Hey all! I have a just a few things to say before I let you read my baby (yes, my baby...this has taken a huge a mount of time and many drops a metaphorical blood, sweat and tears)

.:.:.:.This is the first installment of what will be a long Degrassi series. I started writing this a couple of years ago so keep in mind that it takes place before the shootout at Degrassi, before Craig goes on tour and during the time Emma still hates Manny.

.:.:.:.The Chapters will be named after songs so if you listen to the song it'll put you into the mood for each chapter. Also I pride myself on my good music taste so I encourage you to check them out anyway.

.:.:.:. I have a slight, huge, obsession with Craig so there will be lots of him in here for all my Craig lovers out there.

.:.:.:.If you guys ever want to get in contact with me or have any questions or suggestions feel free to leave a comment and I'll get back to you since I practically live online.

.:.:.:.I have about 250 pages already written so I'll be posting a new chapter about everyday to keep you satisfied.

Thanks and Enjoy!

The Sound of Settling

The Sound of Settling by Deathcab for Cutie

As you stared out the window tears rolled down your cheek; they mirrored the raindrops that slid down the widows of your car. It seemed like Mother Nature completely agreed with your feelings and felt the whole world had to suffer with you. You thought back to your English class; sympathetic nature indeed. Outside resembled a watercolor painting, all the different shapes and forms blended together and all the colors just seemed to be a different shade of grey in this light. You watched as trees, cars, signs and your life passed by in a blur. New Jersey, to New York, to Nigara Falls. You pressed your cheek against the cold glass of the passenger seat window and exhaled. A thick fog covered the window and provided a barrier between you and the outside just before you had to face the inevitable. Right at this moment you knew you were racing further and further away from your home and hurtling towards Canada. You knew what came right after Niagra Falls but refused to face it. You glanced at your mom on the driver's side in the seat next to you but immediately looked down so she wouldn't see you crying, too late. Her motherly sense was tingling and she started to ask what was wrong. She stopped in the middle of the question knowing it wasn't a smart one, of course she knew what was wrong and you silently thanked her for not continuing. She spoke in hopes of comforting you.

"So you'll get to see Emma again. When was the last time you two saw each other?" , hearing her voice was almost startling after five hours of silence.

"I'm not really sure", you rolled your eyes but decided to humor her, " I think we were 12 or something"

"Well at least you have someone to lean on the first couple weeks, right?", she raised her eyebrows but was sure to keep her eyes on the road, she hated driving in the rain.

"Yea", you sighed. You thought about everything you left behind; your friends, your home. The knot in your stomach had migrated up to your throat and tightened. You were leaving your whole life behind. You tried to be positive. New beginnings were a good thing; you would not take this opportunity for granted. In a way you were glad you were moving, a fresh knew start, you could be whoever you wanted and not be held to whatever your friends had expected you to be. You had no friends here. Positive. Stay positive, you warned youself. You were moving further away from your father, this was good. Your parents had been separated since you were born and when he lived close to you, you barely spoke anyway, you might as well have been in two different worlds. As far as you were concerned moving as far away as possible took away his privilege to come in and out of your life as he pleased, moving to a different country was just what you needed (even if it was only from the US. to Canada).

Despite your flat response you were glad Emma was there. The friendship had begun sometime around your birth and until three years ago you were pretty close. You were more than willing to blame the teenage years for the separation. The gap could be easily mended. Satisfied with how easyily the situation could be worked out you let the rocking motion of the car lull you back to sleep.

.:.:.:.:.

You arrived at your house at 4:15 am and went in to unroll some sleeping bags on the floor, now was not the time for unpacking. Instead of going straight to bed or waiting till morning (like normal people would have) to go knocking on Spike and snakes door (Emma's mother and her step-dad, who coincidentally was also a teacher at your new school) you did so immediately. It was easy to go over since they were conveniently located next door.

Your mom pressed the door bell button softly as if doing so would make the bell less loud. You hastily raked your hands through your hair to fix it from the nap you had in the car. A very sleepy Spike answered the door and tried to stifle a yawn. The look on her face was not pleasant and you distinctly heard an infant bawling. However, as soon as she opened her eyes enough to see who was waking her family at this hour she immediately embraced the two of you and invited you in. You saw Snake walking down the stairs with a baby in his arms and he smiled as well, your mom said hi but reluctantly forgot to say sorry for waking the baby. Five minutes had passed when Emma came upstairs from her basement room. She looked up at you and squealed as you both ran over to hug each other. You were surprised by the amount of energy she was able to muster up in the middle of the night, you could only assume it meant good things about the friendship between you two. Positive, you were staying positive. She brought you downstairs and you talked for an hour about everything, she was happy to find out you were going to Degrassi and couldn't wait till the winter break was over. You knew it, the gap was mended. Your mom called you upstairs, you hugged Emma good-bye and turned out the lights for her to return to sleep. You returned home and as you slid into the sleeping bag you decided that this move wasn't going to be so bad afterall. It wasn't just optimism, it was the truth.

You and your mom spent the next two days unpacking and redecorating the house. The living room was painted burgundy and had brown sofas and all oak furniture to match. The kitchen was all light blue and green. The dining room was white with black furniture. And though you were somewhat biased you decided that the best was your room. You had taken the basement of the house, which was as big as the entire first floor. You painted all the walls a navy blue color and all your furniture was metal, either silver or black. You had an area that served as a bedroom but due to the size of the space, you also had an area that served as an office. It held a huge "L" shaped desk, and a few cabinets. Your desk was covered with other things; picture frames, knickknacks and an assortment of pens.

You inherited the old living room furniture, big black comfy sofas and a huge TV which made creating a livingroom area relatively easy. Your bathroom was fashioned with deep purple tiles and purple towels and like any other teenage girl you had two walls dedicated to your favorite band which at the moment was the Kooks. You really shouldn't have even bothered painting the walls because they were masked by the posters anyway. It was hard to contain how excited you were with this bedroom that had turned out to resemble an apartment.

You knew what your mom had been planning for tonight but to be honest the idea of a housewarming party was not something that made you happy. You had just moved and were very unsettled on the inside despite your "glass-half-full" approach. You just wanted to take a shower and mope for a few days. Your mom favored a different approach , she liked being thrown into the action. Tonight she was getting her way.

In response to your distress call Emma got there about two hours early to help you get ready and decorate. She wore a pink dress and beige ballerina flats. You had just gotten out of the shower and after taking too long to get dressed, you found yourself in a gray clingy dress that showed off your curves, tiny body frame and huge hips. You brushed out your hair and admired the new coat of red that had been applied to your old light brown hair. Your mom finally let you dye it as an "im sorry we are moving please don't hate me" sort of thing. You twirled some of your hair around your fingers before you added mouse to hold the curls in place once your wildly curly hair was dried.

"Your hair looks great like that Roxanne, I can't believe your mom let you dye it. I can't even get a second piercing", Emma laughed.

"Yea, sometimes it's hard to remember that our moms grew up in the same generation", you smiled. Emma's mom wasn't really strict but when you compared anyone's partenting techniques to your mother's, they often came out looking like a Nazi. Your mother had quickly adopted the "I trust you" idea and as a result she often let you do whatever you wanted. You knew she got lucky with you and you weren't afraid to say it even if you came off cocky. With any other child her approach could've backfired and she'd have ended up with a cocaine dealing daughter who dropped out of high school. You had gotten lucky too though. As far as mothers went, yours was definitely the best.

"Finally got those braces off huh?", you said as you attempted to shave your leg over the sink, your frenzy had caused you to forget to do so in nthe shower. You admired Emma's transformation too, her teeth curved into a prefect smile. Her silky blonde hair had grown and she was taller. "So where's that girl you always used to hang out with? Margaret I think..", you asked. She laughed

" Manny, and no I don't even want to pretend to know her", she snorted.

Your eyebrows rose in response "Oh", you toned down your voice to appear only mildly interested.

"Yea she changed on me", she shook her head as she looked herself over in the mirror.

"I see" you were actually relived knowing that now Emma was all yours.

"Just one bad thing after another. It was too much drama for me"

"Welcome to the rest of your life" you smiled

"Yea well, I try to escape it when I can" with that the doorbell rang.

You took one last look at yourself in the mirror alongside Emma, you both pouted in very modelesque ways and posed.

"We look hot!" she grinned.

You both went upstairs and on the way to the door spotted snake, spike and the baby also helping you guys prepare. You went to get the door and tugged at Emma's arm. You pulled open the door and saw a tall lady with blond hair who you recognized as Caitlin one of your moms old friends, next to her was a guy about the same height with a shaved (or balding, you were never sure and didn't want to ask) head who you knew was Joey. They pulled you into a very firm hug as if this time making sure you would go nowhere.

You also recognized Angie, Joey's five year old daughter who immediately started screaming "Roxy, Roxy, Roxy!!"

"Is that my little Angie?", you gasped, "No, it can't be"

"No! It is me, I promise", she pleaded.

"I don't know", you shook your head, "My Angie was just a baby. You're way too big"

"Well I'm a big girl now Roxy, but I wasn't before. Daddy tell her it's me!", she demanded.

"It's her Rox", he obliged.

"See I told you", she shook her finger at you.

"So I guess it is you. Well get your little butt over here and give me a hug then!" You kissed her on the forehead and put her down. Behind Joey there was a tall boy about your age with a camera slung around his neck. He was wearing a The Clash t-shirt and black jeans. Good music taste, you thought. The camera could mean that he was artsy. How about a tortured artist? They were hot. You could definitely take on one of those. He was cute too; he had wavy dark brown hair, hazel eyes and a gorgeous smile. The attraction was instantaneous. You didn't like it. Your face was flushed and he hadn't even looked you in the eye yet. This was not good.

"Well hello hello Emma. I didn't expect to see you here. I was beginning to look forward to spending one of my last nights of vacation in a house full of people not even born in the same decade as me", he snickered. His voice was full of relief.

"Very funny Craig", she replied.

He glanced over at you, "Well I actually might've found something to keep me occupied. I'm Craig by the way", he held his hand out. You wanted to recoil just because of his cockiness. Your mom would've wanted you to play nice. You took his hand and could almost feel shivers travel up your spine. You frowned, this was not the reaction you wanted to have to his touch. In this instant you had to decide how you were going really to play. Was it going to be hard to get or would you take the plunge. Hard to get, that was more fun but based on the way you felt about him now playing hard to get would also be more difficult and even painful for you.

"Roxanne", you grinned, poor guy didn't know what was in store. He asked you and Emma to lift up Angie and you three posed for a picture, you tried particularly hard on perfecting those model moves you and Em had been practicing earlier. Within two hours the house was filled with all of your mom's old friends who lived near by, you were proud to recognize most of them. After grabbing a bowl of chips and some plates of lasagna you, Emma and Craig went downstairs to your room and sat on the couches to watch tv.

You guys clicked right away and in true Emma fashion she forced Craig to promise to keep his eyes on you at all times especially when Emma wasn't there to watch. That you didn't mind so much.

You laughed "I'm a big girl I think can handle myself, I've been doing well for the last 16 years".

"Yea but we don't want you mixing with the wrong people" warned Emma. It was nice to have another mother, you thought, in place of a father. Angie came running down the stairs and you got up from the couch and lifted her in the air and threw her up. You immediately regretted it because she then begged for you to do it over and over again. You missed her but the last time you saw her she was three and Craig wasn't part of the "her and Joey" deal. The addition wasn't bad though, you could definitely get used to it. It also made you wonder what had brought Craig around. You weren't sure if you wanted to ask.

You felt him staring at you and looked over at him and smiled, he smiled back. Emma was too engrossed in the TV to notice. Your arms felt sore from lifting a 30 pound girl over and over and over and over. To escape you pretended to faint and threw yourself back onto the couch. She giggled and jumped on you and hugged you, you hugged her back and the amount that you missed her finally sunk in. She then ran back up stairs.

"She really likes you" Craig said.

"God I missed her so much, I haven't been up here in a while", you paused and considered your words before adding, "So how come you live with Joey now?"

You felt Emma's attention shift from the television to the two of you. Apparently it was the wrong question to ask. He frowned, "It's a long story".

Normally you would've followed up with, "Well I have time", but you figured that was his way of saying he didn't want to talk about it. You understood. Well no, you didn't, but he would fill you in when he was comfortable.

That night, after the party was over Emma spent the night. You and Emma brushed your teeth changed into your PJs and plopped down onto your huge bed, it had been a long day. It was just like old times and you quietly appreciated how easy it was for you two to go back to normal. Sleep came easily that night.