The next morning I was walking down the hall, lost in thought. I caught a flash of movement from the corner of my eye and turned to see Liz stepping from the shadows.

"Rosie!" she hissed, beckoning me toward her. When I reached her she shoved a folded paper into my hand.

"What's this?" I asked, staring in astonishment at the fifty dollar bill.

"You babysat for me yesterday, didn't you?" Her grin was less smiling and more bearing of teeth, "You should be getting paid for a job well done."

"But," I stammered, "Emily--"

"Yes, but he isn't Emily's kid, is he?" Liz then threw her head back laughing, like this had all been good-natured banter all along. I laughed nervously along with her, not knowing what else to do.

"Seriously, please let me pay you."

"It's not necessary," I insisted, pushing the money back into her hand. "I wouldn't accept money from Emily either."

"Rosie," Liz said, staring hard at me, "I know at the moment it may look like Emily is in charge, but I call all the shots. Okay?"

She then laughed again, flicking her wrist as if that action would be enough to dispel the tension in the air. I swallowed. Part of me wanted to ask if she was calling all the shots why she wasn't even allowed on the scene, but the more sensible part of me screamed to get out of there now.

"It's okay, really," I said, slowly backing away, "thanks for the offer, though."

"Are you sure?" she called after me.

"Yeah," The moment she turned away I bolted out of sight, wanting to put as much distance between us as possible before she tried to make me take the money.

*****

I didn't know how or why, but Kendall was especially nasty that week. Her comments got ruder, her taunts were more hurtful, everything was a lot worse when it came to her. Many brave souls tried to ask her what was wrong, but to no avail.

"I don't care what's going on," Liz said bitterly during that week's Saving Emily meeting, "that girl needs to realize that there are bigger problems in life than running out of lip gloss, or not getting one million likes on your status update, or whatever else she worries about!"

I couldn't help but notice the dark circles under her eyes as she spoke.

"I'm sure this won't last long." Mark said, biting into the taco he had brought for lunch.

"Just our luck this is all part of her 'growing up,'" Shawn muttered, "and this is her new personality."

I groaned inwardly. Talk about the worst possible turn of events.



Things still hadn't improved by the next Monday. That morning we were all in the main part of the building, waiting for Brenner to get out of some meeting he was having with the programming director of the channel our show aired on.

I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye, and turned to face Kendall, who was staring down at her phone, a mischievous smile on her face.

"Hey Rosie," she said, crossing over to me, "look at this."

I looked at the large screen warily. On it was a gif of Mark smiling and shaking his head. It looked like he was talking to himself.

"I know right," Kendall said, misreading my shocked expression, "I have ones for everyone."

She flipped through her phone's gallery at lightning speed, zooming past pictures of Shawn midway through a sneeze, Liz messily eating a large piece of cake, Emily during one of her coughing fits.

A picture of me whizzed by so fast I wasn't able to make it out, but knew it was probably as bad, if not worse, than the others.

"I got a new video editing app," she then told me, "you wanna try it out?"

No I very much did not want to.

"Not right now," I said as politely as I could, "I think we're going to start soon."

"Whatever," Kendall looked around, scanning the faces of her coworkers for her next victim. "Ah," she said, spotting Liz on the couch talking to Mark.

Liz looked up after Kendall had been filming her for ten seconds. "What the heck are you doing?"

Kendall lowered the phone innocently. "Nothing."

Liz stood up and stepped over to her. "Let me see the phone."

"No."

"Kendall, so help me, show me what you were doing."

"No way!" Kendall said, jerking away from her, "This is my private property."

"Yeah?" Liz retorted, "When you're using it to invade my privacy you lose all rights that could have awarded you."

"Get away from me."

"Give me the phone!"

"No way! You're just jealous you don't have anything so nice. I've seen the phone you have. I could sell it on Ebay for ten dollars!"

"Kendall," Liz seethed, "you are the worst kid I have ever seen."

"How would you know?" Kendall mocked, "The only kid you have time for is that lousy son of yours. Or is he Emily's son this month?"

It happened before anyone could react. In a fraction of a second, Liz stopped reaching for the phone and instead focused her energy on slapping Kendall hard across the face.

"Don't--you--ever talk to me that way again," Liz's voice was so low I could barely hear her.

She started to walk away, but as soon as her back was turned, Kendall spun her around and punched her in the nose. In that moment, the world broke into chaos. Liz grabbed Kendall and shoved her backward into the wall. Kendall hopped up and, with the agility of a panther, jumped onto Liz's back.

I stood there in shock as Mark and Shawn rushed over to pull Kendall off of her. It took both of their strength combined to hold Kendall at bay once they had broken them up.

Emily was now at Liz's side, handing her a tissue to help with the bleeding of her nose. "Are you alright?" she asked again and again.

She then turned to the struggling threesome. "Kendall," her voice was full of genuine concern, "are you hurt?"

Kendall glared daggers at her. "You frail little midget! Don't ever talk to me again, 'cause I can break you. Just ask Lizzy how it feels!"

Emily stared after them as Shawn and Mark led Kendall to her dressing room. "I'm not a midget," she said in confusion to no one in particular after they had disappeared.

"That horrid, good for nothing little--" Liz paused after hearing what Emily had said, "Of course you're not, Emily. She was just trying to get to you."

"Like she got to you?" Emily's tone wasn't accusatory. She stared in concern at her best friend, "Is there anything I can--"

"No!" Liz's voice suddenly sounded very fragile, "Just leave me alone."

Everyone took an unofficial break after that. I imagined the rest of them went to their dressing rooms, but mine wasn't really that special and there was nothing in there to entertain me. I ended up just roaming the halls, waiting for Brenner to get on the intercom and threaten to fire us for not being there waiting for him.

As I passed the hall that the girls' rooms were situated in I thought I heard the sound of someone crying. I crept cautiously down the corridor searching for the room it was coming from, until I had stopped in front of Emily's door.

Great, I thought, what's she upset about now?

I turned away, rolling my eyes, before hearing Emily speak.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what to say."

"It doesn't matter," came the bitter voice of...Kendall? "You don't have any idea what I'm going through!"

Emily sighed. "Perhaps I don't."

I stood rooted to the spot. What was going on?

"It's not fair!" Kendall sniffed, "He didn't even tell me! I wasn't even invited!"

"Well, maybe it wasn't an official ceremony," Emily was trying her absolute best to think of something positive to say, "I'm sure they just went down to the courthouse or something."

Through the partly open door, I could see Kendall glaring at Emily for even suggesting such a thing as she whispered, "If your dad got married for the fifth time, wouldn't you hope you'd be high up enough on the VIP list to at least score an invitation?"

"I don't know," Emily admitted, "my dad's only been married once, and that was before I was born."

Kendall gave a muffled scream and I heard the sound of a crash.

"Kendall," Emily said slowly, and I could tell from her voice that she was desperately trying to be okay with her stuff getting broken in the name of solving a crisis, "I know this is hard, but..." she paused, trying to find the right words, "surely it's happened before. Why is this time any different?"

After fifteen seconds of silence, I was sure Kendall wasn't going to answer.

"I found out," she then whispered, "I found out who she is."

"Oh," I didn't know who "she" was, but Emily evidently did, "oh, Kendall."

"I don't want to tell you who she is."

"Okay."

"She's a model!" Kendall blurted about half a second later. "She's a model in Bolivia."

"Does she know about you?" Emily asked softly.

Kendall shook her head. "She and Dad haven't spoken since the day I was born! She knows nothing about me."

Emily gathered Kendall into her arms. "How did you find out?"

She looked away bitterly. "Chelsea told me."

Emily gasped. "Chelsea? What right did Chelsea have to tell you something like that? How would she even know?"

Kendall shrugged. "She's dad's new girl. I'm sure he told her everything."

"Unbelievable," Emily muttered, shaking her head, her deep frown matching Kendall's exactly.

"But it's not just that," Kendall said, fresh tears in her eyes, "she has a family, Emily! She has a husband and kids and probably hasn't even thought of me in fourteen years!"

"Oh, trust me, Kendall," Emily said, stroking her hair, "if you've had a baby, even one you haven't seen, you'll think about it. It's hard to forget something like that."

Kendall pulled away. "She doesn't care about me, Emily. If she did, why hasn't she reached out?"

Emily tried to smile, "Maybe she lost your number."

Kendall rolled her eyes. "Ha ha," She then sighed and sat down on the lumpy old couch. "I just don't want to do this anymore."

Emily sat down next to her. "Please Kendall, don't spend all your time focusing on this. You've been depressed too long. What has your doctor said?"

"It doesn't matter!" Kendall exclaimed, jumping up again, "He's stupid! This whole thing's stupid!"

Emily sighed, her head falling tiredly into her hands. "Trust me, Kendall, nothing will get better if you don't do what he says. Do you want to stay like this forever?"

"It will never get better, Emily," Kendall whispered, defeated, "you should know better than anyone. I don't want to live your life, pretending, acting like everything is okay. It will never be okay again. It never was okay!"

She sat down again. "You remember, it's like it was yesterday. You came home to--to what? Nothing. You had nothing. You were nothing. You had failed nature's one reason for existing--"

"Stop--"

"--And how did that make you feel? What did that make you do?"

"Kendall, what are you trying to--"

"You're not okay Emily, don't tell me that you are. You'll be bitter the rest of your life, won't you? Nothing anyone can say or do will ever make it better. No doctors, or medicine--"

"But that's different!" Emily practically screamed, tears falling from her own eyes now, "If you want to compare this to your problem then your argument is invalid! They aren't even in the same league! Your dad getting married and your new stepmom telling you who your mother is doesn't hold a candle to this! You don't understand. You will never understand what I've been through!"

She then pointed her finger at Kendall, breathing heavily, "I see what you're trying to do. You're trying to bring me down to your own level. You want someone to be miserable with, but you can't have me! You just can't!"

No one spoke after that. Each just sat on the couch, wallowing in her own self-pity. Finally Kendall slowly looked up.

"I just want to be okay again."

Emily nodded. "Me too," She then turned to Kendall. "How about this: you go see your doctor, and I'll do something, anything I can to make this better."

"Can you talk to my dad?"

Emily was taken aback by this. "About what?"

Kendall shrugged. "Just tell him how this is making me feel."

"And why can't you tell him how this is making you feel?"

"He wouldn't understand. He probably wouldn't even listen to me."

"And you think he'll listen to me? Kendall, this isn't going to work."

"It has to," Kendall began crying again. "I'm running out of options."

"Kendall, don't talk like that," Emily demanded, "there is always another option." She then sighed. "Fine. I'll talk to your father if you promise to help yourself."

"I promise."

"Good." Emily stood up, then helped Kendall up as well. She then smiled. "Let's get some pizza. I know a really good place a couple blocks from here."

"That place is trash," Kendall sniffed, a small smile playing at her own lips, "but okay."

I quickly ran to my own room before either of them could catch me eavesdropping. I sat on the floor for a long time afterward, trying to piece together what I had seen and heard. I heard the sound of them leaving, then coming back a while later, the smell of freshly baked pizza wafting behind them. I stayed there until Brenner came pounding on my door for me to get to the set, and came reluctantly nearly five minutes after.

I wasn't sure why I felt this way. All that deep stuff had infected me, too. They left me with a desperate need for answers. I wish I had gotten over it as quickly as they did.