Emily finally had enough of Josh and his music. It was the night before exams, she needed to sleep, and she could not sleep because Josh was playing his music too loudly. She reached down under her bed and felt around for shoes. She grabbed one and threw it at the wall that separated her room and Josh’s. The music persisted, so she found three more shoes and threw them each at the wall. The music stopped, and Josh came into Emily’s room.
 
“What do you want, brat?” he demanded.

 “I want you to turn down that music so I can sleep,” Emily growled.

 “Well... just stop throwing your shoes,” said Josh. He went back into his room and did not turn his music back on. Emily slept peacefully through the rest of the night.

 The junior class was putting on a Sadie Hawkins dance in February--the first the school had in years--and Emily saw this as the perfect opportunity to ask Aaron on a date. She noticed that he liked walking with her to their classes and working with her. She began to think that he was interested in her,  and knew this would work out perfectly.

 She was dismayed to learned that her exam grade in trig was a C plus, but her overall grade was still a B. She had done well on all of her other exams, and her grade point was still high enough to keep her in National Honor Society, along with her service hours. One morning, she went to the counseling office to find out her rank.

 Mr. Gray, a kindly counselor, led her into his office. He tinkered with his computer for a few moments, and then informed Emily that she was twenty-first in her class out of two hundred sixty-two.

 “That’s not bad,” Aaron told Emily at their NHS meeting later that day. At the meetings, Aaron always sat by Emily, and they often did their homework together after the meetings were finished and there was still study hall time left. “I think you’re right behind me.”

 “Thank you, Mr. Modesty,” said Emily, tapping her pencil.

 “Well, I have my college class,” Aaron replied. “That’s why my grade point’s a little higher.”

 “Sure,” said Emily. “Hey, I’ve got a question for you.”

 “Shoot.”

 “What are you doing on the twentieth of February?”

 “Nothing that I know of. Why?”

 “Want to go to the Sadie Hawkins’ dance with me?”

 “Sure. That sounds like fun.”

 Emily looked up for a second and saw Aaron smiling at her. She smiled back, and they both returned to their work.

 “So I heard you asked Aaron to the Sadie’s dance,” Betsy said as she followed Emily to her room.

 “Yep,” Emily chirped. Her bright mood was temporarily clouded when she stumbled over a PlayStation controller that had somehow strayed into the hallway from Justin’s room; she snatched it up and threw it back into the room.

 “That’s cool,” said Betsy. “I have to go with Jeremy.”

 Emily frowned. Recently, she had began to fear that Jeremy was controlling Betsy. She had once mentioned to Emily that Jeremy got angry when she wore a tight, metallic green shirt that showed a little of her stomach. Jeremy did not like to let Betsy go out with her friends. This time, Emily was lucky--Jeremy was at a chess tournament, and Betsy did not have to be with him. It was Saturday, and Betsy had decided to visit Emily, despite the numerous snow showers that day.

 They sat down in Emily’s room--Emily in her chair and Betsy on the bed. The room was bright and cheerful. Pink-and-blue flowered curtains and blue blinds adorned the windows; there was a pink-and-gray quilt on the double bed; the desk was cluttered, and Emily’s laptop was hidden beneath various papers; and her entertainment center was neatly stocked with tapes, CD’s and books, along with her stereo, TV and VCR. There was a dry-erase board just above the desk where Emily wrote messages to herself; a jewelry box with a door was on top of the dresser; a music stand with a couple of horn books sat, set up, in front of the closet. It was a pleasant corner of the Collins’ house.

 Emily and Betsy enjoyed some idle chatter while they both watched “Daria” on MTV. Suddenly, Emily heard a soft thump! on the window. She looked and saw a splotch of snow splattered on the window, and outside, Josh and his friend, Shane Thetford, were laughing. Emily scowled at them and closed her blinds.

 “What was that all about?” asked Betsy.

 “Josh and his dumb friend are throwing snowballs at the window,” Emily growled. “Betsy, can I ask you something?”

 “Sure.”

 “Do you think Jeremy controls you too much?”

 “Well... a little,” said Betsy. “I don’t like when he gets mad because I wear something revealing or go out with my friends somewhere. But I don’t want to leave him just because of that.”

 “I’d say bring him along when we go out--but he’s not really much fun to have around.” Emily frowned and did not look at Betsy. “He always insists on taking you somewhere and making out with you while the rest of us are doing other stuff.”

 “I know.” Betsy began to sound frustrated. “I just don’t know what to do.”

 “I think you two should have a nice, long talk sometime. You’re both too young to be dragging each other down like that.”

 “Dragging each other down?”

 “Yeah. Neither of you go out and do anything with other people because you’re always together. Soon you’re both going to run out of friends, and it’ll just be you and him. Plus, you said you were gonna stay home next year so you could be with him.”

 “I did?”

 “Yeah, at one point. We’re all starting to miss you, Betsy. Jeremy kidnapped you away from us.”

 “I’m sorry, Em. But... it’s hard. I can’t decide.”

 “I’m not making you decide. Maybe you should make just a little time for your other friends, too. You might regret it later if you don’t.”

 “I... I guess you’re right. I’ll talk to him when he gets back from Detroit.”

 Emily and Betsy continued channel-surfing. They were both glad to straighten out that issue--Emily had never fought with Betsy, and inteneded to keep it that way.