"Emma?" Jay raised his brows, "you kissed Emma?"
Sean nodded his head wildly; the smile on his face both in disbelief and excitement.
"Way to go, man," he chuckled, "she finally got rid of that goofy Poindexter?"
Sean's smile turned to a cheeky smirk, "not exactly."
"We were at the races," he started, walking away from the door and toward Jay, "the cops showed up as Em and I were watching Peter race some random. He took off when they arrived, so I scooped her up and drove her home. Right outside her place, we kissed and-"
It was then that Serenity returned; just in time to catch the end of her brother's story. She looked Jay up and down with disgust, then turned her gaze to Sean. Her expression softened and her eyes widened with excitement.
"Did I just hear what I think I heard?" She squealed, "you and Emma?"
"Yup."
"She broke up with him?"
He looked to the ground and shook his head, causing his sister's jaw to drop. He suddenly felt ashamed, knowing the disapproval that was bound to come from Serenity.
"Sean!" She scolded, "I'm all for you going after her, but you can't come between them. I really don't trust that guy. He'll make your life hell if he finds out."
Sean shrugged her off, "you think I'm intimidated by that guy?"
She raised her hands in surrender, "don't say I didn't warn you."
As she walked past her brother and towards the bathroom, Jay said, "hey, Lil' Cam."
"Hey," she turned to him and said flatly, turning back to go towards the bathroom once again.
Sean ran his hand through his long, curly hair, and walked up to his friend, "is she okay?"
"As far as I know, she's fine," he lied, shrugging his shoulders, "I think she got a call from that Darren guy."
Sean rolled his eyes, and his jaw clenched "I can't stand that guy."
Jay was intrigued. He didn't know much about Serenity's boyfriend.
"Why? What's wrong with the guy?"
Sean exhaled, "where do I start?"
He continued to explain the age gap between the two and the bad influence he was on his sister.
"He's also a serial cheater," Jay raised his eyebrows at this claim; to which Sean nodded.
"Yup. I've seen him out with different girls. He didn't even try to hide it. But when I tried to tell her, she wouldn't believe me, and it would turn into a fight that would end in her staying at his place for days."
This information made Jay's blood boil. He cared for her, not only because she's his best friend's little sister, but because he fell for her the moment he laid eyes on her. Jay wasn't the relationship type since Alex broke up with him, but there was just something so compelling about Serenity. He figured it may be a challenge, but with the new information Sean shared, he knew he could show her better.
"What a piece of sh-"
Jay stopped in the middle of his sentence when Serenity returned to the living room. She was wearing a baby blue satin pajama set that he thought brought out her eyes.
She stopped in her tracks, clearly waiting for Jay to head to bed.
"I'll see you tomorrow," he said suddenly, nodding to Sean, "have a good sleep."
Sean waited for Jay to be completely up the stairs before speaking, "did something happen?"
She shook her head. Sean nodded awkwardly, as the conversation came to an end. He didn't feel like nagging her.
"Oh," he suddenly remembered something, grabbing a small black box from his shirt pocket that was sprawled across the back of the couch. "I got these for Em awhile ago, but I wanted to wait for the right moment to give them to her."
He handed the box to his sister to open. Her eyes widened, "this isn't-"
Sean looked at her, confused, until he realized and laughed.
"No," he blurted, "I mean, not yet."
"Phew," she laughed awkwardly and proceeded to open the box, "they're gorgeous."
Her smile faded slightly at the sight of the diamond studs in the box. It made her a little sad to realize that Sean did such a huge gesture for a girl he isn't even dating; yet Darren wouldn't even take her on a date.
"I even made sure they were ethically sourced," he smiled even wider. Serenity raised a brow. He shrugged and said, "Emma always told me how important it was to her, if I were to ever buy her jewelry."
Sean's thoughtfulness made her feel even worse. She looked back down at the earrings to avoid him noticing her disappointment.
"They're beautiful, Sean," she cleared her throat and closed the box, handing them back to him, "she'll love them."
"Glad I got your approval..."
His voice trailed off. Serenity knew that he could sense something was wrong, so she opted to tuck herself in on the couch to avoid the conversation. Sean followed suit; removing his shirt and climbing into his pajama pants. He laid down on the mattress and rested his head on his arms, staring at the ceiling.
"Goodnight, Ren."
"Night."
She turned to face the back of the couch and curled up; silent tears falling from her face until she finally fell asleep.
The hours felt like minutes. Just as fast as she had fallen asleep, it felt like the alarm was blaring to wake her up. Without even giving her a moment to wake, Sean was already ready to get up and go.
"Meet me at the car for 8:00, okay?" He said quickly, practically jumping to his feet and rushing up the stairs to his and Jay's bathroom.
She sighed, "okay."
By the time she had the chance to respond to him, he had already disappeared up the stairs. She had to practically drag her body from where she slept; her body acting as dead weight in an attempt to keep her on the couch. She fought the urge to just stay home and miss her second day at Degrassi, and somehow managed to make it to the bathroom to clean herself up. In the mirror, she noticed her face was still tear-stained. As a way to try and make herself feel better, she proceeded to put on more makeup than she did on a typical school day. She smiled briefly at her beautiful reflection, until the thoughts from the night before came flooding back.
Just because he doesn't spend his money on you, doesn't mean he doesn't love you.
She thought to herself.
He does lots of other nice things for you.
Her mental back and forth continued longer than she had anticipated, and was interrupted by a voice from down the hall.
"I'll be in the car." He called, prompting her to look at her watch. 7:56.
"Dammit."
She hurried to find and outfit to throw on, and settled on a hot pink t-shirt with dark blue, low-rise flair jeans. At the door, she hopped around trying to pull her black and white Nikes on. Jay joined her in the living room, visually taken aback by the effort she put into her appearance this morning.
"Have a good day."
She looked up at him, standing in the doorway. She was silent for a moment; deciding whether or not to stay mad at the man who allowed her to stay at his place rent-free. Plus, he did look pretty cute with his messy morning hair.
She relented and smiled, "you too."
Jay felt what seemed to be a weight, lift off his chest. He was relieved to know that she wouldn't hate him forever.
Serenity joined Sean at his car, and the siblings set off for their second day of twelfth grade. Sean reversed in his usual parking spot, and the two walked towards the front doors together, but were stopped by another old friend of Sean's. He shook the hand of a guy who seemed to go by the name Spinner, and they chatted for a few moments. She didn't bother to ask why that's what he was called. Instead, two familiar faces at the top of the stairs waved her over.
"Hey, Emma, Manny." She said as she climbed the stairs towards them.
The three girls stopped at Serenity's locker to grab her books first. There, they were greeted by J.T.
"Hey," Serenity said warmly to the boy, "how's your morning?"
"Better now that I get to chat with you lovely ladies."
Serenity found it endearing, but the other girls appeared somewhat unappreciative of his kindness.
"I'll see you around," he smiled, shutting his locker and heading in the opposite direction of their first class.
"Wow, you really dodged a bullet with him, huh?" Emma joked as they headed towards their lockers.
"You two dated?" Serenity raised a brow.
"Ancient history." Manny tried to avoid the topic.
"Enough about J.T.," she said suddenly, rolling her eyes, "what about you? Where did you disappear to last night?"
"Nowhere," she lied; not knowing that Serenity knew the truth, too, "Sean just took me home, and, like I said, phone died. That's why I didn't answer your calls."
Serenity stood slightly behind Emma, and across from Manny. From where she stood, only Manny could see her eyes roll.
"I'm with Peter, end of story."
She passed by Manny and headed towards the bathrooms, when she bumped into Sean. Serenity watched as he pulled her into the nearest empty classroom and shut the door quickly. She figured now would be the time he'd give her the earrings.
"Is there something I'm missing?" Manny asked as the girls headed towards math class, "the eye roll and look on your face tells me Emma's not telling me the whole story."
Serenity opted to keep quiet and allow Emma or Sean to tell her the truth, "not that I know of."
As the two girls took their respective seats in Mr. Armstrong's room, Sean and Emma entered together not far behind. They each had a smile ear-to-ear. Serenity watched as Emma slipped the little black box into her backpack discreetly. As Sean sat in the desk in front of his sister, he gave her a wink. The bell rang then, indicating the start of the first period. As Mr. Armstrong began his lesson, Emma tore a page from her notebook and jotted down a note she passed back to Manny secretly. Serenity leaned over to read it, too.
I think I'm going to have a talk with Peter today.
Manny wasn't completely sure what she meant, but Serenity knew it meant that Sean had won.
Or so she thought.