F | I'll stand by you (One Chicago)

Chapter Eight

It's been a few days, Emily has been enrolled in the local school and today is her first day. Her first lesson of the day is Chemistry. Donna Boden is the teacher. She walks into the classroom and sees the bunsen burners set up. She stops and just stands. The school bell ringing makes her realise she's been standing there for a few minutes. She walks up to the desk where Donna is setting out what she needs for the lesson. 'Hi, I'm Emily Doherty. I've transferred here from CCA.' Emily tells her.

'Welcome Emily. I'm Mrs Boden. If you take a seat at the front bench and don't worry, we're not using the bunsen burners.' Donna smiles. 'We were warned by the headmaster.' Emily just nods and sits down.

Once the class is finished, Donna dismisses the class but keeps Emily behind. 'Emily, I'm sorry about the Bunsen burners. I should have thought and-' Donna starts to apologise. 

'It's OK.' Emily smiles.

'Come and see me if you ever need to talk.' Donna smiles.

'A lot of people have been saying that lately.' Emily sighs. 'Thank you.' She then walks out and goes to her next lesson.

At break time, Emily is putting ger books back in her locker; someone walks back in her locker and as they do, their bag hits hit right where she was burnt and she winces in pain. The girl who walked past her turns around and glares at Emily. 'I barely even touched you.' She snarls. 'You're just a weak wimp.' She smirks. Emily closes her locker, drops her bag to the floor and walks to the girl. 

'If you want to be a bitch, go ahead.' Emily smiles. 'You'll end up with no friends.' The girl then goes to throw a punch at her but Emily stops her and pins her against the locker. 'That's not a good idea.' She shakes her head. Before anything more can be done or said, the bell rings to signal the next class. Emily lets go of the girl, picks up her bag and heads to her next class.

~

At lunchtime, the same girl from earlier approaches Emily and punches her in the face. Immediately, Emily punches her back and soon, a crowd gathers to watch the two girls fight. A few minutes later, teachers arrive to break up the fight. 'Miss Doherty! My office. NOW!' The headmaster orders. Emily glares at the girl before following the headmaster to his office. Emily had received a split lip and a few other punches to the face.

When they walk into his office, he motions for her to sit down on the sofa and she does. He walks over to his filing cabinet, opens the bottom drawer, takes out of a first aid kit, and sits next to Emily. As soon as he does, Emily tenses up. He opens the kit and takes out a wipe. He opens the pocket and wipes the blood from the split lip. As soon as he's finished he puts the first aid kit away. 'Miss Doherty, I understand that you are new to this school but I need you to understand that we have a zero-tolerance policy towards violence.' The headmaster tells her. 

'I was defending myself!' Emily exclaims. 'Why ain't she in here? She was the one that started it!'

'Maddison- she's been through a lot.' The headmaster sighs.

'And what? I haven't?!' Emily challenges. 

'I didn't say that.' The headmaster shakes his head. 

'Do you know how hard it was for me to get up today? To get up? To actually come to school?' 

'Miss Doherty, you need to calm down.' The headmaster warns. Emily gets an alert on her phone and she looks at it. She has a message from Voight.

Voight:

We finally got a warrant for David Shakespeare's arrest. We went to CCA to pick him up but unfortunately, he's made a run for it. I have patrol officers out looking for him but in the meantime, keep your eyes out and stay safe.

'Miss Doherty put your phone down.' The headmaster tells her and Emily does as she's told. 'Like I said earlier, Maddison has been through a lot.' Emily then looks towards the desk and sees a picture of Maddison and the headmaster and rolls her eyes.

'You would defend her. She's your daughter.' Emily scoffs. 'Right?' 

'That's not the point-' He begins to say.

'You said that Maddison has been through a lot?' She asks and he nods. 'As you know, so have I. I was raped, put under a psychiatric hold because I tried to kill myself, almost buried alive, I was unable to get out of a burning building and my parents are God knows where.' Emily tells him aggressively. 'If you want to tell me that Maddison has been through much, much more, go ahead, but it will be nothing compared to what I've been through.' She then stands up and storms out. 

She decides to go for a walk to clear her head and to calm herself down.

Meanwhile, at 51, there's a lot of tension between Kelly and Sylvie, they split up the day after Emily went to the group home. 

Ambulance 61. Juvenile in distress. Water Tower Place.

Gabby and Sylvie walk to the ambulance, get in and rush to the mall. 

When they arrive, a security guard is waiting for them. As soon as they get out of the ambulance, the security guard walks over to them. 'Thanks for getting here so fast.' He begins to say. 'A young girl was looking through one of the shops when one of the other shoppers noticed that she looked unwell. When they asked, she said she was fine but seconds later, she dropped to the floor and started fitting. When I left them to come out and meet you, she hadn't stopped.' He explains as he leads them into a store on the ground level. There are a few security guards keeping the crowds away and directing them away. Sylvie and Gabby are directed to the young girl who is still fitting on the floor. There is a security guard supporting her head so that she doesn't bang it on anything. As soon as Gabby and Sylvie see the young girl, they instantly recognise who it is.

Emily.