Helping Hand

One-Shot

"Mom!" Emily yelled as she walked down the stairs. "What do you think of this outfit?"

Jane Krist was astounded by the beautiful dress that her daughter had chosen to wear for her first day of high school. It was an ivory color with roses imbedded in the material.

"It's perfect, sweetheart." Mrs. Krist smiled as she gave her daughter a tight hug. "My little baby's all grown up."

"Come on, Mom," Emily smiled. "No water works now. Save it for graduation."

•••

They pulled up to the old high school, Mr. Krist getting out to help Emily.

"Now, remember," he smiled as he placed his hand on his daughter's shoulder. "No matter what people say-"

"I'm perfect enough, and if they can't see that, then screw them." Emma smiled. Her dad had taught her that saying after her first incident with a bully.

"That's right, Em." Eliot Krist replied. Just then, the early bell rang, telling Emily that she had seven minutes to get to class.

"Okay, I gotta go." The fourteen year old smiled. "I love you guys!"

"Love you too!" Her parents called back.

•••

She barely made it to class on time, and having a prosthetic leg from the knee down definitely didn't help her case. The bell rang just as Emily walked into her first period class.

"Sorry I'm late, Mr. Sanchez." She said as she shook her biology teacher's hand.

"No problem. There's a seat right over there." Mr. Sanchez said as he pointed to a seat in front of a well-groomed, athletic looking boy. As she sat down, Emily hooked her prosthetic on the desk in front of her and nearly fell. The class erupted into laughter, despite Mr. Sanchez's best attempts to quiet them.

"Looks like we got a clumsy idiot with a fake leg." She heard someone murmur behind her.

•••

By the time lunch rolled around, Emily was regretting wearing a knee length dress to school. She had never been self conscious about her leg until that day, and boy did she hate it.

The brunette sat alone at a lunch table, eating her turkey sandwich and trying not to notice the people staring at her leg, or at least where her leg should have been. When lunch was over, as Emily got up to throw her trash in the trash can, someone kicked her prosthetic, causing her to fall.

"Hey!" She yelled as people began to laugh at her once more. The jerk ran off, and soon the crowd around her dispersed. Emily was unable to stand up by herself, so she lied there in a puddle of her own tears until someone placed their hand on her shoulder.

"What do you want?!" She asked furiously.

"To help you up." When Emily looked up, she met the eyes of the well-groomed boy from first period. "I'm Danny."

"Emily. Why'd you stay and help me?" Emily asked.

"Because when someone gets knocked down, it's only right to help them up."

~Fin~