“I hope you’re happy!” Emma screams at me. “You’ve ruined everything!”

“What? I-”

“Dropping out of school? What were you thinking?!” She keeps shouting.

“Emma,” I begin to lecture, as she turns around. “I don’t think…” A sob comes from her corner. “Emma?”

“How am I going to survive without you, Jess? We were going to go to uni together, remember?”

I rub her back, slowly easing out the stress. “We were twelve when we made that plan. It’s not what I want anymore.”
Emma nods in acknowledgement. We were seventeen; too old to lie to ourselves and call it honour.

“You wanna be famous.” She whispers between gasps.
“Not necessarily. I just wanna sing.”
“You’re a great singer.”
I hugged her close when she said that. Generally our friendship was based on a series of insults strung together by hugs.
“I’ve got an audition, you know?”

Emma perks up beneath her tears for me. “Really? What for?”
“Wicked.” I grin. Finally I was going to defy gravity, and now there was no one left to bring me down.