Hey Degrassi fans! (assuming you like it, if not...hope you do?) This is my first ever story published on well anything, but definitely not my first story written. Just thought I should say, hope you like it, its short and I don't know if i'll continue it, if i get feedback or inspiration, whichever comes first my friends!

Set in an alternate universe with a added character, being Dawn Stoner, original character invented by me and belonging to meeee.

Other characters belong to the creator of Degrassi...whoever that it, he/she is pretty awesome!

enjoy? hopefully. review (:

Behind the Black

Stoner was a name feared in the halls of Dawn's old school. She herself was not to be feared much, her quiet composure kept her in the shadows, but her eccentric brother was known for his pranks, tricks, and rule breakings. Dawn had high grades, despise her many skipped classes, she had never once skipped her English writing class. It was definitely her favorite class of the day; a time where she could let all of her emotions from home, her friends and life itself be poured over on paper and could easily be burned. The many tales the junior highschooler had once written were almost immediately burned away in a place Dawn called her own, a forest close to the Degrassi Community school. Dawn went to a school a bit more reputed for their excellent teachers and less violent students. Sadly, after having lost track of how many classes she'd skipped, Dawn was expelled, her parents disapprovingly sent her to Degrassi for the start of the next school year.

A change was good, especially for Dawn who did not much like seeing the same faces too often. She tired easily over the smallest of things, her writing for example. I should tell the tale of why she always burns her work, no matter how good the teacher says it is. A young boy once told her "even if it's in writing, doesn't mean it's true". The statement for an eight-year-old girl had shocked her for ages. She's been writing since a very young age, although never about princesses, always about life with all the harshness it covers. So ever since that day, she had stolen her parents lighters and burned the edges until the flames ate away her wishes and tales, the words that filled her mind, leaving only small pieces of smoke and white papers flying around hopelessly, looking for cover. Nowadays, she either took her own lighter or went down to a nearby forest and burned them all at once in the fire pit. The place seemed deserted enough, although there sometimes showed up tire tracks, glass and foot prints.

First day of school, Dawn decided she would at least attend her first day's classes. Her thin body covered in September clothing and hair let to their natural waves, she parked her car, a black mustang, as far away from the school as the parking lot let her, for safety reasons, and walked slowly, very slowly, onto the stairs leading to the school. Her eyes glanced around for anyone interesting to talk to later on, sadly no one suited for the moment. Leaving her friends at her old school was a slight bummer, but nothing too harsh, considering Dawn was a more reserved girl who preferred having constant music in her ears than babbling girls.

People took notice of the newness that seemed to glow off of her, she kept walking, ignoring the stares and whispers as she ran her fingers softly on the railing, looking dreamily ahead. Maybe her clothes weren't right for the school, or her make up was a bit too much, but what the hell? She's not trying to please anyone, nor was she there to blend in; it was never really something she was used to. No matter where she went, blending in would be almost impossible. Stepping inside was almost like getting hit in the face with cold water. Dawn's eyes noticed a man in a suit, people around calling him by Simpson; she assumed he was some sort of principal.

"Excuse me Sir, I'm Dawn Stoner" she made sure to whisper her last name and continued on "I'm new here, as you might know and I haven't got my classes yet." Dawn spoke clearly with a slight British accent, even after all these years, her tongue was still used to the old English language.

"Yes, well, here you are… I was, um, expecting you, um…" Simpson broke off, looking at her clothing attire, probably not what he was expecting as well. "Did you know we had a dress code here at Degrassi, it's been installed for a few months now. Although the first day of classes, no one ever follows it…" His voice was confident, almost bragging about his strict rules.

"Well I'll be off to class now Sir, it was nice meeting you. See you around." Dawn hurried, bated her eyelashes to distract him and whirled around, avoiding him the trouble to make her change. No way was she wearing a red polo shirt and a beige skirt that went from her knees to her waist.

The hallways were full, crowds everywhere, obviously chatting up after a whole summer apart. Head held high, a smirk on her face, the new girl's name would soon be known around school. She walked to her locker, with a smaller concentration of people and stuffed her unneeded books inside, making sure they wouldn't spill right out once she opened it later. What Dawn needed the least right now was to ruin her careless attitude with an embarrassing moment that would surely make her flush in the face. After a long battle with her locker, Dawn finally managed to close it; she then turned around and leaned on it for a breath. Closing her eyes and letting it all in, she probably looked strange right now, but why let herself be judged by people who didn't know her?

After about three seconds of relaxation, a nerve clicked inside her head, she felt eyes on her, but not those of the surrounding student seemingly minding their own business, those of a locker mate. Slowly opening them, she turned her head to the left and saw a boy looking curiously at her with a cocky lopsided grin on his face.

"Can I help you wipe that grin of your face?" Dawn asked in a fake bright but confident tone.

"Just looking." The boy with slightly long black hair said in a casual manner. He turned to face the inside of his locker now with a smirk upon his face, apparently laughing to himself.

"Glad I could give you a laugh this early in the morning." She then retorted with the same amount of attitude towards the boy. She then proceeded in grabbing her bag and heading off down the hall, passing the boy and giving him a sideways wink, as he looked at her walk away with a look of amazement on his face.

First class was boring as hell, Spanish was usually an interesting concept, although this school didn't seem to know that the students are actually supposed to speak it as well. We sat there listening to Spanish lectures for an hour before the bell rang and a thankful grunt escaped Dawn's lips. She got up, having kept her things in her bags beforehand and headed for the corridors before an arm blocked her exit at the door. She looked up to see a guy apparently from her class smirking at her with an overly confident look to him. She guessed he was the typical school man-whore, just looking for a girl to shag - oh my bad, I meant to f*ck. No point avoiding him now, she'll let him know straight away about her intentions. After observing his brown hair and athletic features, the boy spoke at last, breaking the silence.

"You must be the Stoner, I'm Kevin, and maybe we could meet some time, somewhere private." He said in a supposedly seductive tone, his smirk becoming a grin. His friends laughed in the back and he closed the small space between them. He kept looking her up and down, raising his eyebrows and sending winks here and there.

"Maybe I could lock you up in a closet alone, does that suit you? You can go f*ck yourself." Dawn said in a reproachful tone, passing him and heading straight for her next class, which would hopefully be as satisfying as her previous English classes. In the hallway, she heard girls mutter about the one girl who had ever rejected the popular senior but on the other hand, guys cheered the girl who ever had the balls to do it.

She entered the class, brightly lit from the windows, a bit too bright for her liking, and sat down in the back, beside an empty seat apparently already taken from the looks of the bag in the back of the chair. A fair chance in her opinion, she would soon see who her class neighbor was. For the first ten minutes of class, the seat remained empty and the teacher started with the course plan for the year as well as projects that would be to do. Thankfully, there would be at least one creative writing assignment, to do either alone or by two, which would help in "linking two minds together to form one idea in writing's how the teacher had put it.

The door of the classroom opened, it was the same boy Dawn had 'met' this morning, although no introductions were made. He was two lockers down from hers. She had only then noticed him wearing black boots and a chain on his dark straight-legged jeans. The grey vest he wore over a punk rock band Dawn recognized suited him well. Dawn's eye lingered over him for a moment before his whispering in her ear shook her out of it.

"Don't let me distract you." He said casually, leaning towards her ear and sitting on the empty desk right beside her.

This English class would definitely be an interesting one; which she'd be sure to pay attention in.