Emma Nelson
From Degrassi Wiki
 |
|
| Emma Nelson | |
|---|---|
| Biographical information | |
| Gender |
Female |
| Eye color |
Brown |
| Hair color |
hazel |
| Born |
1989 |
| Family |
Spike Nelson (mother) |
| Relationships |
Sean Cameron |
| Behind the scenes | |
| First appearance |
Season's Greetings (Degrassi Junior High) |
| Portrayer | |
Emma Nelson (b. 1989) was a student at Degrassi Community School in Toronto, Canada and is currently attending Smithdale College. She is portrayed by Miriam McDonald in Degrassi:The Next Generation. Emma is the daughter of Spike Nelson and Shane McKay. Her step-father is Snake Simpson, and her half-brother is Jack Simpson.
Contents |
Character History
Original Degrassi: Seasons 2-5
Emma was born to Christine "Spike" Nelson and Shane McKay in 1989. Both of them were teenagers when Christine, who goes by Spike, got pregnant. Shane and Spike broke-up, but Shane paid child support. After a Gourmet Scum concert, which he bought the tickets for using Spike's child support money, Shane took acid, got high and then proceeded to jump off a bridge, it is not known if this was an intentional suicide or an accident. After the accident, his parents place him in a hospital permanently. At age three, Emma visited her father at the hospital he was staying at. After that, Spike kept Emma away.
Degrassi: The Next Generation: Season 1
Emma was one of the few main characters of the series to appear in the two-part pilot, "Mother and Child Reunion" (along with Manny Santos, J.T. Yorke, Toby Isaacs, and briefly Ashley Kerwin and Terri MacGreggor.) Serving both as a reunion special for the old Degrassi cast and a new spin-off beginning, the plot in these two episodes alternated between the old cast's issues and Emma's meeting with her supposedly young online crush, Jordan. Jordan, whom Emma had been speaking to online for months, appeared to have the same interests as her and to be equally passionate about saving the environment. Unfortunately, Jordan turned out to be a man in his 40s who attempted to film the rape of Emma in a hotel room. Emma's mother, Spike, and her friend Snake came to her rescue at the just in time. Manny, Toby and J.T had hacked into her computer the same way that "Jordan" had; he had read Emma's emails and pretended to have the same interests. Fearing the worst for their friend, Manny, Toby and J.T had run to Spike's high-school reunion.
Emma started crushing on new boy, Sean Cameron when he moves to Toronto with his brother, Tracker. He is miserable due to being held back in 7th grade and longed to go to eighth grade with his classmates. It is revealed that he had been there for a few months last year, and evidently was friends with Jimmy Brooks. Jimmy, being a jerk decides to tease him for being held back. At the dance that night, Emma has no one else to go with, but she comes alone, and finds Sean has come too. Jimmy again makes fun of Sean by deciding that he could come to the "8th graders only party" Sean shoves him against a wall. As their principal is about to bust them, Emma comes to a stranger's rescue. Emma asks Sean to dance, he agrees, and they hold hands as they walk to the dance floor.
In Coming of Age, the 9th episode of the season 1, Emma had her first period, embarrassingly, at school. Luckily, Manny discovered the leak before anyone else did, dragging her best friend into the bathroom and tracking down a pair of over sized gym shorts for Emma to wear the rest of the day. Unfortunately, Emma was slated to present a book report in English in front of the entire class that day. While awkwardly trying to explain the book and hold up the large pants, JT makes a crack and asks if Emma wet her pants. Emma announces matter-of-factly that she got her period.
Emma protests about N.A.K (News about kids) and she writes an article about it for the grapevine. Sean thinks it's stupid, and at Parents Night, she gets into a fight with his brother. He confirms her article as "Looks like garbage, smells like garbage" and crumples it up. Sean is a little pissed, he does like Emma. The next day, the two call a truce.
Sean and Emma have been friends for a while. but she still likes him. He asks her out in Friday Night, and she accepts. Though their date is a disaster, they don't want to stop seeing each other.
Fearing he failed his midterms, Sean let his stress and anger get the better of him and got into a tussle outside of the school with Jimmy Brooks. Emma followed him out to the alley, where both boys were about to fight. Emma begged Sean to stop it. Both Sean and Jimmy told her to leave. The boys began the fight, and Emma stepped between them. Sean told Emma to get out and accidentally pushed her to the ground. Emma broke up with him the next day, both heart-broken.
Sean attended Ashley Kerwin and Toby's disastrous party at the end of the year, but only because JT mentioned Emma would be there. Though he attempted to talk to her, Emma paid no attention. She ran out of Toby's bedroom, with Sean and Manny at her heels. As Sean repeats her name over and over, she told him that if she knew that he was coming, she would have stayed home. Ashley takes Sean into her room. When she finds him crying, she tells him how everyone expects her to be a good girl, and for him to be a bad boy. They kiss. Jimmy finds out and attempts to talk to Sean. When Sean walks outside, he finds Emma crying. Just as he is about to comfort her, she turns to Toby and hugs him, crying harder. Sean walks away sadly.
Emma becomes a feminist at Degrassi Community School. She berated the Spirit Squad as "sexist," and chided Manny for wanting to try out, though her true motive was that she hated the idea of Manny being more popular than her. Emma also started to favor the extreme group PETA.
Season 2
When Emma learned her mom and her teacher were dating she was annoyed but learned to deal with it. As the wedding came closer, trouble showed up when Spike found out she was pregnant. Spike knew Snake didn't want children right away and considered abortion. Emma, upset, told Snake which almost ruined the relationship but it all worked out and Snake and Spike got married.
Emma found out that Manny had invited Sean, and told her to uninvite him. When Emma thought she had ruined the wedding, she goes to the only person that she can trust. Sean tells her that no one will hate her, and he's right. The wedding does happen, and Sean shows up. "Just Jane" (a slow song) is playing, and Sean asks her to dance. Just like their first dance together, in Eye of the Beholder; they share a kiss and get back together.
Emma continued her misguided use of protests for everything that isn't exactly how she likes it with a boycott of genetically modified food in the cafeteria, handing out fliers and information on why it was wrong. After being told by Mr. Raditch why she was wrong about the cafeteria, Emma decided to use the morning announcements for her own extremist agenda. Her ploy to "boycott the caf" backfired when she initiated the students to start a food fight. For causing the fight, Emma was suspended for a day. Instead of backing down, however, Emma continued her tirade, getting her suspended for a week.
Season 3
Emma was being mistaken for Snake's daughter at school. This launched her desire to meet her biological father. After asking Spike about him and getting nowhere, Emma decided to find him herself, using the Internet to find listings for Shane McKay (her father's name). The next day, she skipped school along with Craig to search for him. After a series of missteps, Emma and Craig finally found him at a home for the mentally disabled. After falling (or jumping) off a bridge during the original Degrassi Junior High series, Shane landed on his head, causing permanent brain damage. His parents placed him in the home. After Emma and Shane's emotional reunion is cut short by a nurse, Emma gives him her address so he can write to her. Forced to call Joey for a ride home after missing the last train, Emma faces her irate mother. While Emma was angry at her mother for lying to her, she eventually came to see that Spike was just trying to protect her.
While Spike, nine months pregnant, was at home knitting a scarf for the baby, Shane unexpectedly arrived at the house. He pushed his way in and flew into a rage upon discovering that he wasn't a part of Spike and Emma's new family. Emma arrived home just as Shane was trashing the house and Spike went into labor. Emma calmed down Shane with an ultimatum ("If you hurt my mom, I'll never speak to you again") and then called Snake. Emma's half-brother, Jack, was born healthy and happy.
Manny's new look and personality put Emma off; she thought Manny was cheapening herself for popularity and told her as much. Manny was appalled that Emma would refuse to support her the way Manny had always done for Emma. The two continued to be friends, however, until Emma walked in on Manny making out with Craig, who was dating Ashley Kerwin, on Emma's bed. The next day, as Manny tried to apologize, Emma wouldn't hear it. Manny called Emma a "prude princess" and Emma retorted that at least she wasn't "the school slut". Manny and Emma would mostly remain distant at best, and frictious at worst, until late in Season 4.
Emma, dealing with the revelation that Snake had cancer and the pressures of having to watch the baby, had little time for Sean anymore. Feeling neglected, Sean began taking up with Jay Hogart, his girlfriend Alex Nuñez, and Towerz. Emma was less than pleased with Sean's affiliation with this group of thugs, but wrote it off long enough to make out with Sean in the ravine while they were supposed to be clearing it of trash. The romantic moment was cut short by fellow volunteer Kendra Mason, who quickly ran off after discovering the two. Emma, however, was embarrassed, and got back to work, leaving Sean annoyed. Afterward, Sean confronted Emma about being too uptight, upon which Emma called Sean "pathetic" for hanging with people like Jay. Sean got angry, and slammed her locker door shut, leaving Emma hurt. Trying to reconcile the relationship, Emma was shot down by Sean and gave up on their relationship for good. To add insult to injury, Sean helped his new friends steal Snake's brand new laptop so that Jay could get an intake for his car. This was, once again, not the last time Sean and Emma would date.
A new student named Chris Sharpe caught Emma's eye while she was rebounding from her relationship with Sean. She felt too nerdy to date him, but Manny helped sex up her image in time for a rave that Chris was DJing at. Though they had a private romantic moment and even kissed, Emma wouldn't date Chris because he was still with his girlfriend. Emma did eventually date Chris, however, over the summer between freshman and sophomore years. On their first date, Emma almost ruined the relationship by getting back at Sean for dumping her. She knew about the stolen laptop, and followed him one day, hopping to bust him and Jay Hogart, along with his new gang. She followed him a few feet behind, and turned the corner. She almost jumped. Sean was blocking her way. He apologizes to her, but then tells her what he does is none of her business.
Snake's cancer took a toll on everyone in Emma's family. Once, while doing some work on the computers after school with JT, Emma discovered Snake's will. Convinced Snake's chemotherapy had failed, Emma buckled under the overwhelming stress. Alex, who had been tormenting Emma since her breakup with Sean, offended the younger student, causing the typically mild-mannered Emma to engage her tormentor in a violent catfight in the halls of Degrassi. Later, Emma discovers Snake's chemo had actually put his cancer in remission.
Season 4
As Emma entered 10th grade, she became friends with Paige and her friends. When Rick returned to Degrassi, she and Paige thought up ideas to make Rick's life hell and force him to leave Degrassi. After protesting for "Students Against Violence", Emma and Paige were able to make the school body despise Rick. In an attempt to buy forgiveness, Rick approached Emma with a cheque for $500 for the cause. This caused Emma to pity Rick, although she denied it in the public eye. To prove to her new friends—and specifically Paige—that she wasn't softening towards Rick, Emma purposely tripped Rick at The Dot, causing him to spill coffee over himself. Rick then became angry. Seeing this, Jay, who had been there with his girlfriend, Alex, jumped up from the table. Grabbing Rick by his shirt, he shoved him outside. Emma, Paige, Spinner, Jimmy and Hazel followed. "Let him go!" Emma shouted. Alex told her that she had started this, and Emma stopped her from getting the next hit on Rick.
After saving Rick from bullying, Emma, along with old friend Toby, became Rick's only pals in the school. Rick developed a crush on Emma, however, and she shot his advances down brutally. After being humiliated on live TV, Rick came to Degrassi with a gun. While he tried to shoot Emma for not accepting his crush on her, Sean stopped him and, in the struggle, Rick was shot and killed with his own gun.
A few days after the shooting, a teacher asked Sean if he wanted to see a interview of his parents. He reluctantly agreed, taking his new girlfriend, Ellie Nash with him. His mother was crying to the camera man and saying how events would've happened if she never saw her baby again. Emma had been talking to Jay, asking him where Sean was. As soon as Jay had pointed to a truck-like van, Sean threw a TV from the back. People screamed and Ellie ran after him. "Whoa buddy," Jay had tried to reason with him. "Shut up, move..I'm driving, get in." He was talking to two people at once. "Just calm down." Ellie told him. "No, you wanted me to express myself, this is me expressing myself." He shoved the seat back. Ellie rolled her eyes, but climbed in. Sean turned to Emma. "Emma, you coming or what?" Emma looked surprised, but climbed in. Sean had basically kidnapped all three. Sean stood up to his parents, but eventually decided to stay with them.
In the aftermath of the shooting and Sean's departure, Emma became melancholy and isolated, distancing herself from everything in her life (it could be inferred she was suffering a small case of post-traumatic stress disorder).
Jay Hogart seemed to have taken a liking to Emma, even though he was still dating Alex. At the same time, the now-mischievous Emma discovered what Alex's best friend Amy's colorful bracelets meant. Girls "earned" bracelets for performing different sex acts down at the ravine. That same day, Emma was walking home, Jay pulled the car in front of her, blocking her way. She had originally been listening to music, with Sean's headphones; Jay gives her a ride home. Emma met Jay at the ravine to see what it was like. After seeing two couples getting out of a van, Jay and her went inside. Jay kissed her, and she pulled away. Jay told her the van was for "hooking up" and asked her if she knew what a blow job was. Emma left, but Jay grabbed her by the arm, and gave her a blue bracelet, telling her that "every player wins a prize." After Amy and Alex made fun of Emma's reluctance to kiss her co-star in the school play, Emma flashed her blue bracelet, immediately shutting Amy up and leading Emma to think the bracelet was a form of "Amy Kryptonite." After leaving Amy confused about the bracelet, Jay told Emma that Amy "earned" her bracelets. Emma felt like a loser, so she performed oral sex on Jay and used the shooting as an excuse to keep her parents from reprimanding her when they'd found out she was sneaking out in the middle of the night; after successfully manipulating her mother and stepfather, she would go to sleep with a smirk on her face as she proudly admired her new bracelets. Alex came to the rehearsal after a doctor's appointment and punched Amy, saying she was going to get her and who ever else was sleeping with Jay for "your little bracelets." A scared Emma took off her bracelets before Alex could see them, but not before Manny saw them and realized what Emma had been doing. Emma soon found out she, Alex, and Amy had contracted gonorrhea and was humiliated when Manny found out and told Emma's co-star in the school play not to kiss her or risk getting the disease. Word spread. Emma had a girl's night with Manny and her new friends Darcy Edwards and Chante Black to help herself get over it, and began an innocent flirtation with her new next door neighbor, Chester Hosoda.
Chris was hurt by Emma's racy and ill-lived relationship with Jay and by her contracting gonorrhea, but covered for it by making rude and sly comments in Media Immersions class during the student-teacher Matt Oleander's lecture.
Season 5
At the beginning of season 5, Emma developed a crush on a new boy, Peter Stone. However, he seemed more attracted to Manny than Emma. At a party that he invited them to, Manny got drunk and flashed her breasts to Peter, who filmed them and later emailed the video to the entire school, after she rejected him. When Emma discovered this video, she knew who had taken it, and was furious at Manny for doing such a thing, and upset with Peter for taking advantage of Manny and humiliating her. After Manny's parents kicked her out, Emma took pity on her, and allowed her to move in with her.
Later, Peter began following Emma around, smooth-talking her. She initially rejected his advances, because of what he did to Manny, but could not help but enjoy how he made her feel special. Confused about her feelings toward him, and unable to tell Manny what was wrong, she planned a revenge with Manny, that would involve her seducing Peter at a party, stripping him, and taking embarrassing photos of him with her camera phone. However, the plan backfired when they made out in his room, and she discovered he had no private space. She could relate to this, since she had to live in the basement and doesn't have private space either. They start dating in secret.
After the premiere of Kevin Smith's movie, "Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh?," Peter and Emma snuck into the empty theater to make out. In there they discovered Snake and Ms. Hatzilakos making out. At home Emma confronts Snake, telling him that she didn't know if she would tell Spike or not.
The following day, after she arrived home from school, her mother became concerned that she was sick. When Snake arrived home, he had sold his motorcycle to buy tickets to Mexico. Spike was ecstatic, saying she didn't "deserve such a perfect husband." Emma angrily told them to stop it, and Snake was forced to confess. Spike and Snake went upstairs to argue, and Spike chewed Snake out for not considering Emma's feelings, and kicked him out of the house. Emma tried to convince him to stay, but he said he needed to stay at Joey's house for a while to figure out what had gone wrong.
Ever since Snake left, Spike and Manny became more dependent on Emma to help around the house. After Manny begged Emma to help her lose weight so she could fit in her jeans again and so she could get an agent, Emma put both of them on a strict diet. They successfully restrained themselves for two days, then gorged themselves on vegetable moussaka after Emma invited Snake over in an unsuccessful attempt to reunite him with her mother. Emma was upset that they had undone all their dieting so quickly, and convinced herself and Manny to get rid of it by vomiting.
After a few days of strict dieting, Emma catches Manny in the hallway eating pizza. Emma tries to get Manny to purge it up in the bathroom, but Manny tells her that her jeans still fit and that one piece of pizza won't kill her. Manny ran out of the bathroom, Emma tried to follow, but since she hadn't eaten in days she got dizzy and fainted.
Later that night, Manny found Emma cutting out photos of thin models from magazines. Manny, who got the agent, told Emma that she heard about what happened in the hall earlier, voiced her concerns about Emma's eating habits, and found out that she hadn't eaten anything for a couple of days. Emma was convinced that she looked "gross" and "disgusting". Emma promised that she would eat when Snake brought over dinner again. Emma ate the food happily, but snuck off during the meal to purge herself.
It had been weeks and Emma was still continuing these eating habits. Manny found Emma's food diary and said she was going to show it to Emma's mom. To stop Manny from revealing her secret, Emma told Manny about her relationship with Peter, and then blames the secret and her concern for Manny's feelings as the reason for her eating disorder. Manny discontinues her concern for Emma who responds with an equal amount of distaste for her former friend. The next day, Manny warns Peter about Emma's mysterious eating habits, right after they kissed in front of the front steps of Degrassi, going completely public with their relationship.
Emma had been seeing Peter more often before she told Manny about them, and that gave Peter the chance to notice Emma's strange behavior too. Peter tells Manny about his concerns and despite the animosity between Manny and Peter, the two team-up to tackle Emma's problem by informing Spike and Snake, who had since reconciled. When the four of them confront Emma with an intervention, she runs to the basement and suffers from a starvation-induced panic attack, leaving her unconscious. She awoke in the hospital and Spike told Emma she is diagnosed as anorexic and possibly bulimic too.
Season 6
On his16th birthday, Peter's father gives him a brand new convertible. Peter and Emma go for a joy ride, stopping at a gas-station a few hours later. He tells her how he's the luckiest guy in the entire world, and leans in to kiss her. Their kiss is interrupted a few seconds later when someone calls her name. Its Sean, who has returned to finish his senior year, and starts crashing with Jay. Peter calls him "The Sean" and Sean replies, "Guess so" and gives Emma a look. "Well, I guess I'll see you guys at school tomorrow." Sean smiles, seeing Emma's astonishment. "You're back at Degrassi?" was the only thing that she could come up with. The next day, Manny is excited to see Sean, just as Spinner and Mr. Simpson are, as well as Emma. He is quickly taken back into Degrassi's food-chain. It was after school, when Manny and Sean were talking, Emma and Peter a few feet away that Manny asks a certain question. "She's gorgeous, isn't she?" Sean looks at Emma with a smile on his face, "Yes she is." Manny slaps him. It was then that Sean finds about her anorexia last year. Sean invites all three to the illegal street races. Peter accepts. They go there for 2 days, when Peter gets into a fight with Jay. They decide to race; unfortunately, the police show up. Sean grabs Emma by the hand and drags her to his car, protecting her. They pull over at the side of the road, they kiss, finding old feelings for each other. Emma would later find out that the only reason that he had come back was to be with her. Sean is framed for having drugs in his locker, and races with Peter to battle for Emma. Sean is turned into the police, but Emma soon dumps Peter after finding out the truth, and they begin to date again.
Emma helps Sean get a lawyer, and wins his case. In "Crazy little Thing Called Love," Emma is seen waiting by the jail's exit. Sean comes through, grabbing her in a tight hug, they kiss. Emma gives Sean a welcome home gift, a picture of them from their first date, 6 years earlier, in "Friday Night." Sean tells her how he wished he could go back in time, back to a time that she was proud of him. Emma comforts him. Jay is the one to tell Sean about last year, when he and Emma hooked up. Sean gets angry and runs to Degrassi, confronting Emma, who tries to deny it. Sean breaks up with her, quits his job and attempts to leave again. At the airport, the picture stops him. Sean knows that he has made a terrible mistake and goes back to fix things.
Emma and Sean decide to have sex while her parents are away. But Manny, after breaking up with Craig, decides to throw a party that night. Though they do attempt to do it, Emma gets drunk and ends up throwing up the whole night.
When J.T. Yorke is killed by a Lakehurst student, Manny moves back home. Emma is feeling like everyone except for Sean is moving on. At their cheerleading competition, Emma and Mia, Derek, Danny, Liberty, Sean, and many others start chanting "Go home Lakehurst." When Manny yells at her in the hallway, her new boyfriend, Damian insults Emma, when Sean is standing right behind her. "Take a big step back Lakehurst guy." They almost get into a fight. Manny and Emma later reconcile.
Sean and Emma's relationship has been going perfect and they decided to take things to the next level...for real. However, trouble comes when Snake runs into Emma and Sean buying birth control at a drug store. Emma tells her step-father that she and her mother had "the talk" already, but Snake gets angry because he is never included in these types of discussions. Emma attempts to talk to her step-father, but he refuses to listen.
A few days later, Emma delivers a presentation in Snake's class about women and sex and how men, when confronted with sex, can't handle it at all. She mentioned that all guys have this ideal of women being perfect pure angels, but as soon as they did anything remotely sexual, they were instantly called sluts or whores. After seeing her presentation, Snake tells her that he was just remembering how life was when she was young, and how hard it would be to let Emma go.
Soon, Emma suspects that she's pregnant from Sean. When she learns that Sean had different plans after high school, to join the armed services, she becomes really angry and after him asking her what's up several times, she confesses to him that she thinks she might be pregnant. When she is about is take a pregnancy test, she gets her period, revealing that she is not pregnant. Sean leaves for basic training soon after.
Season 7
On their way to Degrassi, Emma tells Manny that she feels worried, because Sean had not written to her yet and she had not received a letter from the university she had applied to. When they arrive at school, they discover that the energy drink Purple Dragon has taken over Degrassi to sponsor the upcoming badminton tournament. Damian Hayes runs into them and tells Emma that Purple Dragon was recruiting Degrassi girls to be their spokesmodels. Later that day, Liberty calls for a meeting to discuss the effects of Purple Dragon in the school politics and suggested boycotting the model’s recruiting. Upon hearing this, Emma says “If you want to change the face of Purple Dragon, be the face of Purple Dragon”, implying to be one of the models. After becoming a model, Emma decided to thank Damien for giving her the idea by kissing him in public. This causes Natasha, the leader of the Purple Dragon girls, to ask her to not interact with the customers that way. The next day, "Bruce the Moose" comes on to her, touching her shoulders and hair, implying that he wanted to feel her up (along with other things). Emma throws the drink she was offering on him, and yelled at him not to touch her. Natasha once again told her that she needed to work on her attitude if she wanted to remain as a model. When she was changing her clothes at the end of the day, Emma was about to drink some Purple Dragon, but Natasha informed her of the high calorie count in the drink. Natasha also warns Emma that she is wearing the largest size of dress and that she needs to watch her weight. During the end of the tournament, Emma criticizes Purple Dragon and, after Natasha tells her that she wasn’t allowed to speak like that while she was wearing the purple dress, she takes off her dress, leaving her standing butt naked in front of the entire audience. Later, Snake tells her that Ms. Hatzilakos had decided to not give her a suspension since she was proud of Emma for taking a stand, so she only had to have two detentions for violating the dress code.
In season seven Emma also had to deal with Snake's false accusation of sexual harassment. In "Live to Tell" she was very angry at Darcy for falsely accusing her stepfather. Later, in "Got My Mind Set On You," Emma was upset because the accusations affected her at school, and she turned to Damien. They began a relationship in this episode, meaning that her and Sean must have broken up sometime between "Hungry Eyes" and this episode.
Later, however, in "Another Brick in the Wall," Emma seemed to have a change of heart on the whole situation. She actually asked Darcy to help her to get Mr. Simpson to come back to school, and was very supportive of him. This was most apparent at the end of the episode when her mother leaves for a little while, and Emma chooses to stay with her stepfather because she felt he needed her.
Emma and Manny are both accepted into their respective programs of study at Smithdale University and submit the forms to room together in the dormitories.
Mr. Simpson finally returns to school for good in the episode "Everything She Wants." However, Sean also came back for a visit in this episode before being shipped off to Afghanistan for war. They did not get back together, but Sean did ask Emma for a new photo showing a possible spark between the two. Sean may have said that they have both moved on, but he will always love her in one way or another.
In the season finale, Emma finds out from Toby that Liberty was making out with her latest boyfriend Damien during their Senior Prom while everyone was in the pool. Liberty is left distraught after everyone finds out, and it wasn't until she delivered her valedictory speech that Emma, Manny, and Toby forgive her. Emma tells Liberty that she dumped Damien and that she isn't ready to throw away six years of friendship.
After they received their diplomas, the four of them visit J.T.'s memorial, whereupon Toby places someone's graduation cap next to J.T.'s portrait and Liberty (the mother of J.T.'s child) moves the tassel to the (wearer's) right to symbolically include their late classmate with their graduating class.
Season 8
Emma is now in Smithdale University with her two best friends Manny and Liberty, with a new guy, Kelly Ashoona as their new dormmate. She is surprised the length Liberty went to join the Pi Gamma Pi Sorority. Emma and Manny stood beside Liberty when she had to have her stomach pumped from obsessively drinking at the sorority party. Emma stood beside her when she decided not to join the sorority. Emma and Manny both have a crush on Kelly, although he hints to the fact that he likes one of them. Emma and Manny argue over him, even bringing up the past issues of how they always seemed to date or like the same guys: Craig when they were both twelve years old, Jay Hogart even though Manny says what Jay and Emma did was barely dating, and Damian which Manny also says that relationship of him and Emma lasted a few minutes anyway. In the "Lost in Love" episodes, Emma feels that she and her roommate Kelly Ashoona might be a match after he teaches her the chords of the lullaby "My Bonnie." She is determined to go on a proper date with him after he breaks up with his girlfriend, Gwyneth. Kelly takes Emma to the movies and upon returning to the dormitory, nearly kissing, Gwyneth interrupts them, still upset about their breakup, she and Kelly go for coffee to talk.
Emma assumes that Kelly and Gwyneth reconnected and in disappointment, goes home for the weekend. Manny tells Kelly why Emma went home and he appears in front of Emma's house playing and singing "My Bonnie" to make amends. Emma lets him in, and they talk over the disagreement and they make up and kiss. In Touch Of Grey, Emma starts smoking pot to get rid of her "plain girl" image. Becca goes to the hospital and goes into a diabetic coma; the cause being her forgetting to take her insulin after ingesting marijuana brownies. While in class, Emma learns that the campus cops are doing room searches. She calls Kelly to get rid of the weed and the brownies. When Kelly is leaving the room, he runs into campus cops, dropping the stash in front of them. He gets kicked out of residence but is still allowed to go to school. In the Degrassi Goes Hollywood Movie Emma helps Manny get her role in "Mewes-ical High School." She is still with Kelly.
Trivia
- Emma, Manny, and Liberty have all been nude in public. Emma took her Purple Dragon dress off in front of a crowd. Manny has taken her shirt off for camera. And Liberty has streaked after getting drunk.
- Emma, Manny, and Liberty have all been romantically involved with Damian.
- Emma and Manny are the only two female characters to be lead regulars throughout the whole series.
- Emma was the first person to talk in Degrassi.
Relationships
- Sean Cameron
- First Relationship:
- Start Up: "Friday Night" (111)
- Broke Up: "Under Pressure" (114)
- Reason: Sean pushes Emma.
- Second Relationship:
- Start Up: "White Wedding, Part 2" (213)
- Broke Up: "Gangsta Gangsta" (306)
- Reason: Sean begins hanging out with Jay, and Emma doesn't approve.
- Third Relationship:
- Start Up: "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (608)
- Broke Up: "Everything She Wants" (721)
- Reason: Sean is in the army and he is going to deployed for a while and they both have moved on even though they still have feelings for each other.
- First Relationship:
- Chris Sharpe
- Start Up: "This Charming Man" (313)
- Broke Up: Couple of weeks before "Ghost in the Machine, Part 1" (401)
- Reason: Emma wanted to get back at Sean and it was getting in the way of their relationship
- Jay Hogart
- Start Up:"Secret, Part One" (414)
- Broke up:"Secret, Part Two" (415)
- Reason: Jay gave Emma gonorrhea in which she was humiliated and ridiculed for.
- Peter Stone
- Start Up: "Tell It To My Heart" (509)
- Broke Up: "True Colors" (603)
- Reason: Peter frames Sean for possession of marijuana by abusing his mom's power as the principal (Miss Hatzilakos).
- Damien Hayes
- Start Up: "Got My Mind Set On You" (715)
- Broke Up: "We Built This City" (724)
- Reason: Damian cheated on Emma with Liberty.
- Kelly Ashoona
- Start Up: Lost in Love Pt. 1 (808)
