Emma's POV

We were called to the auditorium one day. There wasn't an assembly planned, at least not that the students knew about, so everyone was talking about what it was going to be about. I just put my head down and went to sit with the other sophmores in the front on the left hand side of the auditorium. I sat close to the wall, and leaned my head back on the top of the uncomfortable backrest of the chair, closing my eyes. The steady murmering of voices almost lulled me to sleep, but I knew enough not to fully fall asleep. Unplanned assemblies are hardly ever for something good. The last one we had was when a dumb had prank called the school saying there was a bomb, and all the students were gathered in the auditorium while we waited for the police to come.

The squeaking of a michrophone being plugged into the speakers jolted me from my dazed half-sleep. I jumped a little, and snapped my head up to look at the stage. Up on the stage was... Billy. My heart immediately got heavier, and sunk down to the bottom of my chest. It was not a pleasant feeling. I still remembered Billy's threat earlier in the week, and I knew something was going to happen. I tried to stand up, tried to get out of there, skip and go hang out in the bathroom until the assembly was over, but... I had chosen the spot near the wall, and to get away I would have to wade through the line of people who had taken a seat in between me and the aisle.

"Emma, sit down please!" a teacher told me from the aisle, frowning at me. I took a deep breath, and considered my options. Fake being sick, move out to the aisle and make a break for it, tell the teacher that I'd just remembered something important I needed to call my mother about, and ugh none of them were likely to work! But kicking and screaming will I sit through what Billy has planned! Right now he's talking to one of the other students on stage, one of the A/V crew.

"Emma! Didn't you hear me?" the teacher snapped. "Sit down!" I sighed, and surrendered, sitting back down and ducking my head in a pitiful attempt to hide. I know I'm going to dread every single second of what is about to happen.

I hear Billy clear his throat at the mic, and I squeeze my eyes shut. "Hey guys!" Billy greets the auditorium. He doesn't bother being formal. Billy knows almost everyone here, and speaks on a first name basis with everyone, even the teachers. There was a chorus of 'Hey's and 'Hi's, and Billy smiled before continuing.

"You guys are probably wondering why you're here. I'm here to talk to you about a problem that's been bugging me. That problem is cheating." Someway, somehow, my heart sunk even lower in my chest than it was already. I was getting ready to shut down. I was getting ready to turn it all off, as much as was humanly possible. "So I have this friend... Her name is Emma." There was a grumble in the crowd. They all knew my name, they all knew he was talking about me. "She and I were dating. I loved her loads and -" Benny was delusional if he thought we were dating! I tuned back in. "I thought she did too. But I caught her a few days ago skipping school, walking arm in arm with another boy." At least he didn't mention it was Kevin...

The girl sitting next to me leaned in closer to me and whispered, "Wow... You had Billy Brewer as your man and you'd cheat on him with someone else? Haha you take tyness to a new level!" I raised my head, and looked at her calmly. With lightning speed, I raised my hand and slapped her, and whispered in her ear,

"I'm a ? Well , it takes one to know one." Then I smile at her, and slap her lightly again, before turning my attention back to the delusional boy onstage.

The teachers were looking at each other skeptically. One of them made the 'cut it!' sign, sliding her tumb across as if she were slitting the skin on her neck. The teacher who saw this moved towards the speaker, motioning for another to take Billy offstage.

"I think we've had to put up with Emma's BS for way too long! How many times has she lost her temper and gone psycho at us when we were in elementary and middle school? Too many to count! It seemed to have died down now, seemed that Emma was finally getting control of herself, but then this happens! Emma has replaced one kind of questionable behavior for another! Who knows what else she's doing?!" Billy shouts to the audience, most of whom were stealing glances at me, glaring, whispering, all to willing to accept Billy's words. It hurt that they all accepted what Billy was saying, how he was saying it, the fact that he called a whole assembly just to call me out, like it was normal.

A senior, one who particularly hates me for reasons I can only guess at, shouts out, "I've seen her in the Stoner Pit with her pathetic friends, passing around a joint! She's probably high half the time!" A teacher grabs his arm and leads him out, just as the two other teachers disconnect the mic and pull Billy off the stage, before he can feed the crowd more lies.

The teacher that had told me to sit down stands at the end of the row of seats I'm sitting at. He holds out his hand for me to come. I slowly stand, and walk past the other students to get to him. As soon as I stand, everyone turns to stare at me. As I walk, a few cough and say something rude. But I don't care. I've gone beyond the point of caring. When the boy at the end of the row slaps my as I pass him, I stop, turn, and kick him hard in the chest before following the teacher out of the auditorium. The teacher does his best to shelter me from the other students, but it doesn't help much. As soon as I'm out of the auditorium, I break away from him, and run to my locker. I quickly grab my stuff, and dash to the back stairway that's only used for skipping classes and fire drills. I pound down the steps, out the door, and run around the back of the school to the road.

Tears were already starting to blur my vision. I pull my phone out from my bra, and quickly dial the taxi company I have on speed dial for when I get drunk. I tell the man where I'll meet the taxi, trying to keep my voice even, and hang up. Then I run. I run down the street to the corner, and wait, continuously wiping the tears off my face. A concerned looking old man offers me a tissue and asks what's wrong, but I just take the tissue and tell him I'm fine.

When the taxi finally arrives, I get in, and have to go through the process of convincing the man who doesn't speak very good English that I am, in fact, ok - which I wasn't, so it made the whole process a lot more difficult. Finally I just held out the approximate amount it would cost to get to my house, and told him the address. He took the hint, and the money, and drove, staying silent. I thanked him quietly when we reached my house, and got out of the taxi. He drove off, but not until I had let myself into the house.

As soon as that door was shut, I groaned, and sunk to the floor, sobbing. Tears rushed down my face, and I had trouble breathing. I banged my fists into my thighs, feeling the dull pain. I kept banging my fists into my thighs until the pain became a sharp jab with every hit of my fists. I was still crying uncontrollably, and I was getting loader with every minute that passed. I bit on my wrist to try and keep quiet, and stood. I walked blindly through the house until I reached my mother's room, which was on the ground floor. I made my way into her bathroom, and opened her medicine cabinet.

I blinked furiously until the tears were momentarily banished from my eyes long enough for me to read the lables on her perscriptions. I was looking for her Oxycodone, the stuff she got after her sugery a few months ago. I was sure she still had it. And I was also sure it would make me feel better. Make it easier. Weren't pain killers supposed to do that? Weren't th

I let out another groan when I couldn't find the damn pills. I slammed the medicine cabinet shut as more tears flooded my vision.

"No no no no!!!" I screamed. I could feel what little control I had over my emotions and my actions slipping away. I knew there was no going back now. I collapsed on my mother's bed simply because it was the closest thing, screaming and wailing and pulling out my hair. I started hitting my nose, and each burst of pain fueled my raging emotions. Finally I felt blood drip from my nose, and I stopped, laying back on my mother's bed, still crying, , and groaning. I laid there, just crying and letting it all out, until finally I could cry no more. It was then that sleep took me.

...

Hey guys!

I'm not happy with this chapter. I feel like it's too rushed. So I'll probably be going back and editing it. I was going to add a part where Emma experiences the bullying that comes after Billy's speech, but I thought this was enough for one chapter. But I may add more when I edit it. Not sure.

I'm sorry for not updating as much as I said I would. I never really got back to that schedule I had in the beginning. I'm gonna try to get back to it. So I'll try to update on Friday.

Thanks for reading! Tell me what you guys think! <3 I love you all! See you later!