A Friend In Need

After ages, Emma had finally re-discovered that she too could be a good friend.

It all began in breaktime. At their classes. Corridors were filled with people; talking, laughing, chatting. And then there were some girl tantrums (which was, as Emma had observed, not a rare sight at all). Helen all over again. Emma could see her bloodshot eyes, tear-stained face. And she was ready sitting with her fingers in her ears-- that SURELY meant a tantrum. Helen was crying her eyes out on Amy's chest. And Hannah was consoling her.

Amy? Hannah? With HELEN?! Weird...

There were urgent phonecalls flying everywhere, frayed nerves and tense voices was all Emma could hear.

"Helen's lost her mobile phone," Hannah explained when Emma faced her with raised eyebrows. Emma sighed. She couldn't possibly do anything. And it wasn't like she WANTED to, anyway. Helen hadn't been much of a friend. Well, speaking of it, she was quite much of a bitch altogether.

Emma dropped onto the only bench in the corridor and stuffed her mouth with fried rice-- her breakfast for that day. Shortly after, Leah dropped down by her side. She had her pouch with her and Emma saw the keyring was broken. "Let me try my hand at it," she said, taking the pouch from Leah's hand. She placed her lunch box on the bench and knelt down beside Leah, trying to mend the keyring. Emma knew Leah loved her fried rice and she expected her to grab the lunch box immediately and start off. But unlike Emma's expectations, Leah did nothing. Emma glanced at her. Her eyes were fixed. Emma followed her gaze...

There was Helen, crying to Amy like she'd lost quite much more than a phone. Emma doubted if she's shed so many tears even if it were someone's funeral. And Emma looked back at Leah. Her face was stone-- quite expressionless, blank. Emma realized she had mended the keyring. "See! I mended it!" Emma exclaimed, holding out the pouch to Leah. "Wait, I'll be right back." Leah said and she walked away toward the washroom. Emma rolled her eyes, and looked at Donna and Beth. They had been doing the same, for sure. She got up and joined them. "What the hell is with her?" Emma exclaimed. "It's only a phone, for heaven's sake!" "She's got to be worried, you know," Donna said very matter-of -factly, and chuckled, "she's losing the numbers of all the studs she flirted with, and she's not gonna get those numbers back!" And they roared with laughter, pitying the poor studs who had no idea what Helen was like.

Nobody noticed a scarf-clad girl with a stone face leave the washroom, walk past, down the stairs, and come up again.

It was only when Emma heard Amy's and Hannah's hushed up voices near the washroom that she figured out something was fishy. She could hear them whisper frantically, now accompanied by Penny. What the hell was Leah up to?

One look at her face explained eveything.

Her face was flushed. One of her eyes was on the verge of reddening, and no one could have missed the moisture in her almond eyes, threatening to leak out any moment. Amy was trying to talk her out. So was Hannah. And Penny.

Emma dropped her lunchbox on the bench and hurried off to face Leah. "Leah, what's wrong?" she asked her shortly. She had to make her voice sound cold, to stop Leah from noticing the trembling in it.

"Nothing," she hushed.

"That's not 'nothing', Leah. Tell me, what's going on?"

"Drop it, Emma... It's nothing--"

"You don't fool me with that!"

Emma's voice was cold as ice. She was gulping down heavy bouts of air to stop herself from exploding. Something was troubling Leah, and she wasn't going to stay shut until she made it right.

"Leah, what's--"

"Just go away, will you? Leave me alone! I don't want a scene here, alright? Just leave!"

The ice in Emma melted to water instantly. No one even heard a tiny 'pop', when something bigger than an atom bomb had just exploded inside her. She staggered back and leaned against the wall. She felt anger, disappointment and shame rise along with the heat onto her face, melting her fake coldness and making it rush up to her eyes.

She gulped it all down. Quietly. Calmly.

She couldn't cry now. She couldn't make people look at her, and rush to console her instead. It was Leah who needed help then. It wasn't a big problem if Leah didn't trust her so much to tell her problems. But Emma needed the others to take care of her, at least. All Emma could do now was stare blankly in front, not at all aware of the noise. All she saw was Leah in the corridor ahead. She'd failed to come to use of a friend in need. That too, not any friend. It was LEAH.

It was too shameful for Emma to bear. She tore her gaze and stared at the lunchbox instead.

Hannah trotted up to her.

"'Ssup, Em! she greeted. "Oh, come on! What happened?"

"Ask HER that," Emma croaked, glancing pointedly at Leah.

"Oh, Em! Come on, you can't be so glum--"

"I'm fine, Hannah... Really... You should go sort her out, I'm telling you--"

"Hey, Em!" called Amy.

Emma registered a silent groan. She'd succeeded in doing exactly what she didn't want to.

"No, Amy--"

"Come off it, Em... The last thing I'd want to see in here is my Emmykins looking so downtrodden!"

"It's alright, Amy--"

"Look, I know you didn't like what Leah said. She shouldn't have said that-- hey, Leah!"

Amy pulled Leah by her side. "Come on, you ought to apologize for it," she told Leah.

"Oh, Amy, really now--"

Emma looked at Leah. She wasn't crying. Instead, she'd put on a bleak smile (Emma could bet anything-- it was fake).

"She doesn't need it. She's my bestie, I don't have to be formal with her. She can handle me at my worst, right Emma?" Leah said, looking back at Emma.

She hardly registered Leah's cheery apology, to which Emma accompanied laughter involuntarily. She continued looking at Leah, and now hated the fact that she could act so well in front of people.

"It really doesn't matter, Leah," Emma sighed at last, still looking at Leah. The trouble was little less than gone, but she managed to put on a similar watery smile.

Everyone looked satisfied. The crowd began to scatter-- the professor was about to come.

"Em, come with me. Please," Leah said abruptly. She grabbed Emma by the hand and led her towards the stairs. Emma had no idea why, but she allowed herself to be steered away. Hannah, Beth and Donna were a few steps behind.

This must be important, Emma thought. Leah usually didn't lead her away like so.

They climbed down a flight of stairs, and had barely crossed the landing when Leah flung her arms around Emma's neck. Her head dropped. She was shaking badly.

Leah Kent. Crying on Emma Jackson's shoulder.

Emma didn't know what to feel.

She was over whelmed-- first, there was a whoop of delight at the fact that Leah could count on her so much as to rest her head on her shoulder and cry her problems out. And then, there was the fact that Leah was crying. She was crying so hard and so real that even Emma couldn't hold hers off for long.

"What wrong did I do, Em?" Leah sobbed. "What was so wrong that she can forgive Amy and Hannah but hasn't yet forgiven me?!"

Emma knew she was talking about Helen. She didn't know what to say. All she could do was "shhhh..." her up and pat her head.

"It's-- it's-- so hard! To see her crying like that! She means-- so much-- she doesn't know--"

Even with her eyes wide open, her jaw quite steady, Emma felt a drop of tear trickle down from her eyes. She sniffed it back, and held on to Leah. She couldn't cry when she had Leah's tears to wipe.

Seeing Leah cry like that-- hearing her every sob and sharp breath on her shoulder, feeling her trembling body-- was altogether a new and unnamed experience for Emma. Like her very breath had stuck in her throat : she couldn't gulp it down, nor would it come out. A familiar clawing was begining to show up again, except that this time its claws were jagged and crooked.

"Know what... She-- some people-- they just can't-- it's hard to realise-- don't know what they-- they're missing--"

Emma found herself repeating all that Leah had once told her. But all she could do is stutter; she was too baffled to speak.

"Shh...! Leah, don't cry..." was all she managed to choke out, after hastily stiffling back a sob herself.