Chapter 1
I awoke the next morning with a dry mouth to the sound of my alarm buzzing, groaning as I rolled over to turn it off, before getting out of bed, and getting a glass of water. The venetian blinds that blocked my window cast small lines of light across the messy bedroom of my apartment. I grabbed a clean shirt and some jeans, before making my way into the kitchen. Tomorrow was rubbish day, so I cleaned up the kitchen of the empty beer bottles from last night and nights before that. It wasn’t a rare occurrence, what happened last night. Staying up late chatting with online friends and have a few drinks to take the edge off. It had been like that for a while now.

I grabbed an empty Corona box, and filled it with the bottles I had gathered, before taking them downstairs to the recycling bins. This was my way of hiding my drinking. I didn’t interact much with the others in my apartment building, but I knew they gossiped. Last thing I need is them spreading rumors about the alcoholic next door. By getting rid of it all at once, I am not being seen dumping bottles every day, as well as it tends to go unnoticed with everyone else getting rid of their stuff before rubbish day.

As I got back up to my apartment, I recalled the events of the previous day. Meeting Emily for the first time in years, and finding out just how much the accident affected her. Then telling Aperture exactly what happened. I had hinted to them that I had messed things up, but never went into detail. But I was sick of hiding it from them, yet expecting them to understand.

I also remembered the photo. The one I took with Emily, that she asked to be printed for her. Getting myself another glass of water, I pulled out the SD card from my camera, and plugged it into the laptop, as I booted up Lightroom. Within seconds, it had detected the card, and was importing all the shots from the shoot I did before visiting Emily, and the photo I took then. I quickly made sure the lighting was correct before printing it.

As I waited for the printer to print it, and the ink to dry, I began looking on my Facebook profile, backtracking to when we were teenagers, and managing to find a couple of photos from our teenage years. My sixteenth birthday, her eighteenth and our graduation. I lined them up to be printed, remembering the conversation with Aperture from the night before. I knew that if I expected them to understand exactly how tricky the situation with Emily was, I’d have to be honest, and tell them everything.

I remember sitting in morning homegroup at school. I was in ninth grade, really wishing I could be somewhere else. I had arrived at my locker that morning to find ‘f***ing loner’ tagged across it. I knew who did it, but I couldn’t prove it. I could confront them, but that’d end in a fight and I’d get the blame. It’d have been the third one this semester, and at my rate, I’d have been kicked out of the school by tenth grade.

I sat at the back of the classroom with my earbuds in, quietly listening to some music, trying not to draw attention to myself as I looked down at my desk in front of me. Whilst I did that, my teacher, Mr. Levy was up the front reading the bulletin. The usual bulls***. Announcements, detentions, room changes. As I said, the usual bulls***.

In the distance, I can hear my name being called. Within a few seconds, I realized what had happened but I was too late.

“I’ll take that iPod off you for the day Mason.” Mr. Levy said sternly, “I take it you didn’t hear what I just said to you?”

I remained silent, just wanting it to be over.

“Emily, the new student has her first few classes with you. I’d appreciate it if you’d help her get there.”

I looked up to see a slim figured girl with long brown hair and brown eyes, sitting up the front of the class looking cautiously at me.

“Probably the closest he’s ever been to a girl.” yelled out one of the guys from the other side of the room. Tristan. One of the people who bullied me.

“That’s not counting your mother last night?” I replied, loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Hey f*** you!” Tristan yelled back, standing from his seat.

I stuck my middle finger in the air at him, before Mr. Levy spoke up.

“Tristan, sit down. Nobody likes a smart a**.” Mr Levy said, sounding irritated, “Mason, don’t cause trouble.”

“Cause I f***ing started it…” I muttered under my breath.

The bell went, as I got out of my seat, and reluctantly handed my iPod over to Mr. Levy. As I made my way to the door, I was approached by the new girl. Emily.

“The teacher said that you can take me to maths?” Emily asked.

“Yeah, it’s just in the next block over.” I said, not really in the mood for conversation. I knew that Tristan and the guys were watching, and anything I said would be used to make my life hell later.

“I’m Emily.” Emily said, not seeming to see that I wanted to be left to my thoughts, “And Mr Levy said you’re Mason?”

“Yep.”

“And that guy who was making fun of you? He’s-” Emily began.

“An a**hole. One of the many a**holes in this place.” I muttered.

“No s***.” Emily replied with a slight laugh, “I’m glad to see you could stand up for yourself. Too many people just take it.”

“It’ll bite me on the a** later.” I said, “I’m not sure why they feel the need to be a**holes.”

“How long has it gone on for?” Emily asked.

“Years. Since we all started here.” I replied.

“Don’t let it get to you.” Emily said, “Anyone with half a brain can see they’re just childish a**holes.”

“Well half a brain is pretty rare in this s***hole.” I replied, to which Emily laughed.


We soon arrived at our maths class, where I took my seat at the back, which Emily followed me to, and took the seat beside me.

After the class it was recess, and we made our way back to our lockers. I showed Emily to hers, and whilst she was putting her stuff away, went over to mine to find some fresh graffiti.

“C***sucker”

As I looked around, I noticed Tristan and the guys looking at me and having a laugh. I opened my locker, and tried to ignore it, putting my stuff away and getting some food from my bag. As I did that, Emily came over, asking a question about the class before. I closed my locker about to answer it, when Emily noticed the graffiti, before looking over at Tristan and his mates, giggling to themselves like a bunch of idiots.

“Did they do this?” Emily asked.

“What do you think?” I replied, before locking my locker and making my way out of the locker room.

When I was sure I wasn’t being followed, I made my way to the bottom of the school, and sat behind the old water tank. Nobody ever went down there. Usually I’d sit there listening to my iPod, however that was now confiscated. Instead all I could do was eat my food, and try and figure out how I’d get through the next year and a half with these a**holes, and that was only if they dropped out.

I laid down against the tank and closed my eyes for a few minutes, until I heard footsteps, then a voice.

“Ditching a girl on her first day of school?” Emily scolded jokingly, “I thought better.”

“I just wanted to be alone for a little while.” I muttered.

Emily sat down next to me.

“I know what you mean. The reason I moved here was because of b****es in my class. They’d spread rumors about me.” Emily replied, “And there were times I’d just want to be alone, because I felt like it helped.”

Emily remained silent for a moment, as if she was still deciding if she should continue.

“But the truth is, it didn’t. The bullying made me feel alone, and forcing myself to be by myself just forced me to dwell on the fact that I was alone. It was hell.” Emily continued, “I know that we just met, and really, you’re only putting up with me because I’m the new kid, and you were unlucky enough to get picked to show me around, but don’t force yourself to be alone, just because of people like them. It will just mess you up.”

I remained silent. I could understand what she was saying. I didn’t like to hear it, but I understood it.

The bell rang, and we made our way back to the locker room. As I got my stuff from my locker, I noticed that the graffiti was mostly gone. I looked over at Emily by her locker, who flashed me a quick grin before getting the last of her stuff. We made our way to our next class, but after that, she was my best friend.


I was snapped out of my daydream by the printer beeping, signalling it had finished its jobs. I grabbed the pictures, and put them in a binder to stop them from being damaged, before heading out to my car.

Whilst I did tell Emily I’d visit her, I wasn’t able to stick around for long. I had a shoot booked for later this morning that I couldn’t afford to miss. Either way, being out this early meant being stuck in peak hour traffic. My left leg began to ache from the constant pressing down of the clutch. After an hour and a half, I arrived at the Northern Hospital, and grabbed a parking ticket from the machine before parking the car and making my way up to the fourth floor where Emily was staying.

I found myself out the front of her room, and knocked on the door, much more at ease than the day before.

“Come in.”

I opened the door and found Emily in her bed, watching the TV. When she saw me walk in she quickly turned it off.

“How are you going? I asked, as I put my bag on the seat and pulled out the binder.

“Same old.” Emily replied, “I’m just keen to get out of here.”

“When do you get to leave?” I asked, as I removed the pictures from the binder.

“Tomorrow.” she said with a smile, “It sounds silly, but really, all I know is this hospital. I want to see what life I had before the accident.”

“It doesn’t sound silly at all.” I said as I took a seat next to the bed, “And I might be able to help you with that now.”

Emily looked at me slightly puzzled as I passed her the photos.

“I printed that picture from yesterday, as well as a few others floating around my computer’s hard-drive.” I explained, “That one is from your eighteenth birthday party.”

Emily looked at the photo, trying to take it all in. The picture showed her and myself sitting behind a fire in a metal brazier. I was wearing a black button up shirt and some charcoal coloured jeans, with my black hair still messy and my smile awkward and uncomfortable. Emily meanwhile looked completely natural and in her element. She wore a navy blue dress, with her hair down. She had her arm around me, whilst I kept a pretty solid gap between us.

“Why do you look so awkward in this picture?” Emily laughed, “Was I that crazy girl that just followed you around and didn’t leave you alone?”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“No, nothing like that.” I replied, “Until about eleventh grade, I was bullied pretty badly. It did wonders for my self-confidence. Believe it or not, that was me being comfortable. But I never was a big fan of being in photos. Part of the reason I like taking them is that I’m not on the receiving end of the camera.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Emily said solemnly.

“It’s fine. It was a long time ago.” I replied, “And you said it best yourself. Anyone with half a brain can see they’re just childish a**holes.”

Emily laughed, before moving on to the other photo. This one was a selfie that Emily took. We were both in our school uniforms, with me holding a box with a miniature version of my MR2. She jokingly had a shocked expression on her face, and was pointing at my face. Meanwhile, I was caught in the middle of laughing in this shot, with a black eye.

“What the hell happened to you?” Emily asked.

“I got into a fight.” I said.

“No s***.” Emily replied, “How?”

“Do you really want to know?” I asked, “I’m just saying, there was some nasty stuff said about you.”

“You can’t show me a photo like this and not tell me the full story.” Emily laughed.

“Okay, so this was my sixteenth birthday…”

I was standing by my locker, grabbing my lunch. The door was now a few tones darker than the others due to the constant graffiti from Tristan, and it constantly being cleaned off by Emily, even though I’d told her not to bother.

I was hoping to be quick, but I knew I wasn’t quick enough when I was nearly tackled by Emily hugging me from behind.

“You’ve been avoiding me.” Emily said, “On your birthday of all days.”

“It’s not a big deal.” I replied, “I just want a normal day.”

“That’s fine. You can have a normal day…”

“Really?”

“After I give you your birthday present!”

I sighed, as Emily passed me a small, wrapped box. I tore off the wrapping and found a small box with a model car. A second generation Toyota MR2. My favorite car.

“How did you know I liked this car?” I asked, shocked.

“It’s your phone wallpaper.” Emily said.

“Yes, but how did you know what to look for?” I asked. Emily had constantly said she knew nothing about cars.

“Google. Lots of google.” Emily said, “I knew it was a Toyota, and it looked like it was from the 90s or so. Then I just searched and searched until I found it.”

“That’s really cute Mason.” said a voice from the other side of the room.

We looked over to see Tristan and his mates, walking over.

“F*** off Tristan.” I muttered.

“Why do you and your boyfriends get off on being such d***s?” Emily asked, sounding irritated.

“You guys wanna be left alone?” Tristan asked, “That’s fine. I expect you’ll want a bit of privacy for your next birthday present, if you catch my drift.”

He made a gesture with his hand and mouth, as a stab at Emily. Before he could even finish, I punched him in the nose, then whilst he was still in shock, grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him into the locker, causing him to crumple in a heap on the ground. I went to kick him, however was yanked back by one of Tristan’s mates and held against the wall, as I saw Emily flee the room.

Tristan got to his feet and walked over.

“Motherf***er…” he muttered as he spat a mouthful of blood onto me. Unable to do anything, I was helpless as his fist connected with my eye.

“What the f*** are you doing?” shouted an unfamiliar voice from the other end of the locker room. I looked over to see Emily and her brother from twelfth grade. Tom

“None of your business.” Tristan muttered, “P*** off.”

“Excuse me, you little s***stain?” Tom said, walking over and grabbing Tristan, and slamming him up against the locker, “When you talk about my sister like that, it is my f***ing business!”

Whilst they were distracted, I smashed my elbow into the face of the guy holding me, then threw him to the ground.

“This c*** hit me first!” Tristan shouted.

“Like you didn’t f***ing deserve it.” I replied.

“Will you just shut the f*** up?” Tom said to Tristan, letting him go, causing him to drop to the ground, “Don’t ever let me catch you disrespecting my sister again, got it?”

“Whatever…” Tristan muttered, as he got up and walked off. When he did, Tom turned to Emily.

“If he ever hassles you again, let me know.” Tom said, before returning to wherever he came from.

“Are you alright?” Emily asked, seeming a little frantic about my eye that was already starting to bruise.

“I’ll be fine. Let’s just get out of here.” I said, trying to forget the whole thing happened.

“Well what are you doing after school?” Emily asked, “We gotta make sure your birthday is better than this.”

“It’s not a big deal Emily.” I said, “I just wanna get through today, and forget that it happened.”

Either Emily didn’t hear me, or ignored me.

“What about we go to Greensborough and hang out there after school?” Emily asked, “See a movie or something?”

“Will you let me say no?”

“What do you think?”

“Fine.”

The day finished fairly slowly. After school we met up, and caught the bus to Greensborough Plaza, where we found ourselves sitting in near awkward silence, on a seat near Ben and Jerry’s, eating ice-cream and waiting for our movie to start.

I ate my ice-cream quietly, until Emily finally spoke up and asked the question I was hoping she wouldn’t ask.

“Why did you punch Tristan today?” Emily asked, “Like, I get that he was a d***, but we could have just done nothing and waited for him to get bored?”

“He disrespected you.” I replied, “I taught him a lesson.”

“And nearly got the s*** kicked out of yourself teaching that lesson.” Emily replied, “Seriously, did you think you were saving some damsel in distress? Or trying to look like a tough guy and show off? Because I’m not helpless. And I don’t think that being violent is attractive, if that’s what you were playing at...”


“No, it’s not like that, it’s just…” I began, trying to find the words.

I stopped to think for the moment, to find the best way to explain this.

“You’re a nice girl Emily. And you’re a better person that I am in that you can take having people treat you badly, and still walk with your head held high. You don’t let it get to you.” I explained, “But you deserve to be treated a lot better. Just because you can handle it, it doesn’t mean you should. I just hope that next time Tristan thinks about talking s*** about you to p*** me off, he remembers getting his a** handed to him.”

Emily was silent for a second. I could tell she knew what I meant, but didn’t agree with me.

“If I agree to take a little less s***, will you stop taking none for me?” Emily asked, sounding more serious by the second, “I just don’t want you doing anything stupid for my sake. If word gets out what happened, you’ll be suspended for sure, and if it happens again, maybe even expelled.”

“I’ll try.” I replied.

There was another awkward silence, as we both finished our ice-cream. The movie was about to start, and Emily decided to try and make things a little less awkward by pulling out her phone.

“Let’s get a photo.” Emily said with a grin, “I doubt we will forget today, but for good measure.”

I knew that I wasn’t currently in a place to argue with her, so I didn’t. Instead, I just looked at the camera with my usual awkward attempt at a smile.

“Now say ‘Tristan’s a f***wit!’” Emily said, causing me to burst into laughter. She took the photo, pointing at me and my black eye.


“Jesus…” Emily muttered, “That sounds like it was nuts.”

“It was.” I replied, “And we have the photo evidence to prove it.


I looked at my watch and realized I was running out of time.

“I’m sorry, but I got a job I have to get to.” I explained, “Maybe once you’ve been home for a few days, we can go get lunch or something?”

“That would be nice.”

I made my way to the door, and was about to leave, before Emily spoke again.

“Mason, before you go, I gotta ask you something.”

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Before my accident… What were we?” Emily said, “You said that we were friends, but is that all? Because I know I’ve probably got other friends, but none of them have come to visit me. And from what you said, it sounds like we were pretty close.”

I thought about this for a second. I didn’t want to lie to her, but then again, the fact that we are talking again is purely based on the fact that she doesn’t remember telling me she doesn’t want to see me again.

“You were my best friend.” I explained.

“Were meaning I was and now am not?” Emily asked.

“No not that. I am just talking about back then.” I replied choosing my words carefully, trying to be truthful, “We did stop talking as much as we did when we were teenagers over recent years. But you were still my best friend.”

Emily was quiet for a moment before speaking up.

“Thanks Mason.” she said quietly, “You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

“Try and get some rest.” I replied, “I’ll be in touch soon.”