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Chapter Text

“Have a great first day of school, Mari,” a black woman said to her twelve year old daughter in the car as the girl unbuckled herself.

“I will Mama!” Marisol Lewis replied excitedly as she grabbed her sparkly pink book bag and got out of the car. She waved her mama goodbye as the woman drove off.

Today was her first day of seventh grade and she couldn’t be more happier. She was finally in middle school! Her goal was to be the most popular girl in her grade and to have a cute boyfriend by her side. Marisol walked along the sidewalk towards the school when she saw her best friend, Katie Matlin, by the school steps. “Katie-kins!” She greeted excitedly as she ran up to her friend.

“Marebear!” Katie greeted back warmly as they embraced. Her and Katie had been best friends since kindergarten, and Marisol considered her her sister at this point. They couldn’t be anymore different as Katie was more interested in soccer and politics than lip gloss and boys, but they understood each other more than anyone else. “How was your trip to Jamaica?” Katie asked her as they walked into Degrassi together. The halls were packed with students, old and new.

“Ah-maz-ing! I got to see the family members I usually don’t see!” Marisol answered as she approached her new locker. “We got to go snorkeling and I got to go climbing at Dunn River Falls. What did you do while I was gone?”

“Well I spent my whole summer at soccer camp as you already know, I hope I make the junior varsity team,” Katie replied as she opened the locker next to Marisol’s. They had specifically requested each other’s lockers to be next to each other. Katie really didn’t want her locker to be anywhere else. Since they became friends, they were attached at the hip and did everything together.

“I hope I’m old enough to be on the Spirit Squad,” Marisol said. She had been cheerleading since she was a toddler, and she had been on her grade school’s gymnastics team so she was definitely skilled enough to try out for the squad.

“I still don’t get how you love cheerleading so much when it’s a sexist sport,” Katie replied with a frown on her face. “It’s nothing but bimbos in flimsy skirts jumping and twirling around for boys’ pleasure.”

“Well I don’t do cheerleading for boys, Katie. I do it because it’s fun and it’s more than just twirling or jumping,” Marisol argued. This wasn’t the first nor last time they will have this argument. Katie could be so judgy sometimes.

“Whatever you say, Mare. I personally wouldn’t degrade myself like that,” Katie said. In her mind, cheerleading wasn’t even a valid sport.

“That’s good for you, Katie-kins,” Marisol replied with a sigh as she got her books out for their home room period. She was never going to get through to her friend on this topic. “So let’s discuss the most important thing: boys.”

“What about them?” Her best friend asked back with a raised eyebrow.

“What am I going to have to do to get a boyfriend this year?” Marisol elaborated. Since she was very little, she dreamed of having a prince like in the fairy tales. Her ideal prince was romantic, charming, kind, smart, and brave.

“You don’t need a boyfriend, boys are stupid,” Katie answered gruffly. “You should focus on your academics so you can be an honor student like me.”

“Sounds boring,” Marisol rejected dryly as she looked around for cute boys her age. Her eyes locked on one specifically as he walked past them. “He would be an interesting one,” she said as Katie followed her gaze.

He was a white boy that looked to be their age with curly light brown hair and piercing green eyes. He was dressed in red and black and was carrying around a skull-shaped backpack.

“Him? He looks like a weirdo,” Katie replied with narrowed eyes.

Normally, she would agree but there was something about him that piped her interest.

Nonetheless, she decided to lie for now.

“Hmm, he does. I should look somewhere else,” Marisol agreed as they entered their home room class.

Eli Goldsworthy didn’t know what to think as he entered his homeroom class. He had just moved here from Calgary, and he wasn’t sure if he was ready to make friends yet. He didn’t really have any at his old school because other kids saw him as “weird”. “Normal” kids don’t dress in black and red, and have parents named Bullfrog and Cece.

He took a seat at the back of the classroom, and already other kids were staring at him. He stared back. He wasn’t about to be intimidated.

A girl with cat ears on her head walked up and sat down next to him. She had long brown hair in pigtails and was wearing a glittery rainbow tutu skirt. “Hi,” she greeted somewhat shyly.

“Hey,” he greeted back, not knowing what to make of her. The other kids were staring at her too, and some were snickering at her eccentric appearance.

“I’m Imogen, Imogen Moreno,” she introduced herself as she held out her hand.

“Eli Goldsworthy,” he introduced back as he shook her hand. He noticed that each of her fingernails were painted a different color.

“Are you new here? I’ve never seen you at our grade school,” she asked.

“No, I just moved here,” he replied.

“Great! Let’s be friends! I don’t think anyone else would want to be friends with us,” she offered. Eli looked around the room. There were huddled whispers and smart remarks said by kids all around.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

Later that day at lunch, Marisol approached an eleventh grader, Paige Michalchuk, as she was getting food at the lunch line.

“Hi, are you Paige?” She asked as she got a chicken Caesar wrap and fries for herself along with an ice tea.

“Yeah, why?” The older girl asked as she picked up a sandwich. Marisol noticed that there was a certain stiffness in the girl’s tone but decided not to think anything of it.

“I’m Marisol and I heard you’re the captain of the Spirit Squad and holding tryouts this year. I would like to try out because I’m a great fit for the team!” Marisol explained cheerfully.

“Um how old are you?” Paige asked while looking at her critically. 

“12. I’m in the seventh grade!”

“We don’t allow seventh and eighth graders on the team anymore. Sorry hun,” Paige rejected swiftly before walking away without another word. Marisol stood there dejectedly for a few seconds before going back to her seat with Katie, who was only eating a sandwich and a bottle of water for lunch.

“How did it go?” Her friend asked.

“She rejected me,” Marisol replied sadly.

“It’s for the best. You don’t need to be on a team like that any-”

“I’ll start my own cheer squad,” Marisol cut her off.

“Why? You can just join the gymnastics team, Marisol. That’s a more empowering sport than cheerleading,” Katie tried to convince her.

“I like doing gymnastics but it’s not cheerleading, Katiekins. I can’t fathom not doing cheer,” Marisol argued. She loved everything about cheerleading: the uniforms, the bows, the competitions, and the sisterhood among the team. 

“Well, how are you going to start a team? Ask Raditch?” Katie questioned.

“Yes. There’s a club fair coming up soon and when I get approved, I’ll promote it there,” Marisol answered as she bit into her wrap.

She may have been too young for Spirit Squad but that was not going to stop her from doing cheer. She will be a cheerleader this year.

“Hey fatass, don’t you think a burger and fries is too much for you?” An older student sneered as Mo Mashkour tried to eat his food, which was burgers, fries, a can of Pepsi, and a bag of chips.

“If anything, it’s not enough for a guy like me. I have two stomachs,” he joked in response, trying to play off as if he didn’t care. It’s how he got by in school previously. He continued to bite into his burger.

The older kid yanked the burger out of his mouth and threw it on the floor. He then grabbed him by his shirt. Other students stopped what they were doing to watch the show. 

“You think being a little chucklefuck is going to get you by middle school? I don’t like chucklefucks,” the older kid snarled as he got in his face. Mo tried not to let his fear show.

“Everyone needs someone who makes them laugh,” he replied in a cracked voice. The older kid started raising his fist.

Then another kid grabbed his fist.

“Hey man, why don’t you go and fuck off from him already? I’m sure your gorilla breath is scaring him enough as it is,” the other kid said. He was in his math class. Mo believed his name was Eli.

“Excuse me?” The older kid asked in rage as he turned around to face Eli, who was fearlessly staring at him.

“You heard me. Gorilla breath, pizza face, greasy hair, if I was you I would worry about being seen as one of the most unpleasant faces around the school instead of trying to bully seventh graders,” Eli replied with a smirk. The older kid seethed as he looked between them.

“You know what? I’m not going to waste my time beating your ass, hobbit,” he snarled before walking away. Eli shrugged before sitting down next to him, and soon after a weird girl in a tutu quickly came out of nowhere and sat down at their table too. 

Mo was amazed at Eli’s bravery. “Thanks man,” he told him in gratitude.

“No problem, I hate bullies,” Eli replied. “You’re Mo, right?”

“The one and only.”

“Cool, I’m Eli. Looks like you need a friend.”

“The more company, the better,” Mo said with a smile. Then he turned his attention to the only girl at the table. “Who are you?”

“I’m Imogen, we have music class together!” She introduced cheerfully. Now that he thought about it, he did see her in their music class. He was confused as to why she was wearing cat ears like it was Halloween.

“What’s with the get up?” He asked again. She had to know everyone was staring at her like she was the latest sideshow attraction.

“Oh I thought that since it was the first day of school, I should dress up,” she explained as if her outfit was the normal kind of outfit girls would “dress up” in. “Do you like it?” Imogen asked him while playing with her cat ears. Eli looked at him expectantly.

Mo nodded as he didn’t know what else to say. “Yeah, it’s cool,” he answered as he ate what was left of his food. He could feel everyone’s eyes on the three of them.

It was clear that they were all going to be the school’s outcasts. The fat kid, the goth kid, and the weirdo.

“So if you want to do a junior varsity cheer team, there has to be some restrictions,” Principal Raditch began as he folded his hands on his desk, “Your team will not travel as much as the Spirit Squad so there won’t be as many competitions. You and the other team members will have to maintain your grades above a C. You will have to do fundraisers to raise money for the team. And finally, no one can be excluded from tryouts.”

“Okay,” Marisol agreed as she sat across from the principal. Some kids would be intimidated by being in the principal’s office but she wasn’t, mostly because she was more excited about starting her own cheer team. 

“Like with the Spirit Squad, you would have to be on your best behavior at all games and events because you are representing the school. Would you be able to accept that?” He asked seriously.

“Yes,” she answered quickly.

“And this squad is about promoting school spirit and good exercise?”

“Yes.”

“Then I suppose there’s no reason I shouldn’t allow another cheer squad,” Raditch allowed with a warm smile as Marisol felt her heart soar. She could barely contain her squeal as she got up from her seat.

“Thank you so much, Mr. Raditch! I can’t wait to start this squad!” Marisol said in gratitude as she happily shook his hand. They spent a few more minutes talking.

When she left the office, Katie was there waiting for her. “How did it go?”

“You’re looking at the captain of Degrassi’s Pep Squad!” Marisol announced proudly as she linked her arms with her best friend. “This will surely make me the most popular girl in middle school!” 

“If this doesn’t blow up in your face instead,” Katie muttered to herself as they walked down the halls to their next class.

After school, Eli walked Imogen home.

“I’m so happy we’re friends Eli, so happy!” She said as they walked through the neighborhood. Both of them were pushing along their bikes. Eli had a black one while she had a sparkly fuschia one.

“I am too,” he replied. “Degrassi seems like a place where you’re going to need all the friends you can get.”

Imogen smiled at his reply. Eli was really cute and was so kind to her. He was the first friend she ever had and didn’t seem to think she was a freak for her appearance.

When they stopped in front of her house, she turned to face him. “Do you want to come inside? My parents would probably really like you,” she offered him. Eli looked down at his watch.

“I’m fine with that,” he accepted as he parked his bike in front of the house. Imogen grabbed his hand and excitedly led him up the steps of her house. She got her keys out and opened up her front door.

Inside, both of her parents were sitting on couches from opposite ends of the room with serious looks on their faces. 

“Um, what’s going on?” She asked in confusion.

“Imogen, we have something to tell you,” her mother said, and Imogen noticed that she was pointedly not looking at her father. 

Eli shifted around awkwardly. “I’m going to go. See you around, Imogen,” he said before quickly leaving. Imogen watched him leave and then turned back around to face her parents. “What?” She asked again, not liking where this was going.

“Your mother and I have been talking…,” her father began, “And we both think it would be best if we got a divorce.”

Imogen was completely taken aback by the statement.

Chapter Text

Eli walked into the school cafeteria the next morning to see Imogen sitting at a table by herself looking pretty sad while eating some breakfast food. "Why so glum, chum?" He asked her as he sat down next to her.

"My parents are divorcing," she simply answered, not really looking at him.

"That sucks, I'm sorry," he told her in sympathy as he looked over her outfit for today. In contrast to the eccentric, bright colors she wore yesterday, she was wearing a dark blue shirt dress with cloudy designs on it. Instead of wearing low pigtails with cat ears, her hair was styled in a single bun on top of her head with blue hair sticks going through them. It seemed like she dressed in whatever mood she was in.

"They've been fighting for a long time. I just never thought they would actually separate one day," she replied glumly while playing with her cereal. "I'll still live with my dad in the neighborhood while my mom will basically move on the other side of town."

"That's good. At least you won't have to move far away from here," he assured her the best way he could. He had never seen his parents really fight. They have always had a loving marriage, sometimes a little too loving for his liking. There were a few moments where he had walked in on his parents getting it on while drunk or high and the mental scars he got from those experiences were deep.

Mo arrived and approached them. "What's up guys?" He greeted cheerfully as he sat across from them. When he noticed Imogen's sour mood, his cheerful disposition fell. "What's wrong with her?" He asked him.

"Parents are getting a divorce," he explained.

"Neat! Two Christmases!" Mo replied, and Eli sent him a scolding look in response.

"What? I'm trying to lighten up the mood," Mo added defensively.

"I couldn't live with my mom honestly," Imogen said as if she didn't hear him, "She's the worst. She's probably the reason they're divorcing in the worst place."

"Is she like super strict?" Mo asked.

"And controlling. She doesn't like the way I dress and is always trying to make me dress more "normal". My dad allows me to express myself however I want to," Imogen explained.

"You have to admit, your style is pretty weird," Mo replied.

"I like being weird. Normal is boring," Imogen argued. Eli could agree with that statement. He didn't know what it was like to be "normal" due to how his parents raised him and seeing how "normal" kids acted, he found that he didn't want that kind of lifestyle.

However, sometimes he wished that Bullfrog and Cece did act a little like regular parents because cleaning up puke off the kitchen floor early in the morning because your parents were drinking last night was not fun.

"At the club fair this Friday, I was thinking of making cute posters for the Pep Squad table. Since the Spirit Squad's color scheme is blue and gold, I was thinking that we could do gold and blue. There can be a big bowl of candy at the table and music playing," Marisol said to Katie while they stood at their lockers. Marisol was applying a fresh coat of strawberry lip gloss to her lips while looking in a mirror.

"Cool," Katie replied, not really paying attention as she got her books out for the first four periods of school.

"Would you like to help me out?" Marisol asked her, popping her lips together one more time before putting the tube of lip gloss away. Then, she pulled out a tube of mascara and began applying it to her eyelashes. Marisol couldn't be seen anywhere without some kind of makeup, and Katie could never understand why. To her, makeup was a sexist concept intended to give girls unhealthy expectations of themselves in order to make them more appealing to boys. She didn't find wearing makeup empowering at all no matter how many times Marisol tried to get her into it, and even if she did, it wouldn't have mixed well with her playing soccer.

"I can't help out, I'm signing up for clubs," she replied. She heard that Degrassi had a journalism club and an after school karate club. Both of these she was deeply interested in doing in addition to soccer. She was thinking that if soccer didn't work out, she could be a reporter as an adult. In regards to karate, she was already a green belt with a stripe. If any boys attempted to pop her bra strap, she was going to pop their arms out of their sockets.

"Well I want to sign up for other clubs too, like the Drama club," Marisol said, "I really think I have the talent to be the lead in the school play!"

"You certainly have the dramatic attitude," Katie teased. Marisol could be quite the drama queen sometimes.

"I know right?" Marisol asked as she finished doing her makeup. "So do you think they'll allow us to have cute uniforms? I hope so."

"Shouldn't you be more worried about everyone being in top shape and representing the school instead of uniforms?" Katie asked critically. She shut her locker, Marisol shut hers immediately after, and they both began to walk to homeroom.

"Yeah, but uniforms are the best part. Everyone looks at the uniform the members wear," Marisol answered.

"Well don't expect tank tops and miniskirts. I hope you guys get to wear something at least more respectable," Katie replied while wrinkling her nose in disgust at the thought.

"Like what? Nun skirts? Don't make me throw up," Marisol said as they walked past Imogen. Marisol looked back at her and rolled her eyes. "Hopefully she doesn't try out."

Katie looked back at Imogen as well. "Why not? Beggars can't be choosers," she asked.

"Pep squad is going to be about representing the school and having the most popular girls in our grade on the team. I'm not having freaks represent the team," Marisol explained.

"Well there has to be at least one source of entertainment on the team, right?" She questioned her in amusement.

"Yeah that's what the mascot is for," Marisol replied as they both laughed.

Throughout the day, Imogen wasn't really paying attention in class. It was hard to, with the bomb her parents dropped on her yesterday.

She should be relieved. Since she was little, all her parents did was argue intensely and then not speak to each other for three days. She could count the number of times they had been affectionate to each other on one hand. Often, the arguments were over her. Her mother didn't like the way she dressed while her dad didn't care. In fact, he was the main one encouraging her to dress the way she did because he loved her style.

Her dad was so much more supportive of her in general and that's why she would rather live with him than her mother, who was a total ice queen in her opinion.

The bell rang, ending her class period. Imogen got up from her seat and left to go to her locker. It was now lunch, and while she personally wasn't in the mood for eating, she would go to lunch for Eli and Mo.

Her friends were sitting at their usual table in the back of the cafeteria. She sat her bag down on a seat before getting in the lunch line. Soon Eli was right behind her. "Hey Im, you want to hang out with me and Mo after school today?" He asked her.

"Really?" She asked. "Where?"

"At my house," Eli answered with a smile as he picked up a burger and fries for himself. She got herself a pizza and fries. "We can play video games, watch a movie, or…..just hangout."

"Your parents would allow a girl to come over your house?" She questioned in disbelief.

"Yeah, you're just a girl," Eli answered, "It's not like we're going to be having sex or anything."

Imogen blushed at that statement. The idea of her and Eli doing anything like that made her skin heat up. "Okay! I'll come over!"

If she was being honest, she would be fine if it was just her and Eli hanging out.

Marisol was scoping out potential members of the Pep Squad in her history class. Instead of writing history notes, she was instead writing down notes about each girl in her class who said that she was interested in trying out for the team.

'Emilie…..short, petite, will probably fit really well on top. Christina…..is tall and has strong looking arms. She would fit at the bottom. Joanna, seems really friendly and full of energy. I can see her as my co-captain,' she thought to herself as she wrote. Hopefully at tryouts, these girls would prove they would be a great fit for the team. She may have been running a junior high cheer team but that did not mean she wanted a bunch of boring slackers on her team. She wanted the best of the best in her grade.

It was a shame Katie had no interest in being on the team because she had energy and work ethic to be on the squad. From all the soccer games she had attended for Katie, she knew her best friend was a great athlete who took sports seriously. Katie worked out vigorously for an hour each day, and wouldn't bail out on practice for anything. It was one of the many things she admired about her best friend, and the type of energy she needed on the team. Marisol could admit that she was a bit of a slacker sometimes but never when it came to cheerleading, and she expected any potential teammates to have the same attitude. Pep squad needed to be seen as an actual respectable team.

As the teacher prattled on and on about the geography of New France, Marisol rested her chin in her fist as she thought more about Pep Squad. She knew she should pay attention, but whatever she didn't get in class, Katie always had the notes for her to copy later. Katie had always been the better student between the two of them.

Eventually, the bell rang and school was thankfully over for the day. Marisol got out of class as fast as possible and headed to her locker. Opening it, she got out her workbooks needed for homework tonight. She already had math, science, geography, spelling, and English. 'I HATE homework,' she grumbled to herself. If school was just art, music, lunch, and cheerleading, she wouldn't hate it as much as she did. In fact, she would be quite excited to attend school every day.

"Hey Mare, we're doing homework tonight as always right?" Katie asked as she approached her.

"As always," Marisol confirmed as she looked inside her locker one last time before closing it. "And after that can we watch a Disney movie or something? I'm thinking Aladdin."

"I would rather watch Mulan," Katie replied.

"We'll talk more about it at my place," Marisol told her as they started walking. "We can get candy first, lots of it."

"You can get lots of candy, I would rather not," Katie declined.

"Why? You love candy, especially chocolate," Marisol questioned in confusion.

"I already had my calorie fill for the day, Mare. I don't need to consume anymore unless it's something healthy," Katie explained.

"But the only thing you ate today was pb and j, a small bottle of water, and a small bag of apple slices," Marisol mentioned, "A snickers bar won't kill ya."

"Yeah, but is it worth gaining another pound for? I have to keep up a healthy regime and you should too Mare," Katie argued.

"I guess…," Marisol replied as they walked out of the school.

Katie always had a weird relationship with food.

One thing Mo found out quickly about Eli's parents was that they were fucking weird.

Very fucking weird.

"We have only three rules when for Eli's friends when they come over: no drinking Mr. and Mrs. Goldsworthy's booze, no smoking our weed in the basement...and no sex with the door open or without condoms," Bullfrog, Eli's dad, said with a goofy grin.

Him, Eli, and Imogen were all sitting on a couch awkwardly as Eli's parents made small talk with them. With both of his parents dressed like 70's coked out rockers, it was no wonder Eli dressed the way he did. "Bullfrog…," Eli scolded his father about the last statement about sex.

"What? You and your friends are old enough to know what that is," Bullfrog replied defensively. "If you don't then I guess now is the time-"

"I think we're going to go upstairs to play some games!" Eli cut him off as he hopped off the couch. He looked down at him and Imogen. "Come on guys, let's go!"

"Alright kids, have fun! I'll be making tacos downstairs so if any of you guys are hungry, you can come down when they're ready!" Cece, Eli's mother said cheerfully as Eli led them upstairs.

Eli's bedroom was a goth haven. There were rock posters, skull beddings, and skeletons hanging on closets. There was a blood red lava lamp sitting on Eli's nightstand.

His parents would never allow him to have this type of room, and for that Mo was a bit jealous.

"So is your dad's name really Bullfrog?" Mo asked as Imogen sat primly on Eli's bed. He noticed how amazed she was at Eli's room more than he was. She gingerly touched Eli's bed sheets as if they were sacred cloth.

"Yeah, my dad's parents were hippies. Their names used to be James and Gloria, but now they're Hawk and Robin," Eli explained as he went over and turned on his TV. There was a cartoon playing on one of the channels.

"Meanwhile my parents have typical arabic names like Fayez and Iman, and they're both boring as hell. Makes me wonder if I was born in the wrong family," Mo replied. His parents, especially his father, were rather hard on him. They did not like that he wanted to be a comedian at all.

"Trust me, you wouldn't want to be in this household. Sometimes I feel like I'm the parent and they're my kids," Eli tried to convince him.

"Really, because they seem cool. Weird, but cool. My parents haven't mentioned sex yet to me and I don't think they ever will. I suspect they think I'm just going to pop up with magical grandbabies one day," Mo joked. "So what games are we playing?" He asked.

"Whatever you prefer," Eli answered with a shrug. "I got Mortal Kombat, Mario Kart, Street Fighter on pretty much any system."

"Mortal Kombat, bro. Let's see what you got," Mo challenged. Eli smirked at him with an equally challenging look.

"I warn you, my skills at fighting games are top notch. Don't cry when I kick your ass," Eli warned him as he set up his Sega Genesis.

"Oh believe me, you don't want to underestimate me," Mo replied.

As they played Mortal Kombat for the next hour, Mo would look back at Imogen every so often.

She was completely focused on Eli.

Chapter Text

A few days later

Eli woke up, got dressed, and headed downstairs for breakfast.

When he entered the kitchen, he saw Bullfrog passed out at the kitchen table with empty beer bottles next to him, and one of his friends sleeping in a corner with a couple beer bottles next to him as well. There was another friend passed out on the couch in the living room.

At this point there was no point in sighing as he was used to this scene in the morning. He left the kitchen for a moment, went into the living room to get a blanket, re-entered the kitchen and put a blanket over his father.

At least there wasn't any puke this time.

"Students against violence," two blond girls said as one of them passed out orange ribbons to anyone who walked past them. The other one who Katie recognized as the Spirit Squad captain was holding a donation jar. "Students against violence!"

"What is going on?" Katie asked Marisol as they watched the scene together.

"You see that guy over there?" Marisol asked as she gestured to a nerdy looking kid with glasses talking to Mr. Raditch. "His name is Rick Murray. I heard that last year he put his girlfriend into a coma. She transferred to another school to get away from him."

"And he's back here?" Katie questioned, appalled. "Why would the school allow a woman beater to come back when he's a clear danger to the girls at this school?"

"Don't ask me. Obviously, nobody at Degrassi is just going to accept this," Marisol replied.

"I'm definitely not," Katie agreed as she walked up to the blond girl handing out the ribbons. "My friend and I would like one," she requested.

"Thank you, would you like to donate as well?" The older girl asked as she handed her the ribbons. Katie reached into her jean pocket and pulled out a few dollars and plopped them right into the jar.

"Anything to get a freak out of Degrassi," she answered as she walked away with the ribbons. When she got back to Marisol, she handed her best friend a ribbon. "There's no way this isn't going to pressure Raditch into expelling that guy," she said.

"I hope so because just looking at him gives me the heebie jeebies," Marisol replied with a shudder as they started walking.

Katie looked back at Rick, who was trying to keep a low profile to no avail as everyone in the hallway was either whispering about him, glaring at him, or both.

Their eyes met, and she sent him a nasty glare.

At first Mo was confused as to why nearly everyone in his class was wearing orange ribbons but soon he found out why.

"I don't know what Raditch was thinking allowing an abuser to come back to Degrassi but I'm sure he's regretting it now!" Imogen said. She had tied two orange ribbons into her pigtails and was wearing another one on her outfit for the day.

"Honestly that guy gave me bad vibes anyway," Mo replied. The teacher had not showed up to class yet even though the bell rang. "Who beats up on girls anyway?"

"A total loser, that's who," she replied.

When Mr. Simpson finally stepped in the classroom, he was bombarded with millions of questions about this Rick Murray kid. Since no one in class was around last year when this all went down, everybody wanted to hear all of the brutal details.

"Kids, I know that this is probably some very upsetting news to find out during your first week of school but we the faculty ask that you leave this situation up to us," Simpson commanded.

"But how can we feel safe at school with that kind of person attending?" Mo questioned out loud as some of his classmates voiced their agreements. His heart leaped a little at the positive reception. It always felt good when people were agreeing with him instead of laughing at him.

Simpson sighed. "It's something that we're doing our best to figure out. As for right now, let's start our day with some computer exercises, alright?"

As Mo turned around to face his computer, he wondered how this Rick situation was going to affect the school.

Today was the club fair, and Marisol was beyond excited.

She came to the school before Katie did this morning to set up the Pep Squad table in the gymnasium. She had decorated it with a gold tablecloth and blue ribbons. She had a big bowl of candy on the table along with a signup sheet and a boom box playing music. She had a giant poster detailing all of the benefits of the cheer team in front of the table with everything on the poster written in glittery gold glue.

She was dressed in her gym uniform with gold and blue painted on her cheeks, and her black hair was tied up in two puffs on top of her head. Her mother had put blue and gold ballies in her hair to compliment her outfit.

Within the first ten minutes of the club fair starting, five girls have already signed up for tryouts. Her ideal was to have at least sixteen members on the team.

She was about to take a break and ask a teacher to watch the table when Imogen Moreno skipped in front of her. "Hi!" The girl greeted cheerfully.

"Hi," Marisol greeted back flatly.

"I would like to sign up for the Pep Squad," the other girl declared, and Marisol raised an eyebrow. Imogen was one of the last people she wanted on the team. The Pep Squad was for future IT girls, not school weirdos.

But she couldn't prevent her from signing up unfortunately. "Awesome, sign up here," she replied as she handed Imogen a blue pen with glitter ink. Imogen eagerly took it and then whistled a tune to herself as she signed up.

"I can't wait for tryouts. I'm always looking for opportunities to meet new friends," she said. Marisol gave her a thin smile in return.

"Looking forward to seeing you there," she replied. Imogen nodded before walking away. Marisol's face then fell in disgust. She hoped the girl performed poorly at tryouts.

Rick Murray came into the gym, and Marisol watched in amusement as he was actively turned away from every club he tried to sign up for. Absolutely no one wanted that loser in their club.

Katie walked up to her. "Guess who just signed up for soccer tryouts?" She asked excitedly.

"O-M-G, I hope you get in!" Marisol squealed in return.

"And I signed up for journalism and the karate club too. I'm aiming to get my red belt this year," Katie added as just Rick approached them.

"Hi ladies," he greeted before turning his attention to her, "May I have some candy?"

Marisol glared at him as she pulled her bowl away from him. "Absolutely not," she sneered.

"Why not?" He asked again.

"Why don't you leave us alone, or are you going to beat us into a coma too?" Katie questioned him harshly.

Rick left them without another word.

Eli walked up to the drama table to where a few older students were watching over. "Hey kid, you interested in drama? Sign up here," one of them, a really skinny guy with shaggy brown hair said as he slid him the signup sheet with a black pen. Eli wrote down his name on the sheet without a second thought. He had always been interested in theatre, preferably as a director or writer.

"What productions are you guys doing this year?" He asked.

"We're thinking of doing Dracula," the older guy replied as he looked at a nerdy looking black girl with glasses for confirmation. She nodded, and Eli noticed she had a blush on her cheeks.

"Cool," he answered. He read the original book last year just for fun.

"I want to sign up too!" A girl from his class announced as she ran up to the table. He believed her name was Marisol.

She signed her name in pretty, cursive handwriting. "Drama club sounds so amazing. I want to be an actress!" She declared.

"Aren't you already running a cheer team?" He asked her. He remembered Imogen talking about how she was going to join the Pep Squad as a distraction from her parents divorcing. He personally thought cheerleading was stupid but he supposed that Imogen would be a great fit for the team due to her cheery attitude. She was also full of so much energy.

"Yeah, but I don't see why I can't do this either," Marisol answered.

"It requires a lot of time and attention," he explained. School productions were something he took seriously, and the last thing the club needed was silly cheerleaders who were only concerned about looking pretty and not actually performing well.

"And I have plenty of room for both," Marisol argued. "Don't you worry about it, Emo Boy."

"Emo Boy?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, you heard me," she said before giving him a playful tap on the shoulder and walking away.

Eli couldn't help but smile in amusement as he watched her leave.

"I'm going to throw a party tonight at my place. My parents are going away for the weekend and won't be back until Sunday," Marisol said to Katie as their art teacher allowed them a five minute break.

"I thought we were going to do some studying instead," Katie replied with a frown.

"We can do that Saturday," Marisol dismissed with a handwave. "Tonight should all be about fun. We'll have Domino's, games, and I'm going to invite the cutest boys in grades seven and eight."

None of that sounded appealing to Katie, and she didn't know which option was the worst, but she knew Marisol was going to want her to come. "Cool," she said.

"Who should we invite?" Marisol asked.

"I don't know, you're the party thrower," Katie answered, making her friend sigh.

"You're never any help at these kind of things," her best friend grumbled. Katie only shrugged in response.

"Did someone say party?" Imogen asked as she came out of nowhere. "Can I come?"

Her and Marisol looked at each other, not knowing what to answer. She could tell Marisol didn't want Imogen to be at the party because she was weird, but at the same time Imogen was also trying out for Pep Squad and it would look bad if Marisol rejected her.

"Sure, it starts at seven at my place," Marisol said with a fake smile. The other girl excitedly clapped in response.

"Excellent, I'll bring my friends!" She replied before skipping back to her seat.

"You're seriously allowing her to come?" Katie questioned her friend critically.

"Well every party needs some entertainment," Marisol replied with a smirk.

Eli came home and unlocked the front door.

As he went inside, he noticed the place was eerily quiet. "Bullfrog? Cece?" He asked loudly while looking around in confusion. That's when he saw a note with some money on the table.

He picked it up and read. "Your mom and I are going out for the night. We left you money for some pizza," the note read.

"Going out" meant hanging out at a bar until 2 am in the morning, and then getting drunk at home. Or high. Eli rolled his eyes as he plopped down on the couch and turned on the TV.

Sometimes he wondered how his parents functioned when they were so dedicated to alcohol and drugs. The only time his father acted like a normal human being was while he was working as a radio show host and even then there were some moments on air when he could tell his father was under the influence.

A thought popped into Eli's head.

Since his parents were going to be out all night, there was no reason why he couldn't go to the back to school party with the seventh and eighth graders. Imogen invited him and Mo, and he wasn't interested at first but now he was.

It's not like he was going to get caught by his parents or anything.

The party she was throwing seemed to be successful so far.

Marisol smiled at the various activities her classmates were doing around her living room. Kids were dancing to the music, eating pizza and barbecue, talking animatedly, or watching TV. This was definitely going to make her one of the popular girls in school.

No one was playing games however, and she was about to change that. "Alright, everyone!" She yelled, getting everyone's attention. "Let's play a game!"

"Charades!" Imogen, the freak, yelled. She was dressed in another tutu skirt, this time bright orange with black leggings, a black shirt, and a matching orange bow.

"Absolutely not," she harshly rejected, "We're not in second grade."

Imogen pouted at her remark but she didn't care.

"What about spin the bottle?" An eighth grade boy suggested with a grin. Several kids oohed and ahhed at the idea.

"Start off with a kissing game this early?" Marisol questioned before a wide grin split on her face. "Let's do it."

Eli was already regretting going to this party and now that the kids were playing that stupid seven minutes in heaven game, he was really regretting it. He should have stayed his ass home and watched horror movies like he always did whenever his parents went out drinking.

He was sitting between Imogen and Marisol, and watching in boredom as kids were forced to go into the closet for seven minutes. There was so much giggling and whispering among everyone it was driving him insane.

He hoped that him and Imogen would not be forced to go into the closet at some point. Nothing could kill a friendship quicker than being forced to kiss, and he could tell his friend was super uncomfortable by this game. He was too.

The girl on the other side of him, Marisol, looked to be excited playing this game on the other hand. He noticed that she was eying multiple guys in the room in interest.

The way she talked to Imogen made him highly suspicious of her. He had seen the way her and her best friend Katie looked at Imogen in class, and his protective instincts activated. He didn't want to kiss anyone who was mean to his friends.

After two eighth graders came out with tousled hair and clothes, giggling, Marisol spoke up. "Okay, time to find who's next….."

She reached in the center of the circle everyone had formed and spun the bottle. Everyone watched with tension to see who the bottle would land on.

Just his luck that it landed between him and Marisol.

Chapter Text

Imogen's mouth dropped when the bottle landed between him and Marisol. She couldn't believe it.

She was feeling multiple emotions, but the biggest was jealousy.

"Alright, come on Emo Boy, let's go," Marisol said cheerfully as she stood up. Imogen closed her mouth and watched as the other girl held out her hand for Eli to grab.

Eli looked at her hand as if it was on fire at first. She hoped that he would reject her and that he would refuse to go in the closet with her. Then they could leave the party together.

Instead, Eli reluctantly took it as he got up. Imogen felt her stomach tighten as Marisol led him into a closet while everyone else in the circle whispered conspirately among themselves. Eli and Marisol were such an odd matchup, and everyone was excited to see how them being in a closet together would go. Everyone except her.

She regretted inviting Eli to the party in the first place.

He should have stayed his ass home.

Eli stared down Marisol as she closed the closet door on them and sat down across from him. He could barely see her face in the darkness.

"So we can talk," Marisol offered him with a smile on her face.

"About what? I sincerely doubt there's anything I can talk about with you," he replied gruffly. Marisol seemed to be the literal opposite of him and he had no interest in talking about lip gloss, glitter, pink, and Disney princesses. Just the thought made him ill.

"So you think we should just sit in silence and do nothing for the next seven minutes?" She questioned in disbelief. "What are you, scared of me or something?"

"You? Never," he denied with a snort. As if he would ever be scared of a girly girl princess. Now her best friend Katie, on the other hand, was a different story. He heard she knew Karate and was a green belt.

"Then I guess you shouldn't be afraid of kissing me then," she reasoned.

"I rather not," he dismissed. Somehow he was able to see her pout. "Why would you want to kiss me anyway? You seem to be scared of me every time I walk down the halls." Or whenever their eyes met in class. She seemed to think he was a vampire or something.

"Because you dress in nothing but red and black and draw skulls in your notebook, that's weird," she admitted.

"And I think it's weird that you can't go a day without lip gloss," he shot back. "It seems that we're the last people that should be trapped in a closet together."

"Then we should make the most of it, give people something to talk about," Marisol said as she scooted closer to him. Their faces were almost touching, and he could hear her soft breathing.

Something shifted in him.

"You really want to kiss just so people can talk about us?" He asked as he suddenly started feeling lightheaded. He blamed it on the smell of her hair, which had a sweet, cotton candy scent. He didn't like most sweets except chocolate. But the scent of her hair was penetrating his nostrils and making him feel….things.

He needed to get out of this closet.

"Well I also think you're interesting, even though you're weird," she admitted again.

"Gee thanks," Eli replied sarcastically even though he was starting to sweat. She moved even closer to him and grabbed his hand. The feel of her soft hands against his slightly rougher ones caused his skin to heat up. He didn't know what was going on. He must be coming down with a fever.

"One kiss shouldn't hurt, right?" She asked. He could feel her hot breath on his lips. He could smell it too. It smelled like fresh mint.

"If you don't think so," he answered.

"We don't have to actually tell anyone, it could be just between us," she assured him.

"Okay," he agreed, then there was a pregnant pause. "Well what are you waiting for? We don't have all night."

"Right…..," she replied. "You go first."

"Why?"

"The guy always goes first."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said as he leaned in and gently pressed his lips against hers. She quickly returned it and they awkwardly had their lips against each other for a few seconds. Then they pulled back from each other.

In the grand scheme of things, a tiny kiss like this should mean nothing to him but in those several seconds it did.

Her lips were soft, smooth, and tasted of strawberries due to her lip gloss. Those three things kept replaying in his mind on loop.

"I imagined my first kiss to be more epic," Marisol confessed.

"This was your first kiss?" He asked in surprise.

"Yeah," she confirmed.

"It's mine too," he confessed back, and now he suddenly felt insecure. Was he a bad kisser?

"It was nice though. Good job," she congratulated him while squeezing his hand. That hand squeeze caused his stomach to tighten.

"Thanks, you too," he congratulated as the timer outside finally went off. They both quietly stood up. Marisol opened the door where everyone was looking at them to see if there were any noticeable signs of a hookup. They went back to the circle without a second word to each other. The game continued.

Later, him and Imogen biked home together. He noticed that she was weirdly quiet the rest of the party. He chalked it up to her not fitting in. He didn't really either. He wished Mo was there, but he said over the phone that his parents would never allow him to go to a party with no adult chaperones.

When they got to her house, she finally decided to speak up.

"What did you and Marisol do in that closet?" She demanded while getting off her bike.

"Nothing," he lied quickly.

"Oh, that's good. I was worried that she might eat you alive," she replied.

"Nope, we just sat in silence," he said. "Goodnight Imogen."

"Goodnight Eli," she replied as she chained up her bike. He watched as she entered her house safely, and she gave him a final wave before she walked in.

As Eli rode home, all he could think about was Marisol and how soft her lips were against his.

On Monday, Marisol arrived at school feeling like she was floating. It has been like that since the party.

"What did you and Eli do in that closet?" Katie asked her suspiciously as she walked up to her.

"Nothing, we just sat in silence," she denied as she looked in the mirror to make sure her hair was in place. Her mother had put a silk press in her hair over the weekend and now it was pin straight. She then used hair spray to make her hair look extra shiny, and put in a pink butterfly clip in her hair.

"Well that's not what I'm hearing," Katie replied while holding her history textbook tightly to her chest.

"What are people saying?" She asked as she turned to face her friend, who was staring her down critically. While she normally would be excited at the idea of people talking about her, she didn't want people to talk about this.

"There's a rumor going around the school that you and Eli hooked up in the closet and did things," Katie answered with a hard look. "That you guys made out and touched each other's…..private areas."

"What? Ew," Marisol replied in disgust. "Me kissing him and touching him? No way. I would never."

"Good, because I don't want to think that you would be willing to do that kind of thing with a guy. There's no benefit to being the school slut," Katie said. Just then, Eli walked past them.

Their eyes met briefly for one second, and Marisol felt her skin heat up. However she quickly turned away and focused on getting her books for the day. Only the first half of the rumors flying around were true, and she still had no intention of everyone finding out about her and Eli kissing.

Even if it did feel nice and it was all she could think about.

"I heard you and Marisol got nasty in her closet at the party," Mo said to his friend as the teacher briefly left the classroom to go to the restroom. That was all it took for the room to erupt in chaos. Kids were talking loudly to each other and trading jokes.

"We definitely did not," Eli denied strongly as he dodged a paper plane tossed his way.

"Come on, you can tell me all of the freaky details," Mo insisted while leaning in conspirately. He really wished he was allowed to go to the party on Friday now. The idea of his emo friend being locked in the closet with the school princess and possibly hooking up with her was an amusing mental image.

"I promise you that we did nothing but sit in silence for seven whole minutes, Mo. Do you really think so low of me that I would hook up with that?" Eli asked as he gestured towards Marisol, who was writing something in her pink notebook with a pink glitter pen.

Mo thought she was cute, but a girl like her would never go out with a guy like him so there was no use crushing on her.

"You right," he replied with a nod. "The rumors sound crazy anyway."

"I should have stayed home, but Bullfrog and Cece were out drinking again and I had nothing else to do," Eli grumbled. "I also didn't want Imogen to be there alone with those popular kids."

"And now you got yourself involved with the popular kids," Mo teased.

"I did not," Eli denied again firmly, looking disgusted at the idea.

"Whatever you sayyyyy," Mo replied in a singsong voice just as the teacher walked back in.

His friend rolled his eyes at him in response as the teacher went on with the lesson.

Katie looked at the food in front of her in the lunch line. Today's options other than the usual pizza, burgers, sandwiches, and wraps were chicken tenders.

She picked up a single turkey sandwich for herself and a water and went back to her table with Marisol. She had to go back to eating healthy after the food she ate at Marisol's party. She had only one slice of pizza and two barbecue wings but that was probably still too many calories. She really needed to watch her weight if she was to be on the junior varsity soccer team.

Katie quietly ate her food, taking one small bite at a time. She didn't want to be seen as a pig for just gobbling down her food. She watched as Marisol ate her lunch of chicken tenders and fries. There was a cup of cheese sauce Marisol would dip the fries in every so often.

"How can you eat that kind of stuff when you're a cheerleader?" She questioned.

"Because I work the fat off every day," Marisol answered with a shrug before taking a big bite of one of her chicken tenders.

"But you should eat healthy every day so you wouldn't have to do that," Katie reminded her. She has had this conversation with Marisol plenty of times in the past few months. Yet, despite taking part in a "sport" that pressured girls into having perfect bodies, her friend continued to eat ice cream, cheese fries, burgers, and fried seafood like it was nothing.

"I do eat healthy, but I also treat myself every now and then Katie-kins," Marisol replied, "You should learn to do the same."

"It's easy to trick yourself into thinking that but then you lose control," Katie said in concern.

"I think you're putting too much thought into this. Food is food, and restricting yourself to only eating sandwiches and granola bars every day probably isn't good," Marisol argued.

"If you say so, but I'm just concerned, Mare," she said.

"What you think I'm getting fat or something?" Marisol asked her with narrowed eyes. When she didn't answer, her friend's eyes widened. "Oh my God, you do."

"I'm just concerned about the amount of calories you have been consuming lately," Katie replied defensively.

"Maybe you should mind your own business!" Marisol exclaimed angrily, getting up from her seat with her tray of food.

"Where are you going?" Katie demanded.

"Anywhere but here!" Marisol replied as she stormed off.

Katie watched her friend leave, and while she felt guilty that she apparently hurt Marisol's feelings, she didn't move to apologize.

After all, she knew she was ultimately right.

Later that day, Imogen entered the gymnasium for Pep Squad tryouts with Mo by her side.

"I'm definitely just here for support," Mo said to her.

"Aw come on, boys can join the Pep Squad too. It's gender inclusive!" Imogen tried to convince him as she looked at the other people trying out. There were mostly girls of all shapes and sizes, and only a few boys.

"Yeah sure, the mental image of me waving around pom poms isn't weird at all," he replied sarcastically. Imogen ignored him as she approached Marisol and the coach, Mrs. Mendelson. The other girl for some reason had a grouchy look on her face.

Imogen put on a fake smile as she looked at Marisol. She was dressed like she was at the club fair, except she replaced her hair ballies for gold and blue ribbons. She was wearing her usual lip gloss, except there was glittery blue eyeshadow to go along with it. She was pretty, Imogen supposed. Pretty enough to get Eli's attention at the party.

She had heard several rumors about what Marisol and Eli did in that closet, and she didn't like any of them.

"Hi, I'm here to try out for the Pep Squad!" She declared. Marisol then gave her a smile that felt fake in return.

"Sure, stand over there with the rest of the tryouts," she directed, pointing at where a group of people were standing.

"Cool!" Imogen replied enthusiastically as she went over to the group. After a few more people entered the gym, Marisol began to call everyone up to audition one by one. There were some girls that were obviously going to make the team and then there were the ones that weren't. One girl accidentally fell on her ass attempting to do a headstand while the other fell flat on her face.

Marisol had a hard look on her face no matter how well the person performed. Imogen figured that she was trying to come off as intimidating. Maybe to the other girls she did, but to her, she didn't. Marisol was just another shallow popular that looked down at anyone not like her.

Yet she possibly hooked up with Eli of all people.

"Imogen Moreno?" The coach read her name out loud from a sheet of paper, and Imogen practically skipped to the space in front of Marisol's table. Regardless of how she felt about Marisol at the moment, she was so excited to do this and nothing was going to kill her excitement.

"Okay Imogen, let's see what you got," Marisol said as she folded her hands expectantly.

Imogen smiled as she effortlessly did a few toe touches, cartwheels, and a flip. "Go Degrassi!" She exclaimed as she did a wide jump before splitting effortlessly on the floor. She had practiced all night, and doing cartwheels and splits were easy for her to do since she did them often at home to burn off energy.

Marisol was looking at her in surprise as if she didn't expect for her to do so good. She looked up at the coach before looking back at her, blinking. "Thanks...," she said with a slow nod. "Next is Georgia Banks."

Imogen smiled again as she went back to Mo, who was sitting on the bleachers. "Wow you really killed it," he complimented her.

"You think she would allow me on the team?" She questioned in concern. It was a little obvious that Marisol didn't like her. She wouldn't be surprised if she was rejected from the team based on that alone.

"She would be stupid not to," Mo assured her. "So...do you think I would make a great mascot?"

That night, Eli tossed and turned in his sleep as he dreamed of something very disturbing.

He was trapped in the closet with Marisol again, and there seemed to be no limit to how long they could stay in there. He didn't know how he got there, but he needed to leave immediately.

Unfortunately, his body did not want to.

"My parents are sleeping upstairs, and they have no idea you're here," Marisol said with a mischievous grin. For some reason, there was a single, tiny candle burning on the floor between them, and he could see the warm glow of her face. He noticed all of her fine features, like her dark eyes, long eyelashes, round cheeks, and full lips.

She was very pretty, no doubt about that.

"Good," he heard himself say as she grabbed both of his hands. Her hands were soft while his were clammy. He was nervous and he hated how much he was showing it.

"Relax, Eli. We've done this before," she said as she traced one of her fingers over his hand. It was a comforting gesture and he felt a little less tense.

"Okay," he replied as she leaned forward. Closing his eyes, he leaned forward as well.

When their lips met again, he felt his heart soar.

Eli woke up, disgruntled, and looked at his alarm clock. It was the middle of the night. He groggily got out of his bed, went downstairs, and fixed himself a glass of milk with ice.

He did not go back to sleep.

Chapter Text

The first thing Imogen did in the morning when she entered school was run to the cafeteria. Marisol had said after tryouts was over that the sheet saying who made the team would be posted outside the cafeteria on the wall.

As she approached the sheet, she braced herself for the possibility of her not making the team. After all, her and Marisol clearly weren't friends. With each step towards the sheet, she felt her stomach tighten in fear.

She quickly scanned the sheet, and when she found her name, she squealed in excitement and started bouncing excitedly. She was now a cheerleader!

"First practice is at four," she heard Marisol say as the girl suddenly appeared next to her. The other girl looked at her with hard eyes like she did yesterday. "Sharp, and if you miss it, you're off the team," she warned before walking away.

Imogen paid her no mind as she continued to bounce. She was so excited to be on the Pep Squad!

In the girls' locker room, Katie got dressed for gym class. Today, they were starting a floor hockey unit and she was eager to prove her athleticism.

Marisol was quietly changing next to her, and that's when Katie decided it was now time for them to talk. She turned to face her friend.

"Hey Mare about yesterday, I didn't mean to imply that you were fat and I'm sor-"

"Katiekins, you're bleeding," Marisol cut her off as she looked at her in worry.

"Huh? Where?" She asked in confusion as the other girls in the locker room looked at them.

"On your leg," Marisol said while pointing downward. Katie looked down and on her left leg, there was a thin, light trail of blood trickling down.

"Why am I...what's going on?" Katie questioned in horror, more to herself than Marisol.

"Your period, dummy. Plug it up," one of her classmates sneered before tossing a tampon at her head. Katie narrowly dodged it in time as several girls laughed.

Marisol glared at the girl before turning back to her. "I'll get the teacher, okay?" She said, before walking off.

Katie could only stand there in shock as she tried to process what was happening.

Eli was in a crabby mood today, and most of it was due to the sleep he didn't get last night.

The memory of him and Marisol kissing replayed in his mind repeatedly along with the dreams he had about her as he tried to work on the computer for class. It was like being forced to watch the worst movie, and he didn't know how to stop it. He looked over at Mo, who instead of doing computer exercises, was instead looking up adult sites.

"Mo, what are you doing?" He whispered to his friend.

"Looking up hot naked ladies, that's what I'm doing," his friend answered proudly as he clicked on one site. Eli was immediately bombarded with the sight of multiple clips of adults doing very adult things. "You're going to get in trouble," Eli warned him as he immediately shielded his eyes, but it was too late.

He was already fantasizing about him and Marisol doing those things.

"Oh please, Simpson is on the other side of the room. He can't see this," Mo argued as he clicked on one clip. "It's crazy how the school doesn't even have a parental lock on this kind of thing…."

Despite knowing he should look away from the video, Eli could not bring himself to do so. As the adults on the screen performed acts he had never seen before, he was intrigued. He stopped doing his exercises and instead silently watched with his friend.

It didn't take long before they were caught.

"Interesting material to look at, boys," Simpson said in a soft voice, getting both his and Mo's attention immediately. They both whipped around to look at their teacher in surprise.

There was an amused glint in Simpson's eyes, but it wasn't enough to save them.

"I'll be glad to discuss with you two about the harmful effects of watching pornography at such a young age…...in detention."

Katie felt incredibly awkward as she sat in the nurse's office with the sweater Marisol gave her to cover herself up. She was embarrassed when she was led out of the gym by the teacher, who clearly was uncomfortable with dealing with this kind of situation.

How could she not feel her period coming? Was she supposed to feel it coming? She felt like an idiot for not having things under control.

The nurse stepped out with a fresh pair of panties, some fresh shorts, and a pad. "Getting your first period during school isn't an uncommon occurrence and nothing to be ashamed about," she assured her as she handed her the new clothes. "Go into the bathroom, wipe yourself, and put these on.

Katie gingerly took the items, still feeling quite ashamed despite the nurse's words. After she spent the next couple of minutes doing what the nurse ordered, she left the nurse's office.

She barely made it five steps before she was teased by some boys in her grade.

"Hey Bloody Mary, I heard you got blood on the floor in the locker room," one boy sneered. Katie tried to ignore them as she walked back to gym class, only for the boy and his friends to follow her.

"Leave me alone," she commanded, walking a little more faster.

"What's wrong? Already PMSing?" Another one teased. She continued to walk.

"I bet she is. Why are you ignoring us? You're gonna start crying, Bloody Mary?" The third one asked. When she didn't answer, he grabbed her arm. It proved to be a big mistake for him.

Before she could think twice about it, she turned around and punched the kid in the face.

Imogen got her lunch and happily went to sit down with her friends, who both had grim looks on their faces. "What's wrong with you guys?" She questioned.

"Mo here got us in detention this afternoon," Eli answered while giving his friend a dirty look.

"Hey, you didn't seem to protest watching the video with me," Mo argued.

"Only because I had no choice! It was a distraction!" Eli argued back.

"What video?" She asked, tilting her head curiously. She watched as both boys flushed red, although Eli's was much more prominent due to his pale skin.

"Um, well…," Mo began before suddenly focusing on the plate of red pasta and juice in front of him. Eli then sighed.

"Porn. We were watching porn, Im," he explained, not really meeting her eyes.

"Porn? What's that?" She questioned.

"You can't be serious…..," Mo said to her in disbelief. She shrugged in response. She really didn't know what it was.

"Wait, you really don't know what porn is?" He asked in surprise.

"No, what is it?"

"It's videos of adults having sex with each other," Eli answered bluntly. "Mo had the bright idea of going on some porn site in class, and Simpson caught. Quite frankly, only Mo should get detention because he was the one who searched it up on his laptop."

"Ew…..," she said, wrinkling her nose in disgust. When she learned that that was how babies were made, she remembered losing her appetite for a whole day.

"You seemed to be really into it though," Mo pointed out to Eli. "You were probably thinking of you and Marisol doing that nasty stuff."

Imogen tensed at the mention of the other girl's name. A part of her was still scared that the rumors were true about her and Eli hooking up in that closet.

"Like hell I would," Eli denied with narrowed eyes just as Marisol walked by. She had a slice of pizza on her plate, along with fries, a chocolate chip cookie, and a bottle of iced tea.

"You know, for someone who's going to lead a cheer team, she sure does eat a lot," Mo said as he looked at Marisol in wonder. The cheer captain sat down at an empty table while looking around, probably for her best friend Katie. "She eats breakfast here too. I always see her eating some kind of breakfast sandwich."

"I'm surprised she eats anything other than a salad and water honestly. Pizza, fries, and cookies don't seem like cheerleader food," Eli remarked.

"I'm surprised you don't know more about her since you guys were in a closet together," Mo replied.

"Because we did nothing but sit in silence together for the whole seven minutes," Eli said firmly.

"Marisol is too shallow for Eli, and stupid," Imogen said, and when Eli nodded in agreement, she felt her heart soar. His opinion mattered more than anyone else's.

"Yeah, at least one of my friends get me," he agreed while looking pointedly at Mo.

"I'm just saying, that's not what I'm hearing. I heard you were elated to go in that closet with her," Mo replied with a teasing smile.

"He was disgusted. He didn't even want to touch her hand," Imogen corrected him quickly, not even wanting to entertain that one rumor. She saw how uncomfortable Eli looked when the bottle spun on him and Marisol. There was no way his opinion changed during those dreadful seven minutes.

"Exactly, now stop telling me what those stupid kids are saying. I don't want to hear it," Eli requested. "Marisol is the worst and I could go on and on as to why."

"Let's hear them!" Imogen encouraged him.

As her friend ranted about the other girl, she could relax knowing that Marisol could never be a threat to the bond she and Eli have.

"But he grabbed my arm!" Katie exclaimed in anger. She was in the principal's office for punching that kid and for some reason, she was the one getting in trouble despite being the victim.

"Regardless, violence is never the answer, Ms. Matlin," Raditch replied with a hard look, "Three days detention."

She gasped. "Are you kidding me? What are those boys getting?"

"Rest assured that they will be punished too, but as for you, you will be given a lot of time to think about why retaliating violence with more violence only adds fuel to the fire," he explained. Katie felt her blood boil and her skin grow hot.

"So a guy that beats on girls gets to come back to Degrassi but I can't defend myself without punishment when I get grabbed? This is all a joke!" She protested, appalled.

"Ms. Matlin if you don't lower your voice at me, you will be sitting in detention for the rest of the week," Raditch sharply warned her. She simply scowled at him in response as she got out of her seat. She couldn't believe how horrible her day has been, and it was because of her stupid period.

"Be lucky that I'm only giving you three days as a warning. Degrassi has a zero tolerance for violence," he told her. She bit down a smart remark. "You can leave now, you are dismissed," he added.

She stormed out of the principal's office with tears in her eyes.

Marisol was getting books out of her locker after school, waiting for Katie to come up. When she didn't, Marisol closed her locker and promptly left the school.

She was still mad at her best friend for daring to imply that she was getting fat but she was still protective of Katie, and she felt so bad that she got her period during gym class. The embarrassment will be talked about for weeks, especially by those girls who were making fun of her after she was escorted out of the gym. She tried to tell them off, but the girls only continued to make jokes about how stupid her bestie was. If only they knew that Katie would break their necks in a heartbeat.

Marisol didn't have her period yet, but she did get some weird white liquid in her panties several months ago and her mama told her it was a sign that it was coming soon. Since her mother was a doctor, she believed her.

She was excited about becoming a woman, but she was also scared, especially after what Katie went through. She overheard from some guys in her class that some boys tried to bully her friend too, only for Katie to punch one of them in the face. Now she thought about it, that's probably why Katie was missing. She was in detention.

"How was school, baby?" Her mother, Martina, asked her as she got in her mom's car.

"Katie got her period in class today," Marisol answered.

"Ooh that must have been embarrassing for her," her mother replied sympathetically, "I remember I got my first period at lunch. I was wearing a nice pair of white jeans and didn't know there was a big red spot on the back of them until a couple boys walked up to me and started making fun of me. I was humiliated and ran out of the cafeteria crying."

"Will that happen to me?" Marisol asked in fear.

"It might. It might not. Unfortunately it's up to your body to decide when to start menstruating," her mother answered. Marisol frowned at that.

If her first period came while she was at school, she might not be able to survive the embarrassment.

"For the next hour, you two will write an essay about why pornography is wrong," Raditch said as he handed him a paper and a pencil. Mo watched as he did the same to Eli, who was forced to sit far away from him on the other side of the room. After he was done with Eli, he then approached Katie, who was sitting in the back of the classroom. "And you will write an essay on why violence is never the solution to any problem."

Katie gave Raditch a death glare, and if looks could kill, the principal would have combust into flames right then and there. Raditch paid her no mind as he walked back to the front of the room and stood at the desk. "During detention there is no talking, sleeping, or eating of any kind. I am keeping a close eye on all of you," he warned. "Now start writing."

'I don't see why we need to write a stupid paper. We're all probably going to get yelled by our parents when we get home anyway,' Mo thought to himself as his mind blanked on what to write with. He could already hear his mother's shrill voice, screaming for him to explain himself as to why he was watching those videos instead of doing schoolwork. He was probably going to be grounded for a month with no access to the TV.

Fifteen minutes went by, and Mo only had a few sentences written. He was bored out of his freaking mind. When Raditch had to leave the room to take a call, he took this as a prime opportunity to talk to Eli. "What do you have so far?" He whispered to his friend.

"Three paragraphs," Eli whispered back as he lifted up his paper for him to see.

"How are you even finding the words to write?" He questioned.

"Writing's easy for me," Eli answered with a shrug. He then looked back at Katie. "You're in here for punching a kid, right?" He asked her.

"Yup," she answered flatly without looking up from her paper.

"And you don't regret it at all," he assumed.

"Nope," she confirmed in the same flat tone as before.

"Did you really need to punch that guy over a period?" Mo asked her. He then put a teasing smile. "I mean, periods are pretty gross and I heard you got it all over the locker room fl-"

"Would you like to get punched too?" She cut him off, and there was a dangerous fire in her eyes.

"Not even remotely," he replied quickly, turning around in his seat.

The more he knew of Katie Matlin, the more he knew that avoiding her bad side was the wisest choice to make.

Imogen came home to just her father. Her mother had moved out over the weekend to temporarily live with her grandmother until she found a new place. She really didn't miss her so far.

She sat her backpack on her living room couch and turned on the TV. One of her favorite cartoons, Powerpuff Girls, was on. She knew that some kids in her grade had stopped watching cartoons, claiming that it was childish to do so. But she would always love watching cartoons because they were a great escape from the real world. She liked watching anime too, and reading manga.

She got up to fix herself a snack when she noticed water leaking down the steps. Confused, she walked over to the scene and looked upstairs. "Dad!" She called, to no answer. She walked up the steps to see water flooding from their main bathroom tub. She carefully stepped inside and turned the water off, nearly slipping in the process. She then walked inside her Dad's bedroom to where he was casually lounging on his bed reading a book.

"Dad? Why was the bathtub running? You flooded the bathroom!" She questioned.

Her father looked at her in confusion, as if he didn't know what she was talking about. "I didn't turn on anything…..," he replied before something clicked in his mind. "Oh! I was supposed to be taking a bath!" He got off his bed and made his way into the hallway, which was soaked. "Shoot! I guess I have to clean this up, eh? Be a dear and get your father a mop and some paper towels, please?"

Imogen nodded as she walked downstairs to get the stuff needed to clean everything up.

She was a little concerned as to how her father forgot a simple task like turning the water off.

Chapter Text

A month later

Marisol walked into school with a bounce in her step. Today was the day of the Halloween dance and she has been looking forward to it all week.

Katie was reading a book for class in their homeroom period when she came in class. She walked over and playfully tugged on her bestie's ponytail to get her attention. Katie looked up from her book with an amused look. "You seem happy this morning, Mare," she greeted.

"Because of the Halloween dance tonight, Katiekins! Aren't you excited to go?" Marisol questioned. She loves events whether it was parties or dances, and she was excited to dress up in a cute costume for tonight's Halloween dance. It may have been another week before the actual holiday but she was ready to wear her costume.

She was going to be Betty from the Flintstones and Katie was going to be Wilma. Ever since they became friends, every year they did a theme for Halloween. So far they have been an angel and devil, Thing 1 and Thing 2, M&Ms, Princess Peach and Princess Daisy, Velma and Daphne, Girl Scouts, and pirate girls.

"I guess, even if I think we're getting a little too old for costumes," Katie answered.

"You're never too old for wearing cute costumes," Marisol declared as Imogen skipped up to them.

"Hi ladies! Did I hear something about costumes?" The other girl asked cheerfully.

Her and Katie shared a knowing look. After a month of being forced to deal civilly with Imogen because of the Pep Squad, she didn't hate the girl but she still thought of her as a weirdo and that was never going to change. However she realized that Imogen wasn't as bad as she thought. Weird she was, Imogen showed up on time to every practice and performed with the high energy needed at games.

The only problem was that Imogen got weirdly possessive whenever she even remotely looked in Eli's way.

"Yeah, we're going as Wilma and Betty from the Flintstones. What about you?" She asked politely.

"Oh it's a surprise, but I'll tell you guys this much, it'll be the best costume at the dance. I love Halloween!" Imogen answered.

"Cool," she replied.

"I'm excited to see you there," Imogen said one last time before leaving their presence. Marisol turned her attention back to Katie, who had a teasing smile on her face.

"So does Mare have a new bestie?" She jokingly asked.

"Absolutely not, she's still a loser," Marisol denied strongly, "Just an acceptable one."

"You seem to have the same opinion on Eli," Katie pointed out as she looked towards his way. He was chatting with Imogen and Mo about something.

"Yeah, and you don't have to worry about him being anything more than that to me," Marisol assured her, shuddering dramatically at the thought.

Unfortunately, she wouldn't stop thinking about them ever since they kissed. The memory of his soft lips on hers flashed in her mind every time their eyes met or they had to do class work together. For some reason, her stomach tingled when they crossed paths.

"Good, because he's such a creep," Katie replied, "I wouldn't imagine going out with that."

"Me neither," Marisol agreed. "Only freaks should go out with him."

"Like Imogen," Katie added, before they both laughed.

"So what are you guys going as for the Halloween dance?" Imogen asked her friends as they all ate lunch together.

"Vampire, I'm thinking Dracula," Eli answered as he took a bite out of his chicken finger. He then looked at Mo. "What about you, Mo?" He asked him.

Mo seemed to have not heard him. He just looked down at his food. "Mo?" Eli repeated. "Earth to Mo," he said as he lightly punched his friend in the arm. That seemed to snap their friend out of whatever trance he was in.

"What?" Mo asked.

"What are you dressing up as for the Halloween dance?" Eli questioned. Mo blinked before answering.

"Um…..Spider-Man….," he answered slowly.

"Are you okay?" She asked Mo in concern.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just a little dizzy. That's all," he assured. "So what are you going as Immy?"

"It's a secret," she answered proudly.

"Are we allowed to guess?" Eli questioned. She shook her head in response.

"Nope," she answered.

"Pretty please?"

"Nope."

"Not even for me? Please," He pleaded and she bit her lip to keep herself from backing down. For Eli she would almost do anything.

"Nope," she said for the final time as Rick Murray walked past their table. He had a plate of chicken tenders and fries on his plate as well.

He went by a table and didn't notice that one of the kids had stuck out their foot for him to trip on. He fell to the ground immediately and face planted on his food. Several people in the cafeteria laughed as he got up. Due to the fact that he squirted barbecue sauce and ketchup on his food, they were now all over his face and hair.

He dumped his food in the trash and left the cafeteria without another word.

"You know, sometimes I think people go too far with that guy," Eli said with a frown on his face.

"He should have thought about that before he put his girlfriend in a coma," Mo replied with a shrug.

"I know, but it feels like people aren't even attacking him for that. They just want to be bullies and I hate bullies," Eli said.

"Yeah, well, no one told him to come back to Degrassi. What kind of dumbass comes back to a place where he has bad history anyway?" Mo argued. "If I was him, I would move to a far away country where nobody even knows me. Start clean. Instead, he chose to come back here, where he knows everyone is going to hate him for what he did. That bozo brought it on himself."

"I know, and it's not like I'm crying over him getting his karma. I just wonder how far is too far," Eli replied.

Imogen could see both of their sides. In a way, she wanted to completely agree with Mo. Rick abused his girlfriend, who was friends with some of the most popular kids in school. Getting bullied like this was a small part of the karma he actually deserved. But as someone who had been dealing with bullies all her life, she knew when people were treating someone like crap for the hell of it. However, Rick was no innocent victim from all the bad things she heard about him.

"If he's strong enough to beat on a girl, then he's strong enough to take the treatment he's getting right now. It's what he deserves for being a total scumbag," Mo insisted.

"If you say so, but everyone has their breaking point," Eli replied before going back to eating his chicken tenders.

As Imogen looked at the mess on the floor from Rick's fall, she wondered what Rick's breaking point was going to be.

"Alright girlies, say cheese!" Marisol's mom said as she held up a camera.

Katie smiled as her and Marisol did a few cute poses while the camera flashed repeatedly. They were both in their costumes with the right hair and accessories. They both even had a little red lipstick on. Marisol had to help her apply her lipstick because she was hopeless at makeup.

"You girls look so cute," Mrs. Lewis squealed in a way that reminded her of Mare.

"Thank you Mama!" Marisol replied cheerfully.

"Now let's get you guys in the car!" Her mom said as she led them out the door. When they got in the car, she sat in the back and mostly kept to herself as Marisol and her mother chatted enthusiastically about the dance. Sometimes, Katie wondered if those two were the same person, just in different forms.

When they got to Degrassi, the loud music from the gymnasium could be heard from outside. Students were pouring in from all different directions, and all were in elaborate costumes of some kind.

"Is that Imogen?" Marisol asked in shock, and Katie followed the direction she was looking in.

Imogen was dressed as a fairy with big sparkly ivory wings, a glittery green shirt, and a matching green poofy skirt. There were ivory leggings underneath her outfit. Her hair was done in a high ponytail and even from inside the car, she could see the glitter on the other girl's face.

There was a best costume competition tonight, and Imogen could definitely win that.

"Aww she looks cute," Mrs. Lewis gushed, "Isn't she on your little cheer team Mari?"

"Yeah, she's the weird one," Marisol replied as they got out of the car.

"Have fun, ladies!" Her mother said to them one last time before she drove off. Marisol turned, looked at her, and excitedly grabbed her hand. "Let's go inside!" She said as they walked up to the school.

Eli wasn't usually one for dances, especially with this many kids at it, but he decided to go anyway for Imogen's sake.

Compared to her elaborate fairy costume, he felt like he was lacking with his even though Cece made it herself. He was dressed in a simple Dracula costume with a black cape, white blouse, fangs with fake blood on them, and black dress pants. His curly hair was slicked back for once, and he had to admit he nearly felt bald.

He got a plate of crispy chicken nuggets, waffle fries, and a cup of juice before sitting down at a table with his friends that was decorated with a spooky theme. There were fake spiders on it with a big bowl of candy in the middle of it. The whole gymnasium was decorated with a spooky theme in general with giant fake ghosts, bats, and spiders hanging from the ceilings, cobwebs covering other tables and chairs, and props of tombstones and coffins lined up on the walls.

"This is pretty great," Eli said as he reached into the bowl and picked up a few mini Hershey bars and snickers for himself. Imogen, on the other hand, got a giant scoop of candy for herself and immediately started gobbling them up.

"Leave some for the rest of us, will you?" Mo asked dryly as he grabbed twixes, snickers, and almond joys.

"Sorry!" She apologized, though it was mumbled due to the food in her mouth.

Some obnoxious pop music was playing while kids danced on the gymnasium floor or talked to each other in small groups. Eli watched them all in amusement. He definitely wasn't going to do any of that.

He spotted Marisol on the dance floor, who was bopping along to the beat in costume while trying to get Katie to do the same. Her best friend just simply stood there awkwardly. The contrast in the two girls were clear, and he often wondered how the two were friends when they were so different from each other.

As Marisol danced, he tried not to get dirty thoughts while watching her but it was hard. He noticed that her shoulders were bare due to the costume she was wearing, and that it looked smooth. Despite her short height, her legs looked longer than usual with the halter dress.

Suddenly, he was getting sweaty.

"You wanna ask Marisol to dance or something?" Mo asked him with a teasing glint in his eyes, snapping Eli out of his thoughts for the moment.

"First of all, I don't dance and second of all, even if I did, it wouldn't be with her," Eli answered with narrowed eyes.

"Then stop staring at her, dude. It's kinda creepy," Mo replied before eating some of the chicken nuggets on his plate, along with the candy.

"Eli should dance with me," Imogen said before immediately getting up. She held out her hand for him to take it.

"I don't dance," Eli repeated firmly, folding his arms for emphasis. That did not deter his friend. She only walked over and yanked him out of his seat by force. He was shocked by the strength she displayed despite being so small.

"Well now you are, buttercup!" She insisted while leading him to the dance floor.

Eli knew that there was no point in protesting.

Marisol was surprised to see Eli dancing, but she didn't let it show as she danced and tried to get Katie to do the same. "Come on Katiekins! Loosen up!" She urged.

"I'm not a good dancer, Mare, you know this," Katie replied while shaking her head. Marisol only took her hands in hers in response to get her dance. It was always up to her to break her friend out of her shell. She made Katie do a cute salsa with her, twirling her around in the process.

"Oh, girls, girls just wanna have fun, they just want, they just wanna, they just want, they just wanna," were the words blasting in the background as they danced. Every so often, Marisol would look back at Eli, who looked like a fish out of water as he awkwardly moved his arms along to the beat while Imogen bounced up and down. They were a funny looking pair compared to everyone else.

Only when Eli caught her staring, did Marisol quickly focus back to Katie and only Katie.

After dancing to a few more songs, Imogen pulled Eli off the dance floor, and her friend couldn't be any happier. They retreated back to the table where Mo was sitting, and he had multiple cups of water surrounding him.

"Woah, you must be really be thirsty," she commented.

"Yeah, it's been like that a lot these days," Mo replied. Imogen had noticed that over the past few weeks, Mo was drinking a lot from the school water fountain or he would just have at least three bottles of water or juice at lunch. Then he would take frequent bathroom breaks throughout the day.

"How is your bladder able to take it?" Eli asked.

"I don't even know." Mo answered with a shrug.

"We should explore the school," Imogen said, "Who knows what secrets the school holds at night?" She loved exploring in all different places.

"No thank you, I heard that there's a ghost of a guy that blew his own brains out years ago roaming the halls every night," Mo refused. "I heard that his ghost even walks around with the gunshot wound to the head."

"Sounds pretty awesome to me," Eli remarked. "That is, if it's even true. Ghosts aren't real."

"Well, why don't we find out? Come on, boys," Imogen encouraged, excited to see if the rumors were true or not.

"I'm down, but Mo is chicken," Eli said while smirking at their friend.

"As if, I'm just not stupid. It seems neither of you can relate," Mo fired back.

Her and Eli didn't move until he gave in. Sighing, their friend got up out of his seat and joined them on their little excursion of the school.

Katie let Marisol drag her into the haunted house themed photo area where a group of students was lined up. A hired photographer was taking pictures of everyone by themselves or with other people. When it was her and Marisol's turn, they eagerly stood in front of the camera.

"Let's do a scary pose!" Marisol said.

"Okay," Katie agreed. They then both got into a pose where they seemed like they were ready to poune on someone, baring their teeth at the photographer. The photographer smiled as he took the picture of them. Then they did a few more poses, some "scary" while others were more cutesy. They left the area when they were finished.

"I'm going to get more chicken nuggets," Marisol said as they walked back to their table. "Do you want me to get you more as well?"

"No thanks, I don't need the extra calories," Katie turned down politely. She was careful with what she was eating tonight. She already had four pieces of nuggets, a very small amount of fries, and a piece of candy. She didn't need to poison her body anymore.

Instead, she went to get herself a cup of water.

He didn't feel so good.

As he walked around with Eli and Imogen, Mo's vision was getting blurrier with each step to the point he couldn't see people, just blobs. He felt sick, ever since he ate some candy.

"Can I sit down for a bit, guys?" He asked his friends. "I'll catch up with you guys later."

His friends shared concerned looks with each other before nodding and leaving. They didn't find any ghosts roaming the halls of Degrassi while they were creeping around the school, but they did find some old, strange pictures of Mr. Simpson when he was a kid performing with some band.

He went to sit at an empty table, feeling himself getting a little too wobbly. He was also sweating badly underneath his costume.

'What's wrong with me?' Mo asked himself as he took his mask off. He then rested his face in his hands. He thought it would help, but it only made things worse.

'I'll get some water,' he thought to himself as he got up from his seat. Despite the few cups of water he had earlier, he was feeling really thirsty again.

He didn't make it far before his vision completely blackened.

When him and Imogen walked back into the gymnasium, they noticed something was wrong immediately when a large group of students was crowding around their table. Him and Imogen shared confused looks as they rushed over to their table.

There, they saw Mo on the floor, unconscious.

"Mo? Mo!" Imogen exclaimed in worry as she crouched down and tried to wake up their friend, but he wasn't responding. Eli just stood there in shock, not knowing what to do.

"Everybody clear out, now!" A chaperone commanded as she moved past all of them. She shoved Imogen away. "Someone call 911!"

It was a half and hour before the ambulance showed up to take Mo away, and by then the dance was over. The lights in the gym came on and the music stopped. While everyone was waiting for their parents to pick them up, they all were whispering about what could have possibly happened to make Mo faint.

Eli tried to calm Imogen down as she was panicking. He had his arm wrapped around her while she cried. Inside, he was freaking out but he had to keep it together for her.

However, as he looked at the area Mo passed out in, he wondered if they were to blame for not noticing anything wrong with him until it was too late.

"What happened, Mari?" Her mother asked in concern as her and Katie got back into the car. They were waiting outside the school until her mother arrived.

"Some kid in our class passed out," Marisol answered, feeling shaky from the experience. She had never seen a kid pass out until Mo did it, and seeing him unresponsive on the floor like that was one of the scariest images she had ever seen in her life.

"Oh god," her mother said in horror.

"We saw him get up from the table to walk over to the drinks table and he just…..fell," Katie added from the back. "Nobody knows what happened."

"I hope he's alright," her mother replied.

Marisol was trying to process how a night that started off so well went disastrous in just two hours.

Mo woke up in a white hospital bed with his vision returning to normal.

His mother was the only person in the room with him, and she seemed to have been praying by his bedside. "Mohammad! Praise Allah you're awake!" She exclaimed with tears in her eyes as she reached over and grabbed his hand tenderly.

"Mom, what happened?" He asked with a groggy voice.

"You were in a coma for three days," his mother answered, "Your father and I were beginning to fear the possibility of you never waking up."

"Why was I in a coma?" He questioned in confusion. The last thing he remembered was trying to get some water at the Halloween dance.

His mother shifted uncomfortably in her seat at the question.

"The doctor told us that you are diabetic," she explained, "And you fell into a coma because of it. You were in serious danger of dying."

Mo could only stare numbly at his mother in response.

Chapter Text

On the morning of Eli's thirteenth birthday, he was woken up by his mother.

"Happy birthday baby boy!" Cece said to him with a smile on her face.

Eli smiled back despite how tired he was right now. "Thanks, Mom."

"I bought you a whole tray of cute Halloween cupcakes to share with your classmates," she explained, "And then when you get home from school, Bullfrog and I will take you out to your favorite restaurant. Where do you want to go?"

"Little Miss Steaks," he answered just as his stomach rumbled at the thought of eating a big, juicy bacon cheeseburger.

She pinched his cheeks affectionately. "You got it! We'll even go in costume!"

"Cool," he replied. Since he was born on Halloween, his parents always went out for his birthday. Right now, he can smell the birthday breakfast Cece cooked for him. He just knew that there was an ice cream cake waiting for him in the fridge too.

Today was going to be a good day, he could tell.

Since the weather was warmer than usual, Marisol dressed in a pretty white top with a pastel pink skirt that was frilly at the bottom. She wore matching white sneakers with pastel pink shoelaces to accompany them. Combined with the pink butterfly hair clip she was wearing, she knew she looked cute today.

She smiled as she stepped into her homeroom classroom, where Katie was waiting for her.

"You look pretty, Marebear, what's the occasion?" Katie asked her.

"I don't know, I just felt like looking cute today due to the warm weather," she answered cheerfully.

The bell rung, and everyone who wasn't in their seats quickly got in their seats as Mr. Simpson walked in with Eli following behind him with a tray of cupcakes.

"Morning everyone, today is Eli's birthday and he brought in cupcakes for everyone to eat. Why don't we all sing him happy birthday?" Simpson suggested.

Eli shook his head. "No, no, there's no need to-"

"On the count of three everyone. One, two, three…."

She watched in amusement as Eli blushed in embarrassment while everyone in the classroom sang him happy birthday, with Imogen singing louder than everyone else. When the song was over, he looked like he wanted to run and hide. Simpson pretended he didn't see it as he passed around the tray of cupcakes. They were all either chocolate or vanilla with orange frosting, and sprinkles shaped like bats, ghosts, and pumpkins.

When the tray passed around to Katie, she quickly passed the tray to her without taking a cupcake.

"Come on, Katiekins, a cupcake won't kill you," Marisol urged while taking a chocolate one for herself.

"I can't. I already had a breakfast bagel this morning and I don't want to add any more unnecessary calories," Katie explained while shaking her head. Marisol could only sigh in response as she bit into her cupcake. She was careful to not get any on her outfit.

"Do we really have to go to that stupid Whack-Your-Brain show today?" She asked, annoyed at the idea. One of their teachers was making everyone go to the event instead of their normal class period.

"I don't know. I kinda wish I was able to participate in that," Katie replied.

"Why? It's for nerds," Marisol said.

"And? It would have looked great on my application for university," Katie reasoned.

"Katie, you do know university is five years away from now, right?" She questioned.

"It's never too late to start thinking about university," Katie reminded her and she rolled her eyes while turning around in her seat.

She forgot how nerdy Katie herself can be sometimes.

It's been a few days and Mo did not process that he had diabetes.

"You will have to change your diet and exercise more often. We recommend exercising at least thirty minutes a day to lower glucose levels," the doctor had recommended him while he was still in the hospital. His mother had written everything the doctor had told them down on a piece of paper and watched him like a hawk now along with his father. The atmosphere at home was now tense as his parents were now strict with what he could or could not eat.

He was no longer allowed to eat breakfast or lunch at Degrassi. His mother prepared all of his meals, and personally included fruits and vegetables in every lunch she made for him. He couldn't drink whole milk anymore, and his father made sure he did some kind of exercise routine every day along with taking his medicine.

It was very overwhelming, and school was basically the only place he was allowed to relax these days.

The math teacher talked endlessly about polynomials, but he wasn't paying attention. He felt the biggest dumbass for contracting the disease, even if the doctor told him that genetics could be a factor. His late paternal grandfather was a diabetic and a couple members of his dad's side of the family also had it.

But he already was an outcast due to his weight. Now he had something else to get bullied over by other kids.

"Did you see that some junior got his car vandalized yesterday?" Marisol whispered to her as they sat down in some seats along with the rest of the class.

"Really?" Katie whispered back.

"Yeah, they're saying it's that freak Rick who did it," Marisol explained as they both looked up at him. Compared to the other kids on stage, he was sharply dressed in a black suit and tie.

"I wouldn't be surprised, considering what kind of person he is," Katie replied while glaring at Rick. Quite frankly, she thought that he shouldn't be allowed to participate in any school competitions to represent the school and he especially shouldn't be around girls.

As the game started and the host read out loud the questions to the contestants, Katie wished that she was up there instead of Rick. She was a wonderful student, she probably would have gotten all of the questions right if she studied the night before. Every time someone from Degrassi got a question right, she clapped for them. Except Rick.

A tie breaker happened, and one person from each team was called up to answer a string of questions by themselves. It was Rick vs a kid from Northern Tech.

The kid from Northern Tech earned forty points for his team, and everyone from Degrassi tensed as it was Rick's turn.

Despite answering one question incorrectly, Rick won with fifty points. While everyone around her cheered loudly, even Marisol, Katie could not bring herself to give him more than an unenthusiastic clap. She was happy that their school won, but not at the hands of an abuser.

"Well it looks like he's good for something," Marisol remarked. Katie was about to give a rebuttal when yellow paint and feathers suddenly splashed on Rick from above.

Everyone froze for a few seconds, only for laughter to boom around the room.

"The way his goofy ass looked with that paint all over him….oh man I wish had a camera to capture that perfect moment," Mo said before laughing at the lunch table.

Imogen frowned in response. "Yeah, but I don't think that was necessary though, especially in front of everyone," she replied.

"You actually feel sorry for that loser?" He asked her in disbelief.

"No, well I just think that there's a line between protesting Rick and outright bullying him, and I don't think throwing paint and feathers on him was an okay thing to do," she argued.

"That's nothing compared to what he actually deserves Immy, do you remember he put a girl into a coma before we got here?" Mo pointed out. Then she watched as his face shifted in realization.

"Where's Eli?"

Eli was at his locker, getting his books ready for his next string of classes and studying for the first test he was taking for science class later that day. Instead of lunch, he opted to do this since his parents were taking him out to have a nice birthday dinner later this evening.

He overheard Marisol humming a song to herself as she approached her locker and opened it up. Despite his better instincts, he turned away and looked at her as she reapplied a new layer of lip gloss and brushed her hair.

She looked cute today, even if he hated all the pastel pink and white. But those colors really fit her, along with yellow and lavender. He hated to admit it but he was always interested in seeing what new outfit she would wear next. She seemed to treat Degrassi as if it was her runway, and maybe it was.

He was getting ready to turn away from her when Rick came down the hallway with the paint and feathers he was pranked with still all over him. Something about him was…...off.

Marisol turned to face Rick, and started laughing at the sight of him. "You're still here?" She asked him. "What? You a sucker for punishment or something?" She added mockingly with a sneer.

Eli closed his locker and walked over to her. "Leave him alone," he urged firmly. He didn't like the guy but whoever pulled that prank on him was sick in the head.

"Why? He didn't leave that girl alone," she argued before looking back at him. "Though look at him, the only people he can fight and win against are girls."

Years from now, Eli would insist that what happened next felt like it occurred in slow motion.

Rick reached into his book bag, and pulled out a gun, and when he pointed it at Marisol, he acted without thinking.

A gunshot went off, and Marisol's scream rang loudly in his ears as he pushed her out of the way. Rick then quickly ran off.

Eli looked at Marisol, who was covered in blood and was staring at him in horror.

He didn't realize that it was his until it was the last thought he had before he fainted.

Katie didn't know why everyone was suddenly locked in the lunchroom but all she knew was that Marisol wasn't here with her.

She looked around wildly while kids around her panicked. It was a madhouse. Teachers were trying to calm everyone down, but it wasn't working. 'Where the hell is she?' She thought to herself in worry. She knew she should have stopped Marisol from going to her locker to freshen up.

"I got a call from my dad, he says there was a shooting inside the school," she overheard some kid whisper to his friends from a table near her.

'Shooting? Who would shoot at a school?' She thought again, appalled at the idea.

"I heard some people got shot, including a seventh grader," someone added.

Katie felt her stomach drop at the revelation.

'Eli got shot and it's all my fault.'

Marisol just sat in her father's embrace as the investigator tried to talk to her. He arrived before her mother did, and despite his normally aloof personality, he immediately hugged her.

The investigator gently tried to get words from her on what happened in that hallway but the words were just noise to her ears. Nothing was registering.

'Eli got shot and it's all my fault.'

Her mother stepped in with her older brother following behind her. She kissed all over her while crying in relief that she was still alive. Both of her parents wrapped their arms around her, while her brother awkwardly watched.

"Are you hurt in any way, baby?" Her mother asked in concern.

"No," she answered numbly. But Eli was, and so much blood poured out of him that there was a possibility he might not live. The last she saw of him, the ambulance workers carried him out of the school on a stretcher, and he looked just as unresponsive as his friend did last week when he passed out at the dance.

If she had just said nothing to Rick, he wouldn't have tried to shoot her, and Eli wouldn't have stepped in to save her. Now he was in the hospital fighting for his life.

All because she opened her big, stupid mouth.

'Eli got shot and it's all my fault.'

It was a while before it was safe enough for everyone to be let out of the classrooms, and all Mo could think about was that Eli was not with him or Imogen. He heard that some seventh grader got shot, and only Eli and Marisol were missing from their class. Then he heard that it was Eli.

It was Rick who shot him, and he was later killed in the process of struggling with some other kid for possession of the gun. Mo wanted to say good riddance, because Rick was a total creep, but couldn't find it in him to do. Not when his main thought was that he could lose his best friend.

Imogen was sobbing as they waited outside for their parents, and there was nothing he could to comfort her. Even as her father pulled up and took her away, she didn't let up and he had a feeling it was going to be like that for her all night.

When it was time for his parents to pick him up, Mo numbly got in the car and didn't say anything. They asked him all kinds of questions, but he only nodded or shook his head in response.

For weeks, he watched and laughed as Rick got bullied by the older kids, and not once did he feel any sympathy or think the bullying went too far.

Now, Mo felt guilty even though he never did a single bad thing to that guy.

Because everyone had their limits, and his friend was in the hospital because Rick reached his.

Monday

Eli was going to live, but that wasn't enough for Imogen. He was still in the hospital due to the wound he got in his chest, and he was going to be in there for a while to undergo a few more surgeries. The seat next to her in classes was going to remain empty.

She walked in the classroom for homeroom, and the atmosphere was eerily quiet. Usually, students would talk animatedly to each other until the bell rang, but today no one wanted to say anything.

Marisol's silence was the most notable, as she would always flap her lips to Katie every morning. But the other girl was sitting silently for once, as she looked out the window with a faraway look in her eyes.

Imogen approached her as anger bubbled inside of her. Marisol turned to face her, and there was a blank look on her face. She wasn't wearing her usual makeup and accessories, and her hair looked like crap. Her outfit was just a long sleeved shirt and some jeans.

"You need something?" The other girl asked her, and there was a lack of cheer in her voice, or the bite she usually received.

Imogen stared at her for a few seconds to think about what she wanted to say.

When she did, she mustered as much power in her voice as she could so Marisol could feel how much she hated her at the moment.

"It should have been you," Imogen said to her coldly before walking away.

Chapter Text

A few months later

"Okay, Andrew, it's your first day at your new school and I want you to make a good first impression on your teachers. No slacking off in classes, you got that?" His mother warned him.

"Yes, mom," Drew Torres replied, but not really caring. He unbuckled himself and got out of his mom's minivan. "See you later, guys," he said to his mom and his sister, Gracie, waving them goodbye as his mom drove off.

Today was his first day at his new school, and he wasn't excited to go considering that it was the site of a shooting a few months ago. But his mom, Audra, insisted that he go here instead of Northern Tech. And whatever Audra Torres said was the law in that house.

He stepped inside the school, which was a little more livelier than expected for a place that had a shooting inside of it recently. Students were chatting loudly with each other at their lockers and running around in the halls. Some kid skated past him on a skateboard as he looked for the room on his piece of paper.

He spotted a cute girl applying lip gloss to her lips at her locker. He walked over to her.

"Hey, you know where this classroom is at?" He asked her while showing her the paper.

She looked down at it and nodded. "Yeah follow me," she answered while closing her locker. They began walking together.

Drew looked at her. With her brown skin, shiny black hair, and dark eyes, she was really pretty. While he wouldn't have cared about girls last year, this year he paid more attention to which girls his age were attractive or not.

"I'm Drew," he introduced while giving her a charming smile. His mom said once that his smile could make someone do almost anything for him.

"Marisol," she introduced back, with a soft smile of her own. It was pretty cute.

"You're popular around here?" He questioned, wanting to get to know Marisol better. He also needed a quick way to get high on the food chain.

"You can say that. I'm captain of the junior cheerleading team here," she explained.

"Awesome. I'm hoping to join the basketball team at Degrassi. Maybe you can cheer for me someday," he flirted. She probably looked great in a cheerleading uniform.

She giggled at that. "Maybe I can."

People were staring at him more than ever, and he knew the reasons why.

One, he was one of the kids that got shot by Rick and that's something that was always going to define him no matter what. Walking around school these days made it feel like the bullet wound was still open.

Two, he got a new look.

Eli looked in the mirror in his locker. The vast majority of the boys in his grade did not give a single crap about how they looked unless it was to impress a girl, but he felt the need to make sure he looked alright for the day.

His hair was dyed a darker color than before, and it was now straightened, falling down around his neck in shaggy strands. He had asked to get a new hairstyle over the weekend, and Bullfrog and Cece allowed it with no argument. They were already pretty relaxed parents, but after the shooting, they pretty much allowed him to do whatever he wanted. He could tell that they didn't want to overwhelm him like Mo's parents were doing with his diabetes.

After brushing his hair to make sure it wasn't out of place, he went inside his homeroom class. There he saw Marisol and Katie talk to some new guy. Even though for a while after the shooting, she wasn't wearing anything special, recently she had gone back to wearing stylish outfits. She was wearing a purple, long-sleeved sweater dress with black leggings underneath and had purple butterfly clips in her hair.

Their relationship had changed.

Marisol was much more nicer to him now, but at the same time she also avoided him at times when she could. It confused him. "She probably feels some sort of survivor's guilt, sweetie," was what Cece told him when he complained about it one day but it still made him uncomfortable. Sure, they didn't talk much before the shooting, but they playfully teased each other. Now that dynamic was gone and he didn't like it.

He also didn't like the way she was talking to this new guy. She was smiling and giggling at him that she never did with him, and he wondered what made the other guy so special. He looked dumb if he was being honest.

When the bell rang, and Simpson came in, he made the new kid introduce himself.

"Hey everyone, I'm Drew," he said with a big smile that made him look even more stupid in Eli's eyes. He probably thought it made him look charming.

Drew went back to his seat, but not before sharing a look with Marisol, who clearly liked the attention he was giving her.

Eli scowled at the sight.

Never did Katie think about boys in a remotely positive manner until she met Drew.

Katie couldn't stop staring at him in their classes together throughout the day. She couldn't help it. With his sparkling blue eyes, dazzling smile, and charming dimples, he was a sight for sore eyes.

As they stood in the lunch line together, she felt her skin grow more and more hot in his presence. Her stomach even tightened. Even as she sat at her table with Marisol, it didn't let up.

While her and Marisol started eating their lunches, Drew approached them with a tray of food. "Hey ladies can I sit here?" He asked with a smile directed at them both.

"Yeah sure," Katie answered while trying to hide the blush on her cheeks. When he sat down next to her, she felt her heart race.

"So I know what Marisol does here but what kind of activities do you do, Katie?" He questioned.

"Soccer and karate," she answered before biting into her apple. She decided that since she already had a breakfast sandwich this morning, that she didn't need to eat a lot of lunch except for an apple and a bottle of water.

"Karate, really? That's badass. You must be a black belt or something," he assumed.

"I'm only a green belt with stripes," she corrected, "But I'm definitely on my way to becoming a black belt soon. My karate instructor considers me a prodigy."

"That's awesome!" He congratulated her. Her face reddened even further and she had to look down on her tray to hide it.

"I want to be on the basketball team at this school. I'm pretty into sports and I think it's really cool you're into sports as well," he added.

"I do gymnastics in addition to cheerleading," Marisol cut in out of nowhere.

When Drew turned his attention to Marisol instead of her, Katie's smile fell and she stiffened.

"What's that like?" He asked Marisol, and they soon got into a conversation where it felt like she wasn't even there. It made her very uncomfortable.

For the first time in all the years they have been friends, Katie actually felt jealous of Marisol.

Mo looked down at his lunch, which was a chicken egg salad and apple slices, and tried not to cringe at the sight of it. His mother prepared it for him, and included fat-free milk with the lunch. She really meant well but he didn't want to eat any of this crap.

He looked on in envy as both Imogen and Eli were eating pizza and fries with iced tea. It was unfair that they got to eat normally while he had to restrict himself. While he could still have some foods in moderation, most of the time his diet consisted of the low-fat or sugar-free version of everything. The worst was being forced to drink unsweetened tea now if he wanted iced tea.

He numbly played around with his food while Eli and Imogen talked about the new kid, Drew Torres.

"He's so stupid. He literally couldn't answer any of the math questions right," Eli said with a weird snarl in his voice. "I don't know why all of the girls in class are obsessed with him."

"He is dumb," Imogen agreed, "And boring. Which are two things you are not."

At this point it was pretty obvious that Imogen liked Eli. It was also pretty obvious that Eli liked Marisol for whatever reason to the point of taking a bullet for her. Mo was shocked Marisol wasn't all over Eli for that, but maybe it was for the best. Imogen got feral every time she interacted with Eli these days, anyway.

In a way, he was jealous that Eli was getting attention from cute girls, but at the same time if the situation got worse he was not going to want to be in Eli's position.

There was this weird emo kid glaring at him in all of his classes, and Drew was very confused as to what his problem was.

Drew got his workbooks needed to do his homework for tonight and headed to Marisol's locker, where she was standing at and talking to Katie.

"Hey girls," he greeted them both.

"Hey Drew," they both greeted at the same time, though Katie came off as much shyer in tone.

"You wanna hang out sometime after we're done doing homework?" He offered them, hoping they'll take it.

"I'm sorry, I have cheer practice," Marisol declined sorrowfully.

"And I have soccer," Katie added.

"Hmm, that's okay. Maybe next time," he assured them, giving them both a wink before walking away.

He didn't know which girl he liked better at the moment, because they were both very cute, but he was certain that one of them will be his girlfriend by the end of the year.

Outside the school, his mom was waiting for him in her car. When he got in, he was immediately bombarded with questions.

"How was school?" She asked.

"Great, I already made friends with two girls named Katie and Marisol," he answered with a smirk.

"Andrew, remember that you're here for school, not girls," she warned him.

Drew was tempted to roll his eyes, but resisted. "I know, Mom. But they're both really nice, Katie even helped me with math today in class. She's a honor student."

"Oh," she replied, relaxing at that, "Well, at least you're making friends with smart girls. What about sports?"

"I'll be trying out for the basketball team soon. In gym class, the teacher already said I'm in amazing shape so I'm practically a shoo-in for the team," he replied confidently.

"Well I know you're going to make it," she said with a smile.

She drove up to Gracie's school, where she was waiting for them outside with some other kids. When she got in the car, their mom had some questions for her as well, such as how her first day of school was and did she make any friends. His sister answered them all politely, though there was a certain flatness to her tone.

"Did you make any new girlfriends?" His mom asked, and in the rear view mirror, Drew could see Gracie shift uncomfortably at the question.

"No Mom," she answered quickly.

"I was hoping you can soon. Hanging around more girls will help you blossom more," she pointed out.

"I don't need to blossom. I'm fine just the way I am," Gracie affirmed, and Drew held in a sigh as he could see where this conversation was heading. His mother and his sister had this argument every week.

"Well right now, you're acting too much like a boy Gracie, and it's worrying me," his mother replied. "You're even starting to dress like one."

Today, instead of wearing the girly sweater, earrings, and jeans their mom picked out for her to wear on her first day of school, Gracie was instead wearing a hoodie, a beanie, and some jeans that suspiciously looked like ones he used to wear before he outgrew them.

"What's wrong with that? It's not like I'm hurting anyone," Gracie argued.

"Except me, who's missing clothes these days," he accused dryly.

"Oh please, you can't even fit them anymore," she replied, confirming his suspicions.

"Gracie, I want you to at least try to be more feminine. You're going to be in high school before you know it, and running around and dressing like a boy isn't mature. You're a beautiful young lady and I don't know why you're trying to hide that," their mother said.

Gracie didn't say anything after that, but Drew did notice that she balled up her fists tightly.

Cheer practice was going as normal, except for Imogen sneaking in dirty looks at her every now and then.

"Alright, everyone! Take a break and get some water!" The coach commanded after they practiced their pyramid routine for the day. Marisol was carried down from the top of the pyramid, and quickly jogged to the water fountain outside the gym. She wasn't even worn out yet.

While drinking from the faucet, she thought of the new guy, Drew Torres. He was soooo cute and he had a smile that made her melt every time he flashed it at her. If he got on the basketball team and they started going out, they would be the most popular couple in their grade.

But he wasn't Eli.

After the shooting, she did her best to keep Eli at a respectable distance because she felt bad for getting him shot, but she did miss their previous banter, and she never stopped thinking about their kiss even though it's been months.

She would watch him when he wasn't looking, and she would go over all of his cute features in her mind. He had a smirk that made her stomach flutter, and green eyes that were prettier than the jade earrings her mother wore. He was wearing a lot more black now, along with grey, and his hair was now a darker color, but in some way it made him more intriguing now.

She wanted to ask him out. She wanted to tell him that it didn't matter what other kids would say because it truthfully didn't. She was at the top of the food chain in their grade and she was intimidating enough that no girls would dare say something.

However, she was pretty sure Eli hated her now, and she didn't blame him. It was her fault that Rick shot him and she would never forget that. Imogen certainly made sure she didn't away. The other girl hated her guts.

They were civil at practice, but barely. Their interactions were pretty cold. She was honestly scared that Imogen was going to drop her one day.

When the coach rang for everyone to get back so they could practice their dance routine, she jogged back and took her place in front of everyone. She choreographed her movements the best out of everyone.

She looked back at Imogen, who looked back at her with hate in her eyes. She quickly looked away. Even sharing a look with the other girl made her uncomfortable.

When practice was over, she left the gym as fast as possible to wait for Katie to leave soccer practice. A few minutes later, and her friend walked up bouncing a soccer ball in her hand. Her mother was picking them up.

"How was cheer practice?" Her bestie asked. Sweat was all over her from her forehead, to her arms, to her legs. Marisol hated sweat because it was gross, but Katie seemed to live for it. To Katie, it was a sign that she successfully pushed her body to its absolute limits.

"Imogen wants to kill me," Marisol answered bluntly.

"Over something that wasn't even your fault? That's ridiculous," Katie replied with a frown.

"But it was my fault. If I didn't taunt Rick, he wouldn't have tried to kill me, and Eli wouldn't have took the bullet for me," she pointed out sadly.

"Rick was an abusive loser who was bound to go off at any minute, and took the easy way out by shooting people instead of fighting with his fists. You and Eli were just his victims, along with that junior that's in a wheelchair now. Don't let Imogen or anyone tell you otherwise," Katie reasoned while squeezing her shoulder.

"But I just wish I could take that moment back, Katie, I see it every time I close my eyes," she replied. Even with the night medicine her psychiatrist prescribed her to help her sleep better, she still had nightmares of that horrific moment. Sometimes Rick shot her in those nightmares instead of Eli, and she actually died.

"Have you told your therapist that?" Katie questioned in concern.

"Not yet," she answered. "I don't know if it can be helped."

"Well maybe you need distraction other than cheer, something else to take your mind off of constantly thinking about Rick," Katie replied just as her mother arrived.

"I can think of a few ideas," Marisol said.

One of them was a boy with pretty blue eyes, a wide smile, and who she didn't get shot.

For dinner, her mother had cooked spaghetti with a choice of meatballs or meat sauce, and a side of garlic bread.

Katie's stomach growled as she looked at the food on the table, and she was even tempted to put a lot of spaghetti in her bowl, but she knew she couldn't eat much. It wouldn't be healthy.

She plopped a tiny scoop with meatballs on her plate and fixed herself a small cup of water.

"Is that all you're eating, Katie?" Her mother asked in disbelief as Maya, her little sister, put a big pile of spaghetti with meat sauce on her plate.

"Yeah, I'm not really that hungry," she explained as she played around with her food.

Her parents exchanged concerned looks with each other.

"Katie, we've been noticing that you haven't been eating much lately and that you're skinnier than normal," her mother said.

"I'm just watching my calorie count, is it not what everyone should do if they want to be healthy?" She asked.

"Yes, but not to the point of starving yourself. That's not healthy," her father answered. "You need to keep a healthy amount of carbs and protein in your diet, and we're concerned you're not getting it. Put a little more food on your plate, please."

Katie frowned as she put more food on her plate. Her parents watched her as she ate her dinner, and the feeling of being full wasn't one she experienced in a long time.

By the time she was finished, she felt sick in her stomach. She got up and went to bed early.

It took all in her to not run to the bathroom and throw up.

Chapter Text

When Marisol came to school early, she saw a candy gram taped on both her and Katie's lockers.

She smiled as she walked over and took the candy gram off her locker. It was a big, heart-shaped lollipop with a pink note attached to it. "Won't you be my valentine?" The note read in pretty cursive ink.

'I have a secret admirer!' She thought to herself excitedly while holding the candy gram to her heart. She wondered who it was. Drew? Eli? 'No, Eli would never send me one after I got him shot,' she shot down in her mind.

Just then, Katie walked up and looked at hers in confusion. "What is this?" She asked out loud to herself.

"Candy grams, hun, it looks like you have a secret admirer too," Marisol explained to her cheerfully. The idea of her and Katie having boyfriends at the same time was an exciting one, if Katie allowed herself to have a boyfriend that is.

"Really? Who in our grade would want to ask me out?"

"Someone who isn't scared of your killer karate skills," Marisol answered. "Will someone finally defrost my favorite ice queen?" She asked with a playful smile.

"I'm not an ice queen!" Katie argued as Marisol giggled.

Drew watched the girls from afar with a mischievous smile on his face. He had gotten both of the girls candy grams for Valentine's Day, and he was planning to date one of them by the end of this week.

He truly didn't know who to choose. Katie was smart and tough but Marisol was bubbly and easy to please. What mattered that both of them were very cute though.

He was going to test the waters with Marisol first. When Katie left her presence, he sauntered over to her with a confident smile. "What's up, Mare?" He asked.

"Hey, Drew," she greeted, fluttering her pretty eyelashes up at him.

"Happy Valentine's Day. You want to hang out after school tonight? There's this place called the Ravine that I heard is the hottest hangout in town," he offered.

"Yes!" She answered quicker than he expected. Then she composed herself. "I mean, yeah. What am I wearing?"

"Whatever is going to look cute on you," he answered.

"Awesome! I can't wait!" She replied.

"There's only one thing, you can't tell Katie okay?" He requested.

Her face shifted in confusion. "Why not?"

"I just think this is a special thing that should be kept between us," he explained as best as he could.

"Okay….," she accepted, nodding her head slowly.

Drew smiled at her again before walking away. His plan was finally set in motion.

"You got us candy grams? You shouldn't have," Eli said to Imogen in surprise as he unwrapped his candy gram, which was a sugar daddy.

"But I'm glad you did. You know how long it's been since I had candy?" Mo asked before popping a sugar-free lollipop in his mouth. While she bought Eli's candy gram from school, she had to buy Mo's from a candy shop in her neighborhood. She didn't want her friend to feel excluded.

"Valentine's Day is a day for me to show love, and there's no one I love more than you guys," she confessed as she looked at Eli, who smiled at her.

"Thanks Im, we love you too," he replied as he started sucking on his candy. She blushed as she looked down at her desk.

She wasn't interested in having boyfriends before this year, but now she wanted Eli as her boyfriend. He got her like no one else did and was so protective of her. He was her own knight-in-shining armor. A dark knight-in-shining armor.

If only he stopped thinking about Marisol.

When Marisol came in with a lollipop in her mouth, and holding a pink note in her hand, Eli immediately got on edge.

"Who got her a candy gram?" Her friend asked, and the anger in his eyes threw her off.

"Probably Drew," Mo answered, and the way Drew was smiling in his seat made it seem obvious.

"And she's that satisfied with just a lollipop? Seems eager to please," Eli grumbled.

"Bro, why didn't you get her one then?" Mo questioned.

"And why would I do that?"

"Because you're in love with her?"

"Eli would never love that creature!" Imogen exclaimed in protest, the loudness of which got the attention of some kids around them.

Embarrassed, she sank in her seat as her friends looked at her in confusion.

Katie was copying notes in her science class when she felt a piece of paper hit the back of her head.

She turned around with the urge to fight immediately, only to soften when she saw that it came from Drew, who waved cheerfully at her. She smiled back as she opened up the note.

"Do you want to go to the Dot tomorrow after school?" The note read.

Katie suddenly felt her hands get sweaty. She had never been out on a date before, and she wouldn't even know how to go about this. Before Drew, she didn't even like boys.

The only sound in the classroom was the teacher writing on the chalkboard and other students writing down the notes on the board. And the sound of her heart beating rapidly in her chest.

She almost said no because she was scared. But she didn't want to hurt Drew's feelings.

She looked back at him and nodded as a way to say yes.

He gave her a dazzling smile in return.

'I can't believe I'm going on my first date with the cutest guy in our class!' Marisol thought to herself excitedly as she looked over her outfit in the mirror.

She was wearing a pink sweater dress, burgundy leggings, and long pink boots. She pulled her hair up into a tight bun and put strawberry lip gloss on her lips.

She thought of Eli, and for some reason she felt guilty. But she quickly brushed her guilt aside. Drew was a way better match for her than Eli.

When she heard a ring on her doorbell, she practically glided down her steps and answered it.

Drew was on the other side wearing just a hoodie and some jeans. Marisol wondered if she perhaps overdressed.

"Hey," he greeted, "Nice house."

"Hey," she greeted back as casually as she could. But she felt like she was ready to explode.

"Ready to go?" He asked while holding out his hand.

"Yeah!" She replied while eagerly taking it.

Even though he would normally be invested in watching a Friday The 13th movie, all Eli could think about was Marisol being excited over that candy gram.

"Woah, this is sick!" Mo commented in excitement as Jason Voorhees chopped a guy in half with his machete. They were watching the third movie, which came in 3-D so they were both wearing 3-D glasses.

Imogen didn't really like scary movies so she didn't come over.

When Jason stabbed a pregnant female character through her chest from underneath the bed, Mo jumped back on the bed.

"Jason really be fucking these people up," his friend commented before he finally realized that he wasn't paying attention. "Hey man, are you still there?" He asked in concern.

"Yeah, I guess," Eli answered, turning to face him.

"You're thinking about Marisol right now, are you?" Mo accused. Eli's shoulders slunk as he didn't even try protesting this time. He just paused the DVD.

"Eli, just ask her out already damn," his friend demanded in exasperation.

"I don't like her like that and even if I did, I don't seem like her type. Drew does," Eli pointed out. Marisol was all over him and he was pretty sure they were going to date soon. He hated the idea.

"Drew didn't take a bullet for her, you did," Mo reminded him. "You can't let him scare you away from her."

"What about Imogen? She hates her," Eli replied. Not only did Imogen say the other girl's name like it was disease, but she couldn't go a day without glaring at the back of Marisol's head at least once.

"Because she likes you, dumbass, and that's another thing. How are you going to solve that problem?" Mo questioned with narrowed eyes.

He knew for a long time that Imogen liked him, but he didn't know how to feel about it. She was his friend, and was just as pretty as Marisol, but his body didn't react the same way around Imogen as it did with Marisol.

But maybe he can train it to.

"Maybe I'll date her instead. We're more compatible anyway, and we're already great friends," Eli declared. Lately, Imogen has been dressing similar to him too.

"Yeah, but are you actually attracted to her? Can you picture yourself in an actual relationship with her?"

Eli didn't have an answer to that one, or at least one that he was ready to admit.

Drew led Marisol on the bus as he paid the driver. Then they both sat down at the back.

"I thought we were going to the Ravine?" She asked him in confusion.

"We are, but we're getting something to eat first," he answered.

Her face brightened, and he thought it was the cutest thing. "Ooh! Where are we going? A nice restaurant?"

"You'll see," he replied with a smile. When the bus stopped at their destination, he took Marisol's hand gently in his own and led her off the bus. They were right in front of the place they were going to eat at.

He looked over at Marisol, who had a look of shock written on her pretty features. "Um….," she began.

"Yeah?" He asked, wondering what the problem was.

"We're eating at McDonald's?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow as she looked at the Ronald McDonald statue standing outside the restaurant.

"Yeah, I'm starving! Let's go inside!" Drew encouraged before taking her inside the restaurant.

His dad only gave him twenty dollars for this date.

Because Marisol didn't want to do their art projects together, Katie had to do hers alone tonight and she didn't like it. Marisol enjoyed doing art more than she did, and thus was better at it.

The project was to make a food sculpture out of clay, and she was pretty uncomfortable at the assignment. Part of the reason why she wanted Mare to come over was so she could convince her to work on hers too.

Katie looked at her sculpture, which was shaped into resembling an apple. It just needed the stem portion and to be painted red. While other kids were making hamburgers, pizza, ice cream, French fries, pies, and pretzels, she opted for something more healthy. Because even the idea of sculpting something high in calories would make her feel bad.

"Katie, you want to hear the song we're doing for the Spring concert?" She heard Maya ask, and Katie turned around to see her little sister holding her cello. She was already in her Cookie Monster onesie.

"Sure," she replied, needing a quick distraction from the art project. She cleaned her hands with some wet wipes and put her hands in her lap.

Maya smiled at her as she took a seat across from her and started playing her song. It sounded like the song "Kiss The Girl" from the Little Mermaid.

Her little sister was all about music. Katie didn't remember much of their mom being pregnant with Maya, but she did remember that whenever their mother played classical music to relax, Maya would start kicking in the womb. As a baby, Maya's favorite toy was a toy xylophone, and her favorite stuffed animal was a singing octopus named Octo. Katie couldn't relate. She was terrible at both singing and playing instruments so she just stuck to sports instead.

When Maya was done playing the song, Katie clapped for her lightly.

"You're clearly going to do great at the Spring concert," Katie said.

"I hope so. You think it could get me into a performing arts school someday?" Maya asked.

"You don't want to go to Degrassi with me?" Katie asked back.

"No, not after the place was shot up," Maya answered with a frown as she walked off to put her chello away.

Katie turned back around in her seat as she thought over that statement.

The shooting affected Degrassi's reputation and the new principal, Ms. Hatzilakos, was working hard to fix it. But even then, everybody was still a little on edge. She hadn't seen a kid get their head shoved in a water fountain in months.

Drew Torres had come in at a bad time, and she truly felt sorry for him.

She wondered what he was doing now.

Marisol tried not to let her disappointment show as she ate her McNugget meal. She was expecting something way nicer for a first date.

"This place has the best fries," Drew said, munching on some of his french fries at the same time. She almost cringed at the site.

"I like Five Guy's better," she replied with a tight smile. The table they were sitting at still had food crumbs on it from the family that was eating there before they got there. There was even some leftover orange juice on the floor underneath them.

"Five Guy's is great too, but they're too expensive. Here, you get a full meal for under ten bucks," Drew pointed out before licking the ketchup off his fingers. He then took a big bite out of his quarter pounder, and she could see the grease leak on his chin.

In the booth behind them, a kid got sick and threw up on the floor.

After working on her art project for a bit, Imogen went upstairs to her bedroom to paint her nails while watching some cartoons.

At first, she was going to go with pink but she decided to go with dark red instead to impress Eli. She knew his favorite colors were black, red, and grey, and he dressed in nothing but those colors these days.

She had to get him away from Marisol, and what better way to show that than to appeal to his tastes? His aesthetic was gothic, and thus hers should be too. She convinced her dad to take her shopping one weekend, and she bought a lot of dark clothing and accessories. She even started listening to heavy metal music and watched some sorta-spooky movies for him, but nothing too scary. Marisol would never do any of that for Eli because she was a shallow airhead.

In the middle of painting her middle finger, she started to smell smoke from downstairs. Suspicious, she hopped off her bed immediately and walked down the steps.

The smoke coming from the kitchen filled her nose up within seconds, and she quickly started coughing. Holding her nose, she went inside the kitchen and opened up the oven to see what was burning.

It was the chicken her dad was supposed to cook for dinner, and it was blackened to the core.

Imogen's eyes watered just as the smoke detector went off.

Marisol's eyes were twitching by the time they left McDonald's. She was having an absolutely awful time, and while she was desperately hoping things could get better, she wasn't going to hold her breath.

Drew was completely oblivious to her discomfort as they headed to the Ravine. He was whistling a happy tune to himself on the bus while she was wondering what was the polite way to say she wanted to go home.

When the bus reached an area close to their spot, Drew took her hand again and led her off the bus. "I heard so many interesting things about this place from the older kids," he told her as they walked. He was still holding her hand, and while that would normally give her a sweet tingling feeling, right now she was too annoyed to feel good. She even noticed how sweaty his hand was, and she didn't like it.

They reached the school, and Marisol was very confused as to what was going on. "Why are we at Degrassi?" She asked him.

"Just you wait," he simply replied, and that's what Marisol did.

They walked to the woods in the back of the school, where there were several older kids just lounging around and doing various activities such as talking around a campfire, drinking, smoking…...and making out.

There were multiple couples making out, groping, and grinding against each other all over the place.

This was a hookup spot.

Drew took her here to hook up.

Chapter Text

Marisol had a lump in her throat as she continued to look at the horrifying scene in front of her. With all of these older kids drinking and hooking up in front of them, it was clear that this was not a place for seventh graders.

“Why did you bring me here?” She demanded of Drew, whipping around to face him with narrowed eyes. There’s no way he wanted them to do any of this stuff, right?

“Um, to chill?” He answered, and she could tell he was just as uncomfortable as she was.

“This is the kind of place you take a girl on a date? Here ?” She questioned. The more she looked around, the other disgusting things she noticed. For example, there was trash all over the ground whether it was beer cans, fast food wrappers, discarded condoms, or even drug needles. The smell of weed also penetrated her nostrils in the worst ways. She felt like she was about to faint.

“Well it’s where the cool kids hang out,” he replied, and it seemed like it was more to himself than anything.

“More like the school burnouts!” She exclaimed in disgust. “What kind of girl do you take me for?”

“Um…um…,” Drew stuttered, turning red in embarrassment. “Can we at least sit down somewhere and try to enjoy ourselves?”

“Hmph,” she begrudgingly accepted as she followed Drew to sit near an empty campfire with discarded chairs. She sat primly on the seat, making it didn’t touch not a single ounce of her bare skin. For all she knew, she could catch a social disease from it.

The doors to a van opened up by them, and one of the blond girls that were protesting Rick early in the school year stepped out with a guy that looked much older. She wiped her mouth with a shirt, and Marisol had a bad feeling about what they just did. 

“I didn’t know fifth graders hung out at the Ravine now,” the older guy quipped at them with a teasing smile that made her feel uneasy. “Shouldn’t you guys be at home watching Spongebob?”

“I don’t like Spongebob, but my sister does. I like Fairly Odd Parents better,” Drew answered seriously, and Marisol looked at him in annoyance.

The older guy laughed. “Maybe you kids should go home and watch that instead of being here…..unless you guys are here to do what kids normally do here.”

“We’re just here to have fun, nothing dirty,” Drew denied, “Now why don’t you screw off already?”

‘Shut up, you’re going to start a fight,’ Marisol thought to herself in fear as she watched the other guy’s reaction. He blinked before simply laughing again.

“The kids these days, they’re getting quite rowdy,” he said to the blond before they thankfully walked away from them. Marisol threw her face into her hands in exasperation at how this night was going so far.

“Come on, Marisol, we can at least try to enjoy being here,” Drew pleaded.

“Enjoy what? What can we do here? I want to go home,” she replied before folding her arms.

“Seriously? Come on, let’s try to have some fun,” he urged before getting out of his chair.

“Where are you going?” She asked.

“To get some drinks!” He replied to her confusion. What kind of drinks did they have here except alcohol?

Alcohol was exactly the kind of drinks Drew was getting as he came back with long cans of beer.

“Beer?” She questioned, looking at the drinks critically. She had never had a taste of beer before and she didn’t know if she would like it. 

“Yeah, you ever had it? This is a perfect time to try it,” Drew answered as he sat back down. He handed one of the beer cans to her.

Marisol looked down at her can, wondering if it was a good idea to drink or not.

She swallowed nervously before opening up the can and taking a big gulp.

“Dad, how did you leave the oven on like that? You could have burned us up!” Imogen demanded in frustration after the smoke cleared. She had to open all the windows in the house to get the smell out.

“I’m sorry, dear. I don’t even remember turning it on,” her dad apologized sorrowfully.

She was baffled at the explanation. Her dad was only in his early fifties yet was constantly forgetting things like he was in his eighties instead. It disturbed her.

“Since having chicken for dinner is out, why don’t we go over to Taco Bell?” He offered.

Imogen almost said no, because she didn’t trust his driving skills at this point, but she was also starving.

“I guess….,” she accepted.

Drew felt fuzzy.

Drew stumbled around the Ravine, looking for Marisol, who had run off. The problem was that he might have been a little drunk…..

“Marisolllll,” he called out loudly, “Mareeee…. Marrriiii...Marimare?”

His vision went in and out, and the people around him were nothing but blobs. He knew he shouldn’t have drank more than one can….

“You looking for your girlfriend?” Someone asked him, and for some reason their voice had an echo to it.

“Yeah. Whereeee is sheeee?” He asked back, slurring his words. He felt a little sick. 

“I think she’s hooking up with a bunch of guys over there,” the person said, and the voice sounded amused. They then pointed over to a blue tent.

“Whaaaattt?” He asked again, appalled at the idea. He quickly made his way over to the tent, where he heard a lot of snickering and jibes from outside.

It took a few seconds for his brain to register what he saw in that tent, and when it did, he wanted it to stop.

“Hey, what are you guys doing? Get off of her!”

“Where did you even get a 3-D copy of this anyway?” Mo asked him as Eli took the disk out of the DVD player, and put it back in the DVD case along with the 3-D glasses.

“The video store. Bullfrog and Cece have all of the Friday The 13th movies on DVD, and this one came with both the normal version and the 3D version,” he answered. He was pretty sure his parents had every horror movie known to mankind in their house.

Mo looked down at his watch. “So I don’t have to be home for another hour and a half, another movie?” He asked.

“Sure,” he agreed. He needed this night with just Mo. Spending time with his male best friend was a great distraction from the ever growing problems he was having with girls lately.

He didn’t even like girls before this year, but now he was having creepy dreams over one and was greatly crushed on by another.

“I know I said this before but your parents are awesome . You think Mr. and Mrs. Mashkour would allow their precious boy to watch a horror movie with blood, guts, and sexy naked women? No way,” Mo said with a light chuckle. “They would have a heart attack if they knew what we were watching.

“Yeah? Well, maybe I need to spend a night at the Mashkour household to know what it’s like to actually have parents for once,” Eli replied dryly. Bullfrog and Cece were more his best friends than his parents. 

“I can ask them,” Mo said with a shrug, “But don’t be surprised if you never want to come back to my house again.”

Drew was struggling to carry himself and Marisol home.

He had an arm wrapped around her as she laughed and giggled drunkenly. He was drunk too, but not enough to think this night wasn’t a mistake, especially after what he saw.

Those guys in the tent were in the process of doing…..things to Marisol when he stopped them, and they all quickly scurried off with no argument. Marisol still had her panties on when he found her, but he was pretty sure she wouldn’t agree to do any of the things that were happening in that tent if she wasn’t drunk.

He was deeply disturbed by what he saw, and he wasn’t even the one affected. 

They got back to her house, and after a few minutes were spent with him fumbling to open the door with one of her keys, they got in the house.

“I would get in so much trouble with Mama if she was home, but luckily for us Mama doesn’t come home until 4 am!” Marisol exclaimed cheerfully as he closed the door behind them. He then yelped as he was pushed up against the door.

“What should we do next? Drew? Hoooookkk upp?” She asked while wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

The suggestion made him more uncomfortable than he already was. “Mare, I think you should go to bed,” he suggested.

“But…..but….you don’t want me? You don’t think I’m pretty?” She asked again in surprise.

“You are pretty, but I don’t want to do anything with you right now. It wouldn’t be right,” he answered as he led her on the couch. She just let him do so. There was a throw on blanket on another couch, so he picked it up and threw it on her.

Marisol looked at him in confusion. “If you don’t want to do anything with me, then why did you stop those guys from touching me?” She questioned.

“Because it wouldn’t be right,” he repeated as he made his way through the door. “Good night Marisol.”

He took the bus home, and when he got there, he snuck in through the back door in the hopes that both his parents were asleep upstairs.

Instead, his mother was waiting for him in the dining room in a night robe and hair rollers in her hair.

“Good evening, Andrew,” she greeted, and there was a dangerous fire in her eyes.

The next morning Marisol came to school with a very painful headache. She sat at her locker, numbly eating her sausage, egg, and cheese bagel, wondering why the Tylenol wasn’t working. 

Last night was a mistake and she didn’t want to speak to Drew Torres again. 

When she saw Katie approaching her, she got up ready to vent about her awful date, only to remember that she wasn’t supposed to tell Katie. ‘Maybe it’s for the best that I do pretend it never happened,’ she thought to herself bitterly.

The hostile expression on her friend’s face confused her as Katie stepped in front of her with her arms folded.

“What’s up?” She asked her in concern.

“Marisol,” Katie began in an icy tone, “Is it true that you went on a date with Drew last night to the Ravine, only to ditch him to hook up with a bunch of guys?”

“What? No!” Marisol answered, appalled at the accusation. She barely even remembered going to the Ravine with Drew, and she sure as hell wouldn’t hook up with a bunch of guys.

“Several people saw you there last night. They saw you go into that tent, Mare. You were even drunk,” Katie replied with a scowl, “I can’t believe you would do something so slutty!”

“I didn’t do any of that!” She denied.

“You’re probably lying about not hooking with Eli in the closet as well. You disgust me,” Katie said coldly before walking past her without another word.

Marisol looked at her retreating form, feeling the urge to cry but holding it down. She didn’t know why Katie would believe she would do something like that, and with strange guys she didn’t know. Her bestie had always been harsh with her criticism but not like this.

As her lip quivered, she tried to freshen up for the day, only to hear people whispering around. She looked to see kids staring at her, snickering at her, and boys leering at her.

She felt her eyes water up in shame.

“Wow, the girl you like is a hoe,” Mo said to him, as they entered homeroom together with Imogen.

“Don’t call her that,” Eli scolded him.

“It’s true, people are saying she hooked up with several guys at the Ravine last night while on a date with Drew Torres. She allowed them to do all kinds of freaky stuff to her,” his friend insisted as they all sat down.

Several people were looking at Marisol, who was sitting quietly in a seat at the back of the classroom. He could hear people whispering about her and these rumors too. He didn’t like it.

“That doesn’t sound like Marisol. It sounds like the usual bullshit kids make up,” Eli argued. The kids in their grade were still passing around that him and Marisol did crazy things in her closet other than kissing. They were also saying that he was obsessed with death now and drank blood regularly.

“Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s true. Look at her,” Imogen cut in as she sent Marisol a nasty look, “She’s always talking about cute boys and what she wants to do with them, especially Drew. She’s no good for you Eli, you should give up on Marisol.”

Eli watched Marisol as she looked down in her lap, and he could see tear drops falling from her eyes.

Whatever they were saying about her, he knew in his heart it wasn’t true.

“Marisol didn’t do anything with those guys, I don’t care what anyone says,” he said firmly as the bell for homeroom period rang.

Katie refused to speak to Marisol all morning. She didn’t like the path her friend was heading down on, and she needed to know that she wasn’t going to support it.

When she got out of the lunch line with her tray of food, she spotted Marisol looking at her expectantly from their usual table. Instead, Katie turned her nose up at Marisol and sat down by herself at another table. She bit into the peanut butter and jelly sandwich her mom prepared for her with no regrets.

She watched Drew in curiosity as he approached Marisol, only for her friend to get visibly angry and reject him. Dejected, he then walked over to her. “Can I sit here?” He asked.

“What? One friend rejects you and you go to the other one?” She asked him back. “Is that what you see me as?”

That was another thing that angered her at the moment. That Drew asked her out only to be caught with her best friend last night. She didn’t know whether Marisol knew about their date or not, but she felt betrayed. And she felt like a fool for even thinking that a boy would be interested in her without being interested in Marisol first. Marisol was the pretty one, she was the smart one, that’s how it always has been from the beginning.

“Please, Katie, I really want to talk to you about that,” he pleaded. Despite wanting to turn him away too, she decided to let him speak.

“Fine,” she replied with a glare. He sat down with his food nervously.

“I know what you heard, and it’s not true,” he started off, “Marisol did not hook up with those guys…...at least not willingly.”

“What do you mean?” Katie questioned.

“Marisol was drunk, really drunk, and she seemed really out of it when I saw her with those guys. They were taking advantage of her, Katie,” Drew explained, and he seemed horrified to even talk about it.

Her mouth went dry at the implications of his statement. “Are you saying…..they were trying to rape her?” She asked in a small voice.

“Yes,” Drew confirmed, and she felt her stomach drop. She didn’t want to believe that something so horrible happened to her friend.

And instead of believing her when she said the rumors weren’t true, she instead told her that she was disgusted by her and refused to speak to her.

“I told the guys to screw off, and they actually did. Then I took her home. She hates me for bringing her to the Ravine in the first place but she doesn’t know what I saved her from…..but I can’t blame her for hating me right now,” Drew added sorrowfully. 

She wasn’t really paying attention to him, she was just watching Marisol who was quietly eating lunch by herself. She felt like a terrible friend right now.

“I’m sorry for playing both of you girls,” Drew continued, “I just really like both of you and I can’t choose between you girls right now. I guess that makes me dumb.”

“It does,” she agreed as she got up, “But I have to make up with Marisol now.”

Drew had one last thing to say. “We’re weren’t going to be able to go out tonight anyway. I’m grounded for staying out late and drinking alcohol. For a month,” he finished with a sheepish look on his face.

“Good,” Katie sneered as she left the table. She didn’t feel sorry for him after he admitted to trying to play both of them.

She walked over to Marisol’s table and sat down next to her. “Hey,” she greeted softly.

“What do you want?” Marisol demanded sharply, and Katie nearly flinched in response. Her friend was rarely angry at her like this.

“To say sorry about earlier this morning,” she apologized. “I should have believed you.”

“Why, what did Drew tell you?” Marisol asked again.

“That you were too drunk to willingly hook up with those guys in the tent,” she answered, then shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She didn’t know if she should have even told Marisol the next part, but her friend needed to know what really happened if she didn’t remember. “.....And that they still took advantage of you regardless.”

Marisol didn’t react at first to her words. She just looked at her blankly. “No, that didn’t happen. That couldn’t have happened,” she denied.

“Well what actually happened then?” Katie questioned her.

“I don’t remember……..,” Marisol answered. Her face then shifted into horror. “No, no, that couldn’t have happened to me….”

Katie reached over and squeezed her hand. “Drew looked very scared to even admit to what he saw. I’m sorry, Mare, but it seems like you were...assaulted last night.”

Marisol’s lip quivered and she saw tears well up in her eyes again. 

“I’m sorry, Mare,” Katie apologized again, even though this wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t Marisol’s fault either, or even Drew’s.

It was whoever participated in taking advantage of her friend.

Chapter Text

March

Marisol tossed and turned in her sleep as she had another nightmare about that night at the Ravine.

She still didn’t remember much of that night, but there were flashes in her mind of boys touching her and grabbing at her clothes….

She woke up startled, and jumped upright in her bed.

The alarm clock next to her read three am in the morning. She had been sleeping on and off for the whole night, and it’s been like that for awhile. She hasn’t had a good night’s sleep since before she went on that date with Drew.

Marisol crawled out of her bed to pick up a random stuffed animal from somewhere in her room. She picked a giant, brown, stuffed toy bear named Bubby with red eyes. She got Bubby for Christmas one year and always slept with him when she had a nightmare.

She crawled back into her bed with Bubby, and after getting into a cuddling position with the bear, went back to sleep.

The nightmares continued.

Eli waited with his friends and his classmates for the field trip buses to come. Today, they were going to the Toronto zoo for science class and everyone was excited to not attend the other classes before Spring Break.

He personally didn’t care much for zoos but Imogen was squealing next to him. 

“Eek! I can’t wait to see the pandas, the lemurs, the jellyfishes, and the kangaroos!” She exclaimed, grabbing on his arm excitedly. She then looked at Mo. “What are you excited to see Mo?”

“Frankly my dear, nothing. The zoo is for little kids,” Mo replied, folding his arms.

“You’re never too old for the zoo!” Imogen declared as two, long yellow buses arrived. 

“Isn’t your mom going to be a chaperone?” Eli asked him.

Mo groaned out loud in response.”Yeah, my mom is, and she’s definitely going to make sure I don’t get to eat the food I want to eat. I think she actually already prepared my lunch for the day, bleh.”

“Bullfrog is going to be a chaperone too, and that will be interesting,” Eli informed, already dreading the thought of his dad interacting with his classmates. He just hoped that he wouldn’t be in the same group with Bullfrog.

Mr. Bince had them all lined up to get on the bus, and of course Eli sat with his friends at the back. Imogen quickly scooted next to him on his seat, giving him a cheerful smile.

He smiled back, but turned to the front of the bus where Marisol and Katie were sitting down.

Marisol looked incredibly tired this morning with red eyes and messy hair. Even then she still looked kinda cute.

He wondered if she was having the same trouble with sleeping as he did, because he still dreamed of getting shot by Rick every so often.

Marisol was asleep during the whole bus ride to the zoo, and Katie was concerned.

Marisol seemed to be always tired these days. Whether it was constantly holding back yawns, randomly dozing off in class, and not dressing as flashy as she did normally, it was clear that her best friend was not getting the sleep she needed.

When the bus arrived at the zoo, she shook her friend awake. “Wake up, Marebear,” she said, “We’re here.”

“Really?” Her friend asked groggily as she yawned. Then she stretched her arms. “I feel that ride wasn’t long enough for me.”

“Have you been sleeping okay lately?” Katie questioned.

“Yeah, why?” Marisol asked back.

“You’ve been sleeping a lot in classes lately and I’m worried.”

“It’s because school’s boring, Katiekins,” Marisol replied dismissively. Katie decided to drop it. For now.

After everyone got off the bus, Mr. Bince assigned them into groups led by one chaperone.

Unfortunately for her and Marisol, they were going to be separated.

She was going to be in a group with Mo led by Mrs. Torres and Marisol was going to be in a group with Mrs. Mashkour…..

…..and Eli.

“So is your name actually Bullfrog?” Drew asked the chaperone as him, Imogen, and a few other kids stood around.

“Yup, unique isn’t it?” Bullfrog answered cheerfully. Looking at this guy, Drew could tell that he was Eli’s father with his entire washed up rocker get up. He knew he hosted a radio station but his mom banned him from listening to it, saying that it promoted filthy music and would be a bad influence on him and Gracie. He still listened to it in secret.

“I guess so,” he replied.

“I’m so happy you’re our chaperone, Bullfrog!” Imogen exclaimed, clapping her hands excitedly. Drew looked her over. With her tan skin, chocolate brown hair and eyes, and petite frame, Imogen was as cute as Katie and Marisol, just weird. She looked like a chipmunk, but in an adorable way.

‘Maybe I can make her less weird if we dated,’ he thought to himself as a new plot came to his head……

“So am I, Immy. So where do you kiddos want to go first?” Bullfrog asked the group.

“Monkeys!” Imogen answered quickly before anyone could.

“Alright let’s see some monkeys!” Bullfrog accepted enthusiastically as he led the way. Imogen was skipping behind him as if she was a little girl.

She was definitely a little cracked in the head. But it was kinda endearing.

The first place they went was the petting zoo as requested by nearly every girl in the group. Several guys grumbled, but no one was allowed to go off by themselves, and Mrs. Mashkour was strict with following that rule.

Marisol smiled as she fed a young pig some treats. It made a cute little noise as it ate the food then licked up her hand. She still felt a little tired but sleeping on the bus ride helped somewhat, and interacting with the cute animals in the petting zoo definitely helped. First she helped brush a lamb, and now she was doing this. 

“I’m surprised that a princess like you would want to associate with such a dirty animal. You do know those things roll around in mud and shit all day, right?” Eli commented teasingly behind her. She rolled her eyes as she got up and faced him.

“Must you start bothering me right now?” She questioned wearily. It took a while, but they finally started teasing each other again and trading barbs. While a part of her had to admit she secretly liked it, she had to act annoyed by it in public so as to not give anyone any ideas. 

“Yes, because I’m not interested in anything that goes on here. I wanted to see the wolves first,” he replied, “But a silly little princess like you would probably scream in terror if one even looks at you,” he added with that irritating smirk of his. 

“Shut up, loser,” she replied with a scowl as he laughed. She tried to leave him behind to admire the cute alpacas, but he only followed her with more annoying quips and smart remarks.

Again, Marisol had to admit to herself she liked the attention he was giving her, but there was no way he was getting the satisfaction of knowing that she liked it.

Katie quietly kept to herself as her group walked around the Africa section. There were frogs, hogs, pythons, lemurs, gorillas, cheetahs, giraffes, hippos, and the stars of the pavilions, the lions. 

Without Marisol by her side, she felt pretty awkward around all of these girls that didn’t like her.

“That gorilla reminds me of you Katie,” a girl sneered as her friends laughed, “With it’s hairy arms and legs. Just like you in the showers.” It was the same girl who threw a pad at her head when she first got her period. Whenever Marisol wasn’t around, the girl always came at her.

She glared at them in response, and fought down the urge to fight them with Drew’s mom in the vicinity. Audra Torres watched everyone like a hawk, even if she was by the meerkat section. She was a hard, scary woman, and it was surprising that Drew was her son, though she heard she wasn’t his birth mother.

“I bet you guys are related. Why don’t you go over there and greet your brother?” The girl continued cruelly.

The gorilla shifted around a little before picking up its own poop. It then hurled it over the gate.

It landed right in the girl’s pretty blond hair.

Everyone in the area was dead silent for a few seconds as the girl’s face shifted in horror. Then as she screamed in disgust, several boys in their group snickered.

Katie only smiled at the sight.

“Royal pythons are also known as ball pythons. They are given this common name for their protective mechanism of “balling,” where they form a tight ball with the head at the center in response to threats. Other protective adaptations are excellent camouflage, seeking cover to avoid predation, escape strategies, bluffing displays, and if necessary biting…..now who wants to hold one on their shoulders?” The snake trainer asked the crowd cheerfully while holding a python around her neck. They were in the reptile section of the zoo.

“Absolutely not,” Drew mumbled next to her as Imogen looked around the room. Not a single kid in the room wanted to volunteer.

“I’ll do it,” she accepted as she stood up. Snakes were creepy, sure, but she wasn’t one to back down from doing something adventurous.

“Come on right up!” The snake trainer urged her, and as she walked up, she could hear other kids whispering about her.

“She’s such a weirdo, who would want to hold a snake?” A girl asked her friend.

“Maybe it’ll tighten around her head, and her brain would stop having cuckoo birds flying around it,” her friend replied. She ignored them.

She held her arms out in a T-shape as the trainer slid the python around her shoulders. She didn’t even flinch as she felt its cold skin against hers.

“Pythons are carnivorous. They prefer to eat small mammals, birds, and eggs. Since they’re non-venomous, they typically kill their prey by constricting around them, causing suffocation and heart failure,” the snake trainer continued speaking. Imogen smiled at the crowd as she spoke about the beautiful creature on her shoulders, feeling like the star of the show.

Eventually, the trainer removed the snake from her shoulders, and she went back to her seat next to Drew, feeling pretty great.

“Hey, that was really cool of you to hold that snake,” Drew complimented her.

“Thanks,” she replied in gratitude, not knowing what to make of it. Why would the most popular guy in their grade say something nice to her, a school outcast?

“You didn’t show any fear at all. That makes you a badass,” he continued. “A cute one, that is. Even better.”

For the first time, a boy other than Eli made her cheeks warm up.

“I guess so….,” she replied, now really confused as to why Drew was being like this.

He grinned at her, and for once she didn’t find it stupid.

They were now looking at bears, and Eli took this as another opportunity to get under her skin.

“You know what’s really badass about bears, Marisol? That they can knock your head off with one swipe,” Eli informed her with an evil smile on his face. He then imitated the action for dramatic effect.

Marisol didn’t respond to him. She just simply kept looking at the big grizzly bears in front of them. One of them was sleeping by a tree, another was casually walking around, and the final one was eating a lunch of fruits and nuts. They were all either light brown or dark brown, nearly black in color.

“Imagine you’re some poor hiker getting lost in the woods, and then suddenly a bear comes roaring out of nowhere and just mauls you. That would be pretty messed up, wouldn’t it?” He continued.

“You are demented,” she flatly replied as she tried not to think of the scenario in her mind. The idea of randomly getting mauled by bears was one of the reasons why she didn’t ever want to go camping. Dealing with icky bugs and having to crouch by a tree to pee were the other reasons.

“Come on, I’m just teasing,” Eli assured her. “You’re just so easy to rile up.”

“And you’re a troll from some dungeon somewhere,” she fired back. He scoffed at the remark.

“Is that the best you can come up with? At least be original,” he said with a raised eyebrow.

“Go to hell.”

“Sorry, don’t believe in it, and not just because I’m Jewish.”

“Ugh!”

When it was lunch time, they were led into the restaurant in the African pavilion.

Mo licked his lips in hunger as he looked at the menu up on the boards. The place sold burgers, chicken tenders, fries, and pizza. He made his way to wait in line.

A hand on his shoulder stopped him. 

“Mohammad, your mother informed us that you have type two diabetes and that she already prepared your lunch for today,” Mrs. Torres informed him firmly.

‘Shit,’ he thought to himself. He couldn’t even eat the foods he wanted on a freaking field trip.

Annoyed, he sat down at a table Eli and Imogen were also sitting down at. But not even reuniting with his friends helped with the frustration he was feeling right now.

His mother walked over and handed him his lunch, which was a chicken salad wrap with wheat tortilla bread, a cup of yogurt, and a low calorie juice cup. Meanwhile, Eli was eating delicious looking chicken tenders and Imogen was chomping down on a pizza slice.

His mother was sitting at another table with the other chaperones, but he could feel her eyes on him so he knew he had to eat this shit.

He sighed before taking a bite out of his food.

“Come on Katiekins! Ride the pony with me!” Marisol encouraged her.

“No thanks, you go ahead,” Katie turned down as she nervously looked at the ponies and camels. The area they were in offered pony and camel rides, and half of their classmates were lining up to be the next rider.

She personally was afraid of getting on an animal like that. There was a strong chance where she could fall off and break her neck.

“ Please ? For me?” Marisol begged, giving her a puppy look. She sighed.

“I hate when you say ‘For me,’” she replied as she followed her friend in line. She knew that as soon their groups met up that Marisol was going to make her do something she wasn’t interested in doing, and she always used the words “For me?” to do it.

“Yay!” Marisol cheered. 

They chatted about the animals they saw in the zoo so far until it was Marisol’s turn. Katie watched tensely as her best friend was put on a pony, that then started walking on a set path guided by a worker.

Marisol had a huge smile on her face the entire time. She had always loved ponies.

After a few minutes, her friend got off and Katie braced herself for her turn. With a tight stomach, she approached the pony and was helped onto it by the same worker. She tried not to panic as it moved, albeit slowly. 

After a minute or so, she relaxed when she realized that she actually felt….free? The wind was lightly blowing in her face and it felt refreshing.

Then the smell of poop filled her nostrils.

She looked at the worker, who simply shrugged as they continued walking.

“Looks like she really needs to go,” the worker commented with a bored look on her face. Katie flushed in embarrassment. 

No one wants to be on an animal while it was actively defecating.

When it was almost time for them to leave, Eli headed to the gift shop. He was going to get Cece a nice snow globe since she collected them along with shot glasses.

While he was looking around for which design would she like the best, he noticed Marisol looking at stuffed animals.

“These are all so cute!” She squealed. He rolled his eyes. Of course she was into stuffed animals. What part of her wasn’t a girly stereotype at this point?

She picked up a medium sized white tiger with cutesy blue eyes and pink blush on its cheeks. She then looked at the price tag and frowned.

“Twenty-five dollars but I only have twenty left,” she muttered sadly to herself.

For some reason, he didn’t really like seeing her sad. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled a crisp five dollars and handed it to her. “Here,” he said.

Marisol looked at him in confusion but took the money.

“Take that as an apology for me harassing you all the time,” he explained, “.....at least for today.”

He could see her mouth go dry. “Th-thanks Eli,” she replied in gratitude.

“You’re welcome,” he said, and he was really looking to see her smile at him.

When she did, he tried not to let his excitement visibly show.

Drew got on the school bus with everyone else, looking for someone to sit next to.

He walked past Katie and Marisol, who both gave him intense stares. Although neither girl blamed him for what happened with Marisol, they clearly didn’t appreciate that he tried to date both of them. So they didn’t speak to him, and he didn’t raise a fuss. Although Katie and Marisol were the most attractive girls in their grade, there were plenty of fish in the sea.

One of them was Imogen Moreno, who was sitting by herself while her friends Eli and Mo were sitting together across from her.

“Can I sit here?” He asked her.

“Sure,” she accepted. He flashed her a charming smile as he sat down.

“You have fun?” Drew questioned her even though he already knew the answer.

“Yeah, any place where I get to spend time with animals is the best place in the world for me!” She answered enthusiastically.

“I can tell,” he replied, thinking of how she acted at each exhibit. From tigers to monkeys, Imogen was excited about seeing everything, even the naked mole rats.

The bus took off from the zoo after the teacher made sure everyone was on it and not lost somewhere. During the whole bus ride back, Imogen toyed with the lemur shaped necklace she bought. It had a silver chain and the lemur part was sparkly.

He made small talk with her during this time, getting to know this girl. Imogen was truly an interesting character he would say.

Every so often, he would glance at her male friends who were watching them interact with different facial expressions. Mo was confused, while Eli looked at him threateningly, like he was a danger to his friend or something.

Imogen had nothing to fear from him. He was just a cool, chill guy that liked sports.

And pretty girls.

Snow. That was her new stuffed tiger’s name.

After getting out of the bathtub, putting on her pajamas, rolling up her hair and putting a bonnet, Marisol pulled her toy out of her souvenir bag and looked at it. It was so cute and she was glad that Eli gave her money to pay for it.

She was just also surprised that he would do something like that for her of all people. He should hate her because she got him shot, but yet he didn’t and this was proof.

When she crawled into her bed and turned off her lamp, she clutched Snow to her chest and went to sleep.

For the first time in a long while, she dreamt of happy things.

Chapter Text

"Does my hair and makeup look good, Katiekins?" Marisol asked Katie as she admired herself in the mirror. She was wearing a coral pink shirt dress with a transparent button up top. Her normally straight hair was in bouncy curls around her neck. Her makeup consisted of strawberry lip gloss, pink blush, and light mascara. With heart shaped earrings, she knew she looked nice but she just wanted to make sure she did.

"For the fifth time yes, Mare," Katie answered in exasperation as she leaned on her locker. "I don't even know why you're dressing up like this."

"Because a film director is coming to Degrassi today," Marisol answered.

"Yeah Kevin Smith, the guy who directed those stupid comedy movies. Not really an acclaimed director or anything," Katie replied with a raised eyebrow. Marisol sighed as once again, she had to explain why this was important to her.

"Katie, I want to get noticed by someone famous no matter who it is, and by looking this good there's no way he won't notice me," she explained, excited at the prospect.

Even though she was pretty sure she wanted to own a makeup line, she quite liked the idea of being an actress or a model. She was surely glamorous enough for the part.

"So what you want to be an actress now? In one of the most sexist and abusive industries on the planet? Mare, acting is nothing but being forced to put on heavy makeup for a role and suck up to a bunch of rich snobs to get by. Do you really want that?" Katie questioned.

"Better to deal with that than being an athlete who's a big star until they get a career breaking injury and become a washed up high school coach with a low salary," Marisol fired back.

Katie scowled at her, and Marisol could feel another fight brewing between them. Then the sight of Kevin Smith walking around the halls with journalist Caitlin Ryan caught their attention.

"Look, he's coming down here!" She exclaimed as her stomach tightened in nervousness. When the two adults walked their way, she gave them both a big, pretty smile while giving them a cute wave.

"Well, the kids these days are certainly flashier than when I was going to middle school," Kevin Smith remarked to Caitlin Ryan as he looked at her. "What's your name?" He asked her.

"Marisol! Marisol Lewis!" She answered quickly and enthusiastically.

"Nice to meet you Marisol, we're thinking about filming our next movie at this school. How would you and your friend-"

"Katie," her friend said.

"Katie," Smith repeated, "Like having a part in the movie?"

"Yes!" Marisol answered before Katie could say no. "We would love to!"

"Awesome, I'll let you guys know what happens because you definitely have the pep and cheer to be in a movie, Marisol," he complimented warmly before walking away with Caitlin. She turned to her friend and shook her in excitement.

"We're going to be in a movie! We're going to be in a movie! We're going to be in a MOVIE!" Marisol squealed repeatedly, bouncing with each word.

"I guess we are," Katie replied with a soft smile. The excitement Marisol was feeling was through the roof and nothing could kill it.

Except for a cruel remark from some boy.

"I'm surprised you didn't blow him for a part, slut," he jeered at her as he approached them. "Since that's all you're good for."

"Shut up, Josh," Katie sharply replied.

"What? It's the truth!" He said, while leering at her. Marisol felt her skin crawl in disgust.

"If five guys can get a piece of you, I can't see why the rest of us can't," he said before reaching for her.

Katie grabbed his wrist.

"Touch her and I'll break it," she warned him, squeezing his wrist tightly for emphasis.

He scoffed at her but did not move to touch her. He shook his wrist out of Katie's grasp and walked away from them. Her best friend turned to her and comfortingly put her hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" She asked her in concern.

Marisol was breathing heavily and shaking from the encounter.

"No."

In class, Eli painted his nails with a sharpie as everyone loudly chatted with each other and threw papers around before the bell rang. Today was the last day of school, and no one actually wanted to come. So far the teachers either had everyone play games or talk.

"Eli, are you going to the dance tomorrow night?" Imogen asked him, trying her best to loudly talk over everyone.

"Nah, I think I'm going to sit home and watch a horror movie or two," he answered. He wasn't much of a dancing guy and the last dance he went to, one of his best friends passed out into a diabetic coma.

"Come on, I need someone to go with me!" She pleaded.

"Don't you have Mo for that?" He asked her wearily. He didn't understand why it was always him she was picking to do school events with her.

Well he actually did know, but he really wished she picked Mo over him for once.

"I already asked him and he said no. Please, Elijah. You don't even have to dance, just be my date," she insisted with a sad look in her eyes. At that look, he folded.

"Fine," he accepted, which made her squeal in happiness.

"Eek yes! I love you, Eli!" She said as she reached over and hugged him.

Eli felt awkward at the hug, mostly because he knew she meant it in the romantic way, and he wasn't sure if he felt the same way or not.

For English class, the teacher brought in cupcakes and cookies for everyone to eat to celebrate the last day of classes.

As trays of the treats were being passed around, Katie tried not to show interest as she read a book instead. It was To Kill A Mockingbird, a book that she enjoyed even if it was required for high school. Even though she had years to read it, she was already halfway done.

"Katie, your turn," Marisol told her as she passed her a tray of red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Marisol had both a big chocolate marshmallow cookie and a red velvet cupcake on her desk. There were napkins on her lap so the treats wouldn't stain her pretty clothing.

"No thanks," Katie rejected, thinking of the high calories the cupcakes definitely had.

Marisol sighed in frustration, took a cupcake out of the tray, and placed it on her desk anyway.

"Katie, eat a cupcake please. I'm worried about how you're starving yourself lately," she demanded.

"I'm not starving myself, Mare, I'm simply watching my calories," Katie replied, and this was basically the twentieth time she had to explain to her best friend.

"You're skinny as a toothpick, what do you need to watch your calories for? You barely eat anything!" Marisol argued.

"You don't need to wait until you're fat to worry about constantly eating unhealthy foods, Mare. It starts now, and I'm not going to apologize for maintaining a healthy food regime," Katie argued back.

Her friend shook her head. "Whatever you say, but you're starting to look a little too skinny these days…."

Katie ignored her and went back to To Kill A Mockingbird. Every so often, she would look at the cupcake sitting on her desk.

She hated herself for being tempted to eat it.

Later in the day, at the end-of-the-school-year pep rally, Imogen stood on the side of the gym with her other pep squad teammates. They were all dressed in uniform, which were all color inverted versions of the Spirit Squad uniforms with a dress and long sleeves instead of a top and skirt.

She had styled her hair in two long pigtails with one blue bow and one gold bow. She put sparkly blue and gold paint on her cheeks along with blue eyeshadow. Compared to the other girls she stood out.

"Do you think our routine will be better than the Spirit Squad's?" She overheard a girl ask Marisol. Something about Marisol was off today, she looked a little shaky as she looked around the gym.

"I hope so, we've been practicing for two straight weeks," Marisol replied, and it was true. Only because her and Ms. Mendelson ran them ragged with no breaks. After each practice, she would come home and pass out on the living room couch from exhaustion.

"To start off the end of the year, we introduce our new Degrassi Pep Squad!" Ms. Hatzilakos said cheerfully.

"Alright everyone, let's show em' what we got!" Marisol exclaimed as she plastered a smile on her face. For some reason, Imogen could tell it was fake.

The whole team did a series of coordinated flips, kicks, and cartwheels and then a two step dance routine. She enthusiastically did every move, eager to show why she, the school outcast, belonged on the team.

Mo in the mascot costume was by her side doing a fun little jig for the crowd, though inside the costume, he had to have been sweating profusely.

When it was time to throw Marisol up in the air, Imogen pushed back all of her current hatred for the other girl to flip her up in the air with Christina, the other member of the team. Marisol did a little spin before she successfully came back down in their arms. Then everyone spread back out in a v formation.

"D-E-G-R-A-S-S-I! Degrassi!" They all shouted in the air while pushing out their fists.

The crowd cheered for them, which made her beam in pride. Whenever she was performing for the team, she always felt a little less like the least popular girl in school.

Her and her teammates retreated back to the other side of the gym to make way for the Spirit Squad. As the older girls began their routine, she wondered if it would be any better than what they just did.

Just like with Marisol, the captain of the team was hurled up in the air.

Unlike Marisol, her fall was not successful and she landed painfully on the floor, with a sickening crunch cracking through the air. The captain of the team then started screaming as she clutched her now broken leg in pain.

'Well that answers the question,' Imogen thought to herself as she cringed at the scene.

"You want to go to the dance with me tomorrow?" Drew asked a girl named Brianna as she cleaned out her locker.

"A pig like you? Absolutely no way," she rejected him coldly. He sighed before leaving her presence. She had bad acne anyway. He was actually doing her a favor by asking her out.

Despite being super popular, a lot of girls did not want to go out with him despite that due to the Katie-Marisol incident. It was genuinely frustrating because he actually saved Marisol from experiencing something extremely bad yet girls looked at him like he was scum. The worst of all was when Imogen turned him down, saying that Eli was bringing her instead. Not even the school weirdo wanted him.

When Katie walked past him, he grabbed her arm. "Katie!"

She shook her arm out of his grasp. "Don't touch me you Casanova wannabe!" She yelled at him.

"No, hear me out," he urged, desperate at this point.

"What do you want?" She demanded.

"To take you to the dance tomorrow," he answered as smoothly as he could. She laughed darkly in response.

"As if I would ever go out with you after how you treated my best friend on a date. I would never pick up Marisol's dirty sloppy seconds," she declared as she tried to leave him, but he stepped in front of her.

"I'm a lot of things but dirty ain't one of them," he replied, "I shower every day."

She scoffed at that remark. He swallowed down his nerves before continuing.

"Look Katie, I'm sorry again for trying to date both of you and Marisol but I can't get you out of my mind. You're beautiful, smart, and kickass at sports. I'll do anything to get a second chance with you, please?" He pleaded while giving her a pout.

"Since you probably aren't not going to leave me alone until I say yes, I'll go," she accepted. 'Yes!' He thought to himself in triumph. "But no funny business," she warned before moving past him.

"Wouldn't dream of it!" He replied at her retreating form with a big, goofy smile on his face.

While he may have been the brightest tool in the shed, he sure wasn't going to piss off a girl who knew karate and could snap him into a twig.

"How was school today, girls?" Mrs. Lewis asked her and Katie as they got in her car. Katie was sleeping over her house tonight so she could help her get ready for the dance tomorrow.

"Awesome, it was the last day so all the teachers were even chill. Our history teacher even allowed us to play Jeopardy! But at the pep rally, the Spirit Squad captain broke her leg," she answered.

"Ooh that must have been painful for her," her mother replied with a dramatic shiver. "Well did your team do an amazing job at least?"

"Yes we killed it, didn't we Katie?" She asked her friend.

"You girls were pretty great," Katie agreed, and Marisol smiled pridefully at her mother before remembering something.

"O-M-G I almost forgot! Mama, Kevin Smith came to our school and offered me and Katie roles in his new movie if he films at Degrassi!" She added excitedly.

Martina Lewis gasped. "You're kidding?"

"No Mama! I could be an actress!"

Her and her mother squealed together and she almost felt bad for Katie's eardrums. She looked back at her friend in the car, who simply watched them with an amused look on her face.

With Kevin Smith's offer and the well-received Pep Squad performance, she was in higher spirits than she was this morning.

However, she still was shaken by that boy grabbing at her and she was too scared to tell her parents about it and her assault.

"Aw come on!" Mo shouted as the words "Fatality" flashed on the screen. His Sub-Zero brutally had his spine ripped out by Eli's Scorpion.

"This just isn't your day, isn't it?" Eli quipped with a smirk as he exited to the main menu. They had played Street Fighter, Mario Kart, and now Mortal Kombat and Mo lost every game.

"I blame it on my nerves after seeing that girl break her leg during the pep rally. That was messed up," Mo claimed while shuddering.

"Yeah, but I could have sworn her teammates did that on purpose. I saw some of them laugh after she fell," Eli replied. He didn't know what the Spirit Squad captain did to her teammates but they obviously didn't like her if they were willing to break her leg.

"Well at least your girlfriend's team did a great job," Mo teased him, and he scowled in return.

"Princess is not my girlfriend," he denied.

"Sure, because you're scared of Imogen or something?"

"That's definitely not the reason, because I'm taking Imogen to the dance tomorrow."

His friend raised an eyebrow. "Really? You're indulging in that?" He questioned.

"Why not? Imogen's my best friend," Eli argued.

"Who's madly in love with you," Mo pointed out, "Eli, come on. You do not like her like that."

"How do you know?" Eli challenged.

"Because dumbass, you're in love with Marisol instead. It's plain as day. You gave her money to buy a plushie at the zoo for fuck's sake."

"That doesn't mean anything. We're too different for each other. We wouldn't work out. Imogen and I are a better match," he tried to convince his friend, who gave him an eye roll in return.

"Lying is one of the greater sins in my faith, it's considered Haram," Mo said to him with his arms folded.

"Can we go back to playing games, Mo? Because I don't like where this conversation is heading," Eli replied in a firm voice.

"Whatever," his friend simply said as he rested his hands behind his head. Eli went to get another video game for them to play.

He wasn't in love with Marisol despite how his stupid body reacted to her presence. Imogen was who he should be with even if he didn't get that same tingling feeling in his stomach whenever he was around her.

Mrs. Lewis had cooked a nice dinner of jerk pork, fried rice and mango salsa.

After she put food on everyone's plates, and they said grace, everyone started eating. Except her.

"What's wrong, Katie?" Mrs. Lewis asked in concern before taking a bite out of her food. Marisol looked at her expectantly.

"Um, nothing. I'm just not that hungry right now," Katie answered as she numbly played around in her food. Admittedly, it looked good but it was probably very high in fats and sugars.

Mrs. Lewis just looked at her in response, and Katie nearly squirmed in her seat.

"Your parents have expressed to me in worry that you wouldn't eat much. Katie, please eat your food, it's very good."

Her lip quivered. "But-"

"Eat it, and you don't even have to take big bites. Just little ones."

Katie was tempted to cry as she ate her dinner that surely gave her some extra pounds.

The next day

Imogen got up early to pick out her dress for this evening. Eli was actually going to be her date and she couldn't be more excited. If everything goes well, then he could be her boyfriend. 'And not Marisol's,' she thought to herself gleefully. Eli needed to be free from that little witch's claws.

From her closet, she picked out a nice sparkly black dress with a puffy tutu skirt. The top had a heart-shaped neckline. She was going to match the dress with some cute dress flats.

She walked over to her dresser and picked up a bottle of black nail polish to paint her fingernails with. Not only was it going to match her outfit, but also make Eli happy. She wondered if he would allow her to paint his nails one day.

She hoped so because that chipped, sharpie black nail polish wasn't a good look.

"So my boy is going to have a date to the dance…..do I need to remind you what the birds and the bees are?" Bullfrog asked teasingly over breakfast.

"Bullfrog," Eli warned him while turning red in embarrassment. His parents laughed at the sight.

"Just saying, a lot happens at these dances and I don't want my son to go in with a girl unprepared," Bullfrog explained as Cece put bacon on his plate.

"Don't worry because I'm not doing anything like that with Imogen," he insisted firmly before munching on a waffle. He was appalled at the idea of even having sex at his age…..though he dreamed of having it all the time.

It just wasn't with Imogen.

"Honey, leave Eli alone, you can see how nervous he is," Cece thankfully pointed out. "Now Eli, while girls can be scary at this age, Imogen seems to be quite the sweetie. You just have to be a gentleman to her and not step on her feet. You want me to give you lessons?"

He thought about saying no, but he could hardly ever say no to his mother. "I guess so," he replied, looking down at his plate. He was already regretting going.

"Excellent, let's practice after breakfast Babyboy!" She said cheerfully. Then a smirk grew on her face. "Now do Bullfrog and I have to show you how to use a condom?"

"Mom!"

As he tried on his dress shirt and pants for the dance, his mom was giving him advice for taking Katie.

"Be respectful and polite towards her, okay Andrew? Pull out her seat for her when she sits down and put her plate of food in the trash when she's done," his mother advised him.

"Yes, mom," Drew repeated, not really paying attention. He was mainly thinking about how Katie was going to look tonight. At school she always wore jeans, jackets, shirts, and sneakers. While she sometimes wore nail polish, she wasn't nearly as girly as Marisol and that was one of the reasons he liked her. She was different from the other girls.

"And don't do anything she doesn't want to do, you hear me?" His mother warned him.

"Yes mom," he repeated as he smoothed out his clothes. His mother then started combing his hair. It wasn't like Katie was going to allow him to do anything anyway, she seemed like quite the hard chick. Plus, Marisol was going to be in the car with them.

In a way, he got what he wanted. He got dates with both Marisol and Katie, and he was technically taking them both to the dance. The other boys were going to be jealous of him for sure.

"I'm serious, Drew. No doing what kids aren't supposed to be doing. I am still disgusted that the school allowed an STI outbreak to happen from its backyard!"

Oh he knew. When he had to bring home a letter to his parents back in February warning about multiple students getting gonorrhea, his mother ranted about it for hours and days on end. There were even rumors that she screamed Principal Hatzilakos' head off at the board meeting.

Having Audra Torres as a mother could be stressful sometimes, and in moments like this he wondered if his birth mother would have been any different if she was still alive. He didn't remember much of Gianna Torres, but he did remember her as being very warm and friendly unlike Audra. But he still loved Audra, and she was more like his mom than just his step-mom at this point. She was just scary.

Gracie walked down the steps and when she saw him, she laughed. "You look like a cheese ball with that outfit!"

"Shut up," he replied.

"How do you expect to impress Katie by looking like a church boy?"

"Gracie, leave your brother alone," their mom ordered. Gracie stuck her tongue out at him before walking in the kitchen to get a snack for herself.

When it was time to go, he followed his mother into her car.

On the way over to Marisol's place, she pressed him with more "advice".

"I keep telling you to not move, Katie!"

"How can I not when the heat is burning my scalp?"

"It's not burning your scalp, relax."

Marisol was curling her hair, and she was not enjoying it so far. She could have sworn that her best friend was burning her. She didn't even know why she needed to get her hair curled even further when it was naturally curly.

When Marisol was finally done, she combed out her curls and then sprayed it with cotton candy scented hairspray. She turned her chair around so she could look at herself in the mirror.

She looked far different than she normally did with her curls bouncing around her hair in big spirals. With her navy blue dress, silver heels, and makeup, she had never looked this girly before.

"I have a gorgeous bestie!" Marisol squealed in glee. Katie still thought Marisol looked better. Her best friend's hair was pulled into a curly bun with a set of pearl earrings and a pearl necklace. Her dress was pink and made of lace with transparent sleeves. "That idiot who's taking you won't know what hit him."

Marisol wasn't pleased when she told her Drew asked her out to the dance, but Katie assured her that Drew won't try anything stupid with her. She wasn't even sure if they were going to actually date after this. She didn't trust him.

The doorbell rang, and Marisol ran to answer it. On the other end was Drew with a bouquet of flowers. "Hey girls, you both look really nice," he greeted before walking over to her. "These are for you," he told her before handing her the flowers.

Katie blushed as their eyes met. An idiot that he was, those gorgeous blue eyes of his still made her heart flutter. She took a whiff of the flowers, which were an assortment of lilies, daffodils, and daisies. They smelled beautiful. "Thank you," she told him in gratitude.

She looked over at Marisol, who had a look on her face that suspiciously looked jealous. When Marisol caught her looking, she flashed her a smile. Katie decided to think nothing of it.

"Pictures!" Mrs. Lewis ordered as she pushed all of them outside.

When there was a knock on the door, Imogen ran so fast to open it, she didn't even check to see who it was. Luckily, it was Eli who looked quite handsome in his black dress jacket and black pants.

"Eli!" She greeted cheerfully while hugging him tightly. "You look so good!"

"Thanks," he replied as she pulled away from him. "You too," he added.

"It's all for you," she admitted, spinning around to show off her outfit for him.

"Appreciate it."

Her father came down the steps and looked at them in confusion. "Why are you kids dressed up? Where are you going?"

"To the dance, Papa. Remember?" She reminded him.

"Oh," her father realized. "Well have fun! Eli, bring her back by ten thirty or there will be problems!"

"Don't worry Mr. Moreno, she'll be back before then!" Eli reassured him as they walked out together.

"Bye Papa!" She said, waving her dad goodbye and he waved back in return.

The gym had a beautiful, sparkly night theme with props of stars and crescent moons hanging from the ceiling. The tables were covered in glittery black cloth with party favors on each one and a dimly lit lamp.

Marisol smiled excitedly as she walked inside with Katie and Drew trailing behind her. "Everything looks so pretty!" She commented in awe.

"They really outdid themselves again," Katie agreed, "This looks as good as the Halloween dance."

"You guys had a Halloween dance?" Drew asked.

"Yeah, it was pretty great until Mo passed out," Marisol answered.

"Damn. Does stuff like that always happen at Degrassi dances?"

"Sometimes. Last year I heard there was a fire."

"Pfft, and my mom sent me *here* instead of Northern Tech. At least they don't have school shootings and gonorrhea outbreaks."

They picked out a table in front of the stage, and sat down. Marisol picked out her party favors from a bag, which were candy and a pair of black sunglasses. "Ooh maybe I can wear this to the beach this summer!"

"Yeah, I was down for getting new shades anyway," Drew replied. Then he looked at Katie. "You wanna go to the beach with me this summer?"

Her bestie blushed. "Maybe..."

While admiring the sunglasses, in the corner of her eye, Marisol spotted Eli walk in with Imogen by his side and Mo behind him.

Imogen was dressed as wacky as always, with her wearing a sparkly black tutu dress and shoes, but Eli was wearing something straight out of one of those rock music videos. His dress jacket reminded her of that singer Jared Wayback or something. She didn't know his actual name.

Imogen was clinging onto Eli for dear life, and it was obvious they were going to the dance as dates.

'Good for them,' she thought to herself bitterly.

He was a creep and she was a freak. They were perfect for each other.

"Let's dance!" Imogen told her friends as she began to bop to the song currently playing, Come On Eileen.

Mo danced with her, but Eli stood back, simply watching them.

"Come on, Elijah, you didn't bring me to the dance so you can be a wallflower," Imogen said as she grabbed his hands and pulled him close to her. "Spin me around, buttercup!"

He gave her an amused smile as he twirled her around, the action making her a little dizzy.

She fell into his arms, and her heart raced at the contact.

Marisol tried not to let her jealousy show as Katie danced with Drew with all of the other couples on the floor. So far Drew had treated Katie on their date way better than he did on theirs. For one thing, it wasn't at a freaking McDonald's or the grungy, disgusting Ravine.

Marisol had wondered what she had done to deserve getting treated the way she did by boys. All she wanted was to have a nice, strong guy by her side but yet she was taken advantage of and leered at by scumbags.

Getting out of her seat, she headed towards the bathroom, no longer wanting to see the sight.

When she got there, there was a few eighth grade boys waiting outside the girl's bathroom. When they saw her, they all gave her creepy stares that made her uncomfortable.

"Hey, it's the school slut!" One of them shouted as he approached her…..

"Are you having a nice time so far?" Drew asked Katie as they danced to another romance slow jam. She had her arms on his shoulders and he had his hands on her waist.

Katie's heart wouldn't stop hammering rapidly in her chest. She knew she was sweaty too. "Y-yeah…," she answered.

"I really like you, Katie, even though you're probably still mad at me. But you're pretty even when you're mad so it's okay," he rambled on. "I was thinking after this, we could hang out some more during the summer. What do you think?"

"I don't know, Drew. I'm still scared you're going to play me, or try to date Marisol behind my back," she replied. Marisol was more popular than her, and so she would probably be a better fit for her anyway.

"Marisol is cute," Drew admitted, "Imogen is too, but you're awesome. You got it all: beauty, brains, and brawn. Any guy would be lucky to have you as a girlfriend, and I want to be that guy."

She was shocked. "You really mean that?"

"I do mean that," he confirmed, "And I could prove it to you. Can I kiss you, Katie Matlin?"

Katie swallowed nervously at the offer. She should say no. This was only the first date and it wouldn't be proper.

But Drew was looking at her with those blue eyes and those lips looked enchanting….

"You may," she accepted.

When he pressed his lips gently to hers, she knew that she was now under his spell.

Mo decided to take a break from vigorously dancing to get some water. He was famished.

When he heard a scream while walking towards the gym bathroom, he had chalked it up to some kids being excited.

Instead, when he opened the gym doors, he found some guys trying to assault Marisol, who was viciously fighting back with tears in her eyes.

"Leave me alone!" She shouted in protest, only for several of the boys to laugh in response while tearing at her dress.

Mo didn't think twice as he grabbed one kid and roughly slammed him onto another. Both boys tumbled to the floor while the others watched in surprise. Mo took this opportunity to punch another one in the face, causing him to fall back onto a wall.

Instead of fighting back, all four of the boys quickly scattered away, leaving just him and Marisol, who was frozen at the scene.

"Are you alright?" He asked her while holding out his hand for her to take. Shaking, she took it gingerly.

"Yeah….," she mumbled to herself.

It took a moment for Mo to register what he just did. He just beat up like three guys by himself. Was he that strong?

"Can you walk me back?" She asked him fearfully.

"Sure," he accepted as they began walking hand in hand. He had just saved the most popular girl in his grade from some creeps and she was allowing him to touch her hand.

Maybe he won't be so much of an outcast next year.

When Eli saw Mo and Marisol walk hand in hand to the dance floor, he felt something negative creep up in him. Envy? He hoped it wasn't.

He watched as Mo asked Marisol something, and she nodded her head yes. Then they began to slow dance.

Eli really felt something in him snap. For some reason, he felt a big urge to dance with Imogen. Grabbing her, he placed one hand on her bare shoulder and held her hand with the other hand as they softly swayed to the song together.

Imogen was looking at him with nothing but adoration. "Oh Eli, I'm so happy we're here together," she said.

"So am I," he replied evenly while trying not to look at Marisol and Mo.

"I have been holding it in since October but I really like you, do you like me?" Imogen questioned.

"Yes," he answered quickly. And it was true, just not in the way she thought. But maybe that could change.

Especially since Marisol was clearly moving onto someone else.

"Then you'll be my boyfriend?" She asked again excitedly.

"...Yes," he repeated, and was caught off guard when she squealed and suddenly threw her arms around him. He quickly adjusted and placed his hands around her waist as they continued to dance with the other couples on the floor.

He looked at Marisol, and she looked at him back while dancing with Mo. There was an unreadable look in her eyes.

He acted as if he didn't pay her any mind.

Chapter Text

A week before the beginning of the school year

The hot August sun was felt as Marisol and Katie walked along the coastline of the beach. They were both dressed in swimsuits, with Marisol wearing a pink and white striped bikini and Katie wearing a dark blue one piece with blue shorts. The waves gently flowed over their feet and the wind blew in their faces.

"I can't believe this summer is almost over," Marisol said in sadness. So far she had an amazing summer with frequent beach trips, amusement park trips, water park trips, and barbecues that she didn't want to end. She didn't want to go back to Degrassi with the loads of homework, boring teachers, and worst of all creepy boys.

Though with Katie's karate lessons, the creepy boys might not be much of a problem anymore.

"I know, but I'm excited to start the new school year. I can't wait to be class president," Katie replied while bouncing a beach ball in her hand.

At the beginning of the year, there were school elections and her bestie was determined to win class president for eighth grade. Katie was certainly qualified for the position as she had straight A's, a mature and level headed personality (most of the time), a talent for leading, and was adored by all of the teachers. The only issue was that she wasn't popular enough.

"Well what if I run? I can be class president," Marisol suggested, just to hear her friend's reaction. Katie stopped walking and looked at her in confusion.

"Why would you run when I've been waiting for this my whole life, Mare?" Katie questioned. "I deserve to win this."

"I'm just kidding," Marisol assured her with a tight smile.

"Good, because I need you to support me. You can be my vice president," Katie replied while throwing her beach ball in the air.

"Sounds awesome," she said just as a strong current blew the ball away towards the ocean. "Oh no!" Katie exclaimed fearfully. That was Maya's favorite beach ball.

Fortunately, the ball was caught by a hand in the water, and they both watched in awe as a boy rose from the waters. He was white, with light brown hair and green eyes.

He was very tall. And hot.

"Is this yours?" He asked them as he approached them.

"Yeah….," Marisol answered while flashing him a flirty smile, showing off her dimples. She took the ball from his hands. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome!" He replied enthusiastically before going back into the water. Marisol turned towards Katie and squealed.

"O-M-G, he is SO cute!" She said. "You think he would be a great boyfriend for me?"

Her friend just stared at the boy as he swam around in the ocean, and it seemed like she was in shock.

"Katie? Earth to Katie," Marisol added as she waved her hand in her friend's face. Katie shook her head and looked at her.

"Yeah, sure," Katie answered offhandedly.

Marisol raised an eyebrow at her response.

First day of school

Clare Edwards got dressed in the bathroom mirror for her first day of seventh grade at Degrassi Community School. Instead of continuing her education at St. Elizabeth's, her parents were sending her to Degrassi so she could be with her older sister, Darcy. With the things she heard about what goes down at the school, she wouldn't say she was excited to go.

Darcy appeared in the doorway of the bathroom, and when her sister saw what she was wearing, her eyes immediately turned judgemental. "You do know that Degrassi is uniform-free, right?" She questioned her.

Clare primly smoothed out her uniform clothes so that there were no visible wrinkles. "Yes, but I'm choosing to wear my uniform anyway."

Darcy shook her head. "You're such a bore. There's no way you're going to get any attention from boys in that," she said.

"Well it's a good thing, I'm here for school, not boys," Clare replied firmly as she put her hair into a tight ponytail.

"You say that now, but we'll see at the end of the week," Darcy warned her before walking away. Clare ignored her as she looked at herself in the mirror. She held her chin up high to give herself a small boost of confidence for the day.

Boys will never be high on her list of concerns. Her priority first and foremost was getting a good education.

Being stylish wasn't her main concern either.

Gracie sat patiently as her mother curled her long hair. She was wearing a nice, floral print dress with white shoes for her first day at Degrassi. Her mother bought the dress yesterday and insisted that she wear it to look "pretty". Audra Torres was fighting hard to get the tomboy out of her daughter.

When she was done, her mother sprayed her hair and she rose out of the chair.

"You look so beautiful, Gracie, it baffles me how you try to hide it under those clothes you usually wear," her mother said. Gracie said nothing in response.

"Thank goodness that I bought you some nice clothes yesterday. You can wear them all week if you want," her mother continued.

"Cool," she replied evenly, not in the mood to argue with her.

"Alright, let's get in the car. Drew!" Her mother called up the steps.

"Coming, Mom!" Drew replied as he ran down the steps with his backpack, sounding way more excited to go to school than normal. Probably because he was eager to reunite with his girlfriend Katie as fast as possible.

They all headed out to the car and Gracie numbly put her book bag in the backseat. She didn't know the exact reason as to why, but she felt so...wrong in these clothes. It didn't feel right.

She felt Drew approach her from behind.

"I have some clothes you can change into when we get to school," he whispered in her ear.

Gracie cracked a mischievous smile at that.

"Alright, kiddo have a great first day back at Degrassi," Bullfrog said as Eli unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car.

"Thanks, Bullfrog. Have a great day at the radio station," Eli replied, waving his dad goodbye as he pulled off.

He turned around and was immediately greeted by his girlfriend jumping into his arms. "Hey Immy," he greeted politely.

"Pookiebear!" She greeted back as she tried to kiss him. Eli quickly rebuffed her advances.

"Please don't call me that," he requested while cringing at the nickname. He was not one for pet names.

"Come on, one good morning kiss," Imogen pleaded with a pout. Eli leaned forward to give her a quick kiss on the lips, only for her to tightly grab his shirt and pull him into a deeper one. Their teeth awkwardly clashed against each other.

When they pulled apart, Eli noticed that Marisol and Katie were looking at them, with Marisol in particular having a displeased look on her face.

Imogen smiled sweetly at them before hooking her arm possessively around his. "Come on honey bear, let's get inside!" She told him while pulling him up the steps.

"Please don't call me that," he repeated wearily as they entered the school.

"That was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen in my life," Marisol grumbled as they entered eighth grade homeroom, "If I wanted to see two sideshow freaks make out, I would go to the circus."

"What do they even do as a couple?" Katie questioned in amusement while sitting down in her new seat. It was in the front of the room so she could be in close proximity to the teacher.

"Probably conjure up evil spirits every time they kiss," Marisol answered just as a new student walked in. To their surprise, it was the boy from the beach.

"He's a Degrassi student?" Marisol asked her in shock as he went to sit down in front of them.

"You're the cute girls from the beach," Jake said, and he was just as shocked to see them as they were to see him, "What's up?"

"Hey!" Marisol greeted before she could, and Katie felt a tinge of jealousy. "It's nice to see you again….uh…."

"Jake, Jake Martin," he introduced himself to them as he held out his hand for either of them to shake. Again, Katie felt herself get jealous as Marisol shook his hand before she could.

"I'm Marisol Lewis and this is my bestie Katie Matlin," Marisol introduced them.

"Hi," Katie said just as Drew came into the class. When he saw her, his face brightened up as he headed towards her. He greeted her with a kiss to the forehead.

"Hey baby," he greeted her before looking at Jake. "Sup, I'm Drew," he said, "Katie's boyfriend," he added while placing his hand on her shoulder. For some reason, she was tempted to shrug it off.

"Hey Drew," Jake greeted back as they clasped their hands together in a handshake. He then looked at Marisol. "Do you have a boyfriend?" He asked her friend.

"No, I'm super single," she answered with a sparkle in her brown eyes.

"Good to know," Jake said, and they smiled flirtatiously at each other.

Despite her boyfriend being next to her, Katie couldn't help her cheeks burning in envy.

Connor Delaurier looked around the media immersion room, curious to know about the other gifted students in this program. He was more interested in academics than making friends, but there wasn't any harm in getting to know his fellow gifted prodigies, was there?

A white kid took a seat next to him and he wore a grey beanie, a t- shirt, a hoodie, jeans, and a pair of sneakers. He didn't look like the type of person to belong in this program. The boy smiled at him, and Connor awkwardly smiled back, not knowing what to make of him.

A white girl in a catholic school uniform sat down next to them and looked at the other guy in confusion. "Is this your first day?" She asked him.

"It is," the other guy confirmed while holding out his hand, "K.C.," he introduced himself.

"Clare," the girl introduced herself back as she shook it, "I think you're in the wrong place."

K.C. looked at Clare with his own confused look on his face.

"This is for the gifted students," she explained.

"Then I'm in the right spot," he replied while staring tensely at Clare.

"Oh," she simply said, cheeks flushing slightly red in embarrassment as she turned to her computer. A brown girl walked into class next and sat down next to Clare, and the girls quickly made small talk together. Connor decided to turn his attention to K.C.

"I'm Connor," he introduced. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Same to you I guess," K.C. replied, "So are all Degrassi girls that snobby?"

"I wouldn't know," Connor said, "I don't know much about girls anyway."

Girls were as hard to figure out as the most difficult algebra equation.

At lunch, Imogen got her food and immediately sat down with Eli and Mo, who was eating a sandwich and low-fat chips.

"So, Eli our three month anniversary is coming up…..," she started off while giving her boyfriend a suggestive look. "What should we do?"

"I don't know, you tell me," he offered before biting into his burger. Every little thing her boyfriend did, she found endearing, even when he munched on his food.

"We should go to the movies and see something! There's a place in my neighborhood that shows retro movies," she suggested.

"Ooh, do they show horror movies?" He asked, and she smiled. He sure did love the spooky stuff.

"Yeah!"

"How are you, Mo? Great, thanks for asking," Mo commented dryly to himself.

"Oh sorry, Mo, would you like to come with us to the movies?" She offered. Their friend shook his head.

"And be a third wheel? Nah I'm good," he replied.

"What happened between you and The Wicked Witch of the West?" Imogen questioned, referring to Marisol. "You guys were pretty cozy at the dance."

"We had sort of a summer thing going on, but it burned out…..but I did get to kiss the hottest girl in our grade," Mo said with a sly smile.

Imogen closely watched Eli's reaction, looking for any indication of jealousy. To her massive relief, there were none.

"Congrats, man," Eli replied as the two boys hi-fived.

"Eli, aren't I the prettiest girl in our grade?" She questioned while looking at him expectantly.

"The prettiest," he confirmed and she beamed at him before giving him a sweet kiss. She loved him so much.

She spotted Marisol looking at them from across another table in the lunchroom. Picking up Eli's fries, she started feeding it to him. She wanted Marisol to know that Eli was hers and hers only.

"You guys disgust me," Mo said as Eli ate each fry she popped into his mouth.

K.C. Guthrie looked around the cafeteria with his tray of food before approaching Connor, who was sitting by himself on the side of the room.

"Can I sit here?" He asked.

"I don't see why you can't," Connor answered with a shrug, and K.C. smiled at the other boy as he sat down. It seemed like he already made a friend here at Degrassi.

Soon Clare and this other girl named Alli sat down with them with their food.

"Gifted program students should stick together," Clare pointed out.

"You acknowledge me as gifted now?" He asked her, still thinking about how she assumed he didn't belong in the program earlier. She took one look at him and thought he was too dumb to be gifted. It stung a little but he was used to it at this point.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I just-"

"Judged me based on my clothes? Do you think l take auto shop or special education too?"

"I didn't think you were smart, you don't dress like a-"

"A private school snob?" He questioned, feeling the urge to get as much under her skin as possible.

"Awkwarddddd," he heard Alli whisper to herself in a sing song voice.

"I'm not a snob!" She argued.

"Then why do you dress like that?" He asked as he pointed to her uniform. He thought it was totally weird how she dressed in one when this school didn't require it. Was she trying to come off as a good girl or something?

"Because it's comfortable, and I don't care what people think about me," she explained stiffly.

"Everyone cares about what people think, it's human nature," he argued, thinking of himself. So far nobody at school knew he lived in a group home and he intended to keep it that way.

"I care about what people think," Alli jumped in, "That's why I'm not dressed in what my parents had me wear today."

K.C. looked over Alli's outfit. Compared to Clare's conservative Catholic school girl uniform, Alli was dressed in a hot pink wrap top, designer jeans, hot pink hoop earrings, lip gloss, and girly flats. The two girls couldn't be anymore different except a common trait of being super smart he guessed.

"Well, that's not me. I'm here for a good education, not to model on a runway, be a cheerleader, or be popular," Clare claimed snootily.

K.C. couldn't help but smile in amusement. Despite how stuck up she was, he couldn't help but find it a little cute.

Jake Martin was doing his homework, or at least he was trying to.

Unfortunately the sound of his parents arguing could be heard even with his bedroom door closed.

"You're ALWAYS busy with construction instead of spending time with your family!" His mother shouted.

"What do you want me to do? Not work?" His father shouted back wearily.

"I want you to at least make a damn effort, Glen. If not for me, then for Jake!"

Oh brother, he hated it when his parents fought over him.

"Jake understands that this job helps out food on the table. Maybe I wouldn't need to work so many hours if you got off your ass and got a job!"

Jake took out his iPod and earphones, and put on some music to drown out the rest of his parents' arguments. They weren't going to stop until one of them stomped upstairs and slammed their bedroom door. His dad was probably going to sleep on the couch tonight.

It's been like this since he was little, and yet neither of his parents were currently clamoring for a divorce.

He wished they did.

Chapter Text

On a Sunday night, Marisol was over the Matlin house helping Katie decorate her campaign posters. She used star-shaped stickers and glitter glue.

"The next three days are going to determine where I stand among the student body at Degrassi. I'm nervous, but I'm also excited. Do you think I have what it takes to win class president?" Katie asked her as she cut out a picture of herself and glued on a piece of light blue paper.

"Of course, the only other person running is Mo and he doesn't have half the qualities you have that makes a good president," she answered, and it was the truth. Even though he saved her from those creeps at the dance last year and they had a little relationship over the summer, he still was a goofy guy that didn't take things seriously. She thought he was a sweet guy but he didn't have what it took to be president.

"I still can't believe you dated him, Mare," Katie replied, "He doesn't seem like your type."

"Because he's chubby?" Marisol questioned before sprinkling glitter on a poster. "Well, yeah, I didn't want to date him at first because of that and him being unpopular but I quickly got over it and realized how dumb I was being."

Mo was cute, and he was strong. Strong enough to protect her from boys who wanted to harm her.

"Then why did you guys break up?" Katie asked her.

"I got bored," was her simple answer. "I broke things off before it could get worse. But now I'm on the Jake Martin train," she added with a sly smile as she thought of him. Her and Jake had spent the entire first week of school flirting with each other, and she was waiting for him to ask her out. He had all the qualities she was looking for in the perfect boyfriend: cute, sweet, charming, and tall. He seemed like he could protect her as well.

A certain emo boy flashed in her mind, and she quickly shook off any thoughts of him. He was dating Imogen now, and they certainly seemed like a happy, sickeningly sweet couple.

"You're moving onto Jake now?" Katie asked with narrowed eyes. "Seriously, Mare, you need to tone it down with inviting these guys into your life, it's going to look bad for my campaign."

"How?" Marisol questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, think about it. You're my best friend and ideal pick for VP yet there's rumors you hooked up with Eli last year at your party, you went out on a date with Drew, there's still rumors that you supposedly hooked up with a lot of guys at the Ravine that same date, you had a summer fling with Mo, and now you're trying to get with Jake. How would it look if the class president hangs out with a school slut?" Katie answered critically.

"I'm not a slut!" Marisol exclaimed as her cheeks burned up in indignation. She couldn't believe the words that just came out of Katie's mouth. "And you know what really happened with those guys at the Ravine." Even though sleeping with Snow at night helped with her dreams, she still had a nightmare about that incident every now and then.

"Yeah of course I do, but other people don't, and they believe what they want to believe. I'm just concerned with how this affects me," Katie reasoned.

"So other people's opinions on your best friend matter more than your actual best friend?" Marisol asked in anger.

"No but it's important to th-"

"I'm going to go," she cut her off as she got up. She grabbed her mini shoulder bag.

"Marisol, sit down. You're being irrational," Katie ordered.

"And you're being a bitch," Marisol retaliated. "How can you expect to win with that attitude?"

Despite Katie's protests, she left her house in a huff.

Imogen entered the school the next morning, looking for her boyfriend. When she saw him reading a book for class by his locker, she decided to sneak up on him. Giggling silently to herself, she creeped up behind him and placed her hands on his eyes. "Peek-a-boo!" She exclaimed cheerfully.

He turned around and smirked at her before pulling her into a quick kiss. "You're distracting me," he said to her in a somewhat groggy voice.

"Consider it a great distraction," she replied in a flirtatious tone before giving him another kiss, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. She pulled away first despite never wanting this moment to end.

That's when she noticed how tired he really looked. His eyes were red, there were visible bags underneath them, and his hair was all over his head.

"Rough night?" She asked him in concern. If she wasn't concerned, she would think his tired look was kind of adorable.

"You can say that," Eli replied, and the tone in his voice left no room for further discussion. She decided to drop it for now.

"So, what movie are we seeing tonight for our anniversary?" She questioned, grabbing his hands in hers and softly swinging them.

"It's a surprise," he told her.

"Ooh, I LOVE surprises!" Imogen replied excitedly. She hoped it was a cute romantic movie so she could cuddle with Eli in their theater seats.

"I would tell you to wear something nice, but I already know you will," he said with a smile.

"Right on that Captain," she confirmed with a wink. Then Marisol walked by, without Katie by her side for once. She watched as Eli's eyes wandered to the other girl.

Imogen quickly grabbed her boyfriend and pulled him in for another kiss.

Marisol was ignoring her in class, and Katie did not like it.

When their teacher walked out of the classroom for a moment, she took this as an opportunity to try to talk to her. "Mare," she called out lowly to her friend, who was writing something in her pink diary. It was covered in pink fur and had a white cat with blue eyes printed on it. Marisol was using her favorite pink pen with pink ink.

She was also ignoring her.

"Mare," she repeated, reaching over and poking her friend with her own pen. Her friend looked up and scowled at her.

"What do you want?" Marisol asked gruffly.

"I'm sorry about our fight last night," she apologized, eager to move past this.

"Yeah? Do you even know what you're sorry for or are you too self-absorbed in that campaign of yours?"

"I didn't mean to insinuate that you were a slut, I'm just worried about your reputation," Katie explained.

"If I want to date a lot of guys that's my choice, Katie. I'm sorry that it's so offensive to you but I can't take you judging me all of the time. I'm sick of you acting like you're better than me. Go run for president by yourself," Marisol replied in a tired tone before going back to writing in her diary. The conversation was over.

Katie frowned and got ready to open her mouth back up, but the teacher walked back in.

Having no other choice, she turned away from her friend and focused on the lesson for today.

Imogen could not know what he dreamed about last night under any circumstances.

Eli tried to focus on his typing exercise in class, but his brain was mush right now from tiredness. After he woke up from his "dream" early last night, he couldn't go back to sleep because he was that disturbed.

He dreamt about Marisol again, and the dream was dirty. They were doing a lot of things that would make a Christian girl blush. He didn't know why this continued to happen. He had a cute girlfriend that was completely devoted to him and thought the world of him. Yet his stupid brain continued to think about Marisol.

"Alright, everyone. I'm going to go around the room and check how you're doing so far," Mr. Simpson said before walking around the room. When he got to him, Eli automatically tensed up.

"I think you can write a better opening paragraph than this, Eli," Simpson told him critically. What was on screen was a basic five sentence paragraph about dogs and why they were better than cats.

"I can," Eli agreed with no argument as he erased his paragraph on the screen and began re-typing. Simpson nodded before walking away.

Whatever Marisol was doing to him, he didn't like the effect it had on his classes.

After school, Marisol entered the cafeteria to where a crowd of students were waiting. They were all running for some sort of student council position.

When Katie spotted her, she looked at her in confusion, like she didn't belong there if she wasn't interested in being her VP. Well she was about to find out.

Principal Hatzilakos walked in. "Good afternoon, candidates. I'm excited to see all of your lovely faces interested in representing the student body," she greeted formally, "But being on the student council is not just about being popular among your peers. It's being a leader to your classmates and being someone they can have a voice. It's about being mature, responsible, and maintaining an excellent academic record. Now let's get started. For eighth grade, we have Katie Matlin and Mo Mashkour running for class president, is that correct?"

Before either of them could confirm, she spoke up. "And me, Marisol Lewis," she added.

The look on Katie's face was so good, she wished she could have snapped a picture of it. She simply smiled at her.

Principal H nodded as she wrote her name down on the chalkboard. Katie turned to her with a frown on her face.

"What are you doing, Mare? You know how much I want this position," she whispered to her.

"And? If you want it, fight for it," Marisol challenged her with a smirk. Katie glared at her as the principal announced the names of the other student council candidates.

She was tired of Katie thinking so lowly because of her because she liked boys, makeup, and cheerleading. She was just as smart as she was, just as talented as she was, and could be just as strong a leader as she can. In fact, she would say that she was clearly the dominant one in their friendship because Katie would be helpless without her. The only thing Katie had over her was the adoration of the teachers, but she made up for it by being way more popular than her "bestie".

She was going to prove to Katie that she was not her little sidekick to sneer at by stealing the one that she wanted since fourth grade.

Imogen wasn't really invested in this movie but she tried to for her boyfriend's sake. It was an old Universal horror movie about Dracula. He picked out something that wouldn't be too scary for her, but she still didn't like it much mostly because it was in black and white. Her movies needed to have color, a lot of it.

She looked over at Eli, who was munching on his buttery popcorn while staring attentively at the screen. He was wearing the new spiked bracelet she bought him for their anniversary, and also sported black nail polish that was freshly painted.

"When is he going to bite someone again?" She whispered to him.

"Shh, Im, one of the best parts is coming up," He shushed her without even sparing her a glance. His eyes remained on the screen.

She held in a sigh as she took a sip of her coke soda. Eli was barely paying her any attention tonight, and she felt a little hurt. She got all dressed up for him in an outfit she had planned out for weeks, which was a gothic black dress, black kitten heels, and a black skull necklace. Her hair was worn pin straight down her back, her lips were painted with black cherry lip gloss, her eyeshadow was silvery, and her nails were a dark red. Yet he didn't seem to care. Instead, he had a faraway look in his eyes the whole night so far, except while watching this stupid movie.

Some anniversary this was.

"I can't believe she would do this to me! She knows how much being class president would mean to me and she's running against me anyway!" Katie complained to her boyfriend on the phone.

"Sounds like she doesn't care about your feelings," Drew replied.

"I just can't believe the nerve of her! We've been best friends since kindergarten and she wants to end everything over something small I said when it's the truth!" She continued, and she was aware that if she didn't calm down soon she was going to be out of breath.

But she couldn't help it. She was angry. Marisol was betraying her when she was supposed to help her win the election. Their friendship has been like that with Marisol supporting her. Now Marisol was acting foolish because she told her some stuff she didn't want to hear.

Marisol was acting slutty lately, and she didn't approve of it. She didn't approve of a lot of things Marisol did over the years, but constantly picking up boys was the biggest one.

She especially didn't like her interest in Jake for some reason.

"Look, I don't know how girls resolve fights but the only thing you can do at this point is win over her, and I believe you can do it," Drew said.

"How? When she's Miss Popularity?" Katie questioned, and that was her biggest fear about Marisol winning. The other girls in their grade made it no secret that they didn't like her. They still made nasty comments to her when Marisol wasn't around and boys were afraid to approach her due to the scary exterior she presented. Other than Marisol, Drew was the only person she had and he was popular in his own right. But his friends couldn't stand her either. This was going to be the hardest hurdle to overcome, and she was hurt that Marisol would take advantage of it.

"Well, you're Miss Badass Karate Chick," Drew reminded her playfully, "You're smart, gorgeous, and strong, the whole package. Marisol only has her looks and popularity. Make sure you mention that in the debates."

"Oh trust me, I will," she assured him venomously.

Marisol was going to pay for crossing her.

He was relaxing with Imogen in a pool somewhere. They were at a grand resort on an island and it was in a jungle like area.

"I'm so happy I'm here with you Eli," Imogen said happily before playfully splashing the area around her. She was wearing a black swimsuit with a skirt portion and cherries printed on it.

"Same," he agreed just as a worker brought him a big, chocolate smoothie to drink. He took a big sip out of it before placing it on the edge of the pool.

"Come on, play with me!" Imogen urged while splashing him in the face.

"Hey!" He exclaimed, laughing before splashing her back. They were now in a splash war.

When he gave Imogen one big splash, she suddenly turned into Marisol, who was wearing a strawberry print bikini. "Hey Eli," she purred.

"Huh?" He asked, and his confusion was palpable.

"I'm super happy you invited me on this trip instead of that loser girlfriend of yours," she said while wading close to him in the water.

"But...but…," Eli tried to say, but suddenly couldn't find the words as she wrapped her wet arms around his shoulders. Their skin touching like this caused his body to have a warm reaction.

"You don't need her, Eli. I'm the girl you want," she continued before kissing him on the lips.

Despite how wrong it was, he kissed back while holding her hips close to his…..

"AH!" Eli shouted as he woke up, startled by his dream. He found himself on the floor, with his butt hurting a little.

This was the second wet dream he had about Marisol in a row, and it happened literally hours after his anniversary date with Imogen.

Eli wearily crawled back into his bed and turned the TV on. It looked to be another night with little to no sleep.

"What would each of you say is the most important quality of being a leader?" A student on the journalism team asked the three of them. Her, Katie, and Mo were sitting in an empty classroom this morning for the debates, and they were being filmed for all of junior high to watch. It's why Marisol had taken extra precautions to look good this morning. She was dressed in a pretty pink asymmetrical dress with white kitten heels. She was wearing her mother's favorite pearl necklace, and her natural hair was pinned back in a professional bun.

"Having a hardworking personality," Katie answered. She was wearing a red a-line dress with black mary janes.

"Being strong," Mo answered while playfully flexing his muscles. He was wearing a purple dress shirt and black pants with black slacks.

"Being loved by all," Marisol answered.

"It's not a popularity contest," she heard Katie mutter to herself, and it took all in her not to scowl at her.

"Each of you are involved in at least one extracurricular activity. What skills from those activities would you guys apply as class president?" The student asked next.

"Energy, enthusiasm, and good teamwork as cheer captain," she answered smoothly, "Because what good president doesn't have a lot of energy, has no enthusiasm for the role, and doesn't work well with others?"

"Endurance, work ethic, and good sportsmanship. If it's one thing soccer has taught me it's that those things need to be applied in every field," was Katie's response.

"The ability to get the crowd moving with my killer dance moves," Mo joked.

"For our final question, what is something about you as a candidate that makes you a better fit for class president than the other two candidates?" The student asked, and Marisol noticed that there was a devious glint in her eyes as if she knew there was about to be shade thrown.

"Well my friends say I'm hilarious, and I humbly agree. As class president, not only will I throw the most awesome events, but I'll make you laugh too unlike these two lovely ladies," Mo answered.

"I'm very sociable and well known among my peers. While popularity isn't the most important thing about being president, it does help to be well-liked by the student body instead of being considered the ice queen of Degrassi," Marisol answered, directing the last part at Katie with a cold smile.

"Well for starters, I have morals," Katie began while staring at her and only her, "I don't value boys and lip gloss over academics, and I don't take pride in taking part in a sexist and demeaning sport."

Marisol balled up her fists at her friend's statement to the point her knuckles were turning white.

"I consider myself a respectful young lady, and I hope that matters to students who also carry themselves in such a manner. I'm on the honor roll with an excellent disciplinary record, and I consider myself a strong role model for little girls everywhere," she finished, and Marisol held in an eye roll. Katie was really so boring.

"Alright, now before we end the debates, I want each of you to give a final statement as to why people should vote for you," the student said.

"I plan to bring a lot of fun activities to Degrassi and be a good representative of the community," Marisol said.

"I'll throw parties…with lots of pizza," Mo declared with a goofy smile.

"I'm completely capable of the job and vote for me if you want a bright future at Degrassi….and if you don't want a president that changes boys like she changes her panties," Katie said, directing the last part at her. This time, Marisol couldn't resist scowling at her, Katie scowled back.

"Okay guys, thanks and good luck!" The student reporter exclaimed while signaling the cameraman to stop running the cameras. The debates were over and now it was up to the seventh and eighth graders to vote at lunchtime.

As they headed out the room, Marisol grabbed Katie by her arm and forced her to look at her. "What the hell was that?" She demanded.

"Just friendly debating," Katie answered in a fake cheerful tone, "May the best girl win, right?"

"You practically called me a slut on live tv…in front of everyone!" Marisol accused angrily.

"Well, it's true. No one will want to vote for a girl that clearly doesn't respect herself," Katie with a shrug before leaving.

Marisol felt her eyes water in embarrassment and hurt.

Imogen waited in line at lunch to cast her ballot. Of course she was voting for Mo, and she hoped he won. Not just because she hated those other two witches running, but because she genuinely believed her best friend was a great fit for president. He was funny, lovable, and sweet (most of the time).

After she voted for Mo, she got her lunch, which was tacos, and sat down. Soon after, Eli walked up to her with a small gift box in his hands.

"I got you something," he said with a sheepish smile, "As a sorry for last night."

She hesitantly took it and opened it up. It was a big, shiny ring with a black cat on it. It was cute, but she didn't know if it was enough to make up for the awful anniversary date.

"Eli, I need you to be completely honest with me," she began, "Do you like me?"

He raised an eyebrow at the question. "Of course I do."

"Then why do you feel so distant whenever we hang out?" She accused him.

"I don't mean for it to come across like that, I just have a lot on my mind," he explained.

"Like what?" She questioned, hoping it wasn't Marisol.

"Rick," Eli answered, "Imogen, I still have nightmares about the shooting even though it's been almost a year. No matter what I do, I can't get him out of my head."

"I'm sorry, Eli," she replied sympathetically, suddenly feeling stupid for how she was acting. She was supposed to support him through this.

"No, it's fine, Im. You deserved a better anniversary last night and I'm more than willing to do more to make it up to you. You want to hang out at the arcade after school?" He asked her.

She smiled. "Of course, Eli."

"Awesome!" He said happily before leaning down and kissing her. Then he pulled away and went to vote.

Imogen watched him leave before turning around to eat her tacos.

A part of her couldn't help but feel he wasn't telling the whole truth, but she decided to let it go. She wanted to be a good girlfriend to Eli.

When it came time for the election results, Katie waited anxiously with the rest of the candidates in the auditorium. All of seventh and eighth grade were there too, waiting to see which of their classmates would win each position.

Principal Hatzilakos walked up to the podium with a sheet of paper. "Good afternoon everyone," she greeted warmly, "Are you ready for the results?"

Everyone clapped in anticipation.

"Okay, first for seventh grade representative...Clare Edwards."

A girl who dressed in a Catholic school uniform walked up shyly as her friends cheered loudly for her. She shook Hatzilakos' hand before standing by her.

"For treasurer, Mohammed Mashkour."

"Yeah!" She heard Mo shout as Imogen bounced up and down for him in excitement. He hi-fived Eli before going up on stage.

"For Secretary...Jennifer Boyd."

Katie frowned as the girl who always tried to bully her proudly walked up to the stand and shook Hatzilakos' hand. She didn't deserve any position in the student council. At all.

"For vice president...Katlynn Matlin."

Katie froze in shock for a moment, and not just because she did not like it when the faculty referred to her by her full name. She did not win the presidency but she was at least vice president. But who was president then?

The question pounded in her mind repeatedly as she got up and shook Hatzilakos' hand.

"Finally, for eighth class president…..Marisol Lewis," Hatzilakos, and Katie felt her stomach drop in dread. Marisol beat her. She actually won over her.

Marisol had an excited smile on her face as the whole auditorium cheered. Blue and gold balloons fell from the ceiling as she shook Hatzilakos' hand.

Her friend gave her victory speech, and everyone cheered even louder. Afterwards, school was officially over and there was a pizza party for the new student council in the cafeteria.

Katie awkwardly approached Marisol, who had two slices of pizza on her plate and was currently eating one.

"So we have to work together now," she started off, trying to get a light conversation going.

"Looks like it," Marisol agreed flatly. Katie bit her lip down nervously before asking the next part.

"So do you think we can move past this and be friends again?"

Marisol didn't say anything for a few seconds, and Katie thought she was going to say yes.

"No," was her actual answer instead.

Chapter Text

It was the back-to-school pep rally and the crowds were going wild as each athletic team was introduced. K.C. didn't know whether he wanted to join the basketball team, the hockey team, or even the wrestling team. He might even join the community football team. Sports had always been an outlet for his frustrations with his current living situation, and it was one of the areas where he could come off as normal to the other boys.

"And now for Degrassi's junior cheer team, the Pep Squad!" Principal Hatzilakos announced cheerfully as the girls on the team ran from the sidelines and did their routine, which was an assortment of jumps, flips, and cartwheels.

K.C. paid special attention to the cheer captain and eighth grade class president, Marisol Lewis. She had a big, enthusiastic smile on her face as she led the routine. She was really pretty.

"Ah I want to be a cheerleader so bad, look at those cute uniforms!" Alli gushed from beside him. She then looked at Clare. "You should sign up for tryouts with me!"

"Me dressing up in a skimpy uniform and always having to act cheerful for everyone? Doesn't sound like a good time for me," Clare replied.

"Is anything above the ankles skimpy to you?" Alli asked in a teasing tone of voice as the girls on the team formed a pyramid with Marisol on top.

It only took a few seconds but seeing Marisol's legs being spread apart like that caused him to have a weird sensation going through his body. He felt warm for no reason. K.C. gulped as he looked her over. Marisol had big, alluring dark eyes, shiny brown skin that looked soft to touch even from where he was standing, and long, smooth legs….

"K.C., your penis is poking through your underpants," he heard Connor say to him.

"What?" He asked before looking down at his jeans. What he saw made his face blanch in horror.

His penis was indeed poking out. In front of everyone. Where they all, even Clare could see it.

Flushing red in embarrassment, he pulled his beanie off his head and quickly covered his erection.

After the pep rally was over, Alli quickly headed over to where Marisol was standing with her fellow cheerleaders. She was giggling at something one of the girls said.

"Hi!" She greeted, and the other girl looked at her. "I'm Alli Bhandari, and I would like to try out for the Pep Squad!"

"Cool, sign ups are going to be at the club fair during lunch time," Marisol replied.

"I'll be the first one there!" She assured her before walking away, feeling very excited about her prospects. She considered herself a perfect fit for cheerleading; She was energetic, hardworking, and most importantly pretty. There wouldn't be any reason to not put her on the dance team.

Well, okay, her dance moves weren't great but surely that can be fixed with practice?

'I'll get on the cheer team, then I'll be super popular, and then I'll get the boyfriend of my dreams,' Alli thought to herself as she got in her father's car.

Her parents only wanted her to care about academics but she was at Degrassi to be popular and have the hottest boyfriend.

Gracie was working on her homework for the weekend when Drew walked in the door with Katie right behind him holding a soccer ball. Both were in sporting gear and sweating profusely. They must have just gotten done playing soccer together.

"Whew," her brother said as he walked past to go into the kitchen. "You really don't go easy on anyone when it comes to soccer, don't you?"

"Nope," Katie replied with a smirk while watching him. Her ginger hair was disheveled, and her face was red, but Gracie still thought she looked really beautiful. She always enjoyed looking at Katie.

Drew came back with two water bottles in his hand.

"Not even for your boyfriend?" He asked.

"Especially not you," she answered, stepping closer to him. They laughed before sharing a passionate kiss. Gracie quickly looked away as her stomach turned at the sight. "You guys are gross," she commented. She hated it whenever Drew and Katie kissed.

"When you get a boyfriend, Gracie, you'll understand," Drew said before kissing Katie again, who eagerly responded.

"Like that'll ever happen," Gracie replied with an eye roll. She had no interest in boys, absolutely none. The other girls in her grade thought she was a weirdo for it but she truly did not see herself with a boyfriend yet.

"Well yeah, it's not going to happen if you keep dressing like a boy," Drew pointed out, "The only guys into that are into other guys."

"What if the reason I don't want a boyfriend is because they're all stupid like you?" Gracie questioned with narrowed eyes.

"Then you'll be missing out because I'm pretty awesome, right Katie?" He asked his girlfriend.

"Sometimes," she replied teasingly before laughing due to Drew tickling her in her stomach. She ran away from him and he proceeded to chase her all over the house.

Gracie went back to her work, feeling uncomfortable at Drew's words. She preferred wearing boy's clothes over girl's clothes because she felt way more comfortable in them. For some reason, it just felt right.

Why would she care about what boys would think about that if she wasn't attracted to any of them?

K.C. tossed and turned in his sleep as he kept thinking of Marisol in that cheer uniform.

She was a grade above him, but the gifted program allowed him to take eighth grade science class with her. So every day, he would get to look at her.

Marisol always had some kind of lip gloss on, and she constantly wore fashionable outfits that showed off her long, shiny, smooth looking legs. It was like she knew she was pretty. She was developing more than most of the girls in her grade too.

But he can tell she came from money, and not just because of her fancy clothes. While waiting for the bus with Connor after school, he would watch her get into her mom's Mercedes-Benz. There was no way a girl like that would be into a kid that had to wear clothes and shoes donated from a charity.

However, that didn't mean he couldn't admire her from afar.

The alarm clock on his bedside rang, and he tiredly reached over and turned it off to not wake up his roommate. It was time to get ready for school after a (too) short weekend.

It took only a few seconds for him to realize the uncomfortable stiffness in his boxers. When he looked down, there was a noticeable tent.

K.C. sighed in frustration while laying back in his bed.

"Why do I have to go with you to sign up for cheerleading?" Clare questioned as Alli tugged her along to the Pep Squad table at the club fair.

"Because I need the support from my new best friend!" Alli replied as they approached the table. Marisol Lewis, the cheer captain, was sitting behind the table with her lunch along with an eccentric looking girl with high pigtails. They were both in their cheer uniforms and they were sitting as far apart from each other as they could.

"Here to sign up? Here's the sheet," Marisol said while pushing forward the signup sheet and a blue pen. It was on a gold piece of paper with blue glitter on it.

Alli took the pen and wrote her name down in seconds.

"You're here to sign up for the Pep Squad too?" Marisol asked Clare, who quickly shook her head.

"Cheerleading isn't for me," she answered.

"I can tell," Marisol replied while looking at her friend's Catholic school girl uniform in amusement. While Alli had to admire how her friend didn't seem to care what other people thought of her, she knew she had to give Clare a makeover soon. It was just giving her secondhand embarrassment.

Giving Marisol and the other girl a cheerful smile, they left the Pep Squad table and headed over to the Science Club table to sign up. Alli absolutely did not want to be a part of that club, because she didn't want to be seen as a nerdy loser, but her parents were forcing her to sign up for at least one academic club.

Her parents were way harder on her than they were on her older brother Sav and she hated it. While they didn't want her to be a traditional Indian housewife, they did want her to dress conservatively like one and she wasn't allowed to have a boyfriend until she was sixteen, and even then it would only be temporary until she married the man her parents wanted her to marry. It's why she would have to hide her boyfriend when she got one.

While her and Clare were signing up at the science table, K.C. and Connor walked up to them, and K.C. was covering his crotch section with a beanie.

"Hello ladies," Connor greeted politely, "Are you going to be a part of the science club too?"

"Unfortunately against my will," she remarked dryly.

"But science is fun," Connor replied while looking at her in confusion, "Especially astronomy. I hope we get to build a rocket in class."

"That's not going to get you high on the social food chain," she pointed out while the boys signed up.

"Food chains don't interest me, Alli. Degrassi is an educational facility, not the jungle," Connor replied.

"Exactly, Connor. Alli needs to know this," Clare agreed while giving her a scolding look. Alli sighed in response. Clare and Connor just wouldn't get it.

Clare was a prude and Connor was…..odd.

"Alright, I'll now call up two students to demonstrate how to use each tool or equipment in the lab. K.C. and Marisol come on up," Mr. Binns ordered.

K.C. started sweating nervously as him and Marisol went to get their lab gear in front of everyone. He put on his lab coat and walked to where Marisol was standing in her own lab coat. Despite how blocky her coat was, he could still see her figure underneath. She had her hair pinned back into a puffy bun. She wore her usual lip gloss and blush on her cheeks, and she had on low kitten heels. She looked good, which only increased his nervousness.

As they showed the class how to use tools such safety goggles, microscopes, cover slips, graduated cylinders, beakers, and rubber stoppers, he tried not to pay attention to how pretty Marisol was but it was hard….

"Will you two demonstrate how to use a funnel?" Mr. Binns requested next.

"Okay…," Marisol replied in a bored tone as she reached for the funnel, accidentally touching the bare skin of his that wasn't covered by gloves.

Before K.C. could stop it, his erection poked out through his jeans. And before he could hide it from her, Marisol saw it and her mouth dropped in shock.

"Are you...are you seriously hard right now?" she asked loudly in front of everyone.

K.C. paled as he got the urge to throw himself out of the window.

After playing some volleyball for gym class, it was time to shower.

As Gracie took off her clothes, she couldn't help but sneak a glance at some of the other girls in the locker undressing. While she thought Katie was the prettiest girl at Degrassi, she had to admit that there were some pretty girls in her grade.

One of them was Clare Edwards, who shyly undressed and got in the shower. Gracie soon stepped in her own shower stall. As Gracie overheard her shower, she thought about Clare's blue eyes and how gorgeous they were.

When she got out, Clare got out after her and quickly covered herself up with a towel, but Gracie still watched her. Not only did Clare have pretty blue eyes but beautiful, long curly brown hair that looked soft to touch…

"Um, why are you staring at my friend?" She heard Alli ask, and she snapped out of whatever she was thinking about and met Alli's eyes. The other girl was covering herself up with a training bra and designer jeans. She was also looking at her like she was the biggest pervert.

"Uh….," Gracie trailed, not knowing what to answer. She started turning red in embarrassment, especially as Clare watched her in suspicion.

"What are you, some kind of lesbian or something?" Alli continued with narrowed eyes.

"No!" She denied immediately before grabbing her clothes and running out of the locker room. She couldn't bear anymore of this conversation.

'Lesbian? I can't be, my mom would freak out,' Gracie thought to herself as she ran inside the bathroom, but the more she thought about it, the more she feared it might be true. She had never thought about the boys the same way she thought of girls, but wasn't she too young to even think about this?

'I'm not a lesbian, that's not normal,' she denied in her mind, 'this is probably some weird part of puberty that isn't talked about.'

That was what she convinced herself of.

The next day

"Next up, Alli Bhandari!" Marisol called, and Alli hopped off the bleachers and made her to the center of the gym where there was a floor mat.

She did a few cartwheels, albeit the landing was a bit messy. She watched as Marisol and the coach wrote down some notes. Nervously she went back to sit down on the bleachers with the other girls who were trying out. After a few more girls were done, it was time for the next part of the tryouts.

"Okay, we're going to do a dance routine and you girls have to follow my every move," Marisol said before turning her back on them. All of them got into position. Marisol then did a few dance moves, and Alli copied her movements as best as she could. It was hard, what with the complicated way Marisol was two-stepping and twisting, but she managed to do them.

Marisol turned to face them when she was done. "Okay, I'm going to talk with Ms. Mendelson now to decide who makes the team. You girls can go back over to the bleachers and wait," she commanded. Alli's stomach tightened in anxiety as she went to sit back down once again. Did she make the team?

After fifteen minutes, Marisol and the cheer coach stopped talking and walked over to all of them.

"One, four, seven, eleven, thirteen, twenty-two, twenty-five, and twenty-eight, congratulations you girls made the team!" Marisol announced with a cheerful smile.

Alli looked down at her name tag. She was number four! She was on the team! She squealed in excitement while bouncing in her seat.

"To the rest of you, better luck next year," Marisol told the girls who didn't make the cut. There were a lot of sad grumbles in response as the girls got off the bleachers and left the gym. Only the new recruits remained.

"First practice is Thursday at four p.m. and on Friday will be our first sleepover at my house. There will be pizza, ice cream, and mani pedis!" Marisol declared enthusiastically as they all cheered, with Alli being the loudest.

She was officially a cheerleader now. She was going to be popular!

K.C. came home from school and immediately went to hide in his room for the rest of the evening. He also did the same after school yesterday. He didn't want to talk to anyone for the rest of the week, or even month.

What happened with Marisol was probably the worst thing to happen to him in a long time, and he hated his body, absolutely hated it, for reacting the way it did around her. He wondered why he kept getting uncontrollable boners, was it the food he was eating.

He was in the middle of sulking in his bed when there was a knock on the door. "K.C., there's someone here to see you," he heard the group home caretaker say. He groaned as he rolled out of bed and opened the door. He wondered who it was.

It was Connor, who was holding a bag with a magazine in it. "Hello K.C.," his friend greeted. "I have something for you."

Confused, K.C. stepped aside to let Connor in his room. "How did you find me?"

"I searched your address on Goddad's computer. He has the addresses of all his students on record. It is very interesting that you live in a place like this," Connor answered casually.

K.C. then he closed the door behind them. "What is it?" He questioned, looking at the bag.

Connor took the magazine out of the bag and handed it to him. "I told my godfather and his friends what happened with you in the lab yesterday, and they wanted to help. Uncle Joey joked about giving you a magazine, so I took one of the magazines he gave Goddad from his room."

K.C. didn't have enough time to register that his Media Immersion teacher knew about him popping a boner in class because now he had to register instead that he was currently holding a magazine with a scantily clad swimsuit model on it. "...What do I do with this?" K.C. questioned.

"Well both Goddad and Uncle Joey said that at our age, we constantly get erections and this magazine will help get our frustrations out," Connor explained, "I personally don't think I can do anything with it, but I think you can. He told me that you will exactly know what to do with this magazine when you get it."

K.C. looked down at the magazine. The model was a busty blonde woman wearing a small red bikini. K.C. felt something stir in his stomach just looking at her.

"Thanks Connor…," K.C. told his friend in gratitude.

"You're welcome, K.C. Should we study now?" Connor asked him.

"Uh, give me a few minutes…"

While everyone was asleep upstairs, Gracie came downstairs and turned on the family computer. She went on Google and used incognito mood. She didn't want anyone in her family to find out about what she was about to look up.

After typing "I am a girl but I think I like other girls" into the search bar and hitting enter, she looked at the results of her search.

The search results all consisted of something to do with sexuality. Gracie swallowed nervously as she clicked on one of the links, which led her to a girly website.

"Why You May Be Gay," was the title of the article in big, rainbow letters.

Chapter Text

A/N: Main POVs in this chapter are Jake, Marisol, Mo, and Alli.

Jake strolled into the school, looking for Marisol. Today was the day he was finally going to ask her out.

He found her by her locker, applying lip gloss in her mirror. As she smacked her lips to make it pop out, he approached her. "Hey," he greeted casually.

"Hey yourself, what's up?" She greeted back as she closed her locker.

"I was thinking you and I could go rollerblading tonight at the rink, and then get ice cream?" Jake offered without a hint of nervousness in his voice. He never had an issue with asking girls out. It just came to him naturally.

"Rollerblading? Sounds fun," she accepted eagerly with a pretty smile on her face, "And ice cream sounds even better! You got yourself a date!"

"Awesome, I'll pick you up tonight at six," he said before walking off to his homeroom class.

He heard her squeal in excitement.

"So I have a new girl I'm into," Mo said to Eli and Imogen as they entered their English class.

"And who's that?" Imogen asked as she took her seat.

"Alli Bhandari," Mo answered enthusiastically.

"A seventh grader? Jeez Mo, I didn't think you were a cradle robber," Eli joked as Mo rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, she's only a year younger than me. Anyway, she's a total babe and she's Muslim. Mr. and Mrs. Mashkour would love her," Mo reasoned. He knew this from overhearing Alli talk to Marisol about her faith at one of their practices. It seemed her family was a little less traditional than his since unlike his own mother, Alli didn't wear a hijab.

"Aren't you tired of vapid, dumb cheerleaders after dating Maribitch?" Imogen questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey Alli's not dumb, Immy, she's in the gifted program," Mo pointed out defensively. His parents would also love that.

"Seems like you know a lot about her," Eli replied.

"Well yeah, she's the future Mrs. Mashkour," Mo joked just as the bell rang for the first period.

Alli was perfect for him. The only problem would be getting her to actually date a guy like him, but dating Marisol over the summer gave him a confidence boost when it came to girls.

"You're going out with Jake Martin? You have to give me the deets!" Chantay urged her as they sat down at a table for lunch together. There were some other girls at the table, mostly girls in grades nine and ten.

"He just asked me to go rollerblading with him tonight and get ice cream, I'm so excited!" Marisol replied as they then squealed together.

"Jake has to be the cutest guy at Degrassi right now, even girls in grade nine want him, but he chose you. Girl you are so lucky!" Chantay said.

Marisol smiled at her friend as she ate her lunch, which was a cheeseburger and fries. Chantay was in grade nine, but they became good friends recently because they were one of the few black girls in their respective grades. Plus Chantay could get her on the Spirit Squad next year. She was funny, sassy, and a bit of a gossip hen but she had good intentions.

"What do you think I should wear?" She asked her.

"The cutest top and your best designer jeans," the other girl answered, "And your best flavored lip gloss for the big kiss at the end of the date."

"You're not supposed to kiss on the first date," Marisol reminded her, although it wouldn't be too bad with a hottie like Jake…

"Yeah, but with a hottie like Jake, you have to take advantage," Chantay replied, seemingly reading her thoughts. "Besides, it's not like you're going to sleep with him."

"Definitely not," Marisol assured her as a chill came over her. She didn't want to be sexual with any boy yet after what happened to her last year but she wouldn't mind kissing Jake.

Katie walked past their table with Drew, and their eyes met for a brief moment. Her ex best friend opened her mouth to say something, but Marisol coldly looked away and went back to eating her burger. Katie frowned and continued walking dejectedly.

Marisol missed Katie. That, she wouldn't deny. But she wasn't going to let her back into her good graces after she kept degrading her with no real apology. It always seemed like Katie thought she was supposed to have everything because she was a "good" girl while she got nothing because she was a "slut". She couldn't take it anymore.

She was sure Katie believed that she needed her, but it was the other way around. She had Chantay and now Alli are her new friends while Katie only had Drew because half the girls in their grade hated her.

It's what she deserved.

Alli was in the library, picking up books she needed to research for her science paper when she saw Mo Mashkour approaching her.

"Hi," he greeted, and there was a certain shyness to his voice.

"Hi," she greeted back politely, not knowing why he was talking to her. The only time they interacted was at the sporting events and cheer competitions.

"So Alli, I think you're a really cool girl, would you like to go out with me sometime tonight?" He asked her.

Alli's mouth went dry in surprise. "Uh…..," she trailed off, not knowing how to answer. While Mo seemed to be a nice and funny guy, he wasn't what she was looking for in a boyfriend. She was about to say that she couldn't because she had strict parents but changed her mind when she saw Clare giving her a look.

"Sure…," she accepted slowly while swallowing awkwardly, "Where are we going?"

"The movies! I'll meet you at the theatre at six!" Mo said excitedly before walking away. Alli smiled awkwardly as Clare approached her next.

"You got yourself a date, huh?" Her friend asked while holding a big textbook on rocks and minerals in her arms.

"No thanks to you giving me that look," Alli answered with a frown. "I do not want to go on a date with him!"

The librarian arranging books by them shushed them sharply with a glare. Alli and Clare quickly scooted over to the next aisle.

"Why don't you want to go on a date with him? He seems nice," Clare questioned her in a whisper.

"He's…."

"Chubby? Is that it?" Clare accused her with narrowed eyes.

"Well no, but he's pretty unpopular too," Alli reasoned, and for some reason she felt bad at admitting that.

"You shouldn't be so shallow Alli. As long as he's caring and nice to you, it shouldn't matter whether he's unpopular or not. That kind of stuff doesn't matter past high school," Clare scolded.

"But my ideal boyfriend is Drew Torres or Jake Martin," she replied. They were both tall, pretty attractive, and desired by a lot of girls in the grade.

"Drew is dating Katie Matlin and I heard that Jake is interested in Marisol," Clare pointed out, "Honestly Alli, you shouldn't care at all about boys over school, but if you're really desperate to have a boyfriend this early, I don't see why dating Mo would be so bad."

"If you say so," Alli grumbled.

Sometimes being around Clare felt like being around her mother.

After school, Jake took a shower, got dressed for his date with Marisol, and sprayed on some of his dad's cologne. He knew most girls liked that kind of stuff. He overheard Marisol tell some girl in class that she loved the smell of the ocean, so he picked out ocean-scented body spray.

He dressed in a simple red plaid shirt and black jeans. It wasn't much but they were going rollerblading, not eating at a five star restaurant. If anything, he was looking forward to seeing how Marisol would dress. She shouldn't dress in anything fancy, but he knew she was going to look nice anyway. She always looked nice at school, even in gym class.

This wasn't his first date, as he dated quite a few girls in grade seven last year, so he wasn't too nervous about impressing her. He knew what to do and what not to do with a girl like Marisol.

"You're going out to the bar again?" He overheard his mother complain to his father from downstairs.

"I'm just getting a couple of drinks with my friends, is that a problem?" His father asked sarcastically.

"That's the third time this week! Is there some slut at the bar that I don't know about?"

"You're being ridiculous, Pamela!"

"You know what? I'm going out too! And I'll meet a man that isn't a deadbeat husband!"

"Go ahead! I won't miss you!"

Jake groaned as he combed out his hair. He wasn't religious much, but he sent a silent prayer out to the universe for his parents to stop fighting soon.

Mo waited at the movie theater for Alli. He was dressed in a black denim jacket, a band t shirt, and black jeans. It was his best attempt at looking "cool" for his date. From his experience with Marisol over the summer, he knew girls ate that up.

A few minutes passed beyond the time Alli was supposed to show up, and he was scared she had stood him up. It would make sense considering that he was still relatively unpopular while Alli was a cute cheerleader on the Pep Squad. Then to his relief, she ran inside the movie theater before stopping and taking a breath.

"Sorry, I had to come up with a good lie to my parents," she said. She was dressed in a black coat, a burgundy sweater dress, burgundy boots, and black tights. Her hair was combed through neatly and not a single strand was out of place. She wore red lipstick, blush, pink eyeshadow, and mascara. She was drop dead gorgeous.

"No, it's okay. I had to as well," he replied. He told his parents that he was studying for a test over at Eli's house, and he knew Bullfrog would cover for him. He was cool like that.

"So what movie are we watching? The newest romance?" Alli questioned.

"We're watching Shark Attack 3: Sharks vs Piranhas! I saw the trailer for this movie and it looks badass!" Mo answered excitedly. Even though it was PG-13, there still looked to be a lot of good gore in the movie. And from what he seen in the trailer, there were plenty of sexy babes in the movie as well. Nothing he loved more in a movie than gory stuff and hot women.

"Cool….," Alli replied a little unenthusiastically but he paid it no mind as he grabbed her hand and led her in line to pay their tickets.

Marisol had just got done getting ready when there was a knock on the door. She quickly walked over and opened it up to reveal Jake on the other side.

"Hey!" She greeted enthusiastically, looking at his outfit. She was surprised to see his usual plaid and jeans combo considering how much she dressed up in comparison. It wasn't much as she wore just fashionable dark jeans from Aeropostale, a pink tie dye shirt, and a pale pink jacket with makeup and earrings, but her outfit was still more flashy than his. She smelled ocean scented cologne from him however, and she quite liked it.

"Am I overdressed?" She asked him with a sheepish smile.

"Not at all," he assured her with a smile of his own, and she relaxed. He then leaned in and sniffed her.

"Is that perfume?" He asked her.

"Yes, strawberry perfume," she confirmed, anticipating his response. The strawberry perfume bottle was her favorite to use, and it was her go to on dates.

"Smells great," he complimented before taking her hand. "Let's go!"

They had to get a bus to get to the roller rink, which was a large-sized building colored purple, pink, yellow, and green. "Shazam!" was the name of the place as the sign read in neon green lights. Families were going in and out of the roller rink as they went inside. There were little kids everywhere, but there was a sizable amount of teenagers their age too rolling around.

The place was dimly lit except for the neon lights flashing along the walls and the lights from the arcade games. There were rides too, she spotted an indoor carousel, a Musik Express, and an indoor drop tower.

After paying for their tickets and getting their skates, Jake sat her down and helped put skates on her feet. Hers was a cute purple with pink shoelaces while he had brown skates with black shoelaces.

"You're quite the gentleman, aren't you?" She asked, smiling as he tied up her shoelaces.

"For a lady that deserves it," he answered with a wink, making her cheeks heat up. They got up together and Jake led to the roller rink with the other guests. She stumbled a little, but quickly balanced herself.

Fun pop music played in the background as they rolled all over the rink in a circle, with her holding his hand so she wouldn't fall down. The last time she went roller skating, she fell on her ass and it was sore for three days. Luckily for her, Jake held her tightly.

Jake suddenly spun them around, and she shouted in fear at first before relaxing as he pulled her close to him. They were like the couples in the rink, spinning around in their own intimate way. Her body was warm the whole time from how close they were. She felt really safe in his embrace.

After a few more moments of rolling around, Jake led them out of the rink. "I'll go get us some pizza," he told her just as her stomach rumbled in hunger.

"Pizza sounds good," she replied, rubbing her belly as she rolled over to an empty table that was shockingly clean. As she waited for Jake, she checked her phone.

There were seven unread text messages from Chantay, Alli, and….Katie. Curious, Marisol decided to read what Katie messaged her. They haven't texted each other since their big fight.

"How are you doing, Mare? Please talk to me," the message read. Katie never liked to abbreviate anything when she texted. Her words were always typed out in full sentences.

Marisol contemplated replying something when Jake came back to the table with two large slices of pizza and two sodas on a big red tray. She quickly deleted the message before focusing on her date.

An hour in, and Alli could honestly say that she was not enjoying this movie.

"We're going to need a bigger ship!" The captain on screen said as he tried to shoot a great white shark who was biting off pieces of the ship. He then screamed as multiple piranhas came out of nowhere and jumped on him, chewing him up within seconds. She made a face in disgust as blood splattered offscreen.

"This is awesome!" Mo exclaimed excitedly from the seat next to her and she rolled her eyes. Was this really how her first date was going to go? She gingerly took some popcorn from their bag and popped it in her mouth, chewing daintily. She cringed at how stale the popcorn tasted. The soda was really weak too as she could taste the seltzer more than the actual flavoring.

Thirty minutes passed, and the movie was thankfully over as a woman with big fake breasts in a skimpy bikini blew up both the shark and the school of piranhas with a big grenade. Then before the credits came up, there was one final jump scare when a piranha leaped off and bit a little girl's head off screen while her mother screamed in horror.

Alli got up before her date did, eager to get the hell out of the theater. Mo could barely keep up with her as she did a fast walk in her high heeled boots.

"Did you enjoy the movie?" Mo asked her as she waited in front of a bus stop.

"No," she answered bluntly.

"Well maybe you'll enjoy the next movie we'll see together," Mo reasoned as the bus drove up.

Alli sighed as she looked at him. "Look Mo, you're really nice but this isn't going to work out," she told him while getting on the bus.

The last thing she saw before the bus left was his sad face. She felt really bad but she also couldn't help but be honest.

After they left the roller skating rink, they went and got ice cream at a nearby parlor just as Jake promised Marisol.

"Did you have a good time?" Jake asked Marisol as they walked hand in hand, each holding an ice cream cone. She had cookies in cream with rainbow sprinkles while he had strawberry.

"Yes! This was so much fun, Jake!" She replied cheerfully, smiling wide. Jake couldn't help but smile in return. Marisol's smile was adorable, and it was contagious.

"I kinda don't want this to end," he said.

"Me neither," she agreed while licking her ice cream, "how should I repay you?"

"A kiss," he answered as he stopped them. He then looked down at her lips expectantly. The lip gloss she was wearing gave her full lips a glittery finish.

She bit down on her lip. "But we're not supposed to kiss on the first date," she pointed out.

"A tiny kiss wouldn't hurt, would it?" He questioned while holding her chin up.

"No," she agreed while fluttering her eyelashes. They both smiled at each other before leaning in...

His phone then rang in his pocket. For the second time that evening, Jake groaned as he answered it. "Hello?"

His dad was on the other line and his voice was unusually shaky. "Jake, get home as fast as possible. We gotta go to the hospital," his dad urged him.

"But why?" Jake asked in confusion.

"Your mother got into a...uh really bad accident..."

Chapter Text

Imogen sat on Eli's bed, bored, as she watched him play a video game on his PlayStation 2. It was called God of Warcraft or something. She didn't really care as she wanted to do something else.

"Elijahhhh," she whined, "Let's do something elseeee."

Eli paused his game while he was in the middle of a boss fight. "Like what?" He questioned.

Imogen got off the bed and turned Eli's head towards her, then she passionately kissed him. Eli kissed back, but he wasn't putting as much effort into it as she was. She kept trying to push past his teeth with her tongue but he wouldn't let her. She pulled back in confusion. "What's wrong with you, lately?" She demanded.

"What do you mean, Im?"

"You don't want to make out with me, we barely hang out anymore outside of school, and when we do you just seem so distant. Do you even like me anymore?" She questioned, and she was serious.

"Of course I do, why would you ask that….again?" Eli asked back and she could hear the weariness in his voice.

"Then prove it. I want to have dinner with your parents sometime," she demanded while folding her arms.

"Why?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"To prove that you take this relationship as seriously as I do," she answered. They have been dating for over four months now and she hasn't interacted with Bullfrog and Cece at all. It was something that needed to happen, especially since she constantly fantasized about them being her future in laws some day.

"If that's what you want, I guess," he agreed flatly as he went back to playing on his game. Narrowing her eyes, she grabbed her book bag and made her way out of the door.

"Where are you going, Im?" Eli asked her.

"Home, good luck on your boss fight, Eli," she replied caustically as she left.

Meanwhile, at the Torres household, Katie and Drew were "studying".

Katie squeezed her boyfriend's shoulders as they made out on his bed with only the lamp light on. They were both done with their homework for the night and decided to have some fun. As their tongues clashed against each other, she couldn't escape the tight knot that was in her stomach. It was always like this whenever her and Drew kissed.

They heard footsteps and immediately broke apart, each grabbing and opening up their social studies textbook. Drew's mother appeared in the doorway and peaked inside to look at them. "How's the studying going, kids?" Audra asked them.

"Great, I'm definitely going to ace this test tomorrow," Drew replied.

"Good, because lord knows you need to boost your grades up after that last report card," Audra pointed out with a hard look. Then she looked at Katie, and Katie felt fear hit her spirit.

"Your hair is a little out of place, Katie," she mentioned. Katie looked in Drew's mirror and paled at the noticeable make out hair she had.

"Um, let me go fix that. It gets messy easily," she replied nervously as she went to get her hairbrush from her book bag. Audra eyed them suspiciously before leaving, pushing Drew's bedroom door open wider than it already was.

Drew made a face before closing his textbook. "That woman is the worst sometimes," he complained before scooting close to her. "Now where were we?" He asked with a mischievous grin before leaning forward and kissing her again. Katie smiled as she kissed back, opening her mouth up for access.

Drew suddenly pushed her down on his bed, feeling her up, and she suddenly panicked. She shoved him away and grabbed her book bag.

"Um, got to go!" Katie exclaimed as she frantically got off his bed. Drew looked at her in confusion.

"Katie, wait-"

She was already out of his bedroom and on her way downstairs.

The next day at school, Eli vented to Mo about what happened with Imogen last night.

"I don't know what her problem is. She constantly asks if I really like her or not all because we don't hang out twenty-four seven a day. It's getting annoying," he ranted.

"You know how needy girls are, Eli. They're always greedy for affection and need to be told they're pretty every two seconds or else they freak out. Blegh," Mo replied as he finished getting his books out of his locker for the day.

"Well she needs to chill. She should know how much I care about her!"

"Maybe she thinks you're still in love with Marisol," Mo suggested just as the girl in question walked by. She was wearing a fashionable turquoise sweater, a black skirt, black tights, and high heeled boots. When their eyes met, Eli quickly looked away.

"Wait...you still don't have the hots for Marisol do you?" Mo questioned. When he didn't answer right away, his friend's eyes widened. "No fucking way," his friend swore in shock. "Bro, you're dating another girl right now."

"I know."

"That's our best friend."

"I know."

"Marisol is my ex!"

"I know!"

"Then how are you still into her then while dating Imogen?" Mo asked. "She'll flip out if she finds out."

"Which is why she'll never find out," Eli replied sharply, "For the sake of our friend group."

The bell rang for homeroom, and they walked to class together although Mo shook his head in the process.

"Dude, you got yourself in quite the mess."

"I know," Eli replied wearily as they entered class together.

Drew laughed with the rest of the class as Dr. Sally "demonstrated" the act of reproductive sex, which was with a banana and donut.

"The penis enters the vagina and thrusts repeatedly until it releases semen inside the womb, this act can cause pregnancy," Dr. Sally explained as she thrusted the banana inside the donut hole. "It can also cause STIs, which certainly isn't a laughing matter. What is something you and your partner can do to prevent an unplanned pregnancy or an STI?"

"Pull out!" Julian, one of his friends on the hockey team shouted as several students continued to laugh. Drew looked over to Katie and noticed that her face was completely red at this discussion. From what he could gather from last night, his girlfriend was scared at the idea of having any kind of sex.

Dr. Sally had an amused look on her face. "While that is a popular method to prevent pregnancy, it does not protect against STIs and it is not even a good method to prevent pregnancy. What's the one hundred percent effective way to prevent pregnancy and STIs?"

"Abstinence," Katie managed to answer out loud. The guest speaker nodded.

"Good. Simply not having any kind of sex prevents any chance of pregnancy happening or getting an STI unless you were born with one. However, I know that some of you in this room will not practice it, so there are ways to practice safe sex other than just abstinence," she said, trailing off as she held up a small packet with a gold wrapper, "Can someone tell me what this is?"

"A condom," Drew answered, feeling proud over knowing the answer. His mother forcing him to listen to her lecture on sex after he turned thirteen had a lot to do with it.

"Good, would you like to come up and show the class how to use a condom?" Dr. Sally offered. His friends snickered as he couldn't find the words to say to that.

"Uh…"

"Come on, show your classmates how to use it!" She urged and Drew sighed as he had no choice but to do it now. He shared an awkward look with his girlfriend before getting up and walking up to the front of the class with Dr. Sally.

"What's the first thing you do?" She asked him.

"You unwrap it, like this," he answered as he carefully tore off the top of the packet.

"Good, you want to be careful with tearing off the package so you don't accidentally rip the condom inside," she complimented, "What's the next thing you do?"

"You take the condom out of the packet and put it on your penis if you're a guy," Drew answered again, cringing inside at the use of the word "penis".

"Okay, now show us the process of putting the condom on your penis using the banana," Dr. Sally ordered, and Drew wanted to be anywhere but here as his friends continued to snicker and smirk at him. He reluctantly took the banana from Dr. Sally and slowly put the condom on. He pinched the air out of the tip of the condom just how his mother showed him. When he was finished, he held up the condom covered banana for everyone to see. Nobody in the room was taking this seriously except for Katie, who while still had a very red face, was writing down notes in her copybook.

Dr. Sally was pleased with his demonstration. "Wonderful job! Now let's discuss the different kinds of sex you and your partner could perform…"

By the end of the class period, there was not a single student who didn't laugh once except Katie.

Eli was sitting by himself at their table when she was done getting her lunch. Mo must have been somewhere else. Good, because the conversation she was about to have with Eli could only be heard between boyfriend and girlfriend.

Imogen sat down and placed her tray of loaded nachos on the table. "Eli, I have something to ask you," she began.

"Yeah?" He asked before drinking on a bottle of chocolate milk.

"Do you want to have oral sex with me?" She questioned, and her boyfriend spat out his chocolate milk in response, getting it all over the table.

"What?" He asked loudly and incredulously, earning a few confused looks from some of the kids around them.

"Not too loudly, Elijah!" She scolded him before softening, "Anyway, I noticed that you haven't been happy lately, and I want to make you happy as a good girlfriend should."

"What makes you think that you have to resort to a blowjob to make me happy?" He asked. "I don't want to have sex with you yet."

"I don't want to have sex with you either, Eli, but I think starting with oral sex is a good way to make us comfortable to eventually do the whole thing," she explained, "I'm ready to take that step with you because I trust you."

"Didn't a bunch of students get gonorrhea last year because they did oral?" Her boyfriend reminded her.

"Because they weren't being safe. We can use a condom to prevent that just like what we learned in sex ed," she pointed out.

Eli pondered her words. "I guess if you're ready we can try it…," he replied, and she could still detect the reluctance in his voice.

"We can do it at my house while my dad is at work," she said excitedly.

Whatever Eli had that was going on, she was going to make him feel better. And he will go back to paying attention to her.

Meanwhile at another table, Katie was sitting with her boyfriend and his friends as they talked about the "lesson" from Dr. Sally earlier today.

"That old lady is cracked in the head," Drew grumbled as he ate on his nachos. His were loaded while she just had cheese sauce on hers. She wasn't going to add any unnecessary calories by adding meat, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, and sour cream to her meal.

"You're just mad because she made you put a condom on a banana in front of everyone. I bet it's bigger than you," Julian teased as Drew threw a nacho at him while the other guys at the table laughed.

"So have you guys done it yet? You seem to know about condoms, Drew," one of his other friends, Kevin, asked. Katie shifted around uncomfortably in her seat at the question.

"No, and even if we did, it would be none of your business," Drew replied while protectively wrapping his arm around her.

"Aw come on, I heard all of the couples are doing it. You guys have been hot and heavy for over four months now!" Kevin argued.

"That doesn't mean we're having sex!" Katie spoke up, flustered at the idea.

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "You guys are a weird couple then," he replied before eating on a slice of pizza.

Her and Drew shared a look. Were they weird for not having sex?

For the rest of the lunch period, neither of them said anything to each other.

It took an hour for her to get ready for Eli to come over. First she took a nice bath, and then she put on her best "sexy" clothes, which was her black nightgown. She picked up one of her mom's red lipsticks and applied it to her lips. Just as she smacked them, the doorbell rang. She knew it was Eli.

She came downstairs and opened up the door, and her boyfriend was indeed on the other side in a black jacket and jeans.

"Hey," she tried to purr in her best seductive voice as she stepped aside to let him in.

"Hey…," Eli greeted back as he looked her up and down. "Um...wow…"

"You like?" She asked, twirling around for him.

"Sure," he answered, and she tried not to frown at that.

"Well? Let's make magic happen!" She said as she closed the door behind them.

She then smashed her lips against his.

Drew was trying his best to do his schoolwork when there was a knock on his door. He got up, opened the door up, and was surprised to see Katie.

"What's up?" He asked his girlfriend as she entered his home. She twiddled her fingers nervously.

"We need to talk," she said.

"Oh God, are we breaking up?" He asked again in worry.

"No, no! It's about something else," she clarified before taking a deep breath, "It's about sex."

"Sex? What about it?" He questioned in confusion as he went to sit back down. Katie followed him and sat on the table.

"Do you think we're ready to have it?" She questioned.

"Katie, we're only thirteen," he answered, not even wanting to entertain the thought. Despite what his mother may think, he didn't plan on having sex any time soon.

"But other couples are doing it, I just don't want to feel abnormal," she expressed.

"But do you want to do it?" He asked her. The way her face turned red answered his question. He grabbed her hands gently.

"Katie, I really like you. I couldn't ask for a better girlfriend, but I'm not ready to take that step with you yet. If I'm having sex with somebody, I want it to be with someone I love," he reasoned.

"And you don't love me," she assumed, and there was clear hurt in her voice.

"I don't know yet, but I do care about you a lot and I would never pressure you into doing things you don't want to do, okay?" He assured her.

"Okay…," she replied slowly. They then shared a tender hug. When they pulled apart, Drew had a sheepish smile on his face.

"Since you're over here, can you help me with our social studies homework?"

They were making out passionately on Imogen's bed when she suddenly pushed him down. The fuzzy purple bed sheet tickled his skin.

Imogen smiled shyly at him as she reached for his belt. Eli couldn't help but feel nervous as they continued to kiss while she unbuckled his pants. This was his first time doing anything remotely sexual with a girl outside his dreams and he wasn't sure what to expect.

"I'm so happy that we're going to be each other's first, Eli," Imogen said as she kissed his neck, "We were each other's first boyfriend and girlfriend….," she kissed his jawline, "...First kisses….," she kissed his cheek, "And now we're going to be each other's first sexual partners…."

Eli didn't know whether it was the gravity of what they were about to do or not, but he suddenly felt the need to be honest. "Im, I have something to tell you but you have to promise not to freak out," he told her.

Imogen looked at him, puzzled as she lifted herself off of him. He lifted himself up. "What?" She questioned.

"You weren't my first kiss," he confessed bluntly.

"Then who was?" She questioned again with narrowed eyes.

He didn't say anything in response, and that was apparently all it took to figure it out. "No….," she said in horror, "Not her. No…"

"Imogen please," Eli replied as he tried to reach for her hands, but she harshly slapped his own hands away. She got off the bed abruptly.

"You lied to me about that situation this whole time!" She yelled angrily. "Get out!" She commanded while pointing at her bedroom door.

"Im, listen to me!" He pleaded.

"GET OUT! And don't talk to me when you see me in class tomorrow, we're done!" She roared as tears welled up in her eyes.

Looking at her sadly, Eli left her house without any more protest.

Chapter Text

Beginning of December

Snow fell outside as the members of the student council held their meeting inside of the classrooms.

"So what ideas can we plan for December? We need at least one serious event to make Hatzilakos happy and one fun event to make the students happy," Marisol questioned as she stood in front of the smart board. She was wearing a light blue sweater dress with thick white tights and white boots. Clare had never seen her wear the same outfit twice; She was always wearing something different.

"Something for the homeless and needy in our area," Clare suggested, "We can do either a soup kitchen, a can good giveaway, or a fundraiser to raise money." Those were the events that always went down at her old Catholic school, and she enjoyed doing them. She liked helping others in need.

Marisol wrote the suggestions down on the smart board with a red marker. "Good, good," she complimented warmly and Clare felt a burst of pride in her chest.

"We can also have students donate toys to the children's group homes in the neighborhood," Katie offered, and Clare watched as Marisol pursed her lips. She didn't know much about either girl but she knew from what Alli told her that they were best friends before they fought during the election. She found Katie rather intimidating after watching her shame Marisol in front of all of junior high.

"Excellent suggestion, Katlynn," Marisol replied with a cold smile as Katie visibly cringed. "So what fun events can we do for the student body?"

"My friend Alli suggested a Christmas dance? Or a party at the ice skating rink?" Clare answered. Marisol's face brightened up at the idea of a party.

"I'm so down for an ice skating party! Tell your friend Alli that she's a genius, or wait I'll tell her that myself!" Marisol squealed as she wrote the idea down on the smart board. "Maybe you should be vice president."

A scowl appeared on Katie's face, and Clare knew that she was now in the middle of the conflict between the two best friends.

December 22nd

Alli walked to her locker and stopped when she saw winter roses taped to it. In confusion, she walked up to it and took the flowers off. She smelled them to see if they were fake or not, only to discover that they were fresh. Before she could ask herself who got her these flowers, the perpetrator approached her.

"Hey Alli," Mo greeted confidently.

"...What's this for?" She questioned.

"Well, I got you flowers because a pretty girl like you deserves it," he answered with a flirty smile, "But also because I want to take you to the ice skating party tomorrow."

When he saw her reluctant face, he sighed. "Look, I know our date was pretty crappy but I still really like you and I think we can work!"

"Why, because we're both Muslim?" She asked with narrowed eyes. She really wasn't interested in giving Mo another shot, and one of the reasons was because they barely had anything in common besides their faith.

"No, because...because...I just really want another chance! I'll do anything," Mo pleaded, and she groaned as she caved in.

"Fine, but you're paying for the tickets," she told him stiffly as she opened up her locker. "Woo!" She heard Mo cheer as he walked away. He got her again.

She supposed it wasn't too bad. She didn't want to show up to the party as a dateless loser anyway. She was building up her reputation on the Pep Squad, and she wasn't about to ruin it by being known as a girl who couldn't even get a boyfriend.

Besides, Mo was completely devoted to impressing her, and that wasn't a bad quality to have in a boyfriend, right?

In homeroom, they were all gift wrapping presents for one of the children's group homes in the area, the Seneca house. It was K.C.'s group home.

Connor intricately wrapped the gift in his hands, a Power Rangers action figure, in a certain way. He would wrap up the gift twice before tying it up with a red or green ribbon. A lot of the other kids in his class were only using one piece of gift wrapping paper but this is what made him comfortable and secure.

He looked over to K.C., who was wrapping up a kiddie manicure set. The person he was assigned to was a ten year old girl at his group home.

"What do you think you're getting for Christmas?" Connor asked his friend.

"Either hand me down clothes or nothing," K.C. answered nonchalantly as he finished wrapping. He got up briefly to get another gift to wrap up before sitting down. "The toys are mainly for the younger kids. Us older kids either don't get stuff donated to us or we get clothes," he explained further.

"Oh," Connor replied, blinking. That simply wouldn't do. He had to get a nice gift for K.C., but what could it be?

Later in science class, K.C. had to admit that he was jealous watching Marisol be affectionate with Jake. Today, Mr. Binns allowed them to pick their partners for the class assignment and obviously Marisol was going to pick her boyfriend, who's smile didn't reach his eyes.

He had heard what happened with Jake's mother, everyone in junior high did. She got into a very bad car accident and was now on life support in the hospital. Jake was noticeably not paying attention in class these days as he looked like he had more important things on his mind. For Jake's sake, he hoped his mother didn't die.

His own mother wasn't active in his life, or rather wasn't allowed to be active in his life. He hasn't seen his mother in person since he was taken away to live in a group home at ten years old. He didn't know what she was doing right now but it probably involved smoking crack at a den somewhere. Even worse, she was probably sleeping with someone for it, he wouldn't put it past her considering the constant men he saw walk through their house.

He didn't know anything about Jake's mom, but she couldn't be worse than his own.

"K.C.," Clare called to him, snapping him out of his thoughts, "Add the detergent and the baking soda to the volcano," she ordered, and the look on her face said that she had already told him to do that but he wasn't paying attention.

"Oh right, sorry," he apologized before performing the task. Their assignment in class today was to make a "volcano" made out of a flour, salt, oil, and water mold explode. There was a two-liter bottle underneath the mold that they had made together, and Clare had already added warm water and food dye. He slowly added the rest of the materials, and then grabbed a bottle of vinegar. When he slowly poured the vinegar in, it caused the volcano to "erupt".

"We did a great job together," Clare said before meekly looking away. K.C. noticed that she had a visible blush on her pale cheeks.

He liked Marisol, but he also thought Clare was cute despite the silly Catholic school girl uniform she wore every day. In a way, he liked that about her. She wasn't afraid to wear what she wanted, nor was she concerned about how it would look to other people. She may have not thought so, but she was far more bolder than she thought.

"Clare, you wanna go to the ice skating party with me tomorrow?" He asked, feeling a bit bold himself.

"Um sure," she answered, "As friends, right?"

"If you just want us to be," he replied with a shrug.

He couldn't help but feel rejected though.

"K.C. asked me to go to the ice skating party with him," Clare confessed to Alli as they ate lunch together. K.C. and Connor haven't come down yet, and she was grateful for that.

"Ooh! Maybe you will get a boyfriend before the end of the year after all!" Alli replied excitedly.

"But I don't want a boyfriend yet, Alli, school comes first," she reminded her. Boys would distract her from getting straight A's, she was sure of it. Her parents didn't even want her dating until she was fourteen anyway.

On the other hand, she couldn't help but get butterflies in her stomach whenever she was around K.C. and her heart would race a bit. She knew that she was developing a crush on him, but she was scared to act on it.

"You can have school AND a boyfriend, Clare. I don't know why you act like you can't have both. My older brother Sav is maintaining amazing grades and I'm pretty sure he's running around with this girl behind our parents' backs," Alli said before eating on a French fry.

"I don't know, Alli. I don't think I'm ready yet," Clare replied, unsure of her friend's words.

"Well if you don't act fast enough, some other girl will come around and steal K.C. from you because he's getting a lot of attention from other girls, even if he doesn't notice," Alli warned her.

"Like you?" Clare accused as she felt herself getting jealous at the thought.

"No, don't worry I'm not interested in K.C, hun. I'm going to the party with Mo, anyway," Alli said as he came by their table.

"Hey Alli, looking forward to being your date tomorrow," he told her friend with a cheerful smile.

"Thanks, see you there," her friend replied with a stiff smile as he walked away to sit at a table with his friend.

"I really hope you're kind to him this time," Clare said. She knew her friend was only going with Mo because he was paying for both of their tickets.

"What do you mean? I was kind to him on the first date, and he screwed it up. He's lucky I'm giving him another shot," Alli argued.

"Well he's really trying this time, and you should give him credit."

"Yeah, we'll see."

Later at dinner, Connor was eating dinner with his godfamily. His godmother had cooked a nice meal of pasta and garlic bread.

"Godfather, I would like to get K.C. a gift for Christmas," he said.

"Kacey!" Jack, his godbrother, repeated cheerfully while waving his hands around.

"Great, would you like me to take you to the mall after dinner, Connor?" Snake asked enthusiastically.

"That would be wonderful, yes," he answered before taking a sip of his orange juice.

After dinner, Snake drove him to the mall, which was decorated from top to bottom in Christmas decorations. As a kid he was always intrigued in the lights he saw strung up and even as a pre-teen now, he was still intrigued.

There were large crowds of people walking around everywhere as him and his godfather went from store to store looking for the perfect gift for his friend. Connor always wondered what exactly about the holiday season made people this crazy to flood the malls like this every year.

When they walked by a toy store, Connor saw the perfect gift on display. "Godfather, look!" He said.

He entered the store and picked it right up.

December 24th

The next morning, Alli walked up to see another winter rose on her locker, this time with a note attached to it. She took it off and read the note which said "Another rose for my lovely date, can't wait to see you at the ice skating rink tonight" in pretty light blue ink. A ticket was already attached to the note.

Alli couldn't help but smile at the romantic gesture. Mo was really going all out for her this time, and she appreciated it.

Marisol walked by and noticed the gift. "What's that, Bhandari?" She asked her while approaching her.

"A romantic gift from my date tonight, Mo Mashkour," she answered, somewhat proudly.

"Oh, we had a thing over the summer," Marisol confessed to her, "He's a really sweet guy, awkward, but sweet."

"So he's boyfriend material?" Alli questioned as she pondered the idea of dating him. He wasn't unattractive at all but he was very goofy and a typical dumb teenager boy like her older brother.

"I would say he makes the cut even though we didn't last long," she answered, "We just weren't compatible but maybe you and him will work out better," she suggested.

"...Maybe…," Alli agreed before Marisol gave her a nod and walked away. As her cheer captain, Alli trusted her judgment especially when it came to boys and cute looks. Marisol always seemed to be the expert on those things.

As she opened up her locker to get her books out for her first string of classes, Alli thought that perhaps dating Mo wouldn't be so bad.

"I looked up an interesting site to help you prepare for your date with Clare," Connor whispered to him while they were in class together. K.C. looked over to his friend's computer and saw the headline "12 Teenage Love Advice for Guys to Ace The Dating Game" on the website.

"Do you really think I need this?" He questioned, already feeling like he couldn't do half the things on the list.

"Yes, if you want to have a successful romance with Clare," Connor answered while looking over to the girl in question, who instead of scrolling random websites or playing fun computer games like everyone else, was actually on an educational website and writing down notes. K.C. wasn't even surprised at this point at the sight.

"And who says she wants to have a romance with me beyond this date?" He asked. While he could afford to take her to the ice skating party because he saved up enough money to do so, he was too poor to take her anywhere but to McDonald's for dates, and he felt she deserved more than that.

"Well I certainly think she would since you both like each other," Connor pointed out bluntly. When his godfather came around to their area, they both quickly switched to their research sites and pretended to not acknowledge each other. It would be a few minutes before Snake was completely out of their line of vision. K.C. looked up the site Connor pulled up on his own computer and read the tips. Each one, such as maintaining good manners and complimenting the girl, were doable.

The only problem was whether Clare would be receptive to any of these due to her shyness around him.

At the ice skating rink, Alli was treated to Mo putting the skates on her feet. They shared a smile as he tied her shoelaces together. Then he helped her up to her feet.

"You're quite the gentleman, aren't you?" She asked.

"Only for the best of ladies such as yourself," he smoothly replied and she felt her cheeks flush. Is this what being treated to a nice date felt like?

Holding hands, they entered the rink and skated around as best as they could for beginners. The cold air brushed her face the whole time.

Then Mo slipped and fell, and she went down with him. She flopped right on top of him. He looked at her in fear, as if she was about to tear his head off.

Instead, she laughed and after a few seconds he started laughing too.

Clare was nervous when she entered the rink with K.C. and was still nervous after they stopped skating. So far, they barely spoke even though they were on a "date" as friends.

"You want me to get you another slice of pizza?" K.C. offered her after they sat down.

"Sure," Clare accepted and he nodded before getting the food. She twiddled her thumbs awkwardly on the table as she waited for him to come. Despite Alli's advice, she didn't really dress up for this occasion. She wore a simple burgundy winter coat with a red hat and scarf. Her cheeks were permanently red from the cold. If she breathed, she would be able to see it.

K.C. came back with two slices of pizza and two cups of Pepsis. He passed her plate of pizza to her as he sat back down across from her. "So are you having fun so far?" He asked her.

"Yes," she answered as she softly chewed on her pizza slice. Christmas music played loudly in the background. "This is fun so far."

"That's good, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself," he replied as he ate his food. They spent a few minutes eating in absolute silence. It shouldn't be this way, they were friends.

"Hey K.C.," Clare began to say before Connor walked over to them.

"I don't know if you guys noticed, but there is a mistletoe above your heads," he pointed out and they both looked up in surprise. Indeed, a mistletoe was hanging right above them.

By the time she looked down, Connor was gone and it was just her and K.C. And the mistletoe.

"Um...we don't have to kiss," she said to him, and she was assuring herself more than anything, "It's just a stupid tradition."

"Yeah," he agreed, "But would kissing me really be that abhorrent to you?" He questioned. She bit her lip in nervousness as she struggled to answer. At the moment, her brain was showing her images of them kissing passionately and she didn't know how to get it to stop. Kissing him would be wrong, because she wasn't in school for boys, yet she still wanted to do it…..

She got up and walked over to K.C. He looked at her in confusion, but before he could say something, she leaned down and kissed him softly on the cheek before rushing to sit back down.

Clare didn't have to look in a mirror to know that her face was as red as a Christmas bow right now.

His plan had been successful.

Connor watched the whole scene between K.C. and Clare with a smile on his face. While they were getting food together the first time, he had grabbed a mistletoe from one of the rink's lights and planted it above where they were sitting. He managed to do it without getting caught by a worker.

The reason he did was because he wanted his friends to just finally get together because they obviously liked each other. They just needed a little push and he was eager to give them that little push.

As he ate on his pizza slice, Connor gave himself a pat on the back for another job well done.

After all, this was only one out of two Christmas gifts he was giving his friend.

December 25th

K.C. woke up on Christmas morning, expecting nothing. He rolled out of bed and walked out to the living room where there was a giant Christmas tree. The younger kids in the group were excitedly unwrapping gifts left and right, revealing toys and nice clothes people have donated to them. Meanwhile the older kids got nothing but the usual clothes from the thrift store.

Yawning, he sat down on one of the living room couches and watched the scene. He wasn't even sad at this point. He was just glad the younger kids at least got to experience a nice Christmas.

"K.C., you got a gift too," One of the caretakers said to him as she passed him a big gift box wrapped up twice. K.C. looked at the gift in surprise, wondering who got him a present. Was it Clare? They have gotten even closer after she kissed him on the cheek. They just weren't officially dating yet.

He unwrapped the gift immediately, and was shocked as he looked at a junior STEM kit with a microscope, plastic slides, a carrying box, and equipment cards. There was a built-in LED light.

There was a note attached. "From your good friend Connor," it read.

K.C. smiled after reading it, wishing he could hug his friend in person as a thanks.

The snow fell gently outside as K.C. felt the Christmas spirit flow through him for the first time in years.

Chapter Text

Imogen walked dejectedly into the school cafeteria for breakfast. Her and Eli had been broken up for two months, and she wasn’t coping well with it. She was still in love with Eli. But he clearly didn’t feel the same way.

She picked up a breakfast sandwich for herself and sat down at a table by herself in the back of the cafeteria. While her and Mo still talked, it was obvious that Eli got custody of him through their “divorce”. She was almost back to having no friends, basically.

And it was all that bitch Marisol’s fault.

Jenna Middleton looked at her classes on her schedule as she entered Degrassi. Her and her oldest brother had just moved in from Alberta and she didn’t even know where to begin at her new school. The only thing she knew was that she was in the gifted program for singing.

As she entered one of the classrooms with computers, she accidentally bumped into two girls, one was a brown girl with long black hair and the other was a white girl like herself with long curly brown hair and glasses. They were both quite cute, but the brown girl was clearly annoyed. “What are you, new here?” She asked her in a snide tone.

“Sorry, I’m Jenna!” She apologized sheepishly as she held out her hand for them to shake. The brown girl didn’t take her hand but the brunette did.

“I’m Clare, this is Alli, we’re BFFs,” the brunette girl introduced herself and her friend.

“I’m so glad all the girls here don’t hate each other,” Jenna said cheerfully, “My old school was backstab high.” She didn’t have any female friends at her school. They all looked down at her for being poor and made fun of her constantly.

She sat down next to Clare, and Alli immediately had something to say about it. “Uh, that’s my seat,” she told her.

Jenna was about to get up when the teacher walked into class. “Welcome back everyone,” he greeted.

“Sir,” Alli began while gesturing to her, “She’s-”

“Jenna Middleton,” Simpson cut her off while giving her a welcoming smile, “Welcome to Degrassi.” He then looked at Alli. “Take a seat, Alli,” he told the other girl, who then begrudgingly sat down behind them.

Jenna looked at Clare and gave her a dazzling smile. While Alli clearly didn’t like her for whatever reason, she made at least one new friend already.

Marisol could feel someone glaring at the back of her head in classes. She tried to focus on the social studies lesson in front of her but the negative energy was too much. She looked behind her and when she saw that it was Imogen, she rolled her eyes and turned back around in her seat. Of course it was Pigtails.

For whatever reason, Imogen hated her more than ever and she didn’t even do anything to her. She suspected that the other girl needed someone to take her frustrations out on now that the sideshow attraction she and Eli called a relationship was over. She heard that they broke up a few months ago and was glad. It wasn’t that she really cared about who Eli dated since she was with Jake now, but she was happy she didn’t have to watch him tongue down that freak anymore. It was disgusting and made her ill every time she saw it happen.

“Alright everyone. Pair up with the person behind you to make a practice quiz for the upcoming test this Friday,” their history teacher ordered and Marisol nearly groaned out loud at being forced to work with Imogen. She begrudgingly turned her chair around to face the other girl’s desk. Pigtails was continuing to glare at her.

“Let’s get this over with,” Marisol said as she took out a piece of paper and her favorite pink pen to write with. “How should we do this?”

Imogen didn’t respond. She just silently took out her own piece of paper and pen, and started working on the practice quiz.

Marisol narrowed her eyes as she began to work on her practice quiz by herself. She preferred it if they didn’t speak anyway.

Clare was so charmed by Jenna, she would almost say that she was enamored with her. The blonde girl was bubbly, sweet, and a breath of fresh air.

“So what are you in the gifted program for?” She asked her new friend as they all sat at lunch together. Instead of sitting next to Alli as normal, she had Jenna sit next to her, wanting to get to know her more.

“Music,” Jenna answered cheerfully, “I play guitar and I sing!”

“Cool,” K.C. said while smiling at Jenna, and Clare felt a flash of something negative creep up in her. But it was only for a few seconds.

“Is that why you carry that around?” Connor asked her, referring to her acoustic guitar that she had next to her book bag.

“Yup! Want me to play a song for you guys?” Jenna offered as she pulled it out of its case. It was a light brown.

“Uh,” Alli began with a sneer, and Clare could tell something rude was about to come from her mouth, “We-”

“Would be happy to hear it!” Clare cut her off with a smile at Jenna. She had no idea why Alli despised the other girl so much when she did nothing to her.

Jenna smiled back as she started to sing “Sugar Sugar” by the Archies while playing her guitar. It attracted attention from several people around them. Clare felt herself enchanted by Jenna’s soft, soothing melodic voice. It was akin to the voice of a siren. 

As she listened to her new friend sing, she couldn’t help but feel a wave of sunshine flow over her.

Alli didn’t like the new girl at all.

As Jenna sang loudly (and awfully), she wanted to bang her head against a wall, or rather Jenna’s. The other girl couldn’t sing at all. Her voice was too sugary. Alli felt her ears were about to bleed.

When she was done singing, everyone at the table clapped enthusiastically for Jenna, except her. She just stared at her.

“Wow Jenna, that was really good!” Clare complimented the blonde girl warmly.

“Your voice is as beautiful as a songbird’s,” Connor agreed.

“Thanks guys, I don’t think I’m that great,” Jenna told them in a bashful tone that felt fake as hell to Alli. ‘You got that right,’ she thought bitterly to herself. Jenna wasn’t great at all with singing, how did she get in the gifted program for music?

She had enough of this. “So Miss Pretty Smile and Perfect Teeth, what’s your deal?” She demanded. No one was this perfect.

“You think I’m pretty?” Jenna questioned in surprise. “Thanks Alli, but I’m not half as pretty as you!” 

‘You got that right,’ Alli thought to herself bitterly again.

Jenna continued to chat with their friend group, and Alli wanted to scream.

Was she the only one at the table not under Jenna’s spell?

Meanwhile, at another lunch table, Imogen was sitting by herself. Mo had chosen to sit with Eli for today. She quietly ate her pizza while having a conversation with herself in her mind.

‘Look at you, a freak, sitting by yourself again,’ a voice that coincidentally sounded a lot like Marisol sneered to her.

‘Shut up!’ She shouted to the voice.

‘Why did you even think that Eli would ever want you over Marisol? Unlike you, she’s actually normal,’ the voice continued to sneer, and Imogen felt her eyes water. She quickly grabbed a napkin and wiped the tears from her eyes. She wasn’t going to cry here in front of everyone, and the universe knows she had been crying frequently over Eli since the breakup. He broke her heart, but she missed him, and she wished he wasn’t so wrapped up in stupid Marisol. 

Imogen looked over to where the other girl was sitting. She was sitting with her boyfriend Jake and feeding him French fries playfully, dipping it in cheese sauce every so often. While normally she would find that kind of display cute since she did it with Eli, seeing Marisol do it made her want to throw up her pizza. She hated her so much.

“You look lonely,” a voice said, snapping her out of her thoughts. She looked up and saw a boyish looking girl standing in front of her with a tray of food. “Do you need some company?” The girl offered.

“Sure,” Imogen answered. The girl smiled at her before sitting down.

“I’m Gracie,” she introduced herself.

“Imogen,” Imogen introduced back. “Are you in grade seven or eight?”

“Grade seven. Drew is my older brother, if you know him ,” Gracie answered. “So why are you sitting alone?”

“I only have one friend and he’s sitting with my ex,” she replied, looking at Mo and Eli’s table bitterly. “He alternates between us every day.”

“Yikes,” Gracie remarked, “Well I don’t have any friends because the other kids in my grade think I’m weird because of how I dress.”

Imogen looked at Gracie’s outfit. She was wearing a grey beanie, a boy’s hoodie, and baggy jeans. She didn’t see anything wrong with how she dressed. She was just obviously a tomboy.

“The kids in my grade think I’m weird for how I dress too, but I like the way I dress. It makes me unique,” she replied. Today she was wearing two space buns on the top of her head and a shirt dress with tacos printed on it. Her boots were a sparkly red.

“I like your outfit too. It’s cute,” Gracie complimented her warmly.

Imogen smiled. She could tell that her and Gracie were going to be great friends.

Later that day, the bell had rang signaling the end of classes for today. Marisol put away her art supplies and put her drawing in a folder. They were doing a watercolor unit for art class and her painting was going to be of Wasaga Beach, but right now it was only a drawing.

She made her way to the door to leave the art room when Imogen rudely shoved past her. She glared at the other girl’s retreating figure. She didn’t know what was wrong with her lately but she was tempted to yank one of Imogen’s goofy space buns off her head.

Marisol walked to her locker and was in the middle of getting her books out when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and met the eyes of a blond girl with big blue eyes and a guitar case on her back.

“Hi, I’m Jenna and I’m new here!” She introduced herself cheerfully. “Are you Marisol, captain of the Pep Squad here?”

“Yes, why?” Marisol questioned.

“I would like to try out for the team, if that’s possible,” Jenna answered.

“We don’t do tryouts in the middle of the year,” she rejected, but the other girl did not lose her cheer.

“Well, could you let me at least audition in private? I was a cheerleader at my old school and I promise you that I would be an awesome addition!” Jenna proposed.

“I guess it couldn’t hurt,” she decided to accept, “We have practice today at four. Show up before that and try out.”

“Yay, thank you so much! I’ll go tell my brother!” Jenna cheered as she shook her hands enthusiastically before leaving her presence. Marisol watched her go with an amused look on her face. Well the other girl definitely had enough bubbliness for the team.

She was about to go back to her locker when she spotted Imogen skipping down the hallways with her books in her hand. A devious thought went through her mind. She waited until Imogen was just about to skip past her before sticking out her foot in front of her. The resulting action was instantaneous. Imogen fell down to the ground immediately and her textbooks comically flew up in the air.

“Whoops, sorry,” Marisol mockingly apologized. Imogen got up, picked her books up, and glared viciously at her before storming off. 

Marisol just smirked evilly at her retreating figure.

“P-E-P-S-Q-U-A-D! Go Pep Squad!” Jenna cheered enthusiastically in front of the team, waving around the pom poms. Since she was already on a junior cheer team at her old school, she was allowed to audition for the junior cheer team here at Degrassi. She did an assortment of tumbles, kicks, and cartwheels for her audition and she could tell that the team captain, Marisol Lewis, was impressed.

“Well, I would certainly be a fool if I didn’t allow you on the team...,” Marisol said as she pondered her chin in thought. Then she smiled. “Congratulations, Jenna, you made the team!” She declared.

“Oh brother,” she heard Alli mutter to herself but she paid her no mind.

“Yay!” Jenna cheered. “I’m so excited to cheer with you guys!” 

“And as your captain, I’m excited to cheer with you,” Marisol replied warmly as she stepped up to her, “I can’t think of a greater addition to the team, isn’t that right Imogen?” She asked the other captain, who was bespectacled and wearing long pigtails.

The other girl had a dark gleam in her eyes.

“Well hopefully she doesn’t have any boyfriends you can hook up with in a closet,” she sneered.

“What did you just say?” Marisol asked in a low, dangerous tone of voice. 

“I’m saying that you’re a no good bitchy skank that has hooked up with half the boys in our grade, including my ex. It boggles the mind as to what Eli sees in you,” Imogen answered with a glare.

 “Well at least I’m not a childish little weirdo that walks around wearing cat ears and tutu skirts,” Marisol shot back. Jenna was feeling very uncomfortable at this exchange.

“Uh ladies...,” she said, trying to get their attention, but neither of them were interested in what she had to say.

“I’m going to get some water,” Marisol said stiffly as she turned her back on Imogen. That proved to be a grave mistake. The other girl ran up to Marisol as she was walking and kicked her right in her butt, causing her to stumble and fall to the ground. The other girls watched in surprise at the scene.

Marisol got up slowly, turned around and swiftly slapped Imogen, making the other girl cry out. The two girls then engaged in a rough battle of scratches, hair pulling, punches, and even biting in Imogen’s case. The other girls stood around and watched, and some girls were even recording the fight.

It was up to her and Alli to stop the fight before the coach walked in. “Hey, hey! Girls, stop it!” She ordered as she pulled Imogen off of Marisol. Imogen was chewing on the other girl’s hair before she made her stop. One of her pigtails was loose due to the fight. Alli restrained Marisol from going back to Imogen. Marisol’s hair was completely a mess and one of her nails popped off in the struggle.

“Ladies! We’re a sisterhood, we don’t need to fight like this!” Jenna scolded them both.

“She is not my sister,” Imogen replied sharply while glaring at Marisol, who glares back. “She’s a bitch who’s the reason I had to dump my boyfriend!”

“How is it my fault?” Marisol questioned while trying to wriggle out of Alli’s grasp.

“Because your slutty ass made out with him in your stupid closet last year!” Imogen shouted just as the coach finally came into the gym.

“What is going on here?” She demanded.

Imogen finally wriggled from her grasp. “I’m going home,” she announced as she stormed off.

“Weirdo,” Marisol muttered as she stormed off as well, presumably to the gym bathroom. 

Jenna didn’t know what to think. It was apparent that at Degrassi, some girls did hate each other. 

She went from Backstab High to Catfight High.

Chapter Text

The next week

When Mo entered the school, he immediately went to look for Eli, who was sitting at his locker while listening to music. His friend was rocking out to something, probably to that group Nirvana.

When Eli saw him approach, he took off his headphones. "What's up, man? Aren't you supposed to be seeing Imogen instead of me?" He questioned. After his friends' disastrous breakup, Mo was basically torn between the two. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, he would spend time with Eli while on Tuesdays and Thursdays, he would hang out with Imogen. On the weekends, he could spend time with whoever he wanted as long as the exes weren't in the same vicinity.

While he didn't mind it at first, it was getting old at this point and he was getting sick of it. He missed hanging out with both of his friends.

"That's the thing, Eli. This custody battle over me has to end. I want us all to be friends again," Mo answered while folding his arms.

"Imogen doesn't even want to speak to me," Eli reminded him dejectedly.

"Because you lied about not tonguing down another chick," Mo replied bluntly, "But if you just apologize to her, we can move past this and maybe at least sit together at lunch again."

"I'll try, but it's up to Im to decide if she'll accept my apology or not," Eli said as he stood up, grabbing his backpack, "And she can hold quite the grudge."

"What made you think that telling the truth was remotely a good idea, then? If you just kept your mouth this wouldn't be a problem," Mo scolded him. He would never tell Alli a single thing about what he did with Marisol over the summer, not that they did anything other than make out. Nor would he tell her about the porn sites he frequented or the magazines he looked at while buying snacks at the corner store.

"Well my conscious was finally getting to me, excuse me for that," Eli apologized sarcastically as they began walking to homeroom together.

"Didn't get to you fast enough," Mo quipped. Then his face broke out into a mischievous smile. "...So who's the better kisser between the two girls?" Mo asked.

"Shut up."

In math class, Katie could not stop looking at her ex-best friend while they were all supposed to be doing algebra problems.

Marisol seemed to be actually doing her work as she did every problem from the textbook. She was writing her work down with a glittery pink mechanical pencil in contrast with Katie's simple regular number two pencil. She didn't seem to need any help either, which was a shock because she always struggled with math.

"Pair up with the person next to you and compare answers when you're finished," their teacher ordered. Katie's gut tightened in nervousness at having to work with Marisol today. She went back and finished the work she was supposed to be doing before turning to face her ex best friend. "Hey," she greeted with an awkward smile, hoping to ease some of the tension between them.

"Hi," Marisol greeted back flatly. They then silently traded each other's copybooks so they could check the other's work for errors. Katie took out a red pen, ready to mark nearly all of Marisol's answers as wrong as what usually happened when they did this.

Instead, as she went over each answer, she discovered that all of Marisol's answers were correct to her great shock. She looked at Marisol, who numbly stared back.

"All of these are correct, Mare," Katie told her. "Good job!"

"Thanks," Marisol replied flatly as she handed her back her copybook, and Katie did the same.

"How did you get all of the answers right?" She questioned. Marisol narrowed her eyes at her.

"I paid attention in class like a normal student? Oh wait, I forgot. To you, I'm nothing but a dumb slut who only cares about boys and makeup," She replied dryly.

"Mare, I was wrong for that okay? If you just let me explain-"

"Explain what? That you always think so lowly of me? You only kept me around all these years because you wanted a sidekick," Marisol accused.

"That's not true! I care about you, Mare. I miss you so much," Katie argued.

"I don't," Marisol replied coldly, "It's nice having friends that don't look down on you.

She turned back in her seat, and the conversation was over. The teacher wrote the answers on the board so everyone could double check their work. Katie bit her lip as she looked down in her copybook.

She had to get Marisol back as a friend but she didn't know how.

When Imogen walked out of class, Mo walked up right next to her. "Hey, do I have a proposal for you!" He told her.

"And what is that?" She questioned, suspicious.

"Getting our little group back together at lunch today," Mo answered cheerfully.

"Hell no," she rejected swiftly as the thought of talking to Eli again made her ill. She may have still held feelings for him, but she hated him at the same time. He was a scummy piece of work.

"Come on, Im, I know you miss us all hanging together," Mo reasoned.

"Yeah, but spending time with Eli will remind me that he took my heart and stomped it into a million little pieces. Just when I was about to do something special for him," she reminded her friend. She shuddered at the thought of how disgusted she would feel if she found out he kissed that witch after she went down on him. She would die of disgust.

"Eli is sorry about that and he wants to tell you that himself, but you have to give him a chance," Mo tried to convince her, "Please Immy, I can't keep going back and forth between you two," he pleaded.

She sighed. "I'll sit with you guys today just this once for you," she said, caving in. She knew that Mo was just going to keep asking until she agreed to do it. In a way, she did feel bad that Mo was caught up in a bitter custody battle between her and Eli. She didn't mean to make him feel like he had to keep choosing between her and Eli but until now, she felt like there was no other solution.

Her friend beamed at her. "Awesome, looking forward to it!" He said as they entered their next class together.

She hated to admit this to herself, but she really did miss Eli and was curious to know how he was doing without her.

Marisol grabbed her lunch and headed to the empty classroom where the junior student council meeting would be held. Today they would talk about what they could do for the spring quarters at Degrassi. She had quite a few excellent ideas, ones that would grab Jake's attention. He needed a distraction since his mother was still in the hospital. He was so distant lately it broke her heart.

Katie was the first to show up as always. Her ex bestie showed up to each student council meeting early. Katie gave her an awkward smile but she only stared at her in return. Next was Clare, who gave them both an acknowledging nod before sitting down at a desk in front of the classroom. When Mo showed up, he gave her a goofy smile which she couldn't help but return as he sat down. Finally, Jennifer showed up last, but not before sneering at Katie as she sat down as far away from her as possible.

"Hey, everyone. For this meeting, I would like to hear your suggestions on what events we could do for the rest of the school year," she requested before eating on her burger. She got a meal of a burger, a large order of fries, a cookie, and a juice for lunch because she was that hungry. Plus, she could handle big portions of food.

"A clothing drive, where people can give away clothes to the needy," Clare suggested. Marisol wrote the idea down. Charity events were always a good idea.

"A walkathon. We would walk a few miles around the school and maybe the Ravine to promote exercise and good health," Katie offered.

"Both of those ideas sound like a snooze fest," Jennifer sneered and Katie scowled at her in response. The two girls always fought at meetings. Clare simply frowned at the other girl's mean words. Marisol would have agreed with Jennifer, but being on the student council meant more than just planning parties and dances. Principal Hatzilakos wanted the educational and community building events too. More importantly, she needed to prove to everyone that she was more than just a pretty face. She was a smart, independent girl who could make her own impact on Degrassi.

"Both of those ideas are very good," Marisol argued as she wrote the walkathon idea down, and she watched as Katie smirked in victory at the other girl. "We can't just do fun events all of the time. Hatzilakos needs to see that we're more than just party people."

"Well, what about a dance party the week of the walkathon? Dancing is good exercise!" Mo declared, doing a little jig in his seat to emphasize his statement.

"So maybe we can do a whole week of fun activities promoting good exercise…," Marisol replied as she held her chin in thought. There could be a walkathon, a dancing event, maybe a sporting event…, "We could do a basketball tournament that week too!" She suggested. The boys on the basketball team would love it, and even she got excited at the idea. Even though it wasn't her favorite sport like cheerleading was, she loved basketball. She played it with her brother sometimes.

"Hell yeah!" Mo agreed enthusiastically.

"We could raise money for charity," Clare proposed.

"Yes, good idea Clarebear!" Marisol complimented the younger girl, who shyly looked down and blushed in response. Despite being weirded out by Clare constantly wearing a uniform every day, Marisol found her really adorable.

"I think you're doing a really great job at running this whole thing, Mare. The basketball thing is a really great idea," Katie said to her warmly.

"Thank you," Marisol replied politely. It was a rare moment where Katie actually complimented her for something other than girly stuff. Her heart soared a little.

Marisol couldn't help but smile at her former friend, and Katie smiled back.

At lunch, it was just him and Imogen due to Mo being at a student council meeting, and it was awkward as shit.

Eli silently ate his lunch, trying his best not to crumble under his ex-girlfriend's hard gaze. He could feel the anger she had towards him. She wasn't even eating her pizza. She was just staring harshly at him. If looks could kill, he would be Swiss cheese.

A few more minutes, and Mo thankfully arrived. "What's up my homies?" He greeted them enthusiastically as he sat down next to Imogen.

"Good," Eli replied politely as he popped a fry into his mouth. Imogen didn't respond, she just pursed her lips together.

"There's a hot new kung fu movie coming out this weekend, we should all see it together!" Mo offered.

"The one with Luo Meng?" He asked. The up and coming actor was one of his favorites in the Asian film industry.

"That'll be the one. The trailer looked sick," Mo confirmed, "Soda and popcorn would be on me, what do you guys say?"

"I'm down," Eli replied. He was always eager to see a new movie, especially a kung fu movie. He looked towards Imogen expectantly. When she scowled at him, he knew something bad was about to come out of her mouth.

"I will have to decline. Can't risk seeing Eli bring that bitch of his around," She said with a snarl.

"Why would I do that when we're not together?" He asked her wearily. Marisol was dating Jake Martin now, and for some reason he didn't like it. Not that anyone needed to know that of course.

"I don't know, you tell me. You seem to be obsessed with her to the point of wanting to be with her while you were with me!" She accused him.

"I did no such thing. I always wanted you and only you," he denied.

"Then why did you lie about not kissing her?" Imogen demanded.

"Because it really isn't your business who I kissed before we got together," he answered sharply as they then scowled at each other.

"Okayyy, this is getting super uncomfy. The both of you cut it out," Mo ordered, but it fell on deaf ears.

For the rest of the lunch period, they just glared at each other.

After school, Katie approached Marisol as she was getting stuff out of her locker.

"Hey," she greeted.

"Hey," Marisol greeted back, and for once there wasn't venom in her voice.

"I meant what I said at the student council meeting today. You're a really good president and I'm proud of you," Katie as she grabbed her friend's shoulder.

"You really mean that?" Marisol asked in a small voice.

"Of course! You're a far better president than I would have been!" Katie answered, and she was being one hundred percent genuine. "I'm sorry for how I behaved during the election. It wasn't right, and I'm ashamed of how I acted."

"You really hurt me, Katie. You made me wonder if you really cared about me beyond what I can do for you," Marisol said with a frown.

"Of course I care about you! You're my best friend and my sister!" Katie argued. "I was just being a self-absorbed brat."

"Well, what are some good things about me beyond my looks and attracting boys?" Marisol questioned.

"You're just as smart as I am when you apply yourself. You're a determinator. You never give up on something once you put your mind to it. The effort you put into cheer is impressive, and it shows at Pep Squad performances. You're hilarious. There's rarely a moment where you don't make me laugh at least once a day. Most importantly, you're the most caring friend one could ask for. You have been there for me through thick and thin and I'm sorry for not appreciating that until now. I love you, Marisol and I miss you," she answered, with her voice getting stronger with each word.

Marisol's face was unreadable. "Are you only saying all of this because you miss your sidekick?" She questioned again.

"No, I mean every word. Please believe me, Mare. I can't take us not speaking to each other like this," she pleaded.

"Then why did you say all of those cruel things, Katie? I was assaulted last year, and you told me to my face that people probably wouldn't believe me because of how slutty I am," Marisol pointed out. "You kept calling me a slut."

"You're not a slut, and what happened to you isn't your fault. Trust me when I say that," Katie assured her. She regretted a lot of things that came out of her mouth during the election but that was the one she was most regretful for.

Marisol looked at her before biting her lip, the usual tick that signaled that she didn't know what to do next. Katie put her hand on her shoulder again and squeezed it comfortingly.

"I love you, Marisol," she repeated, "Please forgive me. We've been friends since kindergarten and I don't want to give that to end because I was being an idiot. You're one of the most important people in my life and you deserve the world. I want my best friend back."

Marisol didn't say anything for a moment, and Katie was scared that she was going to get rejected again. Then as her friend opened her mouth, she braced herself.

"I guess things were getting boring without you," Marisol said before her lips upturned into a smile. Katie smiled back. Marisol had actually forgiven her.

The two of them then shared a warm hug.

"I told you that plan was going to fail," Eli said dejectedly as they got on the school bus. They took their seat on the back of the school bus and sat down.

"Yeah, well, you really fucked up," Mo replied as he took out his DS. "At this point, it'll take you making a grand romantic gesture to win her back, or at least get her to forgive you."

Mo was bummed from what went down at lunch today. He wanted his friend group back together but it seemed like it wasn't happening anytime soon. He was going to continue being passed back and forth between his two best friends like a hot potato.

"I don't want to get back together with her, Mo. We're really bad for each other," Eli replied.

"Really? Because you two were crazy for each other to the point it disgusted me," he said in confusion while playing his game. The constant PDA bothered him but he was happy for his friends. They seemed to really click. Imogen was like the Harley Quinn to Eli's Joker or something. When he found out they broke up, he was shocked.

"Well for starters, I only dated her because I didn't want to hurt her feelings. I guess I was stupid for that," Eli claimed.

"You were stupid for that," Mo agreed, "I kept warning you about that and you wouldn't listen to me. Why didn't you just date Marisol?"

"Because I saw you with her at the dance and thought you guys were together," he answered.

"We were but before the dance, we weren't. You could have just asked her out," Mo pointed out.

"Well I didn't. Because we're not compatible. Imogen and I were compatible and you saw what happened there. A relationship between me and that princess would be a complete disaster," Eli argued. Mo shook his head.

"Eli Goldsworthy, my man, you and girls are a nightmare to witness."

Chapter Text

On a rainy Saturday morning, Jake sat numbly on his bed dressed in all black. Today was his mother’s funeral. She had died last week in the hospital when his father took her off life support.

He was still in shock. It just didn’t register in his mind that his mother was dead. He would never get to see her smile again. He would never get to eat her famous fried chicken again. He would never get to go rollerblading with her again. She was gone because of an argument with his dad. He didn’t blame his dad for his mom dying in that accident but he was angry about the circumstances leading up to it. His parents couldn’t go one day without arguing and it cost him his mother’s life.

There was a knock on the door before it opened. He turned to see Marisol entering his room with two plates of food. She was wearing a black dress and her hair was pulled into a bun.

“I didn’t see you get any food downstairs so I brought it to you,” she said in a soft, caring voice as she sat down next to him on the bed. 

“Thanks,” he replied in gratitude, taking the plate of food. He forgot it was the repast. There was a ham and cheese sandwich, chicken salad, and deviled eggs on the plate.

“I’m sorry,” she said in sympathy. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through but I’ll try my best to be here.”

“I don’t know what you can do, honestly,” he replied. Nothing was going to change the fact that his mom was six feet under at the age of forty.

“Will a hug help at least a little?” She offered with a soft smile.

“I guess,” he accepted.

She wrapped one arm around his body and leaned her head on his shoulders. They then silently ate together.

Connor stood around at the door, waiting for K.C. to arrive. His friend was going to eat dinner with him and his god family tonight.

“Connor, you don’t have to keep standing there,” his godmother told him with an amused smile as she stepped into the living room for a moment, “Can you help me and Emma set the table, honey?”

“Of course,” he accepted as he went to help her. Emma handed him the utensils while she put the plates on the table. Her friend Manny, who had been living with them since the beginning of the school year, was helping Spike cook dinner in the kitchen. Dinner tonight was a nice pot roast with garlic mashed potatoes and greens. 

“Do you think K.C. will enjoy himself?” He asked his godsister.

“I’m sure Connor,” she replied. Her mind seemed to be in another place. Emma Nelson was an interesting person to be around. His god sister always seemed to have something going on with her like she was the main character of a teen drama.

“We’re playing board games tonight, right?” He asked again.

“Yup! We’re playing Candyland and monopoly,” she answered just as the doorbell rang. He immediately went to answer it.

K.C. was on the other side dressed in a blue denim jacket, a shirt, and jeans. He seemed to forgo his beanie for tonight. He was awkwardly standing around with his hands in his pockets.

“Greetings friend, come in,” Connor greeted as warmly as he could, stepping aside to let his best friend come inside. Emma and Manny walked in the living room to take a closer look at K.C., who looked around the place in wonder.

“Nice house you guys got here,” he complimented.

“Thank you, K.C.,” he replied. His friend nodded in response.

“Why does he remind me of Sean?” He heard Manny whisper to Emma.

Jake had wandered off after the repast was over and Marisol had immediately followed, wondering where the hell was he going.

“Jakey, where are we heading?” She asked as they walked the streets of Toronto. They stopped at a bus stop.

“Anywhere that isn’t my house right now,” he simply answered as the bus arrived. They got on together. She tried to hold his hand, but he rebuffed her to her confusion. They sat at the back of the bus, and it was a rather uncomfortable silence to whatever they were going.

When they got off by Degrassi, her confusion grew but Jake didn’t explain as he walked. He seemed to be in a trance of source and he didn’t care to answer any of her questions.

They entered the Ravine, and Marisol immediately stiffened. She never wanted to come here again after what happened to her last year.

“Jakey, this place is the worst,” she tried to tell him, but he kept walking. The familiar sight of teens drinking, drugging, and hooking up turned her stomach. The smell of weed and cigarettes penetrated her nose violently. She might get sick tonight.

He finally stopped walking when he got to an area with tree stumps and an abandoned fire. He sat down on one of the stumps and stared into the distance. She sat down next to him and attempted to grab his hand. He rejected her again.

“What is your problem?” She demanded.

“I don’t feel like holding hands with you right now, Mare. I’m sorry,” he apologized just as two guys approached them.

“Aren’t you kids a little young to be hanging out here?” One of them questioned with a smirk. Marisol didn’t like the look of him. He looked grimey, dirty.

“I don’t see why not. You guys don’t own the Ravine,” Jake replied flatly. She braced herself for a fight.

The guys looked at each other and shrugged as they sat down in the abandoned chairs by the campfire. One of them pulled out a bag of something that suspiciously looked like weed to her. Her suspicions were confirmed when he pulled out a light and some rolling paper.

Marisol watched uncomfortably as the guys smoked weed in front of them, laughing and giggling together when the high kicked in. She wasn’t disgusted by marijuana, as so many of her family members smoked it, but she didn’t like being around these total strangers.

“You kids want a puff?” One of the guys asked as he held out the blunt to them. “This is some pretty good stuff.”

“Uh no,” she turned down swiftly while looking at her boyfriend.

He stared at the blunt in interest.

“So K.C., what are you in the gifted program for?” Spike asked him politely while passing around a bowl of mashed potatoes. Dinner was now being served and it looked far better than anything he ate at the group home.

“Uh science. I want to be a physicist,” K.C. answered as he put a piece of pot roast into his mouth. It was fresh, tender, and juicy. Yup, definitely better than the group home grub.

“Ooh interesting! You must be really smart then, eh?” 

“Yeah, I guess so.”

The rest of the dinner went nicely, if a bit awkward since everyone kept asking him about his home life and interests. He tried to make everything sound as good as possible to not make them worry. Nobody liked listening to an obvious charity case and nobody needed to know that he used to like hotwiring cars to steal from them as a hobby.

The way the Nelson-Simpsons acted around each other, all warm and friendly, was a peculiar sight for someone who grew up around drug addicts and alcoholics such as himself. Mr. Simpson wasn’t a drug dealer like his father who abandoned his pregnant mother only to come back and get her hooked on crack. Spike may have looked a little too young to have a child as old as Emma but she didn’t seem like the type of mother to lock her child in a closet while she did crack with strange men. Emma seemed to actually enjoy being around her parents even if she wasn’t eating her mother’s dinner. Manny didn’t seem to be an outsider, her and Connor fit right into the family. Baby Jack was happily eating his dinner, instead of wondering when the next meal was going to come and whether it would be McDonald’s again.

When dinner was done, he wiped his chin with the napkin as properly as he could like the caretaker at the group home instructed. He got ready to get up when Spike stopped him.

“You want some pie, K.C.?” She offered while holding up some sweet potato pie. It was a rich brown color with some crispy looking crust. Despite the large amount of food he just ate, his stomach rumbled again.

After all, he rarely ate dessert at the group home.

Jake felt on air.

“Jake? Jakey?” Marisol’s voice called out to him as he took a walk around the Ravine. Her voice was deeper and more distorted than usual.

“Mare, float with me,” he said as he turned around to face her. His girlfriend was nearly unrecognizable in front of him. Her skin was no longer a chestnut brown but pink, purple, orange, yellow, green, and blue. Her nails were no longer short but long like talons. Her eyes were turquoise and her hair was done up in tall spikes. She looked scary but...hot at the same time.

“What is wrong with you? You should have never smoked that blunt!” She scolded him.

“Why? I feel goooood,” he replied, waving his arms around for emphasis. They were long and rubbery.

“I’m taking you home right now!” She declared while grabbing his arm.

Jake looked up towards the pale yellow moon and let out a howl in the night.

After K.C. left, Connor helped his mother clean up the kitchen. Snake went upstairs to put Jack to bed and Emma and Manny took turns showering.

He was wiping the counter tops when his godmother had a look of confusion while looking at her forks.

“I’m missing a fork…,” she said.

“How?” He questioned.

“I don’t know. I usually have twenty of these but there’s only nineteen. Can you go upstairs and check your room for any silverware, Connor?” She requested.

“Sure,” he accepted as he went upstairs. When he couldn’t find any in his room, he went back downstairs and told his godmother.

“Huh? Odd,” she replied with furrowed eyebrows before going back to wash the dishes.

A thought came into Connor’s mind but he pushed it away. There’s no logical reason why K.C. would do that.

On Monday, Marisol walked up to Katie as her friend opened up her locker. When Katie saw her, she stopped what she was doing and smiled at her. 

“Hey Mare,” she greeted, “How’s Jake?”

“Bad, Katiekins. He barely ate anything at the funeral yesterday,” she answered. Then her face tightened in discomfort. “And he got high at the Ravine….”

“What?” Katie asked in surprise and disgust. 

“Yeah, he was completely tripping out. It was weird,” she answered as she thought back unpleasantly at the memory. Jake kept walking around like he was floating and kept touching her like she was an alien or something.

“Is he really taking his mom’s death that bad?” Her friend questioned in concern.

“Yeah, and I don’t know how to fix it,” she replied with a frown. It seemed like their whole relationship was clouded by his mother, and she felt less like a girlfriend and more like his tissue box. She wanted to support him, but she didn’t know how much of this she could take.

“It’s not up to you to fix it, Mare. This is Jake’s trauma to bear,” Katie said.

“But I don’t want him to go through it alone,” Marisol argued just as her boyfriend approached them. 

“Mare, can we talk?” He requested, and the tone in his voice demanded that she do so. She looked at Katie before nodding at him. He led her away into a cleaning supply closet and closed the door behind them.

“We have to break up,” he told her bluntly. Her mouth dropped in shock.

“What? Why?” She demanded.

“Because this isn’t working out,” he answered, “I’m sorry but I can’t be a good boyfriend to you right now. I got too much on my mind because of my mom, and I can’t focus on you. You deserve better,” he explained.

“But I really like you, Jake,” Marisol replied, as she struggled not to cry. Even though she was just complaining about him minutes ago with Katie, she wasn’t ready to break up with him. At the same time though, was them being together the best for Jake right now?

“I know, and I really like you too, Mare but a relationship isn’t the best for me right now,” he insisted. Her lip quivered as she began to cry. Jake pulled her into his arms for a hug, and she cried into his chest for a few minutes. Then it was time to leave the closet. She looked at him sadly one last time before leaving. He didn’t follow her. 

She accidentally bumped into Eli, who had his headphones. “Sorry,” she replied in a cracked voice.

“It’s alright,” he assured her before looking at her with concern. “Are you okay?”

“No,” she replied swiftly before walking away with hurt in her heart.

He knew he was the biggest asshole for what he did last night but he couldn’t stop himself. 

K.C. looked at the fork in his hands as he stood by his locker. It was the same fork he used last night for dinner, and he took it home before anyone in the family could notice. He figured that as much as the family had, nobody would notice one measly fork missing. He really needed it anyway as he was tired of sharing the same crusty ones with the kids at the group home.

When he heard someone approaching, he quickly shoved the fork into his bag and turned around. To his relief it was Clare, who shockingly had her hair down for once. She looked really pretty.

“Hey K.C.,” she greeted.

“Hey,” he greeted back, hoping she didn’t sense the guilt pouring off of him. She seemed to always be so perceptive of whatever he was feeling at the time.

“Connor told me about last night, I’m glad you guys had a nice time,” she said.

“Thanks,” he replied. She nodded before beginning to walk past him. He nearly sighed in relief. He was safe.

Then she turned around. 

“He also told me about the fork. K.C., please return that to him,” she ordered before continuing to walk. His shoulders slumped. He wanted to argue that she didn’t know what she was talking about. That just because he was poor didn’t mean he was a thief. 

But Clare Edwards seemed to always know what was going on with him.

Jake decided that he wasn’t going to go to lunch today. Instead, he went to the Ravine. Even during the day, the place was trashy as hell and filled with school burnouts but he didn’t exactly come here for a five star experience.

He found the person he was looking for laughing with guys about something. He had wavy hair and mischievous blue eyes. After he took a hit of that blunt on Saturday, he asked those shady looking guys where they got the marijuana from and they described the guy in front of him.

“Hey,” Jake greeted. The older guy and his friends looked at him in amusement.

“Hello?” He asked. “You need something kid?”

“Yeah, the weed you’re selling,” he answered and frowned as the guy and his friends laughed.

“Shouldn’t you be drinking on your little juice box at Degrassi instead?” The older guy asked him. Jake pulled out ten dollars from his pocket.

“No, just give me as much as I can buy with this,” he answered as he handed the money out to him. It was half his allowance money.

The older guy looked at his friends before shrugging and taking the money. He then gave him a bag of weed with a devious twinkle in his eye.

“I think we’re going to have a beautiful partnership on our hands, kiddo,” he said with a smirk.

Jake just smiled back.

Chapter Text

May

Marisol checked all of her luggage once again to make sure that she had everything for the trip. She double checked and triple checked already but she wanted to make sure just one last time. She packed two cheer uniforms, a practice uniform, two travel outfits, three dinner outfits, three day outfits, two of her favorite bathing suits, and four pairs of shoes. She also packed all of her makeup and hair products.

Today, her and her fellow pep squad members were going down to New York City for the finals of the cheer competition. It was them vs a rival team from Manhattan for the championship title. She couldn’t wait to go to New York, especially after the recent breakup with Jake. After a month, she was finally starting to get over him. Maybe she would meet a new, cute boy from New York.

She planned to do all kinds of shopping down Times Square and eat at good restaurants. She even wanted to go to Coney Island and eat boardwalk pizza. There were all sorts of fun activities to do in the Big Apple!

“Mari! Your team is here!” Her mother called from downstairs.

“Coming, Mama!” She yelled back as she grabbed her bags and headed out of her room. She walked down the steps to where her mother was waiting for her.

“Have a good trip, baby. I’ll miss you during those four days you’ll be gone,” her mother said as she pulled her in for a hug. Marisol smiled as she hugged her back before walking outside to where two large vans were parked outside her house. She got inside the first one with the cheerleading coach, Alli, Jenna…and Imogen.

When her and Imogen’s eyes met, they immediately scowled at each other.

Thirty minutes on the road, and Jenna couldn’t wait until they got to New York because of all the tension in the car. Not only did Marisol and Imogen glare constantly at each other, but Alli was glaring at her too. She didn’t know what she did to Alli to make her hate her so much. Alli was too pretty to have such a nasty scowl on her face all of the time.

She put on some country music on her iPod to listen to and plugged in her earphones to distract herself. Despite being uncomfortable from the cattiness the other girls were showing right now, she was still excited to go to the famous US city. Their cheer coach promised them that they were going to do some sightseeing while they were in New York City. She in particular wanted to go shopping at Times Square. Her older brother had given her some spending money for the trip.

A Carrie Underwood song played, and she began to hum quietly to herself while watching the scenery outside her car window. One day, she hoped that she would be on the road for her concert tours instead of cheer, but that was a pipe dream for now.

“Jenna, you’re humming too loud,” Alli said with narrowed eyes.

“Sorry,” she apologized nonchalantly before going back to her music. Alli folded her arms in indignation but decided to look forward to the front of the car.

Jenna hoped that eventually Alli would warm up to her, and they could be friends for Clare’s sake.

A few hours into the road trip, Imogen was hungry. “Can we stop somewhere?” She asked as her tummy began to rumble.

“There’s a rest stop coming up ahead,” the coach said, and she smiled in relief. She sat back and played on her purple DS. She wondered how her dad was going to be without her for the next four days. She worried about his mental state lately. He was constantly forgetting stuff. However, she would take that over living with her mother.

The coach drove off an exit that led them to a rest stop that had a McDonald’s. Imogen was the first one to get out of the car. The other girls quickly followed.

Inside, the restaurant wasn’t that packed. There were only a few people waiting in line to order. When it was her turn, she ordered a happy meal only so she could get a toy.

“How old are you?” Marisol asked her dryly after ordering a quarter pounder meal.

“Old enough to mind my business,” Imogen fired back.

“Really? Because you seemed pretty invested in a stupid little kiss Eli and I had before you two got into that train wreck of a relationship,” the other girl sneered before picking up her meal. “If a kiss got you that mad, then you and Emo Boy were doomed from the beginning.”

“Shut up, Marisol,” she replied, not in the mood to fight. She just wanted to eat her McNuggets. The other girl thankfully went away, but not before shoving past her with her food.

She scowled but it quickly went away when she got her happy meal. She smiled as she went to sit down.

She opened up her box and squealed excitedly as she picked up a new doll from the latest kid’s movie.

Alli went inside the bathrooms, and was immediately repulsed by what she saw…..and smelled. There was used toilet paper all over the floor and stains on the walls. Bracing herself, she opened up each stall to find one that wasn’t completely disgusting. She found only one.

‘I feel like I’m going to catch a social disease in here,’ she thought to herself as she used the toilet.

Next to her, a woman was pooping loudly, and the scent was penetrating her nostrils in all the worst ways. She felt like she wanted to die. As soon as she was done, she washed her hands and quickly left the restroom.

Outside, Jenna was eating on a Mcchicken sandwich at the booth they were sitting at. Alli didn’t really want to sit with her, but there was no other choice. When she sat down, she looked at her own food, which was a chicken salad and some water.

Suddenly, she wasn’t that hungry anymore.

After they left McDonald’s, they got back in the car and tensions between all of them continued to rise. Their coach tried to lighten things up.

“Okay girls, how about we all play a game or do something fun?” Ms. Mendleson suggested as she drove.

“Punchbuggy?” Imogen asked excitedly, and Marisol had a feeling she only wanted to play that game as an excuse to punch her.

“No way,” Marisol turned down firmly.

“What about a nice song?” Jenna suggested.

“Absolutely not,” Alli rejected quickly.

“How about the Name Game? Someone starts with a name of a celebrity and the next person has to say a person whose first name starts with a letter of the previous last name,” the coach suggested, “I’ll start. Janet Jackson.”

“John Travolta!” Imogen said, before looking expectantly at her.

“T-Pain,” Marisol said, wondering where this game was going to go.

“Paul McCartney,” Jenna added. Then it was Alli’s turn.

“Michael Jackson,” Alli stated.

“Joan Rivers,” Ms. Mendelson said, and for the next hour they played the game. By the end, they had pretty much gone through the whole alphabet. New York City was a mere couple hours away.

The sun was setting outside, and Marisol admired the pretty scenery she was seeing on the road. There was lush greenland and cute animals spotted at farms. This was the best part about road trips.

As for the worst part, besides sitting with a girl she truly despised, there was the unfortunate sight of roadkill. She saw a few dead animals laid out on the highway in such a gruesome manner that it nearly caused her to lose her lunch.

By the time they finally got to New York, Jenna was relieved. Any more of Alli glaring at her, she wouldn’t be able to take it.

The hotel they were staying at was nicer than anything she had ever seen. It had a grand lobby with marble floors, giant glass chandeliers, and large fountains. Classical music played in the background. As someone who stayed at a roach filled motel the last time she was on vacation with her family, Jenna was pretty impressed.

The front desk receptionist gave them their key cards and the coach led them into an old fashioned elevator with a worker inside.

“What floor?” He asked them.

“Thirteenth,” the coach answered as the worker closed the elevator gates and pressed the button.

“Thirteenth floor?” She heard Alli whisper fearfully to Marisol. Jenna herself felt more uncomfortable now than she already was by the road trip. It was bad enough that she was dealing with a girl that hated her guts, now it seemed like more bad luck was coming her way. Plus her stomach was hurting for some reason. When they got off the floor, Jenna was tense.

The coach unlocked the door to their hotel suite and led them inside. “Okay, girls listen up. Marisol and Imogen, you will share one room and Jenna and Alli, you’ll share the other one.”

“Seriously?” They all asked at once in disbelief and there were mixed reactions of shock, anger, and disgust.

As for Jenna, she just accepted that this trip was going to be unlucky indeed.

Dinner was at Times Square at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant. Despite the happy meal she had way earlier, Imogen was eager for more food.

“More garlic bread anyone?” Jenna asked as she took a piece of bread from the basket and passed it around. Marisol eagerly took two before giving it to Alli. Imogen eyed her suspiciously. She didn’t expect Marisol to be the type to eat a lot of food considering she was a shallow, snobby bitch.

It didn’t take long for their waiter to arrive with their food. Nearly all of them ordered some sort of shrimp platter except for Marisol, who ordered a big cheeseburger with bacon, barbecue sauce, and onion rings. The other girl proceeded to mow down her food as if she didn’t eat anything earlier.

“Careful Marisol, you wouldn’t want to gain any more unnecessary calories,” she said in a fake, sugary sweet tone.

“Are you calling me fat, bitch?” Marisol asked with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

“Marisol!” Ms. Mendelson sharply reprimanded.

“If that’s what you want to call it,” she answered with a shrug, “I’ve been noticing you’ve been getting a little big around the chest at practices.”

“It’s called growing boobs, you idiot. You would know if you weren't flat as a board!” Marisol fired back. Imogen bristled at her words.

“Girls!” Ms. Mendelson reprimanded them both this time, sending them each a warning glare. Marisol went back to eating on her burger, munching on it roughly.

Imogen sat back with a smirk on her face, happy that she could so easily get underneath the other girl’s skin.

After the truly intense dinner, they headed back to the hotel room for the night. Alli wanted to see more of Times Square but she guessed that would have to wait until tomorrow or after the cheer finals.

As Jenna showered in the bathroom, she brushed her hair while looking at herself in the mirror. She wondered how Mo was doing right now. Her boyfriend gave her a final kiss for good luck at school yesterday, right before her dad picked her up. Her parents haven’t found out yet that she had a boyfriend and she would like to keep it that way. They would blow a gasket and she wouldn’t be let outside the house again until she was thirty.

Jenna began to sing loudly and Alli rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe she was going to put up with three nights of this. She quickly turned the volume up on her TV so she couldn’t hear much of her teammate’s truly awful singing.

She wished Clare was here with her so she wouldn’t have to deal with Jenna alone.

Breakfast the next day consisted of an awkward silence at the table. Nobody was in the mood to speak to each other.

Marisol ate on her meal of bacon, eggs, and cranberry juice while avoiding Imogen’s annoying scowl. She still didn’t believe that the other girl dared to insinuate that she was fat at dinner last night. She wished she could slap her again.

“So Ms. Mendelson, what are we doing today?” She heard Jenna ask, trying to lighten up the mood at the table.

“Well, I was thinking we could see the Statue of Liberty today, or the Empire State building. What do you ladies think?” Their coach suggested with a smile.

“Statue of Liberty sounds great!” Jenna replied cheerfully. She then looked at the rest of them. “Right guys?” She addressed them.

“Sounds fun,” Marisol agreed. She did want to see all of New York City’s best sights on this trip. She just wanted to see them with girls who were actually her friends besides Alli.

“Can we see the big Toys Are Us store in Times Square?” Imogen asked excitedly. “The one with the Ferris Wheel?”

Marisol rolled her eyes at the question. Imogen was truly proving herself to be quite the child on this trip. She wondered how Eli was able to stand it when they were dating. She couldn’t imagine swapping spit with someone who had the emotional maturity of a four year old.

“If that’s what you want, then we’ll do it!” The coach answered kindly.

“Can we go to the Macy’s store instead?” Marisol asked dryly. “Or the MAC store? Or even better, can we go off on our own?”

“Absolutely not,” the coach rejected, “There’s sixteen of us on this trip and I cannot afford to lose any of you, we all have to stick together.”

‘Great,’ Marisol thought grumpily to herself.

The boat ride to the Statue of Liberty was packed with fellow tourists. Jenna almost struggled to get through the crowd as she rested her arms on the railing. Her teammates weren't too far away from her, but she wanted some space.

The sight of the iconic green statue on the small island amazed her. Before now, she had only ever seen it in movies. She listened as an old man close by recounted the tale of his Italian grandparents sailing to Ellis Island decades ago and feeling American as soon as they saw it for the first time.

When they got off the boat, they had to go through security check in. She was forced to put her bag in a locker. She didn’t mind. When they passed through security check, Mrs. Mendleson paid for their tickets to see both the pedestal and the crown. They then entered the building.

Inside, there was a line to take an elevator to the pedestal and it was long. The only other option was the steps….which consisted of a hundred and ninety five of them.

“I think this would be a great work out for you girls before the competition,” the coach mused as everyone looked at each other uncomfortably. Except Imogen, who smiled excitedly.

“Who wants to race me up the steps?” She challenged, looking around. Not a single girl on the team volunteered. “Come on! Someone race me!” She pleaded.

Jenna found herself stepping forward. She felt bad for the older girl and didn’t want to leave her hanging. “I’ll do it!” She announced as cheerfully as she could.

“Yay!” Imogen cheered and next thing she knew, they were running up the steps.

Imogen wasn’t even out of breath by the time they reached the pedestal. Even better, she beat Jenna, who was panting. “Ha!” She boasted as she bounced up and down at the top of the steps excitedly.

“Whew, that was rough,” Jenna said as she took several deep breaths. Her face was completely red.

“You guys are weird,” Marisol sniped at the two of them as she and the other members of the team reached the top.

“We’re having fun, Marisol. Something you’re obviously not familiar with,” Imogen fired back.

“Whatever,” the other girl replied dismissively as she moved past her to go outside.

Outside was a beautiful, grand view of Manhattan. Imogen looked around in wonder as she ran to the edge to get a closer view of the city. She looked up to get a closer look at the statue. While it looked small from the boat, standing at the pedestal of it, she had never felt so tiny. “Wow,” she could only say as everyone around her took pictures.

Next, was the crown. It took a hundred and forty five steps to get to the crown and she read that only four hundred people were allowed to see it per day. So they were lucky. Just like with the pedestal, she happily ran up the steps, though no one raced her this time.

The steps to the crown were very narrow, and she almost felt a little claustrophobic in the tight space. But it wasn’t enough to kill her excitement that she was actually inside of the Statue of Liberty.

There was a tour guide waiting for them when they finally reached the top. From outside the windows, she could see the torch the statue was holding. Inside, she could see the “hairlines”. She reached out to touch them, feeling the rugged material underneath her fingers. The tour guide explained the history of the statue, including its remodeling in the 80s, but she was more focused on looking around everywhere.

Their time in the crown was short to her distress. They were quickly led back down the steps to exit the statue.

Outside, the coach gathered them all up to take a picture in front of the statue. “Ladies, say cheese!” She urged with a smile.

Imogen smiled widely, only for Marisol to do a pose in front of her just as the camera flashed.

After they were done visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, they were on their way to the Empire State Building.

Instead of a boat, this time they used the infamous New York City subways to travel. Alli was immediately disgusted by the sight of graffiti on the seats and subway walls, trash everywhere, and the strong smell of something foul. Instead of sitting down, she grabbed on one of the polls, feeling like she would get a disease if she sat on one of those grungy looking seats.

She felt something rub against her leg. When Alli looked down, her face blanched.

It was a big, giant rat.

Her brain took a few seconds to register the sight below her before she let out a scream.

Despite the horrible, traumatizing incident that went down with Alli in the subway, Marisol still felt some excitement when they got off the dreaded subway and saw the Empire State Building from their stop. The skyscraper was almost imposing as it stood taller than any other building in Manhattan.

They walked through the crowd of people to get to the building, and Marisol kept her hands deep in her pockets. She heard about the dreaded NYC pickpockets.

When they reached the building, she was the first to enter, walking in proudly. She took her sunglasses off as they got in the elevator. They got off and headed outside on the observation deck to see a large gathering of people taking pictures. Marisol rushed to the gates, and looked down at the city below her in amazement.

From this grand, beautiful view of the city, she felt like the Queen of New York.

The whole time they were on the observation deck, Jenna felt like she was being watched. She looked back from her spot to see Alli staring at her, confirming her suspicions.

“Isn’t this awesome?” She asked the other girl, trying to start some lighthearted conversation. She expected a snide remark in return, or just a glare.

“Yeah,” Alli agreed instead to her surprise. She stepped next to her. “This is pretty nice even though I’m scared of heights.”

“Well lucky this gate is here to stop us from falling, right?” Jenna assured her. It would be a pretty ugly fall otherwise, though she was pretty sure Alli was currently fantasizing about pushing over the edge right now.

“I guess so,” the other girl agreed again. They then looked down at Manhattan together.

Hope sparked inside of Jenna at the idea of them becoming friends after all.

The last tourist destination for the day was a big MAC store in Times Square. After leaving the Empire State Building, Marisol begged Ms. Mendelson for all of them to go inside of it.

Today, the store was offering free makeovers and pretty every girl on the team was eager to receive one. Except her. While Imogen liked wearing makeup, it was mostly on her own terms and not what other girls expected of her. She had seen the typical “makeover” girls like her received in movies and she did not want that for herself.

She watched as Marisol was the first girl to get a makeover. She sat pridefully in the chair and held her chin up for the workers to get started on her. ‘She’s in her comfort zone. The only area she’s a genius in,’ Imogen mused. She knew Marisol was some sort of expert in makeup. Only because it was the only thing taking up space in her tiny brain.

The worker enthusiastically worked on Marisol’s face, prepping her face with foundation and concealer. Then she painted her face with pink lipstick and put mascara on her eyelashes. By the time they were done doing her face, Marisol almost looked like an entirely different person.

A strange feeling came over Imogen. For the first time, she realized that Marisol was really pretty.

Later that night, her, Jenna, Marisol, and Imogen all gathered in the hotel room to play some games. After some debating, everyone agreed on the classic Truth or Dare.

“Imogen, truth or dare,” Alli asked Imogen as they sat on the floor in a circle.

“Dare,” Imogen answered with a playful grin.

“Alright, I dare you to eat a piece of the hotel bath soap,” Alli dared her while folding her arms. A few minutes of playing with Imogen Moreno, and she knew the girl would do pretty much anything.

“Cool!” Imogen accepted as she got up to get the soap bar from the bathroom. When she came back with the bar, she sat back down and took a big bite of it like it was a candy bar or something.

“Gross,” Marisol said as she winced, and Alli had to raise an eyebrow at the fact that once again, Imogen seemed willing to do anything.

It was Marisol’s turn next.

“Marisol, truth or dare,” Imogen asked the other girl. Marisol watched her apprehensively. “Truth,” she answered.

“Is it true that you hooked up with five guys at the same time last year?” Imogen questioned her. Alli looked at Marisol expectantly. She had heard that rumor before, and pretty much everyone in junior high believed it.

She didn’t expect the darkness in Marisol’s eyes. “No, I did not,” she denied bluntly.

“But people saw you go into that tent with those guys,” Imogen reminded her.

“Because I was drunk and those guys took advantage of me you idiot,” Marisol snarled before getting up and storming off to the bathroom. She then slammed the door loudly.

Imogen bit her lip nervously as she and Jenna looked at each other. Alli was not expecting that answer at all.

There was an awkward silence in the suite.

Marisol cried at the bathroom sink as she thought about that night. Despite Drew knowing the truth of what happened to her, all of junior high still chose to believe that she willingly hooked up with those guys. That she was a slut. She almost got assaulted again at the dance last year because nearly every boy in her grade assumed she was fair game.

She gripped the bathroom sink as memories of everyone’s judgemental stares the day after it happened, especially Katie’s. She thought that this year, with her being elected class president, that everyone forgot about that stupid rumor but Imogen Moreno obviously hadn’t.

There was a knock on the door. “Can I come in?” She heard Imogen ask in a soft tone.

“Fuck off,” she answered gruffly, not seeing the other girl’s face right now. She just might deck her in her stupid mouth.

“Please? I want to say I’m sorry!” Imogen pleaded, and she groaned as she opened up the door just a little bit. To her credit, Imogen genuinely looked apologetic.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized, “I shouldn’t have asked you that question. No one deserved what happened to you.”

“Yeah, well, it happened and everyone at school thinks I’m the biggest hoe,” Marisol replied bitterly.

“Well, you’re not and it’s not my place to judge,” Imogen said as she opened up the door even further. She was holding a plate with a big slice of NY style pepperoni pizza on it. “Apology pizza?” She offered as she held out the food. Marisol was thinking about denying it, but her stomach rumbled just at the wrong time. She begrudgingly took it and followed Imogen back out to where Jenna and Alli were eating pizza. There were two medium sized pizza boxes and four bottles of Pepsi.

As she sat down, she took a bite of the pizza. It tasted just as cheesy as she wanted, and her stomach warmed up. She wiped her tears as she looked at her teammates, who were all looking at her sympathetically, even Imogen.

She felt a little bit better.

On the morning of the competition, things were finally a little tense between the four of them.

“You think we’re going to win?” Jenna heard Imogen ask Marisol as they all ate breakfast together once again.

“Of course we’re going to win, we’re the best,” Marisol assured her before eating on her bagel. “We’re going to kick those girls asses!”

“Marisol!” Ms. Mendleson scolded her teammate for her naughty words. Marisol shrugged before continuing to eat her bagel.

Jenna was greatly anticipating this final match between them and the other school. While there were the normal anxieties she had about the competition, she was also confident in her team, especially after yesterday. Something had shifted in the atmosphere.

“If we win, my parents promised me a new wardrobe so winning is definitely a must,” Alli remarked before sipping on some tea.

“A new wardrobe would be nice for me,” Jenna mused, but it was just a silly thought. Her and her oldest brother were barely struggling to get by. A shopping trip was out of the cards.

“Maybe you can accompany me,” Alli offered, and Jenna looked at her in shock. Was Alli Bhandari seriously offering to go shopping with her?

Alli gave her a small smile, and Jenna was eager to return it.

The building for the competition was some sporting center in Central Park. The whole way over to the building, Imogen’s stomach was tightened in both excitement and dread. Today, they were either going to go back to Toronto with a trophy or not.

The rival team was from a middle school in Central Park and they had a red and black cheer uniform. All of the girls on the team stared at them in an intimidating manner, but Imogen didn’t let them scare her. She just smiled at them. A few girls were looking at her getup in confusion. She had glittery gold and blue face paint on her face as usual, and she wore it proudly. Her hair was worn in two curly buns on the top of her head.

The other team went first. They did an assortment of flips, kicks, and tumbles without a single screw up in the routine. Everyone in the bleachers clapped when they were finished. The judges wrote down notes before giving them a solid eight in each category.

“Next up, Degrassi’s Pep Squad!” The announcer introduced. It was time. Every member of the team got into position.

A pop song played as they performed their two minute routine which consisted of a choreographed dance, cartwheels, flips, and tumbles. As she performed, Imogen thought the team had never worked so well in sync. Everyone was happy too, smiling widely and cheerfully. The final part of the routine involved them getting into a pyramid with Marisol on top. Imogen was one of the girls holding her up.

Until very recently, Imogen would fantasize about dropping Marisol so the other girl could break her leg. But after last night, she decided to focus instead on working together with her. She felt bad for what she did last night, and decided to leave Marisol alone for now.

“D-E-G-R-A-S-S-I! Degrassi!” Everyone on the team shouted as their routine ended. She helped Marisol get back down as the audience clapped and roared for them.

It was all up to the judges now, who all had unreadable looks on their faces. They all anxiously waited for the scores. She looked over and Alli and Jenna were even holding hands. It felt like forever until they finally got their scores.

When each judge awarded them a nine in every category, everyone on the team cheered loudly. They had won!

Imogen jumped up and down in excitement with the rest of her team as they all hugged each other in joy. Some girls even had tears in their eyes. After hugging Jenna, Imogen bumped into Marisol, and they shared an unsure look with each other, not knowing what to do.

Imogen decided to make the first move. Smiling, she held out her arms for a hug. Marisol didn’t act for a second, and Imogen thought she was going to get rejected.

Then Marisol smiled back and hugged her.

Chapter Text

Katie looked down at her final exam nervously as the clock ticked and ticked.

There were five minutes left and she only had half the questions answered. She knew she should have studied for the final, especially since art was her weakest subject, but she didn't have the time. She had poured all of her effort into the soccer finals, only for the team to lose at the last second. She blamed herself, because she somehow couldn't stop the girl from the other team from kicking the ball into the goal.

Before she knew it, the bell had rung and it was time to turn in her exam. She sighed as she got up and handed the art teacher her exam. The woman looked at the exam and then her with a disappointed look on her face. Katie winced. She had already known she failed. It wouldn't affect her final grade too much, but it would ruin the straight A's she had all year.

Bummed, Katie left the classroom.

"I am so excited to end this school year!" Alli said as they all left the media immersion room in high spirits.

Clare smiled. She already knew that she passed all of her final exams because she studied every night for them for weeks.

"How should we celebrate?" Jenna asked as she hooked her arm around hers. "Shopping? Dot milkshakes? A party?"

"How about a sleepover? At my house?" Clare suggested.

"Your mom would allow that?" Alli asked in surprise.

"Sure, she trusts all three of you, and it's not like any of you are boys," Clare answered. Her parents didn't want her dating until she was fifteen, which was unfortunate for whatever her and K.C. had going on. However, she knew that she was too young to have a boyfriend yet.

"Yeah, we don't want Saint Clare to be corrupted by boys yet," Jenna teased and she blushed. Just then, K.C. walked past them and flashed Clare a smile.

She smiled back. Even though they weren't dating anytime soon, there was know harm in thinking about the day they would, right?

Katie refused to eat her lunch due to the stress she was feeling.

Her lunch was a big turkey and cheese hoagie, a bag of baked chips, and a protein shake. After the incident at dinner with Marisol's parents, her own parents had started forcing her to eat more often and were fixing her boxed lunches for her to eat instead of the cafeteria food. Her doctor said that she was rapidly losing weight, and she needed to eat more often before it got dangerous. While she was eating somewhat normally again, whenever she was stressed, she didn't have the stomach to eat. The food in front was literally making her nauseous.

"Katie? Katie!" Marisol called to her, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"What?" Katie asked.

"I was asking what you want to do after school today," Marisol answered, "But I guess you weren't paying attention," she added dryly.

"I'm sorry," she apologized sheepishly, feeling bad. Her and Marisol were still learning how to be friends again, and she was already messing up. That was another thing she was struggling with.

"Lay off her will you? She's obviously has a lot on her mind right now," Drew replied defensively as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Katie almost cracked a smile at that. Drew was such a good boyfriend.

"Well then she should talk about it, instead of just zoning out," Marisol argued before focusing back on her, "What's wrong?"

"I just don't think I did well on that art exam," Katie answered. "I totally bombed it."

"Well it's not enough to tank your grade, right? You'll be fine," Drew assured. "I failed plenty of tests, yet I'm still going to high school next year."

"A miracle," Marisol sarcastically replied.

"Hey!" Drew exclaimed in indignation.

Jake Martin walked by their table, and he and Marisol shared awkward looks with each other before he left. Their breakup was still the talk of the school, and Marisol had not completely gotten over him yet. Katie felt bad for her, but maybe this would motivate her best friend to focus on better things. On the other hand though, she would be upset too if Jake broke up with her too because he was pretty cute…

'What's wrong with you, Matlin? You already have a great guy in Drew!' She thought to herself. Drew was perfect. He was a caring, considerate boyfriend that was just as passionate about sports as she was, so why had she been thinking about Jake recently? Other than being cute, there wasn't much else about him wasn't there? And he was her best friend's ex.

"How about we throw a party at my house tonight? My parents are going away for the weekend again and we could invite everyone," Marisol offered, and her eyes lit up at her own idea.

"I'm always down for a party," Drew said with a big smile on his face. He then looked at her. "What do you say, babe?"

"A party sounds fun," she replied, and her best friend squealed in response.

"We could get mani pedis after school!" Marisol declared while clapping her hands excitedly.

"Yeah…," Katie agreed as her mind went off to other places again while Marisol and Drew talked.

She thought about a tall boy with reddish brown hair and green eyes.

"Are we having ice cream or water ice? I vote for water ice!" Jenna said they walked through the aisles of the convenience store. After school, they were all shopping for the sleepover that would take place at Clare's house later tonight.

"Water ice sounds delicious!" Alli agreed. Clare was glad her two friends were now getting along. Something must have happened during that NYC trip. In a way, she was almost jealous that Alli and Jenna seemed to have more in common with each other than she did with either girl.

After picking up some water ice, they went through the nail and makeup section to look at nail polish bottles.

"What about this one?" Jenna asked as she held up a hot pink bottle for them to observe.

"Ooh, that would be a great color on you," Alli said as she picked up a bright red one. "What are you thinking about getting Clare?"

"I don't know," she said. She wasn't really a nail polish person. Her two friends looked at each other.

"Well, we'll just have to pick out something nice for you when we give you a makeover," Alli replied enthusiastically.

"Makeover?" Clare questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, Clarebear, a makeover. It's about time we get you to dress like a normal teenage girl," Jenna replied with a teasing smile.

"Oh brother," she remarked as her friends giggled conspirately.

At the nail salon, Katie was looking at all the polish bottles with Marisol. She tried not to let the strong smell of the salon get to her. She always hated the smell of nail polish, it's why she hardly wore it.

"My mama said I could get acrylics now! I think I'm going to get French tips!" Marisol said excitedly as she went to tell a worker. Meanwhile Katie didn't know what to get. Usually, she was just content with letting Marisol give her a manicure but today was a special occasion.

"Have you decided yet?" A lady asked her. Katie looked at her before looking back at the shelf full of nail polish bottles.

She nodded as she picked up a cherry red polish bottle. She didn't know how red was going to look on her but she figured she might as well give it a shot. She wasn't going to get tips though, that was too much.

The woman led her and Marisol to the back of the salon where there were empty chairs. As soon as she took her shoes off and got on the chair, a worker immediately went to work washing and scrubbing her feet in preparation for the pedicure. She felt bad for the worker, she knew her feet smelled terrible from all the soccer she played.

She looked over to Marisol, who was reading a gossip magazine while her feet were getting scrubbed. She would be lying if she said she wasn't a little bit jealous at how well everything went for Marisol this year. Her best friend got to be class president, had her cheer team win the championship in New York, and didn't struggle in a single class for once.

And for a while was dating a really cute guy.

Katie bit her lip nervously as she held back any thoughts of Jake. Not only was liking him wrong due to him being Marisol's ex, she had Drew. Drew was a great boyfriend. He was perfect.

But she would be lying again if she tried to deny that Jake seemed to be a good boyfriend too from what Marisol told her…

"Never have I ever failed a test," Clare declared as they all sat on her bed.

Her other two friends took a "shot", which was soda. There was no way she was going to allow them to drink alcohol from her parent's cabinet. Whoever still had the most soda in their cup was the winner.

"Fourth grade. History test. I got a 28. My parents grounded me for two weeks and made me get a tutor," Alli said with a wince.

"I failed my math test last year, but then again so did the whole class," Jenna added. Then it was her turn. "Never have I ever had an accident with my period in school."

Neither her nor Alli took a sip. "I haven't even had my period yet," Clare admitted, and she felt a little embarrassed to admit it. She knew both of her other friends had it. She felt childish in a way because she hadn't really experienced being a woman yet.

"Lucky, periods are the worst," Jenna replied with a wince, "The cramps I get make me feel like I'm about to die."

"Same," Alli agreed. Then she got a mischievous look on her face. "Never have I ever liked the same guy as my best friend."

Clare didn't take a sip, but Jenna did albeit reluctantly. Her and Alli both looked at Jenna in curiosity.

"It was last year, before I met you guys," the other girl dismissed and that was the end of that. But deep down inside, Clare had a bad feeling.

The game went on for another fifteen minutes and by the end of the game, she had the most soda in her cup. Once again, Clare felt a little embarrassed despite telling herself that she shouldn't. But she felt like a little girl compared to her more experienced best friends.

"Alright, ladies! Now it's time for mani pedis!" Jenna announced cheerfully as she pulled out the bag of nail polish bottles. "Who wants to go first?" She asked.

Clare was about to answer when she heard an unfamiliar noise come from down the hall. Furrowing her eyebrows in confusion, she looked at her friends. Jenna had an amused smile on her face while Alli had a look of disgust.

"Clare, are your parents seriously having sex right now?" Alli questioned.

"No, it can't be. My mom isn't home," she denied quickly. Her mother was at a late night church event. She didn't even know that was a sex sound. The sound got louder, and she got off her bed. It couldn't have been Darcy and her boyfriend Spinner either, her older sister would never.

"Let's go investigate," Jenna suggested as her and Alli got off the bed. The three of them quietly left her room and walked down the hall. With each step, Clare felt her nerves worsen. When they got to her parents' bedroom, the door was slightly open. Alarm bells rang in her head, but Clare decided to peek inside.

What she saw caused her blood to run cold.

There was a woman on top of her father and it wasn't her mother.

Within a few hours, the party was well underway. Nearly everyone from their eighth grade was there, and thus Marisol's house was packed.

"Hey put those down!" She saw Marisol order a kid who was messing with her mother's vinyl tapes. Her friend was wearing a short empire dress colored pink and yellow. Her natural hair was done up in bouncy curls, and she was wearing cute heart-shaped hoop earrings. In contrast, Katie herself wore a simple blue shirt dress with pockets.

"Sorry," the kid apologized sheepishly before going off to dance. Katie approached her friend.

"Where's Drew?" She asked loudly over the music as she looked around for her boyfriend.

"I don't know," Marisol answered back. "You want me to go find him?"

"No, he's probably good," Katie turned down. "I'm going to head up to the bathroom."

Her friend shrugged before walking away to the kitchen, presumably to fix herself a snack. Katie made her way up the steps, but not before having to shove past a crowd of boys who were drinking.

While walking down the hallway to the bathroom, she saw two kids make out in Marisol's bedroom. She shot them a warning glare and they quickly bolted out of the room. Then she smelled something coming from Marisol's brother's room.

She peeked inside and saw Jake smoking weed on the bed. "What are you doing?" She demanded as she stormed inside the room and tried to take the blunt from him.

"Woah, woah!" Jake protested as he fought her off. "This is good stuff!"

"Smoke that crap somewhere else!" She ordered while reaching for the blunt, but Jake blocked her at every turn. Eventually, she gave up in frustration. "Why are you even smoking it anyway?"

"Because it feels good. Wanna try it?" Jake casually offered her while holding out the blunt. Katie looked down at it critically. She didn't support the use of any kind of drug, and the smell of marijuana disgusted her.

"No thank you," she turned down sharply before turning on her sandals to walk away.

"You're quite uptight aren't you?" Jake asked in amusement. She turned around to face him with a glare.

"I am not uptight!" She protested.

"Then prove it," he challenged, holding out the blunt. "It's just weed. It's not going to kill you."

"No, it's not right," she insisted.

"I have seen how you've been lately in classes. You seem stressed," he pointed out, "Weed helps you relax."

She probably did need to relax. But her parents would kill her if they found out she did drugs. Then again, they would kill her anyway if they found out that her and Marisol were partying when they were just supposed to have a sleepover…..

A sudden rush took over her. Getting on the bed, Katie took the blunt from Jake's hand and deeply inhaled. Then she started coughing roughly. Jake laughed.

"You're not supposed to do it like that," he said before scooting close to her, "Here let me show you…."

Her father was cheating on her mother.

Clare sat on her bed silently as she stared at the wall. After what she saw, she didn't know what to say and she was sure that even if she did, she wouldn't have the strength for her. Her father was cheating on her mother.

"Do you need some water, Clarebear?" Jenna asked her in concern as she squeezed her shoulder in comfort. Clare shook her head. She wasn't thirsty. She didn't have the stomach for anything, really. Her father was cheating on her mother.

"Do you need us to go?" Alli questioned. She was kneeling in front of her bed with a disturbed look on her face. If she could, Clare would probably have a disturbed look on her face as well, but her face was blank. Her father was cheating on her mother.

And it was with a woman from their own church.

For the first time in a long time, Katie felt at peace with herself. There was no pressure, no heaviness, only air.

"So you really let Marisol give you a brazilian wax with melted crayons?" Jake asked with laughter in his sweet voice.

"Yeah, I'm stupid aren't I?" She asked with a light giggle. It was the worst pain she had ever experienced in her life, and she sprained her ankle playing soccer twice. But for some reason, she could only laugh at the memory now.

"No, just silly," Jake replied, before scooting close to her, "And cute."

"Cute? Me?" She asked in surprise. "But...but…to other guys I'm...I'm…," she leaned in close to him, "The Ice Queen of Degrassi," she whispered conspirately in his ear.

"Ice has never been hotter," he whispered back and there was a quiet beat between them. Then they laughed together.

"You're funny, Jake," Katie said. "I like funny guys."

He smiled at her, and Katie felt her heart beat rapidly in her chest which it hasn't done in a while, even around Drew. Her boyfriend. Who she hasn't seen all night since he came to the party with his friends.

In the grand scheme of the universe, that somehow didn't matter. Only her and Jake.

"I like you Jake, I liked you for a while. Ever since I saw you at the beach. Even while I'm with Drew, I think of you all the time. Even when you were dating Marisol…," she rambled.

"Wow," Jake could only say in response. Her stomach tightened as she looked at his lips.

Before she knew it, they were suddenly kissing and she felt herself floating. Mind and spirit were leaving her body. Her body warmed up with a fire she never felt before. She felt Jake cup her cheek as they fell back on the bed together. Their tongues melded together and their hands roamed each other's bodies. Was this euphoria? It must be.

She didn't know how long they had been kissing before the door opened. "Katie?" A voice called out to her, seemingly far out in the distance. "KATIE!" It shouted louder. Katie begrudgingly stopped kissing Jake and looked up. Her jaw dropped to the floor when she saw who it was.

Marisol and Drew were standing in the door frame, and both looked pretty angry.

Chapter Text

Eli stood hesitantly outside his house with his luggage. Cece was standing next to him with her arm wrapped around his shoulders.

"I'm going to miss you so much, Baby Boy. The next eight weeks are going to be so difficult for your father and I," she said, wiping tears in her eyes for emphasis.

He sincerely doubted it. He knew when his parents wanted him gone for a while so they could throw swinging parties and walk around the house naked. He was fourteen, not four.

The bus taking him to Camp Ojibwa arrived, and Cece kissed him on the cheek before pushing him toward the bus. Yeah, her and Bullfrog were definitely more excited to see him go then they were letting on. Bullfrog didn't even come outside to see him off.

"See ya, Cece," he bid his mother farewell as he got on the bus and headed to the back.

The last thing he saw before the bus pulled away from his house was his mother's cheerful smile as she waved him goodbye.

Yeah, his parents were going to have the time of their lives without him.

"Kids! The bus will be here soon!" His mother called from downstairs.

Him and Gracie walked down the steps at the same time with their bags on their shoulders. They both had their summer camp shirts on and some shorts.

"I packed some snacks for you to eat on the bus ride over to Camp Ojibwa," Their mother said to them as she handed them some brown bags. "Do you kids have everything?"

"Yes," both him and Gracie said at the same time.

"Toothbrushes? Toothpaste?"

"Yes."

"Extra underwear?"

"Yes."

"Gracie, you have enough tampons?"

His sister's face flushed red in embarrassment and Drew smirked. He always got a kick out of seeing Gracie embarrassed.

"Yes, Mom," she answered stiffly. Their mother reached over and cupped her face.

"I really hope you can make some girlfriends, Gracie. You just have to open up," their mother said.

"I guess so," Gracie replied with a shrug. Just then they heard the bus beep outside.

"I'll miss you two! Don't cause any trouble!" Their mother bid them farewell as they headed out the door.

Drew didn't intend to cause any trouble. For the next eight weeks, he had a different goal in mind.

To find a new, hot girlfriend to replace his cheating ex Katie Matlin.

Marisol stepped off the bus, not knowing what to expect. She didn't know if she really wanted to spend eight weeks at a summer camp an hour away from her family, but she kinda didn't want to be at home lately. Her parents have been fighting a lot lately, and the atmosphere at home has been miserable.

While there was a mad rush of kids running to the cabins, she just walked at a steady pace. She felt a tap on her shoulder, and when she turned around, it was her ex-bestie Katie. "Hey Mare," Katie greeted. Glaring, she immediately kept walking only for Katie to block her path. "Wait, let me speak!" Her ex bestie urged.

"What? What's your new apology this time?" Marisol dryly asked. "That you didn't mean to make out with my ex boyfriend? His tongue just happened to be down your throat?"

"I was high, Mare. I wasn't thinking straight!" Katie explained. "You really think I would kiss Jake if I wasn't? I would never intentionally hurt you like that."

"Well you did, again I might add. After all, you treated me like shit during the elections just because you wanted to be president," Marisol bitterly reminded her. "And why the hell were you doing drugs with Jake anyway? You, of all people?"

"I was stressed, okay?" Katie answered.

"Yeah, well, you're a backstabbing bitch when you're stressed," Marisol replied as she shoved past Katie. Her ex best friend didn't move to follow her. Instead she had a hurt look on her face but she didn't care.

Maybe at Camp Ojibwa, she could make better friends than Katie.

After separating from Drew, Gracie went to the girls' cabin. There were multiple girls unpacking when she entered. They all stopped to look at her.

"I didn't know they allowed boys into the cabin," a girl with long brown hair sneered. Gracie ignored her and put her bag on an empty bed. Her mom tried to get her to pack more girlier looking shorts, but she refused. Apparently that was a mistake.

"Hey I'm talking to you!" The girl exclaimed angrily. Gracie continued to ignore her as she unpacked. "What are you, hard of hearing?" The girl questioned rudely.

"Back off of her will you?" She heard Katie demand as she stepped in the cabin. Gracie immediately turned around in shock. Katie was here?

"And who the fuck are you?" The girl questioned again with her arms folded. Katie approached her with a menacing look on her face.

"Katie Matlin, soccer player and red belt. Gracie is one of my friends and you would do best not to bother her or else you're going to have to deal with me," Katie threatened while leaning in close to the girl's face. The room was silent for a moment as nobody knew what was going to happen next.

The girl with the red hair snorted. "I'm not scared of you," she said, but her eyes said something different. She went back to unpacking without another word.

Katie turned to look at her, and Gracie smiled. It was good to know that despite Drew dumping her, Katie still had her back.

When Mo got into the boys' cabin, he immediately expected to be bullied by the other guys, but they just welcomed him with nods and his. When he saw Eli, he immediately clasped hands with his best friend.

"Eli, my man! This is going to be sweet!" He greeted him as he put his bags on the lower bunk bed.

"Hope so, because otherwise these next two months are about to be torture," Eli quipped as he went to unpack. His bed was close by.

"Who else from our school is coming? Do you know?" Mo questioned. During the last week of school, posters about Camp Ojibwa were hung up everywhere, and his parents signed him because of the multiple sports and activities advertised on the pamphlet. His parents wanted him to keep up a healthy regimen of physical activities to help with his blood levels.

"Drew's here in the other boy's cabin, and I'm pretty sure I saw Jake," Eli answered and the person in question walked in, whistling a tune. He greeted them both with a wave. "What's up?" he said as he walked over the bunk bed Mo was at.

Mo didn't know his true feelings on Jake Martin yet. He knew he was a pretty chill guy that half the girls in junior high crushed on, and he dated Marisol for a while. Then his mom died and they broke up. Marisol spent all of homeroom that day crying.

Jake climbed up on the ladder to the top bunk and sat down. It seemed that they were going to be bunkmates. He looked down at him and Eli. "I don't have many rules as a roommate, just don't snore too loud if you can," he told them.

"Cool," Mo replied as he took out his underwear to put in the drawer. He cringed at the sight of them. All of his new briefs were white with a day of the week printed on each pair. He knew his mother had to be behind this. He would have to put them on quickly; There was no need for anyone to accidentally see these.

Well Jake already did. "Your old woman got you those?" He asked him.

"Unfortunately," Mo answered grumpily.

"Must be nice. To still have your mom," Jake replied casually before going to unpack his clothes.

Mo and Eli looked at each other. Neither of them knew what to say to that, and they both felt really bad for Jake. It was weird how nonchalant he was about his mom's death though. As annoying as his own mother was, if she died he wouldn't go outside for a whole year.

Mo decided to look out the window to get a closer look at the campgrounds. He heard that there was a rec center, an archery range, a tennis court, a baseball and soccer field, a basketball court, and a small beach area by the lake. From his side, he could only see the other cabins to his misfortune.

A girl caught his eye. She was talking to one of the camp counselors. She looked familiar…

"Is that Marisol?" Eli asked in shock as he suddenly appeared next to him. The girl turned around, giggling, and indeed she was. She was wearing long black braids down her back, and her shirt was tied down in the front, but it was her.

"She looks hot," Mo commented. He then looked over to his friend with a sly smile. "Maybe you can hook up with her," he suggested.

Eli playfully shoved him before going back to his bed. Mo turned around and looked up to see Jake with a concerned look on his face.

Katie didn't want to eat any of this food.

As everyone around her lunch table chatted excitedly about what they were going to do at camp this year, she numbly played around with her food. It was supposed to be a sloppy joe but it looked rather…grayish. Not ideal for someone who was already struggling with eating regularly as it is. The fries looked a little undercooked as well.

"The other girls are already treating me like crap," Gracie complained. Of all the girls at her table, she was the only person she was familiar with. Marisol had chosen to sit at a table far away from her. Her ex best friend was chatting enthusiastically with some girls. She always envied Marisol's talent at easily making friends with other girls.

"Well don't let them or I'll beat them up," Katie replied before taking a drink out of a water bottle. Bleh, the water tasted stale.

"I'm sure," Gracie replied amusingly as Drew walked over to them.

"Gracie, you don't sit with the enemy," he chided his sister while sending her a glare. Katie almost flinched in response.

"I can sit with whoever I want," Gracie replied defiantly.

"Drew, can we talk about this?" Katie asked her ex-boyfriend with hopeful eyes.

"Absolutely not. I don't talk with sluts," Drew answered coldly before walking away. Her shoulders slumped.

"Ignore him, he's being dumb," Gracie said with an eyeroll before biting into her food.

Katie sadly went back to playing around with her food. She really lost both her best friend and boyfriend in one night because of her foolish actions. She should have never gotten high with Jake.

As she looked around, her eyes fell on Jake who was talking with Eli Goldsworthy and Mo Mashkour. Whatever conversation they had, it seemed to be funny as he was laughing. She liked the sound of his laugh. It was so light and carefree.

She hasn't talked to Jake since that night due to guilt, but she couldn't deny that she still liked him.

There was a campfire later on to celebrate the first night of camp.

As Jake roasted his marshmallows by the campfire with Mo and Eli, he watched Marisol roast a s'more by herself on a tree stump. She was looking lonely, and dejected. He was tempted to go over there and talk to her, but he wasn't sure if she would even want to see him after everything that happened between them. Not only did he make her cry by breaking up with her, but he also made out with her best friend, who was also sitting by herself on another tree stump.

Katie Matlin was an interesting girl. Half the boys at school were terrified of her because of her intimidating personality, but for some reason he found himself attracted to it. A girl who played soccer and knew karate was certainly a badass and not someone to mess with. And she was really cute. And a great kisser.

Before he knew it, he was walking over to her. "Hey," he greeted casually as he sat down next to her.

"Hey," she greeted back in an unsure tone. She was probably still guilty about their hookup at Marisol's party. He was a little bit too, but he long moved on.

"Why are you sitting by yourself?" He asked her.

"Because my best friend currently hates me," she replied while stealing a sad glance at Marisol.

"I'm sorry," he said sympathetically. There was an awkward beat between them. Then he decided to speak again.

"I think she should forgive you. You were high," he pointed out.

"Yeah but I did other bad things to her this year. She's really done with me at this point," she explained as she pulled her marshmallow out of the fire. It was badly burned. "Shit," she swore.

"Here, you can have mine," he said as he took a nicely roasted marshmallow off his stick and handed it to her.

"Thanks," she told him in gratitude before she put it in her mouth. He watched her chew on it with a smile. Even the way she ate marshmallows was cute.

"I really want to make things right between us again, but I don't know how," she continued while continuing to look at Marisol. "We have been best friends since kindergarten, and it feels wrong that we're currently not speaking over what happened at the party."

"Well make her talk to you," he suggested.

"And how am I going to do that?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"You'll find a way," he assured her, "I'm sure of it."

Katie smiled softly at him. The warm orange glow from the campfire made her look even prettier than usual.

Day 2

Gracie waited for her turn to use the showers. Since she woke up at an early time, there were only a few girls in line.

The red haired girl from yesterday, who's name was Beth, came out and whipped her wet hair at her purposely while walking by. Gracie scowled at her, but Beth and her friends only laughed in return. If the next eight weeks at this camp was going to be her constantly tormented by these girls, then she was tempted to call home and have her parents pick her up.

Another girl stepped out of a shower stall, and Gracie took this as an opportunity to finally shower. She stripped quickly and got in the stall. She turned on the shower and immediately jumped back by how freezing cold it was. She waited a few minutes to see if it would get warmer. It did not. Sighing, she decided to just suck it up and wash her body under the cold water. She just hoped she wouldn't catch pneumonia.

When she was done, she stepped out of the shower stall only to feel something run down her leg. She looked down, and to her horror it was blood. Her period had come on in front of everyone in the shower stalls.

"Oh, so you are a girl after all. It was hard to tell considering you're as flat as a board, a carpenter's wet dream!" Beth taunted before cackling with her friends.

Gracie wasn't paying her any attention. She was more concerned with the sight below her. She was hoping that she wouldn't get her period while at this camp, since it was still a little irregular. She hated looking at her period. It uncomfortably reminded her that she was a girl, despite all of the attempts to hide the contrary.

Grabbing a wet rag, she wiped herself up before quickly getting a towel and running out of the stalls.

Drew frowned as the kitchen slapped bacon and scrambled eggs on his tray. The bacon looked rubbery and the eggs were too pale and watery looking. This was about to be an unpleasant breakfast. Food was clearly an area that needed to be improved upon because lunch and dinner yesterday was horrible too. They had spaghetti last night and the noodles were hard and the sauce stale.

After grabbing a small carton of low fat orange juice, he looked around the cafeteria for a table to sit at. He found one on the side of the room where a light skinned black boy was sitting. He walked over and sat at the table.

"Hey man, can I sit here?" He asked him.

"I don't know, can you?" The other kid asked back, before his face broke out in an amused grin. "Sure, why not?" He answered with a shrug. Drew smiled back as he sat down. He took a bite out of the bacon, before quickly spitting it out onto his napkin. The bacon was disgusting as he feared.

The other kid shook his head. "See that's why I am not eating that bullshit. Here," he reached into his pocket, and tossed him a bag of barbecue chips. Drew caught it with ease. "Breakfast, lunch, and dinner," he added as he pulled out his own bag of chips.

"Thanks, bro. I was about to start thinking that I was going to starve here," Drew remarked as he opened up his bag and started popping chips into his mouth. "I'm Drew by the way."

"Mike, but I prefer to go by my last name Dallas," the other boy introduced, "So where you from?"

"Toronto, I go to Degrassi Community School," Drew answered.

"Really? I'm transferring there this fall. I heard they got an awesome hockey program," Dallas replied. Drew looked at him in interest. Was he going to make a new friend next year?

"They do, but football and basketball are also pretty great there," Drew confirmed. The basketball team almost won the championship this year. They only lost by a few points.

"Cool," Dallas replied, before he leaned in suggestively. "So are the girls hot there?" He asked with a smirk.

"Oh they're hot, but wild," Drew answered, thinking of the various catfights he witnessed during school hours.

"Just how I like them," Dallas replied as his smirk widened. He then picked up his sausage patty, which fell off his plate and bounced off his plate. He was pretty sure sausage patties were not supposed to do that.

"So, the food at Degrassi isn't like this shit right?" Dallas asked next with nervousness in his eyes.

The main activity for this morning was archery. Marisol headed to the archery range with some dread. She had never shot an arrow in her life and she was afraid that she was going to shoot someone's eye out. Or worse, someone was going to shoot her eyes out.

When she got to the range, there were already some kids practicing with the bows and arrows. To her relief, the arrows seemed to have suction cups at the end. She walked over and picked up a cute pink and purple bow. One of the camp counselors named Jo approached her.

"You need any help with learning how to use that thing?" Jo asked her.

"Yeah," Marisol answered with a sheepish smile. Knowing her, she would probably take someone's eye out even with a suction cup at the end of her arrow.

"Here, let me show you," Jo replied as she helped her get into a position to shoot. Under Jo's directions, Marisol pulled back the arrow on the bow as far as she could without straining her arms and shooted.

The arrow didn't hit its target. It didn't even land anywhere on the big circle in front of her.

"Ugh," she groaned before looking over to where Katie was. Her ex bestie was using a blue and green bow and arrow. When Katie shot her arrow, it perfectly hit the red dot on her target. Of course Katie knew how to do archery on the first try with no effort.

"It's okay, not everyone gets it on their first try!" Jo assured her before walking off to help another camper. Marisol sighed before trying again. This time, the arrow landed on the circle but on the edge.

"Looks like the princess can't shoot an arrow," Eli remarked as he walked up next to her with a black and red bow and arrow in his hands.

"And what do you know, Emo Boy?" She fired back.

"A lot actually. It's what happens when you go hunting with your old man," Eli replied as he suddenly took her bow and arrow from his hands. "Here, watch a pro at his game," he said as he got into position. Marisol folded her arms in annoyance. Eli had a bad habit of bothering her at school with his smart remarks, and it seemed she wouldn't be able to escape it here.

When Eli effortlessly hit the arrow on the target, he turned around and gave her a smug smirk. She rolled her eyes in response. If only she could rub that stupid smirk off his equally stupid face.

"Fuck off," she snarled as she turned her back on him.

"You're just jealous," he teased as he tugged playfully on one of her braids. Before she could tell him off for doing that, he quickly ran off. "Annoying asshole,' Marisol thought with a grumple.

Between Katie and Eli, she was going to have a miserable time here.

After bothering Marisol, Eli went off on his own in the woods. While teasing the spoiled pampered princess was always fun, he needed some time alone.

While walking, he heard some weird sucking noises. He walked closer to the source of the noises, and when he saw that it was two campers making out, he rolled his eyes. It hasn't even been a full two days. He quickly left them alone without them noticing him.

He got to the beach area and sat on one of the big rocks. He looked far out ahead to the lake. He had to admit that despite the nasty food, Camp Ojibwa was a beautiful place. The sands on the shore were white and the waters in the lake were crystal blue. It reminded him of the country club his maternal grandparents owned, the Emerald Velvet. It had a beach area like this, but slightly bigger with a bar area. Normally at this time, he would spend at least two weeks at the country club with his grandparents but his parents wanted to try something different this year. He supposed he was glad, the patrons at the country club were usually stuffy old white people who would probably have a heart attack at his morbid aesthetic.

Here, he could be himself with Mo by his side. And he could bother Marisol anytime he wanted, which he missed while he was dating Imogen. So that was a plus.

While the boys played basketball on the court, Jake sat on the sidelines and looked at some plants. Sports was never really his thing, but he did love nature. He thought about owning a garden when he got his own place someday. Depending on the plant, he could also make his own herbal remedies when he got home.

No plant was as great as the one in his pocket though. Making sure that nobody was around, Jake reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bag of marijuana. It was one of many he smuggled to the camp. He made sure before he left that he had bought enough from Jay Hogart to last him eight weeks. Whenever he was by himself, he was going to smoke. When he felt someone approaching him, he quickly put the bag back in his pocket.

"You're not going to play with the other boys?" A camp counselor, Tyler, asked him.

"Nah, I'm good," Jake answered. Tyler shrugged before walking away. He was glad he wasn't going to get hounded about playing sports. It was only a few moments of silence before he was bothered again.

"You're really going to sit on the sidelines and not play?" He heard Katie ask. He turned around to see her looking down at him in confusion. Her body was glistening in sweat and her face was red. Her ginger hair was pulled up into a messy ponytail with strands loosely falling around her face. It was kinda hot.

"Aren't you supposed to be playing volleyball with the girls?" He asked her in return.

"My team won so we're taking a break," she explained as she sat down next to him. Her winning any sport wasn't surprising, he felt bad for whoever played against or would play against her in the future.

"I'm sure we're not supposed to be fraternizing with the fairer sex," he reminded her.

"Do you want me to go away?" She asked him.

"Not at all," he replied as they shared a smile.

"You didn't answer my question, so why aren't you playing?" She asked again.

"Because sports are boring except for the food served at parties," he answered nonchalantly. The barbecue wings and chips were delicious, and watching sports with his dad was kind of fun sometimes, but actually playing them? Nah.

"They're a great way to do exercise," Katie pointed out.

"I'm not much of an exercise person, either. I'm here for a good time, not a long time," he replied. She looked at him in amusement.

"You're an interesting person, Jake Martin," she remarked.

"Is that why you kissed me?" He asked teasingly.

Her face shifted into a frown and she got up to leave. "Wait!" He exclaimed as he grabbed her hand. "I just want to know if you really liked me other than when you were high," he added.

She looked as if she didn't want to answer him for a moment. Jake waited patiently for a response.

"I think I liked you for a long time, Jake. I just didn't want to admit it because I was dating Drew," she admitted.

"Well you and Drew are no longer together," he told her bluntly, "So what's coming between us now?"

"Marisol," she answered, and the atmosphere between them suddenly got cold.

"What the hell is this shit?" Mo asked out loud as he eyed his plate of food in disgust. Dinner was supposed to be chicken tenders and crinkle cut fries. Except due to him being diabetic, he was forced to eat grilled tenders instead. And it was soggy as fuck. Just like the Salisbury steak last night for dinner.

"At this point, I think I'm going to live on berries in the forest," Eli remarked as he poked his food repeatedly with a fork. They were both half expecting one of the chicken tenders to start bouncing around.

"The meals they serve us at this joint should count as child abuse," Mo replied dryly as he drank on his juice, the only part of his meal that he was willing to consume.

"At least at school, we had the option of bringing our own lunches," Eli said.

"Yeah, I actually miss my mom's cooking at this point," Mo agreed. After drinking his juice, he picked up his tray of food and dumped it in the trash. Eli did the same with his own tray of food.

"Wanna go back to the cabin and just chill for the rest of the day?" Mo asked his best friend.

"I'm down," Eli answered with a shrug as they left the cafeteria to head back to the cabin.

When they got close to it, Mo smelled something strong emitting from the cabin. He sniffed around. "Do you smell that?" He asked Eli.

"Yeah, it's…weed," Eli answered in confusion, looking at him.

Mo opened up at the cabin door to see Jake smoking a blunt on the bed up top. "Sup boys," he greeted, looking down at them.

"Where did you get that?" Eli questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Home," Jake simply answered. He then held out the blunt to them. "You guys want some of this? It's good stuff," he offered.

Him and Eli looked at each other. While Eli's parents probably wouldn't give a shit, if his parents even remotely smelled marijuana on him, he would be a dead man.

Buttttt his parents weren't here, were they?"

Day 3

"Today, you will pair up with someone and sail to the other side of the lake in your canoes!" Jo instructed as everyone put on their life jackets.

Marisol put hers over her new blue and white polka dot bikini top. She was wearing baby blue swim shorts too along with water shoes. If she was going to be in water today, she was going to do it in style.

"Marisol, pair up with Eli," Jo said, and Marisol groaned out loud while rolling her eyes. Of course she just had to be stuck with that emo troll. She shared a quick glance with the boy in question before walking over to their boat, grumbling the whole time. When she looked back, she noticed that he was smirking. God, she hated that smirk of his.

Eli tried to push the boat off the shore and into the water but it wasn't working. "You mind helping your majesty?" He asked her dryly.

"I don't want to break a nail," she answered as she looked down at her hands. They were a fresh set of pink acrylic nails with a coffin tip with a daisy painted on each ring finger.

"Just help me, will you?" He demanded. She sighed as she helped him push the boat. She was careful to push with her open palms, and not her fingernails. When the boat hit the waters, they both got into the and began using the paddles to row the boat. She was in the front row while Eli was in the back.

"So Marisol, you think there's any sharks in this water?" Eli asked her in a mockingly scared voice.

"Sharks can't live in freshwater, idiot," Marisol answered sharply as she looked ahead. Hopefully it didn't take long for them to reach the end of the lake.

"Are you sure about that? Hmph," he replied, and she thought it was the end of that. She was wrong. "Well you know piranhas live in lakes, right Princess?"

"Only in Latin America," she replied.

"Wanna find out?" He asked, and suddenly she felt the boat rock a little bit. She whipped around to face him furiously.

"Do that again and I will smack the shit out of you with this paddle!" She warned him, but he only chuckled in response.

"You're so easily spooked, Marisol. How do you even function?" He questioned.

"By staying away from creeps like you," she answered snidely before turning back around.

"I wasn't a creep when you kissed me last year," he reminded her, and there was a smug tone in his voice that she didn't like.

"Yeah, well, that was a mistake," she replied as she thought about that night. She still couldn't believe her first kiss was with Eli Goldsworthy of all people.

"Sure, if that's what you tell yourself at night," he remarked. For the next couple minutes, there thankfully was silence except for the sound of their paddles slapping against the water.

They eventually reached the shore, and Marisol got off the boat and into the water. She helped Eli pull the boat into the sand.

"Hey, Marisol, I think you left something in the boat," Eli said. He was still in the water.

"Huh?" Marisol asked in confusion as she peeked inside the boat.

The next thing she knew, she was pushed into the water. She flapped her arms around frantically as she quickly rushed back up to the surface. Eli was laughing at the sight of her.

"Bastard!" She yelled angrily as she charged at him. Eli continued laughing as she chased him all over the beach.

Of course all the people that had to be her partner for the canoe trip, it was Drew.

Katie quietly hit the paddle against the water, trying to ignore Drew glaring at the back of her head. It was hard, because she felt like his eyes were burning into her skull. She tried to make light conversation, but he coldly rebuffed her at every turn.

When they reached the shore, they got out of the boat. Katie began walking at a quick pace to get away from her ex. "Katie," Drew called to her. She turned around with a hope in her gut.

"Stay away from Gracie," he warned her coldly before walking past her.

Katie stood there on the beach, dejectedly.

Jake tried to eat the cold, wet chicken nuggets on his tray. He dipped the nuggets in barbecue sauce to give it more flavor but it was futile. Annoyed, he pushed away the nuggets along with the soggy French fries. If it was one thing he really hated, it was bad chicken. He got up, dumped his food in the trash, and left the cafeteria. He decided to walk around the campgrounds for now.

He found Mo and Eli by the archery range, talking as Eli taught Mo how to use a bow and arrow. "Hey guys, how's it going?" He greeted them as he approached.

"It's going," Mo said as he tried to shoot the arrow at the target. It missed the mark. "Shit," he grumbled.

"You'll get it sometime," Eli assured him.

"Well I don't think I'm cut out for this stuff anyway," Mo replied.

"Nonsense, I need someone to accompany me and Bullfrog on our hunting trips," Eli argued.

"Well I like hunting," Jake said, "My dad and I go all the time during the season. It's a great way to get some natural grub instead of the store processed stuff." He liked fishing as well, as his dad would take him down by the lake during the summer to catch fish. "And I know how to use a bow and arrow."

"How about a little friendly competition to prove it? Five rounds?" Eli offered with a smirk as he grabbed the bow Mo was using.

"You're on," Jake accepted with a smirk as he went to grab his own bow. They took their positions on opposite ends of the range and began shooting. The whole time, Jake was impressed by how good Eli was at the whole thing. When they were done, Eli had shot two arrows on the red dot on his target while he had shot three on his own. So he won.

Eli shook hands with him as a sign of good sportsmanship. "Good game," Eli complimented him.

"You as well," Jake complimented him back. Truthfully, from what he saw of Eli at Degrassi, he only expected him to be good at two things.

Wearing black and doing that weird brooding thing he does.

Later that evening, Drew and his new friend Dallas were doing something devious.

He smirked as he filled the hand of a sleeping camper with whipped cream he stole from the kitchen. Dallas held a feather in his hands. The other guys in the cabin crowded around them, anticipating what was about to happen.

"Now," he directed to his new friend. Dallas held the feather over the kid's nose to give him an itching sensation. The kid in his sleep tried to rub his nose, splattering the whipped cream all over his face. He woke up immediately. "Hey!" He barked angrily as all of the guys in the cabin laughed.

Laughing as well, Drew shared a hi five with Dallas.

Day 4

This morning's activity was an early morning jog around the campgrounds. Mo wasn't so eager to do it, but he knew he had to. It was completely irrational, but he felt that his parents would know if he wasn't doing any physical activities at camp.

He jogged at a slow, even pace so he wouldn't get out of breath easily. But he could feel himself already getting gross and sweaty. Eli and Jake jogged along with him so he wouldn't be alone in case he passed out or something.

When they reached the beach area, they were allowed to take a break. He sat down on one of the rocks, taking a few deep breaths. "Whew, it's too early for this kind of workout," he complained.

"I'm definitely going to skip out on breakfast and take a nice nap after this," Jake declared.

Mo looked over to where a bunch of girls were stretching. From where he was sitting, he could tell some of them weren't wearing bras. He smirked at the sight. Yeah, he had a girlfriend but it wasn't like he couldn't appreciate other hot girls when she wasn't around.

"Enjoying the show?" Jake asked him with an amused tone in his voice.

"Hell yeah," Mo answered enthusiastically as he looked over to Eli, who was staring at Marisol in particular, who was bending down and touching her toes. He shook his head. "Poor guy is head over heels for her," he remarked to Jake. "Has been since seventh grade."

"Wasn't he dating Imogen Moreno?" Jake questioned.

"Yeah, but they broke up. Because she found out that he kissed Marisol in a closet the year before. It was a pretty messy breakup. You wouldn't want to know the ugly details," Mo explained, "So who's your pic for the hottest girl at this camp?"

"Katie Matlin," his new friend answered without a second thought.

"Katie Matlin? The Ice Queen of Degrassi? Miss Stick-Up-Her-Ass?" Mo asked again in disbelief. Katie was such a cold bitch, he couldn't imagine being attracted to that. He didn't know how Marisol could be friends with her.

"That'll be the one," Jake replied nonchalantly. "I don't think the stick up her ass is as far as it seems. She let loose when we got high together."

"Katie? Getting high? Man, you have to tell me how you got her to do that," Mo insisted.

As Jake recounted his tale of how they hooked up at Marisol's house, Mo had realized that Katie had a little dark side to her.

She didn't know whether it was because of her period, but Gracie was in a really foul mood when she stormed into her brother's cabin. Drew was trading jokes with his new friend Dallas when she found him. When their eyes met, Drew looked at her in confusion. "Gracie, what you doing-"

He didn't get to finish his question before she picked up a pillow and threw it right at his face, nearly knocking him off the bed. "Hey, what the hell was that for?" Her brother demanded.

"You don't get to control who I hang out with, dumbass," she snarled.

"Good sisters don't hang out with their brother's cheating ex-girlfriends," Drew replied as he threw the pillow back at her. She narrowly dodged it.

"Katie happens to be my only friend here at this stupid camp, and you're not going to take that away because you're bitter about what she did," Gracie replied firmly. "She's obviously sorry about the whole thing, and you should move on." She picked up the pillow and threw it at Drew again, who caught it this time.

"Fuck Katie, and fuck you too for siding with her!" Drew swore angrily as he chucked the pillow at her, hitting her square in her chest. They went back and forth throwing the pillow at each other.

"Okay, I'm going to leave you two kids to fight about this alone," Dallas said as he got off the bed, narrowly missing a pillow. He quickly ran out of the cabin. Gracie decided to charge at her brother, and they began wrestling on the bed. To her annoyance, Drew had the upper hand. He pinned her underneath him.

"Stop being friends with Katie," he ordered with a glare.

"No!" She replied defiantly.

"Why are you so hellbent on being around her? You got a crush on her?" Drew questioned wearily.

Gracie blushed at the thought, as she shoved him off of her. "Don't be ridiculous, asshole," she grumbled, "I'm not a lesbian."

"Really? Because that's not what I'm hearing. I heard you like looking at girls in the shower," he replied with a raised eyebrow.

"I do not!" She denied as her face turned even redder. "Those are all stupid lies people made up."

"Well I would do good to not give those rumors any more evidence. Because the last thing I want associated with me is a creepy lesbian as a sister," Drew said as he got up off the bed.

"Shut up," she replied as she got up off the bed as well. She left his cabin in a huff.

Katie was a good friend, that's why she liked her so much, and she was just awesome in general. She never wanted to stop hanging around her. But that didn't mean she was gay or anything. She just really liked how badass Katie was. And pretty. She was really pretty, even when she was sweating from all the sports she played. In fact, that was when she was at her most beautiful.

Of course, acknowledging another girl as attraction did not mean she was a lesbian.

The afternoon activity was tennis. Katie did some warm up stretches as she prepared for her opponent. So far, none of the girls wanted to challenge her. She waited a few minutes, and since no one stepped up on the other side of the court, she decided to just bounce the ball on her racquet.

Then Marisol walked up to the other side. Katie looked at her ex-best friend in surprise, considering that she had never seen Marisol play tennis before, but Marisol only glared at her in determination before taking her position. Katie did as well before tossing the ball up into the air and striking it. When the ball soared over the gate to the other side of the field, Marisol struck it back towards her with no difficulty. There were a few more rounds of them hitting the ball back and forth before Katie failed to hit the ball on her end.

"Wow, you're really good at this," Katie complimented warmly as she picked up the ball. "You must be channeling Serena Williams."

"I guess so," Marisol replied.

"I shouldn't be underestimating you then."

"That seems to be a common theme with you."

Katie frowned as she tossed the ball up in the air again and struck it. As her and Marisol went back and forth hitting the ball, she wondered if Marisol was going to be this petty towards her all summer.

After a few more games, the activity was over and they were tied for wins. Katie's arms were sore but she didn't mind. She walked over to Marisol, who was playing with the tennis ball in her hands. "Marisol, please I'm begging for you to forgive me," she pleaded.

"Why should I? You obviously don't feel bad with the way I've seen you interact with Jake at camp. When's the engagement?" Marisol asked her snidely.

"I do like Jake, I'm not going to lie about that," she admitted, "But you're my best friend and I don't want to lose you over boys."

"Then why do you keep going after the same boys I like? You dated Drew after we went out on that date too," Marisol reminded her, "Who's next? Mo?"

"It just keeps happening, and I can't hide my feelings for Jake. I really like him, Mare. He just gets me. But you're more important than him, and if you don't want me to go out with him, I won't," Katie declared, trying to remain firm about this matter.

Marisol just looked at her in silence for a moment, not saying anything. Then she sighed. "I can't stop you from going out with Jake, if he makes you happy. But seeing you make out with him when we weren't even broken up for three months really hurt, Katie," she replied.

"I know and I'm sorry," Katie apologized, "It shouldn't have happened after you recently forgave me too. But I want us to be friends again, please Mare?"

"We can be friends again," Marisol accepted, "But you're on serious probation."

"Do I at least get a hug?" Katie asked with a nervous smile as she held out her arms for a hug.

Marisol gave her a quick hug before pulling away. "Hopefully, this is the last time we fight like this, Katiekins."

"I don't intend to hurt you anymore, Marebear."

Night 5

Drew got himself ready in the mirror as he prepared for the social event at the rec center tonight. The week was over, and every Friday there was going to be a little social event with ice cream, candy, soda, and pizza. He was excited, not just because he was going to try to pick up some attractive girls at the dance, but also because there was finally going to be some good food provided. The pizza wasn't going to be cooked by the kitchen staff, but it was going to be delivered from a pizza shop not too far from the camp.

"How does my hair look?" He asked Dallas as his friend tied up the shoelaces on his sneakers.

"Does it really need all of that gel?" His friend asked him.

"Yes," Drew replied. He knew girls liked the hair gel, or at least his mom did.

When they got to the rec center, loud music blared from the speakers and there was a big disco ball hanging from the ceiling. Multi-colored lights were strewn along the walls.

Some kids were dancing on the gym floor while others were eating pizza or getting ice cream. Nobody was eating the pizza with a disgusted look on their faces. That was a good sign. As he and Dallas took their seats at a table, they chatted up some cute girls sitting at the table. The girls were kinda ditzy, but it didn't matter to him. Much. After dating Katie, he kinda didn't want to date bird brains anymore, but maybe having one way hotter than her would make her mad.

He was having a rather fun flirty conversation with a redhead named Beth when Katie walked into the social…with the guy she cheated on him with. Drew stopped all conversation with Beth, and focused on his ex. Jake whispered something in her ear and she laughed. Drew felt annoyance creep up in his veins.

"Isn't that your ex?" Dallas asked him just as Katie and Jake shared a kiss.

"Yeah," Drew answered, glaring at the sight of them.

He was supposed to be making Katie mad, but she just seemed to have moved on from him to his disgust.

After eating his pizza, Eli headed to the beach, where he saw Marisol sitting casually on the rocks, watching the stars. She was wearing a pink denim dress and glittery white sneakers.

Smirking, he snuck up behind her and leaned into her ear. "Boo!" He whispered.

"Ack!" Marisol screamed as she jumped. When she saw it was him, her face quickly contorted into rage. "You asshole!" She yelled as he began running, laughing. She ran after him and once again they had a great chase on the beach.

She caught up to him and pushed him on the ground, only to trip and land on top of him. Their noses were almost touching.

He lifted himself up, and she shifted onto his lap. They were holding each other. There was an awkward beat as they stared at each other, not knowing what to do next. Then he got the sudden urge to kiss her. He leaned in and she did too….

"Hey Eli, they're giving out these big ass Hershey bars…oh shit!" Mo said them just as their lips were about to touch. "Am I interrupting something?" He asked.

Marisol looked at him, before shoving him away from her. "Pervert!" She said in a huff before walking off.

"No, you're fine," Eli answered with a sigh as he got up.

He didn't know what came over him, but he supposed he was glad Mo stopped it. However, he wished he didn't. He could smell the scent of strawberries from Marisol's lip gloss…..

'What hold does that girl have on me?' Eli thought wearily to himself as he walked back with Mo to the rec center.

He needed to get over this stupid whatever he had with Marisol Lewis.

As he and Katie watched the stars together, Jake had his arm wrapped around his new girlfriend. He was glad that Marisol finally gave them her blessing, and that her and Katie were friends again.

"So I noticed that you didn't eat much of the pizza tonight. You weren't hungry?" He asked Katie. She barely took two bites before discarding her food. The only thing she really consumed was the water.

"Yeah, I'm still full from earlier," she answered.

"You mean you actually ate lunch?" He asked again in disbelief. Lunch today was chicken sandwiches, and the bread and meat was soggy. He took two bites before throwing it in the trash. Throughout this week, he had barely seen Katie eat anything at meals, so it was hard to believe that she actually ate today's lunch.

"Yeah, it was alright," she answered again, and he was tempted to raise an eyebrow but resisted. It was probably nothing serious.

He smiled at her before they shared a tender kiss under the stars.

Chapter Text

On the morning of her first day of high school, Katie Matlin groggily got out of bed and got ready. Marisol wanted them to meet up by seven thirty in front of the school and she would certainly be pissed if she was late. They had to enter Degrassi as grade nines together.

After showering and picking out a fresh new pair of jeans, a red blouse, and brown flats for the day, she headed downstairs to see that her parents had cooked a big breakfast for her and Maya. There were pancakes, waffles, bacon, omelets, sausages, French toast, and fruit slices. All very fattening looking foods.

"Good morning, Katie! Your father and I wanted to celebrate your first day of high school by making you this nice breakfast. We're both so proud of you!" Her mother gushed as she wheeled in at the table. Her father made her mother a plate and placed it in front of her.

"And I'm just here," Maya commented dryly as she poured herself a glass of orange juice.

"Oh we're proud of you too, Maya. You're starting sixth grade today, before you know it, you'll be in high school soon," their father assured her.

"Hopefully not at Degrassi," Maya replied. With school shootings, STI outbreaks, teen pregnancies, drug overdoses, and catfights, Katie couldn't blame her sister for not wanting to attend Degrassi. It was a cesspit of drama and incidents. She kinda didn't want Maya there either, but unless Maya got into that prestigious art school she wanted to attend in the future, she was most likely going to attend Degrassi with her. After all, she heard worse things happen at Lakehurst.

As Katie fixed her plate, she felt a little ill looking at the food. There was so much of it, who knows how many calories she was about to consume? She couldn't afford to gain a significant amount of pounds when she was not only still doing karate but trying out for the junior varsity soccer team. Even as she was putting only small portions on her plate, she still felt like she was committing a major grievance against her body.

There had to be something she could do to feel better about this.

Another school year, and Clare was looking at how she looked in the mirror. Except she was not wearing a school uniform this time. Instead, under Alli and Jenna's suggestion, she was dressing "normal".

Her two friends had taken her shopping over the summer, and she was overwhelmed by all of the clothes they were throwing at her. Her friends' taste in fashion was way different than hers. She felt uncomfortable at the idea of wearing off shoulder tops, mini skirts, heels, and tank tops. However, she did find some jeans, dresses, and skirts that didn't show too much skin while shopping. Today, she was wearing a white sheath dress with a red and pink floral pattern. Along with some flats and her hair being down, she was going to look nice for her first day of eighth grade. She wondered if K.C. was going to like it.

At the thought of her crush, she blushed. A whole summer had passed, and her feelings for K.C. never wavered. In fact, she feared that they actually got stronger. Despite knowing that her parents wouldn't approve of guys like K.C., she still fantasized about them being together. She was turning fourteen next year, her having a boyfriend shouldn't be too controversial.

Plus, her father would be too wrapped up in his mistress to care.

Finding out that her dad was committing adultery against her mother felt like the biggest betrayal in her life. Him cheating with a woman from their church felt like an even bigger betrayal, and she was questioning everything about her faith. If her parents, who raised her and Darcy to be perfect ladies of Christ, couldn't even have a marriage without cheating, what did that mean for her and her older sister?

Clare looked down at the tube of red lipstick Alli had bought for her at MAC despite her protests. Red wasn't supposed to be for good, unmarried girls. Her father had always taught her that red lipstick, red nail polish, and red shoes were for "ladies of the night". Well, she was going to try something different this year.

If her father can step out on her mother, then she could wear red lipstick and date boys who stole forks and hotwired cars.

When they got to school, Katie got out of her mother's car and bid her and her sister farewell. As expected, Marisol was waiting for her on the steps wearing a sleeveless yellow tie shirt and white designer jeans. She was wearing brown kitten heels with a gold buckle on each shoe. Her black hair was in curls. When Marisol turned around and saw her, her face brightened up. "Katiekins!" She greeted her excitedly when Katie approached her. They then shared a warm embrace as people walked past them. "Grade nine, can you believe it?" She questioned. "We're finally high schoolers!"

"Yeah, I can join the Degrassi Daily now!" Katie replied. She was going to try to talk to the club's president Liberty Van Zandt today. She admired Liberty for being goal oriented and ambitious even while pregnant last year.

"And I can finally join the Spirit Squad!" Marisol declared as they began entering the school. "Goodbye Pep Squad, hello high school cheer team!"

"You're not going to miss the Pep Squad even though you formed it?" Katie questioned while holding up a sheet with her locker number on it. Her locker was by the cafeteria.

"Of course I am, but it's in good hands. Alli will be a great captain!" Marisol assured her while looking at her locker number. "We do have the same locker number right?"

Katie looked over to Marisol's paper. "Looks like it!" She answered with a smile as they approached the lockers. Marisol immediately opened hers up to start decorating.

"Hopefully this school year ends up way better for me, than junior year. Seventh and eighth grade just consisted of failed relationships," Marisol said as she put up a mirror to look at herself in.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you're going to meet a wonderful guy, Marebear," Katie assured, thinking of her new boyfriend, Jake. Despite not being into sports as much as she was, they still did plenty of vigorous outdoor activities this summer and she found that she felt much more relaxed around Jake than she was with Drew. Jake was very chill, a little too much sometimes, but he was caring and a good listener. She figured that was all she needed at this point.

"I hope so," Marisol replied before turning to look at her. "Now Katiekins, surely you can look a little nicer than that," she said to her.

"What? These are the best first day of high school clothes I could pick out!" Katie argued.

"The top is nice, and the jeans are passable but you need something to add some more flair to your look," Marisol explained as she eyed her critically. Then a thought popped in her mind. "Oh I know!" She said as she reached into the front pouch of her book bag. She pulled out a tube of cherry red lip gloss. "Put this on!" She ordered.

"Oh I don't need to wear lip gloss, Mare," Katie replied while shaking her head. She still wasn't much of a makeup girl.

"Nonsense, I'll put it on for you," Marisol insisted and Katie sighed.

"Fine," she replied, giving in. Her best friend gestured for her to poke her lips out, and she complied. Then Marisol smoothly applied the lip gloss to her lips. Katie licked at the taste. It really tasted like cherries.

"Don't eat it!" Marisol sharply scolded her as she applied a second layer. Just then Jake walked up to them.

"Well, well, if it isn't my girlfriend, Miss Matlin?" He greeted her playfully before looking down at her lips. "Wearing snazzy new lip gloss."

"You like it?" Marisol asked him.

"It's hot. Red's a great color on you, Katie," he complimented before leaning in and kissing her on the forehead. Katie smiled at the romantic gesture. She guessed she could wear a little makeup if Jake liked it.

After Marisol finished decorating her locker, the three of them began walking to their homeroom classroom together. Jake wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Unfortunately, their homeroom teacher was Mr. Perino this year so there wouldn't be any talking once the bell rang. At all.

"I have a feeling this is going to be an amazing year!" Marisol said cheerfully.

"Amazing I wouldn't personally wouldn't use, but interesting yeah, most likely," Jake replied.

For Katie, interesting would be the word she used as well. If everything went well, she would have three extracurriculars this year plus being grade nine representative. Thankfully, Marisol had no interest in holding that position, so she had a real shot. She wasn't going to make the same mistakes she did last year with the eighth grade presidential election. The hard part would be keeping her boyfriend by the end of the year. While she was never going to do drugs again, so cheating wasn't going to be an issue, she still knew that Jake was going to have expectations of her. Which is why she was motivated to keep her food intake at a reasonable level.

Because she was positive Jake wouldn't want a big girlfriend.

Clare didn't even get to make it far from her mother's car before she was swarmed by both of her best friends. Alli grabbed one of her arms and Jenna grabbed the other.

"Why Clarebear, is that red lipstick I see you wearing?" Jenna asked her in shock. "I can't believe it!"

"And not just red lipstick, but some eyeshadow. Is the universe about to explode?" Alli added teasingly.

"Guys, don't be so dramatic," Clare said while rolling her eyes as they walked up the front steps of Degrassi. "I just wanted to try something new, that's all."

"Believe me girls, I was expecting to see pigs flying outside our window when she came downstairs," Darcy dryly commented, and Clare scowled at her sister.

"Don't you have a boyfriend to meet up with?" She questioned just as Spinner walked up and wrapped his arm around her sister's shoulder. They shared a quick kiss. "Hey Baby Edwards," Spinner greeted her cheerfully after pulling away from Darcy.

"Hi Spinner," Clare greeted back. Spinner was always nice to her so she had no issues with him, but he did seem a little rough around the edges…

"Notice something different about Clare today, Spin?" Darcy asked with an impish grin while gesturing to her. When Spinner leaned in to get a closer look at her, Clare felt the urge to run and hide. She didn't like being put on display like this.

"Yeah, she put on a little makeup. You look great, Clare," he complimented her warmly, "You should wear red more often, it brings out your eyes."

"Thank you Spinner," she replied, blushing profusely.

"Welcome, now let's head inside!" Spinner said before leaving with her sister. Clare turned to her friends, who were giggling, with a critical look.

"Is it really the end of the world if I start wearing makeup now?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"We're just joking, Clare. We actually like seeing you act more like a normal teenage girl instead of a nun. You look hot," Alli answered as they all began walking again. "When K.C. sees you he's going to be absolutely gobsmacked."

"Yeah…," Jenna agreed in a slow, unsure tone. It threw Clare off.

"What's wrong Jenna?" Clare asked her friend in concern.

"Nothing," Jenna answered quickly as they finally entered the building. Clare decided to let it go for now.

Katie looked at the options in front of her for lunch. There were burgers, pizza, chicken tenders, chicken nuggets, and sandwiches as always but there were also salads. She picked up a chicken salad and water for herself and checked out.

This year, her and Marisol unfortunately had different lunch periods so she was without her best friend. But she did have Jake, who waved for her to sit at a table with him and some friends in the middle of the cafeteria. The friends she recognized as Eli Goldsworthy and Mo Mashkour. Smiling, she walked over and sat next to Jake at the table. She and her boyfriend shared a quick kiss.

"Hey everyone," she greeted as she began digging into her salad. She wasn't going to eat the whole thing as she already ate too much at breakfast. Instead, she was going to eat as little as possible to not gain extra calories. She cut up her chunks of grilled chicken into tiny pieces and put one into her mouth, chewing softly.

"You're not putting any dressing on that?" Mo asked her in confusion.

"Dressings are fattening," she answered as she put a piece into her mouth. It was cold, and a little tasteless but she supposed it was for the better. If the salad tasted really good, she would be tempted to eat the whole thing.

"I'm sure a few extra calories won't kill you," he replied as he looked her up and down, but Katie ignored the remark. She knew what her limits should be.

"So is Marisol still going to be a part of the Drama Club?" Eli asked.

"As far as I know she is," she answered. Marisol had told her that this year, she was hoping to get a lead role in the latest school production instead of playing some side character. Katie couldn't gauge much of Marisol's acting skills yet but she figured that if she could get her dad to buy her almost anything, than it must be good.

"Well tell her that if she wants to get a big part than to maybe show up to auditions on time," Eli dryly replied. "We're doing a Winter's Tale this semester and we need people to actually take this seriously. Last year's play was terrible."

Last year, the school did A Midsummer Night's Dream and the lead actor in the play had to be replaced due to fooling around on stage and somehow spraining his ankle. The result was a replacement who was terrible at acting and couldn't even read his lines right.

"I'll tell her," Katie assured him while looking at Eli's clothes. He was wearing a red and green striped t-shirt with a black vest that eerily reminded her of Freddy Krueger, or maybe that was the point. His jeans were black and his boots were too. She could see that he was wearing eyeliner.

It's been almost two years, and she still couldn't believe that Marisol had her first kiss with this guy.

She didn't see K.C. at all during morning classes, and the more she had to wait to see him, Clare's anxiety went up. She didn't know what K.C. would think of the makeup she was wearing. Would he like it? Consider it slutty?

Clare took a seat next to Connor for grade nine Advanced English. She was just beginning to get her notebook out for class, when she heard a male voice. "Clare?" The voice asked her. Clare looked up and felt her heart beat rapidly in her chest when she saw that it was K.C. He was wearing his beanie, t-shirt, and baggy jeans as always.

"Hey K.C.," she greeted with as much strength in her voice as she could. This year she was going to try to be less shy around boys.

"I like the lipstick," he complimented, and she could feel her cheeks burn against her will.

"Thanks," she replied in gratitude as the bell rang for class to begin. K.C. smiled warmly at her, and she smiled back.

Maybe she could get used to wearing more makeup.

During gym class, Katie looked at herself in the mirror after getting out of the shower. For the first day, they just played a light game of Capture The Flag. Her team won due to her getting the most flags from the other team.

Looking at her body, Katie supposed she looked fit enough. There wasn't any visible fat on her body, though that could of course change if she wasn't careful. She needed to find a convenient way to get rid of any unnecessary calories.

In the stall behind her, she could hear someone vomiting violently. Then there was a sound of a toilet flushing. The stall door opened up, and a girl stepped out.

"I'm sorry, I get sick on my period," the girl apologized before grabbing a towel and wiping her mouth. She then hurriedly left the bathroom.

An idea popped into Katie's mind. It was dangerous but she was sure that if she only did it every once in a while without anyone noticing, it wouldn't spiral out of control.

After her last class ended, Clare walked around to find K.C. She decided that since she was feeling a new burst of confidence, that she was going to confess to K.C. that she liked him. Considering how well he took her appearance, this should go well.

She found K.C. at his locker, laughing about something with someone.

That someone was Jenna.

Clare tried not to let her confusion show as she approached them. "Hey guys," she greeted them. There was a bad feeling in her gut.

K.C. and Jenna stopped talking to each other, and immediately looked at her like they were deers caught in headlights. "Hey/Hi," they both greeted her back at the same time.

"What's going on with you guys?" She questioned.

Jenna looked at K.C. "I think I should explain this to her," she told him.

"Cool," he replied before quickly leaving without even sparing her a second glance. Now it was just her and Jenna in the hallways.

"Clare," Jenna began, and she could detect nervousness in her tone, "Um, so here's the thing. Me and K.C. spent a lot of time with each other over the summer at this youth program and we got really close. He asked me to go to The Dot with him after school," she explained.

Clare could only stare at her, but inside she was feeling nothing but rejection and embarrassment. "So you guys like each other?" She asked, despite knowing the answer.

Jenna's eyes were apologetic. "I'm sorry, Clarebear. Please don't be mad at me. I didn't think he would like me back," she said.

"It's okay, Jenna. I'm not supposed to be dating boys yet anyway," Clare assured her, and she couldn't help the tightness in her voice.

"Are you sure?" Her friend asked in worry.

"Positive," she answered before turning on her heels and walking away from Jenna.

The betrayal she was feeling right now was almost palpable.

Later that evening, Katie was eating the chicken parmesan her mother cooked. Both of her parents were closely watching her to make sure she was actually eating her food.

The food was good, as almost always was the case with her mother's cooking. Only Marisol's mother was a better chef. Under her parents' watch, she was even eating the breadsticks, which were warm and thick. After eating her dinner, Katie could very well say she was full and could eat no longer.

"I'm going upstairs to take a shower," she announced as she got out of her chair and put her dirty dishes by the sink. She then headed upstairs to the bathroom.

As she approached the toilet, Katie could feel herself getting second thoughts about what she was about to do. If her family or Marisol found out, they would be worried. But this was necessary. She had already eaten so much today and who knows how many unnecessary fats she put into her body. No, this needed to be done.

She leaned over the toilet, put two fingers down her throat, and threw up her dinner into the toilet.

Chapter Text

Two weeks later, Marisol ran downstairs to the cafeteria to see the list of girls who made the Spirit Squad. There was a crowd of girls already around the list when she approached it. Tension bubbled in her stomach as she looked down at the list.

When she saw "Marisol Lewis", her face broke out into a big smile and she squealed excitedly as she bounced up and down. She made the team! She was now a member of the Spirit Squad!

Below her name was Imogen's, and she didn't know how to feel about it. While her and the other girl no longer hated each other, they weren't bffs either. They agreed to just be civil, and maybe that was the best they could be.

Marisol was getting ready to leave, when Imogen ran up to see if her name was on the list. When she did, she squealed excitedly just as she did.

Marisol tapped her on the shoulder. "Congratulations," she told her with a smile.

"Thank you," Imogen replied with a beaming smile of her own.

Alli was getting her books out of her locker for grade nine science when she felt someone cover her eyes. "Guess who," she heard Mo say to her.

"Is it you, K.C.?" She replied jokingly. Mo pulled his hands away from her, and when she turned around, they shared a kiss. Alli pulled away as quickly as possible.

"Wanna go to The Dot after school with me today?" He offered.

"Can't. One of my cousins is coming over for dinner tonight," she rejected. Her boyfriend pouted in response.

"Damn. Well maybe tomorrow," he replied before kissing her cheek. "See you at lunch, babe," he said as he walked away from her. She waited until he was completely gone before relaxing her shoulders in relief.

She actually didn't have a cousin coming over for dinner tonight. She just didn't feel like hanging out with Mo today and needed a quick excuse. Well, actually she didn't feel like hanging out with Mo at all these days. He was so sweet and spoiled her, but she found herself getting bored of him after dating him for a while. He wasn't what she was quite looking for in a boyfriend right now. She needed someone more…mature.

She needed to break up with him, but she didn't know how without really hurting his feelings.

Marisol looked at herself in the girl's locker room mirror in her new Spirit Squad. Today after school, there was to be a big girl's basketball game against Lakehurst Community School. The skirt was much shorter than the Pep Squad's uniform, being way above the knee. She felt so much more grown now than she did before.

After applying some makeup, which consisted of foundation, peach lip gloss, peach eyeshadow, mascara, and highlighter, she headed out to the gym with her new teammates and her pom poms. She already adored her captain, Manny Santos but the co-captain Darcy Edwards was kind of a bitch. She felt sorry for Clare for dealing with that every day.

She was just about to start up a conversation with Chantay when the Lakehurst people came in. The girls on their basketball team were….tall. Very tall. Then the students poured in with made up signs and posters for their school.

A boy caught her eye. He couldn't have been older than her but he was tall, beefy with thick eyebrows and crystal blue eyes. He was super hot. He noticed her looking at him, and flashed her a charming smile, making her skin heat up in desire.

"Is it too late to transfer to Lakehurst?" Marisol joked to Chantay.

"Trust me, girl. I heard the worst about Lakehurst boys. They're all trouble," her friend warned her.

Manny arrived with a girl that tried out for the team yesterday but didn't make it, or so she thought. The girl, Mia Jones, was in uniform like the rest of them.

"What is this?" Darcy demanded angrily.

"You can't keep her off the team," Manny replied.

"You know I deserve this! Or is there some sort of no single moms policy?" Mia accused.

"Yeah Mia, your baby is a huge responsibility and, well, so is Spirit Squad, I'm sorry," Darcy answered defensively.

"When my new manicure meets your face then you'll be sorry," Manny replied fiercely as she grabbed Darcy's shoulder, and Marisol tensed. She had seen Manny fight the previous Spirit Squad captain Paige Michalchuk back in seventh grade, and she knew Manny was a ferocious fighter. She heard that Manny fought Darcy too and tore her up. That was not someone she wanted to cross, ever.

"Darcy, Isabella has daycare. She can be taken care of whenever I'm at practice. I can do both!" Mia argued.

"How can I believe someone who made such enormous life mistakes?" Darcy questioned.

"Mistakes?"

"Unless you got knocked up on purpose in which case you got even bigger issues," Darcy sneered.

The next series of events fell into some sort of domino effect. Marisol watched in surprise as Mia pushed Darcy into some Lakehurst boy. The Lakehurst boy then insulted Mia, which earned him a slap from her. Then it caused a whole brawl between Degrassi and Lakehurst students. Everything was so happening so fast Marisol didn't have much time to react as some girl pulled on her hair. She turned around and quickly punched at the girl, sending her flying over the bleachers. Another girl swung at her, and soon she was fighting like everyone else.

When coaches from both teams came over to break up the brawl, she was on top of a girl in the process of scratching her face with her manicure. She looked over and saw Imogen biting on some girl's leg.

"Two weeks detention, all of you!" Coach Armstrong declared firmly with a glare.

Marisol pouted in annoyance. It wasn't her fault for defending herself. She was just taking out the trash.

"Well that was certainly an eventful pep rally," Clare commented as they left the gym.

"Those Lakehurst people have always been the worst. I don't even know why our parents sent Sav there. At least I'm at Degrassi," Alli replied as they waited outside for Clare's mom to pick them up.

"Is Degrassi really any better with all of the drama that goes on there?" Clare questioned.

"Yeah only fifteen percent of our student body are burnouts," she answered dryly just as Jenna approached them.

"Did you guys participate in the brawl like everyone else?" She asked them.

"No thank God. I just got a manicure and I don't need to break a nail over my brother's stupid schoolmates," Alli answered while showing off her freshly painted acrylic nails. They were ruby red and short. Her mother would never allow her nails to get past one quarter of an inch until she was sixteen.

"Good because I heard everyone got two weeks detention," Jenna replied before tilting her head curiously. "Where's Mo?" She asked.

"I don't know," Alli answered again with a shrug. For all she knew, he could have participated in the fight as well. She didn't see him in the stands though he did tell her that he was coming to the pep rally.

"You're not going to call him to make sure he's safe?" Clare asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"Am I his girlfriend or his mother?" Alli snarkily asked back. Her friend folded her arms in response. She knew a lecture was coming soon if not now, but luckily Clare's mother drove up in front of them so she didn't have to hear it.

"Mo's fine, Clare, I'm sure he would just call me if he was in a hospital somewhere," she reassured her friend as they got in the car.

She knew she should care, but she kinda didn't.

"Did you at least kick some ass?" Katie asked her as they did homework together at the Matlin house. It was history homework and so far it was nothing too hard to work on by herself but there was nothing wrong with extra help.

"I decked a Lakehurst girl right in her mouth," Marisol replied with a smirk as she thought about that moment. The other girl really thought she could get away with pulling on her precious hair.

"Good. I can't believe those thugs! Coming to our school just to pick fights with us," Katie replied in disgust.

"Well we whooped their asses so they'll think next about messing with us. We all got two weeks detention but it was worth it. On the brightside I locked eyes with this really hot guy from Lakehurst," Marisol gushed as his face flashed through her mind.

"It's not worth it, Mare. He's the enemy," Katie warned him.

"Maybe he's not as bad as the rest," Marisol argued as Katie stared at her wearily.

"You're only saying that because we haven't found you a cute boyfriend here at Degrassi. There are plenty of guys here who would be a better fit for you than some Lakehurst trash," her best friend replied, but Marisol wasn't paying attention. She was thinking about that boy with his perfect eyes and nice muscles.

She daydreamed about those muscles wrapping around her small frame and protecting her.

Alli was working on her science homework downstairs when she felt a knock on the door. She got up and had a look of confusion on her face when she saw it was Mo. She opened the door, but only just a little bit.

"What are you doing here? Are you trying to get me in trouble?" She hissed.

"I just wanted to see your beautiful face. I was worried about you during that epic brawl with those Lakehurst thugs," Mo answered. Alli sighed. This had to end soon and she figured now was a good time.

"Look Mo-"

"Alli, who's this?" Her older brother, Sav, asked as he suddenly appeared next to her, nearly making her jump. She turned towards him with a tight, nervous smile.

"A friend," she answered quickly.

"Interesting. Does Mom and Dad know you have other male friends than K.C. or Connor?" Sav asked with a suspicious glint in his eye.

"Not anymore than they know about your female friend Anya that you hang out with…a lot," Alli answered again with a warning tone in her voice, and she knew she had him. Sav paled a little at the mention of his crush's name but immediately got himself together.

"Well I'll leave you two be, though I hope your friend here isn't going to be on our doorstep for a while. Dad is going to be home shortly," Sav said smoothly before walking away, leaving just her and Mo. And the uncomfortable tension in the air.

"Should I be scared of him?" Mo asked her in worry. She snorted in response.

"A stack of marshmallows is scarier than Savtaj Bhandari," she replied dryly. "But seriously you do need to get out of here. Quickly."

"Okay I'll go, but not before a kiss from my sweet lady," Mo urged. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek before shutting the door in his face, ignoring his protests. She turned her back on the door and slid down on the floor, throwing her face into her hands. She really didn't know how she was going to end things with Mo.

An idea then clicked in her mind.

In school the next day, Marisol was doodling a portrait of the boy she saw yesterday in her diary instead of taking notes for history. She truthfully didn't give a shit about the lesson for today, or what was going on in any of her classes really. All of her thoughts were on that Lakehurst boy and what he could do for her.

She had to find out who he was. It would be hard, especially with this stupid war their schools were engaged in, but she was confident that she could somehow make this work. Maybe she could get Chantay to get some info on him, she seemed to have known everything anyway. Or maybe she could get Alli to get some info from her brother, since he attended Lakehurst.

She quietly hummed the lyrics to Someday My Prince Will Come from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in her head. After everything she had been through regarding boys, she was in desperate need of a prince and she might have finally found him. If only he wasn't from the rival school.

"Marisol, name a First Nations Canadian tribe," her history teacher ordered sharply, snapping her out of her thoughts. She looked around to see everyone in class staring at her, and Katie was pursing her lips critically. Her best friend was going to nag her as soon as class ended, she knew.

"The Cree people," she answered as that was the first people that popped into her head.

"Good, now put that book away before I take it and read it to the class. This is your only warning," the history teacher replied. Marisol complied, only because she already had enough trouble on her plate as it was with the stupid detentions.

The teacher went back to talking about the First Nation tribes, and Marisol did her best to follow along even though she was bored out of her damned mind. But her mind was still on that handsome boy from Lakehurst.

As Alli walked down the hallways in search of Mo, she braced herself for what she was about to do. It required a lot of good acting and practicing what she was going to say in the mirror. When she saw Mo approaching her, she quickly put on a face of dread. "Mo, follow me into this classroom right here," she said as she grabbed his arm. She pulled him into an empty classroom.

"Ooh, are we about to have sexy time?" He asked her with a sly grin. She tried not to get visibly queasy at the thought.

"No, I have some bad news. My parents found out about our relationship and forbade me from seeing you again," she announced with sadness in her voice.

Mo's face fell. "Seriously? What does this mean for us?" He asked her nervously.

"We can't date anymore. I'm sorry," she apologized, and deep down she did feel bad. Mo didn't deserve this.

"Surely we can still sneak around," he argued hopefully, but she only shook her head in response.

"We can't. I've already been grounded for two months and my parents are watching my every move," she lied. "It sucks but this isn't going to work out."

The heartbreak on Mo's face was clear, and she was worried that he was about to start crying. If he did, then she was definitely going to feel more like a bitch than she already did.

"I'm sorry," she apologized again before giving him one final kiss on the cheek. She then left the classroom without sparing him a second glance.

She was glad Mo Mashkour was her first boyfriend. But she knew they weren't meant to last long.

Marisol was eating her lunch with Katie and Jake in the cafeteria when Chantay came over. She was able to schedule a different lunch period with her best friend after dropping out of one of her classes. For once, Katie was actually eating something other than a salad or a small sandwich with water. She had a big slice of pizza on her plate with fries and a Pepsi. Hopefully her friend's weird issues with food were over.

"Don't ask me how but I found out about that boy from Lakehurst you're into," Chantay declared.

"Who is he?" Marisol demanded, immediately putting down her bottle of ice tea.

"His name is Owen Milligan and he's grade nine," Chantay answered, "He plays on the football team and is super single."

Owen Milligan. That was the name of her future prince. Marisol smiled brightly.

"I need to figure out a way to meet this Owen," she replied as a million fantasies went through her mind.

"Owen sounds like a name a total douchebag would have," Katie commented while folding her arms at the table. Marisol didn't pay her any mind.

All she cared about was finding out more about Owen.

Chapter Text

Connor was eating lunch one day with his friends when Emma and Manny came over.

“Connor, sweetie, we have a request,” Manny said to him just as he was about to eat a piece of pasta.

“And what is that?” He questioned.

“Our best friend Liberty’s birthday is today and we want to throw her a party,” she answered.

“But you guys barely talk about Liberty,” Connor pointed out in confusion. He wasn’t sure how that could mean that she was one of their best friends. The only thing he knew about President Van Zandt was that she was a very intelligent and studious person just like him.

“Yeah, but she’s still one of our good friends and we want to make her birthday special with an awesome birthday bash!” 

“Did Godmom and Goddad give you guys permission to throw a party?” He continued to question.

“That’s the thing, Connor. Mom and Dad can’t find out, okay? This is a big secret between all of us,” Emma explained.

“Wouldn’t that be wrong to lie to them?” He asked.

“It’s only wrong if they find out,” Manny answered. “Which they won’t. Because you’re not telling them.”

“Can I invite my friends here?” He asked while gesturing to K.C., Jenna, Clare, and Alli who all gave Emma and Manny awkward smiles. Emma folded her arms.

“Well no Connor, it’s really only supposed to be a small gather-”

“Please?”

His god-sister looked at her best friend before looking back at him and sighing.

“Okay, but you guys have to go home early,” she accepted as she and Manny started walking away. “And don’t tell anyone else about this,” she ordered him one last time before leaving. Alli let out an excited squeal across from him.

“We get to go to a HIGH school party! We’re going to be the most popular kids in junior high,” she said excitedly.

“And this is only September!” Jenna agreed.

“But how are we going to tell our parents? I doubt your parents would allow you to go to a party, Alli. And mine would absolutely not go for it,” Clare questioned.

“Which is why I’m going to tell my parents that I’m going over to Connor's house to study and you’re going to do the same with your parents,” Alli replied. “Our parents love Connor, right Connor?”

“My godparents certainly think you’re an interesting person,” he answered. His godmother even said Alli reminded her of Manny when she was younger for better or worse.

“Well that settles. We’re going to this senior birthday party tonight, and I’m going to meet a cute new guy to be my boyfriend!” Alli declared before her and Jenna started talking about what they were going to wear.

Connor shared a look with Clare, who had a frown on her face. They must have had the same thoughts.

Something bad was going to go down at this party.

“I don’t understand. She cheated on me and yet I’m the single loser right now!” Drew complained as he watched Katie get fed a banana by Jake. They looked so happy together it boiled his blood. Katie should be the one who’s miserable due to her actions, not him. That was how karma worked.

“It’s only the beginning of the school year. There will be plenty of hotties to dig into throughout the year,” Dallas reassured him before biting into a burger.

“Yeah but I need to make Katie regret doing me wrong, and I can only achieve that by having someone way hotter than her hanging on my arm right now,” Drew grumbled as he looked around the cafeteria. So far he found no luck in getting a new girlfriend. All of the girls in his grade were either taken or not hot enough. 

“What about Marisol? She’s cute and single,” Dallas asked him as he looked over the girl in question with desire in his eyes.

“I fucked up on a date with her last year and dumped her best friend. I doubt she’ll be interested,” Drew grumbled. Plus him getting them both drunk that night led to disaster.

“Hmm, well there has to be a quick way to get a new girlfriend,” Dallas reasoned. Then they both overheard some seniors talking.

“I heard there’s going to be a rager at Emma Nelson’s house tonight,” one guy said.

“Really? I’m down to go,” the other guy said, “No doubt there’s going to be a lot of booze and girls there.”

Drew looked over to Dallas, and his friend smirked at him. He smirked back.

“I heard in gym class that Manny Santos is throwing Liberty Van Zandt a birthday party at Emma Nelson’s house,” Marisol whispered to Katie in class after their teacher headed out the classroom for a moment to take a phone call.

“Yeah, good for them,” Katie replied dismissively with a shrug.

“Are you kidding me? We have a chance to go to a senior birthday party!” Marisol pointed out, annoyed by her best friend’s unenthusiasm. 

“I doubt we’re invited,” Katie said.

“So? We crash it!” Marisol reasoned.

“You say that like it’s not going to cause issues. Why don’t we instead have a movie night tonight? I’ll order pizza,” Katie suggested. Marisol rolled her eyes at the idea. While she would normally be down for pizza and a movie, she was more excited about the party.

“No, we’re going to this party tonight. And I’m going to look super hot to let everyone know who the new head bitch in charge is going to be,” Marisol declared just as the teacher walked in. She went back to looking at her notes to not raise any suspicions.

“I have a bad feeling about this, Mare,” Katie whispered to her with a frown, but it didn’t kill Marisol’s excitement. With or without Katie, she was going as any party thrown by Manny was undoubtedly going to be the hottest party of the year.

What’s the worst thing that could happen at a party?

Later that day, Connor got dressed in clothes he felt fitting for a party. He was wearing a blue button up shirt and a dark blue pair of slacks. He topped it off with a pair of black loafers. He sprayed his little Afro and combed it out. He was even wearing his best pair of glasses.

He turned around to see Manny eyeing him critically. “What?” He asked her.

“Connor, you are not seriously dressed like that for a party,” she replied with narrowed eyes.

“Are you not supposed to look your best at a party?” He asked her again, confused. His mother Lucy always told him that he should always dress stylishly during these type of occasions.

“We’re hosting a party , not a funeral !” She declared as she stepped forward and opened up his dressers, picking out clothes. “Now get over here! Liberty will be here in a few minutes and I don’t have time to give two people a makeover!”

The next series of events happened in a blur, and Connor didn’t have time to process any of it before he was suddenly in a pair of jeans and a t shirt.

The party was already well underway when Marisol arrived with Katie at her side. There were a crowd of people inside and outside of Emma Nelson’s house, and loud music could be heard all the way on the other side of the street.

Marisol smiled excitedly as she entered the house and saw all of the older high school kids dancing and jumping around. This wasn’t a silly junior high party, this was a real party! Holding Katie’s hand, she made her way through a crowd of people to the kitchen where she smelled pizza. There was a box of pepperoni pizza by the fridge with five slices left. She immediately walked over, grabbed a slice, and started eating it.

A guy that looked way older than her approached her with a leering grin. “Heyyyy,” he greeted. She smelled alcohol on his breath and was immediately repulsed.

“Hi,” she greeted back with an uneasy smile.

“You’re pretty,” he complimented her while running his hand along her arm. She jumped back onto Katie, feeling super uncomfortable.

“Thanks….,” she replied while still holding her smile. She hoped he wouldn’t get too grabby.

He grabbed a bottle of rum. “You want me to make you a drink?” He asked, and before she could politely reject him, he opened up the bottle, grabbed a cup, and began pouring. Only he was pouring it all over the table.

“Alright time to move on,” Katie declared before quickly pulling her away from the scene. “We haven’t been here for five minutes and we’re already being harassed by creeps,” she complained before accidentally bumping into a group of friends. They all turned around to face them. There were two boys, and a girl who immediately fixed Katie with a glare. One of the boys was the one from the Lakehurst game. The one with the beautiful blue eyes.

“Hey watch where you’re going,” the girl said harshly to Katie.

“Sorry,” her best friend replied dismissively. She then looked at her. “Come on, Mare,” she urged, but Marisol didn’t want to go anywhere.

“You’re from Lakehurst! You’re Owen Milligan!” She said while pointing at Owen, who grinned at her.

“And you’re the cutie from the Spirit Squad,” he assumed, “What’s your name, beautiful?”

“Marisol,” she answered quickly, stepping closer to him. He was wearing a tight grey sweater that showed off his muscles. “I’ve been wanting to meet you but I didn’t know how,” she added, fluttering her eyelashes flirtatiously.

“Well, you’re meeting me now. What a coincidence,” he replied as he looked her over. Marisol hoped he liked what she was wearing, which was a cheetah print dress with black heels. Her hair was curled, and her makeup was glamorous.

“It’s a pleasure seeing you,” she said with a purr in her voice. Then she felt Katie tug on her arm.

“Let’s keep moving,” her friend ordered, only for her to shake Katie’s arm off of her.

“You go ahead, I’ll talk to Owen,” she suggested while never keeping her eyes off of him. 

“Absolutely not!” Katie replied. “We should go-”

“She said to go ahead. You think a couple of Lakehurst kids are going to bite?” The girl next to Owen asked her best friend dryly. Katie bristled.

“Fine, I’ll be outside if you need me,” she told her stiffly before turning on her heel and practically stomping away. Marisol paid her no mind as she kept her eyes on Owen. Then they began talking.

In Marisol’s mind, there was no one else at this party but her and Owen Milligan.

When Drew saw Marisol talking to some Lakehurst boy, he was tempted to turn around and leave because wherever Marisol was, Katie was never too far behind. But Dallas was by his side, and his friend was definitely not ready to leave when they just got here. So Drew simply pretended Marisol wasn’t there.

He grabbed some beer for himself and Dallas. “You wanna chug at the same time?” He challenged his friend.

“Hell yeah,” Dallas answered with a smirk. They both opened up their drinks at the same time and began chugging the liquid down as fast as they could. The alcohol burned Drew’s throat as he was drinking but he was determined to win.

He finished first, and burped loudly as he did. Dallas did a mere two seconds later, but it was too late. Drew triumphantly banged his chest with his fists as everyone around them cheered for him. His friend scowled at him, but he knew it was nothing serious. A girl approached Dallas.

“I’m sorry you lost, want me to make you feel better?” She offered with a flirty smile. Dallas gave him one look before looking back at the girl with a smile of his own. She pulled him off somewhere and that was the last Drew had seen of his friend. He focused his attention on getting another beer.

He was in the middle of drinking another one when he saw a girl getting harassed by some older kid. She was trying to walk away from him, but he was grabbing her by her arm. Perhaps it was due to the liquor muddling his brain but he immediately walked over to put a stop to it, feeling like he could do anything. “Hey man, screw off,” he commanded as he pushed the guy away.

“Why don’t you FUCK off?” The older guy asked with a snarl as he pushed him back. Drew prepared himself for a fight. However before he could raise a fist, the other guy got sick and rushed in the kitchen to throw up, leaving just him and the girl. She looked at him with her lips pursed.

“You know, I could have handled that by myself,” she told him while folding her arms.

“There’s nothing wrong with help,” he replied. She raised an eyebrow in response.

“What are you? Some kind of Prince Charming?” She questioned.

“If you want me to be,” he answered with his most charming smile. She chuckled.

“I’ll see you around, Prince Charming,” she replied as she sauntered past him and he looked at the back of her. Despite his mind already getting a little hazy, he had a clear picture of her in his head. She had curly brown hair, dark brown eyes, olive skin, and red nails. He had never seen around school so she must have been from Lakehurst.

Regardless, she was way hotter than Katie Matlin, and that was what he couldn’t stop thinking about.

Connor felt himself getting uncomfortable by the crowd of people around him, so he went upstairs to his room. He opened his bedroom door to see two people in the middle of engaging intercourse on his bed. “Oh shit, man! Is this your room?” The guy asked him while he and the girl looked at him in shock.

“Yes,” Connor answered flatly. The couple paled as they both frantically gathered up their clothes and ran out of his room. He looked back at them, not knowing how to process what he just saw. He knew about reproductive sex, and he looked up some websites when his godparents weren’t looking, but he didn’t expect to actually see it happen in person.

It was interesting to say the least.

He walked over to his bedroom window and looked outside to see Emma and Manny’s friend J.T. Yorke confronting some kids peeing by his car. Connor leaned in to get a closer look. J.T. turned his back on the kid to get something out of his car. That’s when something truly horrifying happened.

Connor could only watch in shock as one of the guys rushed forward and stabbed him in his back.

Marisol was dancing with Owen in the middle of the living room with everyone else. She giggled as they grinded against each other. She had never danced like this with a guy before, and she found that she quite liked it. Owen’s big hands were roaming up and down her body and she could smell the axe body spray on him.

“You’re an awesome dancer!” She complimented him while shaking her hips. 

“So are you,” he complimented back as he spun her around and held her tightly against his chest. He leaned in closely to her ear. “Tell me, are the other girls at Degrassi as hot as you?” He asked her in a whisper, and the feel of his breath on her gave her goosebumps.

“Nope, only me,” she answered pridefully.

“I lucked out then,” he replied as he spun her back to face him. The smirk on his face was the sexiest she had ever seen up to that point. Here she was dancing sensually with a tall, strong looking boy with the most beautiful face. The only visible flaw he had were his eyebrows as they looked like the McDonald’s golden arches, but she could work with that. Right now everything felt magical.

“You want to go upstairs? To talk?” She offered while holding his hand. The feel of his rough, calloused hands against her own softer hands made butterflies flutter in her tummy.

“Of course, let’s go,” he accepted eagerly and they both prepared to leave.

Only to hear a scream from outside.

Drew starred in stunned silence with everyone else as the hosts of the party rushed outside to see what was going on. There were multiple whisperings among the crowd as nobody knew what happened.

Dallas walked up to him while unbuckling his pants. “What the fuck is going on?” He asked him.

“Hell if I know, the birthday girl just started screaming,” he answered just as Emma Nelson stepped back inside. Her face was stark white with fear.

“Someone stabbed my friend,” she replied in a shaky tone, looking around. “Someone stabbed my friend. Please , somebody, give me your phone so I can call 911! He’s bleeding out there!” She urged as she frantically looked for a cellphone. Despite how intoxicated he was at this point due to chugging down two more beers, he was able to reach into his pocket and give Emma her phone. As she dialed the phone, her eyes began to water.

Earlier, Drew was worried that his mother was going to whoop his ass if she smelled alcohol on his breath again. Now he was completely worried, and scared about something else.

Outside the hospital waiting room, Connor sat in silence as his god-sister and her friends waited for news of how their friend was doing. They were all huddled around him in various stages of shock and fear. But no one was more disturbed than he was. He was the one who witnessed what happened and couldn’t do anything to stop it.

The image of blood pouring from J.T.’s back repeatedly flashed in his mind along with the way he slowly sank down on his car afterwards. Connor remembered not being able to tear his eyes away from the scene even after President Van Zandt came along and started screaming for help while holding J.T. He didn’t tear his eyes away from the scene even after the ambulance came and Emma came into his room to make him accompany her and her friends to the hospital. The whole car ride to the hospital, Connor could not get the scene out of his head.

He stared silently at the clock as time went by. It seemed like forever but they were only at the hospital for three hours. Emma was talking to her parents, apologizing profusely for her part in throwing the party while her boyfriend attempted to calm her down. But it was futile. Manny wouldn’t stop crying as she repeatedly said it was her fault for throwing the party in the first place. He wouldn’t be surprised if everyone thought they were at fault for what happened. He certainly thought he could have done something to stop the knife from going into J.T.’s back.

When the doctor came into the waiting room, everyone was on edge.

Chapter Text

After the disaster with a Midsummer Night’s Dream last year, Eli Goldsworthy was determined to make this year’s fall production a major success. If he was to get into NYU after Degrassi, he would need to build up an excellent resume in the next four years and the only way to do that was to be part of an amazing production with a cast and team that cared about putting in the hard work needed for a successful play.

The only problem was that no one in Drama Club currently gave a shit about producing an amazing production after the stabbing of J.T. Yorke.

“Come on guys, I need ideas. There’s hundreds of classics that we could do here at Degrassi,” he urged his club members as he walked around the front of the room. J.T. was going to be in the hospital for a while to recover from his life saving surgery so until then he, a mere niner, was acting head of the club since Manny Santos was also taking a break from drama to focus on Spirit Squad. It would have been an honor, if anyone actually cared. The stabbing of a beloved senior kinda dampened everyone’s spirits even if he did survive. “Anyone? Please?” He pleaded.

Marisol, of all people, raised her hand. This year she was actually attending club meetings, and he was still surprised at that. “We could do a musical, to lift up everyone’s spirits,” she suggested. He raised an eyebrow at that. If there was one thing he hated, it was musicals. It was why he avoided most Disney movies.

“Musicals aren’t my thing,” he replied gruffly.

“Well you wanted ideas, right? I think a musical is a GREAT idea!” She insisted, and a few people in the room voiced their agreements. Eli frowned, it seemed like he was going to be forced to go out of his comfort zone.

“Fine, what musicals do you think we should do?” He questioned, spitting out the word “musical” like it was something disgusting on his tongue, which it was.

“Hairspray!” A girl in the back yelled out.

“Hairspray requires a lot of black people, which we are severely lacking at Degrassi,” he dryly turned down.

“Phantom of the Opera,” another person suggested, and he perked up at that. Phantom Of The Opera was a highly esteemed production with a dramatic and engaging plot….

“Too dark. We need something light,” Marisol rejected, and then her face lit up. “The Little Mermaid!” She exclaimed.

“Absolutely fucking not,” he rejected harshly, his stomach turning at the very idea.

“Why not? It’s bright, it’s colorful, it’s cheery! It’s what Degrassi needs right now!” Marisol argued.

“The last thing I want is to have my name attached to any Disney production,” he replied.

“Well let’s put it to vote,” Marisol challenged while standing up. “Who thinks the Little Mermaid would be a great idea for this fall?”

When more than half of the people raised their hands, Eli wanted to rip his hair out. There was no way this was actually happening. He didn’t deserve this.

“ Fine ,” he accepted bitterly, “Marisol, since this is your brilliant idea, you can direct this because I’m not.”

“But…I never directed anything before,” she replied in confusion.

“Well there’s a first time for everything right?” He asked her with a fake, tight smile. She looked fearful at the prospect, but he didn’t care. “Auditions can be held tomorrow,” he added as he went to write down the title of the musical on the white board.

He was not going to direct anything sugary and colorful. It wasn’t his style. Since Marisol was so insistent on doing this musical, he was going to give the reins to her.

That way if the show flopped, everyone would know who to blame.

After practice ended early, Dallas waited outside a classroom for the object of his desires to leave. Despite hooking up with that Lakehurst girl at the party, he still had quite a few girls at Degrassi he was into. Plus after what happened to J.T., the idea of involving himself with girls from the enemy school was an unpleasant one. After all, if he messed with the wrong one, her ex boyfriend or his friend might stab him.

People began walking out of the classroom after a few minutes, and Marisol Lewis, his next conquest, was one of them. “Sup,” he asked as he sauntered up to her. Marisol was one of the finest girls in school, and single. Drew advised him not to pursue her because of his own bad history with her but just because Drew fucked up with her doesn’t mean he would. He was an expert when it came to girls.

“Hi…,” she greeted back and he could see the unease in her smile. Well, he could easily win her over. 

“How would you like to go on a date with one of Degrassi’s future star athletes?” He asked with a flirtatious smirk.

“No thanks, I’m kinda busy at the moment,” she rejected as she moved to get away from him, but he blocked her path. He got this.

“Why, because of that Lakehurst boy you were dancing with at the party? I wouldn’t take my chances with him, I’m the much better option,” he replied. 

“Oh yeah? Well what do you have that he doesn’t besides not being from that school?” She asked while folding her arms.

“I know how to treat a girl right on a date, give me a chance and I’ll take care of you. How about you and me at The Dot tomorrow after school?” He offered.

“I apparently have auditions tomorrow after school but I’ll see if I can squeeze you in,” she accepted with a shrug before moving past her. He watched the back of her in desire. She would make a fine addition on his arm, and maybe another notch on his belt. He heard that she was quite ran through so sex from her shouldn’t be too hard to get.

As he began to start walking to his next class, his phone vibrated from his pocket. He pulled it out and saw that he got a text from one of the girls he used to mess with at his old school, Vanessa. 

“We need to talk” was what the message read. He chose to ignore it by putting his cellphone back in his pocket and continuing to walk to class.

Jenna didn’t see K.C. all morning until she entered math class where he was talking with Connor. “Hey babe,” she greeted with a purr as she walked over and kissed him on the cheek.

“Hey,” he greeted back with a smile as he turned his attention towards her. “What are we doing tonight?” He asked her. She knew that he was hoping it involved a lot of making out while her oldest brother wasn’t home. Well, unfortunately Kyle had something different in mind for tonight. She smiled nervously.

“How does the idea of meeting all of my brothers at a family dinner sound to you?” She asked him.

“Um…..interesting,” he answered with an uncomfortable look on his face, “Your brothers know about us?”

“I accidentally let it slip while helping Kyle wash his car, sorry,” she apologized sheepishly. Her older brother definitely wasn’t pleased to find out that she had a boyfriend at her age, and he went into super overprotective big brother mode instantly. Then after he calmed down, he blabbed to all of her other brothers. “He’s willing to give you a chance, and you don’t have to do much, just be yourself…but better!” She finished.

“This will be fun,” K.C. replied, and the sarcasm in his voice made her slump her shoulders in sadness. She sat down and tried to think nothing of it as she pulled out her completed homework for the day. She was pretty sure she got half the problems on her worksheet wrong and it was going to be embarrassing when she was called up to put her answers on the board.

K.C. went back to talking with Connor, and she tried not to feel too bad over his reaction. Every boy was scared to meet his girlfriend’s family, and she was sure that Kyle, Michael, Rory, and Brandon were going to make the dinner uncomfortable for him just because they could. The unfortunate side effect of her being the only sister in their family, and the youngest at that.

The bell rang for class, and Jenna tried to focus on class instead of the dreadful dinner tonight.

Eli hung up posters and an audition sheet for the musical outside of the cafeteria. As soon as he put up the sign up sheet, there were girls lining up to audition for Ariel. Well, he supposed he couldn’t be mad at people being excited to involve themselves in the production at least. He went over to his lunch table to sit with Mo and Jake. 

He was taken aback when he saw Marisol and Katie there too. Jake usually sat at a different table with the girls, and he was glad for it because being around Marisol still made him feel things he shouldn’t. But here she was sitting at his table and he would just have to deal with it. Bracing himself, he sat down at the table in the middle of Mo and Marisol having a conversation.

"You should have seen the way the guy's guts exploded in the movie. It was epic," Mo said with a goofy smile while making an exploding gesture with his hands.

"How did I ever date you?" Marisol asked in disgust.

"I don't know but you were crazy for ending things. Imagine not being able to cuddle with this every day," Mo answered while pointing at himself in pride. She rolled her eyes in response before she finally noticed him. "Hey Eli, are you going to actually help me with this musical or are you going to leave me out to dry?" She questioned..

“I’m only looking over the script,” he answered while throwing up his hands defensively, “You wanted this, this is all on you.”

“So you’re not even going to help me with auditions? Come on, I know musicals aren’t your thing but I need help, and you know way more about this stuff than me. I’m begging for you to at least help me co-direct…please,” Marisol pleaded to him. He pursed his lips. He absolutely did not want to help her. On the other hand, he supposed that it would reflect badly on the entire drama department if he let Marisol ruin the entire musical by herself. And he also knew that part of being a director is getting assigned to projects he may not want to do. Sighing, he decided to give in.

"Fine, only because I refuse to allow even this kind of show to fail," he replied. She squealed excitedly in response.

"Yay!" She exclaimed before getting up and running to hug him, catching him off guard. "We're going to make an AWESOME team!" She added.

He didn't know whether it was the feel of her soft skin or the smell of her strawberry shampoo, but it made his body heat up in warmth.

Dallas walked out of the school when it was over, feeling triumphant. He scored a hot date with Marisol and he had high hopes that it was going to have a happy ending for him. Whistling, he made his way over to Drew and his sister, who were waiting for their mom to pick them up.

For some reason, they were talking to Vanessa, who immediately spotted him. “Dallas!” She called out to him.

“What the hell are you doing here, are you stalking me?” He demanded. He signaled for his friends to leave them.

“I texted you earlier that we need to talk, and you didn’t respond back,” she answered while folding her arms.

“Because we’re done, or did you not know what a break up text means?” He replied dismissively.

“This is important, Michael ,” she declared, and the use of his full name made him cringe. “I took a pregnancy test last night and it said I’m pregnant,” she revealed. His response was immediate.

“Well, it’s not mine,” he denied. Him and Vanessa had sex several times this summer but he used a condom.

“But it is, because you’re the only guy I slept with and the condom must have broke,” she insisted while stepping closer to him. “It’s yours Dallas, don’t deny it.”

“You’re just trying to trap me because you can’t handle that we’re not together anymore. I’m not falling for it,” he replied, annoyed. It wouldn’t surprise him. His dad warned him that when he became a star athlete that girls would constantly try to get pregnant from him so they could get that high paycheck from child support.

She glared at him. “You may think you’re going to run away from responsibility, but you’re not. This baby is yours and I’m not raising it alone,” she said before finally walking away from him. He scowled at the back of her retreating figure. Drew approached him.

“Who was that and what did she want from you?” He asked him.

“Nobody, just some crazy girl I used to fuck with that wants more attention,” he dismissed.

During the evening, Jenna set the plates and utensils on the dinner table. Kyle made spaghetti and Caesar salad and her other brothers were each bringing a dish. After she was done, she paced around the table while feeling incredibly anxious. She didn’t know how tonight was going to go and she was scared. If anything went wrong she might be banned from seeing K.C. again.

There was a knock on the door, and she nervously went to answer it. Her hands were sweating as she turned the doorknob. To her relief (or not), it was just Rory and his girlfriend, Christine.

“What’s up, bumblebee? We made lasagna!” He greeted cheerfully while holding up a Tupperware bin with the food in it. Him and Christine moved past her to put the food in the kitchen. Her brother Rory played football at the University of Toronto.

Another few minutes passed, and Michael showed up next with a tray of chocolate chip cookies. He had his kids Janie and Brian with him. Out of all of her older brothers, Michael’s reaction to K.C. was what she feared the most. He worked at a youth detention center and she feared that he would be able to just smell the former delinquent off of K.C.

Finally, Brandon arrived with a twelve pack case of beer. 

“Beer again? Really?” Kyle asked him wearily. No matter what the occasion, their youngest brother was guaranteed to bring alcohol no matter how inappropriate it was.

“Everyone loves Budweiser,” Brandon answered casually before reaching over and tugging playfully on her hair. “Hey little sis. I’m pretty excited to meet this boyfriend of yours tonight,” he added. Jenna smiled at him. Brandon was probably her favorite brother.

“Where is he, anyway? He should have been here before the rest of us,” Michael questioned as he sat down primly on a couch. 

“He’ll be here soon, I promise,” Jenna assured him while looking pointedly at the clock. She hoped K.C. wouldn’t be late. That was the last thing that needed to happen.

The doorbell rang and before she could answer it, Michael got up from his seat in a hurry and opened up the door. There was K.C. on the other side, and he was wearing a dress shirt and pants that both looked too big for his size. He had a nervous smile on his face.

“Hi,” he greeted shyly. Michael looked him up and down critically before stepping aside to let K.C. in the house. He didn’t even say hi back.

“Hey baby,” she greeted him with a warm smile before kissing him on the cheek. “You look great.”

“I had to get whatever I could get from the clothing bin at the group home,” he replied to her in a whisper so that none of her brothers could hear it. Then Kyle called them all to dinner.

She could see how tense her boyfriend was as everyone passed around the food. He didn’t really make eye contact with any of her brothers. Whenever he ate his spaghetti or salad, he would put the fork up slowly to his mouth and chew on it softly in an attempt to look proper.

“So K.C. what do you like doing in your free time?” Rory asked him kindly.

“I play basketball and football, sir,” K.C. answered quickly. 

“Awesome choices, do you plan on going pro someday after high school?” 

“I might, but I’m mostly concerned about getting into a university with a great STEM program.”

“STEM? You’re into science?” Michael questioned with a surprised look on his face. K.C. turned to look at him and swallowed before answering.

“Yes, I’m really into physics. But if my athletic career at Degrassi goes well, I can see myself doing sports in university as well.”

“Jenna did say that you’re part of the gifted program so that’s good that you have interest in such a strong field,” Michael replied, “So what’s your home life like?”

“Michael!” Jenna sharply scolded her brother but K.C. grabbed her hand and squeezed it from underneath the table.

“No, no, it’s fine,” K.C. said, “I live at a children’s home, sir.”

Jenna was surprised that he answered honestly. She knew that he didn’t like talking about the fact that he lived in a group home with other kids. 

“What’s a children’s home?” One of his children asked innocently. That was when K.C. shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“A place for kids who can’t currently be with their parents at the moment,” he answered before quietly going back to eating his food, but that wasn’t the end of things. As the dinner continued, all of her brothers kept asking him questions. 

By the time dinner was over and it was time for everyone to leave, Jenna could tell that K.C. was glad that it was over. She walked over to her boyfriend, who volunteered to help clean the dishes.

"I think you made a really good impression on my brothers tonight. They all really like you," she complimented him.

"Yeah after they heard my whole life story," he grumbled.

The only thing Jenna could do was frown sadly.

In class the next day, Eli looked up videos of The Little Mermaid musical on YouTube. As he watched one show, he took notes on the costuming, set design, and performances. He hated how bright and colorful everything was but it had to be done that way.

Next to him was Marisol, who was playing with her nails after finishing her assignment for the day. They were French tips with a ballerina shape and he could tell that she had just gotten them done yesterday. He had to admit that they looked good on her hands.

Marisol noticed him staring, and smiled at him instead of looking at him in disgust. “You like them? I have a date tonight after auditions and I needed a manicure,” she asked him.

“A date? With who?” He asked her back with a raised eyebrow.

“Mike Dallas,” she answered, and something flared up in Eli. 

“Cool…,” he replied with a nod. However, inside he certainly didn’t think it was cool. Surely Marisol could do better than some dumb jock even if she was a spoiled princess.

He tried to visualize Marisol and Dallas kissing in the hallways, and it only made him angry.

Dallas would love to say that he didn’t spend all night thinking about Vanessa but it wasn’t true. He was actually panicking.

They used a condom, but somehow she still got pregnant? It didn’t make sense and he wanted to believe that her baby wasn’t going to be his. However, deep down he knew that there was a very low probability that Vanessa slept with anyone else that summer. She was madly in love with him for the entirety of their eighth grade year. He just wanted to stand by the slim hope that she was only trying to trap him.

As he looked around the lunch room, his eyes fell on Marisol, who was happily chatting with her friend Katie about something. If everyone at Degrassi found out that he knocked a girl up, his reputation would be ruined. Not only would Marisol refuse to go anywhere near him, but no girl at Degrassi would want to date a guy with a kid. And then there would be the issue with sports. A baby would prevent him from attending practices and possibly even games.

Dallas had the urge to just pack his bags and just run. Run as far away from Toronto as possible. Maybe he could go to the United States or go all the way to Japan under a new identity. He could get his name changed to something random, like Demetrius Joyette. Yeah, that could work.

“Dallas, earth to Dallas,” Drew called to him, and he was suddenly brought back to reality. His friend was tapping his pen onto their health textbook. “Remember you promised that we were going to work on our homework together?” He reminded him. “I don’t know where to even start with this shit.”

“Yeah…,” Dallas answered slowly as he looked down at the textbook. He then blanched when he saw the subject they were covering. It was coincidentally about the different types of pregnancy.

Dallas could feel himself getting very sweaty.

“I think last night really upset him. He won’t even talk to me,” Jenna said to Alli as they got their books out of their lockers.

“Maybe he was just overwhelmed by everything. You guys haven’t even been dating for a month and already he had to meet your brothers. He probably just needs some time,” Alli reasoned. She then took out a tube of hot pink lipstick and began applying it to her lips in a small compact mirror.

“I guess,” Jenna replied as she closed her locker. She then turned around to see K.C. talking with Clare, who was dressed in a stylish blouse, jeans, and cut out heels. Her long hair was pin straight for once. Her boyfriend shared a laugh with her friend and she suddenly felt on edge.

“Clare’s looking rather different these days…,” she mentioned as she continued to watch them interact. Something about the way they were talking had an aura she didn’t like.

“Yes, and thank Allah for that. She’s a pretty girl and now she’s actually dressing like one,” Alli replied before dramatically sighing in relief. “She’s getting a lot of attention from boys now.”

Clare said something that caused K.C. to smile, a real genuine one. It made her super uncomfortable. There was a strong chance that Clare still liked K.C. and could be plotting to steal him from her. It wouldn’t surprise her too much as she knew plenty of boyfriend stealers at her old school (and she was one of them) but she wouldn’t expect it from her saintly little Clarebear. She had to think of something. 

The two of them finally stopped talking and Clare walked up to her and Alli with a smile. “Hey guys,” she greeted.

“Hi Clarebear! What were you and K.C. talking about?” Jenna asked her.

“Oh, just science class, nothing serious,” Clare assured her. For some reason, Jenna didn’t believe her.

“Well Alli and I were talking and we noticed that a lot of boys are noticing you now, why don’t we get you a boyfriend?” She offered.

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Clare replied with a little laugh.

“It’s very necessary. In fact I have the perfect guy in mind for you, Clarebear,” Jenna insisted. Her friend folded her arms.

“And who’s that?” Clare questioned.

“Connor!”

After school, Eli sat at a table with Marisol doing auditions. For the lead role of Ariel, the people auditioning were required to sing Part of Your World. So far two girls sounded really good so they were most likely going to get the part. The other important roles were for King Triton, Prince Eric, and Ursula. 

Marisol was really taking this musical seriously so far, he had to hand it to her. She was carefully paying attention to each audition and taking down notes of that person’s performance. She also actually showed up earlier than him. Maybe they really could be a team.

After the fifteenth audition, she looked down at her watch, which was cat-themed with a white band and rose gold trimmings. “I have to leave early,” she said while preparing to get up. He knew why she had to leave early. It was because of her stupid date with Dallas. Well, he was going to have to delay that a bit.

“No, no, I need you to stay with me during the rest of the audition process,” he insisted. 

“But I don’t want to be late,” she said in confusion.

“I’m sure Dallas will understand,” he replied with a smile, “It will only be a few minutes, promise,” he assured her while gesturing to the short line of people. She pulled out her cellphone to send Dallas a text and sat back down. 

He tried not to smirk in victory as the next person came up.

Dallas was watching the score for the basketball game on one of The Dot TVs when Marisol finally arrived. “Sorry I’m late, auditions for The Little Mermaid were running slow,” she apologized as she took a seat across from him.

“It’s alright, beautiful. As long as you’re here,” he assured her with a dazzling smile. Their waiter, Spinner, came around.

“What would you kids like?” He asked them.

“I would like a bacon cheeseburger with seasoned fries and a Pepsi,” Dallas answered while looking at Marisol, “And I’m pretty sure she wants a salad.”

“No I’ll have the same thing you got with cheese sauce and a strawberry milkshake,” Marisol corrected with an amused smile. He raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“Those orders will be coming right up,” Spinner replied to them both cheerfully before walking away.

“A girl like you eating that kind of stuff?” He asked her. She folded her arms on the table.

“Just because I’m a popular cheerleader doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy a good burger every once in a while, especially when I’m really hungry,” she replied. “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Dallas assured her. “So Marisol, I heard a lot of things about you, are they true?” 

“Like what?” She answered.

“Like you being the school hoe,” he answered. She pressed her lips in a tight line.

“No,” she denied firmly, and the tone in her voice left no further argument.

“Awesome,” he replied, relieved. As fine as Marisol was, he didn’t want to bite into something half the guys in their grade had a piece of first.

“What about you? Any dark secrets I need to know about you?” She asked back.

He immediately thought of Vanessa and her baby announcement. He then buried it in the back of his mind where hopefully it would never leave.

“Nope,” he answered as Spinner brought them their drinks.

Later that night, K.C. was over her house while Kyle was on a date with his girlfriend, and they were just enjoying each other.

Jenna giggled as K.C. kissed on her neck, the sensation being unfamiliar to her. “You’re going to give me a hickey!” She exclaimed.

“Good,” he replied and she could feel his smirk on her skin. With each make out session, they did something a little more daring but never pushing the envelope. Her boyfriend reached down and squeezed her leg, giving her goosebumps.

She pushed him away gently and gave him her best sultry look. “I think we should do something special tonight,” she declared.

“Like what?” K.C. asked.

“I’ll show you,” she answered as she reached down and grabbed his belt buckle.

She was going to do anything to keep K.C. away from Clare and that meant doing things that her friend would never do with a boy.

Chapter Text

The first thing Mo did when he entered the school was hang up posters advertising auditions for his new band. As a guy that was into music, he was definitely ready to have a rocking band that was going to play at all of the hottest rock competitions and parties. The only issue was that he didn’t have a name for it yet but he was sure it would come to him.

After putting up the latest poster outside the boy’s restroom, he turned around to see Imogen suddenly in front of him. He jumped. “Jeez girl, don’t scare me like that!” He scolded.

“Aw don’t be such a baby,” Imogen replied with a pout, “So what are these posters for?” She asked while looking at the poster.

“I’m starting up a new band!” Mo answered enthusiastically.

“Ooh I love that! Can I join?” She asked again more excitedly.

His smile faltered as he struggled to find an answer. If any girls joined his band, they would have to be hot and the issue was that Imogen was more weird than hot. He didn’t know if that would be a good look. 

“Immy, how should I say this?” He began, already feeling bad for what he was about to say. But he had to be blunt about this. “If I’m going to have any girls in the band, they’re going to have to give sex appeal and I don’t know if you can provide that,” he explained.

“Why not? You don’t think I’m pretty?” She questioned in confusion. Mo whacked his brain for the right answer.

“It’s not that you aren’t pretty but-”

“Nonsense,” she cut him off while looking at the sheet of paper, “Auditions are during lunch tomorrow? I’ll be right there.”

Before he could protest, she turned away from him and skipped off somewhere, humming a happy tune to herself. Mo didn’t know what to think. He couldn’t exactly turn down his best friend could he? But he didn’t even know what Imogen could bring to the table. He had never seen her play any kind of instrument.

He guessed he would have to find out.

After another night of bad dreams, Connor found him barely able to function as he sat in his first class of the day.

His sleep has not been pleasant since the night J.T. Yorke was stabbed. He would either get nightmares or see things in the darkness that weren’t there in his state of hypnagogia. It led to him playing video games at a later time than he was supposed to because there was no use in trying to go to sleep on his own. He supposed things could have been worse. J.T. could have actually died and the guilt he was feeling could have been much more severe.

“Connor, we don’t have nap time in junior high,” Mr. Binns scolded him, and Connor quickly shook himself awake. He didn’t even realize that he was dozing off. He looked around the room to see everyone staring at him. He awkwardly diverted his attention to the copybook on his desk. There were barely any notes written in it from today’s lesson so far.

“Sorry, Mr. Binns,” he apologized and his teacher gave him one final harsh look before going back to teaching. Everyone else in the classroom went back to copying down notes to his relief. He didn’t like being the center of attention.

Despite his best efforts to be more alert, he found that his vision was still hazy for the rest of the class.

“So my dad is making us go to this church every Sunday and I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty boring,” Jake said before biting into his chicken sandwich. The school’s chicken sandwiches weren’t going to win them any restaurant awards but they were surprisingly not bad.

His girlfriend seemed to be not paying attention. She had her head rested in her fist as she ate her food, which was a big hoagie, a salad, a bag of chips, and a big jug of water. The large amount of food that she was consuming these days was a surprise to him considering that last year she was barely eating anything during lunch. He would say that he was happy that she was actually eating like a normal teenager now, but something about this was off.

“You okay, babe?” He asked her in concern. Katie looked up at him in confusion. “Yeah, why?” She asked back.

“I don’t know. It seems like you’re in another world,” he pointed out as he looked at her, “Or ready to pass out.”

Katie was looking a little sickly these days with yellow skin and bloodshot eyes. He wondered if she was coming down with the flu but she said that she already had her shot for the season.

“I’m fine, Jake,” she assured him as she finished her food. Then she excused herself to the restroom. That was another recent thing. At the end of every lunch period, Katie would go to the bathroom. While she was gone, he looked at her empty chair, wondering if he was missing out on something.

When she came back, she stumbled a little and grabbed her chair so she would have something to hold onto. “Woah, are you sure you’re okay?” He asked as he went to help, helping her sit down.

“I’m fine, Jake,” she repeated, “Just tired. I studied all night for our French exam later.”

“Well not getting a proper night’s sleep isn’t going to help you pass it,” he replied, “Do you need some water?”

Just before she was about to answer, the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period. 

“A quick kiss before we go to our classes?” Katie asked with a pleading smile. Jake smiled back before leaning down and pressing his lips to hers. 

The taste of puke on her lips threw him off, along with the foul stench of her breath.

Mo ran into Eli just as he was heading to his final class of the day. “Elijah, boy do I have a proposition for you!” He declared excitedly.

“If it’s about your band, I’m not joining. Sorry man,” Eli rejected.

“Why not? It’s going to be wicked!” 

“Well first of all I can’t sing so that removes me from the frontman position, and two I have never touched an instrument in my life other than the toy drum set I got for Christmas when I was six…..that had beer stains on it within a week,” Eli answered.

“The child of rocker people has to be musically talented in some area. You can be our songwriter!” Mo insisted, feeling desperate at this point. His best friend sighed. 

“I need inspiration to do that. Writing doesn’t come easily without that,” Eli replied just as they walked by Marisol at her locker talking with Dallas. The couple was obviously flirting and Dallas ran his finger along her arm.

His friend looked back at them in surprise, before looking back at him. “…..When did those two start dating?” He questioned.

“Like a few days ago I don’t know,” Mo answered. He hadn’t kept up much with what his ex was doing these days since he stopped being mascot for the cheerleading team.

“Dallas is an asshole, she could do way better than him and yet she’s choosing to degrade herself,” Eli replied gruffly, and Mo could see how jealous his friend was. He shook his head before an idea came to him.

“I think there’s that inspiration you need for a song my friend,” he said with a hopeful smile while wrapping his arm around Eli.

Eli had a look of confusion on his friend but said nothing more as they walked to class.

After retrieving his homework for the night, Connor closed up his locker and started walking the hallways. Snake was going to drive him, Emma, and Manny home for the day since Spike was having a busy day at the salon.

As he walked, he tried not to stumble as his vision grew fuzzy. He didn’t eat anything today at lunch; He didn’t have the stomach for it. He had picked up a burger and when he poured ketchup on it, he noticed it looked like blood. It immediately killed his appetite. Ketchup was the only topping he liked on his burgers, but now he couldn’t stand the sight of the condiment.

Admittedly he hadn’t had the stomach to eat anything much these days since the stabbing.

When his vision grew black with small dots of color crackling into his sight, he tried his best to lean on the nearest surface without falling. His legs felt weak.

“Connor?” He heard Clare’s voice call out to him. “Are you okay?”

“No,” he answered numbly and his own voice felt far away.

“Alli, go to the nurse’s office! I’m going to stay here with Connor!” Clare ordered, and Connor heard heels rapidly clacking against the floor.

He sank down to the wall while holding his head. Soon he felt a warm embrace wrap around him and he knew it was Clare.

Jake wouldn’t say he was in a great mood when he went home today and it was because of lunch.

Katie having puke breath burned in his mind for the rest of the day and Jake’s mind was running like a machine trying to come up with a reason for why she would have it. When he and Katie kissed this morning, her breath smelled normal.

‘She’s probably sick and threw up some mucus,’ was what he tried to think. It would make sense since she wasn’t looking great these days to say the least. And even with the flu shot, it was possible to still get a little cold. However, a darker thought was simmering in the back of his head, one that he didn’t even want to consider.

Katie always went to the bathroom right after eating her lunch every day. He didn’t think much of it before today but now he was realizing just how weird it was. And whenever she came back from the bathroom, her eyes were always a little watery. Then there was the way she stumbled around easily these days. Clumsy was the last thing he would use to describe his girlfriend. She was always well composed.

At his computer, Jake typed up all of these symptoms and pressed enter on the Google search bar. When the results came up, he felt his stomach tighten in dread.

“Ten signs someone you know is bulimic” was the first result that popped up, and all of the ones below it were also related to bulimia or anorexia. A preview of images popped up and there were really some fucked up pictures of girls vomiting into toilets or weighing themselves on a scale. He felt himself begin to sweat as he realized something.

Katie always had a weird relationship with food.

“Agent 69, how’s that for a band name?” Mo asked with a goofy smile as he and Eli did their history homework. They were at Eli’s house and sitting on his bed.

“If you don’t want to be taken seriously, sure,” Eli answered dryly.

“What about the Moldy Jesuses?”

“Mo, I’m not joining your band if it has a shitty ass name.”

“Well what’s your suggestion genius?” Mo demanded.

“Something simple yet powerful like Nirvana,” Eli answered. “You want something that sums up your band’s type of music in simple terms.”

There were a million ways they could do that, and Mo didn’t have the brain power to go a specific way about this. 

“If we don’t come up with a cool name by tomorrow, then I’m calling us ‘Unnamed’,” Mo joked but only a little.

His friend shrugged. “Maybe that could work,” he replied just as Cece appeared in the doorway.

“The tacos are ready! And I made special turkey tacos for you, Mo!” She announced cheerfully.

Turkey tacos sounded gross but Mo smiled at her anyway. Eli’s mom was always trying to be accommodating whenever he was over for dinner and he appreciated that. His own parents did too.

“Maybe we could call ourselves the Flying Tacos,” Mo joked again as Eli rolled his eyes in response.

Connor tossed and turned in his bed as he had a nightmare.

It was the night of Liberty’s birthday party and instead of being upstairs in his room, he was outside by J.T. Yorke’s car. Everything was eerily quiet when there was just loud music booming from inside the house.

He turned around to go back inside the house when he felt a sharp pain in his back. Then he felt it again. And again. He opened his mouth to scream but no words were coming out. He turned around to see Drake Lempkey, the Lakehurst kid who stabbed J.T. smiling evilly at him. Connor tried to run, but his legs wouldn’t move. 

Drake raised his knife and Connor raised his hands up to defend himself but it was too late. Before he knew it, the knife was suddenly in his gut. His body felt on fire.

“AH!” Connor screamed as he woke up, jumping upright in his bed. He desperately looked around the room, scared that Drake Lempkey was going to jump out from somewhere in the darkness. It took him a few minutes to control his frantic breathing.

There was a knock on his bedroom door. “Connor! Connor? Are you okay?” Spike asked him on the other side, and he heard her trying to open the door to no success. Ever since that fateful party, he had locked his door every night.

He got up out of his bed and opened it for his godmother. She was only in her nightgown and her hair was all over her head. “What happened?” She asked in concern.

“I dreamed about the stabbing again,” he answered as he still felt the shadow of a knife stabbing him.

“Oh honey,” she replied with worry etched on her face, “I think it’s best if you don’t go to school tomorrow. First thing in the morning, I’m taking you to a therapy office.”

“But what about schoolwork?” He asked. Being absent was an inconvenience due to missing the lessons of the day.

“Your friends can come over and bring whatever notes and homework they have to you, but this is more important. We have to do something about these nightmares,” Spike reasoned while reaching up and squeezing his shoulder. Connor was only fourteen but he was towering over her.

“If you say so,” he replied, not really enthused about missing school.

But the nightmares and lack of appetite were certainly an inconvenience.

In class the next morning, Jake found himself not being able to take his eyes off of Katie. Every little thing she did, he paid attention to see if there were any more signs of her being bulimic.

The more he came to terms with that possibility, the more scared he got. If she was bulimic, and it worsened, the consequences could result in something serious or deadly. He didn’t want to lose another person in his life he deeply cared about.

“May I go to the bathroom?” Katie asked the teacher. 

“Sure, let me follow you since I also have to go,” the teacher replied as he got up from his desk. He looked at everyone in class. “Don’t burn the room down,” he ordered as he and Katie left the classroom. Immediately the whole room burst into an explosion of loud chatter.

Jake took this as an opportunity to pick up Katie’s journal from her desk. In contrast to Marisol’s fuzzy pink diary, Katie’s journal was a plain blue composition book with her full name printed on the front. He opened up the book to see if there was anything suspicious in it.

He immediately found an entry dated from last night.

‘I only consumed five hundred calories today, not counting the lunch I purged earlier. I felt disgusting even eating it but I don’t want Jake or Marisol to suspect anything, especially Marisol. She seems to always know what’s going on with me. She would judge me but she doesn’t know how easy she has it. She can eat like a pig every day and somehow burn all of that fat off her body but I can’t even eat a cookie without feeling like I poisoned my body. Sometimes I hate Marisol because it seems like she can always keep a perfect body no matter what she does to it. She’s always getting praised for her looks by boys while I’m worried that Jake will dump me if I gain too much weight.

I have been pleased lately with the weight I’m losing. I checked myself on the scale this morning like always and I have appeared to have lost more pounds than I did last week. My weight is now at ninety eight. The goal is to be at a ninety five by next week. The best thing to do is skip breakfast and only drink water, continue purging my lunch, and only eat a small amount of dinner,’ it read.

Jake closed her journal and put it back on her desk, a sick feeling falling over him. His girlfriend was actually bulimic. The evidence was right there and there was no use in coming up with other possibilities as to what was wrong with her lately.

Now he was the one that needed to throw up.

After getting his lunch, Mo headed to the music room for auditions. He was actually really excited for this even though he was dreading Imogen’s audition. However she seemed to be running late as there was a line of people outside and she wasn’t in it.

Eli sat next to him as a judge while each person came up and either sang or played an instrument. Most of them performed poorly to his great annoyance.

The first promising person came up, and he played the bass without missing a single beat. Mo looked at him, impressed.

“What’s your kid?” He asked him.

“Gracie Torres,” the kid answered. Mo shared a confused look with Eli.

“Gracie is a weird name for a guy,” he replied.

“I’m not a guy, I’m a girl,” the kid corrected, and he widened his eyes in surprise.

“Oh,” he replied, blinking, “My bad.” He could hardly tell she was a girl with the way she was dressed in a dark hoodie, a grey beanie, and baggy jeans. She must be a tomboy. Or a lesbian.

“It’s all good!” She reassured him enthusiastically, and there was a thoughtful expression on her face. 

After her, there seemed to be no other auditions. Mo was putting his notes into his bag, ready to close up when he heard Imogen’s voice. “Is it too late to audition?” She asked, and Mo looked up.

If he was in a cartoon, his jaw would have literally dropped to the floor at the sight of her. Imogen’s hair was worn straight down her back and she wore a tight red mini dress with matching red boots and fishnet stockings. Flame-shaped earrings dangled from her ears both her eyeshadow and lipstick was a vibrant orange. 

“You said you needed your female band members to look hot and so I spent like  twenty minutes getting ready,” Imogen explained, “How do I look?”

It was like he swallowed a lemon. Mo found himself not being able to say anything, but fortunately Eli did despite the bad history between him and Imogen.

“Great. Are you singing or playing an instrument?” Eli asked her. Imogen’s face brightened in realization.

“Wait! Hold on!” She urged before running back out to the hallway. She then came back in, pushing a table with glass cups and a tambourine on it. “I can play cups, I can play tambourine, I can even sing! I’m the whole package! Let me show you guys!” She declared. Imogen then auditioned, but Mo couldn’t find himself paying attention to how good she sounded.

He was more focused on how gorgeous she looked in her own little way.

After leaving the therapist’s office, Spike got him McDonald’s afterwards. In all honesty Connor didn’t feel like eating any of his meal but he did for his godmother’s sake. Spike had enough of worrying about everyone in the household these days and he didn’t want to add more by not eating. She would mistake him for having an eating disorder like Emma did last year.

After taking a bite out of his Big Mac, he focused on eating his fries. He liked eating everything in a separate pattern and he didn’t like his food to mix in his mouth. So he would take a bite out of his burger, then eat some fries, then drink some of his soda. He would save the ice cream for last.

Someone knocked on the front door and he got up to look in the peephole. When he saw that it was K.C., he immediately opened the door up. 

“K.C.! It’s a pleasure to see you!” He greeted him while stepping aside to let his friend through. “Did you bring me schoolwork?”

“I did,” his friend confirmed as he set his book bag on the table, “And I also came to talk.”

“About what?” Connor asked.

“So Clare, Alli, Jenna, and I have been talking and it’s pretty obvious that you’re suffering from some serious PTSD from what you saw,” K.C. began as he sat down at the table. Connor chose to sit across from him. “I never saw a guy get stabbed but I did see some pretty messed up stuff back when I was living with my mom.”

Curious, Connor said nothing but he silently urged his friend to continue. K.C. took a deep breath before saying more.

“When I was ten, my mom had one of her ‘friends’ over, and they were shooting up heroin together. When she left to go to the bathroom, he OD’d and I had to go to call 911. The guy died and child protective services took me away because my mom was deemed unfit to raise me. I had nightmares for weeks even when I started living at the group home and they had to put me in a children’s PTSD support group,” he explained.

“How did they stop?” Connor questioned.

“I had to take medication,” K.C. answered before pulling out a flyer from his bag. There was an image of a basketball on it and it was advertising tryouts for the school basketball team. “And I found ways to cope by distracting myself. I played basketball and football to take my mind off of that guy’s body reappearing in my head over and over again.” His friend passed him the flyer and Connor looked it over. He never thought of doing sports because he figured that it wasn’t meant for “nerds” such as himself.

“You think this would help?” He questioned again, pondering the idea. If anything, he definitely had the height to play basketball.

“It might not but it doesn’t hurt to try, right?” K.C. replied with a hopeful look on his face. Connor rubbed his chin.

"I guess not. Thank you K.C. Now let's do homework together," he replied with a smile.

Jake rode over to Katie's house on his bike with dread in his heart. He didn't actually want to confront Katie on this but it was necessary.

He knocked on the doorbell when he arrived. Her little sister Maya opened up the door. "Hi Jake, you're here to hang out with Katie?" She asked.

"Uh, there's um something more important than that," he answered nervously, "Can you go get Katie for me?"

"Sure," the younger Matlin sister answered before leaving. Jake stepped inside and closed the door behind him. The longer he had to wait, the more tense he felt.

Maya walked down the steps with Katie following her, drying her wet hair. She must have just washed her hair.

"Hey babe," Katie greeted him as she walked over and kissed him on the cheek. "What's up?" 

"We need to talk right now outside," he urged. His girlfriend looked at him in confusion but he only grabbed her arm and took her outside where no one could hear them.

"Katie, something has been seriously wrong with you and I know why," he began, "You're bulimic."

She blinked at him in confusion before laughing, but the flash of panic in her eyes said it all. "What? What makes you say that?"

"You always look sick, you're constantly drowsy, you always go to the bathroom after eating a big lunch, and yesterday you tasted like puke when we kissed. Katie, please don't deny this," he answered.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You seriously think I would do that Jake? There's nothing wrong with me, I have just been coming down with a cold lately and-"

"I read your journal today. Last night it said right that you threw up your lunch and was aiming to lose several more pounds by next week," he bluntly confessed, deciding that beating around the bush was pointless.

His girlfriend's face contorted in rage and he knew that he was in trouble. "You read my journal?" She asked angrily.

"Yes because as your boyfriend I'm concerned about how you've been acting lately and my fears were validated today!" He argued.

"Well as my ex -boyfriend, hopefully you take this as a lesson to not invade your next girlfriend's privacy because we are DONE!" Katie yelled. He stepped back in shock over her words.

"You're seriously dumping me over this? Katie, I only did this because I care about you!" He tried to reason with her.

"You can go to hell," she replied icily, "You spend your time off from school getting high with burnouts and yet you're trying to judge me ?" She questioned.

"I'm not judging you. I'm trying to stop you from hurting yourself. Throwing up your lunch everyday isn't healthy, Katie! You need to get help before you destroy yourself! Please listen to me!" He pleaded desperately.

"Fuck you, Jake," she spat before going back inside her house, slamming the door roughly. He tried to open it back up but she quickly locked it. Jake looked at the door, swallowing anxiously.

Now he had to resort to drastic measures.

Chapter Text

In the morning, Katie weighed herself on the scale. When she saw that there was no weight gain from last night, she let out a sigh of relief. After having to dump Jake, she binged on a whole tub of ice cream before throwing it up immediately afterwards.

She was so angry at him violating her privacy by reading her journal but mostly because it scared her what he was going to do with that information. She wanted no one to know about her journey with losing weight. They wouldn’t understand, especially Marisol. A sick feeling grew in her gut at the thought of Jake telling Marisol, and knowing him he would.

She could deny it. She could easily claim that Jake was just saying that she was bulimic because he was mad over their breakup. Marisol was perceptive but sometimes she was wrapped in her own little world that she wouldn’t think anything of it. Katie got off the scale, feeling much better about at least that scenario. She was a better liar than Marisol, that idea could work.

As she got dressed, she thought about the possibility of Jake telling her family and that problem would be more difficult to solve. With her past issues with eating, they were more likely to believe Jake and send her to a doctor. All of the hard work she had been doing would be destroyed. The thought was enough to send her into a panic.

‘Breathe, Katie, breathe,’ she tried to tell herself as she noticed she was beginning to hyperventilate. After controlling her breathing, she rested her hands on both sides of her desk. Looking at herself in the mirror, she tried to see if there were any noticeable signs of her journey. There were none. On the outside, she looked the calm, composed grade nine representative and soccer player she was. 

Jake finding out about what she was doing was an inconvenience but it wouldn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. There wasn’t a problem Katie Matlin couldn’t fix.

Dallas strolled into school looking for his girlfriend. She was at her locker applying lip gloss on her lips as usual. He hoped it was lemon flavored as he liked the taste of it on her lips.

After a week of dating, they haven’t gotten really hot and heavy yet but he hoped it was soon. Even though she denied the rumors of having a train ran on her in seventh grade, she looked like the kind of girl to easily give it up. He would just have to seduce her with sweet words and nice dates.

“Morning beautiful,” he greeted as she closed the locker.

“Hey,” she greeted back as they shared a quick kiss. She was wearing lemon flavored lip gloss just as he hoped. He rested his hand over her hips, squeezing them.

“I was thinking we could go to the Ravine after school and hang out,” he offered. She stiffened under his touch.

“I would rather not,” she firmly rejected.

“Why not? There’s plenty of spots we could have to ourselves as a couple,” he said as he leaned into her ear, “To do all kinds of fun things together.”

“I have bad memories there,” she replied flatly.

“Of what? That date with Drew? It’s not that deep unless the rumors of you whoring out to five older guys afterwards were true,” he argued.

He knew he had said the wrong thing.

Marisol shoved him away and the look in her eyes was murderous but also there was some pain. “Go to hell,” she harshly told him before moving past him, shoving past him roughly. Dallas looked at the back of her. If she was getting that mad over his words then the rumors must have had some truth to them. The thought of that made him queasy. The last thing he needed to do was bring a little hoe to meet his mother. 

His phone beeped in his pocket, and he picked it up to see another text notification from Vanessa. He groaned as he went to block her number. He didn’t even want to read what she sent him. He knew it was about the baby, or specifically her baby. He was going to deny that the baby was his until he had physical proof.

A week later, and the possibility that he knocked a girl up before he even turned fifteen kept him up at night. He wasn’t ready to be a father when he had the next four years ahead of him. There was a whole hockey career to have and many puck bunnies to play with. A baby would ruin that, and he wasn’t ready to handle being someone else’s daddy.

As he headed to his own locker, he passed by the school president, Liberty, and that kid who got stabbed, J.T. They were talking about something and sharing a lighthearted laugh. He heard that as soon as J.T. got out of the hospital, he dumped his girlfriend Mia and got back together with Liberty. Considering that Mia had a kid, getting back together with the girl who didn’t have a baby was the smart thing to do. He would do the same.

He walked by the school nursery that was still being built. He quickly moved past it as if he was going to get hit by a giant fireball if he didn’t.

Anything baby-related was enough to scare him these days.

Imogen didn’t get much sleep last night, mostly because she was worried about her dad somehow burning down the house if she did. Yesterday when she came home from school, there was small smoke coming out of the kitchen. Her father forgot that he was cooking hot dogs and went upstairs to take a bath.

She thought about telling her mother, but she would just assume her dad had something wrong with him and take her away from Degrassi. Imogen wanted to believe that there was nothing wrong with her dad, he was just being forgetful in his increasingly old age. However it did worry her about how rapidly his forgetfulness was increasing over the years. Sometimes he forgot to do the simple things, like showering or getting dressed. Other times, he would forget to do things that would have more dangerous consequences, like forgetting to turn the burner off on the stove…

“Immy, we got band practice after school today, right?” She heard Gracie ask her, snapping her out of her thoughts. She turned around to see her new friend leaning on the locker next to hers.

“Um…yeah,” she replied a little absentmindedly. Gracie’s face shifted in concern.

“You okay?” She asked her.

“Definitely! Never been better!” Imogen claimed with fake cheer in her voice. “We’re going to have the best band in Degrassi history!”

“I hope so. I need to prove to my mom that being in this band is a better extracurricular activity instead of something boring, like the junior choir,” Gracie replied with a dramatic shudder.

“Well anything with friends is going to be a wonderful experience!” Imogen claimed as her and Gracie began to walk. Her mother had always wanted her to make female friends and that had been a struggle over the years to say the least. Majority of the female population at Degrassi found her to be a freak, and only now did she no longer had to deal with snide remarks from the most popular girl of them all (at least in grade nine), Marisol Lewis. However, since last year she has had Gracie as a friend and it has been pretty great to finally have a girl best friend.

Even if Gracie behaved more like a boy than a girl.

“If only our band had a name,” Gracie mused. “All of the best bands have cool names.”

Imogen had thought about that and she asked Mo a few times about what he could name their band, but he didn’t have any good suggestions. Eli (who she wasn’t exactly enthused about working with but was willing to be civil about it), didn’t have any ideas either about what they could name themselves. So it was up to her to come up with something.

She thought about their reputations in the school. Mo was unpopular because he was fat and small minded people made fun of him for it. Eli was an emo kid who dressed in all black nearly all of the time which caused a lot of kids to stay away from him. Gracie was a tomboy so a lot of girls made fun of her for it. As for herself, she was considered the school weirdo for her eccentric taste in style and her silly personality. So what did that make them?

Outcasts.

“I think I have a name for our totally awesome band, my dear,” Imogen replied with an excited smile as she hooked her arm around Gracie’s. Gracie gave her a curious look as they walked down the halls together.

Katie recorded what went down last night in her journal and tried not to feel guilty about dumping Jake, even if he did deserve it. Even if she wasn’t looking, she could feel his eyes on her. It unnerved her.

Just as she wrote down the last word of the day, the school counselor Ms. Sauvé walked into the classroom while the math teacher was writing notes on the board. “Can I see Katlynn for a bit?” She asked the teacher, making Katie feel on edge and not just because of the use of her full name. For the first time ever, she hoped the math teacher would say no. 

“Is it important?” The teacher asked.

“Very. She needs to leave the class now,” Ms. Sauvé insisted and Katie felt her stomach drop in fear.

“Alright Katie, go with Ms. Sauvé,” her teacher ordered, and she actually felt sick as she got out of her seat. She could feel a million eyes judging her as she followed Ms. Sauvé out of the classroom. A million eyes that wouldn’t understand her if they knew what she was resorting to to keep up her calorie intake.

When they got to Ms. Sauvé’s office, something even worse was waiting for her. Both of her parents were sitting in the office with concerned looks on their faces.

“Have a seat, Katlynn next to your mother,” Ms. Sauvé directed and the urge to start running ran rampant in Katie’s mind. She sat down and felt like the chair was on fire.

“Your boyfriend Jake has told me some troubling things about you. That you throw up at lunch every day, that you’re frequently dizzy, and that your breath smelled of vomit the other day and that you keep a journal recording your calorie intake and weight loss. Katlynn these are all signs of bulimia, a very serious eating disorder,” Ms. Sauvé explained.

“Jake is lying on me because I broke up with him and he decided to come up with this stupid thing. I’m not bulimic, okay? Mom, Dad, you have to believe me!” Katie replied, looking at her parents pleadingly. Her dad shook his head.

“I’m sorry, sugarplum but you had these issues with eating before and we can’t take any chances. We’re taking you out of school for the day to see a doctor,” her father replied regretfully.

Tears welled up in Katie’s eyes. All of her hard work since the beginning of the school year was about to go to waste.

It was a vigorous but fun day of gym class today. They did volleyball, and despite Dallas finding it a weak sport he and Drew dominated against their other classmates.

Wiping the sweat off of his face, Dallas stepped out of the shower and began putting his clothes back on. Drew stepped out of the shower stall next to him and playfully slapped his shoulder. “Great game, man. We killed those other guys,” he said.

“Yeah, hopefully I get a reward from Marisol tonight,” he replied with a smirk.

“Isn’t she like really pissed at you for that remark you made earlier about her whoring out to those five guys at the Ravine?” Drew asked.

“She’ll get over it when I pay for her food,” Dallas reasoned with a shrug, “That is, if it isn’t true.”

“It’s not true. I was there that night, I told you,” Drew replied.

“Then what really happened? I’m getting tired of all these conflicting statements,” Dallas demanded. 

“It’s not my place to say,” Drew answered and Dallas raised an eyebrow.

“The fuck you mean by that?”

“What I saw happen that night is something that Marisol would only tell you when she feels completely safe enough to. But I don’t feel really comfortable discussing it. And I’ll leave it at that,” his friend explained. Dallas shook his head.

“Whatever. Dealing with girls can be such a pain in the ass sometimes. Scratch that, most of the time,” he replied.

“I assume for you it is most of the time considering that Vanessa girl you’re dealing with. Is she still stalking you?” Drew asked.

“Pfft, yeah. I just blocked her number today. I might have to get a restraining order from her crazy ass,” Dallas answered. “Hopefully, that’ll be the end of it.”

“Well it might not be from what I’m hearing,” Julian, one of their friends piped in as he wrapped a towel around his body, “I’m messing with this girl from North Tech and she says it’s all over the school that you knocked Vanessa up.”

Drew sent him a confused look but Dallas didn’t pay attention. Instead, he could literally feel the color leaving his face.

‘Shit,’ was his only main thought.

When Imogen came home from school, the last thing she expected was a Bloodhound puppy running up to her and jumping on her leg. “Woah, friend! Where did you come from?” She asked in confusion as she reached down and petted the puppy. It barked and jumped up some more. The only rational thing to do was to pick it up. Imogen held up the dog to her face, observing it. 

Her dad came around the corner and also had a look of confusion on his face. “Imogen, where did that puppy come from? Are you bringing random animals into our home again?” He questioned. When she was little, she had a habit of bringing random animals around the neighborhood into the house as her new pets such as cats, squirrels, raccoons, and spiders. She even tried to make her own ant farm. Needless to say, her parents weren’t exactly pleased during that phase and on one occasion she even had to get a rabies shot. But that wasn’t the case here.

“This puppy was here when I walked through the door a few minutes ago, dad,” she pointed out as the puppy licked her face.

Her dad didn’t say anything for a moment, he just stared in utter bewilderment. Then something clicked in his mind. “Oh! Yes! You see, I am very happy with your report card so I bought you a gift I knew you would enjoy. Her name is Volta and she’s only a few months old but I know you’ll take excellent care of her!” Her dad explained.

Imogen didn’t have much time to ponder how the hell could her dad forget something that easily before Volta licked her face again. Instead, she tried to focus on her new friend that was obviously very excited to meet her. She shared a sweet smile with the puppy.

Volta barked once more in response and it was the most adorable thing.

Later that night, Katie was laying in a hospital bed feeling incredibly numb. The visit to the doctor’s office proved to be quite disastrous. He weighed her, took her blood pressure, and read her heart rate and all three were declared to be at dangerously low levels. She had lost an unhealthy amount of pounds within two months, and her blood pressure along with her heart rate were unstable as a result. Her condition required immediate hospitalization.

The pain was clear in both of her parents’ eyes as they drove her to the hospital, and in their faces when they read her journal. Instead of feeling sympathy, Katie felt angry. Neither of them understood how necessary this was for her to stay healthy, for her body to remain pure. They just wanted to stop her from reaching her full potential. Everyone did from her parents, to Jake, to even Marisol. She was surrounded by poisonous people.

She was staring at the wall, as that was basically the only thing she could do right now, when a nurse came in with a feeding tube. It was time for her “dinner”. Katie laid back, feeling helpless as the nurse inserted the tube through her nose and into her stomach. She wanted to scream, to fight but she couldn’t. Even if she kicked the nurse into unconsciousness, she wouldn’t make it far off the floor before security dragged her back.

She had never felt this powerless in her life.

Dallas was very nervous to come to school the next day after what Julian told him. If it was all over the other school that Vanessa was pregnant by him then it would only be a matter of time before the news reached Degrassi…

“Dallas,” Marisol’s voice called out to him and he felt his heart rate go up. She was absolutely the last person he wanted to see right now. He avoided her all of yesterday. As he watched her approach him, he struggled to come up with how he was going to go about this.

“I heard some interesting things during Spirit Squad practice yesterday from girls whose boyfriends go to Northern Tech. That some girl is claiming she’s pregnant by you,” she said with narrowed eyes.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mare and I’d rather not talk about dumbass rumors,” he replied firmly.

“She’s apparently already talked with you about it. So during our whole first week of dating, when were you going to tell me this?” She demanded. He groaned as he folded his arms.

“Look, baby. Vanessa is a lying ass hoe that’s obsessed with me, it would be stupid to believe anything that’s coming out of her mouth,” he assured. She pursed her lips.

“ Regardless , until you get this whole situation sorted out, I don’t want to deal with a guy with baby drama. I have enough shit to worry about so I think we shouldn’t be together at the moment,” Marisol replied in a cold voice. 

“Really? You’re going to break up with me over rumors from another school? Wow, you really are petty,” he said while shaking his head.

“Not petty, smart. I’m fourteen and the last thing I need to deal with is my boyfriend possibly having a baby. I’m sorry Dallas,” she said before turning on her heels and beginning to walk away.

“Well the last thing I need to deal with at fourteen is dating the school pass-around so you’re actually doing me a favor. Knowing your reputation, you’re probably going to be macking on some other guy by next week since you change boys like you change panties,” he replied snidely.

Marisol stopped walking in her tracks. She slowly turned around to face him and her face was full of stone.

“For that girl’s sake, I hope the baby isn’t yours. Because I would hate to have a total scumbag like you as my child’s father,” she declared flatly before turning back around and walking away.

Dallas had to admit that the remark cut deep in him, but he tried not to let that show as he glared at the back of his now ex-girlfriend.

“Your dad seriously got you a puppy and then forgot about it?” Mo asked her as they walked down to the cafeteria for lunch.

“Yeah, I don’t know what’s up with him these days but I already love my new furry friend!” Imogen tried to reply as cheerfully as she could.

“Are you sure your dad doesn’t have dementia or something?” He seriously questioned her. She stopped and looked at him.

“Why would you even suggest that? Just because my dad forgets a few things doesn’t mean it’s anything serious,” she sharply answered.

“Well Im, your old man is only in his fifties yet has the memory of my ninety year old great granddad,” Mo pointed out in his usual blunt manner, “That’s not normal.”

“There’s nothing wrong with him, okay? He’s just a little absent-minded, he’s always been like that. He forgot his wedding anniversary more than a few times,” Imogen argued as they got in the lunch line together.

“Whatever you say, sweetheart. I just hope you don’t get pulled out of school early one day because he managed to burn the house down while you were gone,” Mo replied as he picked up a turkey sandwich for himself.

Imogen said nothing as she got herself a pizza and fries. She wanted to argue some more, but she didn’t have the energy to. Because deep down, she knew Mo was right.

She also had a bad feeling about where things could go next with her dad.

During her first full day in the hospital, Katie had already felt that time was a lost concept. There was only one meager clock on the whole floor and it was behind the front desk so she could barely see it. The only way to gauge the passage of time was when Marisol came up to visit her. Her friend had arrived with a teddy bear and some sweets, but she also had a look of worry on her face.

“I didn’t know why you would be in the hospital at first, but Jake told me why. And then I confirmed it with your mom and dad,” Marisol began as she sat across from her and folded her arms on the table, “Katie, I can’t even begin to express how scared I am for you right now.”

“Why? Shouldn’t you be wrapped up in Dallas?” Katie asked somewhat caustically.

“It’s for the best that we aren’t together right now,” her “best friend” replied, and the tone in her voice left no room for further explanation.

“Well, there’s no need to worry about me anymore now that I’m in here against my will. I’m constantly monitored every waking minute, I have to take the worst medication, I have to have my vitals taken every day, and I’m forced to have a feeding tube shoved into my nose during mealtimes. That’s what everyone wanted for me, right?” Katie asked bitterly. Marisol bit her lip.

“No one wanted this for you, Katiekins. But your eating habits haven’t been good the past few years and it led to this,” she replied. 

“You’re judging me on my eating habits when you eat like a fat pig with no self restraint?” Katie asked. Then her face darkened. “Then again, why would you worry about gaining calories when you’re so perfect.”

“Katie…,” Marisol began, and Katie could see that her best friend was uncomfortable. But she was just getting started.

“You get to eat all you want and not gain a single pound while getting all of the attention from boys. You don’t even have to work hard like I do to keep a fit body while doing your stupid cheerleading. I guess there is nothing for you to worry when the universe seems dedicated to making your life good at the expense of mine when I have way more to offer than you,” she sneered.

“You don’t mean that, you’re just saying that because you’re sick,” Marisol argued with a tight voice.

“But I do mean that. You’re probably glad I’m in the hospital. Even worse, you probably encouraged Jake to tell Ms. Sauvé to get this whole plan going in the first place so you could get back together with him,” Katie accused.

Marisol said nothing at first. Then she slowly got up while grabbing her bag.

“The only reason why I’m still going to be your friend after what you just said to me is because you’re sick and you don’t really mean what you’re saying. But I’m not going to sit here and allow you to just accuse me of all these things. Have a good night, Katlynn ,” Marisol replied with tears in her eyes before leaving. Katie watched her go with not a single amount of regret.

The only thing she could feel was anger at everyone in the world.

Dallas sat at a table at The Dot by himself, thinking about how his day could get any worse. The answer to that question came quickly as the bell on the front door rang and Vanessa came in. They made eye contact and she immediately came over to him. He didn’t even have energy to tell her to fuck off. He was just tired.

“What do you want now?” He questioned wearily.

“You know what I want, Dallas. I want you to accept the fact that the baby is yours,” Vanessa answered flatly.

“And what if I do? How are two grade niners going to raise a baby together? The best thing you could do is give the kid up for adoption,” he replied. He would be an awful dad. He just knew.

“I’m not giving up this baby no matter how hard it gets. And I don’t want you to give up either when the baby isn’t even here. All I ask is for your support,” she insisted.

“I’ll have to get a job after school, Vanessa, and I don’t know how that’s going to fit with my athletic schedule,” he pointed out.

“Well you’re going to have to figure out something. You have six months,” she warned him just as his waiter brought him a basket of wings.

Dallas didn’t find the wings so appetizing anymore.

Imogen was sleeping in her bed later that night when Volta came barking frantically into her room. The dog jumped on top of her in the bed, and she woke up startled. 

She was about to ask her puppy what was wrong when she smelled smoke. Turning on the lights, she saw dark smoke in the hallways as well. She quickly got off the bed and ran into the hallways to look downstairs, coughing along the way.

There was a fire growing in the living room.

Panicking, she picked up Volta in her arms and ran to her dad’s bedroom, trying not to inhale the smoke. With her free arm, she knocked loudly on the door. “Dad, DAD!” She called. “There’s a fire downstairs!” 

Her father opened the door up, only wearing a dark red robe. “A fire, but how?” He questioned. 

“We have to get out of here!” She shouted before running to the steps. Her dad quickly followed her as she ran downstairs. Without her glasses, her vision was incredibly blurry, and it was even made worse by the smoke. The fire was blazing, and both the tv and tables were up in flames.

The handle on the front door was hot as she opened it and ran outside. She started hacking and coughing immediately, nearly dropping Volta. It was to her horror that she realized that she left her cellphone inside the house so she wouldn’t be able to call the fire department.

“I must have forgotten to turn the oven off after dinner,” her dad said with a tremble and it was that statement that made her stomach drop.

If it wasn’t for Volta, she would have been burned alive in her bed due to some overcooked chicken parmesan.

Chapter Text

K.C. came into school feeling very frustrated and annoyed. Last night he and Jenna had a date and it ended in another argument for them. It was the fourth argument they had this week.

He didn’t know what to even do at this point. Despite them losing their virginities to each other in a way to get closer, it seems like they were driven even further apart since then. He was always doing something wrong in his girlfriend’s eyes and on his end, Jenna was starting to come off as annoying.

He took his books for his early morning classes roughly and then slammed it. It was only in the corner of his eye that he saw Clare jump. He turned to face her. “Yeah?” He asked, somewhat gruffly.

“I was going to ask you if you wanted to go over the study sheet for our history exam one last time but I see you’re not in the best mood,” Clare answered stiffly before starting to walk away from him. He immediately felt most of his agitation evaporate out of guilt. “Wait,” he replied as he grabbed her arm, “I’m sorry. Jenna and I got into a fight last night and it’s dampening my mood this morning. But I shouldn’t be taking it out on you,” he apologized.

“What happened between you guys?” Clare questioned in concern.

“I was late from basketball practice and she had an attitude even though I explained it wasn’t my fault. I called her out on it, and it was about to lead to this big blowout before the waiter came. At this point I wasn’t in the mood anymore so I told her to order a salad so things could go by quicker, and she thought I was calling her fat,” he explained, feeling his irritation come back at the memory. He was going to order a chicken wrap so it wasn’t like he was only expecting her to eat a little bit. But that apparently wasn’t enough for Jenna.

“Have you explained that to her? You may have not had bad intentions but to her, it comes off that way. She’s not on the basketball team so she doesn’t understand,” Clare reasoned.

“Well she should , because she’s on her little cheer team and I don’t raise a fuss when she’s late,” he replied.

“And guys asking their girlfriends to order a salad comes across as sexist, because girls are always encouraged to eat less to maintain harmful beauty standards,” Clare added.

“I wasn’t even thinking that when I asked her to do it, Clare. I just want to leave quickly because I felt overwhelmed by her,” he argued.

“You should have just told her that then. She wouldn’t know that she’s overwhelming you unless you explain,” Clare said. He snorted.

“Like she would ever listen to me,” he grumbled just as Jenna walked by with Alli. They shared a look, and K.C. wondered if she was in a better mood this morning.

She glared at him before walking away, answering his question.

“She’ll get over it, I promise,” Clare assured him.

“Yeah only after I beg on my knees for forgiveness over something stupid,” he replied dryly, “Until then, let’s head to the library to study.”

“I’ll go get Connor,” Clare replied as she turned to walk away, but K.C. grabbed her arm again.

“I think it should just be us. Connor will be fine,” he replied.

“Um…okay,” she replied, and he could see the faintest hint of a blush on her round cheeks. It was always a cute sight to see.

They walked to the library together, and K.C. pondered if Clare still liked him.

Eli looked over the set for the musical as the actors practiced to make sure everything was in order. Tonight was opening night and despite not wanting to do this production at all in the first place, he needed the first string of reviews to be good.

Marisol was right beside him, and she was barely containing her squeal as she watched the actors perform. “Everything looks so beautiful, this is going to be amazing!” She gushed. 

“Hopefully,” he replied, shrugging.

“Why don’t we celebrate with milkshakes at The Dot tonight? The milkshakes will be on meeeee,” she offered.

“As tempting as that sounds, my parents are taking me to Little Miss Steaks afterwards,” he turned down, and he truly felt bad about it. Mostly because he likes the idea of spending time with Marisol.

“Oh, I can come. My parents won't be able to see the premiere tonight because they’re at work but I’ll be glad to celebrate with you anyway,” she insisted. Eli raised an eyebrow. It surprised him how eager she was to spend time with him but he didn’t mind. At all.

“I’ll ask them,” he replied as they looked together at Chantay singing Poor Unfortunate Souls. Eli didn’t have much of an opinion on Chantay since she was a year above him, but she was playing Ursula with great flair and sass so he supposed she was alright.

“I wish I could have played Ariel, she’s like my favorite Disney princess,” Marisol said with a sad sigh. Eli pictured her in his mind wearing the bright red hair, the green fish tail, and the purple seashell bra. He quickly pushed the image away before any unfortunate fantasies popped up.

“She gave her voice up for a guy she barely knew,” he pointed out instead.

“Ariel wanted to see the human world far before that and her dad was too overprotective. He was smothering her and she needed to break free,” she argued passionately, “She knew what she wanted, fought hard to have it, and got her happy ending. She’s awesome.”

“If you say so.”

“I know so, Emo Boy. You need to judge less and open up a little more,” she chided.

“This coming from the girl who couldn’t understand why Holden Cauffield was the way he was when we were reading The Catcher In The Rye.”

“Holden Cauffield is a boring, unlikable asshole and made that book unbearable. I swear you’re the only person in class who liked him.”

“Because he was a victim of several traumas over the years and it deeply darkened his psyche. Not everyone copes with trauma the way you want them too, Princess.”

“Yeah, we all go through shit. But it’s on us to make sure we deal with it in a way that doesn’t destroy us or make other people miserable,” she reasoned. She turned to face him, and her face was full of a darkness he didn’t expect from her.

“I went through some terrible stuff in grade seven. And I just…dealt with it,” she explained.

He knew about what happened at the dance that occurred at the end of the year. Everyone did. No one just wanted to talk about it, especially not Marisol. Mo didn’t even want to discuss what he stopped that night. Due to Marisol’s reputation, some kids chose to believe that she wanted to sleep with those kids, but Mo beat them up and she was simply fickle enough to date him afterwards. Because in their minds, girls like Marisol couldn’t be victims.

He had went through his own share of trauma that year (he was fucking shot after all and nearly died from the blood loss), but at least the other kids in junior high pretended to be sympathetic towards him for a while.

“How do you deal with it?” He questioned.

She cracked a soft smile. “What I’m doing now, smiling and just not thinking about it,” he replied.

Drew had problems looking at the passages in front of him as he went through the pages of Lord of The Flies. He wasn’t even being lazy about reading this time, he was actually invested in the story. However, he always had difficulties reading because the longer he tried to read, the more jumbled up the words on the page would get.

“Andrew, would you mind reading the beginning of chapter eight?” Mrs. Kwan asked him, and he could feel himself sweating nervously. He was scared of Kwan because she was always ready to call him out in class for not paying attention or contact his mother if she felt he wasn’t doing well in class, which he kinda wasn’t. Just like last quarter, he was barely managing a C in English.

“Um…sure,” he accepted, swallowing uncomfortably before beginning to read aloud the words, or at least trying to. The words were scrambling around again, and he couldn’t decipher what any of it meant. He took his time reading as slow as he could, and each waking second he wanted to hide in the nearest hole. All eyes were on him and he felt like he was on trial.

By the time Kwan allowed him to stop, he had stumbled over so many words. He looked up at him, and she had a look in her eyes that signaled he was going to be in some kind of trouble.

“Andrew, you and I need to have a talk after class, okay?” She said, and he paled.

He could already hear his mom’s shrill voice screaming in his ear.

Jenna ignored him all morning.

With each passing hour, K.C. was getting more grumpy about the situation. Was she really going to be mad at him all day over last night? It didn't make sense. Even though he admittedly was originally going to go for Clare at first, he quickly bonded with Jenna because he thought she understood him more. When they hung out at the rec center over the summer, they connected over being poor, being bullied for being poor in grade school, and their parents not being present in their lives. His father abandoned his mom and his mom was deemed unfit to raise him due to her drug and alcohol addiction. Jenna's mother also abandoned her but her father died from overdosing from heroin and she was placed in the custody of Kyle. So ideally, they knew the same traumas and thus should have had a better relationship then what they currently have.

Instead, he was finding his girlfriend quite annoying these days and he was sure the feeling was mutual.

In his English class, he looked over to Clare, who was reading some vampire fiction quietly after reading the required passage for their assigned book. She never looked as peaceful as she did when she was reading. K.C. watched the little gestures she made as she turned each page. Her eyebrows would widen in surprise whenever she read something shocking or she would narrow her eyes. During her free time, she would tell everyone about the book, analyzing the themes and what she did or didn't like about it. Connor would engage in active discussion with her, Alli and Jenna would act like they were paying attention but they really weren't, while he would simply listen in interest. He didn't always understand what Clare was talking about but he found that he just liked hearing her speak. Clare was smart in so many areas, but English was clearly her passion just like Science was for him.

Not for the first time recently did K.C. think about the massive mistake he made picking Jenna over Clare because they seemingly had more things in common. He couldn't even hold a real intellectual conversation with his girlfriend compared to his friend because Jenna was only in the gifted program for music. He found himself...bored with Jenna more often than he should these days outside of sex. Because he was enjoying the sex him and Jenna were having at least. 'Good sex could only take you so far though,' he thought to himself as he turned to the next page of his book.

He supposed that it was a reason to stay with Jenna. Under no circumstances would Clare ever have sex with him due to her faith even if she did like him.

That didn't stop him from daydreaming about it though.

Eli sat at the lunch table with his friends when Marisol came to sit down. “Hi guys!” She greeted as she unexpectedly took a seat down next to him. He could already feel that stupid tingling feeling flare up in his gut.

“Shouldn’t you be with Katie or is she still out of school?” Mo asked her.

“She’s still out of school,” Marisol answered as she and Jake shared a knowing look. Eli himself had no idea what happened with Katie. No one did. She hasn’t been seen in classes for weeks.

“I want to sit next to Eli, because we have a musical together,” she continued while giving him her signature adorable smile. It took all of his inner strength to not react stupidly by blushing. He hated being around her sometimes because he had a reputation of being scary and unapproachable (and he took great glee in it not going to lie), and she had a tendency to ruin that reputation just by existing. He acted like any typical hormonal idiot in his grade just by her smiling at him.

“Elijah Goldsworthy, co-director of the Little Mermaid musical at Degrassi, I never thought I would see the day,” Mo joked.

“It’s something you’ll never see again so be sure to treasure this moment,” Eli dryly replied. Marisol rolled her eyes next to him.

“Oh come on, one little cheery production isn’t going to hurt your little black emo heart too much, Eli. I’m sure you just have to eat someone’s puppy and everyone will be scared of you again,” she replied.

“Yeah, well you try stepping out of your comfort zone and see how you like it. Macbeth, directed by the school’s princess, that’ll be a sight to witness,” Eli fired back.

“I’ll make that my next production to direct. Just to prove your snobby ass that I can do it,” she replied.

“Oh sweet Allah, get a room you two,” Mo said to them tiredly while Jake laughed.

Eli scowled at his friend while refusing to look at Marisol, because he knew that if he did, his cheeks would burn.

When Drew got in his mom’s car after school, he could tell by the expression on her face that she had a talk with Mrs. Kwan and it was most likely about the same thing his English teacher talked with him about after class.

“Your English teacher called me today about how worried she is about your reading ability,” she began as he buckled himself in. 

“Yeah she talked with me about it after class, she thinks I need to see a counselor or something but I don’t see what the big deal is. I don’t have dyslexia,” Drew replied. He was just dumb. It was a fact he made peace with at this point.

His mother pursed her lips. “Andrew, everyone from your father and I to your teachers think that you could put a better performance in your academics than you have been since…well since you’ve been in school. However, after talking with your teacher, I do think there’s underlying issues than you just not applying yourself. English has always been your weakest subject and she reports that you have difficulties reading out loud in class,” she said.

“The words just always jumble together when I read them, that’s all. If I read the words slowly, I’ll be fine,” he reasoned. She sighed.

“That’s a common trait of dyslexia, Drew. Why have you never told anyone this? Your teachers? Your father? Me?” She demanded as she drove. In the window above them, Drew could see Gracie in the backseat not saying a single word. She probably thought he was in trouble. He didn’t know if he actually was yet.

“Because I figured it was just another sign that I’m stupid, Mom. Smart people don’t have these problems,” he answered tiredly.

“Having a learning disability isn’t stupid, Drew. Having a learning disability and not speaking up about it so you get the proper accommodations for it is stupid, learn the difference,” she scolded.

“Well maybe I wouldn’t be scared to speak up about it if I didn’t have a mother that didn’t expect me to be perfect!” He argued.

His mother’s eyes narrowed but she surprisingly said nothing more as she continued driving home.

For some reason, Drew took that as a sign that he maybe went too far.

Clare and Connor came over to the group home after school to do science homework with him. For the first time, he wanted only Clare there. 

There were a lot of thoughts floating around in his head, bad thoughts that were only encouraged by Jenna pretending he didn’t exist.

“I have to use the restroom, K.C. can you show me?” Connor asked him as he stood up.

“It’s all the way down the hall,” K.C. replied, not wanting to get up. He had other ideas in mind. His best friend nodded as he left his room. So now it was just him and Clare, who was working on the final page of the handout they were given in class. K.C. cleared his throat before speaking.

“Clare, we need to talk,” he started off.

“About what? Did I do anything?” She asked in confusion. Bracing himself, he scooted closer to her on his bed.

“You’re making me realize that I made a mistake picking Jenna over you last year,” he answered bluntly. Her eyes widened in shock at his confession. It took her a moment to answer.

“K.C., I don’t think this is the kind of place we should have this conversation,” she replied while looking around nervously.

“Well we can’t have this conversation at school where Jenna could see us,” he pointed out. Plus there was also Alli.

“Jenna’s your girlfriend. You can’t just have feelings for another girl while you’re in a relationship with her,” Clare tried to reason.

“Forget Jenna, it’s you that I always wanted and I’m realizing that now,” he replied.

“But K.C.-”

He cut her off with a kiss. Clare’s lips were as soft as he expected. She froze but didn’t make any movement to push him away. After taking a few seconds to really savor the taste of her, he pulled away, blinking. He had wanted to do that for so long.

Clare’s mouth was open a little from surprise, and he could tell that she was trying to register what just happened. They both were. Cupping her face, he leaned in and kissed her again, and this time she actually responded although she was more timid about it than he was. 

He was about to part her lips with his tongue when he heard someone clear their throat. Him and Clare stopped kissing to see that it was Connor, who stood awkwardly in the doorframe.

“Why are you guys kissing?” He questioned.

Clare’s face was white in fear as she rapidly gathered up her belongings. “I need to go,” she declared before quickly leaving without another glance at him. K.C. numbly looked up to his friend, who was clearly confused by this entire scene.

“Um…so let’s just get back to what we were doing,” K.C. could only say as he opened his textbook back up. 

He knew that what he just did was really wrong but it also felt…right.

After the last scene of the musical, there was a loud round of applause from the audience. The Little Mermaid was a major success.

A massive relief flooded through Eli as the cast came on stage to bow. Everything went well. Everyone performed beautifully and nothing went wrong. But no one was more excited to see the musical in action than Marisol, who was standing behind him wearing a dark red halter dress and dark red cutout heels. Her face was heavily made up.

When it was time for him and Marisol to bow in front of everyone, before he could even react, she pulled him on stage with her excitedly. They bowed together, and the feeling of people clapping for him felt foreign but good. For a moment he actually felt like less of an outsider from his peers.

“We did it! We actually directed this! I got to be co-director of a school musical!” She squealed in his ear.

“And it didn’t burn down, shocking,” he snarked with a smirk, expecting her to say something snarky back. Instead, she ignored his remark and did something that nearly caused him to fall forward off the stage.

She kissed him on the cheek.

Eli’s eyes widened like saucers as his skin heated up from the touch of her soft, wet, feathery lips on his skin. She pulled away and smiled at him.

“I couldn’t do it without your help, thank you Eli,” she told him in gratitude. 

Eli was in so much shock he couldn’t say anything in response.

For the rest of the evening, his mom didn’t say anything as they ate dinner. Tonight she had cooked pot roast, peas, and carrots and Drew ate up every last part of it. It was really good, which was surprising since he helped cook it.

When dinner was over, he got up and volunteered to clean the dishes, only for his mom to stop him.

“You know the rules in this house. Anyone who didn’t help cook washes the dishes,” she reminded him, “And you and I need to talk anyway.”

‘Shit,’ Drew thought to himself in fear. He almost said it out loud but he didn’t feel like getting grounded for the week, though with what he said to his mother earlier, a grounding might be inevitable for him anyway. He slowly sat back down, feeling on edge. His mother took a seat next to him with a tired look on her face.

“Drew, I will never replace your mother. I had known that the moment your father and I began dating all those years ago. But I would like to think I’m doing a good job of at least making her proud by raising you as my own child,” she began. Drew said nothing in response because he knew she wasn’t done. Her rants never were short.

“I don’t want you to be perfect. No one is perfect. But I do know that you’re a lot smarter than you think you are and as a mother, it’s frustrating and even a little painful to see you not try to improve yourself because you have settled on seeing yourself as stupid. You can be so much more than you think. You just have to start by acknowledging your weaknesses and difficulties and moving past them. You most likely have dyslexia and it’s affecting your performance in school. With the right accommodations, you can get the help you need to improve your grades but it starts with you. You have to make the first step,” she finished, placing her hand on his shoulder.

“What if the accommodations don’t help? What if I’m actually just stupid?” He questioned, and admittedly he had some fear at the idea.

“I believe that’ll never be the case but we’ll cross that bridge if it’s the case. For now, we’re going to have the school provide you the help you need,” she answered as she squeezed his shoulder. Drew felt comfort from her touch. He also felt whatever stress he had about the situation floating away now that he knew that his mother didn’t hold it against him that he might have dyslexia.

“And the accommodations for dyslexia and other learning disabilities better be far better than the ones they have for physical disabilities because it disgusts me that a boy got shot a few years ago and Degrassi has only built one wheelchair ramp,” she added and there was a fire in her eyes. He knew what that meant.

When Audra Torres had a request, it was best to follow through with it or risk being screamed at so badly, the person’s ears would melt.

After Connor left, K.C. tried to assess the situation he was in a critical manner.

He was dating Jenna Middleton but had just cheated on her with her best friend Clare Edwards, who he never stopped having feelings for. If Jenna or Alli found out about this, it would destroy their whole friend group. The best thing to do at this point was to break up with Jenna despite enjoying the sex they were having.

At dinner, he thought of ways he could successfully do this without causing much damage to the friendships he built up. Unfortunately every scenario led to an unfortunate solution.

He couldn’t date Clare if he broke up with Jenna.

Jenna and Clare’s friendship would be over, and Alli might not speak to Clare either. Connor would also possibly drop Clare due to being fond of Jenna. He wouldn’t be mean to her for his sake, but he certainly wouldn’t be friendly to her. Dating Clare would lead to disaster no matter how he left Jenna.

Instead of eating his spaghetti that honestly wasn’t that great anyway, K.C. tightened the grip of his fork in anger. Even though he was ready to break up with a girl he didn’t want anymore, he couldn’t have the girl he actually wanted. 

The world really was cruel to him.

Marisol having dinner with him and his family felt weirdly natural to Eli. Despite her aesthetic clashing wildly with all of theirs, she still was getting along nicely with Bullfrog and Cece. 

“What other things do you like to do Marisol besides theater?” Cece asked as their waiter finally came by with their food. He had gone for a bacon cheeseburger and loaded fries along with his Pepsi. Marisol had ordered that too along with Southern style sweet tea.

“I’m on the cheerleading squad!” Marisol answered cheerfully before biting into her burger.

“Ooh, I love cheerleading! I was on the cheerleading team in high school and university,” Cece replied, and Eli raised an eyebrow at his mother. This was the first time he was hearing about this. The idea of his beer chugging, rocker like goth mother twirling around in pom poms and miniskirts was ridiculous. 

“I hope to be captain by my senior year. I love a lot of things but cheerleading is my passion,” Marisol declared. 

“Well I hope you do more theatre productions with my Babyboy, because you kids make an excellent team!” Cece squealed. The next couple of minutes consisted of him watching Marisol and Cece bond. It was weird to admit, but he was seeing the similarities between his mother and Marisol, mostly with how bubbly they both were. It was a strange realization to come to but also…sweet in a way? Cece never bonded with Imogen like this.

After finishing her meal, Marisol excused herself to the bathroom and that’s when Cece turned to look at him with a plotting look in her eyes. “Eli, she is so adorable! I see why you’re head over heels for her!” She gushed.

“I don’t like her like that, Cece,” he denied firmly, not in the mood to discuss this.

“Oh but you do, my son. You talk about that girl every day and we’re seeing the way you look at her right away,” Bullfrog pointed out with a smirk so similar to his own.

“We’re too different. It would never work out long term,” he argued.

“You don’t know until you give it a try,” his father insisted. Then a perverted look fell over his face. “And you might discover there’s a lot of benefits to dating a cheerleader. Real nice benefits,” Bullfrog added with a wink. Eli glared at his father as Marisol came back down to sit next to him.

When everyone was done eating, Bullfrog called for the bill. 

“Why don’t you and Marisol wait outside while we figure out this bill? It won’t be long, we promise,” Cece offered with a devious glint in her eyes. He knew what she wanted him to do.

Begrudgingly, he got up from the table and began walking towards the front of the restaurant. Marisol was right behind him, with her heels clacking against the floor. When they got outside, Eli began to feel his heart race. He had acted like a hormonal idiot over Marisol Lewis for two years at this point and now was an opportunity to finally confess these feelings. He looked at her and cleared his throat. “Marisol…,” he began.

She had a curious look in her dark eyes as to what he was about to say. In her heels, she towered above him so she had to look down at him a little bit. It made everything more intimidating. He swallowed nervously.

“I…,” he continued, kicking himself inside for the words not being able to come out of his mouth. For someone who considered himself an amazing writer, he should be able to come forward with the most dramatic declaration of his feelings for her. He knew that he would be a better fit for her than so many of the idiots who were interested in her, especially Mike Dallas. When he heard they broke up after only a week of dating, it made his entire day.

“What?” She asked in a soft voice. She stepped closer to him, and that’s when he shut down like an overheated computer.

“Nothing, never mind,” he quickly dismissed, looking away from her. She looked at him in confusion before Bullfrog and Cece came out of the restaurant. The whole car ride over to Marisol’s house, Eli was internally beating himself up. He, a kid that prided himself on not giving a fuck on what anyone thought, was scared to tell the most popular girl in his grade that he liked her.

When they dropped Marisol off at her house, Eli watched her go inside her house with a feeling of pure misery in his heart.

Drew laid on his bed later that night, thinking about today’s events. It all happened like a whirlwind of sorts. He didn’t know what to make of it.

His whole life, most of the people he knew told him that he was stupid. For the most part, he believed them. The only book he ever genuinely enjoyed reading was The Cat In The Hat because it was simple and didn’t require much work to unpack. He put most of his efforts into sports because that was where his talents were.

There actually being an underlying reason for him not being good at English was a strange new concept. People actually wanting to provide him support for this disability instead of just dismissing him as dumb was an even stranger concept. It felt weird.

He was about to turn on his Xbox 360 to play some games when Gracie appeared in his doorway, wearing his pajamas.

“Are you seriously stealing my pajamas now, too? Have you no shame, Grace?” He demanded.

“You don’t even like them, stupid,” Gracie answered nonchalantly.

“You’re right, I don’t like them,” he agreed. The pajamas his sister was wearing right now were given to him for Christmas last year by their Aunt Linda, and they were a ugly yellow color with footballs printed on the pants. “But hey, don’t call me stupid anymore, or Mom will kill ya.”

“If I can’t make fun of my brother anymore, then I’m running away to the U.S.,” Gracie replied.

“And go where? Florida?” He asked.

“Yeah I’ll move in with a new family and go to Disney World all of the time,” Gracie answered casually.

“Well make sure you eat all of the churros you can eat before Mom hunts you down and grounds you into your next life,” Drew warned, before him and his sister shared a laugh. He handed her a video game controller as she took her seat next to him.

“I hope Mom doesn’t start babying me over all of this,” he said.

“You know she will. Degrassi will be burned to the ground if they don’t accommodate you,” Gracie replied.

“Yeah, but I don’t want everyone to think I’m special. I’m just Drew Torres, future quarterback of Degrassi,” he declared.

“And clown that can’t get a girlfriend,” Gracie reminded him with a smirk.

“Hey, I’m working on that. Why do you care so much about me getting girls anyway? You want one too?” He asked in a joking manner.

His sister’s face shifted into something that had him a little suspicious.

The next morning, K.C. was talking to Connor about what his friend was not going to do.

"Jenna cannot know about what happened last night. Absolutely nothing," K.C. warned him.

"So you're just going to keep it a secret and not tell her? Doesn't that make you a bad boyfriend?" Connor asked.

"What she doesn't know can't hurt her. It won't hurt anyone. Don't you want us all to stay friends?" K.C. questioned.

"I guess so…..," Connor replied just as Jenna walked up to him with a breakfast sandwich in her hands.

"I bought you your favorite. Bacon, egg, and cheese! I'm sorry for how I acted yesterday," Jenna apologized.

"It's okay. You just needed a day to cool off," K.C. replied, at least relieved that she was speaking to him again.

"But I should have talked it over with you. Relationships are all about communication, and I'll try to remember that next time," she replied as she went to hug him. K.C. hugged her back to let her know that she was forgiven but he wasn't really focused on her at the moment.

He was looking at Clare, who was looking at him back.

Chapter Text

January 

The snow had stopped heavily falling to the ground by the time the bus arrived at her new school but the wind was still blowing harshly in her face when she got off the bus.

But to Bianca DeSousa, the dark stares she and the other fellow Lakehurst transplants were getting from the Degrassi kids were way harsher than the winter wind. 

“Excuse me,” she said to a student who was in her way in the hallways. She tried to sound as polite as she could. The student, who looked like a senior, turned around to face her with a scowl on his face.

“Excuse yourself bitch,” he replied with a sneer before roughly shoving past her. Bianca’s eyes narrowed into thin slits before grabbing at his arm.

“Hey asshole, maybe don’t shove past a girl who’s half your height when she’s asking you to move,” she said angrily.

“What are you going to do about it, stab me?” He questioned dryly before shaking her off and continuing on his way. Bianca glared at the back of him, hoping that he slipped on something wet and broke a body part.

She found it really fucking stupid how everyone at this school acted like all of Lakehurst participated in the stabbing of that senior. She didn’t even like Drake Lempkey, she only hung around him because she liked his friend, Johnny DiMarco. The guy was a creep that was constantly hitting on her.

Bianca found her locker right next to the principal’s office. Of course it was considering her reputation at Lakehurst. She was in the middle of unlocking it when she felt a strong arm wrap around her. She almost jumped until she realized it was her best friend Owen Milligan. He always wore the same axe body spray every day. 

“One of these days you’re going to get punched if you keep doing that, idiot,” she warned him as she turned around and faced him.

“It’s not like it's going to hurt coming from you," Owen replied with a smirk. Then he looked around. "You seen Fitz yet?" 

"No, he's probably going to be late knowing that brother of his," she answered. Fitz was both of their best friends and he had a crappy older step brother that treated him like shit. 

"Already gonna get detention on his first day," Owen said while shaking his head, "So how many of these idiots have given you death stares? I got like five."

"Some asshole with the face of a horse shoved me when I told him to move. So far us Lakehurst kids aren't getting a warm welcome," she grumbled. 

Their high school, Lakehurst, mysteriously burned down over winter break and the students had to transfer to Degrassi for the time being. It was a decision nobody wanted due to the recent war between the two schools that came to a head with the stabbing of J.T. Yorke. However Degrassi was the only high school in the district big enough to accept the large flux of students due to Northern Tech being too small.

Considering the tensions between the two schools on the first day, it would only be a matter of time before another person got stabbed.

“Well they’re about to be even more mad when I manage to smash one of the hottest girls in school in the first week,” Owen replied before looking at a cheerleader down the hall from them applying lip gloss in her locker mirror. Bianca looked at the girl and recognized her as the black girl Owen was dancing with at that ill-fated party.

“You and your dumb cheerleaders,” she said while rolling her eyes. They were the only type of girls her friend was interested in having an actual relationship with.

“Can you blame me when they look so sexy in those sexy skirts?” Owen asked while continuing to stare at the girl. “And I like them dumb. Makes it easier for them to do anything I say.”

“I guess that’s why you’re never bringing me home to your mom,” she replied.

“Can you imagine? My parents would ground me for life if they even knew I was hanging out with someone like you. If we actually dated, they would die of cardiac arrest at the same time,” Owen said with a chuckle, “What we have right now is perfect.”

They weren’t just friends but fuck buddies with no strings attached. They hooked up at the beginning of the school year and decided to keep doing it with the friendship as an added bonus. Owen was a better option to lose her virginity to than pretty much every other guy at their school, but they were never going to be anymore than that. And she was fine with that. She didn’t have any delusions that she was going to meet some Prince Charming in high school.

She wasn’t some fairy tale princess after all.

After doing warmups for cheer practice, Alli called for a brief break as she pulled Jenna aside to talk.

“I do not want to do this stupid pep rally,” Alli complained. To welcome the Lakehurst students to Degrassi, Principal Hatzilakos suggested a pep rally after school with both cheer teams performing.

“I don’t know, maybe I think it’s a good idea to encourage some positivity between the two schools,” Jenna reasoned.

“The last time we threw a pep rally to welcome Lakehurst to our school, a fight broke out and a kid got stabbed two weeks later. Lakehurst kids are the worst and it’s not fair that we have to interact with them every day now. Plus, now I can’t even avoid my stupid brother at school now,” she replied.

“Well, there has to be a bright side to this. There’s some cute boys that you can date from Lakehurst…..,” Jenna said with a sly smile.

“I don’t want to date any of those guys,” Alli replied with a shudder at the thought.

“Come on, all of them can’t be dirty scumbags, Alli. There’s a diamond in the rough waiting for you,” her best friend encouraged, “Then you guys can go on cute double dates with me and K.C.”

“How are you guys by the way?” Alli asked.

“Better than ever! It feels like we’re even closer than before and not just because of the sex we’re having,” Jenna answered cheerfully.

“Is sex really that great?” Alli asked again. She wasn’t sure if she would be ready to have it yet when she was in a really serious relationship with someone. It seemed…scary. And she was only fourteen.

“Well it hurt a lot when we first had it, and it still does sometimes because K.C. is a little rough but other than that it’s…nice? If that’s the proper thing to describe it. I feel so warm the entire time.”

“How did you know that you were ready?”

“There was something motivating me to make K.C. happy. I’ll say it pretty much worked,” Jenna explained.

Alli pondered her words. It was important to make your boyfriend happy, wasn’t it? But at the same time, she dumped Mo because he wasn’t making her happy and she sure as hell couldn’t see herself sleeping with him to keep their relationship good. 

The guy would have to be really special for her to even consider losing her virginity to him.

In class, Jake tried not to stare at Katie as the teacher gave his lesson for the day. She was looking healthier than she was before, but she was still eerily pale and quiet. She was usually the first person to volunteer to answer a question in class, but now it was like she was barely there. The girl in the row in front of him wasn’t the girl he loved, it was a shell of a human being.

He still loved Katie after months of not being with her. It was difficult to drop these feelings for her despite their awful breakup when she was so special. He had never liked a girl as much as he liked Katie Matlin. A girl that was tough as nails, bright as a whip, but strikingly gorgeous was a rare breed. And he lost her.

He missed seeing her smile, the way her blue eyes sparkled when they held hands, running his fingers through her ginger hair, hearing her laugh at his jokes, and how her lips felt when they kissed. He even missed how she smelled after soccer practice or karate class. 

He wondered if she missed him to or did she hate him for reporting to Ms. Sauvé that she was bulimic. 

The teacher passed around sheets of class work for them to work on, and he took it as an excuse to stop looking at his ex. However he couldn’t stop the racing thoughts about Katie, especially with how boring the learning material was for the day. It was the worst math of them all: polynomials. It felt it was all they freaking learned in math sometimes.

One of Jake’s pencils fell off his desk, and after he picked it up, he looked up to see Katie staring at him. There was no hate in her eyes, but there was no emotion in them. He sent her a quick smile, to see if she would light up.

She just continued to stare.

Her first lunch at Degrassi was interesting so far. Lakehurst’s wannabe queen bee Holly J Sinclair attempted to pick a fight with some junior over something stupid. If it wasn’t for the other girl’s name being called over the loudspeaker to go to the principal’s office, then a catfight would have happened. Bianca would have preferred to have witnessed the catfight, considering how fucking boring her morning was at Degrassi.

The teachers here were all stuffy, and they immediately judged her for her appearance. She wasn’t even wearing anything remotely controversial ( just a hoodie, jeans, and sneakers) but she must have had “future troublemaker” tattooed on her forehead from the stares she was getting. Was she about to make their life a living hell? Maybe, since they were asking for it.

Bianca inserted a fork into her tray of chicken nuggets, and was pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn't soggy. If there was one thing Degrassi had over Lakehurst already, it was the food. While eating it, she listened to Fitz and Owen talk.

"I'll bet you ten dollars I'll fuck one of these girls by the end of the month, tops," Owen challenged. Owen had a (very accurate) reputation at Lakehurst of being a player, and he was determined to keep up that reputation at this school. If these girls were smart, they would stay away from Owen since he was a shitty boyfriend, but she knew most girls weren't. They saw her friend's handsome face and muscles and fell in love. It wasn't a problem that she could relate to because she knew what she meant to Owen.

"I doubt. All the girls here look like stuck up bitches with sticks up their asses," Fitz replied.

"You know me, I always find a way to pull those sticks out," Owen replied with a smirk as he looked around. "The best thing about our schools merging is that these Degrassi girls are innocent. They have no idea what I'm about."

"Poor girls," she dryly said as her friends laughed. In a way, she did want to feel bad for the inevitable amount of girls whose hearts he was about to break. Fitz was a shitty boyfriend too with a terrible attitude but at least his appearance gave it away so he only attracted burn out girls. The prissy princesses, however, were easily fooled by Owen because he was a handsome jock from a well off family.

As for her, good boys didn't want to associate themselves with her, at least outside The Ravine. She was consistently attracting losers and bums, and sometimes she believed that that was what she was doomed to be stuck with forever.

After all, her aunt told her on multiple occasions that girls like her were a lost cause.

“Pair up with the person next to you and quiz them on the material we learned so fair," the science teacher ordered, and Alli turned around in her seat to face the boy next to her, Drew Torres. He flashed her a charming smile and she smiled back as she felt her body heat up. He was very attractive and she couldn't help but stare at him in class some days.

"Hey," he greeted.

“Hi,” she greeted back, fluttering her eyelashes flirtatiously. She hoped her outfit, which was a flashy red blouse, black jeans, and red heels was attractive enough in his eyes.

“I’m not the brightest person in this room so do you want to go first?” He offered.

“Sure!” Alli accepted without hesitation, eager to please him. He handed her the paper, and she noticed that the words on his worksheet were printed in a larger, more bold font than anyone else’s.

He took his time slowly reading out loud each question on the practice quiz, as if he was tasting each word on his tongue. She answered every question correctly without any difficulty. It was embarrassing to think about but science was her best subject.

“Sorry about that. I’m dyslexic and I have to read things slowly to understand them better,” he apologized. She shook her head.

“No, no, it’s fine,” she assured him as she held up her worksheet to read to him the questions.

It wasn’t any shock that he got most of the questions wrong. Drew wasn’t the best student in class. However, the ones he did get right, he had a big, proud smile on his face when she said “correct”. 

“It’s clear that I’m going to need more time to understand the material better,” he lamented when they were done.

A plot immediately formed in Alli’s head.

“Thankfully, I’m always here to be a tutor if you need it,” she replied, smiling suggestively as she rested her head on her fist. She fluttered her eyelashes again flirtatiously.

Drew smirked, and that’s when she knew she won.

“A beautiful girl like you tutoring me? I would be really dumb to pass this blessing up.”

They were playing dodgeball today for gym class and as always, Jake didn’t put much effort into playing. He didn’t even try to dodge the red ball coming at him before it hit him in his stomach and he was out for the round. Shrugging, he went to sit on the bleachers with the other out people on his team.

His team only had two people left while the other people had ten. It was because Katie was on the other team and was quickly wiping everyone out with great brutality. Despite how sickly she was still looking, she was still a pro in her element. 

When her and Marisol knocked out the final two people on her team, Marisol held her hand up for a hi five, and he watched as Katie reluctantly smacked her palm against hers. Marisol told him that over her time in the rehabilitation center, Katie was mad at the world and was rather distant these days, even from her best friend. It made Jake worried that the bulimia was only the tip of her mental health issues.

A new round had started back up, and he was forced to get out of his comfortable position on the bleachers. He didn’t even bother getting into a fierce, determined stance like everyone else on the team. There was no way they were winning with Katie as an opponent. As soon as the game started, he was hit in the face with a dodgeball by Marisol. “Sorry!” His friend apologized but he waved to her while going to sit back down to signal that it was no problem.

Imogen tried to hit Katie, but his ex only caught the ball smoothly, and Imogen kicked the gym floor with a huff as she went back to the bleachers. In the next round Katie proceeded to knock out two people without even breaking a sweat. It was the hottest thing Jake had witnessed.

He noticed that by the end of the period, some color had finally returned to Katie’s face.

At the pep rally, Bianca sat on the stands with the other crowds as the cheer teams came out and did their routines to wow the audience. She personally didn’t find the dances they were doing to be anything impressive. She performed better dances herself while copying artists in music videos.

She didn’t like to admit it much but she enjoyed dancing in her private moments. It was weirdly calming. But if Degrassi had a dance team, she wouldn’t join because the idea of being forced to interact with girls who would look down on her sounded lame.

From next to her, Owen was looking at the black girl he was watching earlier with a hungry, lustful look in his eyes that kind of threw her off. It was uncomfortably similar to some of the looks her aunt’s boyfriends gave her when her aunt wasn’t looking.

“I’m definitely going to smash that at some point,” he declared as the black girl was flipped up into the air by some weird quirky looking girl. When she came down, she threw her arms up into the air with a bright, cheerful smile on her face.

“She seems boring,” Bianca replied dismissively, and she wasn’t sure if she was saying it because she genuinely felt that way about the other girl or because she didn’t like the idea of Owen going after her.

“With the way she can stretch those smooth looking legs of hers? I don’t think so,” Owen argued, “Imagine what I can do with that.”

“I’d rather not because I don’t like girls,” Bianca rejected dryly as her attention fell towards a guy on the basketball team as they came in. She immediately recognized him as the drunk kid at the party who stepped in to defend her from some loser. She wasn’t going to forget those innocent blue eyes of his for a while. 

He flashed an adoring smile at everyone, and something inside of her twitched. He was very attractive, that couldn’t be denied. He probably had loads of bimbos at Degrassi lining up to date him. But would he go for a girl like her? Probably not.

Despite that, when their eyes met for a brief moment, something in Bianca kept twitching.

After the pep rally, Alli waited until she saw Drew pass by her in the hallways. “Drew!” She exclaimed as she grabbed his arm to get his attention. He turned around quickly to face her.

“What’s up?” He asked.

“What we talked about in science class. When do you want to meet up for ‘after school tutoring?’” She questioned, making a quotation mark gesture with her fingers for the last part. The tutoring was a mask for what she really wanted to do with Drew.

“Well, I don’t have anything to do tonight so why don’t we meet up at The Dot and get more acquainted with each other?” He offered with a wink. Alli felt her cheeks burn in desire. He wanted the same thing she did.

“Sounds lovely, I’ll see you around Drew,” she replied with a wink before moving past him, looking behind and giving him one last flirty smile. 

While walking down the hallways, she saw K.C. and Clare talking to each other by his locker. K.C. was a little closer to Clare than usually. It made her pause in her tracks. She shouldn’t find anything weird about them interacting because they were close friends. The only person K.C. was closer with other than obviously his girlfriend was Clare. But on the other hand, she knew Clare still liked K.C. and was holding in her feelings for Jenna’s sake.

But Clare would never act on those feelings, would she?

Jake was getting a snack from the fridge when he heard a knock on the door. He went to open the door up and was surprised to see it was Katie.

“Can I come in?” She asked timidly.

“Of course,” he answered, stepping aside to let her in. She quietly did without making a single noise. She sat down on his couch, and he sat down next to her. “What’s up?” He gently asked.

“I’m sorry for how I ended things between us, Jake,” she apologized, “I was angry and didn’t react rationally.”

“Well I did read your journal, but only because I was worried about you. You were spiraling bad and I would have been a terrible boyfriend if I just let it continue,” he reasoned. He expected her to argue.

“I know,” is what she replied instead, “I was just too angry at you to understand. I still am, but only because a part of me still wants to keep doing it,” she admitted. His eyes widened.

“Binging and purging?”

“Yeah, but it’s not going to happen again with everyone watching me like a hawk so no need to worry,” she assured him with some gruffness in her voice. Then her eyes turned soft.

“I still really like you Jake, but I don’t think it’s best if we get back together for the time being. I’m not in the best place mentally and you deserve better,” she said. Jake felt his stomach drop at her words but he nodded while swallowing.

“I understand,” he replied, “But you deserve peace with yourself and I hope you get it.”

Katie smiled sadly at him before leaning over and kissing him on the cheek. She got up from the couch and headed towards the door. Jake got up, followed her, and opened up the door for her.

“Have a good night, Jake,” she said.

“You too,” he said back and they shared a tense silence. Both of them wanted to kiss the other but couldn’t. It was probably for the best that they didn’t interact at school from this point on.

Jake watched Katie leave with a heavy heart. 

Later that night, Bianca was putting her clothes back on after another round of sex with Owen. They were in some tent at the Ravine, and Fitz was blocking the entrance so no one would walk in on them. Their friend wasn’t pleased to do so, but he had to.

She straightened out her hair as Owen re-buckled his pants. “Awesome as always, B,” he complimented her with a wink.

“You were thinking of that cheerleader while fucking me, don’t even deny it,” she bluntly accused. Owen seemed to be in another world the whole time he was inside of her, and it made sex much less fun tonight.

“If I say it, are you still going to bitch at me?” Owen wearily asked.

“Common courtesy when fucking is to not make it obvious that you’re fantasizing about someone else, jackass,” she said while folding her arms. She fixed him with a glare.

“Come on, B. You can’t be really this upset. It’s not like we’re dating or anything,” Owen replied. He placed a hand on her shoulder. “You know what our relationship is. That’s why I like you.”

For some reason, that didn’t make her smile. “And if I say some other guy’s name during sex? How would you feel?” She questioned.

“Well first you’ll have to find a guy for that, and no offense B, but you’re not girlfriend material,” Owen answered dismissively, “But I wouldn’t give a fuck personally.”

The comment about not being girlfriend material struck an unpleasant cord in her, but she brushed it off with a chuckle.

Owen was right. She knew what this relationship was and what she was. So she shouldn’t be offended.

But she was.

Chapter Text

“Are you okay, Katiekins?” Marisol asked her best friend as they entered school together. “You look a little out of it.”

“I ate a big breakfast this morning,” Katie replied while carrying her textbooks for their morning classes.

“How does that make you feel?” Marisol asked again in concern. She knew that Katie was only recently starting to have a healthy relationship with food again, and she was worried about her friend possibly relapsing.

“I honestly don’t know. Numb if that’s the best way to describe it? Everyone is just making sure I don’t throw it up later,” her best friend replied, and Marisol looked at her in worry. Katie looked at her back. “It’s fine, Marebear. No need to worry,” she assured her.

Marisol was about to open up her mouth and say something when her crush, Owen Milligan approached her in his football uniform. Whatever thoughts about Katie’s recovery process she was about to express were replaced with thoughts of the Adonis in front of her. He flashed her a flirty smile that made her heart race.

“Hey Marisol,” Owen greeted her, “How are you?”

“Good, how are you?” She asked back quickly.

“Well, I heard that a total babe in our grade is single and I’m wondering if she’s available to go on a date with me tomorrow at Little Miss Steaks,” he answered slyly while stepping closer to her. She felt her cheeks warm under his gaze. His blue eyes were really so pretty. They were his best feature along with his muscles.

“She’s definitely available tomorrow and looking forward to it,” she replied with a dazzling smile.

“Tell her I’ll pick her up at six. And to look sexy as hell wearing a lot of red,” he said with a wink before moving past her. Marisol waited until he was out of earshot before squealing excitedly to Katie. “O-M-G, he finally asked me out!”

“Something about him seems off Marebear, I don’t like the way he was looking at you,” Katie replied with narrowed eyes.

“Like I was the most desirable woman on this planet? If a guy wasn’t looking at me like that, then I wouldn’t want him!” Marisol argued.

“He was looking at you like a piece of meat. I don’t like that,” her friend countered firmly, “And he’s already telling you how to dress. We haven’t had a girl’s night in a long time. We can do that instead. You can come over to my house and we can have a sleepover with ice cream.”

“But this is what I wanted since the beginning of the school year, Katie. Owen is the prince I’ve been waiting for this whole time and I’m not going to turn my happy ending away,” Marisol insisted, “But you can accompany me to the mall tonight for a new makeover.”

“A makeover? For what?” Katie asked.

“To impress my new man,” Marisol simply answered with a smile as she hooked her arm around her best friend’s. She led them down the halls to their homeroom class.

If Owen wanted her to dress sexy, she was going to do that to please him. She would do anything to make him happy.

Eli stepped out of Mrs. Mashkour’s car with red eyes and an urge to go back to sleep. Mo let out a yawn by his side as he waved his mother goodbye while the man pulled off. They spent all night playing video games on Mo’s PS3 until they fell asleep at three a.m. Needless to say, that wasn’t a good idea when they had school later that morning.

Eli was walking, incredibly numb to his surroundings, when Mo stopped him in his tracks. “What the hell did you do that for?” He demanded tiredly of his friend.

“Look at that girl over there,” Mo answered with a curious look on his face. Eli followed his gaze to see what he was looking at.

His eyes fell on a girl sitting on the ledge by the steps, writing something in her journal. With her extremely pale skin, long and thick black hair, black clothes, dark red lipstick, and black boots, he could tell that she was a fellow goth. It intrigued him. 

“That bitch is hella scary,” Mo commented.

“More like interesting,” Eli corrected. There were no other alternative kids to be found at Degrassi since the only other goth kid he knew of graduated last year. Imogen’s style was more eccentric than goth or emo, and the only reason she even dressed emo for a time was to impress him. Now that they were broken up and barely speaking, she was rarely ever wearing something not colorful.

“Of course you would be into that. Are you going to do a blood sacrifice as some kind of mating call for her?” Mo joked.

“Haha, funny. Almost as funny as the fat jokes you get,” Eli dryly replied just as the girl looked up. Their eyes met.

Her eyes were dark like Marisol’s, but instead of being alluring like the spoiled princess’ eyes were, they were full of anger. They screamed to stay away.

It made her even more interesting in his opinion.

Clare was getting her books out of her locker when she felt someone’s arms wrap around her waist. She was about to start flailing when she heard K.C.’s voice.

“Clare, it’s me,” he said as she turned around as best as she could. She fixed him with a scolding look.

“Don’t do that! You’ll scare me to death,” she replied.

“You don’t really mind,” K.C. assumed before leaning down and kissing her on her lips. Despite knowing why it was a bad idea, she let him do it. He pulled away quickly.

“K.C., we can’t keep doing this. It’s unfair to Jenna,” Clare said, “Especially in public, we could get caught.”

For the past couple of months, K.C. has been stealing kisses from her at school when no one was looking. She hasn’t found the will to stop it yet despite how wrong it was, and it WAS wrong. She was firmly aware that she was committing a great sin by allowing K.C. to do this. However, every time he kissed her, she felt a great warmth rush through her body and she didn’t want to lose that warmth.

She dreamt of other things he could do to her. She admitted this to no one but God in her journal.

“Well this is the only place we could do it without raising any suspicion,” K.C. pointed out, “I don’t think your parents would like me.”

They probably wouldn’t, especially her dad. He would never approve of her being with a boy who came from a group home and stole things despite preaching how important it was to not judge others. But what right would he have to judge K.C. when he was still having an affair with that woman from church?

“Something has to happen soon, K.C. You have to leave Jenna for me or everyone is going to come out of this hurt,” Clare warned him. Despite enjoying the kisses they shared, she didn’t want this to be a permanent thing between them. She wanted to be K.C.’s girlfriend. She wanted them to be able to kiss in public and do smaller but just as intimate things like holding each other’s hands in the hallways.

“I will, Clare. I promise, but I have to let her down gently,” K.C. replied before grabbing her hand and kissing it. Something burned in her belly at the gesture. A brief fantasy of him licking her fingers flashed through her mind. She quickly pushed it away and chided herself for her sinful thoughts.

“You’re the one I always wanted. I just made a minor mistake,” he continued.

“That you’re going to fix soon, right?” She asked. He smiled softly at her.

“Of course.”

Later after school, Marisol dragged Katie to the mall to go shopping for her date with Owen tomorrow. She couldn’t even begin to describe the anticipation she was feeling. The first shop they hit was Forever 21. Picking up a denim mini skirt and a pink off shoulder crop top from the racks, she headed into the fitting room to try the clothes on. The clothes were extremely tight on her, but that was the purpose. When she stepped out of the fitting room to where Katie was waiting for her, she expected her best friend to gush over how hot she looked.

Instead, Katie had a look of judgment on her face. “Really, Mare?” She asked.

“What’s wrong with this?” Marisol asked while twirling around. She hoped her ass looked great in this  skirt.

“You look trashy,” Katie answered harshly.

“No I look sexy , there’s a difference, babe,” Marisol countered.

“Really, because I don’t see any,” her friend replied while folding her arms. Marisol frowned. What would Katie know about being sexy anyway? She always dressed boring.

“Whatever, I’m buying these and more,” she replied as she went to get more clothes. Her friend followed her, annoyingly voicing her negative opinion with each item she picked up. Katie even had a problem with the shoes she was looking at. 

After buying the clothes, two pairs of heels, and some sexy jewelry, Marisol walked out of the store with two big bags of clothes. Her wardrobe transformation was going to be epic, but she needed to add more spice to it.

“Can we get something to eat now? I’m actually hungry for the first time in a while,” Katie complained. Tired of her whining, Marisol was about to allow them to walk to the food court, when they passed by Victoria’s Secret and an item on display caught her attention.

It was a hot pink thong with a cheetah print.

Around a campfire at the Ravine, Eli was enjoying a nice smoke session with his friends. Or as nice as he could, since he was still a newbie to smoking weed.

After taking a puff of the blunt being passed around between him, Mo, and Jake, Eli started coughing uncontrollably. 

“Woah man, are you going to live?” Mo asked him as he slapped his back in an attempt to stop the hacking fit. After finally stopping, Eli’s eyes were watery.

“Jake, what is in this stuff?” He questioned his other friend in a cracked voice.

“Nothing severe….,” Jake answered slowly. 

“There has to be something wrong with it,” Eli argued. He wouldn’t be surprised there was. Jake’s dealer looked extremely sketchy.

“Or maybe, you’re just smoking it like a total narc would,” a feminine voice replied dryly and he turned around at the source of it. It was the girl he saw on the ledge earlier at school. She took the blunt from him without warning and took a puff from it. She didn’t cough at all.

“Who is she?” He heard Jake ask Mo in confusion. Eli just watched her in wonder as she pulled the blunt from her lips.

“Yeah, who are you?” He asked.

She blew smoke into his face, and he didn’t even try to blow any of it away.

“I’m Julia, someone who’s been doing this for a while,” she introduced herself, “And who are you?” 

“Eli,” he answered, already feeling the effects kicking in. “I’m here with my friends…..to chill….”

She chuckled. “Well I’m here to get away from my dad and his cunt of a wife,” she replied, “Do you mind if I ‘chill’ with you and your friends?” 

Eli looked to his friends for approval. In the darkness, he could see Mo dramatically making a “no” signal in an attempt to be subtle and Jake blinking rapidly. He looked back at Julia, already knowing his decision.

“I don’t see why not.”

Clare was typing up werewolf fanfiction on her computer when she heard something being thrown at her window. Confused, she got up to see the source of the noise. 

She looked outside to see K.C. looking back up at her.

“What are you doing here?” She whispered to him, voice barely above a hiss. If anyone in her family even remotely saw a boy outside her window they would call the police. Well maybe not Darcy at this point. Her older sister had changed over the course of this year and a lot of it not for the better. 

“I’m here to see you, come downstairs,” he answered casually. She sighed before closing her window quietly. She left her bedroom and came downstairs as quietly as possible, being careful to not make any noises. She opened the front door and quickly closed it behind her when she stepped outside.

K.C. grabbed her and passionately kissed her to the point where she could feel her toes curl. She grabbed his arms. It may sound a little weird but she had a weird fascination with his arms because she liked feeling the muscles in them.

K.C. parted her lips with his tongue, and she shyly responded when he rolled his tongue over hers. Months later, she still didn’t know how to “properly” do tongue kissing.

When he pulled away, Clare was blushing profusely. “Is that what you came to see me for?” She questioned. When he grabbed her hand and laced their fingers together, she felt butterflies in her stomach. The way he was looking at her with desire made her feel so attractive even if she was wearing some rather virginal looking nightclothes.

“No, well yes. But I didn’t come here just to kiss you,” he clarified as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver cross necklace. “Over the weekend, some nuns visited our group home for some community work and handed out these necklaces. They told us to give them to people in our lives who need them.”

He handed it to her and Clare gingerly took it in her hands. She ran her fingers over the emblem. It was a simple but sweet gesture.

It reminded her that what she and K.C. were doing was wrong and a grave sin.

“Thank you, K.C.,” she replied with a tight smile. 

He smiled back before leaning down to kiss her. This time she really couldn’t find the heart to respond as eagerly.

The next morning after her mother dropped her off in front of the school steps, Marisol entered the school and quickly ran into the nearest bathroom to get dressed in her new sexy clothes.

Her hair was already teased up and she got her nails done last night after buying a couple thongs from Victoria’s Secret. They were long, ballerina tipped acrylics and painted ruby red with a sparkle finish on each ring finger. Her toes were painted red as well and visible with the gladiator silver heels she was wearing. 

After putting on a pink tube top, tight black low rider jeans, silver hoop earrings, silver eyeshadow, and red lipstick Marisol sprayed her body down with strawberry-scented perfume. She then stepped out of the girls’ bathroom. Everyone in the hallway's reaction was immediate. She was met with stares and whispers as she strutted down the halls like it was her runway.

She had a proud, dazzling smile the whole time.

Eli was walking with Mo and Jake, chatting casually about their night.

“So does little Eli have an emo crush?” Mo teased him, referring to him talking to Julia all night. Even though he was high the whole time, Eli was still coherent enough to have several conversations with her and found that she was a kindred spirit. She was just like him: dark, morbid, with a snarky wit.

“Maybe,” he simply answered. He wasn’t going to deny it, he was pretty attracted to this Julia. Combined with her perfect personality, she was eerily beautiful. When he came home and went to bed that night, he couldn’t stop thinking about her mysterious dark eyes.

For the first night in a long time, the spoiled princess didn’t make an appearance in his dreams. 

“Awww, it looks like our emo prince has found his emo princess, Jakey,” Mo said to their other friend but he wasn’t paying attention. He was looking at something as he walked. “Jake?” Mo asked him. “Bro?” He asked again, punching him lightly in the arm.

“Is that Mare?” Jake asked with widened eyes. Together, him and Mo looked where Jake was and saw Marisol walk by them in a new, skimpy outfit with a switch in her hips.

Since he was too busy staring at the pink cheetah print thong she was wearing, Eli wasn’t paying attention to where he was going and crashed into one of the glass doors.

After last night, Clare wasn’t really enthused to meet K.C. in the supply closet before class but she did anyway. 

He was already in the closet when she entered it. As soon as she closed the door behind them, K.C. grabbed her and started kissing on her neck. Despite her current mood, Clare allowed herself to enjoy the intimate gesture for a moment. She never expected to be like this with a boy until she was married but feeling his soft lips on her tender skin did…..something. Maybe she could spare some enthusiasm for a few minutes……

He moved to kissing her on the lips, and she sighed in bliss as she kissed him back. She ran her hands during his strong arms as he pushed her against the wall. He squeezed her shoulder, and she felt like she was on fire.

It was only when he groped an intimate part of her did she freeze. K.C. sensed how uncomfortable she was and stopped. "Did I do something?" He asked in concern.

She was feeling a strong rush of excitement but also fear from where he touched her. She wasn't ready for that kind of intimacy yet. Her fourteenth birthday wasn't even until March.

"I can't let you touch me there," she said, folding her arms over her chest. She could feel the redness in her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," he apologized sincerely, "I can still hold you while we kiss, right?"

Clare looked at her blue watch. It was five minutes before the homeroom bell would ring.

"Of course, but it's almost homeroom, we should go to our lockers," she said. He nodded before giving her a kiss on the forehead. She smiled at the gesture before opening up the door.

Alli was standing there in front of them and from the expression on her face, Clare knew she had overheard everything.

In class, she was still receiving stares from everyone and Marisol couldn't feel more happy at the attention she was getting from everyone. 

"I fucked up badly with her," she heard Dallas whisper to Drew.

"So did I," she heard Drew whisper back. She smirked at their conversation. Good. She hoped Dallas regretted how he treated her every day.

Katie, however, was not pleased with her new change in wardrobe.

"Mare, do you know that everyone can see your thong?" Her bestie hissed to her from behind as their science teacher showed a really outdated video from the eighties on Isaac's laws of motion.

"Yes, and I don't give a fuck," Marisol hissed back. She was really getting tired of Katie's judgmental attitude lately, and she hasn't forgotten what Katie said to her while she was in the rehabilitation center. Her best “friend” was obviously jealous of her.

"Is this the kind of attention you want to have? The kind of attention only the school slut would get?” Katie questioned, and Marisol turned around to look at her with a glare.

“Better than being the school prude,” she snidely replied back before turning back around.

She loved Katie but it was a miracle she was able to date two attractive guys when she had such a giant stick up her ass.

After getting his lunch, Eli looked for Mo and Jake in the cafeteria. He easily found them at their usual table talking with Gracie and Imogen. They were most likely talking band stuff. 

He was about to make his way over to sit at the table when he spotted Julia sitting at a table by herself. She was quietly eating a sandwich. She was a black button up dress with fishnet stockings and black sneakers. He chose to walk over and sit down at her table instead.

“Why are you sitting alone?” He asked, admiring her appearance. She was wearing dark red lipstick that contrasted well with her pale skin. He also eyed her lacy black choker in desire.

“Maybe I want to,” she answered, “You Degrassi people are lame.”

“I would like to think that I’m more interesting than the average Degrassi student,” he replied as he began biting into his own sandwich. She stared at him in curiosity.

“Like what?”

“Does getting shot on your birthday count?” He dryly answered. 

“I knew you looked familiar! You’re that kid that was shot in the chest by that psycho a couple years ago,” she replied in shock.

“Yup, that’s me,” he confirmed as he thought about that memory. It seemed like it happened a thousand years ago instead of two measly years.

“Why did he even do it? Shoot you, I mean. I know he was getting bullied by some popular kids but why did he go after you?” She questioned.

“I was protecting her,” he answered as he looked at Marisol, who was flirting with some asshole looking jock from Lakehurst. Owen was his name from what he remembered. The guy had the same intelligence level as Drew Torres and Mike Dallas, which was abysmally low. “He was aiming for her, and I pushed her away and took the bullet instead.”

Julia looked at Marisol in disgust. “That girl over there? I’ve seen her on the cheerleading team. She looks and acts like some dumb, trashy skank,” she acidly replied.

Normally, due to the weird hold she had on him, Eli would have been inclined to defend Marisol since he knew after two years that she was none of those things no matter her reputation. 

However seeing her entertain yet another loser jock with a terrible personality made him mad. And the girl in front of him was a much better option anyway. 

“She is,” he agreed.

Clare felt Alli stare at the back of her head all day in classes, and she felt like Jesus was passing judgement on her through her best friend. Despite it being winter, Clare found herself uncomfortably sweaty in each class period.

When the bell rang for the last class of the day, Clare quickly picked up her book-bag and made her way out of the classroom as quickly as possible.

She didn’t make it far before Alli grabbed her arm and forced her to turn around and face her. Alli had a harsh, stern look on her face.

“How long have you and K.C. been hooking up behind Jenna’s back?” her friend demanded.

“Since November,” Clare answered honestly, not bothering to lie at this point out of guilt.

“So you, someone who is usually very adamant about adhering to her religious beliefs, think it’s okay to have an affair with her best friend’s boyfriend behind her back?” 

“Alli, I didn’t mean for it to happen. K.C. and I have always been close and one day he just started kissing me and-”

“Clare, Jenna is your friend and you’re running around with her boyfriend and trying to make excuses for it. That’s messed up!” Alli yelled, and Clare felt herself shrivel up inside. She knew Alli was right but it stung to hear it.

“The only reason I’m not going to tell Jenna is because you’re my other best friend but you and K.C. better knock it off before I have no choice to tell her. And best believe I’m going to tell him off for this so hard his stupid beanie is going to fall off,” Alli snarled before shoving past her. Clare looked back at her before tears welled up in her eyes.

She was finally starting to face the consequences of her terrible actions.

When Katie walked past her without even saying a word to her in the halls, Marisol knew deep down that she had messed up and would need to apologize to Katie for her earlier remarks. But Katie would need to apologize first for slut-shaming her yet again.

Marisol got the books needed to do homework tonight out of her locker, trying hard not to think of her best friend’s cold stare after she called her the school prude. It was true, but not what Katie needed to hear while recovering from an eating disorder. And she knew how long Katie could stay mad at someone. If worst comes to worst, she would have to rely on her other friends for the time being.

And Owen. 

“Looking forward to tonight,” she heard Owen say from behind her as she closed her locker for the day. She turned around and gave him a sweet smile.

“So am I,” she said with a wink. He smirked before walking away. Manny Santos walked up to her next, and she looked at Owen disdainfully. Earlier, her and Manny had a talk after Spirit Squad practice about her new wardrobe and her idol was shockingly not impressed. But she did offer to take her shopping this weekend to get even cuter clothes so she was excited to do that. She adored Manny so much.

“That’s the guy you’re wearing a thong for?” Manny questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“He’s the hottest,” Marisol replied dreamily.

“He looks like a total scumbag but maybe by the grace of God, I’m wrong,” the senior replied dryly, “Where’s your twin?” 

“She hates me right now because I called her a prude after she implied I was the school slut again for how I’m dressing,” Marisol answered, and the more she thought about it, the more angry she got. 

“Well if she’s anything like my best friend, she’ll give you a few nasty glares here and there for a week but you guys will have one conversation and suddenly be friends again with no explanation,” Manny assured her before squeezing her arm gently, “In her own weird, kinda internally sexist way, she’s just looking out for you. Trust me.”

“Well until she gets a grip, I’ll have a new hot boyfriend that would never hurt me,” Marisol huffed.

Manny smiled at her sadly, and Marisol was a bit put off by it.

“I hope he never does, little cuckoo banana,” the older girl replied before walking away from her as well.

Marisol didn’t understand why at least two people she was close to didn’t trust Owen. Someone that beautiful could never hurt her.

He was her Prince Charming.

Chapter Text

“Alright guys, tomorrow is the Valentine’s Day dance and we’re going to have our first performance there. We’re going to need to knock everything out of the park and get an awesome reputation so we could perform at more events,” Mo said to them all as they gathered in a practice room before school started.

Gracie paid attention to him as he spoke, feeling excited but also nervous about performing tomorrow. Anything could go wrong and they would be mocked forever by the entire student body. They didn’t call themselves “The Outcasts” for nothing. All of them were unpopular enough as it was.

“In order for that to happen, we need to wear the most bangin outfits and that includes the ladies of this group dressing hot. We need eye candy to grab everyone’s attention,” Mo continued, and Gracie stiffened at the order.

“Isn’t that kind of sexist?” Imogen pointed out with a raised eyebrow. She had two buns on the top of her head that were held up by hair sticks. Each hair stick had a glittery pink cat pendant at the top. Her sweater was also pink with a white cat on it and she wore a black pleated skirt with glittery pink boots.

Imogen was very pretty and it was hard to not notice, especially after Gracie had come to terms with the fact that she was most likely a lesbian. Over an almost two year period, she had only been attracted to girls and her fellow bandmate was only the latest in a long line of them. The unfortunate part was that no one could know, not even Drew.

“It’s sexist but it’s show business,” Mo replied with a shrug, “But you can pull off pretty much anything, Im.”

“Really you think so?” She asked, and Gracie tilted her head in curiosity at the red that suddenly appeared in Mo’s cheeks before he looked down to avert her gaze. Did Mo like Imogen too?

“Yeah,” he answered quickly before turning his attention onto her, “Gracie, I know you’re like only five percent actual girl and ninety five percent guy, but can you at least try to look attractive tomorrow? Something feminine?” He asked her. Gracie gave him a hard look. Just the idea of being forced to dress girly made her feel queasy. It was bad enough  that her parents got on her case for not being girly, and now Mo was too.

“I don’t have a single thing in my closet that would make the male population drool in the crowd,” she replied dryly.

“Well find something ,” Mo insisted firmly, and she sighed, knowing that arguing any further would be a lost cause. Mo was as stubborn as a bull.

“You can come over to my house after school for a makeover!” Imogen offered her, and despite feeling on edge about this whole thing, Gracie couldn’t help but smile at her.

She had a feeling that Imogen would be good to her.

Drew was going over his homework assignments for his first string of classes. Since he was diagnosed with dyslexia, his teachers either printed out pages from the textbooks in bigger font or gave him different assignments from everyone else to accommodate his disability. He wasn’t going to lie; Getting sympathy and special treatment from (most of) his teachers instead of scorn for being an “idiot” felt nice.

He was checking to make sure that his answers on his algebra homework didn’t look completely made up when he heard heels clacking towards him. He looked up to see Alli Bhandari smiling down on him.

“Hi Drew,” she greeted flirtatiously while placing her hand on his shoulder. “How are you?”

“Awesome. How are you?” He asked back, looking her up and down in desire. Despite being an eighth grader, Alli was really hot and he wouldn’t mind having her as a girlfriend despite the inevitable teasing he would get from his buddies.

“I’m wondering if the guy I’ve been flirting with for a month has something important to ask me,” she answered, and Drew looked at her in confusion. What important thing would he need to ask her? As far he knew, he had no questions about schoolwork to ask her or anything serious coming up.

Alli looked at him with her hands on her hips, and he knew she was expecting something to come out of him, but he truly didn’t know what she was talking about. He just awkwardly smiled at her.

Alli nodded her head at something towards her right, and Drew looked at what she was gesturing towards. It was a pink, red, and white poster on a wall advertising the school’s Valentine Day dance tomorrow. Oh.

“Sooooo,” Drew started off, trying to be smooth about this despite not knowing what she was talking about literally two seconds ago, “Alli Bhandari, would you do me the honor of allowing me to take you to the Valentine’s Day dance tomorrow?” 

“Yes!” She accepted with a squeal that eerily reminded him of Marisol. She must have been spending too much time together lately. 

“Great. I’ll buy the tickets and pick you up around seven,” he replied with a more genuine smile this time. She squealed again before leaning down and kissing him on the cheek. He knew that she left a mark on him. She waved him goodbye before walking past him. He looked back at her in admiration, and concern with how she was able to walk in those high heels.

Grabbing his backpack, he was about to start heading over to Dallas’ locker when he heard several books and paper crash to the floor. “Fuck,” he heard a feminine voice say before he looked over to see who it was. It was the girl from Liberty Van Zandt’s birthday party, Bianca DeSousa. 

Without thinking much, he walked over to where she was scrambling to pick up her stuff, kneeled down and picked up some of her textbooks. She looked at him in surprise.

“Thanks Prince Charming, coming to my rescue again?” She asked teasingly.

“I’m always down to help a beautiful damsel,” he answered with a wink. She raised an eyebrow at his response before chuckling. In contrast to Marisol’s giggles or Katie’s brisk laughter, Bianca’s chuckles were always dark and came off as if they were at someone else’s expense.

“The last thing I am is some damsel,” she replied as they both got up at the same time, “But I appreciate the help.”

“No problem,” he assured her while staring at her lip gloss. They were a light pink and made her lips really enticing.

“Are you going to that stupid dance tomorrow?” She asked him while putting some pink slips in her bag. He immediately recognized them as the ones she got after mouthing off to Mr. Perino yesterday. Along with her friend Fitz, Bianca was no doubt a regular guest of the detention room.

“Yeah, are you?” He asked back. He felt like he already knew the answer from a girl like her.

“Usually I wouldn’t because themed dances are fucking stupid,” she answered gruffly, “But I’m willing to make an exception if you’re taking me,” she finished with a flirty, but challenging smirk.

The answer threw him off guard. Girls usually expected the guy to ask them out to dances but not the other way around. And he wasn’t expecting her to be interested.

“Um….,” he trailed off, his brain trying to register what to say. 

“What, I’m too scary for a squeaky clean prince like you?” She teased, and something else inside of him pushed him to answer instead of his brain.

“No, you got yourself a date,” he replied. She seemed surprised that he was actually accepting her offer. 

“You can pick me up whenever, I don’t care. Just don’t stand me up or you’ll regret it,” she warned him before walking off, but not before looking back at him with a sultry smile.

Drew let out a whistle when she was out of eyesight. Bianca DeSousa was really hot. Intensely hot. That was one girl he wouldn’t mind spending some time in the Ravine for.

It took him a minute to remember that he already had a date to the dance.

Katie had an urge to throw up her lunch and not for the usual reasons.

She watched with utter disgust as Marisol and her new boyfriend acted all sugary sweet at their lunch table. Marisol was feeding Owen fries while he visibly groped her…everywhere like she was a toy. It made her uncomfortable.

Marisol reached for one of his fries to eat herself, and Owen slapped it out of her hand. “Woah, woah, baby. Wouldn’t want you to gain any extra pounds,” he chided her. She pouted.

“But I’m hungry,” she whined as she reached for another one. The way Owen grabbed her wrist to stop her set up red flags in Katie’s mind. If he did it again, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from grabbing the fork from her pasta and stabbing his hand with it.

“Mari, you already had a cheeseburger and cheese fries yesterday, you can’t just eat unhealthy everyday. You wouldn’t look good as a big girl,” he replied to her, “That’s why I paid for you to get a salad today, remember?”

Marisol’s lunch today was a small chicken salad with light dressing and some itty bitty little croutons. While her best friend wasn’t opposed to eating salads some days, while dating Owen she was ordering them more often as he paid for her meals. While Katie was aware of how much she criticized her friend’s eating habits in the past, she didn’t feel comfortable with Owen policing them. She could also begrudgingly admit these days that she came at Marisol for how she ate out of jealousy and unhealthy projection from her eating disorders. Now that she was seeing someone else come down on her friend for it, she felt guilty.

“Right. I’m sorry baby,” she apologized as she picked up her salad and dug in. She ate in small, delicate bites. Next to her salad was a bottle of water.

“I’m just looking out for my little chocolate drop,” he assured her with a smile that he probably thought was sweet but Katie found it to be scummy. The couple leaned in and shared a kiss, and from the way Marisol just giggled, she had a feeling he groped her ass.

Katie looked down at her own meal and felt some familiar, negative feelings come up. She was supposed to be rebuilding a healthy relationship with food, but the exchange between Marisol and Owen wasn’t helping. She was being reminded of the words she used to tell herself to justify not eating, and the voice in her head telling her that no one was going to want a fat girlfriend.

The voice was still in her head, and it was ringing quite loud. For the rest of the lunch period, she didn’t really eat her food. She just played around with it.

After gym class, Gracie entered the showers where the other girls were bathing and changing. She quietly entered a stall and turned the hot water on her body.

Her period flowed down her leg and she tried her best not to look at it as she washed up. Her period was a reminder that no matter how many times she tried to hide her femininity, she couldn’t escape it and the awful cramps that came with it. After showering, she came out to see some of the popular girls in her grade applying nail polish to each other’s fingers. When they saw her, they gave her a sneering look.

“You want your nails painted too or are you too good for that?” One of the girls asked her. Gracie ignored them as she dried her hair and body.

“Don’t you remember? She would much rather act like a boy,” the other one replied dryly.

“I’m surprised she even calls herself a girl at this point,” the first girl said.

“With that flat chest and hairy legs she might as well be a boy,” the second one joked before they both started snickering and soon some other girls in the shower room joined in.

Under normal circumstances, Gracie would have told everyone in the room to fuck off but their conversation awakened something in her mind. 

In all honesty, she wished she was born a boy, but there was no way she could change that about herself.

“So you’re going to somehow manage to go to the dance with two girls at the same time tomorrow?” Dallas questioned him as they left class together.

“Maybe,” Drew answered, even though he didn’t know the answer to that himself. He really didn’t know what to do.

“Didn’t you try to do that the last time with Marisol and Katie and it didn’t work out?” 

“Well, for a while yeah they were both mad at me for it but I ended up dating Katie out of it,” he explained, “Either way I’m going to have to come up with something.”

“Why don’t you take Bianca and give the cute little Bhandari girl to me?” Dallas offered with a smirk.

“And bring Bianca home for my mom to meet? Have you seen what kind of girl she is?” Drew reminded him with narrowed eyes. There was no way his mother would support that kind of girl as his girlfriend. Absolutely no way. She would kill Bianca then him for bringing her up in her face in the first place.

“So drop her and only bring Alli,” Dallas reasoned. It seemed like the easiest solution. But it wasn’t. Maybe it was just him being dumb but he couldn’t find it in himself to not want to go out with Bianca. Something about her was too enticing despite being a dangerous girl to be with.

On their way to history class, they passed by Bianca, who smirked when she saw him. Drew couldn’t help but smirk back. 

“Degrassi has all of these hot girls but I’m only supposed to be with one. It’s unfair,” he complained before they entered history class together. 

His best friend chuckled before they took their seats.

After leaving her final classroom for the day, Katie headed to her locker. Hers was right next to Marisol’s.

She was unprepared for Marisol to be making out with Owen in a display of truly disgusting PDA. Her best friend was shoved against her locker as Owen slobbered all over her lips. As she approached them, neither of them made any move to stop. Even when she uncomfortably cleared her throat. Rolling her eyes, she did her best to open her locker.

They finally stopped while she was in the middle of getting her schoolwork for tonight. She overheard Marisol giggle in the process. When she reached all the way in the back, her blue journal fell out onto the ground. Before she could pick it up, Owen grabbed it for her.

Him touching any of her possessions, especially that one made her ill. She yanked it out of his hands without a second thought.

“Wow, you’re not even going to say thank you?” Owen questioned her with a glare.

“Thanks,” she replied thinly with fake politeness. His glare darkened.

“Aren’t you a little ray of sunshine? I bet you think you’re better than me because you have the teachers up your ass,” Owen jeered.

“Owen…,” Marisol jumped in with widened eyes, but he looked at her and silenced her immediately.

“I have the teachers ‘up my ass’ because I’m a hardworking student. You’re a bum that can’t even pay attention in class. You’re a moron,” she snarled.

“Katie…,” Marisol spoke up again but this time with a warning look. She didn’t know why she was getting it and not him when he was the one being an asshole.

“And you’re a little bitch,” he snarled back, and she suddenly saw red. She lunged for him only for Marisol to hold her back.

“Katie, Katie, he doesn’t mean that,” Marisol quickly tried to reason.

“I do mean that,” Owen insisted bluntly, making her bristle. 

“Katiekins, why don’t you and I hang out at the mall today after school? Around five?” Marisol offered with a pleading look in her eyes.

“We’re going on a date tonight, remember Mari?” Owen said to her. Marisol looked back at him.

“That can wait tomorrow,” she replied firmly before looking back at her.

The brief flash of rage in Owen’s eyes at that statement sent off another alarm in Katie’s mind.

Her mom dropped her off at Imogen's house, and she could see the excitement her mother had in her finally having a “makeover”. It somehow made her more uneasy.

Even if Imogen’s idea of a “makeover” ended up being rather eccentric .

“Are people really going to take us seriously wearing sparkly tutu skirts and multicolored hair bows?” She questioned her friend with a raised eyebrow as she looked at herself in Imogen’s tall mirror. She was wearing a black shirt with long sleeves, a sparkly red tutu skirt and matching sparkly sneakers. She was wearing sparkly black tights as well. She looked like a fairy.

“An important part of being in a band is having a distinct style that makes people recognize you,” Imogen answered with a smile, “Now let’s give you a manicure!”

Gracie sat on Imogen’s bed as her friend painted her fingernails with a zebra print design. Every so often, she would fidget and cause Imogen to mess up, earning a pinch from her friend. The whole time, she was feeling a great sense of unease about this whole thing. It was however after putting some curls in her hair along with some bows, that Gracie couldn’t contain her discomfort any longer.

“I can’t do this,” she said as she stopped Imogen from applying lip gloss to her lips, “This whole thing is wrong.”

“What do you mean? I’m just trying to help,” Imogen replied in confusion.

“Well it’s not me! I’m not some girly girl! I don’t want to ever be that! I don’t even like being a girl! I wish I was born a boy!” Gracie explained in frustration. She waited for her friend to argue back, to say that she had to do this even though she couldn’t.

Instead Imogen had a contemplative look on her face.

“Do you really hate being a girl, even as a tomboy?” She questioned as she sat down next to her on the bed.

“I wish I was born a boy,” Gracie repeated. She really did. She hated the body she was born in and the expectations forced on her because of it. She even hated her name. Even accepting herself as a butch lesbian didn’t make her feel any better about being a girl.

“I have an aunt in Italy, and for the longest time she was my uncle Ronaldo. Then a couple years ago, she came out as a trans woman and changed her name to Lucia. She was a woman this whole time, but born in the wrong body. Do you think that’s the case with you, Gracie?” Imogen asked her.

The question threw her off. “Trans?” She asked back, the word resting on her tongue. She heard of transgender people, but always in the most negative way. They were freaks. They were something to be made fun of and looked down upon just like gay people. 

“If being a girl really makes you uncomfortable, then maybe you really aren’t one. You’re a boy, just not with the right parts, but you have the mind of one and that’s what matters,” Imogen added.

“Wouldn’t that make me a freak?” Gracie questioned in fear. What Imogen said was a simple concept on paper but they both knew it really wasn’t. It was practically a death sentence and an invitation to be hated by everyone.

“Everyone’s a freak to somebody. You know what people at school think of me. But you really shouldn’t have to go around pretending to be someone you’re not, or trying to convince yourself to be that person,” her friend answered. 

“I can’t be trans, Im. My parents, especially my mom, would freak out. I’m her only daughter,” Gracie argued, anxious at the idea of telling her mother that she may not be a girl after all….

“If you’re actually a boy, there’s nothing she can do about that. If she was a good mother, she would accept that she has two sons instead of only one,” Imogen reasoned. Gracie bit her lip in discomfort. She really felt overwhelmed by everything. She just accepted herself as a lesbian and Imogen was now telling her that she was a whole different identity altogether. She didn’t even want her family to know she liked girls…

“I need to go to the bathroom,” she said before getting up quickly and leaving the bedroom. When she entered the bathroom, she quickly locked the door behind her. She looked at herself in the mirror. She saw what was supposed to be a girl but yet wasn’t what she wanted to be. But what she wanted to be wasn’t allowed in this society.

Before she knew it, she was crying.

The next morning, Drew entered the school with a sense of dread of what he was about to do. He looked around for Bianca and found her leaving the principal’s office. She had a disgruntled look on her face. ‘Great, she’s already in a bad mood and I’m about to make it worse,’ he thought to himself dejectedly as he approached her.

“Hey Bianca,” he began as calmly as he could, “I have to tell you something.”

“That you’re not arriving at my house in a horse carriage tonight?” She asked dryly.

“That I’m already taking someone to this dance. Alli Bhandari,” he explained with regret, “She had me ask her out first and I forgot. I’m sorry.”

“Simple, tell that eighth grader that you’re going out with me instead,” Bianca replied, “Do you really want to take that baby to the dance?”

“Alli’s a nice girl,” he answered defensively. She was in the gifted program and a cheerleader. His mom would love that instead of a bad girl whose idea of extracurricular activities was drinking at The Ravine and hooking up with guys.

“She’s a boring girl,” Bianca said bluntly, “Is that what you want, Drew Torres? To hang out with boring girls because it’ll make your parents sleep better at night?”

‘No,’ was his honest answer. However, he knew it was just going to have to be that way. “I can’t associate myself with girls like you. There’s rumors from Lakehurst kids that you have the number of every boy there underneath your skirt,” he accused. She snorted.

“And I know you want your number to be underneath my skirt as well,” she countered with a smirk before dropping it out. “You can take that Bhandari girl to the dance tonight, but I’m still going and we’ll see how long you can stand to be around that little baby when I’m there,” she challenged as she reached over and rubbed his chin seductively. She then walked away from him.

Drew looked back at her, feeling like his night was about to get more interesting.

After the events of yesterday, Katie found herself wanting to avoid Marisol whenever her boyfriend was around from now on. No one on this Earth would be able to restrain her from ripping Owen’s balls off if he called her a bitch again.

In homeroom, she colored in her coloring book to distract her violent thoughts. In therapy she was given a coloring book and colored pencils to use whenever she had harmful thoughts or urges. Because of Owen Milligan, she had already used up five pages. She hated him and had no idea what Marisol saw in him other than him being “hot”.

She heard someone take a seat next to hers, and she didn’t have to look up to see that it was Marisol.

“What did you think of the movie we saw last night?” Her best friend asked her. At the mall last night, they saw some high school movie that was a blatant rip off of Mean Girls. It really wasn’t entertaining at all.

“I cared more the previews than the movie,” she answered bluntly. And the popcorn that, while delicious, was almost too buttery for her taste. She probably consumed a thousand calories last night.

“Well, I thought it was fun,” Marisol replied before there was a pregnant pause. “Katie, can you and Owen at least try to get along?”

“I can’t when he’s such a piece of shit,” Katie answered bluntly again as she turned to look at her. Marisol was wearing heavier makeup than usual these days under Owen’s request and it was unflattering. Marisol didn’t need to wear that much makeup; she was beautiful enough.

“Well at least try because I don’t want my bestie and my boyfriend to hate each other. I care about you both so much. Please?” Her best friend pleaded. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

“ Fine . Only for you, Mare,” she accepted, coloring in one section of the flower on her page a little too roughly. It caused the top of her red colored pencil to snap off. She sighed before closing her coloring book.

She was having a hard time trying to relieve stressful thoughts with Owen around.

Later that night, Gracie showed up behind stage where her other band members were getting ready for their performance. When Mo saw her, he had a look of great confusion in his eyes.

“Um, is that what you’re wearing?” He questioned her critically. “I told you to dress hot!”

She was wearing a large hoodie, denim jeans, and her most fashionable Nike sneakers. A beanie was on top of her head.

“Yup,” she confirmed nonchalantly while folding her eyes. His eyes narrowed.

“I can’t have you on stage like that. I told you-”

“Everyone give a warm welcome to Degrassi’s hottest new band, The Outcasts!” An announcer said enthusiastically as they heard cheers from behind the curtains.

“There’s no time for me to change,” Gracie said to her bandmate, daring for him to tell her to leave. Mo glared at her and she knew he wanted to but couldn’t.

“Alright everyone lets rock and roll or whatever the old folks used to say!” Imogen urged them all cheerfully as she pushed out her table full of drinking glasses. She was dressed in a poofy purple minidress with pink fishnet tights and rainbow sneakers. A big purple bow was on top of her hair. That was her idea of sexy.

Mo grumbled something to himself as they all headed out stage but Gracie was pleased that this argument wasn’t going to be dragged out any further.

This was only the beginning of her rejecting to do anything feminine because she wasn’t a girl.

At the dance, Drew was bored out of his mind as Alli tried to talk to him.

“With you by my side, I’ll be one of the most popular girls at Degrassi,” Alli squealed, “We could go on cute double dates with my friends K.C. and Jenna, we could hang out at The Dot after school, make out in the bleachers after games. This is all so exciting !”

“Yup,” he agreed flatly as he played around with the chicken tenders on his plate. Alli was a nice, cute girl but he really couldn’t see himself in a long-standing relationship with her. Yet he was here with her instead of Bianca, a mistake he was now sorely regretting.

There was Valentine’s Day decorations all over the gym, and the pink and red lights gave the dance a nice atmosphere but love was not in the air tonight so far. 

Alli left the table for a moment and came back with a tray of chocolate-covered strawberries. “A sweetie for my sweetie?” She asked flirtatiously as she sat back down and held up a strawberry for him to eat. He did his best to smile as he opened up his mouth for her to put the treat in. She giggled as she fed him the strawberries.

He was in the middle of chewing on his third one when he saw Bianca come into the gym wearing a tight red bodycon dress with red heels. Her hair was in millions of curls and she was wearing red lip gloss. Drew knew what his next decision was going to be.

“Alli,” he began as he grabbed a napkin and wiped the chocolate sauce from his mouth, “You see my friend Dallas over there? Why don’t you go over and uh get to know him while I take care of something?” He suggested as he got up while pointing to his best friend, who was joking around with some guys on the side of the gym. Alli raised an eyebrow in confusion but he was already on his way to Bianca before she could say something.

“Hey Prince Charming, you saw the error of your ways?” She greeted teasingly as he grabbed one of her hands. He was surprised at how soft they were despite her being such a rough girl.

“Yes,” he answered, looking at her intensely. She was the hottest girl in this room, there was no need to deny it. And she smelled good too. He caught a whiff of perfume from her body. “You want to dance somewhere where Alli can’t see us?” He asked as a Beyoncé song played over the speakers.

“Actually, I was thinking we could do something more fun than that,” she replied, and there was a seductive look in her eyes.

“And what’s that?” He questioned. She tugged on his hand.

“Follow me,” she urged as she led him out of the gym. Drew followed her, not knowing where she was going but anticipating what she was planning.

She led him in front of the Boiler Room and opened up the door. “Why don’t you say we get to know each other more?” She purred as she squeezed his hand.

“Uh…okay,” he replied with widened eyes. She smirked as she dragged him into the room and closed the door behind them.

It turned out that her idea of them getting to know each other more involved his pants being down.

Later that night after dinner, Katie stood over a toilet. She had lunch with Owen and Marisol today, and it didn’t go well. That douchebag wouldn’t allow Marisol to eat some pizza, and pressured her into eating salad again instead. “You need to fix your eating habits before you’re wide as a cow,” Owen had said to her best friend, and Marisol didn’t do anything to fight back. She just ate her salad, agreeing that she had no intentions of being fat.

The conversation had stuck in Katie’s mind for the rest of the day, and she was feeling guilty for eating a cheeseburger and fries today even though she shouldn’t. Combined with the lamb chops and mashed potatoes her mom had cooked tonight, she was well aware that she had consumed a lot of calories that could add on to her weight. It led to this moment right now.

Katie numbly stared down at the toilet seat as she prepared to throw up the contents of her meal. If she started binging and purging again, she would be more careful this time so no one would notice. She kneeled down in front of the toilet, opened up her mouth, and got ready to insert her fingers deep into her throat.

“Katie?” She heard Maya ask from outside. She froze just as she was about to do it. “Are you alright?” Her little sister continued to ask.

Tears welled up in Katie’s eyes as she stood up. She couldn’t go through with this and hurt her family again. “I’m…fine…,” she replied, shaking.

“We’re playing Taboo downstairs and I need you on my team!” Maya said.

“I’ll be right down!” She promised as she looked back down at the toilet.

She knew she couldn’t go down this dark path again, but she also couldn’t watch Owen shame her friend at lunch for what she ate. It was triggering.

It was painful to admit but she would have to sit somewhere else at lunch from now on.

The next morning, Gracie walked into the school wearing her brother’s hand me downs as usual, but something inside of her shifted. 

While she was getting books out of her locker for morning classes, she saw Imogen skip towards her. “Hi, friend! Great job on the base yesterday!” She complimented warmly.

“Thanks, you did a great job too,” she complimented her back. Their first performance went smoothly with the crowd vibing well to the songs they did. Most were covers but there was one original song written by Eli. Called “Maribella”, it was about a girl that kept falling in love with and dating losers when there was a guy who was willing to give her everything but she refused to give the time of day. It was like a guy version of “You Belong With Me”.

“Did you think about what we talked about the other night?” Imogen asked, folding her arms as she leaned on the adjoining locker next to hers.

“I did,” Gracie answered, “The thing is, Im, if I’m trans I can’t come out to my anyone, not even my parents. Who knows what they would do to me.”

“That’s sad,” Imogen said with a frown, “There’s nothing wrong with realizing that you’re a different gender than what you were raised as.”

“My dad and Drew are Catholic, and we all attend mass on Sundays. There’s no way anyone in my family would approve of this,” she explained, and there was a pain in her gut at that. “I can’t even imagine the type of hell I would go through at school. Other girls already treat me like shit for how I dress.”

“Fuck those people, you have me,” Imogen declared strongly, “We can be weirdos together.”

“Only in private,” Gracie replied with a sad smile, “Even then, I don’t even know how to go about being trans. I don’t even what’s the right way to go about this.”

“Well I’m not trans so I don’t truly know, but would it help to at least start referring to yourself as a guy…in private so you can be more comfortable with being a guy?” Imogen questioned. Gracie thought about it.

Thinking of herself as a guy meant that using she and her to describe herself was no longer accurate. She was actually he.

He.

He was a guy, just born in a girl’s body but he was a guy all the same.

The ease Gracie had with referring to himself in his head was surprisingly but it brought an inner peace he had been looking for since he was a little kid. 

“You’re right, Im,” he replied to her. “I guess I should be looking for a new name to call myself now, right?”

Chapter Text

Dallas was waiting in the maternity ward as Vanessa was in labor. She had been for several hours. With each scream he overheard from in the hallway, he felt his anxiety increase further.

Fatherhood was a push or two away at this point and he still didn’t know what he was going to do. He didn’t even want to be in this situation in the first place but after Marisol dumped him, he really had nothing left to lose. No girl at Degrassi wanted to hook up with a guy that knocked a girl up. And as for his parents? They were furious. He had to live with Drew and his family for a few days because his old man kicked him out. The only reason why he was allowed to come back home was because they didn’t want to alert child protective services. Now, they just pretend he doesn’t exist.

His phone beeped, and he took it out of his pocket to see that he got a text message from Drew. “How are you holding up, bro?” The message read.

“Terrible,” he texted back. Since he’s been in the hospital, he’s been doing nothing but watching TV or staring at white walls for six hours. He had dinner at the cafeteria and the pizza there was the worst he had ever eaten. He also didn’t know just how horrible it was to constantly hear the sounds of machines beeping until now.

“Stay strong, man. You got this,” Drew replied with a fist emoji. Dallas rolled his eyes. While he could appreciate the support, there was nothing Drew could say that would make him feel better right now.

Dallas looked at the clock at the nurse’s station. It read two a.m. in the morning. Any normal guy his age would be in bed sleeping in preparation for school tomorrow or playing NBA 2K but not him. He was at the hospital waiting for his kid to arrive. ‘I guess it wouldn’t hurt to finally get some sleep,’ he thought to himself.

Just as he was about to lay down on the benches, Vanessa’s screaming stop and the cry of a baby was heard instead. A nurse came out of the birthing room.

“Congratulations, Michael. You have a son! Are you ready to meet him?” The nurse asked him kindly.

A boy. He had a son.

“Sure…..,” Dallas answered in shock as he slowly stood up and followed the nurse inside the room. Vanessa was there on the bed, looking like hell, with a tiny blue bundle in her arms. With each step he took to approach them, he felt light-headed.

He looked down at their son for the first time. The baby was more red than brown at the moment, and was barely bigger than his Jordans. Yet, he was still terrified to interact with him.

“A guy like you can’t be too shy to say hello to his son,” Vanessa said to him with a crack in her voice. Her hair was all over her head, her eyes were watery with tears, and her skin was slick with sweat. The last time she looked like this was after they had sex for the first time all those months ago. It was crazy (and terrifying) how two entirely different situations could lead to the same result.

Dallas held out his hand to the baby, who opened up his eyes to look up at him. He didn’t even know how to properly introduce himself to a newborn baby.

When the baby grabbed onto his finger tightly, he nearly jumped out of surprise. But an unfamiliar warmth also crashed over him, a warmth he never felt before.

Bianca had never been so pissed after sex in her life. 

“It was by accident, B,” Owen said defensively as she angrily put her clothes back on, “It just slipped out.”

“So this is what’s going to go down between us from now on? You crying out the name of that dumb bitch you’re dating while fucking me?” She demanded sharply while turning to glare at him.

They were having their usual casual sex in their favorite tent at The Ravine. Only this time, Owen made it blatantly clear he was thinking of his girlfriend while he was inside of her by moaning out her name.

“She’s not giving me any pussy, what do you expect?” Owen asked, annoyed. “I thought with the rumors flying around about her that she would have given it up to me already.”

“Maybe she actually is smart enough to see what a bigger idiot you are and realize that it’s not worth it,” she replied darkly.

Owen’s new girlfriend, Marisol Lewis, was stupid, vapid, and let Owen control everything she did. So her best friend had finally found his dream girl. The only thing she was apparently doing wrong was not having sex with him so her and Owen were continuing their regular friends with benefits affair.

“I’ll fuck her soon, believe that. She’s crazy in love with me, I’ll just have to keep buttering her up,” her best friend replied. Then a dark smirk fell on his face. “The one bright side of this is that I’ll be the one to pop that little cherry of hers. She’s a virgin, B, isn’t that beautiful?”

Truthfully she found it creepy how guys fixated on being with virgins, even if Owen was her friend.

“So, I’m just someone to fuck until she’s dumb enough to sleep with you?” she accused.

“When you put it that way, it makes our friendship look terrible, but you and I have a special understanding, B. It’s why I love you,” he reassured her, “Besides you don’t really mind. It’s not like that Torres boy is taking you out on any dates.”

Drew was another person she was regularly hooking up since the Valentine’s Day dance. They were always meeting up in the Boiler Room, so she could give him blowjobs. He surprisingly refused to go any further than that, saying that he only wanted to go all the way with someone special. It was obvious she wasn’t that someone. It was something she was repeatedly trying to convince herself that she was fine with.

But regularly being used by two guys for sexual purposes until they got something by girls they actually liked stung.

“He isn’t,” she agreed, “But at least he isn’t disrespecting me by saying the name of some other bitch while I’m blowing him.”

Fully dressed, she stormed out of the tent without another word to her friend.

In another part of the city inside a movie theater, Eli was sitting next to Julia on their first date while feeling incredibly nervous. He hadn’t been on a date in a long time and was scared of fucking this up. Admittedly a part of it was because he had far more interest in Julia than he ever did Imogen while they were dating.

On the big screen, the final girl of the slasher movie they were watching was going through the upstairs of an abandoned mansion her and her friends were partying in. All of her friends had been murdered in grisly ways throughout the whole movie by the killer and this was the scene where she was most likely about to discover their bodies.

“Don’t go in there dumbass,” he heard Julia say next to him. She was furiously digging in their big bucket of popcorn to shove a bunch in her mouth at the same time while he had their large cup of cherry coke on his side.

When the main girl entered a dark room and turned the lights on, she screamed at the sight of all her dead friends. One had her throat slit while being hung up by arrows on a door, another was tied down to the bed by his own entrails. The one black guy in the movie who died first had a hook embedded in his skull. The “slutty” girl was somehow folded into a pretzel in a way that shouldn’t be humanly possible but no one watches slasher movies for medical accuracy.

The killer jumped out from underneath the bed in a weak attempt at a jump scare but neither him nor Julia even flinched while everyone else around them screamed. In that moment Eli boldly reached for her hand, running his fingers over her chipped black nail polish.

She looked at him, and even in the darkness he could see her soft smile.

Early in the morning, Dallas was taught how to properly hold the baby by a nurse while Vanessa slept in the bed. It was the first time in a while that she actually looked at peace.

The warmth from his son was something never felt before along with the smell of a newborn. He looked down at him as he tried to find his features in him. The paternity test he and Vanessa had taken will determine if he really was this kid’s father but he already knew the answer. It may have sounded dumb but he already formed a bond with the baby.

The baby smiled in his arms while sleeping, and Dallas smiled back. Then his nose crinkled in disgust as a foul stench filled up his nostrils.

The baby had farted.

Bianca bit into her breakfast sandwich as she sat in the cafeteria before school started. It was a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich that was bought for her by Owen, who was currently kissing on his girlfriend’s neck while she sat in his lap.

“Owen, stopppp. Not here,” Marisol urged, giggling as she tried to push him off of her.

“Why not? There’s no one here to stop us,” he replied as he slapped her ass, making her squeal. Bianca felt her stomach turn at the sight.

“I’m actually here and ready to projectile vomit on both of you,” she gruffly said. Marisol glared at her and she glared right back.

“I have to take a piss, I’ll be right back babe,” Owen announced to Marisol before giving her a quick kiss. He pushed her off of his lap and left the table, leaving the two of them together and the boiling tension.

“Why do you hate me so much?” Marisol demanded from her.

“Because you’re annoying and your head is full of bubbles,” Bianca bluntly answered.

“Well you’re a burnout bitch that’s going to end up dead in a crackhouse in five years so who’s really the loser here?” Marisol countered. The question was offensive, and not just because crack was in the league of drugs she would never try.

‘You because I’m fucking your boyfriend,” Bianca wanted to say but couldn’t. Owen would be pissed at her for causing him drama even though it was his fault. Instead she just simply smirked at her.

“I bet you think you’re better than me because you’re a popular cheerleader with a popular jock boyfriend that eats sushi and iced coffee for lunch instead of McDonald’s and booze but I promise you that once high school is over, you won’t have anything to aspire to afterwards because you reached your peak. And then you’re going to be the one who’s dead in a crackhouse in five years,” she replied. Marisol bristled at her while tightly gripping her large cup of iced coffee. Bianca could tell she wanted to throw it on her. She hoped she did. She wanted to rip out Marisol’s diamond encrusted hoop earrings and shove them down her throat.

“You’re only telling yourself that to make yourself sleep better at night but honey, I have dreams that I’m going to achieve after high school. From what I've seen of you so far, the only things you like doing are showing up to class drunk, falling asleep in class, and hanging out in the Ravine. You have no dreams and any goals to better yourself. You live to be a loser and you’re most likely going to die one,” Marisol fired back and the sickeningly sweet smile she attached to her statement made Bianca want to deck her. 

By the time Owen came back, she was sitting there silently with her arms folded, steaming, while Marisol drank her iced coffee with an annoying slurping sound she knew was happening just to piss her off.

After class, Eli found Julia at her locker getting her books out. “Hey,” he greeted her while approaching with one of his hands behind his back. She looked back at him with a smile as she closed her locker. 

“Hey yourself,” she greeted back at him, “I enjoyed our date last night.”

“Hopefully that means you’ll enjoy the next one,” he declared before pulling out a single black rose. He had Bullfrog drive him to the nearest flower shop that was open to buy one.

Her eyes widened at the gesture as she took it. He watched with pride as she ran her finger over the rose to see if it was real. It was real, just dyed.

“Are you some sort of big romantic?” She asked him.

“No, just a guy with a flair for the dramatics,” he answered with a smirk, “And only for the right girl.”

She smirked back. “So I guess you want me to be your girlfriend, eh?”

“Yes,” he said as he held out his arm, “Twist my rubber arm, girlfriend.”

Her smirk turned into a genuine smile as she wrapped his arm around her shoulder. They then walked down the hallway together.

Dallas was sleeping with Vanessa and their son in the hospital bed when a nurse came into their room. “Someone is here to visit you,” she announced as Drew pushed past her with a teddy bear. It was brown with a big blue bow tied around its neck.

“I have bought a gift for the little tyke!” He said cheerfully as he came to his side of the bed.

“Thank you,” Vanessa said politely with a smile as she took the bear. She showed it to the baby, who opened up his eyes. He looked at the bear curiously. Drew took a seat by the window.

“Can I hold the baby as an honorary uncle?” He asked while holding his arms out. Dallas looked at Vanessa, and they both shared a look of hesitation. He loved Drew but he didn’t know if he could trust him with a baby, especially since his little guy was so small.

He took the baby from Vanessa’s arms and slowly and carefully handed him to Drew. “If you drop him, I will kill you,” he warned Drew, who happily took the baby. To his surprise, his best friend was holding the baby properly.

“I have so many little cousins on my dad’s side, I know how to hold a baby,” Drew explained as he made playful faces at the baby, who just stared in response.

“Have you guys named him yet?” He asked them.

“Not yet, I mostly picked out baby names for girls,” Vanessa admitted sheepishly, “The only boy names I have in mind are Munro, Justin, and Demetrius.”

“All of which are lame,” Dallas replied bluntly, “Our son needs to have a cool name, something powerful…”

An idea came to his head. 

“What about Rock?” He suggested and Vanessa looked at him like he was stupid.

“Rock? You want to name our son after a form of mass?” She questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“No, I want to name him after one of the greatest wrestlers of all time who is now a badass actor,” Dallas corrected as he looked over to his son. “What do you say, Little Rocky? Daddy has the right idea, doesn’t he?”

It was hard to see, but Dallas could have sworn he saw a tiny smile appear on his son’s face.

After school, when it was time to have sex with Owen at The Ravine, she fucked her friend with a rawness she had never done before. Just to stick it harder to Marisol. When they were, she rolled off of her friend and wiped the sweat off of her forehead.

“Wow,” Owen commented in amazement, and she knew that he was most likely fantasizing about Marisol screwing him like this, “Maybe I’m with the wrong girl.”

“Don’t think about your regrets because I’m not interested in being your girlfriend, I just hate that stupid bitch you’re with more,” she replied flatly before taking a moment to pant.

“Does she really bother you that much?” He asked while putting his arms behind his head. 

“She said I’m going to die in a crackhouse in five years Owen because unlike her I don’t have any dreams,” she answered.

“Well, she might not be wrong,” he replied as she scowled, “I mean between you, me, and Fitz, I’m probably going to be the most successful out of the three of us with my football career.”

“If you don’t get a career ruining injury that has you working at McDonald’s for the rest of your life. Then you’ll be a loser just like me and Fitz,” she pointed out.

“Highly doubt it. My future is written in the stars. A highly successful pro NFL player with a hot trophy wife, seven million dollar cars, a bangin mansion, a bunch of sons, and a sea of pussy for me to swim in,” he countered, “What do you even like to do besides drinking and blowing guys in boiler rooms?” 

“Dancing, remember asshole?” She reminded him. She was in the dancing club at Degrassi. She just didn’t attend any meetings because she thought it was stupid.

“Yeah, well, you’re not doing anything with that so you probably are going to die in a crackhouse somewhere after graduation,” he replied before cringing in pain when she smacked him in the ear. He really was a terrible friend sometimes that had been equally terrible at sex lately. Why did she even hang around him and Fitz at this point?

A small part of her feared that he and Marisol were right. Every day of her life was miserable. She had an aunt that hated her that kept bringing sketchy men into the house and had her living off of scraps. When she got to school, popular girls like Marisol turned their noses up at her. Teachers looked at her like a lost cause. One friend was using her for sex while the other was just someone to get drunk with. It was never ending. She couldn’t even have a moment of peace when it was finally time to go to bed at night because she slept on a hard ass mattress that was barely a step above sleeping on cardboard.

Her life sucked, and she was starting to fear that it wasn’t going to get better unless she did something.

Eli was in the middle of playing a Street Fighter match against Mo while Jake watched them when he heard a knock on the front door. He paused the game and went to open up the front door to see Julia standing there in the rain. Her black mascara was running down her cheeks.

“Let me in,” she commanded and he did, stepping aside to let her through. When she did, she turned around to look at him.

“I got into a fight with my stepmom and my dad kicked me out of the house. I don’t know when he’s going to let me back in,” she explained.

“Then you can stay here with me. I’m sorry that your dad is such a dick,” he replied sympathetically. His parents wouldn’t care considering how many of their drunk friends they let stay the night countless times.

“Can we go upstairs to talk? Just you and me?” She asked. Eli looked at his friends for approval. Mo looked like he wanted to say no while Jake shrugged and went back to munching on his Funyuns. He was eating them out of a whole big bowl due to the munchies kicking in.

“Sure,” he accepted while overhearing Mo suck his teeth in the background. He led her upstairs to his bedroom and closed the door behind them.

He was caught off guard when she grabbed his face and slammed her lips onto his. He quickly grabbed her hips to hold himself steady. She ran her tongue over his lips and he opened his mouth to deepen the kiss. They made out for a few minutes before parting away from each other, both of them panting heavily.

“You’re the only good thing in my life, Eli,” Julia said with watery eyes, “Please don’t ever leave me.”

“I would never,” he assured her sincerely. She smiled before grabbing his neck and pulling him down into another kiss. 

Before he knew it, they were making out on his bed and he forgot all about his friends downstairs.

The next morning, Dallas showed up to school and he tried not to let everyone’s staring get to him. A freshman having a baby was a pretty hot topic but knowing Degrassi, there would be an even bigger scandal to replace it soon. Probably another gonorrhea outbreak or something.

As he opened up his locker, he couldn’t stop thinking about Rocky and Vanessa. It would be another two days before they were allowed to leave the hospital and he didn’t know how everything was going to go down afterwards. He was still trying to cope with the fact that he was officially a father.

“Look boys, it’s the face of someone who’s life is pretty over,” he heard Owen say to some of their teammates as they walked past him. They all then laughed while he glared. Normally he would have some smart remarks up his sleeve but he really wasn’t in the mood. Usually, he could take the remarks because all him and his teammates did was take the piss out of each other but what they were saying was true and it stung. He didn’t have a life anymore.

In his locker was some vodka hidden in a big water jug. He grabbed it, opened the top of and downed as much liquor as possible.

He might show up to classes a little tipsy but he figured he was owed that with the situation he was currently in.

During the time period allowed for club periods, Bianca headed down to a small room in the gym. There, a bunch of girls were stretching on some floor mats while some music played on one of the girl’s iPods. She cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. They all froze when they saw her.

“What? I’m here to practice,” she said as she set down her backpack. 

“I don’t even remember your name,” the leader of the dancer club replied with narrowed eyes.

“Bianca DeSousa, memorize it, write it down, tattoo it on your forehead, I don’t care,” she introduced dryly as she approached them with her hands on her hips. “Now are you guys going to tell me what’s on the agenda today or are you all going to continue staring at me like idiots?”

The other girls looked at each other with hesitant looks on their faces. Then one of the girls spoke up.

“You’re not really missing much because no one is inviting us to any cool events,” she grumbled.

“Well then, let’s give them a reason to invite us,” Bianca urged.

“Why do you care?” The leader of the club questioned her.

“Because I’m bored and need some excitement,” Bianca answered, and that was a part of the truth. 

She had a passion she wanted to tap deeper into, and she wanted to prove both Marisol and Owen wrong.

At lunch, Eli chose to sit outside with Julia instead of his friends. He was sure Mo and Jake wouldn’t mind. Julia really needed him right now.

“So your parents don’t mind me crashing over your place for a few days?” She asked him. 

“Nope, they’re actually quite happy to see a girl in my room again after Imogen,” he answered. When Bullfrog walked in on him and Julia cuddling in his bed, he cracked a joke about how they better practice safe sex because him and Cece were too young to be grandparents. They truly didn’t give a fuck.

Julia bit her lip, and he was briefly reminded of how Marisol did the same when she was nervous. He quickly pushed away thoughts of Marisol. He was completely over her. One hundred percent.

“I love you Eli,” she confessed and he was surprised at how quick she was to say it considering their relationship just started. 

“I love you too,” he replied as they shared a tender kiss on the school ledge.

He had only known Julia for a short time, but he wanted to protect, prove that he was a good boyfriend. 

After all, there was no other perfect match for him.

The paternity test results from the lab were ready when Dallas came to visit Vanessa and Rocky at the hospital later after school. They revealed what he already knew but denied for so long. He was the father.

“He seems to be a hungry boy,” Vanessa commented with an amused smile as he fed their son with a bottle while holding him in his arms. After he was done feeding him, he burped Rocky. Dallas then wiped his mouth with the baby blanket. Rocky was staring him down the entire time, and Dallas felt like he was on trial for his life.

“He gets it from me. He already knows he needs to eat a lot if he’s going to be a big strong athlete like Daddy,” Dallas replied with a smirk. Then Rocky started crying.

“He’s crying because he wants to be a theater kid when he grows up,” Vanessa mused. He snorted at the idea. He hoped his son never wanted to be involved with that group of overdramatic freaks in the school’s drama department.

Dallas handed Rocky back to Vanessa and watched as his baby mama tried to soothe their baby. After a few minutes, the baby cried himself to sleep. He had a feeling it wasn’t going to always be that easy.

Dallas sat back in his seat by the window. He looked outside to watch the sunset while cars drove up and down the streets of Toronto.

Everything about his life was about to change and he probably wasn’t ready for the challenges that were coming.

Chapter Text

May

When Owen showed up on her doorstep one Friday night with roses and a box of chocolates, Marisol was surprised but happy. He had told her that they couldn’t go on a date tonight because of a family dinner but yet he was still here.

“I wanted to surprise you with something special for our fourth month anniversary,” he told her with a sweet smile as they shared a kiss. He followed her to sit on the couch. “I’m also ordering us some pizza. You can order whatever you want, it’s on me,” he added. She squealed in excitement at that. They ordered two pizzas, one cheese with pineapple and one with pepperoni along with a Pepsi and a large order of barbecue wings. Owen allowed her to have as many slices of pizza and as many wings as she wanted and Marisol couldn’t help herself as she mowed down the food. She was so hungry and her boyfriend rarely allowed her to eat a lot. He was really concerned with her eating habits.

The chocolates were the dessert, and she giggled as Owen fed her several of them while she sat on his lap. They watched a couple of her favorite movies together. She had never felt so happy in her life.

When they were done, she led him up to her bedroom for a makeout session to top off their night. He was on top of her and feeling her up all over her body. She squeezed his firm muscles. He pulled away from her. “I got you this,” he said as he pulled out something from his pocket. She watched in anticipation to see what it was.

It was a shimmering silver necklace with a beautiful heart-shaped ruby. Her heart leapt up at the sight of it. “It’s beautiful, how can I even repay you?” She questioned as Owen placed the chain around her neck.

“By allowing us to take the next step,” he answered while reaching inside her shorts. She froze. 

“I don’t think I’m ready, babe,” she replied nervously while looking at him. 

“Why not? You love me, right?” He asked her. She bit her lip.

“I do love you. I love you so much,” she affirmed, “But some really bad things happened to me in seventh grade and I’m scared.”

Sometimes those memories came up while Owen was gropping her during makeover sessions but she didn’t say anything because she didn’t want to kill the mood. However, those memories were always so raw in those moments, and she was scared of Owen hurting her like all of those boys even though she was positive he wouldn’t. He was her prince.

“So you’re going to let the past prevent you from being intimate with someone that really cares about you, Mari? I do so much for you. I take you out to the nicest places for dates, I buy you things, and I put up with your best friend for you. I deserve something in return…unless you really don’t love me,” he argued.

“I do love you,” she repeated, “But I don’t want you to hurt me.”

He rubbed behind her neck. “I wouldn’t even dream of it, Mari. Do you really think the worst of me? Let me tell you something…I’m a virgin too,” he confessed. Her eyes widened in shock. “It’s true! This would be my first time too, and I don’t want to have it with anyone else but you. Because I love you.”

Her eyes watered as they then shared a passionate, deep kiss. “Then let’s do this,” she urged. She had never been so in love with him then in that moment. She appreciated how honest he was with her about these kinds of things.

Her boyfriend smiled down at her before pulling out a condom from his other pocket. She lifted her body up to take her shirt off, leaving her in her bra. Owen’s eyes lit up in desire as they started kissing again. 

He pushed her back down and started pulling down her shorts……

At the Goldsworthy house, Eli was cuddling with his girlfriend underneath a blanket as they watched a horror movie together in his room. Once again, Julia was thrown out of her house after an argument with her dad and stepmother, and she immediately came over to his place. They ordered some Chinese takeout and chilled upstairs.

The horny teen couple of the movie was having a graphic sex scene in a tent, and him and his girlfriend were snickering from the obnoxiousness of it. 

“Her boobs are so fake,” Julia commented of the girlfriend on screen, “If you’re going to get a boob job, at least make it look real.”

The killer on screen suddenly popped out inside the tent and slammed a knife into the girl’s head, making the boyfriend let out a comically high-pitched scream before he was brutally murdered as well. Throughout the rest of the movie, Eli wasn’t really paying attention and not just because the acting was bad.

He was focusing on his girlfriend’s face. She was so hauntingly beautiful that he couldn’t think of anything but her in the moment even while she was wearing a simple black top and jeans. When the movie was over, he started kissing her neck. She leaned into him before turning around so their lips could meet instead.

Their kissing quickly got heated.

Julia climbed on top of him and helped him pull off his shirt. He did the same with her shirt. They collapsed on top of his bed while exploring each other with their bodies.

When she reached for his belt buckle, he stopped her. “Are you sure you want to do this?” He asked her in concern. He would never pressure his girlfriend into sex if she wasn’t ready.

“Positive,” she answered before slamming her lips back on his. He gently pushed her off of him to grab a condom from his nightstand. When he got back on the bed, Julia pushed him back down and finished unbuckling his pants.

Then Eli experienced a pleasure he had never before.

At the Nelson-Simpson residence, Connor was struggling to eat his dinner as everyone else around him ate. Spike had made spinach tortellini tonight, and the whole household was eager to try it except him. He had never had the dish before but was uncomfortable with trying something new.

“Is something wrong, Connor?” Spike had asked in concern before stopping Jack from eating his food with his hands. She guided him into using a spork.

“Nothing,” he quickly answered but continued playing around with his food. He drank the cranberry juice next to his plate since it was the only thing he was familiar with. 

“I know this isn’t what you usually eat but can you at least give it a try? I promise it’s really good,” she suggested. He looked down at his meal. He really didn’t want to try it.

“If my mom could cook like this, I would be grateful,” Damien, Emma’s new boyfriend, piped up, “Appreciate your godmom’s cooking while you still can. I don’t go to university until August and I already miss my mom’s cooking.”

Connor resisted glaring at Damien in response. For some reason, he really didn’t like him and missed Emma’s previous boyfriend Sean. He got bad vibes from this new one.

“Connor has always been a picky eater. So have I, but only because I’m a vegetarian,” Emma replied, “He doesn’t have to eat it if he doesn’t want to.”

Everyone at the table looked at him, even Jack, and Connor felt uncomfortable. It felt like a million eyes were waiting on his next move, ready to judge him. Tensing in his seat, he took a bite out of the spinach tortellini for Spike’s sake. He immediately knew he hated spinach. The thick, slimy texture of it went down his throat in a truly unpleasant manner. He almost gagged.

Instead, he smiled at his godmother. “Very delicious,” he complimented her.

The pain Marisol was in was unbearable.

“I guess you really were a virgin. You got blood all over my condom, Mari,” Owen said to her after pulling out, rolling off of her with a satisfied grunt. She laid there, shaking, as tears streamed down her face.

“I’m sorry,” she replied in a cracked voice, but didn’t bother to look at him. She was sure that turning her head at this point would make the pain worse.

“It’s okay, baby. It was worth it,” he replied to her with a smirk that unusually made her skin crawl. He ran his fingers through her hair. “You’re everything I have been dreaming about and more.”

He squeezed one of her intimate areas. “I’m looking forward to us doing this again and again,” he added.

She wasn’t. Not if it was going to hurt like this. Not when he was so rough and didn’t slow down or stop even when she was screaming in pain. She thought she was being ripped apart at the seams the whole time they were having sex but yet he shockingly didn’t care.

Owen grabbed her face and kissed her deeply but she couldn’t find it in her to respond. He pulled his lips off of her.

“When I’m ready again, we’re going to try out some other positions. There’s a million ways we can fuck and I’m going to enjoy each one,” he declared.

She smiled through her tears to not make him feel uncomfortable but inside was terrified at the prospect.

After their first time, they just cuddled in his bed again with his sheets wrapped around them. The sheets weren’t anything romantic, they were black and printed with skulls, but they still added to the intimate atmosphere between. She laid on his chest, and the warmth it gave him gave him butterflies.

Eli didn’t expect for them to lose their virginities to each other this quickly in their relationship but he didn’t mind it at all, and not just for horny teenage boy reasons. He genuinely loved Julia.

“Are you okay?” He asked her while rubbing her back soothingly, and it was the second time he asked. The first time he asked her if she was okay was when they started having sex to make sure he wasn’t hurting her. She just giggled while crying and even now she still had tear stains on her cheeks.

“I was just shocked when you entered me for the first time, but I’m alright. It didn’t hurt as badly as I thought it would. I’ve had paper cuts that hurt worse,” she answered honestly, “But I’m a little sore now though.”

He wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. “I’m sorry,” he apologized sympathetically before leaning down and kissing her forehead.

“You don’t need to say sorry for that, only for moving like a fucking snail the whole time,” Julia replied with an amused smile.

“Because I didn’t want to hurt you,” he reasoned, “The thought of doing that makes me ill.”

Her eyes watered again and this time she wiped the tears away herself. “You have me crying like a baby, I fucking hate you,” she grumbled, but he could tell she wasn’t serious. Eli stroked her hair gently while admiring how it shined in the moonlight. It was so soft too, and silky.

“I love you too,” he replied.

Eli had only been with Julia for so long but he knew he had found his soulmate.

After dinner, Connor ate ice cream for dessert which was French vanilla. The only other flavors in the freezer were pistachio and coffee, and he wasn’t eager to try either of them.

He was in his room eating the dessert when Spike appeared in the doorway. “Connor, can I come in honey?” She asked. He nodded and she sat on his bed. He was sitting at his computer.

“Remember what we talked about in your last therapy session? That you might have Asperger’s syndrome?” She reminded him.

“Yes,” he answered. When the therapist suggested it because of some symptoms he had described, he didn’t know what to think. Of course he was aware that his brain functioned quite differently than his friends and other people at school. But unfortunately, he was finding that his fellow teenagers and the world at large wasn’t kind to children with mental disabilities. It was troubling to say but he was a little scared to get a diagnosis.

“I think you should get the diagnosis so if you do have Asperger’s, we at home can do our very best to support you. You’re a part of our family, Connor, and we care,” Spike said.

“Wouldn’t having a label on me put a target on my back so to speak?” He questioned.

“By the wrong people, yes,” she confirmed, “But not getting a confirmation of what you are will only prevent you from getting the support and resources from people who actually have the best intentions. It’s not the same situation but I was pregnant at fourteen with Emma. I was scared when I started showing symptoms, because I knew how people viewed teen mothers, but I knew I had to get tested early. Imagine if I tried to be in denial about my pregnancy for months and how that could have endangered myself and Emma? You having Asperger’s would not endanger anyone, but having an undiagnosed mental disorder would lock you out from getting the support you need,” she finished. Connor thought over his godmother’s words. Her explanation was reasonable, and it would be better to get confirmation that he had a mental disorder instead of being in the dark about it.

They both overheard Jack cry in the hallway as Snake took him into the bathroom to give him a bath. “I know you don’t want to get a bath but Daddy doesn’t want you to go to bed stinky!” Snake tried to explain as Jack cried even louder.

Spike looked at the hallway before looking back at him, blinking. They both knew she would have to help out Snake soon. “A lot of parents don’t get their children tested early for any mental disorders because they don’t want to deal with the stigma, and while I can understand the fear, it doesn’t help the child. It only makes the child unprepared on how to deal with it. We want you to receive the support you need, Connor.”

He nodded, but just as he was about to say something, Jack ran into his bedroom naked as the day he was born while Snake chased him down. The toddler ducked and dodged his godfather’s every attempt to grab him, giggling the whole time.

Spike ultimately swooped Jack up into her arms without much difficulty, and he tried to shake out of her grasp. She got up completely unfazed.

“Sorry,” Snake apologized with a sheepish smile. 

“Just another night in the Simpson-Nelson household,” she replied with an amused look on her face. His godparents then left the room together.

Connor was left alone with his own thoughts, and his melted bowl of ice cream. Thinking about Spike’s words, he decided to research Asperger’s Syndrome instead of continuing the computer game he was playing.

On Monday morning, Marisol walked the hallway stiffly due to the great pain between her legs. Her and Owen were having sex all weekend whenever her parents weren’t home, and things did not improve. Each time they had sex, there was pain.

She opened up her locker to get out her books for the day when Katie approached her. “Hey Mare,” her best friend greeted. She turned around and put on her best smile.

“Katiekins, how was your weekend?” Marisol greeted back. She had forgotten to call her bestie all weekend and she regretted it.

“My brother and his family came to visit. We went out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant!” Her friend answered cheerfully. That made Marisol feel good at least, that her friend was actually eager to eat out again. “What did you do this weekend?” Katie asked her in return.

“Owen and I…took our relationship to the next level,” she answered honestly. There was no point in lying because she was a terrible liar.

The cheer from her friend’s face fell. “You guys had sex?” 

“Yup,” Marisol answered again. There was judgment in her bestie’s eyes, and this time she almost couldn’t blame her. She closed her locker and began walking, wincing with each step. Katie was at her side, eying the way she was walking in concern. “We did it all weekend,” she added.

“I don’t think it’s supposed to hurt like this Mare, was he gentle?” Katie asked her. A lump formed in Marisol’s throat at the question. “No,” she answered honestly, fearing her friend’s reaction. It was as expected; Katie’s face turned white in rage.

“You lost your virginity to him and he didn’t make an effort to make it a good experience?” 

“He…I don’t think he meant any harm, Katie, he was just so rough the whole time and it hurt a lot. But he was really sweet before we had sex, he got me an anniversary necklace,” Marisol defended her boyfriend as she showed her the necklace.

“Yeah, but look at you now, Mare! You’re struggling to barely walk!” Katie argued. 

“It’ll pass,” Marisol replied as they continued walking. “He didn’t mean any harm,” she repeated, and she knew that she was mainly trying to tell herself that.

Owen would never intentionally hurt her. She was a virgin so pain during sex the first few times was to be expected. He always had her best intentions in mind. He loved her. 

She was just scared of having more sex if this is what it was going to be like.

“Someone’s glowing,” Eli heard Mo say as he entered his homeroom class. His two friends were sitting next to each other as Jake ate on some chips.

“Really? I haven’t noticed,” he replied with a shrug as he sat down in his seat. But he knew why he was glowing.

“Jake and I are going to go hang out at Shazam! later after school, you wanna come with?” Mo offered. Eli was about to eagerly accept when Julia walked in with a stormy look on her face. She took her seat in the usual back of the room without sparing a glance at anyone. Concerned, he got up from his seat and went to talk to her.

“What’s wrong?” He asked her, reaching out to grab her hand.

“Can I come over to your place after school? Please?” She asked, and he didn’t really need an explanation as to what happened. She got into a fight with her dad and step-mother again and she needed to be at her safe place, which was his place.

“Of course, we can go to The Dot and get food,” he accepted. She smiled in return and he smiled back before looking back at his friends. They were both staring at him, but Mo had a disappointed look on his face, as if he already knew he wouldn’t be able to hang out later. He sent his friends a regretful look, but Mo only narrowed his eyes further.

Eli had a feeling that this was going to lead to a bigger problem.

At lunch, Connor ate some chicken tenders and fries while sitting with his friends. He dipped his tenders in ketchup as he developed a love of the condiment again. He no longer saw J.T. Yorke’s blood at the sight of ketchup.

The atmosphere these days at the lunch table was tense for everyone except Jenna, who was oblivious. She was trying to strike up a conversation with K.C., who looked pretty disinterested. 

“These nachos are so delicious!” Jenna exclaimed cheerfully as she put one loaded with cheese sauce into her mouth. “Definitely better than what Kyle makes, right K.C.?”

“Yeah sure,” his friend replied as him and Clare shared a look. Alli looked between them with narrowed eyes, and Clare quickly averted her eyes. Basically everyone at this point knew that K.C. and Clare were having an affair except Jenna herself.

Jenna started crunching loudly on her nachos, and it irritated him mildly. He always had some sensory issues with crunching noises if they were too loud. When she crunched down on a particular chip too loudly, he had enough.

“Jenna, you are chewing far too loudly for my comfort,” he said to her bluntly. She stopped in confusion.

“I’m…sorry?” She apologized with a raised eyebrow but started chewing more softly from then on. He smiled, pleased with her.

Her chewing was too much sometimes but Jenna Middleton was truly a lovely girl. He enjoyed her presence.

During Spirit Squad practice, Marisol’s soreness was still terrible. She was wincing even while doing stretches. When Manny allowed them all to take a break, she was wincing as she sat on the bench.

Manny approached her and sat down next to her. “Are you okay, Little Cuckoo Banana? You look like you’re in pain,” her captain asked her in concern.

“I just fell down some steps earlier, that’s all,” Marisol lied, only to crumble a little under Manny’s hard gaze. “I had sex with my boyfriend for the first time this weekend, and it hurts so bad,” she confessed, “I couldn’t stop crying and there was blood everywhere. He was so rough. I thought your first time was supposed to be magical.”

She expected Manny to judge her or scold her harshly for being so stupid. Instead the older girl was looking at her in sympathy.

“It is supposed to be magical when you’re with someone who cares about you,” Manny replied, “And it sounds like your boyfriend doesn’t.”

“He does! He bought me dinner, flowers, chocolates, and a necklace before we did it! He even said he loved me!” Marisol argued.

“But was the actual experience good if it’s hurting you this bad?” Manny questioned. “Is your boyfriend…..big?”

“Yeah,” Marisol answered. That was supposed to be a plus but that only made everything hurt even worse.

“And he was still rough and hurt you like this?” Manny asked with anger in her voice. “My first time was with a guy who was big too and had a girlfriend at that, but he still made sure I was feeling okay the whole time. Marisol, I don’t think you should allow your boyfriend to have sex with you if he’s not going to care about making you feel good. If he feels a type of way about it, dump his ass,” she urged. The idea of that scared Marisol.

“But I love him,” she replied, then bit her lip nervously.

“I told myself that too as a reason to stay with some of the assholes I dated, but it wasn’t worth it. You may love him but when boys show you their true colors, run away as far from them as possible,” Manny warned her before getting up.

“I’ll bring you an ice pack to put between your legs, and then you can sit out for the rest of practice. Just think about what I said,” the older girl said before whistling to end break time. She ran back to the center of the gym and resumed practice with the rest of the team.

Marisol watched as she pondered Manny’s words.

In the same location an hour later, Eli was in the boy’s locker room changing out of his gym clothes. Unfortunately he was forced to overhear the jocks in his class talk a lot of dumb shit in the meantime. He tuned out most of their conversation for his own mental sake, and nothing really alarmed him.

Until he heard Owen bring up a certain cheerleader.

“No piece of chocolate in the world can measure up to Marisol Lewis,” he heard the jock say. One of his friends, Julian chuckled.

“I bet she’s a wildcat in bed,” he replied.

“Not yet, she cried every time we fucked and got blood all over my dick but I’ll get her turned out soon,” Owen replied, “But being the one to pop that cherry was wonderful.”

“With the rumors I’ve heard about her, I thought your girl was fucking everyone,” Julian said.

“Nope, she was a virgin when I finally had her,” Owen confirmed, “She’s really mine now.”’

A dark rage went through Eli as Owen went on and on about how Marisol was basically his new sex doll. Her new boyfriend didn’t respect her as a person and was bragging about it. Did she know? Did she care?

Despite wanting to say something, Eli resisted. He couldn’t be bothered to be concerned about Marisol right now, when Julia needed him more. She was his girlfriend who he lost his virginity to and was dealing with an abusive family situation. She deserved all of his attention at the moment.

He could only hope that Marisol would dump this pig soon.

Connor left his final class of the day, feeling like he had a normal day despite the recent realizations about himself. He hoped that his life wouldn’t change too much with an Asperger’s label on him despite the stigmas. He would still be Connor DeLaurier, a gifted student who liked astronomy the most out of anything and lived with his godparents while his parents lived in another part of Canada.

On the way to his locker, he walked by a supply closet and heard peculiar sucking noises. Curious (perhaps too much for his own good), he opened the door to the closet up.

K.C. and Clare were kissing passionately while K.C. had Clare up against the wall. When they saw him, they both froze as if a witch casted a spell on them. He cleared his throat. 

“I’m going to, uh, go,” K.C. said awkwardly before leaving the closet, leaving just him and Clare, and Connor had a lot of questions for his other friend.

“I don’t know how to explain why this is happening, you just wouldn’t understand,” Clare said.

“I don’t,” he agreed, “Why are you and K.C. constantly hooking up when he has a girlfriend who’s your friend?” 

“I don’t know, it just feels right even though it’s wrong,” Clare answered with a pained look on her.

“But you’re a Christian, Clare. Isn’t it a great sin to help someone cheat on their partner in your faith?” Connor questioned. While he wouldn’t say he was an expert on Christianity, he learned a lot about the faith from Clare.

Clare was struggling to come up with a response, and Connor knew she didn’t have a rational response for what her and K.C. were doing.

He was glad that he had more important priorities than romance at the moment even if Jenna Middleton was a pleasant girl.

It was a half an hour before the football game, and Owen wanted them to meet up in the locker rooms beforehand. Marisol had a good idea of what her boyfriend wanted them to do.

She was still wincing with each step as she entered the locker rooms in her cheer uniform. The ice pack Manny gave her helped somewhat but not much. So she really didn’t want to have sex right now, and she was going to let Owen know that. He was a caring boyfriend. He would understand.

Owen was waiting for her with an eager grin on his face when she approached him. He immediately grabbed her and pulled her into a deep kiss. She allowed herself to respond. He reached down and grabbed her ass, which made her stiffen. When he broke apart from her, he started pulling her top off, which made her grab his arm to make him stop.

“Owen, I don’t want to do this,” she rejected him with an apologetic look on her face. “I’m still sore from last night.”

“I need something to motivate me to kick some ass out on the field, Mari. Are you going to deny me that?” He asked her with a frown. “Sex is going to hurt the first few times for you, but if we keep doing it, it’s going to fun for both of us.”

“But if it’s not fun for me right now, then I don’t want to have it. You’re too rough, Owen, and until you’re not, we’re not going to have sex,” she replied firmly and she knew Manny would be proud of her assertiveness. She turned away with her arms folded and began walking.

She didn’t get very far before Owen grabbed her again and violently slammed her into a locker, making her head spin. He had a dark gleam in his eyes that she never saw before.

“You’re not going to refuse sex from me over a little pain. I know what’s best for the both of us,” he replied with a growl as he pushed her further into the locker. He had a tight hold on her shoulder, and was squeezing it with such great force that she felt it was about to break.

Marisol was in so much shock by what was happening that she just nodded. “I’m sorry, baby,” she apologized. He finally released his grip on her and started unbuckling his pants.

“You know how you can make it up to me? Get on your knees,” he ordered, and there was no room to disobey.

She did what she was told.

Chapter Text

A week after school ended for the summer, K.C. was earning some extra cash by washing Mr. Edward’s car. So far he was sweating buckets due to the heat and his t-shirt was soaked but it was worth it for twenty bucks.

He was in the middle of vacuuming the inside of the car when Clare walked up to him. She was wearing a sleeveless salmon shirt dress and brown sandals. She was carrying two glasses of iced tea. “My mom told me to give you one while you take a break,” she said while giving him a glass. K.C. eagerly took it; He was thirsty.

“She suggested it or you did?” He asked with a teasing smile as she blushed. They looked around to make sure no one was watching before sharing a sweet kiss. He got a whiff of the coconut shampoo she washed her hair with.

“You’re going to break up with Jenna today right?” She asked him. He took a sip of his iced tea before replying. He savored the taste of it on his tongue. It was homemade with a lemon slice and sugar. It tasted far better than the cheap cartons of iced tea he had to drink with his meals at the group home.

“Unfortunately no, because we’re going to that roller rink later for her birthday, remember?” He reminded her. He had saved up enough money to buy himself and Jenna a ticket and treat her to pizza at the place too. 

Clare frowned at that, and he couldn’t blame her. He was itching to break up with Jenna but he just couldn’t find the right time to do it. He knew that the longer this whole situation went on, the higher chances of someone getting hurt was inevitable. He just didn’t know whether he would be more comfortable with Jenna being hurt or Clare.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be done soon, and I’ll be with the girl who really matters to me,” he assured as they shared another kiss. It soon turned heated.

They only stopped when they heard someone clear their throat, and that someone was Clare’s older sister Darcy. Her and her boyfriend Peter were watching them with amused looks on their faces.

On her fourteenth birthday, Jenna looked at two pink lines on a pregnancy test stick.

For the past two months, she had been constantly throwing up her meals, getting sick at the smell of bacon, and weirdly dipping bananas in ranch. Now she knew why. 

Tears welled up in Jenna’s eyes as she sank down onto the bathroom floor. She was pregnant at fourteen. She was just entering high school in a couple months. 

Her and K.C. used condoms every time they had sex. She thought that the pull out method was enough but her boyfriend insisted on condoms. He was way smarter than she was so she trusted that with condoms, they were never going to risk a pregnancy, yet here she was.

Fear seeped into her as she thought about how she was going to handle this. Neither her nor K.C. were ready to be parents, and she had all of these great things she wanted to do in high school that couldn’t be done with a baby. She didn’t want to face the judgmental looks from people at school or people out on the street. She didn’t want to face her brothers’ reactions to her being pregnant. They would all take turns killing K.C.

She had no idea what she wanted to do.

Imogen quietly ate breakfast with her at a small, quaint restaurant in the city. No sound was made at the table except the sounds of forks and knives hitting the plates or someone drinking a beverage.

To her annoyance, her mother decided to try to start up a conversation.

“What else would you like to do, Imogen? It’s a long beautiful day,” her mother asked her politely. ‘Go home,’ was the blunt answer she almost let leave her lips. She didn’t want to spend time with her stuffy, judgmental mother. The woman refused to let her get her favorite chocolate chip Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes, saying that she was “too old” for it. She didn’t allow her to drown her pancakes in syrup and strawberry sauce either. An hour spent with Natalie Granger, and she already felt like a caged bird.

“To the zoo,” Imogen answered instead. In all honesty, seeing lemurs probably would make her feel better. Just a little bit though.

“The zoo would be nice, but unfortunately I don’t think I have much energy to walk around that place. Maybe we could go shopping at the mall today,” her mother replied. “There’s nothing that makes a mother and daughter bond easier than shopping, right?” She asked with a smile.

Imogen had no desire to go shopping with her mother. Natalie would not let her pick out the clothes she wanted. It would all be boring dresses, pencil skirts, blouses, and blazers. The very idea made her gag.

Since her dad was recently diagnosed with early signs of dementia, a day nurse came in and took care of him every day. She bathed him, helped him cook meals, and watched over him while he worked. In the meantime, she was forced to live with her mother on the weekends, and she wasn’t even allowed to bring Volta.

“I don’t feel like shopping,” Imogen rejected before taking a sip of her glass of apple juice. Natalie pursed her lips, and it almost made Imogen feel bad. Then her mother went back to smiling again. Honestly Imogen didn’t know her mother could still smile these days. She had gotten used to her mother’s constant frowning and looks of disappointment.

“You know what? I have something better in mind for us than shopping,” her mother replied. Imogen raised an eyebrow.

“And what’s that?” She questioned, feeling on edge. Natalie’s definition of fun was far different than hers.

“You’ll see.”

K.C. looked down at his newly earned cash in pride. Not only was he paid twenty dollars for cleaning Mr. Edwards’ car but Mrs. Edwards also gave him a ten dollar tip as thanks. He found a quick way to spend some of the money by buying himself and Clare some smoothies at The Dot.

“Jenna wants me and Alli to come by her house later and help her get ready,” Clare mentioned before taking a sip of her strawberry banana smoothie. They were in a booth at the back of the restaurant where hopefully no one could see them.

“That’s good,” he replied before taking a sip of his own pineapple flavored one. It was a slow sip to really appreciate the taste. Smoothies were a luxury treat he could barely afford before now.

“I really feel bad about this situation, K.C. She adores you,” Clare added with regret in her voice.

“She’ll get over it and find someone better for her anyway,” K.C. dismissed with a shrug, “After tonight, I’ll only care about you.”

She smiled, but it was a tight uncomfortable smile.

As Jenna put on a cute teal tie shirt and white shorts, she noticed how tight the clothes were around her. It was only going to get worse in the coming months.

“This eyeshadow palette is going to look great on you,” Alli gushed to her as she did her makeup. It was colored teal to match her shirt. Along with her outfit, she was wearing press on nails that were styled in a French manicure. She unfortunately couldn’t afford an actual French manicure at the nail salon so she had to make do with the press ons. At least they didn’t look too plastic.

Clare was watching them both quietly on her bed, and Jenna could tell that something was going on with her best friend, but it was probably nothing compared to what she was going through right now.

Alli must have noticed her stormy expression because she suddenly stopped applying mascara to her eyelashes. “Is something wrong Jenna?” She asked in concern.

Jenna decided to just come out with it. “I took a pregnancy test this morning and it came out positive,” she answered, staring into the window numbly. Alli’s eyes widened like saucers.

“Holy shit,” she replied, “…Does K.C. know?”

“Not yet,” Jenna answered, “I probably can’t even go roller skating tonight.” It was the beginning of fun things she wouldn’t be able to do because she had a baby growing inside of her.

“Are you…okay?” Alli asked again, and Jenna finally turned to look at her friends.

“No,” she answered honestly. She then focused on Clare and her reaction set off unusual warning signals in Jenna’s head.

Clare’s face was completely white in fear.

Imogen was shocked, shocked when she saw where her mother was taking her. 

It was an aquarium, and she felt the same excitement she would have at the zoo here. 

She had her hands on the glass along with some little kids and looked at the fishes swimming in wonder. There were all kinds, and they were all beautiful and colorful. A turtle swam up to her and she was sad she couldn’t pet it. 

Imogen skipped up to her mother afterwards, who was sitting on a bench in the center of the room. “Let’s see the sharks next!” She urged. They were big and scary, but that’s what made them exciting!

“Oh I don’t know about that, I’m afraid that they could get behind that glass and eat me,” her mother replied lightheartedly.

“Oh don’t be a scaredy-cat, that glass is thicker than Degrassi’s list of incidents on the Wikipedia page!” Imogen argued as she pulled her mother up from the bench. She tugged her along as they entered the water tunnel holding in the sharks. Imogen couldn’t help but squeal as she looked up in every direction. “I’m naming this one Cuddles,” she declared while looking at one that just swam above her.

“Cuddles?” Her mother asked with a raised eyebrow.

“It feels right,” Imogen replied with a shrug.

At Shazam!, K.C. definitely noticed that something was up with his girlfriend. Jenna had a gloomy expression on her face and refused to go skating like everyone else. She just miserably sat at their table.

“What was the point in taking her out to this place then?” He asked Connor grumpily as they skated together in circles around the rink like everyone else. “This is why I’m leaving her, she’s the worst.”

“Maybe she’s going through something, and you’re not helping by cheating on her with Clare,” Connor replied as he did a spin, balancing himself so he wouldn’t fall.

“Yeah, well you can’t blame me for looking for comfort in other areas at this point,” he reasoned before crashing into a wall. He tried to brush it off before slipping and falling hard on his ass.

A group of kids pointed and laughed at him as they skated by.

“What are you going to do, Jenna?” Alli asked her as she sat next to her at the table. Clare was on the other side and quietly eating pizza. Her other best friend’s silence was really making her uneasy right now. Clare wasn’t bubbly or talkative like her and Alli was unless it was about a book, but she usually wasn’t this quiet.

“I could keep him or her,” Jenna answered, but the very idea of that option was terrifying. She would have to walk around with a huge belly for months on end and go through childbirth. And then she would have to spend every minute she could for the rest of her life taking care of a tiny human. 

“Or you could not be a teen mom at fourteen and put the baby up for adoption,” Alli pointed out, and that seemed to be the more appealing option. The baby would go to a loving, supportive home that would be able to take care of him or her. But she would still have to go through childbirth.

It was Clare’s suggestion that completely floored her because of what it was.

“I think abortion would be the best option for you at this stage, Jenna,” she said softly while averting her eyes. Jenna looked at Alli in shock, and her friend was sharing the same sentiment. 

Abortion was the quickest option, but most controversial. It was commonly seen as an act of murder and Jenna could not believe that her Christian best friend would even suggest it.

“Abortion is never an ideal option and should always be the last resort, but my mother always told me and Darcy that it’s the best option if your situation isn’t good, which it isn’t Jenna,” Clare explained, “You don’t want to raise a baby with K.C.”

“Why not? He’s my boyfriend and he would support me if I really want this baby,” Jenna argued. 

“K.C. is cheating on you,” Clare confessed, and Jenna felt as if someone pulled a rug underneath her. But the next words that came out of Clare’s mouth made it even worse.

“With me,” her best friend finished, and Jenna felt as if someone stabbed her in the gut.

After they were done at the aquarium, her mother drove over to a big candy store on the outskirts of the city. “Pick whatever you would like and as much as you want,” her mother said with a smile and Imogen did what she was told.

She had one bag of sour gummies that were either bears or worms. Then she had a bag of chocolates and candied nuts. Finally her third bag was full of skittles, starbursts, lollipops, and gum. The sugar rush she was going to experience tonight was going to be biblical.

Her mother paid for all three bags of candy without a fuss, and Imogen didn’t make it far out of the store without opening up one of the bags and shoving a cherry flavored lollipop into her mouth. When they got in the car, her mother turned on the radio and played her favorite kind of music, pop.

“Why are you doing all of these nice things for me?” She questioned in confusion. Her mother was always strict on her candy intake as a kid. She was often restricted to two pieces of candy at the minimum at birthday parties.

“I’m your mother, I’m supposed to do nice things for you,” her mother replied as she drove. She then sighed. “Imogen, you are truly a unique child, and I’m going to be honest in admitting that I’ve had difficulties dealing with that as a parent. A part of that is because I know how kids at school treat kids who aren’t normal and I don’t want you to go through that. You probably think I’m the worst compared to your father and maybe you’re not wrong since I can go too far sometimes. But I love you, I want the best for you, and I want us to have a good relationship. I have made a lot of mistakes with you, but I want to fix them. Please give your mother a chance to fix things with you,” her mother pleaded. Imogen had to think on it.

“You won’t get mad at me for however I dress anymore?” She asked.

“I was never truly mad, just scared of how you’ll be treated because of it. But if that’s how you want to express yourself, that’s your right and as a mother I can only support you,” her mother answered. 

A soft smile etched on Imogen’s face as she ate her candy. Maybe things between her and her mother won’t be so bad anymore after all.

K.C. finally came off the roller rink with Connor and headed back towards the table, but the girls approached them first.

There were tears in Jenna’s eyes along with pure rage, and from Clare’s guilty expression, K.C. knew the cat was out of the bag. He didn’t bother to ask what was wrong. He didn’t even notice she was gripping a cup of soda tightly as he began coming up with excuses.

“Jenna I can explain-”

A cold splash of soda hit him right in his face.

“Fuck you, K.C. When school starts back up and you see me in the hallways, don’t speak to me. Don’t even look at me,” Jenna cut him off coldly before storming off. Alli followed her and looked back at him with disdain. Clare looked at them, and then looked at him with regret.

“I think it’s best if we do the same,” she added before walking away as well, and despite there being so many people in this place, K.C. had never felt so alone.

“What an unfortunate outcome,” he heard Connor say.

Unfortunate outcome was an understatement.

The next morning, Jenna had made her decision on how to go about her pregnancy. She made sure that Kyle was still asleep in his room so he wouldn’t overhear this conversation.

“Yes, we do walk-ins,” the woman said on the other line of the phone call. There was no judgment in her voice when Jenna told her that she was pregnant and what she wanted to do.

“Thank you, ma’am,” Jenna replied as she ended the call. She then got dressed in preparation to head out. Everything that happened in the past twenty four hours was the second worst she had ever experienced in her life after her mother walking out on her, and she knew that being pregnant only made it worse.

She was choosing to get an abortion.

The next morning, they did get to go to the zoo. And Imogen couldn’t be more giddier the whole time. Her mom let her pet llamas and ride horses! Now they were at the mall and going shopping as her mom wanted to do.

“Can I get this one?” She asked her mom as she stepped out of the fitting mom wearing a red and white striped romper with black cats printed all over it. They were going to meet up with her grandmother later at a restaurant.

Her mom looked her up and down, and she feared she would say no. Instead her mom just nodded. “It looks cute on you,” her mom complimented warmly. Imogen looked to where a pair of black cat ears were on display on a stand. They were styled to be worn as a headband.

“Can I wear those ears with this?” Imogen asked again, and this time she saw the hesitant expression on her mom’s face. Her mom quickly dropped it and put on a smile.

“Of course, every cute outfit needs an equally cute accessory,” her mother answered.

Imogen squealed as she went to grab the cat ears.

K.C. had called Jenna five times and each time the call went into voicemail. He knew their relationship was truly done.

He fell back against the bed, feeling dejected. Jenna had every right to dump him. He deserved it. But it hurt that she didn’t even want to speak to him. He was going into high school already thick into some drama.

‘Maybe if you had simply never dated her and chose Clare in the first place this would have never happened,’ a voice that sounded suspiciously like Connor said in his head, and while K.C. wanted to tell the voice to fuck off, he knew it was telling the truth. He should have picked Clare. His feelings for her were way stronger than his feelings for Jenna despite Jenna giving him sex. 

He lifted himself up and dialed Clare’s number. She was feeling guilty by everything that happened but maybe she had changed her mind about them not speaking after a good night’s rest.

“You have reached the voice message of Clare Diana Edwards. I am not currently available at the moment but I promise you that I will contact you as soon as I can. Have a wonderful day,” was what he could hear on the other line after a few rings. He had a strong feeling Clare wouldn’t contact him back as soon as she could.

K.C. fell back on the bed, feeling even more dejected.

Both girls clearly hated him now.

Chapter Text

August 

Outside their house, Jake helped his dad load the supplies needed for their weekend camping trip. 

They were bringing a tent, sleeping bags, backpacks, hiking boots, flashlights, cooking tools, and lighters among other things. And loads of snacks. They had gone camping so many times since he was a little kid that they were experts at packing the right things at this point. Jake was excited to go camping this weekend as he always was, but he had even more reason to be excited this time.

Both of his best buds Mo and Eli were going. It was going to be a fun, relaxing boy’s trip that was definitely going to be a nice break from the chaos of Degrassi. School was starting back up next month and Jake was weary of what kind of events sophomore year was going to bring. ‘Two more years, just two more years,’  Jake thought to himself as he got in the passenger side of his dad’s truck.

‘A lot could happen in two years,’ a voice inside his head warned him. The truth of those thoughts made him uneasy for a moment but he quickly shook those thoughts away.

For four days, he was just going to spend lots of good time with his boys while pretending Degrassi didn’t exist.

“Remember Mohammad to balance your blood and sugar levels,” his mother reminded him and Mo was tempted to roll his eyes as he finished packing. He had a big carry on bag and a backpack to get him through the trip. “And keep track of your insulin!”

“I know Mom, thanks,” he flatly replied.

“And don’t forget to wear clean pairs of underwear every day,” she added firmly, and this time he did roll his eyes but not where she could see it. He grabbed his luggage and waited outside for Jake and his dad.

It was a miracle he was even going on this trip and Mo figured it was only because Jake’s old man had been planning it for months. His parents were hesitant to let him go on trips without them because of his diabetes. They were worried that he or someone could fuck up, and they wouldn’t know how to save him from a diabetic coma. It was a reasonable concern for an eight year old with diabetes but not a fifteen year old with diabetes who was responsible enough to take care of himself.

His mother had bought a bunch of healthy packaged meals and snacks for him to eat on the trip to keep his sugar intake at a reasonable level. Plenty of them also had good amounts of fiber and protein. It was important for him to not go too high in sugar intake but not too low either.

Jake and his dad came up in a red truck, and Mo couldn’t have been more happy to see them. He started walking up to the car, but his mom had one final request.

“Give your mother a goodbye kiss Mohammad so she could have something to hold her over until you come back,” his mother demanded, and inside he squirmed in embarrassment. He didn’t want to do this in front of his best friend and his dad. He leaned forward and gave his mom a quick kiss before getting in the truck as fast as he could, waving his mom goodbye. She waved back with a smile on her face as Jake’s dad drove off.

Jake turned around and made kissy faces at him. Mo gave him the finger in return.

At the Goldsworthy residence, Eli was having a hard time parting with his girlfriend, who stayed over his house yet again. She was pretty much the fourth resident of the house at this point.

“It’ll only be four days, I promise,” he assured her as he zipped up his black backpack. Four days without Julia was going to be rough, especially since he wasn’t going to be able to call or text her at the camping grounds. However, he and the guys have been looking forward to this trip for the longest, and he felt bad that he had been hanging out with Julia all summer over his best friends.

“What am I going to do without you for four days?” Julia asked him while folding her arms. She was only wearing a black bra and black pajamas shorts. They woke up and immediately had sex as a goodbye present for Eli. They also had it last night, and a couple times throughout the day.

Him and Julia had an intense relationship if that was the proper word for it, and his parents did not mind at all.

“I don’t know, what you did before you met me,” he answered bluntly, only to quickly retract his answer when he saw his girlfriend’s angry face, “Do what girls usually do when their boyfriends are away,” he added with a suggestive smirk.

“Fuck someone else?” She asked sarcastically.

The campgrounds they were using for their trip was at a conservation park an hour away from Toronto. It was in a lush forest area with hiking trails, a lake area, and small caves. There was also a picnic table, outhouses, and a building for showers. Jake took a whiff of the fresh air around him and sighed in contentment.

After him and the guys set up tents, they struggled on what to do next. However, his dad made it clear on what they couldn’t  do when Mo took out his PSP.

“No electronics, boys. This is an electronic-free trip,” his dad said as he took the gaming device out of his friend’s hands and put it in his backpack. “That goes for cell phones too,” he added while holding open the backpack. His two friends groaned as they put their phones in the backpack.

“Guys, there’s plenty of fun we can have without electronics,” Jake tried to assure them. 

“Like what? Fishing?” Mo asked dryly.

“Among other things,” Jake replied while sending both of his friends knowing looks. They got the message immediately.

He made sure to stock up on some good weed from Jay before this trip.

It turns out that fishing was the first thing Jake’s dad had in mind.

“It’s been an hour and I haven’t hooked a damn thing yet,” Mo complained to Eli as they sat on one end of the boat while Jake and his dad sat on the other. They were in the middle of the lake and the sun was setting, casting a purple, orange, yellow, and light blue background across the sky.

His oldest friend wasn’t paying attention. Instead, he was looking sadly at his black fishing rod. There was no doubt he was currently thinking of that annoying, needy bitch he was dating. Mo rolled his eyes before hitting Eli with his arm to get his attention. “Ow! What was that for?” His friend demanded.

“Don’t be so dramatic, Princess,” Mo dismissed before jumping when he felt something in the water tug on his bait. “Holy shit, I caught something!” He exclaimed excitedly as he rolled up his catch. When he saw what it was, his face fell.

It was a tiny ass fish.

“Wow man, great catch,” Eli congratulated him sarcastically as Jake and his dad watched with amused looks.

“Fuck you asshole,” Mo replied sharply as Eli laughed before Jake rolled up something as well. His fish was much bigger.

“This is going to be a great dinner,” his other friend said cheerfully as he put the catch in a bucket along with some other fish he and his dad caught. Soon Eli caught his own fish, a nice medium sized one.

‘I’m going to flip this stupid fucking boat over,’ Mo thought grumpily to himself as Eli and Jake hi-fived.

Later that evening, Eli was being taught how to start a campfire by Jake’s dad. They spent several minutes getting firewood and setting up the campfire. 

“Hold it like this,” Glen directed him as Eli pressed the button on the lighter. His arm was holding the lighter at a safe angle. Small flames erupted from the wood and rocks that soon became bigger flames.

Everyone got the fish they caught from earlier and slowly cooked them over the fire. As he watched the flames touch his fish, Eli thought about Julia and how he already missed her. He was also really worried about her. She needed him, always, but yet he was on a camping trip with no way to contact her while she was stuck at home with her awful family. When she left this morning to go home, she was clearly mad at him and he couldn’t blame her.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he almost didn’t feel the rain drops hitting his skin. They were very light. 

Then within thirty seconds, the light rain turned into a heavy downpour.

“So…is anyone in the mood for beef jerky for dinner tonight?” Jake’s dad asked with an awkward smile.

The next morning, they all went hiking along the mountain trail. The sun had barely been up for an hour but it was shining bright.

“How long until we reach the top, Dad?” Jake asked his dad before taking a sip from his water jug. They had packed plenty of water for this trip, and it was well needed especially for this hiking activity.

“Another mile or so,” his dad answered as they walked over a bridge with a stream beneath it. From the distance, he could see a group of deer gathering together. The only sounds that could be heard in the area were their feet crushing the ground between them and birds singing.

“Boy do I have to take a piss,” he overheard Mo grumble to himself. His dad apparently heard him speak too because he stopped in his tracks. “There’s no reason why we can’t take a break right now,” he said as he sat down on some boulders, “Go by the trees or something. Jake, go with him to make sure nothing happens.”

Jake nodded as he followed his friend to where some trees were. He looked the other direction as Mo unzipped his cargo shorts and began peeing. “You think I can wipe my ass with some of these plants afterwards?” His friend jokingly asked.

“If you want a disease worse than the social ones you can catch at The Ravine sure,” Jake answered nonchalantly.

When Mo was done, he zipped back up his shorts but didn’t move from his spot. “Bro, look,” he heard his best friend command, and Jake turned to see what he was looking at.

Not too far from them, a baby bear was eating at some plants by a pond. “Aww, look at the little guy,” Jake said with a smile. Then his face fell when he remembered what the sight of a baby bear meant.

Him and Mo ran as far away from the area as possible.

After the long and excruciating hiking trail, they were allowed to rest by the lake area. Mo took a nice nap on the sands, but decided to play football with Jake afterwards. Eli was sitting on a rock, refusing to play. Instead, he was reading a novel.

“You don’t even want to try? I can get Dad and it can be two vs two,” Jake asked their friend.

“Unfortunately my friends, I’m not a sporty person,” Eli rejected as he continued to read. Jake wasn’t either, but he was at least down to do something .

“Eli’s afraid that we’ll use his tiny ass as the football if this one deflates,” Mo joked, and was satisfied to see Eli give him the finger for the remark. He didn’t even look up from his book.

Jake looked at him and shrugged before they continued their game. While he knew Jake had no interest in joining any athletic teams at Degrassi, Mo was going to try out for the football and wrestling teams this upcoming year. He was tall enough and he was confident enough in his weight to know that it was a great advantage. Just because he was fat didn’t mean he was out of shape.

He got ready to throw the ball when it was his turn when he heard loud giggling from another area of the lake. Jake had stopped. He heard it too. They shared a curious look together before going to take a peek at the source of the giggling. The other area was obscured by some thick trees and bushes.

They were not prepared for the sight that awaited them.

“Skinny dip!” A young woman shouted excitedly as her and the rest of her lady friends began stripping one by one. They all then charged into the water completely naked. Her and several other girls continued to giggle as they splashed each other.

“Jake…do you have a camera in those swimming trunks somewhere?” Mo asked in wonder at the beautiful sight. 

“God I wish,” Jake replied, and his friend was just as gobsmacked as he was to see these women.

This trip just got way more awesome.

Before it was time to call it a night, Eli headed to the shower stalls to bathe. After hiking and swimming, who knew what kind of dirt was on his skin?

He tried not to cringe in disgust at the sight of some dirt and dust on some of the stalls. He may have been edgy and morbid, but he wasn’t that hardball. Though, he had to admit he had seen worse. He had been to some motels with his parents on concert trips where the showers looked straight out of a Saw movie.

As Eli showered (and tried not to flinch at the scorching hot water) he continued to think about his girlfriend, but for different reasons. He wasn’t going to lie to himself. He missed sex, especially with the random surge of horniness currently going through  his body. There was really only one thing he could do to solve that issue.

He didn’t get much of a chance to do anything before he heard a weird moaning sound from outside the stall. Suspicious, Eli turned the water off, grabbed a towel and left the stall. He looked around the area to see if anyone was there. No one was there but the weird moaning persisted. Taking a deep breath, he left the shower room. No one was around outside either. 

Shrugging, he turned around only to see a figure wearing a hockey mask and carrying an axe lunge at him. He screamed and stumbled to the ground. 

The figure laughed before taking the hockey mask off, revealing it was Mo. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Eli demanded angrily as he picked up a rock and tossed it at Mo, who was still laughing.

“This actually wasn’t completely my idea,” Mo admitted as Jake came out of some bushes.

“I did the moaning,” Jake said with a goofy smile. Eli could see the redness in his eyes from marijuana even in the darkness. “In all honesty, considering how much you’ve been thinking about your girlfriend this whole night, I thought the moaning was only going to motivate you to keep doing what you were doing,” he added while throwing his hands up.

“The both of you sleep with one eye open tonight,” Eli threatened his friends, but they only continued to laugh at their dumbass prank.

Jake woke up due to something licking his face. It was a raccoon, who was clearly enjoying the crumbs on his face from the granola bar he ate but was too high to clean off.

Him and the raccoon stared at each other for an awkward few seconds. Then the raccoon scurried off of him and out of his tent. Grabbing the clothes he was going to wear for the day, he just decided to shrug it off.

Outside the tent, his dad was cooking some bacon strips and eggs on a grill that was provided to them on property. “Looks good, Dad,” he complimented him warmly before yawning.

“Thanks kiddo,” his dad replied as he flipped the strips over. “I’m not as good as your mom was, but I hope it’ll at least be passable.”

At the mention of his mom, Jake felt a random burst of sadness. Some days, he could think of her without getting sad, but other moments…well that was what the weed was for. In fact, he needed to have his morning blunt right now. He turned on his heel and began walking back to his tent when his dad stopped him. “Jake?” He asked. Jake turned back around and faced his dad. “Yeah?” He asked back.

“I experimented with a lot of interesting things when I was your age so I know what you do in your past time…but just don’t make it too obvious, okay?” His dad requested. “I really don’t care that you smoke pot but I don’t want you to get mauled by a bear in the middle of the night because you were too high to close your tent up.”

“Of course, sorry Dad,” he apologized. That would be a pretty unfortunate way to go. He continued on his way back to the tent, but his dad had one more final thing to say.

“And also, please don’t get into other drugs. You know what happened to your cousin Ricky after he tried some meth.

Jake didn’t need to be reminded. His cousin was arrested for attempting to use the Dot kitchen as a casual meth lab while working as a cook. He pretended he didn’t know the guy when news about the incident spread to Degrassi.

Weed was good enough for him.

“Isn’t this like that movie you made us watch, Eli? The one about the women who went into this creepy ass cave only to get slaughtered by the monsters inside of it?” Mo whispered to his friend as they explored a cave with a guide leading them around.

“Yeah, it’s The Descent . Remind me to put that back on for our next boy’s movie night,” Eli replied with a smirk. The thought scared Mo even though he would never admit it out loud. That had to be one of the most fucked up horror movies Eli ever had him and Jake watch. The ending of that movie stuck with him, especially now.

Jake waved around his flashlight in the darkness, and the light landed on some cave drawings. They were red, rusty, and faded. They looked….creepy as fuck.

“Hmm, wonder what these even mean. What do you think, Mo?” Jake asked him. Mo leaned in to take a closer look.

“Fuck if I know,” Mo muttered but still tried to decipher the drawings. There were some figures with spears dancing around fire. The more he looked, the more he realized there was another figure in the fire…..

He felt a hot breath on the back of his neck, and he let out a really high pitched girly scream as he jumped. He turned around to see that it was Eli, who had a blank look on his face.

“Oops,” his best friend simply said.

It was raining heavily again in the afternoon so they decided to stay in Jake’s tent. They were planning a game of Uno, but Eli wasn’t really into it despite being one more card away from declaring Uno. He was thinking of Julia again. What she was doing right now in his absence, what she was thinking about, even what she was wearing…

“Dumbass, it’s your turn,” he heard Mo say to him, snapping him out of his thoughts. “Sorry,” he apologized before adding his final card, a blue card, onto the pile, “Uno,” he declared. 

“What the fuck? He wasn’t even paying attention and he won? This is bullshit!” Mo complained.

“Sucks to suck,” Eli replied with a shrug. Jake simply went back to eating on one of the hot dogs they had cooked for lunch before it started raining.

“It’s a miracle you can even function with Morticia Adams on your mind constantly,” Mo bitterly continued, and Eli knew who he was referring to.

“Hey man, just because your ass is single doesn’t mean that you can take it out on me and Julia. Grow up,” he replied irritably.

“I just don’t see why she’s all that takes up your attention to the point that you can’t focus on your friends for once! It’s like Jake and I don’t even exist to you anymore!” Mo argued. Jake looked back and forth between them, not knowing what to say.

“When you find someone you love, you’ll understand. Julia needs me and I need her,” Eli fired back. 

“Whatever you say man,” Mo replied dismissively as he reshuffled his deck to prepare for another round, “Is she rocking your world in the bedroom or something?” 

He wanted to tell him to mind his fucking business but he just sat there silently instead, and his silence revealed everything.

“Wait, are you two actually having sex?” Jake asked in surprise as he and Mo looked at each other. “Like real sex?”

“It doesn’t concern either of you but we are,” Eli confirmed gruffly while folding his arms. “And it’s great.”

“Well shit, Jakey. No wonder he’s so attached to her even though she’s all dreary and shit,” Mo said to Jake before looking at him, “Congrats, man.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Eli replied as he grabbed a stack of cards and began shuffling himself. When he looked up, both of his friends were leaning in extra close to his face.

“Well, Eli. You have to tell us what it’s like to get nasty with a girl,” Mo urged him with Jake nodding in agreement.

Eli sighed. That’s what he got for not keeping his mouth shut.

Later that night when it stopped raining (and him and Mo got as much details from Eli as they could about the pleasures of sex) they sat all outside and stared up at the stars in the dark sky. Jake always liked looking at the stars when there wasn’t any pollution blocking it.

“So are we ready for sophomore year, boys?” Mo asked him and Eli. There was no sound but the sound of the fire sizzling on the rocks at their campfire.

“I would say yes, but who knows what could happen at our cursed ass school this year,” Eli answered.

“Whatever it takes, I know I can make it through or whatever the words in our school song goes,” Jake replied.

“Those lyrics aren’t in our school song,” Eli said in confusion. 

“Then where did I hear them from?” Jake asked, equally confused. The words sounded so familiar….

“Well all I know is this. Degrassi can throw whatever it can at me, but with my boys at my side, I can do anything,” Mo declared with a smile, and Jake smiled back along with Eli.

Freshman year was a lot for sure, but what’s the worst that could happen sophomore year?

Chapter Text

The alarm clock went off at Dallas’ bedside.

Grumbling, he woke up and looked at the time. It read 6 am. He had football team practice in two hours, but he only slept for three.

Having a baby meant that his sleeping schedule had been severely cut lately.

Yawning, he got out of bed and grabbed his practice clothes before going into the bathroom to take a hot shower. Morning showers helped wake him up at least a little. As the water ran on his skin, he thought about how he was going to be able to juggle school, football, and a four month old all at the same time. Oh, and he had a part time job at The Dot on the weekends to support Vanessa too on top of all that. It was going to be a rough school year to say the least.

Vanessa had dropped out of school for the time being, and he was planning to spend every day after school when he didn’t have practice with her and Rocky. Along with providing them a paycheck, it was the best he could do. Despite wanting to run away from Vanessa and their baby at first, once Rocky actually came into the world, he couldn’t find it in himself to abandon his own child. It would be easy, since his parents were still denying Rocky’s existence and did not want him in their house. His dad even encouraged him to only send Vanessa and Rocky child support checks and do nothing else. As tempting as that was, Dallas found that he could not do it.

Rocky was his. He had already got used to the warmth from his son’s body whenever he held him, or the smell whenever he gave him a bath and put baby powder on him. He had the soft noises Rocky made in his sleep memorized in his brain, along with the sight of Rocky kicking his little feet.

He couldn’t go back now. He was bound to this kid for life.

On the first day of grade nine, Clare found herself the subject of much stares and whispers from several kids in the hallway. Uncomfortable, she walked by Darcy and Peter’s side until she found her locker.

“Have a great first day of high school…as much as you can with a scarlet letter on your chest,” Darcy said with a tight smile as she squeezed her shoulder. Her and Peter then walked away, with Peter giving her a cheerful wave. Clare swallowed nervously as she nodded. 

She was currently the Hester Prynne of Degrassi, and the invisible scarlet letter on her chest was burning hot from the sin she committed with K.C. It had been burning since she told Jenna about their affair. She had done a lot of crying and praying in her room since then, and begging God for forgiveness every night before she went to bed. However, she knew no one would forgive her as quickly as she wanted, especially Jenna.

Clare opened up her locker to decorate it. While pinning up posters of Edward Cullen and Cedric Diggory, she heard a voice. “Are you freaking kidding me?” It asked angrily and Clare felt her blood run cold at who it was. She turned around to see Jenna glaring at her while holding up a piece of paper. 

“Hi Jenna,” Clare greeted with an awkward smile. “How are you?”

Jenna didn’t say anything to her. She just went to the locker next to hers and silently opened it up. 

Frowning, Clare went back to focusing on her own locker.

When Imogen walked into the music room because Mo told her to, she didn’t know what to expect. She found her friend leaning on one of the one drum sets, looking nervous.

“Hey Im,” he greeted.

“Hi Mo, is this a band meeting?” She asked.

“No, this is actually um…for something much different. I’m going to be completely honest with you, Im…I like you. I have for awhile,” Mo confessed with a sheepish smile.

Imogen didn’t know what to say in response. 

“You’re weird but in a good way, and gorgeous. You’re pretty awesome and I would be blessed to have you as my girl,” he added while she just blinked in return.

Mo was very sweet and caring as a boyfriend from what she saw from his relationship with Alli, and was attractive despite what the shallow bitches at school thought. He would probably be a great boyfriend and super cuddly!

The problem was that she didn’t feel anything for him beyond friendship…and she liked someone else.

“Mo, I-,” she began to say before GT, the guy in their band formerly known as Gracie walked in their practice room. Until he found a real name that he was comfortable with, he was just going by his initials.

“We’re still going to the cafeteria for breakfast right?” GT asked her. She nodded while giving him a smile. She then looked back at Mo.

“Well I’m super hungry for a breakfast burrito right now and they run out quickly so I gotta go! We’ll talk about this later Mo!” Imogen declared before going over and locking arms with GT. “Arrivederci!” She bid him farewell before leaving with GT without giving him another look.

The other reason why she couldn’t return feelings for Mo at this time was because her and GT had gotten close after she helped him realize that he was trans…..

….. really close.

During his first period of classes, Dallas struggled to pay attention as he was still tired. The first period being English also didn’t help.

As Mrs. Kwan went on and on about why the books they were going to read this year were all literary classics, Dallas found himself staring down at his desk while his vision blurred in and out. Tired didn’t even begin to express how he was feeling. He was fucking exhausted . If she kept talking for at least five more minutes he was going to pass out, maybe under less than five minutes. He’ll give it three.

“Pair up with the person next to you and discuss what books you two are most looking forward to reading this year,” he heard Mrs. Kwan command. He was surprised he could even hear it, with the way he was zoning out. He sighed as he turned around to face Marisol, who was sporting a new hairstyle consisting of long brown bohemian curls. Her lipstick was a bright red along with her acrylic nails. She looked hot but something was off.

“Hey, what’s up?” He asked with as much energy as he could.

“Hey,” she greeted politely and without any venom, a sign that she no longer hated him for how he treated her last year. He wouldn’t blame her if she still did. He was self aware enough these days to know that he was terrible and that it was a good thing they only lasted two weeks.

“I’m mostly excited to read Eleanor and Park, Jane Eyre, and Still I Rise. I am not excited to read Great Expectations, Lord of The Flies, Macbeth, Frankenstein, or any of the other books on this list. Bleh,” Marisol said with an over dramatic sigh. Dallas couldn’t find it in himself to pay any attention. Her voice was almost distorted.

“I’m not excited to read anything,” he bluntly admitted, though he wasn’t exactly proud of that. Now that he was a dad, it was his best interest to start reading. It would be a disservice towards his son to have a dumbass father.

She snorted in response. “I know you’re a jock but that’s not a synonym for stupid,” she replied. She then started playing with the gold bracelet on her wrist. It was made up of what had to be dozens of golden rings with rhinestones that were held together by a golden rod. 

There was a visible bruise mark underneath the rings. He was exhausted as shit right now and his vision was terrible, but this was a sight he couldn’t miss, especially when it was an ugly dark blue color. He looked up at her. “How did that happen?” He asked her.

Marisol looked at him in confusion before she realized what he meant. “Oh that? I, um…it was an accident,” she answered before hiding her hand underneath the table, giving Dallas a quick view of her chest inside the Spirit…no Power Squad uniform.

It was quick but there were bruises there too.

In algebra class, the staring and whispering got worse.

Clare tried to distract herself by reading through the algebra textbook. She always liked going through the textbooks at the beginning of the year to prepare herself compared to everyone else. However, she found that she wasn’t able to focus. In addition to the stares and whispers, she could feel Jenna glaring at her on one side of the classroom and K.C. staring at her on the other. He kept trying to talk to her all this morning.

She avoided him at all costs. Because she chose lust over friendship, she was now considered the school whore. It was for the best that they didn’t speak.

The teacher finally came in after the bell rang, and started a roll call to make sure everyone was present. “Clare Edwards,” he called.

“Present,” she replied just as a girl whispered “slut” at the same time, causing several people to snicker. The teacher somehow didn’t hear.

Clare’s lip trembled as she struggled not to cry.

At lunch time, Imogen didn’t go to the cafeteria, she decided to meet GT by one of the tables outside. He was sitting at one near a tree, eating a homemade sandwich and an apple.

“Hello, my beloved friend!” She greeted him cheerfully as she sat down across from him and put her arm around his shoulder. “How were your morning classes so far?” She asked.

“Alright,” he answered with a shrug, “Our new principal came in and thought I was a guy at first sight, which I guess is a plus now.”

To much of the male population at Degrassi’s distress, Daphne “Hotsauce” Hatzilakos was taking a break from the position of school principal to take care of her mother in Regina. In her place was a new principal from Lakehurst nicknamed “The Shep”. She accidentally bumped into him while skipping to her locker earlier this morning and he jokingly asked if she was one of those school weirdos because of her outfit, which was a dress with bananas printed on them with matching banana earrings and tall yellow socks. Her hair was also in pigtails.

She personally thought that having “Mikerty Sheppard” as a full name was far more weird than anything she could do.

“I already want Hotsauce back,” Imogen lamented.

“So, what did Mo want this morning?” GT asked. 

“He’s in love with me,” she answered, shifting uncomfortably as she began eating her lunch.

“Really? Is that why you were quick to leave?” He asked again with widened eyes.

“I don’t know what to do, GT. Mo is so awesome but I don’t like him like that, and unlike Elijah Goldsworthy I can’t pretend to be in love with a friend out of pity,” she said with a tinge of bitterness at the end. Her and Eli were talking civilly again but they weren’t quite BFF level yet. Eli had been into another girl the whole time they were together, and that had done some damage to her self esteem. Him being more invested in that leech he was currently dating than he was ever was in her felt like an even bigger slap to her face. 

“Well you don’t have to worry about that from me, Immy. There’s a lot of pretty girls at Degrassi, but you’re the only one I want to be with…if that’s what you really want,” he replied before looking down at the table shyly.

“I do want that,” she confirmed as she reached over and held his chin up. GT was different from the other guys at Degrassi for obvious reasons, but she liked different, and he was way more fun to be around than Eli.

“So is this the part where we’re supposed to kiss for the first time?” He asked her nervously. “I don’t know how to do that and I would probably look stupid and-”

She grabbed his face and kissed him on the lips, tasting the bacon from the sandwich he had earlier. Most girls would find that weird, but she liked bacon.

Their kiss lasted for a few seconds before she pulled away, smiling.

He smiled back.

Inside the cafeteria during that same lunch period, Dallas was eating on a burger, feeling some energy pour into him, while his fellow football team members were talking.

“You guys going to the barbecue later?” Owen asked everyone as Marisol sat on his lap, quietly eating her lunch of a chicken wrap and a bottle of water. Dallas had noticed that since she began dating Owen, all she ate at lunch were either salads or wraps with water on the side while Owen ate whatever he wanted. It was weird, but it wasn’t his business to say anything.

“Hell yeah and The Shep wants us all to bring a date, preferably a cheerleader,” Julian answered, “There’s a long list of babes on the Spirit-I mean Power Squad this year that I can bring too. How am I supposed to choose?”

“Well I already got the hottest girl on the team as my date so I’m good,” Owen replied while leaning in to kiss Marisol's neck. She giggled but Dallas could have sworn he saw her stiffen.

“Can I bring my kid as a date? That’s the only way I can go,” Dallas asked dryly as some of the guys laughed.

“Didn’t your baby mama drop out to raise that baby? Make her take care of him while you’re at the barbecue,” Julian suggested.

“As much as I would love to do that, I helped make Rocky and I promised Vanessa that I would come over to her house and help take care of him whoever I can,” Dallas replied.

“You’re insane, bro but much respect for that,” Julian said while shaking his head. He then looked over to their new teammate, Luke Baker. He was a blonde white kid from Florida “So new blood, you coming to the barbecue?”

“I would love to but I can’t. I have an  event at my church after school that I can’t miss,” the new kid answered regretfully. Oh yeah he was also one of those holy rollers.

“Well for the fellows that are going, I’m bringing a flask of something fun to spice up our sodas,” Julian said with a shrug. The “something fun” was definitely Hennessy.

As Dallas ate his lunch, he tried not to get sad at the fact that he really couldn’t do all of the fun things he wanted with a kid anymore.

Well technically he could , it would just make him a bad father.

Lunch wasn’t any better as she sat by herself away from everyone. Alli and Connor had chosen to sit with Jenna instead of her.

Clare ate her sandwich, feeling incredibly dejected. Was she really about to go into high school without a single friend?

She was too busy drowning in her thoughts to notice that a girl had sat down across from her until she made her presence known. “Hi!” The girl greeted cheerfully, causing Clare to jump. She looked up and saw a girl with long blond hair and blue eyes. Even though she was sitting, Clare could tell that she was tall. She could also tell that she was a Christian from the cross necklace on her pink dress.

“I’m Becky Baker. My brother and I moved here from Florida because our parents wanted a fresh new start. What’s your name?” The girl introduced herself while folding her hands on the table.

“I’m Clare,” Clare answered, a bit thrown off by the girl’s bubbliness. Not even Darcy before she changed was that bubbly.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Clare. I’m a ninth grader and looking to meet new friends!” Becky replied before looking down at something. “I take it you’re a fellow follower of Christ yourself?”

She was looking at her silver cross necklace, the one K.C. had given her.

“Yes,” Clare answered. ‘Not that he’s been pleased with me lately,’ she thought to herself sadly. She ran her fingers over the necklace. She should probably get rid of it considering it was a reminder of the sin she committed but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

“Well followers of Christ should always stick together! Let’s be friends!” Becky urged with an excited smile.

Clare smiled back, but nervous at the idea. Surely a religious person like Becky would hate her guts too after what she found out what she did with K.C.

Imogen was decorating her locker after lunch when she was approached by a jock on the football team.

“Imogen, I’ve been watching you for a while on the Spirit…I mean Power Squad, and I would be honored if you hung out with me at the football team barbecue after school,” he offered with something he probably thought was sincerity in his voice.

At this point in her time at Degrassi, she knew when she was being pranked. After putting up stickers of baby monkeys on a mirror, she turned to look at him. “How much are the other members on the team paying you to ask me out?” She asked him bluntly. The kid pretended to be taken aback.

“But I do want to go out with you! You’re hot in your own litt-”

“She’s already dating someone and it isn’t some jock whose brain is made of a football with no air in it,” GT cut in off as he suddenly appeared next to her. He wrapped his arm around her waist protectively.

The jock looked back between them, confused.

“You’re Drew’s little sister, he talks about you all the time. So what? You guys are lesbians or something?” He asked them.

Imogen looked at GT, not sure how to answer that. Since he was a trans boy, he wouldn’t be a lesbian and neither would she. But GT had no intentions of coming out yet….

“We are. What are you going to do about it?” GT challenged him.

“Ask if you girls are gonna make out in front of me,” The jock replied with a smirk before shaking his head, laughing. “Wait until Torres gets word of this,” he said before finally leaving their presence. Imogen looked at her boyfriend in concern.

“Are you sure you still want to identify as a lesbian?” She asked him.

“It’s what I have to do until I’m ready to come out,” GT answered. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“No, not really,” she replied. “As long as you feel safe.”

He smiled before they shared a sweet kiss in the hallways.

Later that day after school, Dallas was doing his homework at Vanessa’s house. Rocky was sleeping on the couch next to him as she took a nap in her bedroom. Whatever complaints he had about not getting much sleep, she most likely was having an even worse time.

Rocky started crying a little in his sleep while he was trying to read the first few chapters of Great Expectations. Dallas ignored it at first as he continued reading. Then the crying got louder. Sighing he closed up the book and picked up his son.

“What’s up Little Man, you hungry?” He asked his son as he bounced him in an attempt to calm him down. Rocky continued to cry. Dallas got up from the couch, carrying Rocky as he went into the kitchen to prepare formula. After making it, he put it in the microwave to heat it up as Rocky still cried.

Truthfully, he didn’t know how babies could drink this stuff. He tasted formula on a few occasions after heating it in the microwave to make sure it was warm enough for Rocky and it was the nastiest shit he ever tasted.

His son conveniently stopped crying as soon as he took the bottle out of the microwave. While Dallas waited for the bottle to cool down, Rocky stared at the bottle curiously. Dallas took a moment to look at his son’s features. When Rocky was a newborn, he couldn’t tell which parent he took after. Now after a few months, he could see that Rocky had his eyes and cheeks. He hadn’t seen a drop of Vanessa in him yet.

Even though his ears were still ringing from Rocky’s crying, Dallas allowed himself to smile in pride for a moment.

Clare was writing the summary of today’s events in her diary. The page she was using before today was brittle from the tears she dropped on it from her last journal entry.

‘I don’t know how I’m going to take any more of this. Everyone in my grade hates me except K.C. but I don’t want to speak to him right now. I know I deserve scorn for our affair, but I can’t handle the constant whispers. Maybe I should transfer schools,” she wrote in her journal, feeling depressed. As much as she tried to resist them, tears welled up in her eyes again. However, she knew she had to keep writing. She only stopped when she heard a knock on her door. She turned around to see Darcy appearing in her doorway.

“Dinner’s ready,” her older sister announced before she noticed her troubled expression. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Darce,” Clare assured her with a croak in her voice. Darcy frowned before going over to sit down next to her on the bed.

“The K.C. thing is really getting to you, isn’t it?” Darcy questioned. Clare chose to not say anything. Her older sister sighed.

“Clare, I’m not going to sugarcoat things. Hooking up with your friend’s boyfriend behind her back for months was fucked up. However, you can come back from this,” her sister continued.

“How?” Clare questioned.

“Degrassi is a place where a new scandal happens every hour of the day. Everyone will forget about you and K.C. by the end of the week. You have four years of high school, and this is just one small incident. It’ll blow over and maybe, just maybe Jenna will forgive you one day,” Darcy answered while rubbing her back down her shoulder. “Everyone makes mistakes, Clare. You know the ones I made, and they are all much worse than yours.”

Ah yes, Clare was well aware of Darcy’s mistakes. The one with Mr. Simpson was so bad, she was afraid to show her face around junior high for a week because everyone was mad at her for Darcy’s actions even though she did nothing.

“In all honesty, what you did with K.C. was bad but at least you’re not dating the guy who leaked a topless video of your best friend all over the school one time,” Darcy finished with a sheepish smile. 

“Didn’t he also sell explicit pictures of you to an internet predator too?” Clare reminded her with a raised eyebrow.

“Peter has some…issues, but he’s a great guy underneath it all,” Darcy insisted firmly.

Clare didn’t really think so, but Peter treated her sister well so she didn’t raise much of a fuss about it.

His breath smelled horrible though.

The next morning, when Imogen walked to her locker, Mo was standing in front of it with his arms folded. She wouldn’t be able to avoid him. Taking a deep breath, she approached him.

“Supply closet, now ,” Imogen commanded, as this wasn’t a conversation she wanted people to overhear in case it got ugly. There were enough rumors on the Anti-Grapevine already, and it was only the second day!

When they entered the supply closet, Imogen locked the door behind them and that’s when Mo finally decided to speak up.

“Do you not like me? Is that you’re avoiding me like the plague? You didn’t even reply to my texts last night!” Mo accused her.

“I don’t like you,” she confirmed, “At least not in the way you want. Because I’m dating someone else right now.”

Mo’s crestfallen face broke her heart. “Mo, you’re an amazing friend and you would be a great boyfriend, just not to me. What we have is a glorious friendship that can’t be ruined by a relationship that would fail epically. Look at what happened with me and Eli. Is that what you want for us?” She questioned.

“No because for starters, unlike Eli, I wouldn’t date you while being horny over another chick,” Mo bluntly replied, “But I just want a girl that will actually love me and never get bored of me.”

“And you’ll find that, Mo. I promise,” Imogen declared, “Any girl that wouldn’t want to ride off into the sunset with you is an idiot. I’m just not that girl.”

“Fine, if you say so Im,” Mo begrudgingly accepted, “Who’s the guy that swept you off your feet anyway?”

“GT,” Imogen answered honestly and watched as her best friend furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

“Um…what? Are you saying you two are lesbian lovers or something?” He asked. This time, Imogen found it much easier to answer. She had to protect GT. However the lesbian label wasn’t something she was comfortable slapping on herself personally even as a cover.

“GT is,” she confirmed, “But I am not a lesbian, I just like people.”

“Uh…okay. Cool,” Mo replied, blinking rapidly. Then he unlocked the door and left the supply closet, leaving her alone to her thoughts.

She didn’t think much of her own sexual orientation until now. So far she had been attracted to two boys in her life. One of them was trans, but that didn’t mean anything to her. 

However, there was a girl in a few of her classes. She was rich, preppy, and very pretty (but a little too snobby for her tastes). Imogen didn’t know if she could describe it as sexual attraction yet but she did know that she liked staring at her when the girl wasn’t looking.

She was like a princess.

Dallas came into his homeroom class feeling extremely tired once again.

As he sat down next to Drew, who was munching on a breakfast sandwich, he put his arms and face on his desk. He was probably going to end up dozing off in class despite his best efforts. He lifted himself up when he felt Drew tap his shoulder. “What?” He asked his best friend wearily.

“Look at Marisol, do you notice something odd?” Drew asked him, and Dallas turned to look at the girl in question. She was wearing a pink sweater and white jeans. While it was currently hot as shit outside.

“Why is she dressing like that?” He asked, confused.

“It’s weird, isn’t it? And she was walking all stiff in the hallways too,” Drew pointed out. Then Owen walked in and when he saw his girlfriend, he had a pleased look on his face. He sat down next to them. “What’s up boys? I had an amazing time after the barbecue last night,” he greeted them.

“Any idea as to why your girl is dressing in winter clothes and walking around like a robot?” Drew asked him.

“No idea with the clothes but as for the walking, it might have to do with me wearing her pussy out after the barbecue,” Owen answered with a smug grin.

A sick feeling grew in Dallas’ stomach for some reason, but he was too tired to really think about why.

When Clare walked into her Friendship Club meeting, she was met with harsh stares and a cold silence. She tried to sit down meekly, only for the leader of the club, Linus, to stop her.

“Clare, we cannot allow you in here until you are remorseful of the sin you committed,” Linus said to her.

“But I am sorry. That’s why I’m here. To seek guidance on how I can forgive myself for the harm I caused to Jenna,” she replied then jumped as Linus attempted to grab at her necklace.

“You dare wear that cross as an adulteress? Have you no shame?” He asked her angrily. “Get out.”

“But that’s not fair, you guys aren’t supposed to kick me out for my sins, that’s not how this works!”

“You are not the kind of person we want representing our club, get out ,” Linus ordered. As her lip trembled, Clare complied with the order and stormed out of the classroom without another word.

She accidentally bumped into someone. “I’m sorry,” she apologized as she looked at who it was. It was a tall boy with blond hair and blue eyes. He was handsome.

“It’s okay. I overheard everything in there and I want you to know that a true Christian would never turn away a repentant sinner,” he assured her, “If you need a friend I’m here.”

“Thank you,” she replied in gratitude.

“My name is Luke, Luke Baker. Maybe we can get to know each other a little more,” he offered with a warm smile.

So he was the older brother in grade ten that Becky was talking about at lunch yesterday. The other girl had unloaded a lot of info about her life onto her within forty five minutes.

“I would like that,” Clare replied with a smile of her own, and even a little blush.

Luke was cute.

Imogen walked arm and arm with her new boyfriend inside the music room where the other two members of the band were practicing. Mo stopped jamming on his keyboard while Eli strummed on his guitar idly.

“So you guys really are official?” He asked them.

“Yeah, are you okay with that Mo?” Imogen questioned.

“I’m man enough to not care. There’s plenty of other fish in the sea,” her best friend replied with a shrug. “You guys just better not ditch band meetings or performances for dates or whatever.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it!” Imogen replied cheerfully.

“Won’t guarantee that you won’t catch us making out before or after a performance however,” GT added with a smirk, making her giggle.

She was relieved to see Mo laugh at that.

After school, Dallas headed over to Vanessa’s house as normal. He had Rocky on his lap as he went over the notes he took for biology. His son wasn’t doing anything other than attempting to jam his entire fist into his mouth.

Vanessa walked over and sat down on the couch next to them. She watched him for a moment before saying anything.

“You know, Dallas. I think it’s best if you just see Rocky on the weekends,” she suggested.

“What do you mean? You need help taking care of him, don’t you?” He questioned.

“On days when I’m working, yes, and that’s Saturday and Sunday. But on the weekdays, I can take care of Rocky by myself while I’m at home while you have school and football,” she offered. He was hesitant to accept the offer. He could get his hours at The Dot changed to certain weekdays, and he wouldn’t have to worry about his sleeping schedule being fucked up. But…

“Are you sure you can handle that?” He asked her. “I know this is unbelievable coming from me, but I don’t want this to be a thing where you’re doing most of the work raising our child.”

“You’re still going to be his dad, Dallas. That’s never going to stop. When I need you, you’ll come no matter what day of the week it is. But you’re in school during the weekdays, while I’m not. I can take care of Rocky during those days while you can take him on the weekends. You’re still providing for him and you’re still going to be active in his life twenty four seven,” she assured him.

“My parents don’t want anything to do with him, Vanessa. I’ll still have to come over here on the weekends,” he reminded her.

“Have you looked into…alternative solutions for that, Dallas?” Vanessa asked him.

“Like what?” He asked back.

“Moving out?” She suggested.

Dallas’ eyes widened at the idea. He was turning sixteen in a few months and thus would be legally allowed to move out. The idea was still scary though.

However, did he really want to live in a household where his parents didn’t accept his son?

Chapter Text

Marisol laid there as Owen had sex with her in a tent at the Ravine. She pretended that she was in a different place, another plane of existence. Anywhere but here. He was rough but like always he didn’t care. Sex was always about him.

When he was done, he let out a satisfied grunt as he rolled off to the side of her. She just looked up at the ceiling as she didn’t have the strength to move. Her boyfriend rolled on top of her again. “Did you like that?” He asked her.

It was a yes or no question that couldn’t actually be answered with a no. “Yes, great job, baby,” she complimented him.

“Then why weren’t you screaming for me?” He demanded, and she stiffened as she struggled to answer honestly. She didn’t want to have sex at all with him but she knew what would happen if she turned him down. So she dissociated herself during the experience.

“I was so overwhelmed by how good you are at it,” she answered while giving him a fake smile. She knew her attempt at lying was a fail when he chuckled darkly in response.

“You’re such a terrible liar, Mari. It’s a wonder how you got this far in life without me,” he replied while squeezing one of her breasts, “I’m the best thing that ever happened to you.”

“You are, baby,” she agreed, trying not to flinch from how roughly he was gripping her. Her breasts were still sore from their last sex session underneath the bleachers earlier after school. There were bruises there too. At least they weren’t visible. None of her bruises were ever visible or not able to be covered up by makeup.. Owen did not want anyone to see what he was doing to her regularly.

He gripped her neck next. “Say it like you fucking mean it,” he urged, squeezing the side. She swallowed as she held back tears. Crying would only make Owen angrier and the bruises darker.

“I do mean it. You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me and I love you so much,” she replied before he slammed his lips down on hers in a bruising kiss. When he pulled away from her, there was a hungry lust in his eyes. “Flip over on your stomach,” he ordered, squeezing her neck again.

She did as she was told. At least in this position she wouldn’t have to look at him.

The next morning at school, Mo entered the building while talking with Eli. Well he was actually just being forced to listen to his best friend’s dumb excuses for bailing out on their game night yesterday.

“Julia’s stepmom kicked her out the house again and she needed to stay over my place,” Eli explained.

“Isn’t that always what’s happening with you and her? Then you guys fucked all night while I sat alone at home with a box of pizza and only one game controller,” Mo replied wearily. He was honestly sick of always coming in second place to Eli’s bloodsucking girlfriend these days. It was forgivable the first few times, but now it seemed like him and Jake could almost never pull Eli away from Julia. If he had a girlfriend, he would find a way to perfectly balance his friendships and his relationship to keep everyone happy. 

“Look Mo, I know you don’t like Julia-”

“Wrong, I hate her. There’s a difference.”

“But you have to understand that I’m the best thing in her life right now and she needs me. I love her and I can’t just…can’t just…”

Eli stopped trying to explain as he looked at something. In confusion, Mo followed the direction his friend was looking in until he realized it was his locker that had words written all over it in black sharpie.

Mo walked over to his locker slowly until the words were visible.

They all were the word “terrorist”.

He didn’t have any idea as to why someone would do this until he remembered what day it was. It was the ninth anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

It was the ninth anniversary of him getting bullied for things other than being fat.

Connor entered his homeroom class and was disturbed to see someone sitting in his favorite seat by the window. It was Luke Baker, who looked really pleased with himself for some reason this morning.

He walked over to him. “You’re in my seat,” he complained. Luke looked up at him in confusion.

“So?” He replied in a tone Connor found quite rude.

“I sit in this seat every homeroom period and I would like for you to move,” Connor requested calmly. Luke looked over to a fellow jock next to him and shared a laugh with him.

“Make me weirdo,” Luke challenged with a smug smile. He must have assumed that because he was on an athletic team and he wasn’t, that he wouldn’t have the guts to do it.

Luke thought wrong.

Connor grabbed Luke by his arm and yanked him roughly out of his favorite seat. The other boy quickly reacted in a hostile manner as he attempted to catch him in a headlock. Connor twisted his body around to avoid the move and instead shoved Luke on the desk. Just then, his godfather stepped in.

“What is going on here, Connor?” He asked him in shock.

“He attacked me!” Luke whined.

“He asked for it. He said ‘make me weirdo’,” Connor replied defensively.

“Both of you to the principal’s office now,” his godfather commanded. Connor was flabbergasted.

“But-,” he tried to say only to be cut off.

“ Now ,” his godfather commanded with a more firm tone. He had no choice but to obey.

“I can’t believe I have to attend classes with freaks like you,” he heard Luke mutter to himself. Connor didn’t let the comment get to him.

He was more frustrated about how a simple complaint about someone sitting in his seat led to this.

After her first morning class of the day, Marisol quietly gathered her belongings and headed out the classroom to her next. She only made it a few steps in the hallways before she felt someone grab her arm. Thinking it was Owen, she jumped in fear only to see that it was Eli, who had a concerned look on his face.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“Yeah,” she answered quickly as she turned to face him. “What’s up?”

“You’re coming to the auditions for A Streetcar Named Desire after school right?” He asked her again.

“Owen wants me to come over and hang out with him and his buddies after the game,” she turned down while shaking her head. But she really wanted to be in the play. She knew she needed to broaden her acting resume if she wanted to become an actress after high school. And the film adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire with Marlon Brando was one of her favorite movies. 

“But we need as many people as we can get for production, and you would be great for either Blanche or Stella,” he pointed out as they walked together.

“What Owen wants is important and comes first. I’m sure you understand with your girlfriend Jenny,” Marisol replied. 

“ Julia ,” he corrected wearily, “And are you really going to turn down an opportunity like this for that moron?”

She pursed her lips at the question. She knew deep down that Eli was right and she should really audition for a part but she was prone to defending her boyfriend these days. “He’s not a moron. I don’t even think I’m good enough for any of the roles and the play sounds boring anyway,” she argued.

She watched as Eli sighed before he said his next statement. “Marisol, you’re beautiful, confident, and fierce with the right flair to take on any role. You’re talented enough to even direct a production. Why you want to waste your potential to cater to that bum, I don’t know, but I just know that this play wouldn’t feel right without your involvement. Please think on it,” he urged before moving past her. 

Marisol watched the back of him, torn on what to do. She should always make Owen happy; That was her main priority these days because she knew what happened when she didn’t. However, she really wanted to get a big part in the play so she could dip her toes in the acting industry, and her father always told her that a career mattered more than a man.

It took her only a moment to figure out what she wanted to do.

“I get hate crimed and the best thing you could say to me is for me to just wash the words off my locker? You’re joking,” Mo asked The Shep in shock and disgust as he sat in the Principal’s office. As soon as his first class ended, he went right to the Shep to complain. Turns out that might have been a useless idea.

The Shep looked completely disinterested at his complaint. He folded his hands together on the desk. “Look Malachi, I mean Mohammad. Your name is Mohammad right? Until you find out who did it, there’s nothing I can do. I deal with hundreds of students each day. I really can’t give much attention to something that can be solved with cleaning solution and wipes,” he reasoned flatly.

“What about my safety? What about making me and other Muslim students feel protected here? I got the words terrorist written on my freaking locker because some asshole thinks that every member of the Islam faith needs to be punished for the actions of some guy we don’t even claim because of how evil he was. Are you saying that we don’t matter?” Mo accused angrily.

“I’m saying that this is something that this is a minor incident that can be easily forgotten about. This is high school where not everyone is going to like you, especially on a day like this where thousands of people were murdered because of the extremists in your religion. You should expect kids to be sensitive to that,” The Shep replied.

Mo’s eyes bugged out of his skull. He could not believe what he was hearing. He had heard a lot of stupid shit in his life, a lot of them from Jake when he was high, but this took the cake.

“We’re not even the country that was affected by 9/11! That was a fucked up thing that happened for sure but I was six years old when it happened. It had nothing with me and I shouldn’t have to be bullied for it!” He argued.

“Look kid, just wash the words off your locker and move on. I got pantsed at a football game when I was your age but did I cry about it? No. Take the cleaning solution and leave my office now ,” The Shep commanded as he shoved the spray bottle and wipes towards him. Angry, Mo grabbed the cleaning supplies and got up. As he started to leave, the principal had one last thing to say to him.

“By the way, you’ve earned yourself a detention young man for your foul language,” The Shep said with a glare. 

Mo glared back at him before storming out of the office.

Connor was very displeased to find that he had detention for the confrontation with Luke Baker earlier.

“Does he even care that you have Asperger’s?” K.C. asked him as they took their seats together at their new lunch table. After Jenna dumped K.C. for his torrid affair with Clare, their friend had completely splintered. Jenna and Alli only hung around each other while him and K.C. only hung around each other. Clare had no one these days except her new friend Becky.

“The Shep told me that it’s not an excuse for my actions and that I don’t deserve special treatment compared to anyone else,” Connor answered, trying not to get too upset, but it was hard. Even in the beginning of the school year when his godfather informed The Shep of his mental disorder and that he needed certain accommodations for it, The Shep did not care and said the same thing he did today.

“That’s bullshit. What did that Luke kid get?” His best friend asked him.

“Detention as well and I’m not looking forward to spending time around him,” Connor grumbled while he watched Luke Baker joke around with his friends at their own lunch table.

“I can’t believe I have to film this guy bragging about how great he is when he can’t even handle a situation with a kid with Asperger’s properly,” K.C. replied as he took a bite out of his burger. The Shep was being interviewed after school by a member of the journalism club, Katie Matlin, and K.C. was going to film the interview in exchange for a day off on Friday. 

“I want Principal Hatzilakos back,” Connor replied as Luke and one of his friends approached him. The mocking expression on Luke’s face immediately put him on edge.

“So weirdo, is this your favorite seat in the whole cafeteria?” Luke asked him as he sat down next to him.

“Yeah why?” Connor asked in confusion before being shoved over by the other kid.

“I think you should learn that you don’t have a claim on any seats or chairs at the school,” Luke sneered as his friend laughed.

Connor didn’t even notice that K.C. had got up from his seat until he stood behind Luke.

“And I think it’s best for you and your friend to leave…before I get mad,” K.C. warned Luke with a dark look in his eyes. Luke snorted at the threat but when he saw that K.C. was serious, he quickly got up from the table and left.

“Are you okay?” His best friend asked him.

“I guess so,” Connor answered, feeling relieved that Luke was gone.

He was sure glad that he had K.C. as a friend.

After school, Marisol had decided to audition for a role in A Streetcar Named Desire like Eli encouraged. She hoped Owen would be understanding. He had to know that acting was one of her most important interests at this point and she could go one night without being shown off to his buddies.

The scene Eli was using for the audition was an important one. It was probably the most iconic scene in the play…that reflected what she was currently going through in the most unfortunate way possible.

“ STELLAAAAAAAAAAAAA! ” She heard Eli scream with a “heaven-splitting” violence from her place behind the curtains. Until the role of Stanley was casted, he was playing him to test any girls auditioning for the role of Stella.

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Marisol slowly stepped from behind the curtains and on stage, where Eli was waiting for her. 

This moment was all too familiar with her. 

She gracefully walked towards Eli as she put on her best impression of a wife ready to forgive her husband due to how sorry he seemed. She had shaken up her hair and thought of unpleasant memories to make tears well up in her eyes. The memory she picked was losing her virginity to Owen.

When she stepped in front of Eli, she got lost in the strong emotion of his eyes, even if she knew he was faking it for the scene, just like she was. However it didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate how beautiful his eyes looked at that moment.

They stared at each other, and for some reason another memory came to Marisol, one that she repressed. It was when they had their first kiss together in her living room closet three years ago.

When they embraced, and when Eli pressed his lips to hers in a kiss, the memory and the feelings she had back then hit her like a truck. The memory of how soft Eli’s lips were against hers, the butterflies that fluttered in her stomach, and the warmth that flowed over her body were all coming back strong .

But this kiss was much more intimate, much deeper. There was a passion in it that she was sure wasn’t right. 

When they pulled apart, Eli got down on his knees and pressed his face to her belly, acting as if she was pregnant. Marisol looked down at him with as sympathy as she could before gently grabbing his hand and pulling him back up to eye level, just as it was in the script.

Eli had a look of shock in his eyes, and Marisol wondered if he was thinking the same thing that she currently was. That despite being a staged kiss, there was unexpected passion in it…..

“Excellent job…,” Eli complimented her while blinking, “I don’t think there’s a better fit for Stella than you but we’ll see.”

“Thank you,” Marisol replied in gratitude.

They then shared a soft, tender gaze, and Marisol felt safe for once.

Today continued to be shitty for him.

As Mo got dressed in his football uniform for the first game of the season, he thought about just how much he wanted to punch a wall today. Not only did he spend his lunch in detention, but when Mr. Perino showed everyone in history class footage of the 9/11 attacks, several people were staring at him for whatever fucking reason. As if he had something to answer for.

He should be used to this. It’s something he had to deal with for years as a Muslim. There were so many occasions where him and his parents got uncomfortable stares at restaurants, at grocery stores, at the movie theater, anywhere . The worst moments were always airports though.

He used to cope with the terrorist jokes by making his own jokes about his faith and heritage. He figured that no one could hurt him more than himself. However, now he was just annoyed and angry these days. Mostly angry.

“So are we going to show Northern Tech the wrath of Degrassi Panthers tonight?” Coach Armstrong asked as most of his teammates shouted various yeahs. “This is our first game of the season and I want to see nothing but everyone’s absolute best. Let’s kill it!”

“Woo,” Mo replied half-heartedly. He would have been more excited for the game if today’s events didn’t happen.

“Come on, Mashkour. Put some more energy into that cheer,” Armstrong urged.

“Hope you don’t plan to crash a plane into Northern Tech if we lose,” Luke Baker, a fresh recruit just like himself, jeered as several other members of the team snickered. Mo turned to look at him while narrowing his eyes.

“Yes, because the guy whose religion is responsible for multiple holy wars, colonialism, and other really dark stuff in history has any room to make jokes about my faith,” he replied dryly.

“Almost three thousand good Americans were murdered by Muslim cowards nine years ago today, I’m allowed to make jokes,” Baker countered with a glare.

“Yeah, yeah, well America has been getting its revenge for 9/11 for years by bombing millions of innocent people in the Middle East over the actions of one man and some hijackers, does that help you sleep real good at night?” Mo questioned sharply, resisting the urge to add “asshole” at the end of the question but he really didn’t need to get in trouble for foul language again.

“Maybe your family should get bombed next so you know what it feels like,” Luke answered with a smug smile.

The only thing that stopped him from going over to where Luke was sitting and choking the absolute shit out of him was Armstrong holding him back with one arm.

“Boys, you can either drop this conversation and take your frustrations out on the field, or sit in detention tomorrow after school. Your choice,” Armstrong warned, and Mo rolled his eyes in return while Luke dropped the shit-eating grin from his face.

Sometimes he really hated everyone at this fucking school.

Later that evening, Connor was eating with his godfamily, still disturbed by the things he went through today himself. It caused him to play around with his plate of meatloaf instead of just eating it.

Spike had seemed to sense his current feelings at the moment. “Snake and I aren’t pleased with you getting into a fight today, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t concerned with how you’re feeling, what’s wrong?” She asked him.

“The Shep doesn’t care about any student that isn’t a football player. He threatened to suspend me if he hears any more complaints about me being ‘weird’,” he answered bluntly. 

“What? You’re not weird, you’re a child with Asperger’s. Your brain works differently than everyone else’s and he should acknowledge that as principal,” his godmother replied in indignation before looking at his godfather. “Did you know about this?” She asked him.

His godfather sighed. “I’ve had several conversations with Mikerty about Connor’s Asperger’s. He is pretty adamant that he can’t give out special treatment to just one student because then everyone will demand it,” he answered.

“But it’s okay to give jocks special treatment?” Spike accused. “Ignoring the concerns of students with mental disabilities isn’t right.”

“We’ll talk about this later, Spike,” Snake replied, and Connor could tell that his godfather felt exasperated by the conversation.

“We will,” his godmother replied firmly before going back to eating her dinner. Everyone else at the table did the same, but the atmosphere was tense. Even little Jack could feel it as he dug into his slice of meatloaf numbly with a little spork.

Connor wanted to have faith that his godparents could fix things, but he had a feeling The Shep would stand by his decision.

Later that night, Marisol was sitting at home alone as she watched Clueless. She was going to go over Katie’s house to study, but she got a text from Owen that he was coming by later to hang out with her. Since the Panthers won their first game of the season, her boyfriend should be in high spirits.

She was in high spirits herself and not just because the role of Stella was certainly hers. She was thinking about Eli for the rest of the day, and it brought pleasant feelings. She had thought that he hated her, especially since his girlfriend did for seemingly no reason, but he had thought highly of her.

And he (stage) kissed her with more tenderness than Owen ever did.

Marisol was just about to put some popcorn in her mouth when she heard the doorbell ring. She had a feeling it was Owen. Getting up, she walked over to the front door and looked through the peephole before opening up the door for her boyfriend. “Hey babe,” she greeted as cheerfully as she could.

He didn’t say anything. Marisol felt fear at that but still stepped aside to let him enter her home before closing the door. “What’s up?” She asked. “I heard you guys did a great job at the-”

Marisol let out a howl of pain as Owen rammed his fist into her gut, the force of which sent her crashing into a wall. She nearly stumbled to the floor, clutching her stomach, but her boyfriend wasn’t done. He grabbed her violently by her curls and dragged her over to her couch as she began crying.

“Why the fuck were you not able to come over my house later?” He demanded angrily as she continued to cry. He twisted her hair to the point she could feel her scalp burn. “Fucking answer me!”

“I had to audition for a part in the play! I want to be in the play!” She answered quickly to make him stop. He chuckled darkly but didn’t loosen the grip on her hair.

“You can’t act your way out of a trash can so I doubt you really want the part. You just wanted to hang around Goldsworthy. Are you fucking cheating on me?” He accused her.

“No! Please, I’m sorry. I just want a part in the play, you know I want to be an actress,” she meekly apologized.

“The only thing you’re good for is laying on your back or sucking my dick. You are nothing more than that,” he replied scornfully. “I guess it’s time for a reminder that I always come first in your life.”

Marisol continued to cry as he reached inside her skirt and yanked down her panties.

Mo quietly ate dinner with his parents at the table. His mom had cooked a traditional Turkish dish, Saksuka. It consisted of eggplant, zucchinis, garlic, tomatoes, and chili. Despite being made up of mostly vegetables, Mo found it pretty damn good.

However, due to today’s events, his appetite wasn’t that great.

“Mohammad, what is wrong? You’re not talking or cracking jokes about what happened in school today,” his mom pointed out in concern while his dad watched him.

Mo debated on whether or not he should tell his parents about the words written on his locker this morning. After all, even if his parents raised hell about it, The Shep certainly didn’t give a shit about the situation. And his mom was four months pregnant with another baby after her and dad prayed for years for Allah to bless them with a second child. She didn’t need the stress.

However, he couldn’t find it in him to lie about nothing going on today because a deep anger was simmering inside of him.

“Some kid wrote ‘terrorist’ all over my locker,” he grumbled, “And then one of my teammates joked about me crashing a plane into Northern Tech if we lost.”

His parents looked at each other in worry before looking back at him. 

“Did you report this to the principal?” His dad asked him.

“He told me to wash the words off my locker and get over it,” he answered bluntly. His father bristled in response.

“Unacceptable. This is a school that has a zero tolerance for bullying and harassment, but nothing can be done about a Muslim student facing bigotry?” His father questioned with a cold anger. “I will have a conversation with Principal Sheppard myself tomorrow.”

“Dad, no-”

“Your father will raise his concerns about this situation to the principal, Mohammad. We will not tolerate our son being harassed and attacked on account of his religion,” his mom insisted firmly. She then placed a hand on her stomach. “We raised you to never allow anyone to shame you because of your faith after the 9/11 attacks, and we will do the same with your little brother or sister. If the principal doesn’t want to do anything about it, then we will go to the school board.”

Mo nodded as it was the only response he could give. There was never any use arguing with his parents.

Plus, he wanted The Shep to shit himself in fear after being threatened by his parents.

The next morning, Connor stepped out of his godmother’s car and headed towards the front steps of the school, where K.C. was waiting for him.

“Morning, friend. How did the interview with The Shep go?” Connor asked his friend as they entered the school together.

His friend struggled to answer, which tipped Connor off that something went wrong. “What happened?” He asked again.

“During the interview, I asked him if he was going to be more considerate of students like you who have Asperger’s and he said something really fucked up that had to be cut out,” K.C. answered.

“What was it?” Connor questioned, only for his friend to shake his head.

“I’m not repeating it,” K.C. said firmly.