Chapter 9

Em

The rest of the week flew by as Emerson settled in her new home. She rode to school with the twins every day, promising next week they’d take her car.

Classes were fairly easy and Emerson had grown to love her last class in the library. She enjoyed getting lost in all the books and had time to work on any homework.

She had spent the afternoons at the dance studio, learning how to take care of the books and payments at Tush. Sylvia accompanied her most days and she manned the desk at times Maria let ‘Em help teach the littles, one thing Sylvia refused to do. Maria had praised her dancing skills already and told her she would be such an asset to their group.

On Thursday Emerson got to meet the rest of the girls in her age group. Sylvia was there with her thank goodness. She was quickly becoming one of Em’s dearest friends. Sylvia had a quiet calming energy that put her at ease. She had a good heart, Emerson could tell. Mickey was also becoming a good friend. Emerson found her quite funny and the way she appeared to always be pissed off, but had a heart of gold under that rough exterior.

The girls on the dance team welcomed Em with open arms. This was a change, she thought. She fully had prepared to be the outsider at least for a while but they all seemed fine with her joining, she thought Sylvia probably had a hand in that.

Before she knew it, a couple of weeks had gone by and it was the weekend. She had fully expected to stay in and get some reading and homework done again, working at the studio plus dance practice took up her entire week until Friday. Once she got home she was tired and barely had time for supper and a shower. She loved it though, staying busy was the only thing that kept her mind from wandering off into dangerous places. She hadn’t seen Quinn much since that first day at school. He seemed to be avoiding her for some reason but she couldn’t make herself care. She had enough going on without that problem.

Em had gotten home after school and changed into her comfy clothes when Aspen, Sylvia, and Mickey busted through her bedroom door.

“Oh no you don’t!” Shouted Aspen.

“Abso-fucking-lutely not” Mickey walked over to her bed and pulled her up from her position. “You’re not spending another weekend at home. We’re going out.. there’s a party. “. Mickey wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “And it’s not goin on round here”. She added. After she had finally figured out the whole situation with Asher the other day she had been constantly talking in ~song~.

“Guyysssss I love you but no thanks I do not want to do a party. I’m so tired I just need to relax a while” Em was whining and begging like this would help matters.

“No way you need to have some fun. Maybe get a lil drinky drink…. Maybe meet some boys. Maybe make out a little…” Mickey started opening all her cabinet drawers searching for her sluttiest outfit she assumed.

“Look if I’m going then you’re going” Sylvia, the voice of reason.

“Come on”. Aspen patted her leg. “Let’s see what you’ve got to wear.” She winked at Em as she got up to rumble through her closet. But Em wasn’t moving. In fact the look on her face caused them to stop digging through her clothes.

“Wait. What’s wrong Em? If you really don’t want to go we won’t.” Sylvia was by her side.

“Woah woah woah. What’s going on?” Aspen came over to sit on her bed and Mickey followed. The girls were all around her now, each of them touching her gently.

Em didn’t even realize she had started crying. She had gone into one of her spells that took her back to what happened. She quickly shook her head to come out of it and wiped her eyes. She wondered if she could call her old therapist this late in the day…

“What’s going on Em”? Mickey asked her.

“You can tell us, did something happen?” Sylvia took her hand.

After a few moments Em finally calmed down and was able to breathe again.

“Were you having a panic attack?” Aspen was barely whispering.

Emerson nodded.

“Something like it. I go into these phases where I blank out and get stuck in the past. My old therapist told me to always try keep my mind busy so this wouldn’t happen. That’s why I got the job and joined the team, doesn’t leave much room in my brain for old memories to seep in.”

“Well. You know you can tell us anything, about your past I mean. When you’re ready. If you don’t want to now that’s okay too.” Aspen said gently. The other girls nodded in agreement smiling at their new friend.

Em looked around at the girls. They had welcomed her into their group with open arms and quickly became her closest friends. She figured they might hear about it somewhere else if they went looking for it, and she trusted them, so she had rather them hear it from her. So the girls went downstairs and made coffee and popcorn and decided to have a sleepover. This story was gonna take a while….. and it was going to be the hardest one she had ever told.