With compassion and understanding

Emily could see the pain behind Heather's eyes...she could see the **** fragile girl still locked away behind the mask of the bitchy woman she was. She walked up behind Heather and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Heather I don't know why you did what you did, I doubt I ever will, but I can see you're struggling with it soo maybe just maybe over time I can forgive you." Emily watched as Heather took a breath of relief and spun to look at her.

"Em.. thank you." Heather finished adjusting her face and the two of them heard the bell for second period go off. "Shit! We better hurry if we don't want to be late for Drama." Heather grabbed Emily's hand and pulled her out the door towards the Drama classroom. Emily was going to pull her hand back but something about holding the soft hand of Heather was tender and Emily thought perhaps Heather just needed that bit of physical comfort. She was thankful however that the halls were empty since class had begun, Emily couldn't imagine being caught hand in hand with Heather wouldn't do much to disprove the rumours about her being a 'dyke'. The two ran along the empty halls, hand in hand Heather glancing back occasionally a sultry smile upon her face. Emily couldn't help but to blush and smile shyly back, why was Heather so charming suddenly?

Finally the girls reached the drama class and entered cautiously as to not interrupt the class. Emily felt a pang of emptiness as Heather let go of her hand, Heather looked back and flashed a brief smile, "Hey ..ummm... we're here you should probably let go of my hand now too." Emily blushed as she realized despite Heather letting go she hadn't yet. As she let go of Heather's hand, the pang that happened before worsened, but she was quickly distracted by their stout drama teacher beckoning the two of them over.

Ms. Pomeroy was a stout, plump woman with a flair for the dramatic, her bright red cat eyed glasses were lowered slightly so she could look at the two girls as they approached. "Don't worry dear ladies, your fine gentleman friend explained the entire situation to me," She gestured towards Zack who waved at the two them before continuing his conversation with another class member. "Although you two should not make quick to be late again too my class lest you wish to perform one woman shows impromptu! Now since today I assigned pairs for our rendition of the Romeo and Juliet by one William Shakespeare the two of you will be paired. Figure out amongst yourselves who shall be the sweet Juliet and whom the dashing Romeo! Performances will occur at the end of the week so pick your scene wisely!" Ms. Pomeroy handed them each a script of Romeo and Juliet and the two girls made their way towards an open spot in the classroom towards the back to start discussing their performance. The two decided the iconic balcony scene would be best as it'd give them each a chance to shine on the stage the big issue now was who would play what role?