A sharp, high tone blared through the house, making Emily jump and drop her half-eaten croissant on her plate.

"The doorbell," said Eddy unnecessarily. "That'll be Maya and Dennis."

"Who?" said Emily, as her dad disappeared to open the front door. She couldn't stop staring at the door, as she waited.

And waited. What was taking them so long? She was ready to go and have a look, when the sounds of voices suddenly seemed to come closer.

Eddy came in, with two teenagers behind him. Emily recognised them immediately: the boy and girl who had been there when she woke up in the hospital. She'd almost forgotten about them.

The two shut the living room door and stood in front of it awkwardly.

"Emily," Eddy explained, "this is Maya and Dennis. They're your best friends."

Emily's jaw dropped. "M-my best friends?" Her best friends. Of course they were, that's why they'd been in the hospital when she was hurt.

Her best friends, and she couldn't remember them. Her cheeks turned red at the thought. Maya and Dennis. She was determined never to forget those two names again.

"Would you guys like a drink?" said Eddy, gesturing towards the sofa.

"Yes, please, Mr Huntley," said Dennis.

"Coke?" Maya and Dennis nodded, so Eddy turned to his daughter. "You, too?"

"Uh... Yeah, sure." Emily stood up and followed her old friend to the sofa, her croissant forgotten on her plate.

As she sat down, and awkward silence followed. Emily opened her mouth several times, but closed it again when she didn't know what to say. In the end, Dennis rubbed her hands together and spoke up. "So... How was yesterday? The... The hospital, I mean..."

"Oh, uh... It was fine. The doctor was nice. They did lots of tests, and stuff..." Emily stuttered. Who knew talking to your own best friends could be so awkward, when you couldn't remember them?

"They did?" said Maya curiously. "What kind of tests?"

"Oh, you know, scans and stuff," Emily explained. "They checked to see if my brain was damaged. I think they were looking for a place where it was damaged so much that it could explain the lost memories. But they couldn't find anything."

"Nothing?" said Dennis disappointed. "How is that possible?"

Emily shook her head, knowing exactly how he felt. "They found damage, just not enough to explain amnesia. Which means they don't know how to fix it, either."

Eddy came into the room with four glasses of coke and sat them down on the table before taking a seat.

"So they can't do anything to help you?" said Maya sadly.

"No, because they don't know where it comes from. But the doctor did say that I might just automatically start remembering things, as my brain heals. He says that's quite common in people who have lost some memories after a brain injury."

"What about when you've lost all memories?" said Dennis. "Has he seen that before, too?"

"No," Emily muttered. "That he hasn't. It's not that I've lost all memories, by the way." She turned to her dad. "What did the doctor say again? My autobiographic memories are affected, but nothing else, right?"

Eddy nodded. "Wasn't he talking about general knowledge, or something? Basically all memories that aren't related to yourself and your personal experiences are still intact."

Her friends glanced at each other, but Emily decided to ignore it when she didn't have a clue what they were trying to tell one another.

"It's a good sign," said Emily. "The doctor said that it means my chances of me getting my memory back is higher."

Maya and Dennis both smiled encouragingly, but Eddy just stared into his glass. "Yeah," he said. "We'll see."

"So that's it then?" said Maya. "All you can do is wait and hope for the best?"

"Not exactly," said Emily. "There is one thing I can do. Something you guys can help me with, actually..."

"Really? What's that?"

"Apparently it could help to remind me of my old life. If you guys tell me things from before the accident, I might start remembering them. And I'd like to know as much as possible anyway, so... If you guys don't mind helping out?"

"Of course we'll help!" Maya smiled, and she immediately started planning. "We can show you around town. You've been living here your whole life, so there's bound to be a whole lot of memories. And we can show you our school, and you can meet our classmates. Oh! And maybe we can go to the beach sometime soon. It's nice and quiet there with this weather anyway."

"That sounds great!" Emily laughed, glad that her friend was so enthusiastic about it.

"Oh! And, uh..." Maya glanced at Dennis hesitantly. "There's someone else you should meet. I'm sorry, I... Kind of already contacted him. I didn't think to..."

When Maya trailed off, Emily just got curiouser. "Who?"

"His name is Tom. He uh... He's your boyfriend."

Emily's eyes widened and her palms began to sweat. "B-boyfriend?" Had meeting her forgotten friends not been traumatic enough? Now she had a forgotten boyfriend to meet, too? "I have a boyfriend?" Why did the idea seem so unfamiliar, so ridiculous?

So unnerving...

"I hope you don't mind," said Maya apologetically. "I've kind of invited him over, because I thought you'd want to see him."

Emily nodded, her face red as a pepper. She couldn't look at her friends for the embarrassment of her reaction to hearing she had a boyfriend.

"It's fine. When is he coming over?"

"This morning."

Two hours later, Emily sat on the sofa next to Eddy, shuffling impatiently. Tom had told Maya he'd come over at ten o'clock, but it was nearing twelve and he still wasn't there. Where was he? Was he even coming? She stared at her hands with annoyance, bordering on disappointment.

Her mind wandered to that morning, when her friends had stopped by. She liked being around them. They were so kind and helpful. They even told her a couple of stories, old memories, before they left. They promised to come back the next day to show her around town. She couldn't wait for that. If only today would be over soon.

Suddenly the sound of the doorbell blared through the house once more. Finally, Emily couldn't help but think.

"That'll be him," Eddy smiled. He went to open the door, with his daughter right behind him.

In the door opening stood a handsome, confident young man. He was tall and had blond hair and blue eyes – not blue like the sea, but lighter, like ice. He smiled kindly at Eddy.

"Hello Mr Huntley. I heard Emily is back at home."

"That's right," said Eddy, stepping aside to let him in.

"Hey, Emily!" Tom walked up to her and hugged her. Her cheeks burning, she let him. "I heard about the accident. I was so worried! How are you feeling?"

"Fine," said Emily. "All the pain's gone."

"I'm glad to hear that!" said Tom, leading the way to the living room. "I'm afraid I can't stay long today, I've got somewhere to go later. But I'll come back again soon, okay?"

"Uh... Yeah... Sure," said Emily, a little overwhelmed. She went to sit on the other end of the sofa from where her boyfriend was sitting and turned to face him. "So... You're my boyfriend?"

"Yep!" said Tom. "Have been for about... Two years, if I'm not mistaken. Thanks, Mr Huntley," he said as Eddy poured him a glass of coke. As Eddy walked off again, giving the two some privacy, Tom continued, "School is no fun without you. Everyone keeps asking about you; how you are, things like that."

"Oh!" said Emily, happy to hear people were thinking about her, even though she didn't know those people anymore. "Well, tell them I'm doing fine. I'm trying to get my memory back. By the way, that's something y..."

"Awesome! Good to hear," Tom interrupted her after taking a few sips of his drink. "Yeah, Maya said you'd lost your memory. Is it true you can't remember anything? Like, not even your own name?"

Emily felt her cheeks burn like fire. "Yeah, that's true. I can't remember a thing from before I woke up in the hospital."

"Sorry for not visiting you there, by the way," said Tom thoughtfully. "I was going to, but I was so busy. Training, competitions... You understand."

Emily stared at him. She didn't understand at all. If your girlfriend was in the hospital, you'd visit her, right? She didn't know how important those competitions of his were, but even if he'd been training for the Olympics, he still should've visited. That's what a boyfriend does. She wondered why she'd liked him so much.

But Emily didn't want to ruin it already. So eventually, she said, "Of course, competitions. What do you do exactly?"

"Football," he said with a lazy grin. "And we're gonna win the championship! Now that the coach has finally got rid of the idiot of a goalkeeper, we haven't lost a single match."

"That's great!" said Emily. "So, I've been meaning to ask you, Maya and Dennis are trying to help me get my memory back by telling me stories from before the accident. Would you like to help me as well?"

"Of course," Tom nodded. "Who better to help with that than your boyfriend, right?" Emily nodded with relief. At least he understood that. "Maybe you should come and see my game next week. You did that before, so it should help, right?"

Emily hesitated. That wasn't really what she had in mind. "It might do, I guess..."

"Good, that's a deal! I've got a game next week. I'm sure your dad can drive you." Tom took another sip of his drink and stood up. "Well, it's late, I better go. I'll come over again on Saturday. I can stay a bit longer that day."

"Y-yeah, okay."

Emily stood up and followed him to the front door, where he turned around one more time. "I'm glad you're out of the hospital, Emily. I hope you can come back to school soon as well." That's actually kind of sweet, Emily thought. Maybe he's not that bad after all. "I'm already sick of all those questions about how you're doing," Tom added, laughing. He bent forward to kiss her, but she turned away just in time. She wasn't ready for that. With a peck on her cheek Tom said goodbye and left the house. 

Hey guys! I hope this wasn't too boring, lol.. It feels like a bit of a filler chapter, but I promise it's all important. You may have seen how things are already not making sense?:) I'm excited for the next chapter! I hope I can put it up soon.