Welcome to this brand new story which is dedicated to Keisi Cutie who requested it a very long time ago and I am very sorry it took me so long to get to it.
Legal: I am not in any way affiliated with DeGrassi or Epitome. This story is a work of fiction and for entertainment purposes only.
Important Note: This story is about the actors and not the characters and is purely fiction. I do not know and have never met any of the actors. Everything in this story about their personalities, families and personal lives is from what I've been able to gather online through interviews and videos. But it is hard to know when an actor is "on" and when it's just them. And I am taking liberties with things certain things to work with the story better. It is much harder to write for real people than for characters.
So knowing all of that please don't get all huffy because I changed something from what actually happened. Once again this story is fictional and for entertainment purposes only.
Important things to know before reading:
*This takes place during the filming of season 12 and may continue beyond that
*Jessica and Munro are dating but Daniel and Mindy are not for this story Mindy & Justin are dating
*Starts shortly after the Party with DeGrassi tour
*Please see note above
*The rest, including relationships, are in the story so enjoy
Because this story involves the actors not the characters I'm including a list of actors along with their nicknames (that I'm aware of if they have any) simply for reference although I imagine most of you know this information already. This is not every actor on the entire series only the ones for season 12 and the ones I will mainly be using in this story:
*Aislinn Paul ~ nickname Ais ~ portrays Clare Edwards
*Luke Bilyk ~ portrays Drew Torres
*Jordan Todosey ~ nickname Jordy ~ portrays Adam Torres
*Munro Chambers ~ portrays Eli Goldsworthy (Munro's nicknames are Munreezy and/or Munbreezy but I refuse to call him either of those so I'll stick with Munro in this story)
*Justin Kelly ~ nickname JK ~ portrays Jake Martin
*Jessica Tyler ~ nickname Jess ~ portrays Jenna Middleton
*Daniel Kelly ~ portrays Owen Milligan
*Alicia Josipovic ~ nicknames Leesh or Leeshy ~ portrays Bianca DeSousa
*Melinda Shankar ~ nickname Mindy ~ portrays Alli Bhandari
*Jahmil French ~ portrays Dave Turner
*Sam Earle ~ portrays K.C. Guthrie
*AJ Saudin ~ portrays Connor DeLaurier
*Chloe Rose ~ portrays Katie Matlin
*Demetrius Joyette ~ nickname D Mo ~ portrays Mike Dallas
*Paul Popowich ~ portrays Asher Shostak
*Stefan Brogren ~ portrays Principal Simpson (also produces and directs)
*Craig Arnold ~ portrays Luke Baker
*Annie Clark ~ portrays Fiona Coyne
*Cristine Prosperi ~ portrays Imogen Moreno
*Sarah Fisher ~ portrays Becky Baker
*Olivia Scriven ~ portrays Maya Matlin
*Ricardo Hoyos ~ nickname Sunny ~ portrays Zig Novak
*Lyle Lettau ~ portrays Tristan Milligan
*Dylan Everett ~ nickname Dyl ~ portrays Campbell Saunders
*Alex Steele ~ portrays Tori Santamaria
*Jacob Neayem ~ nickname Jake ~ portrays Mo Mashkour
*Shanice Banton ~ nickname Shan ~ portrays Marisol Lewis
*Ramona Milano ~ portrays Audra Torres
If you guys want a glossary of the show biz terms I use let me know I will include it with the next chapter.
Okay that should do it and I'm sure most of you knew all of that already but just in case I didn't want anyone to get confused. Now onto chapter one I hope you all enjoy it!
Ch. 1 I Will go Where You Lead
(LUKE)
"Hey Luke," AJ smiles when I walk into the studio.
"Hi AJ," I grin and we walk down to the reading room. Ais is in the room already, she's next to the drinks table and talking to Jordy. I look at her and grin without realizing at.
"What are we grinning at?" Jahmil asks coming over to us.
"Huh?" I reply mentally slapping myself and looking away from Ais.
"Oh I should have known," Jahmil grins glancing at Ais.
"Okay everyone is here let's get started, find your names at the table," Stefan tells us sitting at one end of the room with the writer of the episode and the producers.
I walk around the table until I find my place; they always mark it with the name we prefer to go by and our character's name. To my great delight I'm sitting next Aislinn with Daniel on my other side, Ais has Jordy next to her and Leesh is next to Daniel.
"Hi Ais," I grin sitting next to her.
"Morning Luke," she smiles sitting down.
"Welcome everyone and especially to our new cast members even though some of you know each other already. I'd like to welcome Craig Arnold who will be playing Luke Baker, Dylan Everett who will be playing Campbell Saunders, Demetrius Joyette playing Mike Dallas and Sarah Fisher playing Becky Baker. I'd also like to welcome a wonderful veteran actor Paul Popowich who will be joining us as a regular this season playing Asher Shostak," Stefan says as we all settle into our seats.
The only one not at the table today is Annie but she doesn't have a name plate so she must not be in this episode. Stefan begins by reading the episode title, the slugline, action and character name before the dialog. The first line is mine and I start reading. No big surprises in this episode but we're all happy we don't have the school uniforms anymore. I'm not surprised that Drew gets drunk and then sleeps with Katie and no one is surprised when Eli and Clare get back together. Everyone who ships EClare cheers at their kiss. Every time I don't have a scene and can look away from my script I'm waiting Aislinn. Every time she looks at me I grin, every time she reacts to something in the script with a giggle or a gasp or even a smile I touch her without even realizing it, a hand on her shoulder, a soft nudge, my knee brushing against hers. With talking, reactions, script notes and changes it takes about three hours to get through the table read because we do two episodes at a time, although recently all the episodes have been two parters anyway. After we're done with the table read we break for lunch. Everyone goes out to craft services and starts getting food.
"So when did you start crushing Ais?" Daniel asks.
"I'm guessing on the tour they were flirting a lot on the tour," Jahmil comments.
"Have you asked her out yet?" Daniel questions.
"No you know how she feels about dating people she works with," I remind them.
"Yeah but she broke up with her last boyfriend over six months ago because he didn't like her busy schedule. Didn't he go to her school?" Jahmil asks.
"Yeah Henry he was a music major," I nod.
"K so he couldn't take her schedule and they went to school together but you two work together and you've known her a long time," Daniel says nudging me and sort of pushing me over to Ais who just sat down at a table with Jordy and Sam.
"Just go over there and ask her out," Jahmil insists.
"I'm not going over there now and she's not going to say yes," I argue getting in line to get some food.
"Then go find out if she's going to hang out with all of us tonight and ask her out then," Jahmil asserts.
I just shake my head and grab some food but I do sit at the table with Ais. Of course Jahmil and Daniel sit with me.
"So Ais you planning to hang with us tonight?" Daniel inquires for me.
"I wish I could but I have so much homework," she says and I feel my heart sink just a little at the thought that she won't be with us tonight.
"Maybe you can help her with her homework," Daniel whispers to me.
"Well we're all coming to your birthday party this weekend," Sam says and the rest of us nod.
"Good that means everyone will be there and I invited Craig, D Mo, Dylan and Sarah already," Aislinn tells us.
"Everyone on set in twenty for walkthrough and blocking of scene 2," a P.A. announces.
We finish lunch and gather in the auditorium set. We're introduced to the other Ice Hounds extras. There the only extras currently on set but we're not filming today we're just rehearsing and blocking. Tomorrow we'll start shooting and we'll have lots of extras so it looks like the school has more than twenty-five students.
Stefan moves us around a little getting everyone where he wants for the shots tomorrow. When our seats for the assembly scene are all figured out production assistants mark the chairs with our names so we know where to come when we are actually filming. We block the assembly scene and then many of the party scenes since there are lots people in those shots and lots of various shots for a couple of different scenes. After blocking and walking through a few more group scenes we're let go for the day but we have a 7am call time tomorrow morning. Most of us are hanging out; we almost always go out together after the they call wrap for the day. Aislinn isn't coming because she has homework and a few other people don't join us for various reasons.
"You know you should be at Aislinn's place helping her with homework and then asking her out," Daniel remarks as he sits down next to me.
"Who is Luke asking out?" Alicia asks sitting with us and then Jahmil joins us.
"Ais, they were flirting on the tour," Jahmil answers.
"I'm not asking her out she doesn't date people she works with, you all know as well as I do she has that policy," I affirm.
"She only has that policy because she doesn't want it to get messy if your characters start dating on the show because that often leads to disaster. When are Clare and Drew ever going to date? Clare and Eli always come back together," Jahmil comments.
"He's got a point Drew and Clare are not likely to hookup and your characters have barely had scenes together that weren't group scenes. I think you're pretty safe to keep your on screen and off screen relationships separate," Daniel tells me.
"He's right if you like her go for it. Munro and Jess have been dating a long time and Mindy and JK have been dating over a year. Their relationship survived that kiss in Nowhere to Run," Alicia reminds me.
"Yeah I know but as much as she flirted with me on the tour she talked a lot, not really to me but still she talked a lot about not dating people she works with. But you're right I am going to go over there," I reply getting up.
"Yeah that's my boy," Daniel grins patting my back as I get up.
"Go get her lover boy," Alicia teases.
(AISLINN)
"Come in," I call after hearing a knock on my bedroom door. Instead of one of my parents, who I thought were the only ones here, Luke comes into my bedroom. I jump up when I see him, after leaving set and coming home to do homework I'd changed into soft and warm pajama bottoms and an old t-shirt. My hair is pulled back and I was not expecting company.
"You're dad let me in," he tells me looking at me in my lounging clothes. He grins and I blush a little as I bite the corner of my lip pulling it into my teeth briefly. "Since you couldn't join the rest of us I thought I'd bring you dessert," Luke says revealing a take-out box from behind his back.
"That was really sweet of you," I blush again, "just give me a minute to change."
"Why would you change you look great," Luke replies.
I smile and sit down on my bed; he sits next to me and opens the box. We sit together on my bed eating the piece of cake and talking. We keep talking after finishing the cake and before I realize it he's been here for over three hours and it's after one in the morning.
"Guess I should go we're due on set in less than six hours," Luke comments when we both realize the time.
"Yeah I should get to bed," I nod standing up and opening my door for Luke, "I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for the dessert."
"Yeah no problem, I'll see you tomorrow," Luke grins I walk him downstairs since my parents have gone to bed. I open the front door, Luke steps through the door but stops and turns back to me, "Ais?"
"Yeah?"
He opens his mouth, seems to reconsider what he's going to say as his mouth closes slightly before he speaks, "Goodnight."
"Goodnight Luke."
He gives me a soft grin and I watch him walk to his car and get in. He waves to me before getting in and driving off. I lock the front door and go upstairs; I get ready for bed quickly and then get to bed. My alarm wakes me up and I feel that I didn't get enough sleep but I'm due on set and I have to be at school for dance classes this afternoon. It doesn't take me too long to get ready since hair and makeup will be done on set. I park and go inside walking to the dressing room I share with Jordy. On the way I see Luke in the hall and I smile at him.
"Thanks for bringing over dessert last night."
"Any time," he grins back walking down to my dressing room and opening the door. "I'll see you on set," he says grinning at me and nodding to Jordy as he holds the door open for me.
"Yeah see you on set," I smile pulling the corner of my lip into my teeth as I blush. He closes the door and I look at my costume for the first scenes we're filming today. I look at Jordy when I hear her giggling. "What is so funny?"
"You like Luke," she giggles.
"Of course I do everyone likes Luke," I respond taking down my costume.
"No you like Luke," she says with a slightly teasing tone, "don't try to deny it I saw you two flirting on the tour when I was with you in L.A. and New York."
"We're friends and Luke flirts with everyone," I argue with Jordy while to myself I silently admit that I enjoyed all our time together in Minnesota and Chicago. I also must admit, at least to myself, that the two of us were flirting a lot on the tour. Maybe I do like Luke.
"He does flirt with everyone but he was flirting with you a lot more. And I heard from Jahmil that Luke left early last night to bring you dessert," Jordy comments with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah he did and it was very sweet but…"
"But nothing," Jordy cuts me off, "Luke might flirt with everyone but he doesn't bring everyone dessert. I think we have another off screen romance brewing."
"No we don't because you know how I feel about those," I respond walking into the washroom to change into my costume.
"You're impossible and you're worried over nothing, when will your characters ever do anything together? Drew and Clare have barely looked at each other," Jordy says as there's a knock at the door.
"You're both needed in hair and makeup," a P.A. tells us.
Jordy's already in Adam costume and we walk out to hair and makeup. Our first scene this morning is the assembly and we all find our seats again. Luke looks over and smiles at me and Jordy nudges me. It's a full day of filming for everyone and we do all the crowd scenes so that the day players won't need to come back. We break for lunch after four hours, most of which was shooting the assembly scene from different angles and for different people. I sit with Jordy, Sam, Chloe, Ricardo, Dylan and Craig at lunch. Luke is at a table across from us with Daniel, Alicia, AJ, Munro, Jess, Justin, Mindy & D Mo. The last scene we shoot for the night is the party scene and most of us require new costumes for that scene. It takes the longest because there are several different angles and scenes to shoot with different characters in that one scene. We finally wrap a little after nine and we're all tired. Some of us more than others as everyone still in school has to fulfill a certain amount of school hours each weekday while shooting.
"Looks like we're both on the call sheet for tomorrow Ais," Luke comments as we walk back to our dressing rooms to change.
"What's the call time for tomorrow?" Jordy questions.
"Nine for the three of us, Munro, Leesh, Chloe, Shan and D Mo, also Ramona and the guy playing Asher," Luke replies.
"Well I'll see you in the morning then," I grin at Luke as Jordy and I enter our dressing room to change.
"I predict ATTMO for you two by the end of filming," Jordy laughs.
"Shhh," I respond smacking her playfully and she laughs.
We change back into our street clothes and I say goodnight to Jordy before driving home. I greet my parents and tell them about my day before going up to my room. I still have three hours of homework, then I shower and get to sleep. With a slightly later call time this morning I am able to sleep in a bit. I arrive at Epitome and go to craft services for coffee and breakfast before going to my dressing room. Jordy isn't here yet but I find my first costume of the day hanging up and I go into the washroom to get dressed.
"Hmm pajamas you must be filming that phone call scene with Munro first this morning," Jordy grins when I come out of the washroom. She's changing into her Adam costume and she has the same breakfast I got.
"It's gotta be that one because I don't have any other scenes in pajamas," I reply as there's a knock on the door. Jordy gets her pants on quickly before I open the door.
"Aislinn you're shooting first so they want you in hair and makeup," the P.A. informs me. I tell him thanks and tell Jordy I'll see her on set.
I head to hair and makeup, Munro is also in here getting his hair and makeup done and he grins at me when I come in. Since our first scene involves us waking up on the phone with each other we don't need much done with hair or makeup. We get called to set and do our scene in two takes.
"Ais you remember Paul he'll be playing Asher. We'll be filming your scenes shortly and you'll be doing a lot of scenes together in the next few weeks," Stefan introduces us.
"It's nice to meet you," I smile shaking his hand. I met him on Monday at the table reading with everyone else but I only saw him from across the room.
"You too you're a very talented actress. I'm excited to be working on DeGrassi with such great young talent," he says. He seems nice and we don't have a lot of adults on this show. Paul excuses himself to go to hair and makeup and I return to my dressing room.
Jordy is on set filming a scene with Luke so no one is in the dressing room. My second costume today is a dress, stockings and a slightly hideous grandma sweater.
"Does this make me look frumpy, I don't like the grandma sweater," I complain to Jordy when she comes in the dressing room.
"You look cute, anyway it's just a costume," Jordy shrugs.
"Yeah but Clare's style seems to change every semester. How was your scene?"
"Good but Luke kept messing up and it took us almost ten takes. What are you filming next?" She questions.
"I think my first scene with Paul, Stefan introduced us after my scene with Munro. He seems nice it should be good working with him," I reply before getting called to hair and makeup.
My scene with Paul is pretty easy, he's a consummate professional and he's very affable. Between shots he shares stories of working on other shows and films. I even find out he's doing a couple episodes of Flashpoint in a few weeks which several of our cast members have been on. We complete our scenes in just a few takes because he's so professional and neither of us messes up our lines. When we're done Stefan says I can go to lunch and Paul is done for the day. I go to craft services, get some lunch and sit with Jordy, Luke, D Mo, Chloe, Shan and Munro.
"Munro was just telling us about your bed scene this morning," Luke says giving me a flirting and almost carnal grin when he says bed.
"We got it done quickly because Munro and I work so well together."
"Because we've been working together forever," Munro smiles.
"Katie and Marisol you're needed on set. Drew, Adam and Dallas twenty minutes," a P.A. announces. Chloe and Shan get up and Luke moves closer to me causing Munro's eyebrow to arch up and Jordy to giggle.
(JORDAN)
"Morning Jordy," Daniel greets me when I arrive at Epitome Thursday morning.
"Hey Daniel," I grin and we both walk into craft services. Luke is here talking with Ais near the coffee table. Ais has her back to me so I run over hugging her from behind and kissing her cheek.
"Hi," she laughs.
"Good morning I thought you were done yesterday?"
"I have a classroom scene with Mindy this morning before I go to school," Ais replies.
"I'm only here for the morning too, one Torres brothers scene and I'm done," I grin.
"I have to do all the breakup scenes with Katie today and getting sick in class," Luke grimaces.
"I should probably go get in costume," Ais speaks up grabbing her coffee.
"I'll walk you I need to get into costume too," Luke tells her.
Ais smiles, Luke gets his coffee and puts a hand at her back as they walk off together. I watch them leave and then an arm comes around my shoulders, I look up to see Daniel.
"This is going to be painful to watch," Daniel complains.
"Yeah one of them needs to make a move and soon but Ais is being stubborn because of her policy of not dating co-stars. And Luke's afraid of getting shot down and messing up their friendship," I tell Daniel rolling my eyes.
"Then we just need to do something about it, help them along since it's obvious they're super into each other and I really can't watch this for the next several weeks. I give them two weeks or I'm meddling," he comments as we grab food.
"Meddling in what?" Leesh asks appearing suddenly and grabbing a pastry.
"Getting Luke and Ais together," I reply.
"Ooh I want to help meddle they're moving like molasses it's quite annoying actually," she says and we nod in agreement.
I get some coffee and head to the dressing room, after getting on my costume and hair and makeup I watch Ais and Mindy's scene. Ais finishes and hugs me and Mindy goodbye before she leaves for school. I'm called to set and do my scene with Luke in two takes. I don't have to leave yet so I watch Daniel's scene with Olivia and Alex. Stefan keeps calling cut after Olivia throws the fake boob at Daniel's head.
"You're enjoying watching me get hit in the head with this aren't you?" Daniel grumbles at Stefan as he gently tosses the fake boob back at Olivia.
"We need it to hit you in the right place, a couple more takes should do it," Stefan replies although he does have a playful smile.
"I don't mind I could throw this thing at his head all day," Olivia grins and Daniel shoots her a look. They do three more takes before Stefan calls cut and dismisses Daniel for the day.
"I'm going to change and meet Emy she's helping me shop for Aislinn's present," Daniel tells me. Emy is his girlfriend; they've been dating for over a year and met at one of his Deph Naught performances.
"Cool I'm done too but I might stick around a bit. I think I'll go over to Ais' later," I tell him.
"Good tell her to get it on with Luke already," Daniel comments. I laugh and wave to him as he walks off and I watch Leesh and Luke's scene in the mall.
I hang out on set for most of the day watching everyone and call Ais a little after four. She's still at her school rehearsing for a dance performance next month but says I can come watch and then come over to her place. Somehow Ais thought that she could handle a performing arts high school on top of all of her DeGrassi duties. She's managed pretty well actually but it keeps her really busy and she doesn't get to hang out with us very much because she's got a full school load and dance classes since she's a dance major. I arrive at ESA and text Ais, she tells me where to come and I watch her dance. When she's done we stop for dinner before heading to her house. I tell her about watching Olivia throw the fake boob at Daniel a bunch of times and she laughs.
"So how many times did you think about Luke today?" I question while she's still laughing.
"Jordy," she admonishes.
"You didn't answer my question," I remind her.
"Eat your dinner," she responds.
I smile and take another bite, I don't say anything else about her and Luke but I do start thinking about somehow getting them alone together at her birthday party on Saturday. And I'm sure that Daniel, Leesh and Jahmil will help me.
Next update will be Thursday February 4th and probably begin with Aislinn's birthday party.