Chapter One: Home Sweet Home
Craig
"Welcome to Toronto," I said sarcastically, walking into my new house. I dropped my duffel bag on the floor in the middle of the hallway.
"I don't know what you're so bitter about. You didn't have to break up with your girlfriend just to come here," my twin sister, Alex, complained.
"There will be other girls," I told her. "I'm sure Toronto's full of them."
"So says the kid who's never had a girlfriend for more than a week," she said, laughing.
"Hey, haven't you ever heard of a one night stand?" I asked, smirking. "You should try it some time."
"I can't believe I got a pig for a brother."
"And I can't believe I got a lesbian for a sister." I could tell I really hit a nerve. Alex crossed her arms over her chest and walked away, stomping up the stairs. "Alex, wait!" She spun around at the top and yelled at me with tears in her eyes.
"I can't change who I am, but you can change the fact that you're such a jerk! You just don't want to." She stormed off down the hallway, leaving me standing there, sighing.
"What did you do now?" my dad asked as he walked into the house behind me.
"I called her a lesbian. Which she is, so it shouldn't really be a big deal," I said, rolling my eyes. "Girls!"
"What about girls?" my mom asked, walking past us with a box in her arms.
"Girls are great. I love girls," I said. "I'm gonna go find my room." I left my parents in the kitchen, unpacking some boxes, and made my way upstairs. I walked past a huge, empty room with three windows. That one had to have been for my parents. The next room was the bathroom, and then the next one was…perfect.
It had a huge window with a seat that overlooked the backyard. I was just picturing where I'd put my bed when…
"Beat it, it's taken." I heard my sister's voice from somewhere behind me. When I turned around, she was walking out of the closet.
"What were you doing in there?" I asked. "I thought you came out of the closet two years ago."
"Very funny. Now get the hell out of my room."
"Who says you get this one? It's probably the best room in the house, and you'll have to fight me for it," I told her, holding my fists up. She reached out and smacked my shoulder. "Ow!" I yelled at her. "That hurt."
"And to think, I'm the gay one. You should work on your fighting skills before you start school. You'll get the crap beat out of you the minute you step in there, art boy." Alex said, taunting me.
"Shut up Al. It's not my fault you're manlier than I am. And leave my art out of this. Just because I can draw and all you do is take pictures, that doesn't mean you have to make fun of me. I'm gonna go find my room, and you won't be allowed in," I said, walking to the door.
"Oooh that upsets me sooooo much Craig. If you weren't too busy insulting me, you may have gotten this room."
"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I wasn't trying to be mean; you know how I am…"
"Yeah, you're an ass most of the time. But, since you're my brother, and more importantly, my twin, I'll let it slide. I got the better room anyway. The next time you say shit like that, I'll do more than smack you, got it?"
"Yes, Alex, oh Queen of all things good in this world. I will worship you until my last breath," I joked. That earned me a shove out the door, which was closed promptly behind me.
"And don't you forget it!" she called through the door. I smiled and shook my head as I walked to the end of the hallway. The last room left, my room, wasn't too bad. It wasn't as good as Alex's, but I knew exactly where I'd put my bed, stereo…everything. The windows overlooked the street instead of the backyard, but I'd manage. I wasn't planning on spending much time in my room anyway. Unless I had a girl in there…
It took two days to unpack all of my stuff. My dad and I set up everyone's beds, and I helped him bring the living room furniture in from the truck. Once all of the boxes were brought inside, my parents told me I didn't have to help anymore. So on Sunday, after I finished putting the last of my clothes in my dresser, I grabbed my leather jacket and headed out.
"Hey, you want to come with me to find some girls?" I asked Alex, who was sitting on the porch, snapping pictures of the sky with the camera hanging around her neck.
"Fine," she said, standing up. "Where should we go?"
"You're not gonna take that stupid thing, are you?" I asked, pointing to the camera.
"Yes, I am. And if you have a problem with that..." she paused and took a picture of me. "Then that's just too bad."
Even though I was the one who wanted to go out, I ended up following Alex. We walked around for a few minutes, and she kept taking pictures of everything. She was just taking a picture of her feet when she walked straight into someone.
"Sorry, I'm so sorry," she said as the girl in front of her rubbed her head.
"It's okay, really," the blonde responded, holding out her hand. "I'm Emma."
"Well, hello there Emma," I said, shoving my sister aside and shaking her hand. "I'm Craig. Please excuse the clumsiness of my dear little sister Alex here."
"I'm older than you by ten minutes Craig. Nice try," Alex said, flicking my ear. I glared at her but didn't say another word.
"Did you just move in?" Emma asked, pointing up the street towards the moving truck parked outside our house.
"Yeah, we got here on Friday," Alex said. "You live around here?"
"I was actually just on my way home. I live across the street." She pointed to her own house, directly across from ours. "Why don't you guys come over? Unless you have other plans," she said.
"We'd love to!" I said a little too enthusiastically. "It just doesn't look like there's much to do around here," I added, a little bit quieter that time.
"Actually, I was going to…" Alex started to say, but I cut her off.
"Okay then, have fun. See ya later," I said, waving to my sister.
"Nice try. I'll come," she said, apparently changing her mind. I rolled my eyes as we followed Emma back up the street to her house.
The inside looked exactly like ours, minus the decorations. We walked into the kitchen and were offered sodas. I took one, but Alex politely said no. Two adults, who I assumed to be Emma's parents, walked into the room.
"Mom, Dad, this is Alex and Craig. They just moved in across the street. Guys, these are my parents," she said, introducing us. "We're just going to go upstairs, okay?" Emma's mom nodded and smiled at us.
"It was nice meeting you," she said as we walked away.
"Nice meeting you too," Alex and I said at the same time. It was cute when we were little, but annoying now, and we didn't know how to stop it. It wasn't like we did it on purpose.
"Hold on, your parents let you bring guys in your room?" I asked Emma as she closed the door behind us.
"Yeah, why wouldn't they?" she asked as she sat down on her bed. Alex sat next to her and I took the computer chair from her desk and sat in it.
"We're not allowed to have girls in our rooms ever since Craig got caught doing things he shouldn't have been doing," Alex said.
"Hey, I was just helping her with some homework," I lied.
"Yeah, some anatomy homework," Alex joked.
"Wait, so you're not allowed to have your friends in your room because of him?" Emma asked. "That's a little harsh."
"Ha, no. She's not allowed to have girls in her room because she's a lesbian," I said. Alex narrowed her eyes at me. She didn't have a problem with letting people know that she liked girls, but she'd made it very clear to me that she wanted to be the one to tell them.
"Oh," Emma said. "That's cool then. So, are you ready for school tomorrow?"
"Don't remind me," I groaned. "I wished we could have at least moved sooner, so we didn't have to start right away."
"I can't wait," Alex said. "There better be some decent clubs. Do you have a GSA?"
"Alex was president of the GSA at our school," I said, rolling my eyes. "She gets way too into it."
"Yeah, we do. There aren't that many people in it though."
"Don't worry, I'll get more people to join," Alex said confidently.
"If there are straight girls, then I'm there," I said, winking at Emma. She laughed and shook her head.
"Come on, I'll take you to The Dot," Emma said, standing up. "You can meet a bunch of new people there."
"I think I'm actually going to like it here," I said as I followed my sister and our new friend out of her house.
"You've been complaining ever since we got here," Alex pointed out.
"Not anymore," I told her. "Welcome to Toronto. Home sweet home."
A/N: I had this idea and I had to write the story. There are a lot of differences between the show and this story, but some similarities too. Joey and Caitlin Jeremiah are Craig and Alex's parents. And Mr. Simpson is Emma's biological father, and Spike is still her mom. All of their parents went to Degrassi when they were younger, and their moms had them when they were 14, like Spike had Emma on the show. Let me know what you think.
I have the first fifteen chapters written right now, which is about half of the story. I won't be posting the next chapter until I have at least ten reviews. I know a lot of people read these and don't review. I just want people to let me know what they think of the story, and I need time to write the rest of it. So, if you want to read more, just review! XD
Disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi or any of its characters!