When Gemma fell asleep that night, she actually had hope. Hope that maybe she can change things after all. With Jessie's help, she can change things for the better and finally get rid of all the people that makes her life a living hell. On her way to AP Chem the next day, her hope was shattered. The whispers were louder. The words were meaner. And Jessie wasn't there to keep them away.

By the time Gemma sat down in Chemistry, she was almost in tears. She didn't know where Jessie was, they had all the same classes, and she was always by her side. Just yesterday, Jessie had said that she would never leave her, but that's exactly what she was doing now. Gemma forced herself to calm down. There had to be perfectly logical explanation. Maybe Jessie overslept, or the traffic was bad on the way to school. A part of Gemma's mind couldn't help but think that something bad has happened, or that Jessie is just like all her old friends, and was only ever there to get the chance to hurt her.

Gemma was so lost in her mind that she almost didn't realize when someone sat in the seat next to her. Her eyes brightened as her heart was filled with hope.

"Jessie?"

"No, I'm Alec. You must have a really bad memory of you were able to forget about me." Gemma's heart burst with disappointment at the arrogant voice that spoke.

"Yeah, something like that." She murmured.

"Hey, you okay? You don't seem to be a very good mood." Alec replied, his voice soft and kind.

"I'm fine! Just leave me alone." Gemma snapped as the bell rang and Mr. Nelson started class for the day. Today they were finally going to be doing a lab, which was what Gemma was waiting for, but now she has to be partnered with Alec.

She took out the substances they needed and started the project. Maybe if she just did it by herself Alec would ignore her. Based on his arrogant personality, Gemma guess he wouldn't want to help anyways.

"So what's first?" Alec asked as he picked up a beaker and examined it. Gemma grabbed the beaker out of his hand and put it on the ring stand over the blue flame of the bunsen burner. "What, so your not going to talk to me? It's going to be kind of hard for me to pass this class if your the one doing all the work."

"Fine. You can help." Gemma sighed, hating the logic of his statement.

As it turned out, Alec actually had somewhat of an idea of what they were doing. Gemma only had to help him a few times, and he actually complimented Gemma on her 'superior chemistry knowledge' as he called it.

They were almost finished with the assignment when there was commotion at the other end of the room. Apparently not everyone was having as easy of a time as Gemma. She looked over and saw that one of the other groups had tipped over their bunsen burner, spilling the chemical they were heating and lighting it on fire. Mr. Nelson was over there in an instant, and was soon able to put out the fire, but smoke still filled the air. A few moments later the fire alarm went off, and the sprinkler on the ceiling turned on, soaking the students as they filed out of the classroom.

It took them awhile to get out of the building. The chemistry classrooms were on the third floor, and the stairs were crowded. Alec stayed by her, taking one step at a time with the excruciatingly slow pace of the crowd.

She felt a shove from behind her, which sent Gemma flying forwards into the people in front of her. She on her way to the floor next when Alec caught her.

"You okay?" He asked for the second time that day.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Gemma replied, getting her feet back under her to continue the trek down the stairs.

When she finally got outside, she had somehow gotten separated from Alec. She scanned the crowd for him, but saw Jessie instead. She met up her with her.

"Sorry I wasn't in Chem," Jessie said when Gemma approached her. "I had to make up a test for History before school and it ended up taking a lot longer than I thought." Gemma sighed in relief.

"It's okay, can you just let me know where you are next time, you really freaked me out." Gemma said, shoving her hands in her pockets. "I thought about what you said."

"And?" Jessie promoted.

"Let's do it. I'm sick of dealing with this. No matter how much you want to be, you won't always be there. Like today. I'm ready to finally stand up for myself."