Title: Boats&Birds
Chapter: Stone Cold Sober
Characters: Johnny Dimarco, Manny Santos, Anya McPherson, Holly J Sinclair, Coen Taylor.
Time frame: Season 7. Slightly AU
Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi
A/N: Okay…so you'll probably notice that there are a lot of changes to the new version. I changed Sid's name to Coen Taylor but she'll still have the same personality…as you'll notice. And you'll also notice that she's from Lakehurst originally.
I really hope you still like it; please let me know how you feel about the changes.
I'll be the late night lady you don't recognize
I'm a chameleon; I'm always in disguise
I'd read your future but it's written in the past
Take a good look, might be your last
The halls of Degrassi were swarming with people. Buses carried in students from Lakehurst, dropping them here at Degrassi because their own school had been burned down. It seemed like some kind of twisted joke the universe had decided to play-dropping all these kids off to go to school with people who hated them. Most of them hadn't even been there that night…it's not like killing J.T. Yorke was some sort of school conspiracy.
"God…trying to find a seat around here is hell." Darcy muttered, sliding into a chair in the gymnasium. It was packed with students sitting in rows and lined up along the wall, all crowded together to hear the principal welcome them into a school that half of them didn't want to be at.
The welcome back speech was already being delivered a week late but even so Mrs. Hatzilakos hoped that something she said would make these students less numb to the events going on around them. She had been principal at Degrassi for a while now and she had been a teacher before that. Dealing with students was something she was good at…but these students were different. They were loud, angry, frustrated and anxious. They weren't looking for change or healing, they were just looking for someone to burn.
"I wish these Lakehurst guys would just go back where they came from." Manny glared at one guy as she squished onto an end seat.
"I'm not sure the male population can fit back in your pants Manny…your ass is so big." A girl behind her chided.
Manny turned to see two girls sitting behind her. Both were tenth graders, one with long ginger hair tied back in a ponytail and the other with chest-length straightened auburn hair. Both girls were slender; the auburn haired one was taller and had a slight tan to her complexion. The ginger was short and paler but her eyes looked vicious and Manny glared at both of them, trying to appear un-intimated.
"Listen little children, why don't you run back to daycare." Manny stated.
"Well grandma, in case you haven't noticed we go here now." The ginger-haired girl commented. As she spoke a girl with strawberry-blond hair that looked like a twin of the redhead sat down beside the other girl.
"Who are you?" Darcy asked, looking between them.
"Holly J. Sinclair." The ginger stated, grinning.
"Sinclair? As in Heather Sinclair?" Manny raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"I didn't know she had a sister." Darcy stated.
"Well she taught me everything I know." Holly J. grinned.
Manny looked at the other two girls sitting there behind them. She swore she didn't know the one on the end but the girl in between Holly J. and her looked familiar.
"You two are?" Manny asked, looking between the two.
"Oh, um…Anya McPherson." The strawberry-blond clone replied and smiled, a much warmer disposition then her obvious best friend Holly J.
"Coen Taylor. I'm a little hurt you don't already recognize me Santos." Coen mocked. She was in tenth grade just like Holly J and Anya but she didn't seem at all threatened taking on Manny and Darcy.
Manny glared at the younger girl, she did know who Coen was. Just last year during the now epic cheerleader brawl Coen had been responsible for the black-eye Manny had received.
"You're all just a bunch of low-lives." Darcy stated, glaring at them.
"As apposed to…sluts?" Coen asked, a wicked smile coming on her face. She sat back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest.
Manny huffed and tossed her body around to face the front of the room. Standing in front of the podium on the stage were Mr. Simpson, Mrs. Hatzilakos and Ms. Sauvé. Mrs. Hatzilakos stepped forward and smiled, greeting the teens that had returned to Degrassi this year and the ones who were starting for the first time.
"Today I am excited to welcome all of these new students, both my 9th graders coming in and our friends from Lakehurst coming to stay with us while their school is being rebuilt. I am looking forward to this year and so hope that the rest of you are as well. I hope that my Degrassi students will welcome their Lakehurst counterparts with hospitality. This year can be one of peace and healing if we embrace our differences and move forward together. I am glad to see already that some of our students are trying to get along and I look forward to seeing all of you working together through out the year. If you need anything, to talk or confide in someone I want you all to be aware that Ms. Sauvé, Mr. Simpson and myself are always available." Mrs. Hatzilakos stated, smiling at all of the students in front of her and trying to appear optimistic about the school year.
The three girls behind Manny and Darcy hardly paid attention to the woman standing in the front of the gym addressing them all. After this pep-less rally they would all have to go back to regular school. Classes, friends, socializing for five seconds in over-crowded hallways. School this year would be like freshman year all over again. Trying to find a place to fit themselves in at a new school.
When the bell finally rang the three tenth grade girls stood up and headed out of the gymnasium, not bothering to make contact with any of the other students in the hallway. They had already been going here for a week and from the looks of things there wasn't going to be any change in the student body, whether Principal Hatzilakos wanted it or not.
Coen broke off from the other two, heading to 11th grade English. She was a grade above in English and History. Despite her bad attitude toward Manny Santos (Degrassi's biggest slut) and Darcy Edwards (The psycho Jesus-freak) she hadn't bothered with any of the other students from Degrassi. In her opinion these kids weren't worth her time.
She frowned when she walked into English class. For the entire week of school she'd spent at Degrassi she'd sat in the same seat in English class. Now there were two boys, one she recognized from Lakehurst last year, sitting at her table. The bigger one with long, greasy, brown hair and a vacant look was unfortunately, her table partner in English. She knew him from Lakehurst too, but more rumor then fact.
The other was shorter and slimmer with shoulder-length curly blonde hair and similar baggy clothing was sitting in her seat. She frowned and walked up to the two, dropping her bag on the desk in front of Johnny, she thought that was his name at least. She never really cared about those guys when she went to Lakehurst, they travelled in different circles. But she remembered once when she was late to class last year she had banged into him the hallway and he had told her to "scatter niner".
This year she wasn't letting any of them take advantage of her. She was going to own this school and all these losers from Degrassi and Lakehurst were going to be sorry.
"You're in my seat." She placed her hands on her hips and glared at him.
Johnny looked up at her and smirked. She thought he was pretty cute last year, despite his being a jerk to her, and she still thought so now as she met his gaze.
"Don't see your name on it." He retorted.
"I sit there everyday." She retorted.
"Do I look like I care?" He leaned back in his chair, the same way she had earlier when she was telling off Manny. His over-sized friend laughed.
"You look like you don't bathe."
He let out a snort and stood up, shouldering his bag and shoving passed her. "Whatever, this class is lame anyway. Come on Bruce." His friend complied and followed after him leaving Coen to sit by herself at the table.
Coen sat down in Johnny's spot as the teacher came in, students around her shuffling into their seats and getting their books out. She opened her messenger bag, sliding it onto the desk space that belonged to Johnny's friend Bruce. She was ensuring that no one sat beside her. When she finally set her notebook out she caught sight of the carving Johnny had been hard at work on when she'd come in.
There carved into the wood of the desk were the words "Degrassi Sucks". With her eyes trained on Ms. Kwan, who she had to admit was far more intelligent then the last English teacher she had, Coen took her keys from the clip on her messenger back. She set to work, going between writing notes in her notebook and carving on the desk.
When class was over she grabbed her things and placed them back into her bag, securing her keys to their clip. She'd finished writing under Johnny's earlier remark and was shoving passed students coming in to and leaving the class. Seniors had English next because Manny banged shoulders with her just as she walked away from the desk.
"Hey!" Manny's angry voice called.
"What?" Coen snapped, looking back at her.
"Did you write this?" Manny gestured to the carving on the desk. It now read "Degrassi Sucks Dick."
"Why? Are you upset it doesn't have your name on it?" Coen grinned.
"You are such a little bitch!" Manny shrieked.
"Manuela Santos!" Ms. Kwan shouted. "That is no way to speak to a fellow student and I will not permit language like that in my classroom. I'll see at lunch for detention. Ms. Taylor I suggest you get to your next class please."
"Of course Ms. Kwan…see you later Manuela." Coen smiled sweetly and turned on her three-inch heels, heading for math class with her shoulders back and her head high. Owning this school was going to be a hell of a lot easier then she thought.
I can be wilder than the wind, 119 miles an hour
I'm in a whole other dimension, dancing doubles on the floor
You think I'm crazy, a little bit hazy
But I'm stone, cold, sober.