Author's Note: Okay, so this is going to be a pretty massive author's note. There are some things that you, the reader, must understand prior reading this.
For starters, this is an AU of Degrassi, meaning some events may have or may have not happened already from the show or it will or will not happen period. This means that characters that should know each other does not and characters that should be dead, like J.T, aren't (which is good because he kept Emma, Manny, and Toby together).
Secondly, this story will not focus around Degrassi. Weird, I know, but it will take place in college. I did not change the original graduation dates, meaning Holly J's graduation class (2009) is the year after Peter's (2008). So please, forget the retcon in the show because it does not happen here.
Third, there will be just one OC in this story which the story is based around. While he is a freshman (along with the 2009) graduates, he graduated in 2008. I don't know if that information is really important seeing as this matter will be covered in the story.
Fourth, this story is rated M for a reason. It will contain sexual contents, drugs, suicide, homocide, language not suited for everyone, and just about every other thing that happens in college. Well, at least the colleges that are worth putting on TV.
Finally, some characters will be a little OOC but that's because this is an alternate of the original show. That, and because some of the minor characters I will use have not got a lot of screen time, I will have to make up some personality for them to give them more character depth. These characters include Victoria (Declan and Fiona's cousin) and Towerz, as well as a few others.
Anyway, I'm done with this message. Read and enjoy and tell me what you think.
Whatever It Takes
Chapter 1: A New Scene
Parking his red Nissan GT-R in front of the dorm building that he was assigned to, nineteen years old got out of the car and got out it. Locking the car door via remote, he began to make his way to the dorm where he and another would be living for the next year, or at least semester. Throwing a small backpack across his shoulder he stared at the school.
"Let's go Jaime." the young man said to himself before he walked towards the building.
On his way to his room, he found a boy and a girl (man and woman actually) standing and talking by the front door. The young lady, as beautiful as she was, was clearly nervous, biting her nails as the man spoke.
"You wrecked it? What were you doing? Don't answer that. Why were you drinking and driving Fi?" the man asked.
"God, I don't know Declan!" the lady who James figured her name was 'Fi' said. "Mom and Dad are going to be so pissed."
"School hasn't even started yet." the man, who James pegged to be Declan said. "Look, I'll ask around. See if I there is anyway possible we can get Mom's car repaired without her hearing about it. And stop drinking. Seriously Fi, it's getting worse."
"It's not my fault. My roommate is just so damn annoying. It's like she won't shut the hell up for a minute." 'Fi' said. James walked to the door. "Hey," James stopped and looked at the two. "Do you know any mechanics in the area?"
James shook his head. "Sorry mate. I just moved here from D.C."
"Fi, focus." Declan said. James gave a shrug and walked into the building. He had no real reason to get into a conversation with a pair of brother and sister. Especially from a drinking accident.
Going up the flight of stairs to the third floor, James found his room and slipped his key into the lock before pushing it open. There, his roommate, a guy in his second year at University of Southern Toronto. His roommate looked at him, blue meeting grey.
"Hey, you're James Nichols right?" he asked, an unlit cigarette in-between his lips. James nodded. "Peter Stone."
"Yeah, I heard about you, mate." James said moving to the untouched bed. "Say that you're dating some really hot chick named Mia Jones."
Peter nodded as he lit the cigarette. "Been dating since last year." Peter exhaled a cloud of smoke. "How'd you hear that?"
"The girl that showed me around was Manny Santos. One of Mia's friends." James said.
"Ah. The girl dating the queer." Peter remarked.
James frowned. "What?"
Peter tapped the cigarette over an ash tray. "Manny's dating this guy named Marco Del-Rossi. He's really gay. Like beyond gay." James's frown only increased. "He's 'dating' her so that his parents won't know. She's here for Drama, so it's right up her ally. Acting that is."
"So she's not really seeing anyone?" James questioned.
"I wouldn't, but go ahead." Peter said. "Manny's not one of those girls for amateurs. She knows a good lay when she sees one. You look like you should start small. I would say Anya, but I would be betraying my own friend."
There was a knock on the door, which caused Peter to put the cigarette out and stand up and answer the door. There stood a blonde girl with the two James saw earlier.
The blonde sighed. "Peter, I need a favor."
Peter frowned. "Victoria, I thought we said that we were done? And who are these two?"
"These are my two infamous cousins, Declan and Fiona." Victoria said. "Fiona was out drinking and driving, again, and I have to find someone who can get their mom's car repaired without a receipt. Aunt Laura said that the next time Fiona slipped that she was going to rehab so I'm trying to stop that."
"I don't know," Peter said. "I'm not really friends with the only mechanic I know, so…" Peter sighed heavily. "But I'll see if Sean'll hook us up. Little bitch is probably still pissed about the race last year."
"Well, you did tamper with his ride." Victoria said knowingly.
Peter laughed a bit. "You got to win somehow." Peter looked at James. "Hey, James, get your stuff man. We're going for a little walk."
Shrugging, James stood up. He was surprised that Peter had yet another unlit cigarette in-between his lips and figured that the guy must have been either a sever smoker or one who did it when they were either bored or anxious. But, James sat his bag on his bed and grabbed his keys, leaving behind Peter.
"So," Victoria said, stepping a bit closer to James. "What's your name?"
"I just said James. Damn you still don't listen." Peter responded. "James, this is my crazy ex-girlfriend Vicky. The reason why I smoke so much is because of her."
"Oh? And what did I do to you Peter?" Victoria asked a bit angrily.
"Let's see? You ruined me and Darcy's relationship. You nearly got my car impounded. Did I mention that you hid a bag of hash in my trunk during a police search?" Peter said.
"Wow? Is that why you two broke up?" Fiona asked.
"No Fifi, that's not." Victoria said with a roll of her eyes. "We broke up because he wanted to be someone else's dad."
"Hey, don't drag Bella into this." Peter stated before stopping at a door. He sighed before knocking. "Come on and open up Marco. I can smell fingernail polish all the way out here."
The door opened and James blinked. Marco was shorter than James and Peter was. Behind him was the brunette James had seen days earlier sitting on a bed with a blonde girl her age.
"What the hell do you want Peter?" Marco asked.
"I need to talk to your girlfriend's best-friend." Peter said. "I need to find Sean."
"Sean? He left for work like thirty minutes ago." Marco said.
"Right." Peter stated.
Manny peered over Marco's shoulder.
"Oh, hey Jaime. Kind of sucks that you have to be in the same room as Peter, right?" she asked. "If I were you, I'd shower alone or he'll record it and post it on the web."
Peter sighed. "Good times…"
"I think I'll be fine." James said, not sure how to really respond to the statement. "Thanks for the head's up, I guess."
"No problem." Manny said glaring at Peter. "And what are you doing here? You're ruining our time."
"Ladies Night is on Wednesday." Peter remarked, gaining a snicker from Victoria.
Manny scoffed. "Go to hell Peter. I don't know what Emma saw in you."
"Whatever." Peter said. "Let's go guys. We have a drive ahead of us." Peter then looked over both brunettes at Emma. "See you around Emma."
"Yeah." she returned gaining a glare from Emma. "What?"
James followed Peter away, wondering just how we he would go about talking to Manny anyway. She seemed to hate Peter, who he figured was not a bad guy, just the average guy. James's grey eyes then glanced over at Declan and Fiona. It was his first time he saw Fiona and actually paid attention to her. She was pretty, in fact, near beautiful.
His vision was interrupted when her phone rang.
"Crap. It's Bobby." Fiona said before answering her phone. "Hey babe!"
James turned his eyes ahead of him now. She had a boyfriend. Didn't that make his day better?
Walking outside towards the parking lot, Peter turned and looked behind him.
"Look," Peter said to the others. "As much as I like having my Mustang crowded and stuffed, we're not all getting into it. Someone will have to ride with someone else."
"I can drive." James said. "But, there's not that much space in my car either."
"What do you drive?" Peter asked curiously.
"GT-R." James replied causing his roommate's eyes to widen. "What?"
"Dude, that Nissan is like fucking insane." Peter said. "It can hear nearly two hundred, right? Three seconds to hit sixty."
James nodded slowly. "You're into cars."
"How'd you get one?" Declan asked.
James shrugged. "My dad. He, uh, travels a lot and got it for me when I graduated. I miss my Mazda though."
"Alright, I'll be back soon. Love you too. Bye." Fiona said before hanging up. "What are we doing just standing here? I have to be somewhere later today."
"I'll go get my car." James said before taking a few steps away.
"I'll ride with him." Declan said. "Come on Fi."
"Sure." Fiona said before following her brother towards James's car. "Say, that girl back there called you Jaime. Pet name?"
"No. Nickname. She heard my mom say it." James said nearing his car. He unlocked the doors. "You guys can decide who's going to get in the back. Sorry for the small space."
"Hey, it's no problem." Declan said. "We wouldn't be going through this if someone would just stop drinking already."
"Dex, I think we've passed that already." Fiona said as she stared at the seat. "Uh, Jamie, help?"
"Oh, it's the little latch on the side right there." James said. Declan reached and pulled two levers, the second one actually folding the seat up. "There you go."
Fiona got into the back and Declan sat in the passenger seat.
"Nice car." Declan said.
"Thanks. I really do like it because… Well, let's just say I have a small problem with my dad." James responded as he pressed the push-button ignition, starting the car. "So you two are brother and sister?"
"Twins." Declan answered.
"Oh." James replied.
"So this is your first year?" Fiona asked.
James nodded as he backed out of the parking space.
"I took a year out of school to travel." James said. "It was kind of fun until I realize that I had to finish my studies."
"Sounds like fun." Declan said. "So where'd you go?"
"Europe mainly. Went to Japan, but I cut that short for a surfing tour in Australia." James said, now seeing Peter's white Ford Mustang with black racing stripes.
"You surf? You don't look like a surfer." Fiona said.
"D.C boys usually aren't. But I do." James replied. "So have you guys traveled out of country?"
"I used to call us child nomads because we did." Declan said.
"Hmm." James hummed in response as he began following Peter.
The drive was strangely silent. James turned to see that Declan was busying himself by studying passing buildings. He then glanced at the beauty in the backseat, who was texting someone on her phone. A smile came on her face before she began to send a reply.
Remembering that she had a boyfriend, James mind went to Manny Santos. She was older than him, he figured, but age was nothing but a number right? James had already imagine that she had quite the track record with guys, from the comment Peter said, which means that she must be looking for a new guy other than her "boyfriend".
"I'm starving." Fiona stated. "You think we can swing by and get something to eat on the way back?"
"Sure." James replied.
When the two vehicles arrived at the car shop, James and the Coyne twins got out of James car and joined Victoria and Peter who was currently smoking his second (James guessed) cigarette.
"Alright," Peter said. "You three stay right here. Vicky, let's pray that Jay and Towerz are here. I really don't want to deal with Sean's bullshit."
"Come on." Victoria said leading Peter into the garage.
"This is so not worth it." Fiona muttered.
"You know Fi, if you weren't drinking, we wouldn't be here." Declan said.
Fiona did not reply and James was kind of glad that she did not. Since he was an only child, he was easily annoyed when siblings argued. Ironically, all his friends had at least one other sibling.
"Alright," Peter said coming out of the garage. "They said they'll do it for five hundred."
"Five hundred dollars? But they haven't even seen it yet!" Fiona exclaimed.
"Fi, it's just five hundred. It could have been worse." Declan said. "We'll take it."
James frowned. "Five off of the bat? How'd you talk him down to that mate?"
Peter frowned. "That's the second time you've called me that. What are you, Australian or something?"
"My dad is." James answered honestly.
"Oh." Peter said before addressing the Coyne twins. "The five hundred comes from my debt actually. In a way, it's kind of a good thing. Depending on what you did, it could have been worse. Much worse."
"It probably should be." Declan said. "Where's Torrie?"
"Talking to Sean and Jay. Really don't know why." Peter said. "But it's done. You two should be more careful. I won't do this again."
"Thanks." Declan said. "I guess we can go back now."
"Food?" Fiona piped in.
Declan sighed. "You're so spoiled Fi. Fine. Food first."
"Hey, Jamie," Peter said catching his roommate's attention. "A few friends of mine are heading towards a club later on called The Ravine. You in? With a ride like that, I'm sure you're bound to pick up someone."
"Sure." James stated. "I'm going to get them something to eat, probably me too, and head on back."
"Go ahead. I have business to handle." Peter said before flicking the cigarette butt out of his mouth. "See you guys later."
"Well this was a waste of time." Fiona said. "They could have done this without us going anywhere."
James sighed. "A waste of gas is more like it…"
Peter shrugged. "Not really my problem."
With that, Peter walked off leaving James and the Coyne twins. James just looked at the two. They were very much different and yet the same at the same time. He knew that just by the way they stood and stared.
He and the Coyne twins were going to have a lot in common, he figured.
"Alright, let's get something to eat." James said. "I really don't want to be out and about for so long. I don't even know this place."
"Sure Jaime." Fiona said. "Let's go Dex."
"Yeah." Declan said.
As the trio walked towards the car, Fiona had once again gone into a texting spree with whomever. Meanwhile, James just thought about one thing.
Would Manny be at this Ravine?