The drive to school was mostly quiet, the sound of the radio only being a distant background noise. My thoughts were really the only thing I heard. They were loud, clear, and causing my headache to expand. Not only were my temples on fire, but I could also feel a painful throb behind my left eye.

Pulling up to the school, the area was already full of students. Elderwood High only had one school bus. Yes, one. It seems strange, but in a town where you can take one step outside your house and already be at the local Kroger, you didn't exactly need vehicle transportation. Plus, the bus on went close to the outskirts where the neighborhoods there were too far for students to walk, but still close enough that they were considered Elderwood citizens. It was a weird system, but it worked and no one normally questioned it.

"Stop with your daydreaming, Emerson Badgely." Micah clapped loudly as she pulled her hand away from the ignition, keys in her grasp. "You've been down in the dumps, but I'm making it my job to cheer you up."

I said nothing to that, but only because she had chosen to continue speaking. "Plus," Micah added. "When you tell Jenny, which I know you will, I can rub it in her stupid, little, smug face that I was the one you called."

Her words cause a laugh to burst from my lips. It feels good at the same time it doesn't. On one hand, I'm happy to show some emotion other than sadness, and I can see Micah's brown eyes light up. On the other hand, my throat is extremely dry and it kind of burns having my throat contract in such a way. But the pros outweigh the cons.

"Don't talk about Jenny like that," I finish my laughs off in small giggles. "She's still my best friend and I have to protect her from your words."

"It got you to laugh, didn't it?" Micah mentions smugly, her lips pressed together in a smirk. I shake my head and push the car door open.

As the both of us walk towards the school, I give small greetings to some people, a soft smile on my face. Elderwood High School should be the poster school of all schools. While we did have the occasional bully, it was like a once in a lifetime thing. People were quick to put a stop to anything traumatizing. In a small town, all your business was easy to become confiscated. It also sucked that all parents basically knew each other, so it would be extremely hard to get away with bullying.

Giving another wave to someone, I feel a force knock into me. It throws me off balance and makes me stumble into Micah. I look over to see Jenny, a frantic look in her eyes. Her brown eyes are widened and worried as she searches my own.

"Jennifer!" Micah exclaims, breaking our stare. We both look over at her to see her fuming, her hands stretched down onto my waist. I hadn't even noticed that. "Can you be anymore of an annoying spaz? Jesus, you nearly trampled Em."

"Shut up, Micah!" Jenny snaps. Her worried look falls away into one of annoyance. "You act like I tried to run her over with my car or something, which I didn't, so chill out."

Micah only grumbles as she drops her hands from my waist. She crosses her arms and looks over at me expectantly. With a small sigh, I turn to Jenny with a raised eyebrow, wondering what's gotten into her.

"What;s up, Jenny?" I ask. My voice takes on a soft tone, knowing that I'd need to approach her lightly. Jenny could be very...rambunctious when she wanted to be.

"I know." Is all she says.

My eyes shoot from side to side as if some prankster would come out and shout "sike!" Letting my eyes go back to her, I give her a small, confused smile.

"Okay, what do you know?" I decide to play along.

Jenny scoffs. "Don't you mock me, Emerson!"

Okay, what's up with everyone saying my full name lately? I'm getting tired of constantly feeling like something is wrong. It's my last year of high school and I'm not ready for any stress. Soon I'll have to worry about keeping my grades how they are so I can graduate with honors, passing finals and midterms, and applying to college. The last one is almost laughable really. Kids always talk about wanting to get out of Elderwood and travel or live somewhere more populated like New York or California, but that's rarely the case for Elderwood people. You often stay here, get married with your high school sweetheart, an get knocked up within the first year of marriage. You grow old in Elderwood and you die in Elderwood.

"Are you listening?" Jenny stomps her foot, a scowl on her face. I'm feeling more and more frustrated as the morning pans out. "I know that you and Sebastian are having a rough patch."

Her words finally catch my attention. How does she know? Micah is the only one who knows anything from my end. This would mean that Sebastian had told someone who then told Jenny. That someone was probably Greg.

"How?" I squeak before clearing my throat. "Who?"

Jenny's voice drops down to a whisper to avoid hustling ears. "Sebastian called Greg last night while we were hanging out. Jesus, Em. The boy sounded like he was going to keel over and die with how much crying he was doing. I have never, in the ten years I've known Sebastian, heard that boy cry."

"He broke his pinky in sixth grade, remember? He cried then." I say numbly, looking past her rather than at her.

"That doesn't count."

I hear Jenny, but I don't hear Jenny. I see Micah, but I don't see Micah. It's like I'm not even there at the moment because all I can focus on is a red faced Sebastian heading our way. His hair looks terrible, almost as bad as mine. The usual soft locks seem tangled now which usually never happens. His skin looks almost as pale as mine save for his red face. Sebastian and I were so alike in that aspect. Anything that upsets us dearly, our looks get the brunt of it all. We both end up paler than freshly painted, white walls. Both of us seem to forget hygiene as soon as possible and the bags under our eyes are big enough to carry a whole mall.

I'm so lost in Sebastian that I don't notice Micah stalking over to meet him halfway. She comes into my vision, moving fast with clenched fists. I know she won't hit him, but she will cause a scene. That's the way Micah rolls, she's a force to be reckoned with.

"Not now, Micah." Sebastian speaks first when they meet.

I look around to see not many people are paying attention to us. That's good because I could feel the paranoia setting in. Ignoring the sound of lockers slamming and shoes squeaking on the linoleum floor, I focus back on the two of them.

"You've got some nerve." Micah hisses. "You really think I'd let you talk to Em after the way she was yesterday? Whatever the fuck you did to her is a no no in my book, Caldwell."

"I just want to talk to Emie, Micah. Please move."

"Hell no." Micah shakes her head, straight hair swishing against her back. "It was raining yesterday, Sebastian. Emie had to sit and wait outside...in the rain. So no. You don't get to speak to her."

I could see the change in Sebastian quickly. It wasn't often that he got mad, almost never. But when he did, it was bad.

"Fuck." Sebastian hisses. His head was down, neck touching his chest and shoulders tense. When he looks up, his eyes are angry, his eyebrows casted down and his lips set into a sneer. "I don't have the fucking time to deal with you, Micah. You aren't her fucking guard dog so move."

I hear Jenny gasp from beside me. Like me, she had seen Sebastian angry very few times. For her probably only once. I was afraid because Micah wasn't one to back down. Both were pretty dominant figures. I think I had mentioned that Micah was about four inches taller than me? Yeah, to my five-foot-seven height, she's five-eleven. Sebastian is about six-one or six-two. He was a tall boy and she was a tall girl.

"She wouldn't need a guard dog if her own boyfriend didn't treat her like shit!" She exclaims. Her back was to me, so I couldn't see her face, but I imagine that her lips were curled in disgust.

They were drawing a crowd now and I didn't like that. I didn't want to be the center of attention. Seeing as scandals didn't usually happen in Elderwood, when something did, it would be the talk of the town for a year straight. I had seen it happen with my own eyes during freshman year. Christina Applegate had gotten pregnant. It was already a scandal because she was a senior in high school. What made it worse was that she hadn't gotten pregnant by her boyfriend. They hadn't been having sex so it couldn't have been his. She hadn't even said who it was and to this day people still mention it in passing.

People didn't need to know my business just as I didn't need to know there's.

"Oh please." Sebastian scoffs, a humorless laugh leaving him. "We both know the only reason you're acting like this is because it makes your little, lesbian heart happy."

Gasps are heard all around before the whispers start. I look around to see people laughing in disbelief and muttering with their friends and people who pass. By the end of the day, everyone will be talking about Sebastian's comment about Micah. My eyes trail to Jenny to see her eyes wide in disgust. That catches me by surprise, and I know it's something I'll have to mention later, just like I'll have to talk to Micah later. For now I'll need to break this up.

Squeezing myself between the two, I feel suffocated. I didn't think they were so close, but now my arms are squeezed into my body, forearms pressed into my chest while my hands are clenched into fists. They don't even seem to notice me as they're in an intense staredown.

"Stop guys, please." I mumbled, but they do nothing. Taking a deep breath, I decide to try a different approach.

"Cut it out!" I shout, the sound coming out more like a screech. But it seems to do the trick. They snap out of their stare and glance down at me. "You've gone far enough."

Both of them start to protest, guilty looks on their faces. I give them firm looks, looking from side to side so they can both see. "Micah, I'll talk to you later, okay? Right now I have to deal with Sebastian. I really appreciate you standing up for me, but please, I need to do this."

Micah hesitates before nodding slowly. She narrows her eyes at Sebastian before turning on her heel and walking away. At her departure, the crowd starts to disperse. I look over and meet eyes with Jenny before she scurries away with a small smile. I then turn to Sebastian.

"We'll talk in your car, let's go." I say nothing else as I pull away from him and began the trek outside.

Looks like my wishes aren't coming true today.

*wubba lubba dub dub am I right? Wow, this may be the longest chapter. That was honestly kind of intense. Looks like Sebastian may not be the only one who was in the closet. WINK. Lol, but what did you guys think? Was Micah out of line? Was Sebastian, or was he provoked into saying that? And what do you think of Jenny? Are you excited for their talk because I know I am! As always, I hope you really enjoyed reading. Happy reading!*