First and Last

I'm Happy..

Walking down the crowded halls of Lincoln high, I notice Mr.Brown, from the college, is standing in Ms.Jacent's room, the calculus teacher. I slowly walk by and notice that they're standing quit close. Wonder what he's doing here?
"Oh there you are Miss. Lamatics" Mr.Brown says motioning me from the classroom. I walk into the classroom and smile.
"Emma, please" I say. I hate my last name mainly because its related to my father's.
"Emma, please have a seat" he says unbuttoning his blazer. His shiny bald head reflects on the light above. I can't help but giggle a little.
"Is there something wrong?" I ask nervously.
"No, not at all. I was just here visiting my lovely fiancé here" he lays a hand on Ms.Jacent's leg and smiles at her.
'Fiancé? What?' I think to myself.
"Anyways, I saw you here and was wondering if we could schedule a time for your mother and you to come to a meeting with me" he says.
I was nervously tapping my foot and blinking like crazy. He has to think I'm crazy by now.
"Umm... I..I'm sure we could" I stutter.
"I was just telling Caleb here, or well Mr.Brown,how great of a student you are." Ms.Jacent says. 'Great student? I basically skimmed getting an A in her class this last semester' I think to myself.
"Well thank you." I stand up out of the green chair and grab my stack of books and head to the doorway."I'll ask my mother, and get a meeting scheduled" I smile and walk out. Wow!

"Finally home" I say and I slam onto my bed. I'm still thinking about the whole Mr.Brown thing today. How weird. My phone rings and I pick it up. On the other end is John.
"Hey, mind if I come over?" He asks. He sounded...off.
"Everything ok?" I ask.
"Can I just come over?" He asks. I could tell something was wrong. My heart starts beating fast and my face begins to turn red.
"S..sure" I say hitting the end call button. What is going on? What's wrong with him?

After what felt like forever, he finally pulls into the driveway. Todd is the only one home and he's locked away in his room with the music blaring. But all I could hear was my heart beating. Sitting on my bed, I see John walking in. He stands in the doorway. I look up and notice his lip is bleeding. Underneath his chin is several drops of blood on his shirt.
" oh my gosh! What happened?" I say jumping up and running over to him. He looked scared and upset. I see tears welling up in his eyes only for a second before he blinks them away.
I walk up to him and put my hand out. He pulls away. I step back and look at him. I already knew what happened. Carter happened. "He showed up at my dad's restaurant looking for me. He found me and he hollered some awful things about you. He had some slutty dressed girl next to him. I had enough and I hit him, he hit me , and so on. He's threatening to do something to my dad!" he says with his arm on the doorway and his head down. My heart speeds up and my eyes well up with tears. I know what's coming. He looks up with one single tear streaming down his face. He stares at me blankly for a minute then walks out.
Sliding down the wall I say "I wasn't careful" and clasp my hands on my chest. Carter has ruined everything. Absolutely everything. After sitting and crying my eyes out for almost half an hour I stand up and wipe my tears away. No way. No way was I going to let this jerk ruin my life again. I stomp to Todd's bedroom across the hall. I bust in the door where I see Todd sitting on his bed on his phone. He looks up and sees my puffy eyes.
"What's wrong?" He says standing up to cut his radio down.
"Let's go" I said walking out.
He follows me to my car and gets in the passenger side. I slam on the gas. I look possessed or something. I'm just so done at this point.
"Emma, where the hell are we going? And what is wrong with you?" He yells. I pull over in a gas station parking lot and slam my brakes on.
I put the car in park and look over at him. He's breathing heavily.
"Carter. He's back and he's fucking everything up. Again. We're going to find him."
"Where is the bastard?" He asks tensing up. He couldn't stand him either. My family never did like him. I see why now. I know exactly where he is. In the same cheap hotel he and Meredith stay in every time they come through here.
I pull up at the "Guitars and Racks Inn" the place is a dump and it's turning dark. I didn't care. I'm not worried about being in a bad part of town. I'm not worried about perverts roaming around. Todd and I jump out of the car, fists balled and mouths drawed. I stomp up to room 52, the room they always get. I bang on the door and Meredith answers. She stands in the doorway in a black mini skirt and pink almost see through tank top. She opens her mouth to say some smart remark but Todd busts right by her and shoves her out of the way.
"Hey!" She says in a winy voice. The two bedded motel room is a wreck. Wrappers, beer bottles, half smoked cigarettes still burning lying all over the place, and clothes scattered all around.
"Where is he?" I ask enraged. Just as I say it he walks out of the bathroom with a beer bottle in hand. His brown hair is messy and dirty. He has a flowered button up on only it's not buttoned. With black shorts and flip-flops.
'What did I ever see in him?' I think to myself. Todd runs towards him grabbing his shirt collar. "You sick bastard!" He hollers. Carter drops the beer bottle. I turn around to see the door open and Meredith is completely gone.
"Todd! Loosen a little" I holler. "Hey babe" he says with a smirk on his face. Makes me sick.
"What the hell is your problem? First you completely break my heart, then you steal Conrad's slut, then you torture us for two years, and just when I'm beginning to get happy, you fuck that up to."
"Part of my charm he says" throwing his arms to the side. Todd tightens his grip on Carter's collar. He pushes him against the wall.
"This isn't funny little boy. Somebody should kill you, I would but your skimpy ass is not worth me going to jail for." Todd says closely to his face. I walk up to Carter who is till being held by Todd. I can't remember ever being this mad. I ball my fists as tight as they could possibly get. "This is for hurting me!" I say punching him"this is for hurting Conrad and the rest of my family!" I punch him again "this is for messing with John!" I punch him again, "and this, well this one is just because you deserve it" I punch him again. His nose is bleeding and his eye are red and swollen.
"Mess with us or anyone else we know agin, you'll get more than this!" Todd yells throwing him on the bed. I'm so mad I can't stand it. But hitting him and hurting him physically still didn't meet the amount of pain he caused me. But it was worth it. Todd and I get to my car. I slide down an iron post and sit on the dusty ground. Tears pour out of my eyes. I push my messy tangled hair out of my face. Just as I notice my hand is bleeding Todd sits down. I couldn't even feel it. What I was feeling inside hurt way worse than what my hand was.
Todd wraps his arms around me.
"We got him sister. I don't think he'll come back again. Let's get you home. I've got something else to take care of." He stands up and reaches his hand out to help me up and into the passenger side. The whole ride home is a blur. We pull into the driveway.
"Mind if I take your car?" Todd asks as I open the passenger side door.
"Sure" I say weakly. I don't even care where he's going with my car. My mind is racing, heart beating, and hurting.
I stand draped over the door and the hood of the car. I lean my head down and look at Todd.
"Thank you. Really, thank you" I say with my lip quivering. Todd and I weren't close but I know he loves me. He smiles.
"Clean up and I'll be back in a bit"
I close the door and walk into the house. My mom is sitting on the couch with Amy.
"Oh my goodness! Honey, what's wrong?" She says jumping up and putting her hands on my head. Amy looks up and says "first fight?" In a smart way. I remove my moms hands and say "I'm fine. I'm going to take a shower and go to bed. I'll talk to you in the morning"
"Wait, where's Todd?" She ask.
"He's taking care of something. He'll be back in a little while. Love y'all. Goodnight" I walk to the bathroom and cut on the shower. I look into the mirror. Around the messy hair, the dirt on my face, my makeup smeared, and blood around my hands, I see me. Emma. The girl who a year ago would have never done anything like that;ever. I wouldn't have stood up for myself. Todd wouldn't have stepped in like that.
The Emma that's going to my dream college. Right then I realize, I'm not happy with what's going on around me. "I'm happy with myself" I say in the mirror. I clasp my hand over my chest and say "I wasn't careful, but it changed me. And it made me stronger."