I decided to try out this format. It's like writing my own Degrassi episode and I really enjoyed this. I usually don't write for characters other than Eclare so getting into the minds of Maya, Katie, Owen, and Tristan was really fun. So this kinda follows a Degrassi episode. The storylines switch back and forth but the A plot is Eclare, B plot is Maya, and C plot is Owen. I don't know where this would be in the Degrassi universe, sometime after Showdown I guess.
Tell me if you guys liked it or not! Thanks for reading and please review!
As Clare walks to school on a sunny April morning, she is unaware of her surroundings other than the perfectly breezy weather, nice enough for her to wear the new, cute dress she bought with Eli in mind, and doesn't realize that a car was tailing her for an entire ten minutes. But a honk startled Clare, causing her to jump and turn, and in the car was Eli, a bright grin on his face.
Eli pokes his head out of the window and Clare finally finds her voice to shout, "Eli! Not funny!"
"I'm sorry! You looked too peaceful to disturb," Eli answers. His smile is still prominent on his lips. "Like the new ride?"
Clare was so startled that she didn't even realize that Eli was driving a brand new car. "Oh my gosh, Eli! You got a car?"
"I did," Eli says happily. "Hop in, I'll tell you all about it on our way to school. Oh, you look nice by the way."
Clare blushes to herself as she climbs into the passenger seat. She takes a look around the interior as Eli begins to drive. "It looks brand new," she comments.
"Yeah, Cece and Bullfrog said that I'll need a new car if I'm gonna be so far away so they surprised me with it. Well actually, they didn't surprise me. I found the paper work on the kitchen counter and they told me they were waiting for graduation to give it to me but since I already know about it, there was no reason for me to not have it now," Eli says. "Need to get used to Chuck before NYU."
"Chuck? You've named it already?" Clare asks. Eli nods. "Why Chuck?"
"For our first date," Eli looks over at Clare, who's face softens. "I'll never forget it. Not because we got to see Chuck Palahnuik but because it was the first thing we did together."
"That's so nice, Eli," Clare leans her head against the headrest as she looks at him.
"Plus, it's gonna be something that reminds me of you while I'm at NYU," Eli says excitedly.
Clare's expression goes from happy to sad. "Right," she says in a disappointed tone, though Eli is oblivious to it. Eli continues to drive with a happy smile on his face and Clare turns to face her window. "NYU."
Maya, on a high from coming from band practice during her free block, happily sits down at a free lunch table with her bagged lunch of favorite food; a turkey and mayo sandwich, veggie straws, and fruit juice. When she begins to dig into her lunch, from the corner of eye she sees a couple intensely making out at a lunch table, though lunch seemed completely ignored by them.
Maya scoffs disgusted and angrily bites a piece of her sandwich. Cam approaches the table, a smile on his face, and sits down across from his girlfriend. Maya's eyes are on the couple though and she bites the sandwich menacingly again.
"Gross sandwich?" Cam jokes upon seeing Maya's angry expression.
"No, that," Maya points her sandwich and Cam looks over his shoulder. "That's gross."
"What? Making out?" Cam asks teasingly.
"No, not making out," Maya blushes. "But the fact that they're doing it here. This is school, not the bedroom."
"Gotta agree with you there," Cam says as he unpacks his lunch. "Didn't see this much PDA at my old school. Also haven't heard so many pregnancy stories. That's all these two girls were talking about during class today."
Maya rolls her eyes and sets her sandwich down. "People should really find better things to do with their time."
Cam laughs and shakes his head, continuing to eat his lunch as Maya continues to glare at the couple across the room.
Once the final bell rings, Clare says her goodbye to Eli in front of the gym where drama club was having a meeting. After a quick kiss and a wave, Clare meets up with Alli at the end of the hallway and the two go on their way to Clare's house. The silence makes Alli tug on Clare's arm, who seems to be in a world of her own.
"What's wrong?" Alli asks.
"It's Eli," Clare sighs.
"You guys have been doing so well, what—"
"No Alli," Clare says. "Not me and Eli. Eli's going to NYU in the Fall."
"I know, I'm so excited for him," Alli says sincerely. "But why aren't you?"
"I am, I swear," Clare tells her. "It's just…it's so far away."
"Ah," Alli tilts her head back and says the word for a few seconds for emphasis. "Now I get it."
"Alli, what if this breaks us up?" Clare says worriedly. "He might not want to be tied down when we're so far apart."
"Clare, why don't you talk to him about it?" Alli suggests.
"I can't," Clare says honestly. "He's so excited, I don't want to put a damper on it."
"Complaining about it won't do anything either," Alli says. "Come on, you two have come a long way. You should be able to talk about it."
When Clare says nothing but pouts, Alli turns them both to a different direction. "Come on, we're going to The Dot and I'll buy you whatever dessert you want. You need a pick me up."
"I don't need a pick me up," Clare pouts. "I just hope Eli doesn't go."
Clare's head falls to Alli's shoulder and Alli wraps an arm around her best friend, leading her to The Dot.
At the Milligan house, Tristan sits in front of the living room TV and watches a rerun of Westdrive when he hears Owen's voice in the other room.
"…so do you wanna…I don't know, get a bite to eat, maybe Friday night? You do? Great! Uh, I'll pick you up at 7? Okay, I'll see you then."
Tristan smirks as he overhears Owen asking out a girl and when Owen walks into the living room, Tristan continues to smirk.
Owen though, is not pleased. "You heard that, didn't you?"
"Didn't know you could sound like an actual gentleman," Tristan teases. "So you and Anya are officially done?"
Owen looks as if he wants to get out of the room quickly but surrenders, sits down beside Tristan and takes a handful of the chips from the bowl on the coffee table.
"Yeah, got an email from her a few days ago. She says she didn't want to be holding me back during senior year so yeah," Owen sighs. "What's this garbage you're watching?"
"So who's the girl?" Tristan asks, changing the subject back.
"Some girl," Owen shrugs.
"Owen, please tell me you actually know this girl's name!"
"I do!" Owen says defensively. "Gwen."
"Owen and Gwen," Tristan says and fathoms combining the two together. "Gwowen. Ogwen."
"Tris, stop," Owen says. "She's actually really cool. I met her at one of our games."
"Hockey fan, that's a point," Tristan says. "How old?"
"She's a senior too," Owen tells him. "But goes to Bardell."
"And she's nice?" Tristan asks.
"Yeah, really nice," Owen admits, reaching over for more chips.
"So what's the problem?" Tristan says.
"What makes you think there's a problem?" Owen says with a mouth full of food.
"Because you don't usually hang out with me and watch Westdrive unless you have a problem," Tristan says slowly. Owen observes their situation, where he was sitting, what he was watching, and stands up quickly, walking away awkwardly, leaving Tristan to laugh.
Maya, in her bedroom, multitasks as she does her homework and chats on Facerange with Cam. Alternating between English homework and discussing the episode of Game of Thrones the two watched together, Maya was enjoying her afternoon of relaxing. But when she hears Katie's loud music through the wall, Maya looks up and rolls her eyes. She stands from her chair and bangs on the wall.
When the volume of the music doesn't go down, Maya quickly types a "BRB" to Cam and walks to Katie's room, not bothering to knock, but quickly wishes she did.
On Katie's bed is Jake, shirtless, and Katie, thankfully with her clothes on. "Maya!" Katie shrieks, pushing Jake off of her, onto the floor.
Maya closes the door in a haste, but not before hearing a pained groan from Jake. Maya's eyes are still wide at what she witnessed, says a high pitched "oh my god!" and runs down the stairs. Katie opens her door, looking for Maya, but she hears the front door open and close. Katie sighs and looks over to Jake, who was sitting on the floor with his back against the bed.
"Guess I'm not making a good impression on Maya," Jake jokes. Katie smiles sadly before going over to turn down the music.
The following day at school, Clare finds Eli at the gym before school started and sees him near the stage, looking at his clipboard.
"Just bring up the subject," Clare whispers to herself. "You can talk to him about anything. He won't get mad." Clare seems to convince herself and walks over to Eli.
"Good morning," Eli says to her, leaning down for a quick kiss.
"Hey, what're you doing?" Clare asks.
"Oh, looking at NYU housing," Eli replies. He sits up on the stage and pats on the spot next to him for Clare to sit. "Don't know if it's mandatory for freshmen to live on campus or if I can get my own place so I'm looking into it."
"Oh," Clare says slowly and looks away.
"Hey, are you okay?" Eli asks her.
"Yeah, just…worried about exams," Clare lies. She realizes how pointless it would be for her to bring up for NYU woes to Eli when he's already planning his living arrangements and decides to let the matter go.
"Exams aren't for a while," Eli assures her. "You'll do great on them. Besides, I'll help you study for your French one." Eli winks, pulls her onto her feet, and puts his arm over her shoulders. Clare can't help but smile but her smile turns to a forced one when they leave the gym.
"Maya! MAYA! Come on, I know you're avoiding me but we need to talk!" Katie runs after Maya in the hallway, who is adamant to avoid her older sister. Maya turns a corner and smiles when she finds Cam and goes over to him.
"Quick, find an escape route for me," she says to Cam.
"Find what?" Cam asked confused.
"Excuse me," Katie says behind the couple. "Campbell, may I have a word with my sister?"
"Of course," Cam, still confused, just looks at the Matlin sisters strangely and walks away.
Katie crosses her arms and raises her brows. "So?"
"Katie, I don't want to talk about this here," Maya whines.
"Maya, what you saw is normal," Katie assures her. "You can't hide from this topic forever. Look, we weren't going to have sex but—"
"Lalalalala!" Maya plugs her ears and shuts her eyes, not wanting to hear anymore.
"Maya!" Katie pulls Maya's hands away from her ears. "You're being a child. You're gonna have to hear about this sooner or later!"
"Later is my preferred choice!" Maya tries to walk away but Katie manages to block her.
"Would you rather get all embarrassed during a sex ed class when you're around your friends and a teacher is telling you all this stuff or would you rather hear it from me?" Katie asks her younger sister. Maya contemplates it and sighs in defeat.
"Fine, but not here!" Maya whispers harshly.
Katie smiles. "Tonight, after dinner, okay?"
Maya nods and Katie walks away. Cam strides over to Maya, handing her her backpack that she didn't even notice she dropped. "So are you okay now?" he asks her. "You disappeared on me last night and this was a little weird."
"I'm okay, let's just go to French," Maya takes Cam's hand and the two walk to class.
In the middle of the French lecture, Tristan's eyes start to glaze over from boredom. His head is propped up on his arm and he pretends to write notes on his notebook but he was so bored and tired that he was already on the verge of sleep. Outside of the room, Owen sees his brother nodding off and before knocking on the door, he looks left and right of the hallway. With the coast clear, he knocks.
"Excuse me," a knock on the door brings Tristan out of his sleep. "I'm sorry to interrupt but can I talk to my brother Tristan? It's important."
The French teacher allows Tristan out of the room. Tristan closes the door behind him and says, "Thank you for getting me out of there. I probably would've started snoring."
"No problem but I have to ask you for a favor," Owen says quickly.
"What?" Tristan asks confused.
Owen looks down the hallway again and bites his lip. "Do not tell anyone I asked you this."
"Fine," Tristan says. "What do you need?"
"I need you to help…" Owen cringes before continuing. "Help dress me for my date."
Tristan bursts out laughing, causing Owen to put a hand over his mouth. Tristan continues to laugh in a muffled way and closes his eyes, unable to control the laughter.
"Okay, okay," Owen says. "Stop it already. I'll pay you if you want."
"Oh no, you don't need to pay me," Tristan assures him. "Having the opportunity to do this makes it all worth it. We can go to the mall after school."
"Wait, people will see us at the mall," Owen says.
"Well I sure as hell won't be using your own closet to dress you," Tristan replies, causing Owen to roll his eyes. "Do you trust me enough to just go to the mall myself to find you clothes that you won't hate?"
Owen makes a weird face. "Yeah…I-I guess. Nothing too…not me, okay?"
"Have faith in me bro, I have you covered," Tristan puts a hand on Owen's shoulder. When he makes his way back into the classroom, the bell rings signaling the end of the period. "Oh thank goodness!" Tristan exclaims. Owen shakes his head laughing and walks away.
Clare walks out of school, already seeing Eli at their usual spot. "Do you mind if we postpone our movie date?" Eli asks once the two made their way to Eli's car.
"That's okay," Clare answers. "I have a ton of math homework anyways."
"Good, well, not that you have homework but I have family dinner tonight," Eli opens Clare's door for her and when he gets into his side of the car, Clare asks, "Don't you have family dinner every night?"
"Bullfrog texted me saying it's an important one," Eli answers while he drives away from the parking lot. "I think we're talking about my living situation at NYU, Cece's all worried that I might not like my roommate if I have to dorm."
"Oh," Clare says, looking out the window.
"Okay, something's been bothering you," Eli says as a fact. "You've been acting like this for a while."
"Like what?" Clare asks.
"I don't know, uninterested, bored, just different," he answers. "Everything okay at home?"
"Everything's fine at home," Clare replies. "I just—"
Eli waits for an answer as he pulls up to Clare's house, parking on the side. "It's NYU," Clare finally says.
"What about it?" Eli asks.
"It's so far away," Clare comments. "And I know you're excited and you worked really hard to get in and I'm really happy that you did, but…it's so far away."
"It is," Eli nods. "Are you worried that me going to New York will change us? Because I thought you had more faith in us than that."
"I do! But Eli, be realistic here. Long distance relationship? We've never been apart for that much of a distance ever since you first visited New York during break and we weren't together then. Now that we're together, it's going to change everything. What if we start fighting or getting annoyed with each other? You saw 'Like Crazy.' It wasn't that good of a movie but it showed how a relationship can deteriorate with too much distance. I don't want that to happen to us!"
"Well they did end up getting back together in the end," Eli mumbles.
"You're not taking me seriously," Clare whines. She makes the move to leave the car but Eli locks her in.
"Okay, I'm sorry. I get what you're coming from but Clare…NYU is my dream," Eli takes Clare's hand between his. "But you're my dream too. We can make this work. Sure, we may have our moments when we're busy and can't coordinate schedules and talk but we're strong. Stronger than we've ever been. And at least we're still going to be in the same time zone."
This makes Clare smile. "Are you sure?"
"That we're in the same time zone, yeah I'm positive."
"I mean that we'll make it work?"
"All in," Eli takes his hand from Clare's and moves it as if to shake her hand. "You all in?"
"All in," Clare nods and shakes his hand.
Katie closes her bedroom door as Maya sits on her bed. The younger Matlin looks down at her hands, picking at her fingernails, and doesn't look up when Katie clears her throat.
"Maya, if we're gonna talk about sex then you should look at me at least," Katie says.
"Can we not?" Maya whines, her head falling back and her face scrunching up.
"Fine," Katie says, making Maya look over. "We're just gonna talk about you and Cam."
"No," Maya whines again.
"Have you two went further than just quick kisses?" Katie pries, making Maya fall back on the bed.
"Katie, stop!"
"So you have?"
"No!"
"Never made out?"
"No," Maya answers. "Just seems a little distasteful."
"You might change your mind when you actually have time together," Katie laughs. "You never hang out outside of school. Only in school or you talk on Facerange. That's hardly a relationship."
"It's working fine so far," Maya defends herself.
"Well, when you two are hanging out somewhere alone, maybe here or at his house, the thought's going to cross your mind to do more than kissing," Katie says. "And I'm not saying it's sex, I just want you to know what's going on when it happens."
"Have you had sex?" Maya asks.
"Yes," Katie says with difficulty. "There's just one thing you need to know. Make sure that when you think you're ready to have sex, that it's someone you love and loves you back."
"I don't even wanna make out with someone, I'm not thinking about sex," Maya cringes.
"Well, when you start thinking about it, just remember what I said okay?"
"Okay," Maya nods. "Can I leave now?"
"Nope! Now let's talk about…"
"We finally talked about it Alli," Clare says with a happy relief over the phone. "He says we're going to be fine and I believe it. Relationships aren't meant to be easy so we're gonna work for it…no, it wasn't that hard…I get it Alli, you were right."
Clare smiles as she listens to Alli but when her phone buzzed, she looked to see that it was Eli calling. "Hey Alli, Eli's on the other line. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?" Clare switches calls and says, "Hey, how was your dinner?"
"It was…um…" Clare could tell by the sound of Eli's voice that things were wrong.
"Eli, what's going on?" she asks terrified.
"It's Bullfrog, he's…he's sick," Eli admits with difficulty.
"Sick…" Clare trails off and it finally registers. "As in…"
"Cancer, he has cancer."