Chapter 1- The Return of Sean Cameron

It was about mid-day when Sean Cameron pulled into the parking lot of his old school. He found a parking spot near the very back of the lot and squeezed his huge truck in nearly tapping the little red car next to him. He put it in park and took off his seatbelt but didn't make a move to get out just yet.

He looked at himself in the rearview mirror to see a nervous expression painted on his face. He had changed so much since the last time he had been at Degrassi Community School. His hair hung to his shoulders with a baseball cap on top. His face had turned from boyish and innocent to manly and assertive. His chin bore a small patch of fuzz; probably a spot he had missed while shaving. He wore a striped polo and a pair of jeans with a shiny brown belt.

He sighed and turned away from the mirror, focusing his eyes on the school. It seemed like such a familiar building and yet he knew nothing about it. It had been nearly 2 years since he had stayed behind in Wasaga and he wasn't so sure he was ready to come back. But his parents had told him it was the right decision considering it would provide him with much better education and a better future. But now the school looked intimidating to him and he was almost scared of it, nervous of the reactions he would get from suddenly popping back in out of the blue.

With some regrets he opened the car door and slid out through a narrow space to avoid hitting the car next to him. He slammed the door shut and turned to face his nerves. He began making his way to the front entrance of Degrassi and saw nobody on his way. He passed the basketball court where a basketball lay motionless at the three point line. Feeling lucky, he smiled and walked over to it, picking it up and focusing hard on the basket. 3...2...1...he shot the ball into the air, his wrist making a nice flick at the end. Three seconds later it whooshed through the net with a nice swoosh sound. He had learned quite a bit of things after he moved back to Wasaga.

He kept walking passing by the picnic table where so many people had eaten lunch and gossiped about everyone. He reached the steps where he had fond memories of ignoring Emma and telling Mr. Raditch to go to hell. He had made quite an impact at this school back in his day. He stepped inside the foyer and was surprised to find it completely empty. He must have come during a class period because it was so empty he could hear his foot hitting the floor every time he took a step. He reached the secretary's desk and handed her his note with the reason he was late on it. She nodded and wrote him a pass to Mr. Armstrong's math class.

The locker that was assigned to him was in a main hallway and was in decent condition. He was happy to get something so close to where everyone normally was rather than in some deserted hallway. He opened the locker and swung his backpack inside and then unzipped it and took out a binder, paper, and a pen and pencil. Next he reached up and swiped his hat off his head, stashing it on a hook placed conveniently at the top of the locker. He knew all too well that caps weren't allowed to be worn during school hours. After checking to make sure he had everything he closed his locker, picked up his stuff, and walked on to Mr. Armstrong's class.

He passed by a very familiar hallway, one he had tried to erase completely from his mind. He didn't want to walk down it but it was the only way to get to Mr. Armstrong's class. He took a step in carefully, his eyes widening as his mind ran through a slideshow of flashbacks to the day of the shooting. He remembered it had been Emma, Toby, and him standing in the hallway rummaging in their lockers. Suddenly a few kids came running by frantically as if they were scared of something coming from the other way. Due to their curiosity they all advanced forward into the next hallway to see Rick standing stiffly in the middle of it, a gun held tightly in his hands. Sean tried to move everyone back into the hallway behind them once he noticed the gun but it was too late and he ended up with a gun pointing inches above his shoulder straight at Emma's face. He took a leap of bravery and began wrestling Rick for the gun only to have it surprisingly go off into Rick's stomach. It was the reason Sean had escaped to Wasaga Beach and the reason he was hesitant to return to Degrassi. The haunting memory had left him standing a couple feet into the hallway with a shocked expression resting on his face.

He couldn't bare the site of the spot where it had happened. He could see Rick laying there, the blood forming a mote around his body. He shut his eyes, hoping the image would go away and he would make it past this shadow of fear that seemed to follow him everywhere. He walked through the rest of the hallway as quickly as he could, making sure to keep his eyes tightly shut. He slowed down when he could feel the lockers disappear and the rough style of the wall laid under his sweaty palm. He opened his eyes and looked ahead. He was almost to Mr. Armstrong's classroom but he knew he would look strange walking in there sweaty and wide eyed. He saw a washroom close by and walked inside to wash off his face. When he came back out the period must have been almost over because he could see students lining up at the doors. He hurried to Mr. Armstrong's room to try and catch the last bit of his first lesson.

Mr. Armstrong stood at the front of the class and stared at the students. They were chatting and gossiping amongst each other and probably hadn't taken in or cared for one word he had said to them so far. A pencil flew across the room and hit a student directly on the forehead. His eyes glared in the direction of JT Yorke who saw his face and looked down trying to suppress his laughter. Suddenly someone knocked on the door and Mr. Armstrong dropped his book and made his way towards the door. He opened it and was surprised by the person standing in front of him.

"Sean Cameron. Wow, I'm surprised to see you back at Degrassi. How long have you been here?" He moved aside to let Sean in.

"About 15 minutes." He looked around at the class. Some of the faces he recognized, others were very new to him. As he glanced near the back corner someone special caught his eye. Emma Nelson was sitting there with her papers in hand but seemed to be frozen with her eyes on him. He smiled and looked back to Mr. Armstrong who had begun talking to him again.

"Well it's good to have you back. I look forward to having you in my class this year." As he said this the bell rang and people began filing out of the doorway to their next class. Sean followed them but as he reached the door he turned back to see Emma still in her seat and looking into space. Manny, who had finally got her stuff together, snapped in Emma's face to wake her up from her daydream. She shook her head and looked up at Sean who smiled immediately. She turned her head down to her papers really quickly pretending to completely ignore him. Without trying to catch her eye again he turned and walked out the doorway, a little confused by what had just happened.