Emma wondered what lead her to this moment, what in her life made her follow through for such stupid and idiotic reasons. Well, if she were to be honest, she knew very well what lead to this moment, what decisions were made, and what signs were ignored so she could end up like this.
Covered in ceiling bits, that is.
"I've called your father-"
"-Yuugo?"
The principal paused, less than amused. "Yes, Yuugo." She sighed, kneading in between her brows with her knuckle. Oh yes, she was not amused, Emma could see. "He's stuck at work, but said that he would deal with you later. For now, Emma, you know the drill by now... sadly."
Emma nodded, offering a guilty smile as she stood up, bits of the ceiling falling off of her uniform. "So, how many days? Before I leave."
Isabella gave a tight smile as she responded. "Two days, Emma. One day for your little friend that put you up to this, just so you know, so don't think that you're the only one dealing with the consequences of your actions." She sighed. "Honestly, Emma, you'd be a star student if you could just act your age. So, please, I'm aware I've asked this of you every single time you've been suspended, but this time listen: think about your actions, reflect, come back having learned a lesson and I beg of you to let this be the last time I have to send you home for your behavior."
Emma's lips pursed together tighter as she looked down at her feet. "I try to."
The older woman's face softened, gentleness in her voice taking over. "I know you do, but one day I hope your efforts come to fruition." She paused. "Go on, and make sure your father doesn't lose his mind over this."
"You and I both know Yuugo will." The young redhead let a chuckle escape her, her principal did her best to resist her laugh. "I'll see you on Thursday, Ms. Principal."
"Yes, yes, run along now, and make sure to send in your little friend on your way out." Isabella waved her off.
Emma smiled, sliding out of the office door and signaling to her poor friend Don that he was needed inside it; she would be lying if the look on his face didn't lift her mood a bit.
Chipper as if she hadn't gotten the scolding of her life number one thousand and wasn't about to get the scolding of her life one thousand and one at home as soon as Yuugo got back, she skipped down her street without much running through her head. After all, it wasn't her fault the ceiling caved in, and it certainly wasn't her fault that Don had made her punishment for losing a game of Uno so harsh, though, she was willing to admit that agreeing to her bet was not her best idea. But yet again, it hadn't been her worst.
The last two years of high school had been full of stories much worse than today's, the last 17 years even worse than both today and the last two years combined. She smiled fondly, Emma truly did live her life freely, though, lately, it seemed as if her antics had come with harsher consequences. She shrugged, a fact of growing older her supposed.
She walked past the downtown area, resisting the urge to stop by someplace and grab a quick bite but even she understood that she was still in her uniform and taking a detour would cause a problem for her at school. Emma walked past without turning her head to all the delicious food displayed for her to want, it was a battle until she reached her apartment complex, running up the steps to her floor.
Emma opened her door, kicking off her shoes and shutting the door behind her, a feeling of exhaustion hitting her as soon as she entered, leaning against the door with her eyes closed. For that moment she let herself wonder: what would Yuugo say this time? The last few times it had been simple punishments, like increasing her chore list or taking away some sort of privilege, but this time who knew? The last time this had happened hadn't even been more than a month ago, so surely the punishment would be worse than before.
Emma groaned at the very idea, finally standing up straight and moving the sofa where she fell onto, face first, deciding that she would deal with it when he came home. For now, a nap would suffice.
---
Three rhythmic knocks woke Emma up, and three more for her to look past the sofa and towards the door where finally a very familiar face walked in. She smiled, a welcomed face that is.
"Stopping by the see me? How nice, Ray." I yawned, leaning onto the back of the sofa, resting my arms atop. "You miss me during math?"
Ray, similar to his mother in his lack of amusement and unlike her in his lack of softness as he spoke, rolled his eyes. "No, Emma, I am not here to be nice, I'm here because a little birdie told me that you got suspended for breaking the ceiling and I was so baffled that I had to come here and check for myself."
A laugh escaped Emma. "Yeah, I did! I will admit not my best but certainly not the worst I've... done." Her voice dwindled as she looked straight at him. He didn't look upset, more just frustrated, perhaps disappointed as well. She looked away shamefully. "Sorry."
The young boy walked closer, taking a seat near the edge of the sofa, trying to regain his typical lax attitude before speaking.
"I'm just surprised, your last screw-up was only a couple of weeks ago. After your last scolding, I figured you'd lay off for a bit." Ray sighed. "At this rate, you may just get kicked out of school, who knows."
Emma grimaced, a panicked expression overcoming her, and fear riddled her voice. "You don't think your mom will actually kick me out do you?" She gasped. "She's just been waiting to get revenge for her carpet all these years hasn't she?"
Ray rolled his eyes, ruffling his delusional friend's hair as he stood up. "She had to replace the carpet you know, she was pissed." A small upturn of his lips at the memory. "But no, that has nothing to do with it, she doesn't make such decisions based on unrelated screw-ups. No, Emma, this decision will be made based on your last two years of school-related screw-ups instead, which, at this point is getting concerning. So, carrot top, I recommend you stay out of trouble for a while... a long while."
Emma could only frown at his, what she found to be, a condescending attitude. But alas, he had a point: she did have to keep her butt out of trouble before her butt got itself expelled. She fell back onto the sofa, irked by another detail of his scolding.
He doesn't have to talk to me like a child.
"I'll get going now, I'm sure Yuugo will have something in store much worse than I did and I'm not too keen on being here for it." Ray let a smile crack through as he waved goodbye, most likely happy at what was to come.
Emma scowled, waving him goodbye from her final resting place. Surely it would be the last time she would ever see him again, perhaps she would see him as a ghost at her funeral.
"Bye, Ray."
---
"Well, if it isn't Ms. Sunshine, how was your suspension?" Ray asked upon seeing his very dear friend early the morning of her return, he suppressed any sort of joy he got from seeing her so disheveled.
Emma, unlike herself, offered a sarcastic smile as she hummed. "Can you imagine that I had a blast?"
"No, it wouldn't give" me the gratifying feeling of thinking that Yuugo made you regret everything you've ever done wrong in the last couple of days." Ray snickered. "So tell me, did her?"
"... I don't wanna talk about it."
"That's okay, your response tells me everything I need to know."
Emma rolled her eyes, taking a seat next to him. "Can't you just leave me be?"
"When you leave me alone, I'll return the favor."
The young girl scowled at his response, readying herself with a comeback of her own before noticing a welcoming face. She couldn't help but smile at the sight of him.
"Norman! How are you doing this morning?" She chirped. "Personally, I was doing great until about 10 seconds ago when I had the displeasure that is talking to our dear friend here."
Ray finally smiled lightly. "She's just mad I was right and she was wrong."
"No, I am not." Emma snapped back, taking Ray by surprise.
Norman stood still, watching his two friends be equally upset by the other, though, Ray seemed to be more in shock than anything else. He smiled at them.
"I'm doing great, glad to see you back."
"Happy that someone is." Emma crossed her arms.
"He's like a golden retriever, he's always happy to see his friends," Ray remarked. "He'd be happy to see a brick wall if he could befriend it."
Emma gapped, readying herself to snap back before Norman interrupted her once more, grabbing Ray by the arm and pulling him up. "Ray, why don't you tag along with me there's somethIng a need to discuss with you, and you alone haha... Emma stay here please."
No one could protest as Norman had already dragged away his begrudging friend out of the classroom, walking past a rather irritating sight for Emma. She felt a calm anger overtake her as they made eye contact.
"Oh, Don, how nice to see you," Emma called out. "Come over here!"
Don jumped at her call, cowardly making his way toward his less-than-happy friend.
"Got something to say to me? Something that beings with 'I'm' ends with 'sorry'?"
Don quivered a bit before speaking. "I'm sorry."
"For?"
"Making you crawl through the school via the ceiling."
"And you?"
"Feel bad."
Emma observed him for a moment before standing up and giving Don a big hug, a wide grin as she did. "Oh, Don, it's okay, at least you came down with me so all will be forgiven." She let out a hearty laugh. "Though in all honesty, I'll feel better once Ray lays into you too. He's like a punishment himself."
Don quirked his head in confusion. "Why would he?"
The older girl felt her joy dwindle into a shared confusion. "Because that's what he does whenever I do something stupid... I'm confused, does he not do that to you?"
Don shook his head, a dismissiveness as he replied. "An off-handed comment sure, but lay into me not really. No, that's just for you, since you're special." He giggled at the word.
"Special? What do you mean?"
"What do you mean 'What do you mean'? Don't you know?"
"I clearly don't, so tell me."
Don paused, a bit baffled by the situation.
"It's his way of flirting with you... I think... Most of us think."
Emma took a step back, her eyes losing focus as her brain tried to figure out any platonic meaning behind this. Flirting with her? That was impossible.
"What." was all that escaped her lips.
Don laughed. "You haven't noticed? After all he's done?"
"All he's done? What is 'All he's done'!?"
"There's a bunch of 'All he does', where to start... When you started working at that place, he followed you, when you got into this school he came along even though his mom runs the place and he quote-unquote 'would rather burn alive than be under her constant surveillance' but the second you come here he's fine with it, then, can we mention that thing he does, you know, the hair thing?"
"What hair thing?"
"Y'know? He messes it up all the time." Don motioned the action with his hands on his own hair. "But seriously, mostly everyone is aware that he's flirting with you... except, of course, you."
Emma leaned back on her chair, humming as she thought about what Don was saying, though, she was still wasn't convinced entirely. "I'm not sure, I feel like it was all pretty normal for friends to do."
Don shrugged. "You can believe me or not, up to you, but if you really want proof, why not find out on your own terms?"
The older girl raised an eyebrow, curious as to what he was about to suggest. "How?"
The younger boy shrugged again. "Maybe... flirt back, see how he reacts. After a while, you're sure to come to an answer."
Emma put a finger to her chin, looking towards to floor as she thought about it, weighing her outcomes. She figured that there would be no harm in trying, something to keep her busy while she waited for her name to clear up from her recent incident.
"I don't see what could go wrong... I'll try it out." She smiled. "Thanks, Don, you can get going now, pretty sure classes are about to start."
Emma waved goodbye as her friend ran off, thinking of ways she could carry out her experiment when to start, and how to start off. She didn't think too much of what could happen, it was harmless after all, so surely there would be no need to worry.