"No!" Emma blurted out when Sunny suggested standing around the corner. She didn't want Sunny to get involved for a lot of reasons. She didn't want Sunny to get hurt, and if she stepped in, she didn't know what Sawyer would do. She also felt like this was a battle she would have to fight herself. Sawyer would only taunt her if she had Sunny come help her, she would probably talk her out of it eventually. Emma hated feeling as weak as she did when Sawyer called her a pussy. "It's not that I don't appreciate the offer Sis," she clarified, snuggling back into the girl appreciatively. "I just...I have to do this on my own."

Emma listened to Sunny carefully, as if memorizing each word the girl was saying to her. She closed her eyes for a moment and thought about what it would mean to be free. She could do what she wanted, hang out with friends she had been avoiding for the whole school year. She could be with Ruby and finally be happy. It made her chest hurt just to think about it. She wanted it so badly.

"Y-you really think I can do it?" she asked quietly, chewing on her lip. "You really think I can be free?" It almost sounded too good to be true. Like she was sitting at the bottom of a well, looking at the clear blue sky above. It was so close, yet still so out of reach.

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"I get that boo," she said gently, reassuring her. "I worry about you is all because I've seen what she's done to you..." she swallowed hard. "The only way it will stop is if you leave her and you're right. It's something that you have to do by yourself. It's... for me it was something immensely private but it had to be done and it had to be spoken about. If I didn't tell anyone that bastard would still be out there, hurting people."

"You'll be alright though," she said confidently. "Of course I think you can do it. You're the fucking best," she grinned, giving Emma another kiss on the top of her head. "You're going to get through this. You have Ruby and you have me, and you have a million other people to back you up."

"Trust me when I say, that all the bruises, all the pain and the shame, and the tears, all of it is worth the feeling of freedom. Like... have you ever held your breath for a long time, like made yourself dizzy and almost passed out?" she asked. "That feeling when you finally take a breath, it's like that only a million times better. You can feel every little bit of yourself finally relaxing and after a little bit of time, you start to stitch back together. That's worth it."

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