Set just after Ray Of Light (season 12)

CLARE

I was walking down the hallways of Degrassi when I heard my phone's ring tone. I pulled it out of my bag, saw "Mom" on the screen and took a deep breath before answering.

"Hi mom".

"Hey sweetheart. I don't usually call you in the middle of the day but the lawyer called..."

"What did he say ?" I interrupted.

"It's not a good news Clare. Someone posted bail for Asher."

My mom kept talking about how it was just temporary and how the trial would get him in jail for good but I wasn't listening anymore. He was out. I did everything I could to get him arrested. A previous intern agreed to tell what happened to her a few years ago, how he harassed her.

Life was getting worst : First, I am harassed by my boss. Then, when I finally have some courage to talk about it, my boyfriend dumps me for drugs. Now, the boss is out of jail.

"Clare ?" She asked.

"Mom, I need to get back to class." I managed to say quickly before hanging up the phone.

I ran to the room where I drank a beer with Dallas once, hoping I could be alone. The moment I closed the door behind me, I heard someone crying and it was easy to recognize the person who was sobbing her heart out. Maya Matlin just lost her boyfriend. I think it was the first time she was showing her feelings after Cam died. Katie told Jake and I that her sister was acting weird ever since Cam's suicide, the blonde girl was avoiding everything that had to do with the tragedy, prentending it never happened.

When I reached the back of the room, I saw Maya in the foetal position on the sofa crying and whispering Campbell's name.

"Maya ?" I said. "Are you okay ?"

She didn't answer anything. She just looked at me trying to wipe away her tears.

"I know, it's silly to ask you that because you obviously are not okay. I'm sorry."

"STOP SAYING SORRY !" she shouted. "I'M FED UP WITH PEOPLE TELLING SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS! I'M SAD ENOUGH, I DON'T NEED PEOPLE REMINDING ME THAT CAM'S NOT HERE ANYMORE !"

"I didn't mean it that way, I meant sorry for interrupting. I know it's a hard time for you now but I needed some space, some place where I could think clearly and I came here. I think I'll just go anywhere else." I said before turning back to the door.

"Clare, wait. I'm sorry. You didn't do anything wrong. Like you said, it's a hard time for me but I can see that something is bothering you. Is it because of Eli ? Is he acting like a fool again ?"

"It is about him and other stuff..." I started.

"Do you want to talk about it? I'd rather talk about you then talk about me."

I told her everything, from Asher's first kiss to Eli broking up with me, telling me that he took drugs because of me. Maya did something I never thought she would do. She talked to me about Cam and everything that happened to her since his death. People starting to treat her differently, some even trying to tell her how she should feel. She hadn't spent any time with her best friends since the drama. I didn't spend any time with Adam, Alli or Jenna since Eli broke up with me. Maya was brokenhearted and she felt lonely and insecure, just like me. The more I listened to her the more it made me realise how much of a jerk Eli was. Of course, discovering Cam in the greenhouse was hard but it was not a reason for him to be mad at me. I was all in... Even with everything that happened with Asher. He was the one who left when things got difficult...

We were still talking when we heard the door opening. Soon, we were joined by Luke Baker, Mike Dallas and Owen Milligan. The best of the Toronto Ice Hounds. The guys were standing in front of us, not knowing what to say. So Maya took a breath and slowly said "Hey". I remained silent, observing the athletes.

"What's up girls ?" Dallas asked before sitting on the sofa between Maya and I. "Clare, I heard about Eli, I'm sorry."

"It's better this way. Asher's out" I answered.

"I'm the dead guy's girlfriend..." Maya added.

The guys were astonished. I didn't know if it was because of what I said or because of Maya's calm tone when she spoke. Tired of being up, Luke sat in front of Maya. Owen, on the other hand, sat next to me on the sofa.

"How the hell did he get out ?" Mike questioned.

"Someone posted bail for him." I said slowly.

"Who is Asher ?"

Luke and Owen didn't know anything so I told them about the harassment. When I finished, they knew everything about Asher. They looked at Maya and she started telling them how she felt, how people treated her, how she felt invisible even though she was the most observed person in Degrassi at the moment.

Luke responded by holding Maya's hand tightly and saying that everything was going to be fine.

"It has been hard for all of us since Cam is gone, trust me. I don't know exactly how things will be but I can tell you that we'll spend time together. We're all skipping classes, go to my house and watch a movie. Just to get our minds out of Degrassi." Dallas suggested.

"We can't go to your house, Adam will know something's up and I don't want to tell him about Asher." I said. "It's okay, we'll go to my house. Tris is spending the night at Tori's." Owen said.

MAYA

Clare and the guys talked about the future Asher trial during the drive from Degrassi to Owen's house while I remained silent. It felt unreal to go to that house without Tristan, we could even say that it was disturbing. I felt totally out of my comfort zone.

The only link that I had with the Ice hounds was Campbell. He was not here anymore and I was in a car with three of his team members who used to make fun of me. I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn't realise that we were at the Miligans house. Luke asked me if everything was okay. I didn't know what to answer so I just nodded.

I just miss him. Seeing those Icehounds jackets makes me think of the one hidden under my bed. The one I didn't send to his family because I needed to keep something that belonged to him other that our photobooth memories.

This was the first day that I let myself think about him with no anger, just sadness. He left me and I just felt empty without him.

OWEN

I led them to my room and showed my collection of DVDs so we could pick a movie to watch. After a few minutes of talking, we all agreed on The Avengers. What better way to escape from your dark thoughts than watching a movie with super heroes. We could totally use some of Iron Man's bad ass quote to cheer us up.

For the movie, the girls were sitting in my bed while Dallas, Luke and I were settled on the floor. I could see that Clare was enjoying the film but Maya has fallen asleep in the first fifteen minutes.

"Maya finally talked about Cam," Clare said simply. "She hadn't done it since he passed away."

"I hope she can get some peace now" Luke added.

"Katie told me that she refused to talk about it and behaved like it never happened."

"We noticed that" Dallas said. "We were actually looking for her when we met you both in the storage room."

Clare seemed surprised "Really ? Why ?"

"Campbell's parents are at Degrassi right now. They came for the memorial ceremony that is being held now. We knew that Maya was avoiding any contact with them. Cam's mom even told Dallas that Maya never answered the phone calls and skype invitations." I answered.

Clare looked a the little blong girl asleep in my bed and smiled.

"Thank you for making us skipping classes."