Emily pulled her baseball hat down a bit further, trying to hide from the eyes that followed. Minho escorted her to the Directors office, where she met Mr. Isaac and his children. Sonya pulled her into a tight hug first only letting go because Newt was trying to also hug her. The three of them waited outside the office while Emily met with Mr. Isaac and Janson and two new school security personnel.

"Well Miss Fitz, you have caused quite the stir in this school." Janson said. She couldn't tell if he was sneering at her or if that was just the way he looked.

"And that is hardly her fault." Mr. Isaac said sharply.

"True true." Director Janson nodded, his dark beady eyes flicked back to him.

"However..." Director Janson went on with a wave of his hand. "We have added extra security cameras, and these two," he gestured to the two men in the corner, "have been higher to walk the halls and monitor things. This this Mr. Bradley Beetle and Mr. Peter Blade."

Emily just nodded in their direction, glancing up at them quickly and then back down to her lap. She was holding her books to her chest so tight her knuckles were white.

"Emily we are doing everything we can to speed this up, and keep you as safe as possible. While we can't prove without a shadow of a doubt it is related to your court case...we all know it is. If you are needed outside the classroom a teacher or one of these security gentlemen will escort you."

Mr. Isaac had turned to look at her while he explained. He placed a hand on her knee, "I know it's not fool proof, and I'm sorry, but for right now it's the best we can do. Will that be all right with you?"

Emily nodded, "it's more than anyone has done. Thank you Mr. Isaac."

"Emily, it's Sam, remember. I get called Mr. Isaac all day in court." He gave her a warm smile. "You coming over to study with Sonya after school? Chuck seems to miss you."

Emily looked up with a small smile. Whenever Emily went to their house their dog never left her side. He was very calm around Emily, and it made her calm.

"I think I need a dog. He's such a good boy!" Emily smiled.

Mr. Isaac smiled. "okay, then, I think that's it, Director. He stood up and shook Janson's hand. I don't want to be getting another phone call saying a student was attacked in your school." Mr. Isaac had a way of being calm and collected but threatening at the same time. Emily saw Janson's eyes flash with the warning, but just nodded. Mr. Isaac waved Emily out. The new school security monitors left as well and left the office without a word. 

The morning went without incident, except for when Minho, Thomas and Gally got up and moved to sit beside Emily, Jeff and Clint during science and again during their business class. Gally and Sonya had been getting cozy, and she asked Emily if she would be okay if she sat with him, Emily gave her a knowing smile and rolled her eyes with a long sigh. 

"I guess so!" 

"Oh shush you. Your boy will be in this open seat so fast you'll smell burning rubber." 

"Except burning rubber smells awful, and I smell amazing." Minho smirked from behind her.

"Facts." Emily grinned. 

Sonya and Gally sat at the desk beside them, Thomas saw sitting with Nick, on Minho's other side. Emily felt her stomach twist and her hands went cold and started to shack when Ben and Teresa and Brenda walked into class. Emily kept her head down, her hands clenched so tight, her hands hurt. Minho leaned over, his hand on her back and whispered quietly to her, while Thomas, Gally and Sonya all stiffened and were on high alert. They kept their narrowed eyes on the three and their eyes followed them to the back of the class. To her surprise, a lot of the class sent glares at them. 

It took her until lunch to realize that a lot of the kids in the school, after seeing the videos of the after math attack, Emily had been the victim. Everyone had their suspicions, but nothing could be proved, because her attackers had been smart and avoided the minimal school hall ways. 

Emily was eating lunch outside with the others when her phone buzzed with Alby's name pop up.

Hey! Squirt! You busy this Friday? 

Uhh, don't think so. Why?

Cuz. I want you in my corner.

I thought you were out of town for this match and my birthday?!

Nope! It was all rescheduled, cuz the guy had to back out. 

Sweet! What time on Friday?

I can pick you up at 1pm- take you for lunch, for you birthday. I need to be there for 430. Match is at 7. There will be a few other fights. 

I'll have to check with my guardians. 

Keep me posted! 
Also...Big scouts coming to the match. 

Why would that affect me?

Just saying...

Okay, weirdo.

Just let me know if you can come. Cuz I need Fitz Gym represented! 

Good That!

"Hey, who was that?" Minho asked leaning over. 

"Alby...he asked if I could be at his match Friday.." Emily replied and showed him the conversation. 

Minho, tilted his head, "Why would he be talking about scouts?" 

Emily shrugged. Then frowned, "But I'd miss part of Friday." 

"Hey...it's behind the scenes for our business project!" Minho winked, and gave her a cheeky grin. 

Emily laughed. "Your a bad influence."

Minho gave her a sly smirk, that made Emily's stomach feel all flutterly, "What can I say Babe, I'm charming and irresponsible." 

Emily raised an eyebrow.

"Irresistible. Sorry." He winked. 

Emily groaned and rolled her eyes. He laughed at her, throwing an arm over her shoulders and pulling her close and kissing her temple. 

"You love me!" 

"Good thing too." She turned her head to look at him, "Cuz your making me skip classes." 

He smirked at her. Before she looked away, he leaned down, closing the distance between them, and kissed her. Emily sucked in a breath, her stomach jumped into her throat, but her brain also shut off, her hand moved on its on accord to the back of his neck. It wasn't anything wild, it was just a simple gentle kiss, but it was the first time he kissed her away from their home. He pulled away and had such a goofy smile on his face, Emily's cheeks were flushed pink. She tried to look down and away, but he caught her chin between his thumb and finger, gently lifting it back up to meet his dark sparkling eyes. 

"Head up Princess." He said quietly. He kissed her one last time and turned back to their lunch, except when they turned away from each other everyone at their table was looking at them. 

"Can we help you shanks?" Minho asked with a frown. 

"Awwwww! THAT WAS THE CUTEST SHUCKEN THING IN THE WHOLE WORLD!" Sonya gushed, "Like wholly shuck, that is goals!" 

Emily bit her lip to keep from grinning, but the corner of her lip pulled up, and her face flushed a darker pink. All the football players were giving Minho a look she couldn't place, but Minho was smirking, his eyes danced over her face. Thomas got his attention and they started talking about something. But even with his attention on Thomas, he slid his hand onto her thigh. Her lungs forgot to work for a second, his thumb ran up and down. Frypan leaned over to her.

"He's never acted like this before. He usually doesn't initiate PDA. And we don't usually see him smile because he's actually happy." 

Emily looked around at him, "Really?" her mind temporarily forgot his hand placement.

"Yeah. If you didn't know he was dating a girl, you would never know. He never really laughed with them, or voluntarily kissed them." Frypan shrugged, "He's very different this year. You never knew him last year or before. But you changed him."

Emily opened her mouth but nothing came out. Frypan chuckled at her, he leaned back in, "And...the only time I saw him even give his last girlfriend attention-"

"You mean Teresa?" She interrupted. Frypan nodded. 

"The only time was when she would literally throw herself, almost force it. It was really uncomfortable to see...trust me. And the moment he saw you his eyes were glued to you. I mean, I'm a guy, and even I noticed. Thomas there, his best friend is oblivious to everything around him, and he even caught on. He was head over heels for you." 

"I don't even know what to do with this information." She stammered. 

"Don't do anything, it was just an FYI." 

He turned back to his lunch, turning to talk to someone else. Emily sat fora moment in her own thoughts then before she over thought it, she scooched closer to him and leaned her head onto his shoulder, without breaking his conversation with Thomas and Gally, he gently squeezed her thigh and kissed the top of her head. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Teresa and Brenda walking past and Teresa scowled in their direction. She thought about what Frypan said and she let a smile form on her face and snuggled closer, wrapping her one arm around Minho's. 

~*~

   Friday morning Emily woke up to Minho's alarm. She had ended up crawling into bed with him again in the middle of the night, her anxiety and a panic attack hit out of no where, and she needed help coming down. She was able to get to his room, before it peeked. She was just closing his door to go back to her room when Mama Lee steeped into the hall. They both froze, Emily's eyes wide and her face bright pink. Mama Lee's face didn't give anything away. 

"Just be safe. And make smart choices." 

Emily opened her mouth not understanding at first. Then she understood what she was implying. 

"Oh shuck no! I had a panic attack...nothing happened!" 

Mama Lee frowned for a second, "You're okay now?" 

Emily nodded. "Woke up and couldn't fall back asleep, it hit hard out of no where." She looked at the floor twisting her fingers together. "When I move back to Jorge's what am I gonna do?" 

"What do you mean?" Mama Lee asked, stepping closer, raising Emily's head so she had to look at her. "He seems to be the only one to really be able to help me..when I'm back with Jorge, what's gonna happen if I have one and I can't work through it?" 

Emily felt the tightness in her chest just thinking of about it. It was so convenient to have Minho down the hall, and when she needed him he was right there. Mama Lee patted her cheek gently and gave her a smile. 

"We will figure something out. But in the meantime..." She gave Emily a very Minho smirk, and her eyes sparkled with mischief. "Make smart choices and be safe, I loke you my girl, but I'm too young to be a grandma." 

Emily gasped and wanted to sink into the floor and die. Mama Lee just chuckled and walked  away. Emily hung her head and trudged to her room and jumped into the shower. Her embarrassment didn't go away. She got dressed in her leggings and her Fitz's Fitness Gym t shirt and hoodie and braided her hair into two tight braids. She still felt it. They hadn't do anything, nothing remotely close. She didn't want to. But where people expecting her? Was Minho expecting it? She felt her face pale. She sunk to the edge of her bed for a second, felling the anxiety rise. He never pushed her, he never complained about anything, but was there an expectation there? He had dated quite the handful of girls, surly he was excepting something sooner.  

There was a knock on her door breaking her out of her thoughts. 

"Hey, Emmy, you ready to go?" 

Emily shook her head, grabbed her bag and left. She was quieter on the drive to school, Minho obviously noticed, sliding his hand onto her thigh, she glanced at him, he was frowning a look of worry on his face. 

"Are you okay, Emmy? Still worried about-"

"No." Emily cut him off, shaking her head. 

"Then..? What's up? Talk to me baby." 

Emily twisted her sleeve, "Umm, your mom saw me leaving your room this morning..." 

"Okay..." He said slowly, his eyebrows pulled together. 

"Umm...she implied something happened..." 

"Yeah...but we know it didn't. Do you want me to talk to her make her stop?" 

Emily shook her head, "No...but..umm..." She trailed off, she felt her face heating up and she knew her chest, neck and up her neck were red. 

"Emmy, talk to me." 

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, "Nothing happened...but now I'm worried that should it? I've never done a relationship before, I don't know what's expected. Do you want something more? I just..."

Minho glanced at her and then back to the road, and shook his head, with a small knowing smile. 

"Emily. Contrary to popular belief, I haven't either." 

Emily's  head jerked up and she looked over at him. He glanced at her again, his face was solum, there was no amusement or smirk on his face. His eyes were intense and serious. 

"True. People talk, people make klunk up. Even if I try and protest or defend myself, people will always think what they want. I've stopped caring." He shrugged and was quiet for a moment. He ran a hand through his hair. "Emily, I have zero expectations. I don't want to jump the gun, I want us to both be comfortable. I'm not forcing anything, I don't want anything more right now. I don't want to loose you over something stupid like this." He flipped his hand from holding her thing and intertwined their fingers. "Contrary to what is said about me, this is new for me too. Sure...unfortunately" he spat out that word, "I've had a few girlfriends. But nothing actually happened. We didn't go out long enough, nothing felt right and I just didn't want to!" 

Emily was blown away, this made her brain short circuit. 

"I'm sorry, I just assumed.." 

"Don't be. People assume, I just don't bother correcting anymore. I never carried until now. I care about you, and us. I care about your reputation, and how you feel and your opinions. Our romantic relationship, how far we go, how intimate we get is our decision, and not based on others opinions or expectations. Deal?" 

Emily smiled at him, her cheeks were still burning, but her stomach went for anxious worry knots to huge wild butterflies. With a smile she leaned over and kissed his cheek. 

"I love you." 

He smirked at her. 

"I love you too."

They pulled into the school. 

"All right Rocky, just gotta get through half a day. And I'll see you at the fight. I'm sitting with Newt, Sonya, their parents and mine. I think Gally and Thomas are also coming."

"Everyone is coming!"

"Even Jorge!" 

"WHAT?" 

"Ops. I think that was supposed to be a surprise!" he said sheepishly, "Pretend you have no idea!" 

Emily laughed at him and shook her head.