Chapter 1

She ran as fast as she could up the spiral staircase. She tried to wipe away her 
tears as she ran. She finally reached the top floor. She burst out of the door 
and ran the roof ledge. She stopped when her stomach hit the brick ledge. She 
looked down and continued to cry. She held on to the fire escape railing and got 
up onto the ledge. This was it for her. She'd end all right now. She looked up 
at the pitch-black sky and begged god for forgiveness for what she was about to 
do. She looked back down at the ground below her. The cars riding past her and 
the gray cold concrete below. She closed her eyes for a second trying to forget 
every horrible thing going on right now. She started to loosen her grip on the 
railing. 

"No!" Someone screamed and grabbed her by her waist. He barely saved her from 
jumping. 

"What did you do that for!?" She yelled trying to wipe her tears with her long 
sleeves. She had on white jeans, a short white shirt, and a red flannel shirt. 

"You were going to kill yourself that's why!" The boy replied, "Nothing is that 
bad." 

"Oh really?!" 

"I'll help." 

"Why would want to help me?!" She cried and fell to her knees. 

"Because your a human being. "He kneeled down before her, "What's your name?" 

"Emily Quartermaine. "She sniffled still having many tears fall, "You sure you 
still want to help?" 

"Yeah, Emily. My name's Jeremy." He stuck out his hand. 

"Hi, Jeremy." She shook his hand. 

"Well, Emily, what's wrong?" Jeremy asked. 

"Let's see where to start," She sighed, "My grandfather is trying to get custody 
of my brother's son because he's selfish, that same brother has gotten in a car 
crash and lost his memory, my other brother is an ex-alcoholic and is now trying 
to be just like grandfather, my dad is a drug addict, I caught my mom stealing 
papers from my brother's lawyer's apartment, and the guy I have a major crush on 
is lusting for my brother's-the one with the son-girlfriend. He always asks me 
about her and I feel sick to my stomach. I think that explains it." Emily 
explained. 

"No wonder you wanted to jump." Jeremy laughed. 

Emily smiled, "I can't take my house anymore. I have no home." 

"Me neither. "Jeremy sat next to her. 

"Why? What's wrong with your family?" Emily questioned finally wiping away the 
last of her tears. 

"My dad… um he beat my mom. We're staying in some hotel right now." Jeremy 
kicked a rock by his foot. 

"You got it pretty bad too, huh?" 

"Yep. But the good news is that mom and me might be moving into an apartment in 
a couple of days." Jeremy was proud to say they might actually have a home, 
"Emily, my mom always tells me something that maybe you could live by." 

"What's that?" Emily turned to him. 

"When you've hit rock bottom… there's no place to go but up." Jeremy advised 
Emily. 

Emily nodded, "Good advice." 

"Yeah. Listen, I barely caught you from jumping this time, promise me you won't 
do it again?" 

"I promise." Emily crossed her heart. 

"Ok." Jeremy got up and helped Emily up. 

"Thanks, Jeremy." Emily said and started to walk away. She had never been so 
embarrassed in her life. Jeremy must have thought she was a complete basket 
case. At least she'd never see him again, right? 

Jeremy couldn't help it. From the moment he saw this girl he was taken back by 
her beauty. He couldn't believe she wanted to do. A girl that beautiful deserved 
to be happy. Who knows what would happen to her tomorrow. He thought to himself, 
'Jeremy, you can not let this girl just walk out of your life. 'From the moment 
he saw her on the roof he felt his heart skip a beat. Jeremy ran in front of 
her, "Would you like to meet up sometime?" 

Emily was glad he said something she wanted to get to him better after all he 
did just save her life, "Um… ok. Where at?" 

"I don't know." Jeremy grinned. 

"I could meet you at the docks." Emily suggested. 

"Ok. What time?" 

"Noon?" 

"Ok. See you then." Jeremy agreed and walked down the stairs with her. He was so 
surprised to hear her say she would. 

Emily entered her house and was glad Jeremy asked to meet with her. She thought 
he would think she was crazy but he looked at her as though he knew all about 
her. Emily slowly dragged herself up to her room in the Quartermaine mansion. 
She couldn't stand the sight of Robin right now. She walked into her room and 
fell on her bed. She felt so stupid for almost jumping off that roof. She could 
have just ended her life. Emily had some kind of photo shoot in two days and she 
could have lived up to all the modeling stereo types if she committed suicide. 
She hated life but she had to get on with it. She felt like she was going to go 
nuts. She had went the good girl route and the bad girl route neither one worked 
for her. Nikolas still thought of her as some young friend and her parents were 
a wreck. Emily cried herself to sleep and she still wanted to die. 

The next day Emily didn't want to look like a model she just wanted to be 
herself. She put on a short white T-shirt and pale pink overalls. She brushed 
her hair and grabbed her tiny backpack/purse. She took her time walking to the 
docks to meet Jeremy. When she got their she walked to the end of the small pier 
and looked out at the calm waters .The clear water made her face glow as she 
looked down at her reflection. She heard somebody approaching and felt a hand on 
her shoulder. 

She was so startled that she almost fell in backwards since she had turned to 
try and see the person but the person barely caught her. Nikolas wore his sweet 
sexy grin that made Emily want to melt, "Hi! 

"Hi." Emily said feeling embarrassed by the position they were in. It was so 
romantic in a way but Nikolas quickly stood up and cleared his throat. 
"Nikolas!" She exclaimed as heart began to beat again. She put her hand on her 
heart. 

Nikolas looked at her from head to toe, "You look different." Nikolas commented. 

Emily shrugged, "Than what?" 

"Nothing, what I meant was you look nice." Nikolas finished. 

"Oh. Why are you here?" Emily asked. 

"I'm meeting Robin." Nikolas seemed to be overjoyed by the thought. 

Emily wasn't as happy about it, "Great." Emily said glumly. Emily turned back to 
the water, "It's beautiful today." She turned to him, "Don't you think?" 

"Definitely." Someone replied from behind Nikolas. 

Emily and Nikolas looked to the person. Jeremy waved to Emily. Emily's glum 
expression turned into a huge smile. Jeremy was just as happy to see her. 
Nikolas saw the look and didn't like it. He got a little jealous. Emily walked 
past Nikolas and to Jeremy, "Hi." 

"Hi, Emily. Are you feeling better?" Jeremy hinted toward last night but didn't 
say anything. He wasn't going to expose Emily's near death experience to anyone 
if she didn't want him too. 

"I'm fine." Emily winked and grinned. 

Jeremy seemed a little shy and bashful by the way he blushed, "I'm glad." 

"So what do you want to do?" Emily questioned him forgetting Nikolas was still 
there. 

"Just talk if it's ok." Jeremy suggested. 

"Ok." Emily finally remembered Nikolas was there, "Bye, Nikolas." Emily took 
Jeremy's hand and they walked away. Both of them had rosy cheeks from the way 
they blushed. 

Nikolas put his hands on his hips trying to figure out what he thought. 

Robin's heels clicked on the wood, "Nikolas?" 

Nikolas spun around, "Hey." 

"Hi." Robin greeted him, "You all right?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm going to have to bail though. "Nikolas sighed. 

"Oh, is there something wrong?" Robin inquired. 

"I'm not sure but a friend might be in trouble." Nikolas nodded as though to 
excuse himself and left.