The Iceberg Tipping

The school day ended as swiftly as it began, Rory’s mind still whirring with what he was about to do and Emma still horrified and pasted to James’ side. James smiled, opening the door in what he assumed was a gentlemanly gesture, but Emma only saw it as another way to entrap her. He was a spider and this was simply a part of his silken web. She was the fly who’d rather have stayed on the wall but got caught in the mess anyway. They were both silent as they walked down the sidewalk, Emma’s bag weighing in on her shoulder as she came up with excuse after excuse to escape in her head; never daring to speak a word. James was too busy trying to figure out what Emma’s problem was to pay much attention to the people around them.
indent Needless to say, neither of them saw it coming when Rory’s fist ran straight into James’ face.
indent Emma stumbled backwards, falling on her butt and watching the encounter with wide eyes. James was holding his face and cursing something awful, too blinded to see the next blow coming. Rory swiftly kneed James, sending him to his knees and clutching his gut. “Leave Emma alone,” Rory murmured, nearly every pore of his body exuding the hate he felt towards the other boy.
indent Rory stood over James for a second, making sure the boy wouldn’t get back up and attack when he turned his back. He turned to Emma and held out a hand to help her get back to her feet. “Sorry,” he murmured, pulling her up and wincing as her cold fingers encompassed his quickly swelling hand. He flexed his fingers as Emma watched carefully.
indent “You didn’t have to do that,” she said, even though she could hardly stop the waterfall of ‘thank you’s from tumbling inside her mind.
indent Rory stared at her, confusion pulsing through his body and an eyebrow cocked. “Yes,” he stated, “yes, I did.”
indent Emma started to feel awkward and turned away, her face red and her body numb. Rory grabbed her arm, though, startling her into standing still. “Let go of me, please,” she mumbled, almost afraid of what he’d respond with. James was getting too far under her skin, it was making her feel insane all over again.
indent “No,” Rory said, shaking his head incredulously. “No, because there’s something wrong here and I want to fix it,” he declared. “I’m gonna save you,” Rory murmured, hand not leaving her arm. “I swear to God I’ll do it,” it sounded like a threat when Rory said it, blue eyes glaring into her soul. She shivered and tried to pull away from him, his fingers marking her like claws. For a second she felt as if Rory could be just as bad as James; for a minute she feared that her old - barely healed - wounds were going to reopen. She didn’t want that and proved it in the way she tore her arm away from him on only the second try. He merely pulled her back towards himself, bending his knees so he could be eye level with the girl. Her icy eyes were wide with fear as his fingers dug firmly into both of her upper arms and when she stared at him like that he could see them as less of an ice and more of a snowy blue. “Listen to me, Emma,” he said loudly, his own eyes growing wider in his own fear. “Listen, I’m going to pull you from this wreckage and when I do I’m never going to let you let me go,” he warned, loosening his grip on her.
indent Emma was speechless, her mouth was even gaping open a little. He’d made her feel again, he’d done the impossible. He’d made her feel something that she’d been afraid to feel for so long. It was a feeling that warmed her from her nose all the way to her toes and it was a feeling that she honestly believed she’d never feel in the right way again. “O-okay,” she stuttered, surprising Rory. He let his arms drop entirely and his knees nearly gave out.
indent She’d said ‘okay’. His mouth fell open like a fish looking for water, the sight of it making Emma smile. Mostly because she no longer felt like an idiot. “Okay,” Rory repeated in a surprised whisper. The word repeating over in his head like a broken record, but it was an okay broken record. He could live with this sound; in fact, he could probably only hear Emma’s voice for the rest of his life and be completely okay with it.
indent Emma’s mind was made up in the instant that Rory grinned. His eyes, of course, weren’t focused on her face but were instead staring off into the distance of his own mind. It didn’t matter to Emma, her mind was made up as she grabbed his left, not so swollen hand away from him and started to pull him down the sidewalk and away from the school and James. “Here, let me show you something,” she murmured softly, leading him to her pond. She wanted to show him her heart and she didn’t care about the consequences.