Jack's Pov
I ran down to Sally and pulled her into a hug. She looked up at me and I led her out of the courtroom where everyone was waiting.
"Kiddo! Are you ok? Oh goodness do you realize what you said about yourself? If you continue to talk bad about yourself I'm going to have to physically fight you."
"No Amy! Sugar cube calm down, that is the opposite of helpful."
"No one talks about my dark stranger daughter like that!"
I looked down at Sally, "Sal do-do you really think that about yourself?"
She shrugged, "Yea it's true I'm just a useless waste of space."
"No you are not!" Damien came over and lifted her head up to look at him, "You are smart so why are you lying to yourself?"
"I'm not."
"Yes you are because if your a waste of space then-"
"Then I am too."
Everyone looked at Amy with wide eyes.
"Hun-"
"No. I have depression and was told everyday that I was a waste of space or to die by my own mother so if Sallys a waste of space then I am too."
"I guess I'm a waste too."
"Jake…" I looked over at him.
He shrugged, "I don't have it as bad as them but I have my cuts and bad thoughts too…"
Maddie sighed, "You're not the only ones then…"
"What!?!" Everyone looked at Maddie shocked.
"But your…..how…" Damien stared at Maddie a broken look on his face.
"My parents were always working or on business trips…." She shrugged, "Child neglect...I-I never cut but I did draw on myself and have bad thoughts at times….."
"Well I guess we're all broken but we're broken together." Jake flashed them a smile before pulling them into a group hug.
I pulled Sally off to the side, "Hey Sal…..look at me." I lifted her head up so she looked at me, "Your not a waste of space ok. You mean the world to me."
"Why?"
"Can I show you why?"
"Yeah…"
I tilted her head up and kissed her as my arms went to her waist. I felt her hands move to my neck as she kissed back.
We pulled away after a moment, "I love you Sally."
"I love you too."
I smiled, "Besides I can't run the store by myself can I?"
She smiled, "No you'd burn the place to the ground."
I gasp and put a hand to my chest, "How dare you!"
"Oh I dare."
We broke out in laughter. I could see Dee and Allie smile out of the corner of my eye.
"So how would you feel about seeing a movie with me on Friday?"
"I'd love to."
"Great pick you up before one."
"Sounds great Jack."
"Perfect, see you at work tomorrow." I gave her a peck on the cheek and waved heading out.
Jake's Pov
"It's not a date Princey."
"You don't know that!"
"We're watching a movie that's all…"
"Sure, because the kiss at the courtroom meant nothing."
"Don't you have to go?"
"Oh shoot! Your right, bye have fun!"
I ran out of the apartment as a pillow came flying at my head. I drove east to Emily's place, pulled into the driveway and walked up to the door. I knocked on the white door before checking the time, 12:55.
'Early that's not bad I suppose…'
The door opened and Emily smiled before stepping out of the way letting me in, "Do you how do?"
"Ummm....good?"
"That's good to hear. Now before we start I must say I can get a little silly and if you get uncomfortable at all feel free to change the subject I won't question it."
"Ok."
"Great, we can sit in the living room that way it's more comfortable."
I followed her into the living room and sat on the couch.
"So how does this work?"
"Well it depends, do you want to talk about it," She gestured to my arms, "Or do you want to talk about something else first?"
"I want to start with….something else first…"
"That's totally fine. Why don't you tell me about your workplace or even home."
"Well my home life growing up was fine to say the least. Me and Jack were close growing up, sure we fight but what siblings don't? My parents worked a lot but always made time for us. School was fine. I had friends and did the drama club so I did acting growing up, Jack is actually a good actor but didn't like being up on stage so when we were bored we acted out movies, plays, books, and randomness that came to our heads…..it was fun…." I sighed, "Freshman year is when it went down hill. I started becoming insecure about everything I did and the littlest bit of criticism made it worse for a long time till I managed to handle it better. But back then it hurt, it would build up till I had mental breakdowns. One was so bad I broke one of my picture frames…. I took a piece of glass and cut my arm….it made me feel better….got rid of the thoughts in my head. I kept going and when I ran out of room on my arms I moved to my legs. I'm a month clean but I still have the thoughts and the urge to cut it away. I know if I went to deep I could kill myself but I was….willing to take that risk if it meant feeling better about my self. It sounds selfish I know, I should have talked to someone but surprise I was insecure and thought I would be taken as a joke or I was acting just to get attention that they wouldn't believe me because I'm this ball of sunshine and energy but that's what I want people to believe is real. When really I cry myself to sleep and have mental breakdowns at three am. It was-is hard to tell myself that the thoughts are lies that their not true…. Honestly there were days I wanted to give up…..there were days I thought about….killing myself to get rid of the pain forever."
I looked down at my arms and started fiddling with my sleeves. I felt a weight to my right and looked up to see Emily sitting there with a small smile on her face.
"It's ok now Jake." She grabbed my hand, "You have your roommates, brother, Damien, Allie, Quinn, and me. We're all here if you need someone, but promise me you won't kill yourself.���
"I promise."
"Good and if you're sad enough that you're gonna cry yourself to sleep or have a breakdown you can tell Amy she's had the same thoughts and feelings as you."
I furrowed my brow together in confusion, " What do you mean?"
She sighed, "She's had suicidal thoughts before…"
"She has…."
"Yeah but that was back in highschool she doesn't have them anymore."
I nodded my head, "Thank you Emily."
"No problem Jake, just doing my job."
"I should go. I have work soon."
"Ok and Jake."
"Yeah?"
"If you ever need someone to talk to my doors always open."
I smiled, "I'll have to take you up on that offer sometime."
I left for work feeling way better than I did this morning. Maybe things would start looking up….maybe."