“Dad! I hate this place, I hate the school, and I hate the kids at school!” Emma whined.

 

“I know you do honey. I don’t like it here either. As soon as the divorce goes through, we can move somewhere on the east coast.” replied her father.

 

Emma’s parents had filed for a divorce after Phillip, her father, found out that Julie, his wife, had been having an affair with a man she worked with. Phillip had been given full custody of Emma; Julie had wanted the house instead. (I know, that’s sad. Her mom wants the house instead of her own daughter...)

 

Before the separation, Emma had been a loud and outgoing person. Now she was quiet and seemed depressed.

 

Emma’s dad had just picked her up from school and they were headed home. They were living in the Arrowhead Fountains Apartment, across from the Arrowhead Mall, in Peoria, Arizona.

 

The only advantage Emma had by living in Arizona was the Peoria Sports Complex, which held the Vans Warped Tour each summer.  She hadn’t gone to Warped Tour yet, but she was planning on going that summer.

 

“Are you hungry?” her father asked her.

 

“Eh, sort of. I can find something at home though. Don’t you need to get back to the office?” questioned Emma.

 

“Yeah, I do actually. I should be home around 9:30 or 10:00 and the latest.”

 

Since the separation, Phillip had been working in the office more to keep the income up. Emma was often left at home for quite awhile, but always managed to find something to do.

 

After being dropped off at the apartment, Emma ran up the stairs, unlocked the door, and rushed to her room. Throwing her books and her bag on the bed, she rushed to the bathroom and hopped in the shower.

 

Ten minutes later, Emma returned to hr room with a towel wrapped around her. Grabbing a pair of black and blue bondage pants, a blue spaghetti strap shirt, and a black long-sleeved fishnet shirt, she began to get dressed.

 

After wrapping two studded belts around her waist, she grabbed her black converse and hopped to the bathroom as she pulled them on. After putting on a thin layer of eyeliner and mascara, she pulled her dark brown hair into two messy buns, one on each side of her head. (Enough description?!)

 

Emma walked back into her room. The walls were plastered in band posters and random pictures. In the corner of the room sat her unmade bed, on which had a black comforter with pink sewn on stars on it. Her closet doors had more posters and magazine clippings taped to it. On top of her dresser sat random jewelry and a single frame.

 

In the frame was a picture of her when she was five years old. She was laughing as her dad stood behind her, pushing her in a swing. Next to her dad, had stood her mother. She was no longer in the picture because Emma had cut her out of it. (real picture, except the mom part.)

 

She grabbed her black choker and snapped it shut around her neck. She also grabbed a $20 from her dresser drawer and some spare change. Stuffing the money and her portable cd player into her messenger bag, which was littered with patches, she grabbed her key and headed out the door locking it behind her.

 

Being as it was only 4:30, she had 5 to 6 hours to kill.

 

Putting on her headphones, and blaring her Green Day cd, Emma walked across the street to the mall parking lot.