Set Alight

Chapter 16

When we break away, I jerk backwards, nearly three feet farther onto my bed. "What are you doing?!" I demand.

Ashton has this look on his face, a great smile and with a look a little dazed. "Jack has to be right about something sometime."

"You did that because Jack told you to?!" I'm completely outraged. "How could you ruin our friendship before it barely even got started?!"

His look vanishes as he looks much more seriously at me. "What? Our friendship is ruined? Just like that?"

"No, no, of course not, but that's what it's looking like!"

"What if I'm trying to make it better?" he demands, standing.

"Better how? What did you hope to achieve with that?"

"I was trying to get you to realize that I'm in love with you!" He pauses, breathing deeply as I wilt with shock. "Aware now?"

"You're... in... in love with me?" I look at him, trying to figure out whether this is a joke or not. "Are you sure?"

"Pretty freaking sure, otherwise I never would have kissed you."

"And Jack knew?"

Ashton shrugs. "He knew before I did. He doesn't exactly broadcast this, but he has empathy. It's how he knows if someone is in pain. It's both physical and mental. He can... feel their echoes, I guess? Anyway, he knew and told me to go for it."

"I can't believe..."

"I know you're dad probably wouldn't let me ask you on a date anyway, but I thought maybe if you returned my feelings... And I wasn't going to ask you..."

"Go ahead, ask me," I interrupt suddenly.

Confused and fidgeting, he looks up at me with more sincerity I've ever seen from him. "Do you love me?"

Even though I knew it was coming, it still shocked me. And I still didn't know what to say. I stand, ready to give him an answer, but I don't have one. Instead, I turn into a ghost, surprising Ashton.

"Emma?"

"Just, just give me a minute." And I walk right past him and out the door.

Ashton

I pace back and forth along Jack's floor in front of his bed. "And then she just left."

"That doesn't make any sense," Jack says. "She asks you to ask her if she loves you back and then she doesn't answer when you ask?"

"Definitely not like her," Lindsey offers. "Why did you think that was the best course of action, Jack?"

"Remember the whole empathy thing I told you about a couple days ago?" he asks.

"Sure."

"Well, I sensed Ashton and Emma's strong attraction to each other. If I hadn't interrupted you guys, you definitely would've made out."

"No, we wouldn't have," I reply. "But really?!" Suddenly I'm reduced to a fangirl, grabbing the edge of the bed and sinking down with a smile. "She does?"

"She's not exactly acknowledging it. She holds a lot of fear and guilt."

"Her stupid dad!" shouts Lindsey, slamming her fist into the pillows. Deeming that not good enough, she stands and kicks the edge of the bed. Both she and Jack wince in pain, and Lindsey returns to her place next to Jack and he immediately places his hand on her foot. "Thank you. But I'm so angry! You have no idea what it's like being friends with that! 'Emma, do you want to go to the mall?' 'No, can't, Dad says too much stuff clutters the mind' 'Hey, Em, want to come to my house?' 'No, Dad says that keeping your known surroundings to a minimum enlarges the mind' What's with him and the mind? I mean seriously!"

Jack rubs her back to calm her down but nods in agreement.

"Can your dad adopt her?" she mumbles dejectedly, pouting on the bed.

"I wish. He really likes her, but she still has a dad, and my dad would feel like he's giving up on Jem."

"Jem," I mutter. "Jemma." Their names are remarkably similar. "How old was Jem when she was taken?"

"Uh... I think six, almost seven months."

I stand rapidly. It matches up. At seven months, a baby begins responding to their name. I say so excitedly.

"How do you even know this?" asks Lindsey, unimpressed.

"I took a child development class," I mention, waving my hand to lessen its importance. "In ninth grade. What if she was already responding to Jem, so she needed something close that wouldn't mess her all the way up?"

"You'd have to be suggesting Emma is Jem. Which is impossible. She'd need to be a year older, have a white streak, and be a whole lot more similar, you know, DNA-wise."

"Your dad always talks about how gullible the people of Amity Park were when he was Danny Phantom/Fenton. What if we're all falling for the exact same thing? Emma Leaders against Jem Fenton. They're both half ghost, for the Zone's sake! How many people are like that?!"

"Not many," Jack allows. "How about this: We can investigate the possibility of Emma being Jem. If somehow there's some kind of DNA mix up and some serious hair coverups and a wormhole that made her being a year younger possible. But we keep this from my dad."

"Jack-" begins Lindsey, but he cuts her off.

"He couldn't take it if we are wrong. He's already lost her once. He can't have, even just the idea of, her taken away. We keep it a secret. From him, Mom, and everyone else. And Emma, too. She doesn't need that kind of pressure."

"That makes some sense," I agree, and Lindsey nods her assent. "But if she is Jem, dang!" I let out a low whistle. "She kept that secret nice!"

"It's unbelievable, all of this," Lindsey agrees.

There's a knock at the door. I shush them all as Jack calls "Come in".

Emma-perhaps Jem- pokes her head in. Immediately, whatever humor I had dries up, and I straighten. "Hey, Emma," I greet softly.

She narrows her eyes and gets a grumpy look. "Don't talk to me like that. I need to talk to you." She says the last bit like a question.

I nod and follow her out, waving a suddenly silent Jack and Lindsey behind me. She winds her way down three hallways, me following after her quietly, before I break the silence, rather abruptly, with "Do you have any idea where you're going?"

"Well, I wanted somewhere private," she begins. Looking around, she stops in the empty hallway. "This is sufficient."

"Do you know where we are?" I feel a smile pull at my lips.

"In the hallway," she states stubbornly, refusing to admit she's wrong. She reminds me of Jack's mom. I push the thought away. That's for another time. "I have something to say to you, Ashton."

"Oh, no, is this where your fire kills me?" I mock-despair, falling against the wall as if in need of support. "What shall-" Angrily, she steps forward, places her hands behind my head and kisses me, hard.

"Can you not shut up for one second? I have something to say!" she shouts.

Dazed, I smile. "You have my attention."

"Look, my dad wouldn't like you, and you annoy me like no one else!" she rants, pacing back and forth. "You're a player, obviously, and don't have a serious bone in your body! And yet..." She trails off. "You taught me freedom, and... I want to be free." She smiles, hesitantly at first, but then full-blown. "With you."

She's so beautiful, I decide. Her hair falls messily around her face, so I can tell she's been flying. She's waiting for me to say something. But there's nothing left to say. I bend my head down and kiss her, again. She kisses me back.

And nothing's ever been so amazing.