Emily lay curled in bed, in a blanket. She stared blankly at the wall. Her assesm with Joseph Spint went well. He was impressed with her, he had seen videos of her from the gym, Jorge had sent him videos and paper work from when she used to compete.

The assessment wasn't as long as she expected. He wanted to know her goals and dreams, what she wanted out of this sport, why she liked it. He was impressed with what he saw. He wasn't worried about her financial situation. He knew the reputation of the gym and Alby, and what Jorge was Caple of doing. It was more of a get to know her.

They were done early, and she just didn't feel like sticking around. She thanked Laurence and went back to the Lee's. She took the bus and got home before everyone. She showered, with her hair still dropping wet, she wrapped herself up in a blanket and laid down.

She heard the front door bang open and frantic footsteps. Her door flew open.

"Emily?!"

He flew to the side of the bed and knelt down beside the bed.

"Shuck! Em, you scared me so bad!" He said quietly, she could hear the fear and his voice got caught in his throat.

"Why would I scare you?" She asked quietly.

"Em... I've been so worried about you!" He cried. Leaning forwards he pressed his forehead to hers. He took a long deep breath.

"Shuck! I don't know what's going on with the school...but those notes in your locker...Ben was talking like a slinthead...then you said you left the gym. And with that whole thing with Ava..I was just worried!"

Emily felt her blood run cold. Was it all connected? Ava's weird warning made Emily scrunch her eyebrows together in confusion. Maybe it was all connected. But how or why would Emily being bullied help Ava? It didn't matter.

"Emily? Please...talk to me." Minho pleaded.

"There's not much to say, Minho." She said blankly.

She felt so empty again. It was wild how she could feel good, and happy and safe and then in an instant everything she worked hard for was ripped away and she felt empty raw and exhausted again. She would never be aloud to be fully and truly happy.

Minho knelt and slowly pulled her to sit up, she was so listless she followed, sitting up at the side of the bed. The blanket she hard wrapped around her slipped down, exposing her shoulder, and chest, her hands just sat loosely in her lap, her head hung down.

At this point, Emily didn't even care. Maybe now he would see there wasn't much to to bother with and he could move on to someone who wasn't so much work, who didn't cause so much drama. She felt his warm hand gently pull the blanket back up around her shoulders. His hand went to her cheek, his thumb gently rubbing back and forth.

"Emily...can I lay down and just snuggle with you? Hold you close?" He asked, his eyes pleaded with her.

Emily shrugged one shoulder.

"You still want to hold me when covered me up?" She asked confused.

"Em...I covered you up because we haven't crossed that line together yet. And I'm not gonna do anything right now. I love you and I respect you too much. Just 'cause some jackass says klunk doesn't make it true, and I'm not gonna make it true. I told you already; no one else dictates how far our intimate relationship goes, no one but you and me. And right now...your vaunerable and hurting. I'm not gonna take advantage of that."

His thumb kept rubbing back and forth over her cheekbone, her big sad eyes dropped to look at him. He was kneeling between her knees, looking up at her.

"And yes. I want to hold you close. Please? Will you let me?"

She shrugged again.

"Emily...I need you to tell with your words."

"Okay."

Minho took his hoodie off and got up, climbing onto the bed and laying down beside her, he pulled her down gently beside him, and pulled her closer. She opened the blanket she had wrapped an arm and her leg around him. He gently ran his fingers up and down her back. Emily could feel the tense muscles slowly relax, in both if them. They both slowly relaxed into each other.

"Do you think I could home school?" She whispered.

"I don't know."

"I hate school. I always hated it. And this year is the worst." She whispered. She could feel her eyes burning.

"Em...I hope that's not true." Minho said quietly, pulling away to see her face. She could see the hurt in his eyes.

"Sure I have friends...sure I have you...but it seems to just make everything harder." She said dully, "when I was a nobody, I blended into the back, no one cared who I was or what I did. I was invisible. Now...everyone wants to talk. Everyone has some story or opinion." She paused, "it was almost easier before all this."

"Emily...!" Minho whispered, she was almost certain he was crying, his voice cracked and he sounded so broken. He pulled her tighter. She could feel his heart beating wildly.

"Please don't say that!" He whispered into her wet hair. "You made this year so much better! And I can tell you for sure Sonya and Newt and Thomas and Gally would all say the same thing!"

She closed her eyes and buried her face into his shoulder. His fingers ran up and down her bare back. Emily felt a little bit better laying in his arms. She still felt empty and sad, but maybe she just felt homesick. And she needed a quiet evening in his arms. It had been an action packed weekend.

"How was practice?" She finally asked quietly.

"Dumb. I wished I'd just slipped and come with you. Ben was being a Shuckface."

They lapsed into silence. Minho still rubbed her back. She slowly became aware she was wrapped around Minho with nothing but her underwear. Her eyes were clamped shut and her face was hot.

"Minho...I'm...I'm sorry." She whispered.

"Don't apologize Baby. You did nothing wrong. Remember, were in this together. You and me, no shutting me out, 'cause I'm going to come swinging and break those shields down and pin you to a wall. You and me, forever."

He pulled away a bit and reached for her wrist, and held it up. The dainty bracelet with the hearts and knot visible now.

"See? Physical symbol. You and me, tied together forever!"

Emily gave him a small half hearted smile. He smiled back at her, and gently kissed her wrist. Emily didn't have the energy for much, she lay still in his arms.

They had a quiet supper with Jorge. He knew she had sunk into a mood, but seeing Jorge looking better and healthier made Emily smile, she felt better knowing Jorge was doing good and she would be able to movie in with him soon. They had talked about him selling his home on the other side of the city and moving closer to the gym and to the school for Emily, to a smaller place.

Emily hugged Jorge goodbye and she went back to her bed, pulling her notes out. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door, Minho brought her some tea and sat beside her, doing his homework and rubbing her back. After a while she couldn't concentrate anymore. She put her stuff away and curled up, her head on his lap and fell asleep.

All week was the same. Notes of caring degrees of hate shoved into her locker. Some told her to just die, some said what the writer would love to do if she got bored of Minho. Some just had words like slut or hore or calling her the football team mattress. Friday she came to school and her locker door was covered in sticky notes, each one with something awful written on it.

Minho had slammed his fist into the locker beside hers. Emily began taking them down. She had tried going to Director Janson about the notes, but he waved a hand dismissively indicating children would be children, and she shouldn't take them seriously. Minho was fuming, Newt and Sonya helped take them down and throw them out.

Emily wasn't sure how she was going to make it through the day. The afternoon was a pep rally, and the only reason she was going was because it was for the football team. Their first home game was tomorrow. She didn't feel very peppy and by lunch every nerve in her body felt fried.

Minho gave her kiss goodbye, he was going with the team, for some grand entrance. She sat with Newt and Sonya, Jeff and Clint at the back of the bleachers.

Nick and Harriet got up and got the crowd going, everyone was pumped and excited. The Cheerleading team came out and did their routines. Emily didn't like any of them, but she had to admit, they were good.

Nick got back up and with the School mascot running around and the school band on the field playing, the cheerleaders all cheering and yelling, the football team came out of the tunnel, lead by Minho. They were all dressed in their jerseys.

A small smile did form on her face. Minho did look really good. His signature smirk, his football uniform, black, red and white, his large muscled popped. His eyes scanned the crowd and when they saw her, he winked and his smirk grew. The crowd was going crazy.

The coach got up and said some more, the crowd was wild. Minho, as captain got up, he didn't have to say much.

"Let's bring another championship home! Let's go!" He yelled, throwing a fist into the air.

Minho was right, as soon as he's on the field, the school forgets all about the horrible gossip and stupid stuff they say, he's their hero again. Emily just shook her head, teenagers were so fickle. The crowd was motioned to sit back down, and a few people got up this time and came to the mic that was set up on the field. Emily instantly felt queasy, Brenda and Teresa had got up.

"We all want our boys to do their best!"

The crowd cheered.

"This year for a fundraiser, we've talked to Director Janson already and he's approved!" Teresa said sweetly.

"This can't be good." Sonya muttered.

"We're going to have an auction!" Brenda continued.

"What the actual shuck?" Sonya hissed again. Emily felt dread eating away at her.

"What are we cautioning? Well a date with the football stars, of course! The highest bidder gets a full evening!" Teresa cried cheerfully. The crowd all cheered and clapped and whooped. Teresa's eyes found Emily in the crowd and she smirked, while Emily felt like throwing up.

"What.the.actual.hell?" Sonya yelled.

"Bloody hell no!" Newt cursed.

Emily sat frozen in shock and dread. This was a very Teresa thing to do. Half the team on the field looked like they had walked through a wall of ice cold water. Minho got up and left the field. Followed by Thomas, Gally, Frypan and at least half the team.

~•~

Emily didn't remember the rest of the rally. She didn't remember saying goodbye to Sonya or Newt. She was waiting for Minho to be done. He had gone to talk to the coach. He was furious with what they had agreed to without the permission of the team.

Emily was waiting outside the gym, walking slowly back and forth between the bleachers by the field and the back door to the gym. Her head was down and her books held right to her chest.

Hands grabbed her and slammed her into the bleachers. There was a group of them. All wearing the same thing and masks over their faces. One knocked her books out of her hand. Another one hand her hair in their hand, holding tight. They jerked her head up. Someone kicked the back of her knees so she fell. The person who knocked her books out grabbed her backpack off her shoulders and dumped it out into the ground.

"You don't deserve to wear his hoodie!" Someone hissed. They grabbed Minho's hoodie Emily was wearing and somehow managed to ripp it.

"Gross, is that from him too?" Someone grabbed her wrist and yanked the bracelet off her wrist, throwing it into the ground.

"Ooo, look! Another thing of jewelery!" Someone grabbed the necklace from her father and ripped it off her neck, snapping the chain.

"Minho is so much better than you, you slut!"
"How many of the team have you gone through?"
"Worthless little orphan!"
"What does he even see in you? Other than a good ride?"
"You're just a charity case!"
"Worthless little no body!"
"No one would miss you if you died!"
"Just end it so we can all move on with life!"

Emily did manage to swing a fist, she did get one of them. She heard a scream. Emily threw a kick out, she didn't care who it hit. They just needed to leave her alone. Emily swung wildly. But the person who had her hair yanked her backwards. And she fell, landing on her back.

All she could do at this point was curl up, protecting her head and midsection. There were too many. She could take one maybe two, but when a mob of people jump you from behind, it's a lot harder to defend yourself.

She felt a kick to the ribs. And one to her back. Emily cried out. There was a door that closed someone yelled and the mob took off, sprinting away. Emily curled up even tighter, hiding as best she could.

Hands grabbed her wrists, Emily screamed, trying to fight it. The hands were too strong.

"Hey! Emmy! Emily, it's me!" Minho cried. "Shuck! What did they do to you?"

Emily's eyes flew open and another sob caught in her throat, holding her rub she sat up and crawled into his arms. Once she knew his arms were around her she broke down and sobbed. He held her and rocked her slowly while she cried.

~•~

Minho picked her up from the truck. His parents came out the door and down the driveway. Minho had called them as soon as Emily was going to be alright. His father called Mr. Isaac. He was already in the house at the kitchen table, as well as the cops from the first school attack. And Jorge was on speaker phone.

Papa Lee swore when he saw her. Mama Lee pulled her into a hug, making Emily break down and cry again.

She had to relive the second physical attack. She had to tell them what happened, what she could remember and what was said.

"You managed to hit one?"

Emily nodded, "maybe a few? I don't know."

"Anything distinctive?"

"No...they all wore the same thing with masks covering their face. They all sounds like girls, but I don't know." Emily hung her head.

The cops took pictures of all the damage done, Mama Lee took her to her room and took a picture of the bruises on her ribs and back for the police record. Emily sat on her bed in a sports bra and leggings. Emily leaned forwards, her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands and cried. There was a knock on the door and Minho came in. He didn't say anything but wrapped a blanket around her and picked her up. He took her to the livingroom and snuggled with her on the couch for the rest of the evening.