Hey Angel | A Jemi Love Story

Episode 7

Joe left class with Emily and Demi relieved when he saw his brother leaning against the lockers opposite their math class. They wandered over to him making their way through the flood of students all making their way to their second class of the day. But they were focusing on Josh.

"Are you okay? Where were you?" Joe demanded to know and Josh cracked a small smile. He knew his brother cared about him as much as he cared about Joe.

"I was just talking to the counselor and I just want to say sorry for everything." Joe shook his head gently.

"You don't have to, let's just move on." Joe encouraged beginning to walk to their next class and Josh smiled catching up with him as did Demi and Emily.

"Maybe we could all go out tonight?" Emily suggested. "You can come too Demi if you're free."

"I'm up for that."

"Same." Joe agreed.

"Me too and I'm sure Willa will come, we'll go get milkshakes or something." Josh stated and everyone nodded in agreement. It meant a lot to him that he had friends around him and his brother as they went through this hard time. It meant a lot to him that Joe was at school and was feeling up to going out after school. Just yesterday he was sat at home on the couch doing nothing but watching TV all day. But he knew he was just as determined to make their parents proud of them. They just needed time to mourn before they did anything else. They needed to graduate.

They all piled into Willa's car later on that day after school. It felt strange for Joe and Josh not having to call home and ask permission to go out. It was a freedom they now had but they still wanted things to be back the way they were before.

"Joe can't be in the middle, he's got too big of a head!" Willa shouted out and they all laughed.

"I'll go in the middle." Demi volunteered climbing in Joe following afterwards and they all strapped in before Willa headed towards the mall where they would hang out for a bit before they'd have to go home and get some homework done. Once they reached a milkshake place they all headed towards the tills.

"I'll get you one, sit down." Josh stated to his brother and Joe nodded his head grabbing a table for them all. Josh had always been the more sociable brother, Joe often didn't speak to people unless he had to.

"Aren't you getting a milkshake?" Joe inquired as Demi came over and she shook her head gently setting her bottle of water down on the table sitting down next to him.

"No, I'm not a diary fan." She admitted.

"Fair enough, when did you move here then?" Joe asked starting a conversation up. He already found it easy to talk to Demi even though he hadn't known her for long. He found people like that sometimes and Demi was one of them.

"Nowhere, I just transferred schools because of bullying." Demi admitted.

"Why would anyone bully you? You see like a cool girl." Joe stated.

"Something happened at my first high school and rumors just got spread about it. I'm surprised nobody has heard about it at this school but this is my only option now so I gotta stick with this school." Demi explained.

"Well I hope things are better for you here, you don't deserve to be bullied for something that you clearly couldn't have controlled." Joe stated and Demi smiled.

"Thank you," Demi praised. "And you don't deserve what you're going through." Joe sighed slightly. He could see why Josh had been going to school and hanging out with their friends. It got his mind away from their mother. It was somewhat working for him but she was always in the back of his head.

"Thank you. It's been a week but it feels so much longer." Joe admitted.

"Have you planned a funeral for her?" Demi inquired.

"Not yet, we've been sorting out other things. Josh wants us to sell the house but there's too much sentimental connection for me to go through with it." Joe admitted.

"Then don't. But I can help you with a funeral if you want? I'm sure Emily and Willa will too. Give her the send off she deserves." Joe smiled again holding back his tears.

"Thank you, that means a lot." Joe admitted but they stayed quiet as everyone came back Josh passing Joe his milkshake and they all sat down and begun to talk.