3 days later

no one had seen or heard from emma for past three days. they hadnt been able to contact her and she hadnt made any attempt to contact them. no one knew if she was even in the same state as they were. as for nick, he was doing everything like it didnt mean anything to him. he had taken this loss harder than the loss of emily. during the shows he wouldnt play around with the guys. as soon as the show ended he was back on brians bus in his bunk. he avoided anyone he possibly could, not even talking to brian.

"hey you guys, heres the mail," jen said handing a stack of envelopes to howie.

they were all hanging out on ajs bus trying to figure out what they were going to do about nick and how or if there was any way they would be able to find emma. amanda had told them, if nick was this bad emma was probably feeling five times worse.

howie sighed,"thanks jen. hows nick?"

she sighed,"same. wont talk to anyone, just locked himself up in his bunk."

aj frowned,"man, this sucks."

howie gave kevin half the stack of envelopes and went through the other pile himself.

"okay, i know weve done this about 300 times,"kristin said said. "but is there any possible place that she would have gone?"

amanda sighed,"she only has the one house in florida and we tried there. either shes completely ignoring us or shes not there."

"maybe she we--"

"whoa whoa, kevin stop!" leighanne said. she had been looking over his shoulder as he was flipping through the envelopes.

"what? why?"

she took the envelopes and quickly flipped through it. once she found what she was looking for she tore the envelope open and pulled the piece of paper out. she skimmed through it.

"its from emma."

they all lunged for it, howie being the first to grab it. he read it over quickly and he looked up wide eyed,"shes in italy...."

"what?!" amanda and aj yelled.

"she just sa--"

"omg she told me that," brian said.

leighanne looked at him,"she told you what?"

"she told me that she had been offered a scholarship to study art in italy but turned it down to study photography instead. she said that one day she would like to go there just to study for a while but not right now because...because she was happy with what she was doing."

"...i knew that as well but i mean...i...i didnt think she would actually just go there..." amanda said getting a little teary eyed.

aj sighed and gently hugged her,"so now what do we do? i mean, is there a number we can reach her at? an address?"

howie sighed and shook his head,"nothing."

"well...at least we have a start...." kevin said.

nick was coming up into the bus when he heard them talking. he listened quietly and then rushed off the bus. he went back to his own bus and pulled out his cell phone. he started shoving things in a bag as he made his call.