

Emily was about to say something, but she stopped and stared. Her blank expression was missed by Alyssa and Sadie, who continued whispering in wonder over who would make a great Sumner romance. But Rocky noticed.

"Emily, are you ok?" He asked. "Are you tired? I can take you to the nurse."

"Hmm?" She blinked. "Oh, no, I just.. thought I recognized someone."

This got her girl friends attention. Sadie held Emily's hand.

"Em', do you remember anything at all about what caused the accident?"

"How would that help anything?" Rocky questioned, with a little too much aggression in his tone.

"Obviously, she should get their information for the insurance. The car was damaged, someone should have to pay."

"Lyssa, that's sick. I'm not gonna look into the cause of the accident for compensation. My dad said there was a fatality..." She grabs the milk carton from her tray. "How awful would that look for me?"

"You have a busted car, plus amnesia. You're a victim too."

"A lucky one. Let's leave it at a victory."

Rocky released his held breath. It's fine if he's busted by Emily in private, but here at school, in front of everyone... He'd rather be dangling over a volcano by strands of his hair.

Emily tapped her thumb against the table top. "I do remember a voice..."

Sadie rubbed her friend's back. "It was probably the radio."

Emily agreed. It made sense. The guy was probably the DJ announcing the next song. The rest of lunch period went fine. No more panic attacks for Rocky. No more flashbacks for Emily. And her girl friends spoke about dances coming up, TV shows, and a coming birthday party.

"I'll carry your books." Rocky rose from his seat and gathered Emily's books from the table.

"Thanks." She smiled.

He smiled in return.

Sadie and Alyssa exchanged looks, having seen the moment between the two friends. But they remained silent. Rocky held the door open for his crush when they dumped their trash then went for the exit. Perfect. These things will be remembered. But what else? Rocky can't think of anything that isn't over-the-top. He's dated. Sure. But, he's only casually dated. He didn't want to be with any of them as he wants to be with Emily Farmer. She's his IT girl. Special. All his best he wants to shower on her. But, to that he has to be with her. Doing it now just comes off kind of stupid. He definitely doesn't want to look stupid to her.

Emily looked at her schedule. "Let's see... Reading." Her pleasant expression faded. "Were we reading a book? I didn't bring anything with me from home."

"We're reading a book, but we leave them in class." He calmed her sudden fear of being that ill-prepared student.

"I'm glad I've got you." She mentioned to herself mostly.

He calmed his heart and stored those words away to memory. He patted himself on the back for not saying "You've always got me". "We're reading Great Expectations."

"Never heard of it."

Alyssa laughed hearing that, and continued by to Spanish class. Sadie wanted to laugh but kept it in. It was funny to say that when it's something their class has been reading.

"Is it any good?" Emily asked either of her friends beside her.

"I like it." Sadie replied. Her hand reached over and adjusted her friend's ponytail that got caught in her backpack zipper. She then closed over the small open space.

"Yeah. It's pretty good." Rocky added. He pointed before giving his crush a light push. "We're here."

The trio turns into the reading room.

"Are there assigned seats?" Emily wonders, looking at the sea of mostly empty desks. All the students who are happy to attend class were seated and waiting, not in the hall dawdling.

"No. Come sit by me.." He quickly covered his tracks. "I mean, if you want."

"Sure." She followed him to the middle of the room and took a seat at his left.

'It would look really idiotic if I changed seats and sat in front of her, wouldn't it?' Rocky was seriously about to stand and do just that, however Sadie took the free seat.

The rest of the class came in taking every seat available. The teacher eyeballed them from his desk making note of who was and was not there. Emily got up from her seat and handed him a note. Rocky surmised it was an explanation about her condition. It was confirmed by the teacher giving Emily an empathetic expression and nod, before gesturing that she could take her seat.

Emily gave Rocky a comical expression as she returned to her seat. She cupped her mouth a whispered with humor. "He asked if I still know how to read."

Rocky mentally face-palmed. He didn't know if it was insensitive or completely logical. Amnesia comes in all sorts of variations. A frown sagged the corners of his mouth. So many "What if's" so much of it his fault. What if she remains a different person? Emily, but not completely.

He felt a sudden wave of nausea.

"Alright, let's open our book to chapter nineteen. Mr. Applebee, please begin."

While Harlow Applebee read from the book, Rocky listened to the light murmurs of their classmates. They were talking about the accident. Shooting glances at Emily. Rocky felt a sudden urge to snap at them. They're gonna make her uncomfortable. They shouldn't be leering, whispering, or any other such disrespectful nonsense. They should be listening to Harlow read. Discretely he cast them a glare. Knowing Rocky and Emily's history only caused them to snicker more.

'Cool it, Rocky. They're idiots. Just leave it alone.' He took three deep breaths in and out. He then let it go. 'But someone should draw a line between harmless nonsense and being insensitive jackasses.' He thought. 'It's letting stuff like that go being what creates delinquents.'

"Will you guys, please, shut up?" Emily asked loud enough for everyone to hear. "You're being disrespectful, and unlike you I wanna hear the contents in the book."

Everyone in the room looked surprised by the polite outburst.

"You can talk about me after learning hours. Until then shut up." She left it at that and returned to paying attention to the student who quieted due to her outburst.

Sadie looked impressed by her friend. Everyone in class was taken aback and muttered a sort of apology. Rocky was disturbed. Emily stood up for herself, but she was never so... Bruiser, about it. She's polite. Emily would have shushed them and made a "come on" expression. But to say: "Shut up". The weight of the accident was growing ever more heavy in weight.

...

"Emily, you were so badass." Sadie was saying as they left the building. "You were all "pay attention, idiots". It was hilarious." She complimented her misquote.

"I was just being polite to what's-his-name." Emily brushed it off.

"Hey," Rocky said, having heard enough. He walked ahead of them then turned, walking backwards as he spoke. "How 'bout we go see the Barbie movie again?" Emily loved that movie like it was made just for her. She wasn't even a Barbie fan anymore, but the movie was all she's ever wanted.

"Barbie?" She seemed to be trying to recall what the movie or show was.

Rocky pulled out his phone then pulled the trailer on YouTube. Handing it to Emily, he says. "See?"

She stopped walking to watch the trailer. "Looks pretty fun." Handing back the phone, she asked. "Why do you wanna see a movie all of sudden?"

"Because it's your favorite. I thought maybe it would job your memory."

"Umm, ok." Nodding, she smiled. "It might." Her gaze glanced past Rocky. She watched someone head to their car then returned her attention to him. "When are we going?"

"I don't have any homework, it'll be over before dinner."

"That's too sudden, Rocky." Sadie shook her head. "I'll pass."

Rocky wondered when she was invited? "Emily?"

"Umm, Sadie's right. But how 'bout Friday?"

Rocky placed his hand over his chest. His heart suddenly accelerated. "On second thought, we can just watch a movie at my house - or yours - if that's ok?"

Sadie, taking the hint, excused herself to the buses.

"Ok. I'll watch anything."

"Except horror, I know." Rocky teased.

"No. I'm fine with anything." She replied easily. He pace to the car picked up as his slowed down.

'But, you hate horror.' He thought in distress. 'So it's true... Emily lost not just her memories, but herself... And it's all my fault..'

Later that afternoon.

Rocky had been in his bedroom running his finger over his movie collection to find the perfect watch for a ground-work laying movie for the growing of a relationship. None of it seemed right. A guy's movie collection was nothing a girl would be interested in. But, then he recalled that Emily, his sweet, I-don't-want-to-see-that Emily, said that any genre was fine. Hated one included.

And so from the shelf he pulled away Fright Night. The more modern version with Colin Farrell. A combination of scary and funny. At least, he thinks it's funny.

His brothers were thankfully leaving him alone about Emily. Colt was planted at the kitchen table doing his math homework. Tum Tum was in the kitchen as well doing what he claimed was homework for Home Ec. when really he just wanted to make a cookie bar. He's been over for nearly twenty minutes of vampire gore, and so far his crush has shown no repulse towards the contents on the screen. She's actually enthralled.

"Do you think that rule is true? Could a vampire really not come into your house uninvited?" Her brow furrowed. "Who makes up these weird rules?"

"Hollywood?" He shrugged his shoulder.

"Oh, hey, you wanna search for my diary after the movie?" She asked.

"Sure." It's a book full of personal thoughts and feelings. It shouldn't be too hard to find. He already had some assumed locations. He yelped from her sudden startled sound as a young lady ran from the vampire's home and burst into a pile of ash. Now that is Emily. The one that he knows. However, before he could suggest turning it off, she began to laugh.

"That startled me." She shook her head. "He's pretty strong, if he can do all that. They probably won't live without it being some freak fluke."

"Yeah." He said absently. But his mind wasn't in the movie. It was too busy going over everything he's lost within his best friend and crush. What if her memory doesn't return. Would he be as into this new Emily as he is in true Emily Farmer? No. Of course he'll love her too. Emily is Emily, no matter what she is like. No matter who she becomes. But why does it feel as if his heart if aching?