Schemes and manipulation came naturally to Zoë Rivas. All part of the life of a former child star, but somehow Power Cheer captain had become the most important job she'd ever had. She had friends now, sisters, and losing them was a constant fear at the back of her mind.

Zoë knew she wasn't a likable person. No one would ever stick around her for her, they'd only be by her side if she was the one with the power. So she had to keep that power, she had to hold on to those reins with an iron grip. Degrassi Nudes was working out, through a lot of hard work and Grace's management on the OomfChat side. But the girls kept balking. That Frankie Hollingsworth, putting doubt into the girls' minds. Frankie was always fucking Zoë over, first the trial and now Power Cheer. Frankie was not going to get the best of Zoë, not this time.

Kicking her off Power Cheer had actually been pretty cathartic.

She didn't feel bad for how she'd gotten to the top. She couldn't afford to. And really, how bad was taking nudes to sell when no one knew it was your body on display? At least they had control over how their nudes were distributed. Zoë felt a thrill of vindication every time she viewed the bank account and saw the double zeroes. This was her doing. This was her choice.

.

Zoë organized bake sales to explain the money pouring in from Degrassi Nudes, and she put on her best show smile any time someone she didn't want to interact with came to purchase a cupcake from their stand. Which is how Zoë found herself smiling a jaw-breaking smile at Becky Baker, parroting, "Thank you for supporting Degrassi Power Cheer" and watching Becky's face mirror her own in a fake smile back. Those Bible thumpers, they really gave professional actors a run for their money.

"Zoë," Becky said, a waver in her voice as she tried to stand tall.

Zoë's grin stayed put even as her anger rose. The victory of seeing Becky fall and break her leg had been short lived. Sure, it had been delicious when it had happened, but a few days later the vividness of that image faded in her head, but Becky's words still lingered. A distraction. Like what had happened was her fault and not the fault of Becky's rapist brother. "Becky," she acknowledged, voice molded plastic.

"Can we talk? In private?"

Zoë's eyes narrowed and her smile went from full teeth to lips pressed together tightly. "In private? I don't think we have anything to talk about in private."

Becky's eyes darted down toward the floor and she briefly closed them. "I should have done this well before now. You deserved an apology weeks ago."

Zoë's smile completely dropped. Her mother would be ashamed to see that Zoë couldn't hold a smile through something as simple as this. But how dare Becky, after what'd she'd said? What she'd tried to deny Zoë, the friends she'd made? Becky could burn in hell with her brother for all Zoë cared.

"I thought maybe you might want to do this privately, but if you don't, I'll say it here because I owe it to you, Zoë. I was horrible to you. I have no good excuses. I wanted Power Cheer to be my new start, and the idea of having you join made me feel like I'd have to relive last semester again and again-"

"Because cheering on the same team as my rapist's sister is definitely my idea of a fun time," Zoë snarled, her cool definitely flown out the window. Behind her she heard Lola squeak and she knew that the team was eavesdropping. Let them hear. Let them see what a bullet they'd dodged when they'd lost Becky Baker as captain.

Becky's lips trembled but to Zoë's surprise she managed to meet her eyes. "I know. When you auditioned, I couldn't believe you'd want to be anywhere near me. But you didn't hold what my brother did to you against me. And I held it against you. I thought not blaming you for the assault made it alright for me to blame you for other things, like me being a good person about one thing exempt me from doing the right thing in other ways. I was wrong, selfish. I hurt you. I'm so sorry, Zoë. I'm not asking you to forgive me. I'm apologizing because you deserve to hear an apology from me." Becky looked past Zoë at where the team was assembled behind her, watching the confrontation. She gave them a watery smile. "You've done an amazing job with the team. They have a great captain."

"Damn straight," Zoë said, though her mind was reeling.

Becky pulled out a 20 and said "keep the change" as she took a cupcake, before turning and beating a hasty retreat.

.

Becky's apology plagued Zoë's thoughts, mostly with strong variations of "the gall" and "that bitch", but Becky's swimming blue eyes kept popping into her head, too. God, had Zoë ever seen the girl not on the verge of tears? Once or twice… the vast majority of times Zoë had ever made eye contact with Becky she'd been near breaking down. Hell, half of Zoë's own mental images of Becky were blurry, seen through tears and humiliation. Now Zoë was just getting her life back, she was just finding her place at Degrassi, and she still had to deal with Becky Baker's tear-filled eyes.

The thing about Becky Baker… Zoë didn't know how to explain her relationship with the girl to an outside observer. Once, Becky had been her… hero? No, that wasn't the right word. Because Becky was so tied to her brother, to Zoë's rapist, "hero" wasn't the right word for it. "Savior" might be closer, but even that was wrong. Becky hadn't "saved" her from the assault. She hadn't saved her from all the shame, the hatred, the horror. But Becky had been able to do something no one else had: Becky had been able to give her justice.

Once, Zoë had admired Becky. They'd only ever talked the one time after Luke and Neil's arrest, when Zoë had hugged Becky and thanked her for turning the videos over to the police. Even that had been against the advisement of her lawyer. She wasn't supposed to talk to Becky or anyone else related to the case until after the trial. But Zoë had had to say something, had to thank her for what she had done. After that she'd seen Becky in passing but they'd only ever exchanged strained smiles or avoided looking at each other in the hallways. Zoë was grateful for what Becky had done, but she also symbolized the case, the crime, her brother.

Zoë hadn't been there for Becky's testimony in court. She'd been contemplating suicide on an empty school bus, only saved by Zig's intervention. So Zoë had missed the part where Becky had not only testified to seeing the videos, but also saying Luke told her that he had assaulted Zoë. Tristan had filled her in on that amazing turn of events. She could hardly believe it.

Zoë had never thanked Becky for that part of her role in Luke and Neil being found guilty, but when Zoë had seen that Becky was the one organizing Power Cheer it hadn't deterred her from joining in the slightest. Becky was a good person, Becky was someone Zoë could actually look up to, depend on.

And then Becky had proven she was just as back stabbing as every other person in Zoë's life.

That showed her. How could Zoë have ever believed in anyone actually standing by her?

No. An apology wasn't good enough.

.

Zoë asked around as discreetly as possible and finally heard from Jack that Becky had joined a band after losing Power Cheer. That sounded incredibly strange, but Zoë found it was true when she tracked down the band in an empty classroom. Becky was singing at the top of her lungs as some Goth boy played the guitar and harmonized with her.

Without waiting for a pause Zoë said loudly, "I don't forgive you for what you said. You were a complete bitch to me."

The gross Goth stopped playing and looked at her first. Zoë pointedly ignored him. As Becky turned to face her the Goth started to say, "You can't just barge in here and insult-"

"Jonah, it's fine," Becky said quietly. She nodded at Zoë. "Okay. That's fair."

"I'm not a distraction because I was raped," Zoë said firmly.

"You're right."

"You're awful."

"I was."

"… If you really want me to take you seriously buy me a coffee at The Dot. We'll see how well you can stand the presence of the little ho that got your brother thrown in jail."

Becky flinched at Zoë's words and Zoë smirked, confident that Becky would never take her up on that offer.

"Don't call yourself that."

Zoë was thrown off. She hadn't expected that. "…what?"

"Don't call yourself a "ho". That's a mean thing to say about yourself."

"I was being sarcastic," Zoë said quietly, her face a practiced neutral to hide the confusion roiling through her gut.

"Even so. Please don't. We can have a coffee. After school?"

Zoë swallowed around the sudden lump that had formed in her throat. "Three thirty. Sharp," she replied, trying to grab back the control of the conversation.

Becky nodded. "Three thirty. I'll be there."

Zoë turned on her heel and left.


Thanks to amethystbeloved for being my Beta!