2 Chapter 2 (2/2)

”Are those the same clothes from yesterday!?” They scoffed. ”Did you even wash them? Why don't you get more clothes and stop being so dirty!? You look like you finally washed your hair for the first time in ages, but somehow forgot to clean your own laundry!”. They continued to talk down to Emma, and Emma tried her best to ignore them. Emma grew more and more agitated by their comments, and as she opened her mouth... ”Excuse me!” Wyatt calls out to the students bullying Emma, rather than Emma having to explain herself to the other students. ”Do you have enough money to buy more clothes whenever you want?” Wyatt asks.

”Uh, yeah” one of them says, ”duh”.

”Then I suppose you're interested in maybe buying some for people who don't have it as easy as you?” Wyatt asks.

”Hell no” they respond.

”Oh?” Wyatt asks, ”then maybe you'll clean her clothes for her? Lend her some money? Maybe even just give her recommendations for where to get clothes?”.

”Uhh” they say.

”No?” Wyatt asks. There was a pause, as they refused to answer. ”Then get off of her back! Geez, you people are like vultures, feeding off of other people's misery! It's an absolute mystery to me on how you ever got a single friend. Who wants to be friends with someone with such a shit attitude!?”.

The other students were silent, Emma was impressed and feeling more hopeful of being friends with Wyatt, and Jackson was simply blinking in surprise. The next class passed, as the students around Wyatt began avoiding Wyatt. Eventually, lunch period came. Wyatt went to eat on the rooftop again, and Jackson was already eating there.

After Wyatt sat down to eat, Jackson asks ”So what's your real reason for defending Mr. Maloney?”.

”Why are we bringing this up?” Wyatt asks.

”Just... curious” Jackson says.

”What, are we playing 20 Questions or something?” Wyatt asks.

”Yeah, ha ha... very funny” Jackson says.

Just then, Emma walks out onto the rooftop as well. She sits down close to the door and starts eating silently.

”Oh shoot!” Wyatt says, ”I forgot to bring you some food. Where'd you get the food from today, Emma?”.

Emma reaches into her pocket and pulls out a few coins, then jingles them in her hand. The three of them eat, none of them really talking. It was as if Emma's silent demeanor was contagious. Eventually, all of them finish their food and begin to leave at the same time. Jackson taps Emma on the shoulder as the begin to leave. Wyatt leaves before Emma and Jackson do. When the door closes behind Wyatt, Jackson asks ”You're a laibah, aren't you?”. Emma jumps, and almost starts shaking. ”Don't worry” Jackson says, ”your secret is safe with me. I'm also laibah”.

”How did you... know?” Emma asks.

”Most people don't know it” Jackson says, ”but purple eye color is a color that's unique to laibah. Most people overlook it because they see 'humans' with purple eyes. Truth is, those humans are either actually laibah, or are wearing contact lenses to change their eye color”.

”W-why do you want to know?” Emma asks. ”Why does it matter if I'm a laibah?”.

”It doesn't” Jackson says, ”but at the same time it does matter a lot. It shouldn't be any of my business, but be careful who you stick close to around here. Like that Wyatt, I know he defended Mr. Maloney, which we all know is laibah. But I don't buy into his facade of being a good person. I'm sure he doesn't care about laibah at all”.

”And if you're wrong?” Emma asks.

”I'd doubt I am” Jackson says. ”I used to have a friend just like him in high school. The moment he found out I was a laibah, he left me behind to protect his own personal image for his other friends... his human friends”.

”No two people are the same” Emma says.

”Yeah, people say that” Jackson says, ”but humans are all always the same in the end. Just be careful”. Jackson then walks away.

Emma walks to class as well, thinking and worrying to herself about what Jackson said. Eventually, she tells herself ”Stop worrying so much, no two people are the same. Maybe he's different”. When Emma arrives in class, those classmates that were bullying her earlier were in their seats already. In order to avoid sitting next to them, Emma sits next to Wyatt. Jackson looks over at Emma and shakes his head in disapproval.

After school ends, Wyatt begins to go to work. Emma had already disappeared, so Wyatt just left his school stuff in his room and left for work. Wyatt works late into the night, and comes back home tired. When he gets back, he doesn't see Emma there. He heads back out to look around for her. He searched around town for nearly an hour, but found Emma waiting at the gates of the college. She wasn't there before, and this time she was holding what looked like clumps of cloth that seemed as if they were taken from off the street or from trash cans and then promptly cleaned a little. Some of the cloth were still a little wet.

”Where have you been?” Wyatt asks, ”I was getting worried”.

Emma tilts her head to the side a little and asks ”Worried? About me?”.

”Yes!” Wyatt exclaims, ”I was worried about you!”.

Emma giggles a little and says ”Sorry, I was just... grabbing some stuff from around town like cloth scraps and some stuff from the forest”.

”You know the way to the dorms on your own, right?” Wyatt asks. Emma nods her head and Wyatt says ”Alright, if you leave the dorms again without me, I just want to make sure you'll be able to get back if I'm not around. I can leave the door unlocked for you”.

When they get back inside Wyatt's dorm room, Wyatt asks ”So why do you have all of that cloth anyways?”.

”Making more clothes” Emma says. ”Like another uniform”.

”Are you going to keep working to sell your dresses?” Wyatt asks. Emma nods again. ”Why not... stop doing that?” He asks. ”You don't have to do that anymore, you know”.

”... I refuse” Emma says.

”I don't mean stop making clothes entirely” Wyatt says, ”make more clothes for yourself if you want, but you don't have to sell it anymore. I can buy food for you, you know?”.

”I refuse” Emma says again.

”Why?” Wyatt asks.

”I just... want to keep making and selling clothing” Emma says. ”All there is to it”.

”Okay, sorry I told you to stop” Wyatt says calmly, ”I don't want it to sound like I don't want you doing it. I just want you to know I'm here to help if you need it. That's what friends are for, right?”.

Emma thinks to herself ”Friends...” and then nods her head and says ”Yeah”. The two of them start going to sleep. Emma once again sleeps on the floor. As she lays there, she reaches through the collar of her shirt and pulls out a necklace she retrieved from the forest. It had a circular pendant, symbolizing the circle of life and balance, and had old burn marks on it. Emma clenches the necklace in her hands tightly as she goes to sleep.