This chapter is dedicated to DilettanteAmateur  for voting and leaving a message on my message board! Thank you so so much :)

••••

"Please turn that damn thing off." Rob groans as he pulls a pillow onto his face.

I groggily come out of sleep to hear him say this and realise that it is indeed my alarm that's going off.

It's Wednesday, which means I have three lectures and a whole day on campus.

I'm so excited.

Reaching over onto my nightstand, I blindly slap at it until it eventually turns off.

Dragging myself out of bed, I take my gym stuff and head out of the door.

Not knowing that my life is about to change.

••••

I press stop on Demi Lovato's Skyscraper. Taking three deep breaths, I put it back to the start and begin the routine.

Again.

I've put in a certain hard spin, which I can usually do, but today I can't.

I'm gonna blame it on the lack of sleep.

I finally manage to do the spin and the rest of the routine, but something was off.

Usually when I dance, I feel at
peace, as if there's no-one else in this world apart from me in this room.

But today, it felt as though there are eyes watching me, assessing me.

As I finish the dance, I realise I was right.

There's three girls watching me through the window in the door.

First impressions are giving off a creepy vibe, not gonna lie.

Straightening my pony tail, I turn off the music and wave at them. An awkward smile on my face.

They see my smile and take that as an invitation for them to walk in.

"That was seriously impressive." Girl number one nods.

"Yeah! I'm Brooke by the way and this is Kirsten and Jamie."

"Not a guy, my parents just hate me." Jamie shrugs.

I laugh and shake my head. "I'm Skylar."

"We were watching you dance and we were wondering if we could talk to you about something."

I didn't recognise the girls from the school dance group, so I put on my best smile and nodded.

"Sure." I agreed.

"Okay, so basically we want to create a new dance group. One that would rival the main school's one because let's be honest, those guys are bitches." Brooke nods.

Meanwhile, I'm jumping for joy inside. A group? With actual normal people?

It sounds perfect and I sound lonely...

I let out a breath of relief. "That sounds so cool." I support.

"Told you she was going to be good." Jamie murmers as she elbows Brooke.

"So is there practices or?" I ask, not knowing how this whole situation would work out.

Wow, way to sound lonely Skylar.

"Oh! How stupid of me to forget." Kirsten rolls her eyes at her mistake. "They'll be every Monday and Friday right here."

I grin.

This just gets better.

"That sounds amazing." I nod, genuinely excited.

After talking through some more of the timetables and what style of dances we want to do, I head out of the gym.

Only to realise, I'm already twenty minutes late to my first of three lectures today.

Good mood over.

••••

"And so, the spilts often symbolise flexibility. And despite their simplicity, crowd will always react to them in awe." Miss Poppy drones on as she walks back and forth in front of the board.

I feel like I'm in a tennis match.

Placing a hand on the back of my neck, I roll my shoulders and try to get rid of some of the stiffness.

An excruciatingly boring thirty more minutes passes until Miss Poppy decoded we can finally pack up.

Placing my bag onto my shoulders, I smile at the thought of Axel doing the same thing.

Letting the gentle smile on my face slowly disappear when I see Dean walking towards me, I send him a small wave.

"So, I'm a dance geek and even I found that boring." He groans as him and I walk out of the class.

"First of all, yeah you are a geek. Second of all, I think my brain has shut down and it's a miracle I'm even speaking instead of crying right now." I laugh.

Dean playfully pushes me as we walk out outside.

I take a deep breath of fresh air, glad that my three lectures are over.

It's only a mater of time before I die from my timetable.

"Why are all of the girls looking at you." Dean whispers in my ear, looking forward.

Every girl in campus has been looking at me today, constantly.

Due to the openness of whatever was going on with Axel and I, we seem to have attracted some attention.

Although, Axel always has attention on him.

So now every girl is death glaring me with every single fibre in their body. For what? Knowing Axel?

Big deal.

If you couldn't tell already, it pissed me off.

"I think it has something to do with me wearing Axel's jersey to his football match." I whisper back, remember the girls mean words that have stuck in my brain.

"You were wearing his jersey?" He turns towards me, his eyes flashing with something unknown.

"Yeah, at his last match." I shrug, not knowing what the big deal was.

"Huh. I mean, fair enough." Dean nods as we continue walking.

I can feel the girls eyes on me the entire way out of campus, both Dean and I feeling self-conscious.

"I feel like I've got something on my head at the intensity they were staring at me!" I laugh as we finally make it free of the nerve-racking stares.

"I know, it's like they're staring at me and figuring out my life story in three minutes!" He laughs.

We end up heading for Starbucks, both needing it after the hellish lesson with Miss Poppy.

"You're such a girl." He teases as he sits opposite me in the booth.

Starbucks is bustling with college students, each wanting to get through another day. The warm atmosphere is welcome after the biting winds of September outside.

"How?" I ask, taking a sip from my caramel Frappuccino.

"You get the girly stuff! What you need is plain black coffee." He nods.

I fake a gasp and place my hand on my chest, "You mean, me a girl? Is drinking a girly drink? Now phone the police, Dean, that just can't happen!" I exaggerate, putting on my best sarcastic voice.

"Alright, point proven." He nods in defeat, letting out a small laugh at my dramatic speech.

Dean and I finish our coffee's and then separate to head home.

Walking down the street, the wind whips my face. Turning the corner, I stop dead in my tracks.

Emma.

Standing in the corner of the street, her arms wrapped around her small, frail frame.

"Emma?" I ask, hesitantly as I approach her.

As I stand in front of her, I don't recognise my best friend. The girl who I've laughed with, cried with and had the best times of my life with. She looks like an empty shell of her previous self.

He lips are pale, so chapped they look like they could split at any moment. Her usually warm brown eyes, look hollowed out and replaced with an abyss of darkness.

"Emma?" I repeat. "Are you okay?"

Her eyes snap to mine and I let out a gentle smile. "What happened, Emma?" I ask, still whispering.

"I....nearly...r-raped." Her words tumble out, as if she wasn't planning on saying them.

As soon as she mutters those words, my veins light up with anger. My hands clench and I take a deep breath to calm myself down.

"Who nearly raped you, Emma?" I ask, wincing at the sound of the words on my tongue.

How did this even happen?

"Work, outside." She says, he words coming out very slowly.

I hesitantly place my hands on her arms, which are freezing. When she relaxes under my touch, I pull her into my body and hug her.

She's my world. My rock. Like how every other girl feels about their best friend, I can't imagine my life without her.

So as she crumbles in my arms, not quite crying, but definitely giving into the emotions she's feeling, I can't do anything but hold her.

Hold her for all the years she's held me. Hold her because she's going to need support after the emotional trauma she's just been through, alone. Hold her because I'm the one who's about to break down, when it should be the other way round.

Emma eventually let's go and sits down on a step by the pavement. I stand there helpless, looking at my best friend, feeling utter agony stabbing at my heart.

So I do the only thing I can do.

I call Axel.

He picks up on the first ring.

"Hey, Skylar." He greets, his voice sounding perfectly happy.

"Axel. Emma's in trouble." I feel a lump form in my throat at the thought of putting this situation into words. "I-I don't know what to..." I trail off, feeling a tear run down my face, my breathing picks up as the situation begins to overwhelm me.

"Hey, calm down for me. C'mon, deep breaths." His voice suddenly turns serious and a sense of calmness washes over me as I realise, I'm not the only one affected by this and Emma will get all the support she needs. "Now where are you?"

"Just by the Starbucks by campus. It's-" I'm cut off by Axel.

"I know the place. Stay there?"

"Okay." I agree.

"I'm coming to get you, be safe, okay?"

••••
Author's Note:

My poor Emma. My heart hurts for her.

And I have to admit, when I wrote about Skylar holding her, I felt so emotional :(

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Much love,

Jade x