I didn't like the way I started this up and I didn't like the relationship between Emily and Jesse being so fast, so I started over some. Enjoy


Prolouge
I walked down the hall of Westwood High. Everything was going just as planned. I turned the corner and bumped into a buff police man.
"Emily West?" He spoke.
"Em, yes." I said reminding him.
"Em, I have someone in the office who would like to talk to you." He said.
"O-okay." I said, confused.
He lead me to the office. To my horror, there she was. With that evil smirk on her face as I gasped in shock. What I didn't know is that my life was about to be turned upside down.

Chapter One
I awoke that morning to find my 14 year old foster sister yelling in my face.
"Sofia." I grumbled. "Get out!"
"You better not treat me too bad." She said. "I can make things happen."
"What are you? A freaking alien or something?" I said.
I tossed one of my pillows at her.
"MOM!" She yelled. "Em is hurting me!"
She started screaming so I grabbed her face to make her stop. My foster mom, Shannon, walked in. She is a drug addict. She spends most of her time locked in her room. When she isn't yelling at me.
"You don't touch her, Em!" She yelled in my face.
She slapped my hand away. Sofia stood there, smiling, with her hands on her hips.
"You're gonna get it!" She said.
"Shut up!" I said.
At that point my 10 year old foster brother walked in.
"Ma." He said. "Can you tell Em to shut up and move on with her sad little life?"
"Good one Ethan." Sofia said.
I watched Shannon's facial expressions. She was mad. Really, really mad.
"Sofia, Ethan, get out. I think Em and I need to have a little talk." She said as I rolled my eyes.
"Oooh!" Sofia and Ethan said as they ran out of the room.
Shannon closed the door and locked it behind her.
"Em. Emily West...when I agreed to take you in as a foster kid, I didn't do it because I wanted to take care of you. I did it because I wanted money." She said.
“Well, you won’t be getting anymore money soon. I’ll be 18 in a month.”
“Yeah an the checks will stop coming.” She said.
“ Well, then you can get rid of me.” I said.
“Watch your mouth you little brat.” She said.
“Shannon, I’ve lived with you for almost two years now. This whole time has sucked because you don’t even deserve children in your house.” I said.
“You ungrateful little brat, I took you in, gave you a home-
“Yeah one that smells like a port-o-potty.” I mumbled.
“What did you just say?” She asked.
“ I think you heard me.” I said.
“You’re nothing but an orphan who is as worthless as your parents.” She said.
I really thought my parents were gonna find me on day, but I gave up on that when I was twelve.
“You don’t even know them.” I said.
“But I know you well enough to know that the were just little idiots like you.”
Sofia walked in.
“Shut up Emily!” She yelled.” Leave my mom alone you b-
I didn’t want to hear her finish. I jumped on her and punched her as hard as a could.
“What the heck!” Shannon yelled
Sofia was out cold. I heard police sirens. Ethan must’ve called the cops. I grabbed my bag and ran as fast as I could.
“GET BACK HERE!” Shannon yelled.
I kept running. I ran all the way to the bus station. By the time I got there, a bus to Santa Fe was boarding, so I hopped on, remembering my best friend Bella moved there a year ago.It was cramped and hot all the way there. It took a long time too. When I arrived, I realized how hot it was. I lived in Denver, Colorado. It was March and extremely cold there. So I still had my winter coat on. I wandered into a store and began looking at shorts, when I heard a voice.
"Do you know how hot it is?" he asked.
"I'm aware." I said not looking up.
"How much money do you have on you?"
"Not much." I said.
"Um, well these look good." He said. He picked up a few v-necks, tank tops and shorts. Then he picked up a pair of flip flops. He walked up to check out. When he came back, he had a bag and two pairs of matching sun glasses.
"Here, for you." He put a pair of the sunglasses on me and gave me the bag.
"You didn't have to d-" he cut me off and took a step closer.
"But I wanted to." He said smiling at me. He had brown eyes, just like mine, and dark brown, hair that was a little shaggy.
"But I don't even know you're name." I said.
"I don't know yours either." He said smiling.
"I'm Emily. You can call me Em.
"Em, I'm Jesse" he said, taking one more step closer.
"Jesse, I really appreciate this. But you didn't have to do this." I said.
"Oh Em, why don't you just put on some of the clothes." he said.
"But I-"
"No" He said "Go put some on. You'll die in that outfit."
"Okay, okay." I said smiling.
I picked out an orange and white striped v-neck tee and a pair of black shorts. I put on the flip flops and stuffed my old worn out sneakers in my bag. I took my hair out of it's pony tail and it hung just below my shoulders. I stepped out.
"Perfect." he said.
I blushed and looked away. He laughed
"Are you hungry?" He asked. "Cause I have a place in mind. You'll love it."
"Jesse you really don't have to."I said.
"Come on Em. Please?" He said
"Jesse thanks for being so nice, but really I'm fine." I said quietly
"Just checking. A girl as pretty as you shouldn't be walking around Santa Fe by herself." he said looking at a pair of jeans.

I turned around. I think I saw him blush. I smiled and looked away. We sat quiet for quite some time.

"well." I said putting my hands to my sides."I should get going."

"To where exactly is that?"He said

" To the motel not too far from here." I said, picking up my bag.

"You don't have to." He said stepping in front of me."It's getting dark."

"I'm taking the bus." I said walking around him. He ran in front of me again, blocking my exit.

"Hey, let me drive you." He said putting his hands up."I wouldn't even ever take the bus by myself."

"No, I'm really fine." I said squeezing passed him. He grabbed me by the arm.

"Come on Em, don't be so stubborn."He said still holding my arm.

" Um, could you please let go of my arm?" I said.

"Oh, sorry, I uh, I didn't mean-"

"It's fine." I cut him off.

"Please?" He said.

"Fine!" I yelled.

"Feisty!" He said as I hopped into his truck.

"Ha..."I laughed sarcastically.

Jesse put the key in the ignition and the engine sputtered, roared to life and went dead again. He cussed under his breath.

"God." I said. "I'm walking" I got out of the truck. Of course, he followed.

"Sorry." He said laughing."That old thing is always breaking down. We can still take the bus.

"No, we're late. It came five minutes ago."I said walking faster.

"Hey, slow down Flash." He said grabbing my arm again.

I spun around and just looked at him, and exploded The events of the day were bottled up inside me. I just started to cry.

"Jesus, Em!" He said taking my hand and leading me to an old park bench. “Sit down. What’s wrong?”

I couldn’t answer him. I was crying to hard.

“Calm down. I never thought you were one to cry like this.” He said handing me tissue.

“Well you really don’t know much about me.” I said wiping my eyes.

“Well.” He said, brushing a piece of my hair out of my face. “I got time.”

“Can I trust you?” I asked.

“Of course.” He said.

“I don’t you should trust me.” I said starting to cry again.

“Em, Em, Listen to me.” He said.

I turned an looked at him. The sunset reflected in his eyes. He looked as if he’d been crying but I wasn’t sure.

“No, matter what you tell me, I won’t think of you any differently.” He said.

“I’m not sure exactly how to tell you.” I said, my voice shaky.

“Well, you can tell me.” He said. “I trust you, you trust me. Or at least I hope you do.”

“I do, it’s just hard to talk about.” I said

“If you tell me,” he began “I’ll tell you a secret nobody else knows about me. Promise. That way, you’ll have my secret, and I’ll have yours.”

I thought about it, but I felt I could trust him. So I told him everything. Of course when I got to the part about today, I began to cry again.

“My god, Em. You’re tough.” He said.

“Well, if you’re a foster kid, you don’t really have anyone but yourself. At least that’s how it is for me.” I said.

“Well, that leads into my secret.” He began. He sat for a minute then began again, his voice shaky. “When I was nine, my parents got into a horrible fight. I was hiding in my room when I heard gun shots. I was so worried when I didn’t hear anything else. I got out from my hiding place, but only to find both of my parents dead. My dad had killed my mom and then killed himself.” He said.

“Jesus Jesse! You were practically still a baby!” I said crying.

“I know.” he said. “ I was sent to my grandma’s house but she never liked kids. When I was fourteen, I ran away from my grandma’s house. I got a job at a coffee shop and started saving up. The owner of the shop said there was a little room above it that I could rent out for 60 bucks a month. So, I lived there till I was sixteen. Then I got my own apartment at seventeen. The people believed I was eighteen, I’ve been living there ever since.” He said. His voice still shaking. I could see a tear running down his face. “You’re the first person I trusted like this since I was nine. When I talked to you, about my life, I just felt like all my worries went away.”

I looked at him. He laughed at me because he could see I was crying.

“Well then.” He said. “ I guess we can be alone. Together.”

“Yeah, alone together.” I said smiling.

He just stared at me. Then I gave him a big hug. He jumped, surprised.

“Sorry.” I said.

“It’s okay.” He said smiling at me.

“We should really get going.” I said.

“You said we.” He smiled.

“I meant I should get going, to the motel.” I said getting up.

“ I want to come.” He said, standing up. “I’ll get my own room, I just want to talk some more tomorrow.”

“I don’t think-”

“Well I think, you should say yes.” He interrupted.

“Yes.” I said smiling.

“Okay, then. WE should get going.” He said putting emphasis on the “we”.

As we walked to the motel, Jesse told me more about him. And I told him more about me. We got to the motel faster than I thought we would. We walked into the motel. The lobby was old and run down. The lady at the desk was a small Asian woman.

“Two rooms please.” Jesse said.

“Why you two need separate room?” She asked in a strong accent.

“Because we do.” He said.

“Fine, fine, wait here I go get room 4 and room 5 key.” She said, running to the back. “ Okay, here room 4 and 5 key.” She said sliding the keys over to us.

“How much?” Jesse asked.

“Forty five. Each.” She said.

“Jesse, I’ll pay you back once I get everything under control.” I said.

“No, it’s fine.” He said pulling out his wallet. “You listened to me. That’s all I needed.”

“But.” I said.

“Stubborn, much?” He asked.

“Fine, pay.” I said laughing.

We got our keys, said good night and went to our rooms. The room was fairly nice. With a view of the desert mountains and the night sky, it seemed peaceful. I got into my pajamas I packed and hopped into bed. I stared out the window at the stars. Noticing the one that shined the brightest. I drifted to sleep
------------------------------
I woke up the next morning at nine and got dressed into a tank top and shorts. I grabbed out my copy of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven. I flopped down on the bed and began to read. I heard a knock at the door.

“It’s me.” I heard Jesse say.

“Come in.” I said.

He walked in. Still a little groggy from sleeping, and also only wearing his boxers. I just looked at him and looked away. He ran his fingers through his dark hair. I noticed that he had a good body, but I told myself not to think that way.

“Hey.” He said.

“Hey.” I said

“Wait, you like Poe?” He asked.

“Yeah why?” I asked back.

“Well, I just though I was the only teen who liked him. His writing is pretty crazy.” He said laughing.

“That’s why I like him.” I said smiling. He smiled back.

“Well, what now?” I asked

“I guess we should pack up our stuff and get outta here.” He said. “It smells bad .”

I laughed. “ I agree.”