Until She Meet Him (FINISHED)

Twenty-Six

26

Emma stares at her phone. Her jaw hangs open as she takes in what she is seeing. Jake had walked her over to the picnic tables for her to sit before she fell to her knees, looking at her phone. Jake paced back and forth in front of her running his hands through his hair until it stood on end. When he saw what was posted online, he lost it.

Emma said nothing, just looked.

The first photo was of her cleanroom, the poles, the monitors, the small refrigerator of bags of medicine and saline. The hospital bed that used to be in her room back in the city when she was at her sickest point. Below that one was a picture of her when she first was diagnosed and wasn't afraid of it yet. Attached was a picture of Warren, followed by a comment made by him.

Emma was a good kid at first, smart, pretty, sweet. Then she got sick and started using it to her advantage. She would skip school saying she was too sick to come. She would leave in the middle of tests to go to the 'bathroom'. Then she started using it to get attention. She would tell anyone she met about it to get sympathy from them or get them to be friends with her out of pity. Then, last year, she even quilted a good guy into going on a date with her just for her to say that he tried to force himself on her. The poor guy never recovered, and it took months to clear his name. I hate this girl is now doing the same thing to that Jake guy she had at her parent's apartment. I just hope he can get himself away from her before it's too late. I hate that all of this has caused problems between our fathers and their law firm is now suffering because of it.'

Emma nearly screamed when she finished reading everything Rachael had posted for the entire school to see. Hell, the whole town to see. "That stupid son of a bitch! When I see him again, I am going to stick my foot so far up his ass he won't be able to sit for a month!" She slammed her phone down on the table.

Their friends ran over to them with worried looks on their faces. "Emma!" Ava flung herself into Emma's side wrapping her arms around her shoulder pulling her tight against her chest. "I am going to kill her!" Ava grated her teeth together.

"Emma? Is it true? Are you sick?" One girl asks gently, looking around at everyone.

"Steph!" Ava hisses at her.

"It's okay, Ava. Yes, Steph, I was sick, but now I'm not." Emma answered honestly. All of their friends looked at her differently, exactly what she didn't want.

"Why did you keep it a secret?" one guy asked.

"Because of that," Emma pointed to them, "those faces are why I don't tell people." They all look around at each other before looking back at her.

"Sorry." they all said together.

The picnic table shook with a loud bang as Jake slammed his hand against the top. "I guess I didn't beat him well enough the first time." His hands start to flex into fists repeatedly as he starts to pace again.

Emma stands and walks over to him grabbing his shoulders. He shrugs her off before she walks in front of him, grabbing his face between her hands. "Jake." He takes a deep breath and looks down at her, relaxing his shoulders. "Calm down, please." He takes a deep breath leaning his head against hers.

"What now?" he finally asks.

"Well, first, I need to clear everything what Warren said up, then I guess I'm going to own it. I mean, I'm clear, I'm not sick anymore so why should I hide it?" She shrugs her shoulders.