Thing- Chapter 2

'Hi mum, its me. Lucas has asked to to go to his after school tomorrow for maths revision, can I go? Oh and I'm going to Gem's tonight and staying over, might not see you before tomorrow after Lucas's, love you, Emma x'

I got a surprisingly quick reply from my mum, it wasn't like her to reply to my texts so quickly, it normally took her 10 minutes to find the space button, she must've had a friend helping her.

'Thats fine hun, make sure Gems mums ok with it, and nothing more than revision at lucas's house! I know what you think of him, he seems lovely though, see yu soon, mum x'

I was so happy that she was cool with it, that was one of the main reasons why me and my mum were so close, she trusted me so much and I could tell her anything at all, even about lads, something most girls wouldn't feel comfortable talking to their mums about. She looked a lot like me, really. Same height, same facial features, she just had a different hairsyle and colour, She was naturally brunette and I had fake red hair, which was dyed red before the trend kicked in. She liked Gem, she treated her like her own daughter. She was over nearly every weekend, or I was at hers. Her mum, Linda, treated me the exact same way she treated Gem, a lot like my mum. Linda was glamourous, just like her daughter, that's probably where Gem got the glamourous gene from because her dad definatly wasn't. He was frumpy, was balding and had very viasble frown lines; he also had a lot of money. probably why Linda ended up marrying him.

"Hey Em!" A more than familiar voice chirped behind me, "I need to tell you something."

"Alright Gem, hit me," it probably was going to hit me. Like a huge slap in the face. Yet another 'look what I've done better than you' story.

"Well... Look I'm sorry but... You can't really blame me..." Yeah, I was right, this wasn't going to be good news.

"Just spit it out already!"

"Joe's asked me to go over to his tonight, he said it's urgent. But a good urgent, not a bad urgent. That makeover isn't needed that much anyway, you look fine today! If it's desperate just shove some make up on, thats all I do. I know Lucas likes heavy eye make up if that helps."

"Yeah, it's fine, whatever. I'll try it." And with that, I moped off. Cancelled for a guy again. I was getting pretty bored of the same story over and over again, 'it's urgent', 'you can wait', well what if I can't? What if that makeover was the only thing keeping me from social suicide. Oh no wait, Gem's life was far more significant than mine, thus kicking me to the kerb, yet again. I couldn't understand why I had stayed with her for so long. Yeah, she was popular and got loads of boys and was there sometimes, but sometimes just didn't cut it anymore.

I saw her later on that day, pouring herself over Lucas. He didn't look to impressed though. I think we were on the same wavelength, she was just using everyone around her to get what she wants. Gem's popularity was slowly but surely fading, it gave me more faith in the high school social system. Finally, justice was served, and she had to take her punishment. Gem was no longer Granger High's little princess, the queen bee had finally died. Lucas looked over at me while Gem was trying to find out why he wasn't playing along anymore. She treated him like a toy, a toy which had been played with too many time and had eventually weakened and broken, a toy which batteries had run out, leaving a croaky, robotic voice instead of the deep, tuneful voice which Lucas usually used. It was odd seeing him so annoyed, he was normally such a happy soul.

When the bell eventually rang to signal the end of what seemed like the longest day ever recorded, I was plodding to my bus in the light drizzle when a light shone through the darkness. Luke was waiting outside the doors of the bright yellow bus whcih was awaiting my arrival. He had obviously heard about Gem ditching me again, and that time was the last time. He smiled as he saw me walking towards him and I couldn't help but allow the coners of my mouth to defy gravity. He looked so cool, the way he was standing and leaning again the fence which was between the front of the bus and the pavement chilled me to the core, made my head spin and forced the butterflies to pound out of my chest. If this wasn't love then it was surely a heart attack. His hair was just covering his eyebrows and the light breeze was making it sway from side to side like a pendulum above his sprkling eyes.

"I heard what Gem did to you, it was out of order," Lucas mumbled, "She's hurt me bad too, she led me on Em. I can't believe I actually fell for it." His eyed glistened as he tried to choke back the tears. He looked so vunderable, so weak. I couldn't believe how much of a bitch one girl could be, Gem had really changed as we had all progressed through high school. I threw my arms around Lucas, making sure he knew I'd always be by his side.

"It's going to be okay Lucas, she can't just get away with this. I'm sorry you found out this late, I wanted to tell you but I didn't want to hurt you. She'll regret doing this, I swear. Joe's an idiot but she doesn't even deserve him. The fact that she had the cheek to play with you like that for years on end, it's unbelieveable. It took me a lot not to hit her today when she told me meeting up with Joe was 'urgent', I was meant to be her best friend, I suppose we both got strung along." Lucas looked shocked, I don't think he had ever seen me so angry about a single human being. The tears had been sucked back into his eyes and the sorrow was gone, all that was left was hurt.

"Do you want to start that revision tonight then, it might take our mind off things, that is if yur parents are okay with it."

"I'm sure they'll be fine, they think I'm staying at Gem's tonight anyway. Mum might have a bit f a shock when I come back home though, I'll just have to tell her what happened; she loved Gem."

"Well I'm sure theres room on the couch for you, my mum won't mind, I've had girls stay at mine all the time. We'll get on your bus, go and get your things then walk to mine." We managed to get the last double seat on the bus and the enitre way home we talked about what had happened with Gem, not just that gloomy day in May, but for the years before that.

By the time we had reached the stop before mine, we had seemed to laugh the events of then day off, we couldn't believe how stupid we had been. It looked like me and Lucas had grown closer after the parasite that was driving us apart had been removed.

Lucas seemed to be a lot happier as we stepped off the bus, he had laughed his sorrows away. He truely was an amazing person.

"Thank you so much Emma, I didn't think any good would come out of today, but you've managed to change that." He dazzled me with a huge smile and we strolled down the road towards my house. I never expected to see what I did next.