...But Your Enemies Closer

Emily didn't gasp in surprise or pierce Rebecca with laser vision. She didn't look bashful or embarrassed or even sad at the accusation. The blonde simply cocked her head to the side and set Rebecca with a winning smile.

Something about that adorable smile made Rebecca feel a bit embarrassed just being in its presence. She rubbed the back of her neck and tried not to look as uncomfortable as she was suddenly. There probably wasn't much success to this endeavor however so with a glance at the clock she looked for an out.

"Wow, I didn't realize it was so late. I should probably head out." Rebecca muttered, cursing herself for the way her voice came out weak and unsure. "Early classes tomorrow."

Emily nodded, "I've been there."

"Yeah."

"It was nice seeing you tonight. I had a good time hanging out." Emily said with that smile still firm on her face.

"Me too." Rebecca attempted her own smile despite the awkward butterflies fluttering in her chest. "I usually have a good time with you though."

Emily chuckled, "Ditto."

"Anyways. I really should get going. I'll call you." Rebecca muttered and turned to leave.

"Wait a second!" Emily called out before the brunette could get too far away. Rebecca turned around and Emily thrust the sketchbook in her hands. "I want you to have this."

"Uh..." Was all Rebecca could muster. She was instantly struck with thoughts of the last sketchbook of Emily's that she had procured and all the hell it lead to.

"Well, I wanted you to have the drawing I was working on specifically, but I also wanted to make sure it got home safe so just take the whole thing. I have dozens of pads lying around so one less isn't a big deal." Emily explained quickly, her face turning red as she did. "I haven't really done much in there anyways and, um...I feel kind of stupid now."

"Don't." Rebecca assured her and put a hand on Emily's arm, "Thanks. I appreciate it."

"No problem." Emily mumbled.

Despite her shaky feelings around Emily, Rebecca saw an opportunity that she just couldn't resist. The brunette leaned down and pressed a quick kiss against Emily's cheek. She pulled away before she could do something truly stupid and backed away with a small smirk on her lips.

"I'll see you later." Rebecca said once more and turned to the door, leaving Emily with a hand held against her cheek.

Rebecca didn't even open up the book until she got back to her place. Even then, she was a little nervous to for some reason. The curiosity got the better of Rebecca finally and she flipped open the first page of the sketchbook to look at Emily's work.

The girl had only gotten better with age. Page after page of gorgeous work met the brunette's eyes. From landscapes and building around the city to ideas that were clearly meant for her job and random doodles, every single piece was astounding and Rebecca found herself looking over every page with invested interest.

Finally, she turned to the drawing that Emily had been working on of Rebecca and her breath caught. It had filled out so much more since the first glance that Emily had given her, both in color and depth of the details that she had put into it. You could actually see the football field of Branson high in the background of the work and the young cheerleader that Rebecca still couldn't believe was her -- it truly was like looking in a mirror from years past -- was colored and shaded to perfection.

A small speech bubble off to the side that proclaimed 'GO BULLDOGS' caused Rebecca to grin. Emily was so good at all the little things that really made a piece of art come to life and make it realistic. This piece was no exception to the rule.

Rebecca ran a loving hand over the drawing and that's when her eyes picked up one other thing that hadn't been there at first glance. In the distance of the football field, near the bleachers of the far side from Rebecca's back stood a small figure. She had blonde hair and a soft smile and it didn't take long for Rebecca to realize exactly who it was supposed to be.

The brunette pressed the sketchpad to her chest and felt a single warm tear roll down her cheek. This was the most beautiful gift anyone had ever given her. Despite everything from that time that she wasn't proud of, Rebecca now had something to remind her of the one thing that would always bring a smile to her face -- her first love.

Well, that and how much she used to enjoy cheering -- that was pretty cool too.



Post High School: Rebecca Knox

I had no idea that the end of my life was waiting right after graduation.

Okay, maybe that was a bit melodramatic, but it sure as hell felt like this was it for me. I had no plans. I had no options. I had nothing.

There was a certain determination in me that knew I would be back to my normal self after the accident. That I would be back to cheering and I could go on to work for some big sport's team or something. Everything would work out like I always thought it would. How wrong I was.

If only I would have stayed the hell away from that party. I wouldn't have been drunk enough to listen to my idiotic friends about how badass it would be to attempt a back flip off Brody Mason's pool house. Hell, I wouldn't have been drunk enough to attempt said back flip and ruin my career for good.

It wasn't a big surprise that I missed my mark into the water really. I suppose I should be glad that it was just by a little bit or else they would have scraped me off the cement instead of just rushing me to the hospital. Still, as soon as I heard that crunch from where my left leg caught the side of the pool I knew that the repercussions were going to be bad -- really bad.

Despite doing everything that I had been told and pushing myself as hard as humanly possible during physical therapy, it didn't matter. My leg was never the same again. I couldn't ever pull off the moves I was once able to before the accident.

I remember the first time I tried doing a handspring once I was cleared to use the limb again. My form was perfect and I landed it like I had a million times before, but as soon as the pressure of the land hit my left side I crumpled to the ground in a pathetic heap. That was all it took for me to know without a doubt that my cheerleading career was done for good. I cried for an hour afterward and not a soul could console me through the emotional pain I felt.

My parents put up with my moping around for a little while, but once they realized that I had basically given up they gave up on me too. It wasn't the way of the Knox family to turn into a useless waste once something fell through. You picked yourself up and you made do with what you had left. What they never seemed to understand was that cheering was literally all I had.

So they stopped supporting me and I stopped talking to them, that was all there was to it. It was as simple as one bad decision to change the relationship with my parents forever. After a while, I stopped considering them my parents at all though. They were just the people that gave me life and then stopped caring about me once I had become a useless human being.

Whatever.

As weak as it was, I actually contemplated taking my own life for a while. I knew there were plenty of people that had it worse off than I did -- like way worse off -- but I just couldn't stand my own existence anymore. I hated waking up every day without any foreseeable purpose in life and no one there to let me know that I was worth it. My family obviously didn't give a fuck and all of my 'friends' stopped hanging around once I was busted to the bottom of the proverbial pyramid. So why was any of it worth it?

The only thing that stopped me in the end was refusing to take the coward's way out. I may not have believed in the people that raised my anymore, but the values instilled in me -- at least the ones worth keeping close -- were still there. Two of the most important ones that kept me alive were never being a coward and holding on to my stubborn pride. I guess I was thankful for that if nothing else, but the rest of the Knox clan would never hear it from my lips.

Being away from my parents and getting past the bout of depression I had made me really analyze the kind of person I was and who I had been for the longest time. I wasn't proud of what I saw. All I was, boiled down to being a cruel and manipulative bully. There wasn't anything truly good about my character.

I started to feel like shit about the way that I treated people during my school years, especially the high school period. I had hurt a lot of people and humiliated even more. And for what gain really? Not much that I could see.

When word came that Branson High was celebrating a fifth year reunion for my graduating class I was instantly turned off by the idea. It was a terrifying prospect actually. Half the room would be people that I had fucked over and the other half would be people that had seen me fall from grace personally. It wouldn't be fun for me at all.

The more I thought about it though, the more it felt like something I had to do. If I was ever going to get over the things that had been plaguing me for years this would be the way. I could make amends to those that I hurt and for all of the other bitches, well I could just ignore them as best I could. The real tipping point of my decision came from my new friend Evie however.

We had met recently at a bar by sheer course of luck. This guy couldn't seem to understand that I just wanted to drink by myself like a loser and kept insisting I dance with him or some shit. I wasn't really listening to be honest.

He was on his fiftieth pitch of why we should be spending some intimate time together when Evie just couldn't take it anymore. She walked over from a nearby table and tapped the guy on the shoulder. He turned to see her and smiled like a fucking idiot, probably thinking that some cute girl actually wanted anything to do with him. Oh, how wrong he was.

Evie proceeded to give him a piece of her mind to get a clue and to leave people alone that wanted to be left well enough alone. Not only was he feeling severely reprimanded by the loud and aggressive tone that she used with the douche bag, but said tone had attracted the attention of plenty of the bar and he was looking mighty embarrassed too. It didn't take him long to pay his tab and scurry out with his tail between his legs.

After that little interaction, Evie offered to buy me a drink as an apology of having to deal with the dickwad and even invited me to sit with her friends at her table. It was the first time in awhile that I felt like someone actually had my back, so of course I accepted her offer and went to meet her friends Celia and Rawly Stanton. If Evie was the brashest little spitfire I had ever met then the Stanton's were the sweetest pair to counteract that. I knew right away that I had met a group of truly authentic people that I could be myself around finally.

The three of them clicked with me right away and in one night, I had people to stand up for me and accept me at the same time. It could be said that I felt like I was whole again after my accident had taken away so much of my identity. I had never known how much I needed people in my life like those three until I met them.

It didn't take long after that first night for Evie to worm her way into being my best friend and voice of reason, so when she found out about my reunion and especially my thoughts on not going, she was quick to convince me otherwise.

"You're not seriously going to let a couple of stuck up bitches stop you from going to this thing are you?"

"It's not just that." I told her. "I was a pretty nasty bitch back then too. I'm sure there will be some folks that can't wait to rub their success in my face after I've fallen so hard."

"Then let them. Be the bigger person Rebecca." Evie said, "If you go in there and act opposite to what they expect from you, then you've succeeded. You've grown up and that's more than can be said of some people."

I couldn't deny that she had a good point. Evie may have been a temperamental hothead, but she was still capable of giving some damn good advice. This was one of those times and I couldn't just brush off what she was telling me in good consciousness.

"You know what? You're right. I can't just let someone else's opinion stop me from living my life. Especially people that don't even know me anymore."

"That's the spirit!" Evie said and thrust a fist up in victory, "Now if there are any cute guys there, be sure to give them my number okay?"

I rolled my eyes and gave the crazy redhead a shove. "Not a chance."

It turned out that I didn't need to fret over my reunion at all. I went in with the mindset that Evie had given me about being the bigger and better person than what was expected of me, but it wasn't altogether necessary. Especially since my personality ended up completely regressing.

Reunions serve as a sort of social time machine I found out. You could have a guy that's become a doctor and a family man but if he was the meathead jock, all of a sudden he's spiking the punch and hitting on every girl in sight. The nerdy girl that ended up in the air force is all of a sudden talking about comic books and unconsciously pushing invisible glasses up the bridge of her nose that have long since been traded in for contacts.

It's truly an interesting phenomenon.

Even though I went in telling myself that I would be the sweet and grounded woman I had become, that all went out the door when I actually walked into the gym where the reunion was held. As soon as my peers saw me, they split apart like the Red Sea and without even thinking about it, my Becca Knox attitude just came flowing out. My hands went to my hips and I walked through the people I was so afraid of like they were below me -- nothing but peons for the queen that had graced them with her presence.

Despite my instant attitude change I made sure not to let too much of that bitch out to play. I was pleasant in all of my conversations and didn't do anything that could be construed as mean or hurtful by any means. I did ham up my old intimidation factor a bit though, especially to the stupid cunts that I once called friends -- like Ashley and Marie. I had a brief interaction with them and then the two of them came nowhere near me throughout the rest of the night.

The entirety of the night actually ended up being quite a bit of fun. I danced and laughed with people I hadn't seen in quite some time, and not a single one of them made me feel like less than I was. In fact, quite a few people ended up asking me about the accident that they had only heard about and offering words of consolation on my promising career that had been cut short.

There was one person who wasn't present during the whole event however -- Emily Frazier.

I had been hoping that she would show up so I could finally apologize about everything that had happened between us once upon a time but I never got the opportunity. It was a shame really, since she was the lone soul that had been on the receiving end of my wrath more than anyone else had. There was a sickly feeling that she may have actually offed herself because of my cruelty but that theory was put to rest when I began asking around about her.

Apparently, she had signed up with some up and coming company and was making headway doing some sort of business shit. No one that I talked to really knew the details of course, which wasn't a surprise to me at all. There wasn't a person in the gym that really gave two shits about the girl during high school -- me included. Regardless, it was good to hear that she had made something of herself despite the constant trouble I gave her. Maybe I even helped toughen her up to the world.

I put Frazier out my mind after awhile and simply enjoyed the rest of the night with people that I was likely never going to see again. At least for one night I could feel like I was back on top and hadn't fucked up everything that I once had. And did it ever feel good to soak in that admiration one more time too.

So life went on and as much as it was a struggle sometimes, I was getting by for the most part. I had good friends that I loved more than I had ever loved my family -- which is exactly what Evie and the Stanton's had become to me -- and I knew that I was worth something even though my life wasn't going perfectly to plan. The only snag I had was an income.

This is how it came to be that I ended up at Zendex Media that windy afternoon before coming face to face with the new and improved Emily Frazier. Whoever said that karma couldn't be funny wasn't living in the shoes of my life, that was for sure. Because from where I was standing, it was fucking hilarious -- even though I was the butt end of the joke for a change.

Chapter Eight: Emmy Lou

There was a shift in the girl's relationship in the coming weeks. Since Rebecca had broken the concrete boundaries that they had set up for themselves by giving Emily that simple kiss on the cheek, it had suddenly become open season for the two of them in ways of simple actions of their physical affections. There were more instances when a hand would go to a knee in conversation, or a quick tight hug before they separated from the other, it wasn't even too uncommon for them to unconsciously link their hands when they would sit together -- even in public.

It was never anything too serious, since they were both feeling on thin ice about each other, but they were beginning to take those first tentative steps of trusting each the other enough to be vulnerable. They had ignorantly skipped this part during their first affair, but this time things would be different -- even if they might be acting a bit too cautious than was really necessary. In fact, the way they were going about their courtship could be akin to taming a wild horse -- only they were both acting like skittish stallions, with neither of them taking the reins as the confident trainer.

Along with their newfound physical intimacy, there was also more emotional intimacy. Things that were never talked about before became integrated into conversation freely and things that they had both kept hidden were finally coming to the surface. This wasn't excluding one of the sorest subjects for both girls -- their families. Which was a good thing; because it wasn't until this particular talk came about that they both began to understand the other.

The whole topic came up innocently enough, Rebecca was simply curious to know more about Emily since the blonde never talked much about personal issues outside of her own interests. Despite breaking all ties from her own family, Rebecca figured that maybe Emily had better luck in the department. There was no way that she could have been prepared for what she learned from the conversation at all though.

"So do you get to see your family much?" Rebecca asked in that subtle conversational manner.

Emily shrugged, "I don't have any family."

Rebecca furrowed her brows at this nonchalant comeback. "What do you mean you don't have a family? Everyone has a family."

Another noncommittal shrug from the blonde. "I guess I have one if you consider the people that gave you life a 'family'." she said this word as though the meaning was very loose to her, "But all things considered I've lone wolfed it for so long that I don't believe in that concept."

Rebecca didn't realize that her jaw had dropped until she saw Emily looking at her curiously. The brunette shook off her shock from such a cold and direct response about the simple question and searched her brain for an appropriate response. This just didn't seem like Emily, at least not the Emily she had come to know recently.