"Jesus Christ, Miguel." I slam my locker closed and look over at the grinning teenager. He has a terrible smile on his face, laughing at the fact that he had managed to scare the crap out of me.

He bends over and claps his hands, the sound getting lost under the chatting of students. "Priceless. Don't be mad that I finally got you."

I give him a look, narrowing my eyes and curling my lip. With a shake of my head, I zip up my bookbag and begin walking down the hall. This is the last day before the start of Thanksgiving break. I'm so happy to say that we'll have an entire week off before coming back and gearing up for finals. This semester has been absolute trash to say the least. Jenny, Micah, and I still have not spoken since the fallout at Jenny's sleepover. Sebastian has been successfully avoiding me, not that I've really been searching him out. After his confession, I feel as if I don't want to deal with him anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I still love Sebastian very much, but it's hard for me to fathom that he can harbor feelings for Cody and be in love with me. To me, love is about devoting yourself to your significant other. It's about being able to sacrifice your own happiness for that person because you'd rather see them happy than sad. Their happiness is your happiness. If you start developing feelings for someone else, then maybe you never loved the first person to begin with.

We're not even out of high school yet. People will always say that we're too young to experience love, but the heart doesn't lie. And speaking of Cody, I hadn't seen him around much. It's weird to me that this guy shows up randomly, but I can't even get a good glimpse of him at our tiny school. Fine by me, looking at him makes me feel an inexplicable anger.

"Emerson? You've zoned out on me. What's up?" Miguel places a hand on my shoulder. I hadn't even realized he was next to me this whole time.

"Oh...um, what time am I coming to your house again?" I ask, shooting him a small smile, hoping that will be a decent subject change.

Miguel stares at me with suspicion, his lips parted before he relaxes. "Come over around five, okay? My sister takes sleeps pretty early, around seven so we have dinner around six. I want you to meet her."

Miguel's smile falters slightly. A couple days after we met, I had told him about me knowing about his sister. At first he had been extremely defensive with great reason. But after a while, Miguel had calmed down and told me about his sister. She had been diagnosed at five with a brain tumor. It had been unexpected, but after a seizure, they had been referred to a neurologist to see why this had happened. After they had found a tumor, she had been immediately scheduled to start radiation to eradicate and somewhat prevent the formation of more tumors. After that, she had surgery. That was three years ago, but she still has to go for regular checkups to make sure nothing has returned.

"I can't wait to meet Sarah, I know we'll get along just fine." I tell him, placing my hand on his shoulder.

"It's not that." Miguel shakes his head, a glower on his face as he stares intently at the vinyl floors of the hallway. "Aisha's been having migraines. We're afraid it might be something more."

I watch as Miguel succumbs to his sadness. His shoulders drop and he lifts a hand to rub at his eyes, bringing attention to the bags that are under him. I feel terrible because I hadn't even noticed that he has been looking kind of bad. Miguel's skin is pale, which is an extreme change from his naturally tan, brownish skin.

"I'm so sorry, Miguel." I sigh, not being able to say anything else. Apologies don't exactly help though. "You know what, if anything, Aisha survived once and she'll survive again. She's an amazing little girl and you'll all get through this."

Miguel offers a small smile, a slight hint of emotion breaking through the sadness that had taken over his eyes. "Thanks, Emie."

My head shoots back in surprised. "You finally called me Emie."

"Don't get used to it."

* * *

I close my eyes, inviting the chill of outside. School was finally over and we all have a week of freedom. While I'm not particularly a huge fan of coldness, I'm happy to be out of that stuffy school. We had tests is almost every class, at least I did. I'm actually grateful for it because I know teachers had planned it to help students who aren't exactly doing well. I had assumed I would fail all tests, but it seems studying with Miguel had really helped me out because I found myself going through the tests quite easily.

"Emerson! Ready to gain one hundred pounds?" I turn just in time to see Miquel running up to me. A smile is on his face, a definite change from earlier where his frown made me want to weep.

I raise an eyebrow at him and lift my arms to cross them. "I hope that's not some sort of insult..."

Miguel laughs and shakes his head. He sniffs, lifting a thumb to rub his nose. "Not at all, but you might want to wear sweats or leggings. Something stretchy. My mom will feed you your own body weight and she won't stop until you've had a healthy serving of great value ice cream."

Spit involuntarily flies out of my mouth as I laugh at his words. I give him a strange look before nodding and shrugging, choosing not to question him.

"Leggings, got it." I say, fixing my book bag strap. "I can't wait to meet your family, especially Aisha."

Miguel purses his lips, huffing a laugh as he does. We start walking aimlessly, watching as our schoolmates meet up with their friends. Individual groups of people meet up, probably talking about their plans over the break. In Elderwood, Thanksgiving is dedicated solely for family. Of course, other places do it too, but not like Elderwood. A church service is a common thing, the pastor having a sermon to give thanks for all we have. Usually there will be a drive where anyone part of the service will bring any extra cans of food or any nonperishables they have to donate to those less fortunate. Then we all go home and spend the rest of the week with our families, maybe choosing to go out with a friend or two. Maybe we are like other places.

"They're excited to meet you too. I don't exactly have friends," Miguel states bluntly. We continue walking and I notice we're heading towards his car. "Listen, do you need a ride home?"

Usually I'd say no, but it was too cold for a walk. "Yeah, that'd be nice."

The ride home was fast. Miguel and I stated our farewell, but we'd see each other in a couple of hours. I run inside, hoping to maybe take a nap before heading over. Once I'm in, I'm bombarded by different people inside my home. As I shut the door, my name is yelled with different greetings.

"Family?" I question back in confusion. Walking more inside, I look around with wide eyes. The last time there was a huge family get together, I was about fourteen and it was for Christmas.

"Emie!" My aunt Shelly runs up to me, a wide smile on her face. She opens her arms wide and I notice that her belly is big and prominent. She wraps me in her arms, her stomach pressing into my side.

"Aunt Shelly? What's happening?"

"Silly, we're here for Thanksgiving!" She exclaims, pulling back. Throwing her arm over my shoulder, she leads me further in.

That's how the next couple of hours are spent, me catching up with my family and learning just how come they're here. Apparently my house had been the designation everyone had decided on. They had also been a surprise for my mom seeing as she looks like she's ready to kick everyone out. As time moved on, I excuse myself from my family to change my pants from jeans to leggings. If I was really about to eat my weight in delicious food, I want to be ready for a bloated stomach.

Making my way back down, I nearly trip over the two adolescents sat on the stairs. Not hearing an apology, I scoff and continue down. Going around everyone, I try my best to find my mom. She's sat in the kitchen, a coffee mug in front of her and her head in her hands.

"Wanna get out of here for a couple minutes?" I ask, leaning against the edge of the table.

My mom lifts her head, pushing her curled hair from her face. "That would be lovely."

And just like that, I'm saving my mom from our family.

*Another filler? I think so, sorry guys! I really don't mean for useless chapters, but I have to build the story somehow. Next chapter is Emie having inner with Miguel's family then coming home to her unwanted family members. It wasn't planned, honestly, but it happened. Let me know your thoughts on this chapter whether it be a theory or just something random. New update schedule: Sunday's, Wednesday's, and MAYBE Saturday's will be when I update. Please don't forget to vote and thanks for reading.*