Emma swayed her feet back and forth on her seat, completely bored out of her mind with science class and also with the whole “Detective Nate” thing. Sure, it has been a few days since he’s talked about it, but it still makes Emma nervous nonetheless. A whole lot of ideas went through her head of how she could stop Nate. She glanced at Nate from time to time, who was sitting right next to her. She took in his innocent display. Reading a book about a detective searching a murder case. He was always so passionate about being a detective. That was always his goal. There was this one time the group had a party that was thrown in Miles's parents' house, and while everyone was falling asleep, Nate was up watching crime stories about murders and such. It was adorable, but right now, it was a detriment to Emma’s plans. She cared about Nate, of course, and she wasn't originally planning to kill him. At least not this early, but now he made it easy for someone else to be her next subject. The teacher spoke up, her voice soft like music in someone’s ears.

  “Emma, Nathaniel, please come over here.” Emma perked her head up while Nate looked up from his book. They gave each other a glance before getting up and walking to the front.

  “What is it, Professor Annie?” Nate asked kindly. Tapping her papers on the desk, Professor Annie smiled softly.

  “Well, I need some help with putting things up on my shelf, on that wall there,” she said, pointing towards the edge of the wall that had this uneven-looking shelf on it.

  “I would do it myself, but I have to go to a meeting, so I don't have time to do it. Do you mind if you two can do it for me while I go to my meeting?” She asked. Emma thought about it, and with some heavy thought she sighed.

  “Well, I suppose helping out wouldn’t be an issue. I can help you with that,” she replied as Nate nodded in agreement.

  “I was planning on rechecking that crime scene… But I suppose it can wait. I’ll be happy to help,” he said, which helped lift some weight off of Emma’s chest about him finding anything out right now. Professor Annie gave another warm smile and got up from her chair as the bell rang.

  “Thank you, dearies,” she said warmly before walking out of the room. Nate turned around to face the shelf. He looked to be analyzing the problems with the shelf. What a nerd? Nate turned his head over to Emma.

  “Well, let’s get to work, Emmi!” he said, walking over to the slanted shelf. Emma rolled her eyes at the nickname “Emmi” and walked alongside him. Although she could admit that the nickname was funny. As they started putting things up on the shelf, they just talked about little things. Emma barely talks with Nate like this. She was his friend, yes, but they usually only talked because their friend circles were so close with one another, it felt like they had to become friends. So talking with Nate was a great way to pay closer attention to the guy. He was soft, not usually following what society sees as a man, but he didn’t care about those standards. He’s like a little teddy bear in a way. It was odd at first as to why Nate, Max, and Flare all became friends, but then again, Flare can hang out with literally anyone and have a great time with them, and Max, while he acts tough and sometimes like a dick, he does have a soft spot, and Nate touched that soft spot somehow.

  “Yeah, I’m supposed to be at home right now helping my dad out with moving stuff, but luckily, I can use this as an excuse not to go.” he said, proudly. Emma tilted her head in confusion.

  “Why is that good? Don’t you want to help your parents? I'm sure they'd do it for you if you needed help.” she asked. Nate clutched a glass in his hand and grimaced.

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  “Yeah, sure they would…” Emma grew concerned. At that moment, Nate didn't seem like a threat anymore.

  “Nate…” she said softly, before asking carefully,

  “Why do you think they won’t?” Nate tapped the counter, seeming like he was conflicted. He sighed, he looked towards the ground.

  “My home life isn't exactly perfect,” he said sadly.

  “My parents always argue, and they always take their anger out on me when they do. That’s mostly why I prefer to be on campus instead of going home. It’s way easier here than over there… It’s probably hard to understand.” His expression darkened as he recalled those memories of living at home. How long can a child go on being the punching bag to the people they were supposed to be loved by before they go insane? Emma had always pondered that. Why must some people be so unlucky with love?

  “I understand all too well,” she finally responded, softly.

  “My home life isn't much better either. I don’t have a father myself.” She felt her throat itch as she said that since it was a sensitive topic for her.

  “My mother says she loves me, but sometimes when I look at her, I sometimes think she thinks I look like my father… and that sickening look says it all to me.” She wiped the growing tears in her eyes as she spoke. She was broken, yet filled with so much understanding for Nate.

  “You're not alone, Nate. Whether you want to think of our group as one or not. You're a part of our family, and when you think about it like that. Living isn’t so hard.” Nate smiled, a small one, and it looked like a weight had been lifted off his chest.

  “Thanks, Emma. You really are a good friend, you know that?” he said, his tone more uplifted now. Emma felt happy at that, her mind no longer thinking about killing Nate or even finding ways to. Just happy to help her friend out as much as she can as she savored this moment. Nate continued to put stuff on the shelf as normal alongside Emma. As they did, Emma felt a strange presence around her; she looked to her side and saw the other Emma looking displeased. She looked like she wanted to kill Nate, which made Emma really uncomfortable.

  “You know we still got a chance. He’s right there, you know,” the ghost girl said, which Emma ignored. The girl shot a glare at Emma, annoyed.

  “Ignore me all you want, but you know for a fact killing him would help him. He doesn't want to go back home, so we’ll make it so he never goes home ever. Simple fix…” it said. Emma rolled her eyes in annoyance. She was pretty happy with keeping Nate alive and was actually considering keeping him alive for now or maybe longer. However, as she thought that, she noticed a glass slipping off of the shelf, aiming towards Nate, who was currently not paying attention. She was about to tell Nate to move, but her mouth wouldn't open, and neither would her body. It felt like everything was going in slow motion as her heartbeat sped up. What was going on? The other Emma smiled and placed a hand on Emma’s shoulder.

  “Don’t worry. Just let it happen,” she said, mischievously. Emma didn't have a say in it. She was stuck in place with no way of preventing anything anyway. The glass fell off the shelf and shattered right on top of Nate’s head, knocking him out instantly. Emma placed her hands on her mouth, feeling the guilt instantly hit her, but her ghost laughed at it.

  “Awesome! Now that we have that, we can do the plan,” it said, and Emma backed away in return. That earned a glare from the other Emma, but that glare changed into an innocent smile.

  “Hey, like I said, if we do this, he won’t have to suffer with going home and dealing with all that family drama.” Emma looked straight at his body lying down there, and with sad eyes,

  “Fine,” she said, faking confidence. The other Emma was overjoyed but looked towards the camera in the room and pointed at it.

  “Quickly, take out that camera so they don’t have any footage of us,” she said, stoically. Emma quickly, without any fight, grabbed a chair and swung the stool at the camera, destroying it completely. Emma looked towards the body that lay cold on the floor, and with a quick motion, she grabbed Nate and placed him in an empty garbage bag in the room. She fixed up the item on the shelf before looking around for any more cameras. With that, she walked out like normal, except for pulling on a big garbage bag. But hey, no one noticed her. And to her, that's what matters the most. Her heart stung as she walked out of the school to her dorm.