Degrassi School For the Mentally Ill
Chapter One: Welcome to the Black Parade
"You're gonna believe that klepto over me?" Bianca shrieked, once again lurching towards Imogen with a snarl. "Check her pockets! Check her pockets!"
Mr. Simpson pulled back on her arms to restrain her. "Bianca," he said calmly, "Bianca. Your wallet is on the table. You must have put it over there and forgotten." Bianca snapped her head to the right wildly - her wallet was, in fact, on the table. She wrestled out of Mr. Simpson's arms, slouching.
"See?" Imogen said, her signature snide smile snaking its way onto her lips as she walked past Bianca, "I'm getting better... unlike some people."
"You were provoking her," a new voice said. Bianca and Imogen turned to find a boy they hadn't seen before, probably a new kid. Hie had brown hair and brown eyes and damn, he was hot. As Mr. Simpson left the crime scene, the boy sauntered over to them. "And you were totally eyeing that wallet."
Imogen's jaw dropped. "Who are you, anyway?" she asked.
"Drew Torres," he answered, "My parents shipped me here over the weekend. And who might you lovely ladies be?"
"Imogen Moreno, commonly known as 'klepto'," Imogen said, extending her hand, "Pleased to meet you." Drew shook her hand, then held his out to Bianca, who just stared at it, clearly unamused. "This is Bianca. She can be a bit grumpy, don't take it personally."
"I am not grumpy!" Bianca snapped. She couldn't help but laugh at the irony of her own statement. "Okay, okay. Bianca DeSousa." She held her hand out to Drew, hoping for a second chance. He took it, and lightly brushed his lips against the back of it.
"It's an honor," Drew said. Imogen snorted and nugded Bianca, shooting her a pointed look as she very subtly left the two alone.
"So, what're you in for?" Bianca asked nonchalantly. Drew inhaled sharply, but didn't offer up any other response. "C'mon. We're all crazy here. What's your damage?"
The look Drew gave her was almost a glare, but not quite. "What's yours?" he asked, an edge in his voice.
"Post-traumatic stress disorder," she answered instantly, "Long story short, a guy tried to rape me, I killed him, then his little buddy turned me into his bitch for a while. I got him arrested, but it sure as hell did a number on me. Nightmares, panic attacks, the works."
Drew raised an eyebrow, didn't seem to take note of the tragic story otherwise. "You're a pretty open person, eh?"
"People can't spread shit about me if I spread it myself," Bianca answered, shrugging. "Now, I told you why I'm here, you gonna return the favour?"
"I'm pretty sure I never agreed to that," Drew said quickly. Bianca started to protest, but Drew cut her off. "Oh, what's that?" he asked, putting a hand to his ear as if he heard someone calling him in the distance, "Must be Dr. Oh. I have an appointment for.." He searched for a clock, but didn't find one. "Now."
"Asshole," Bianca muttered as he left, mostly to herself but loud enough for Drew to hear.
"Always," he called over his shoulder as he disappeared from the common room into the hallway.
"So?" Imogen asked, suddenly appearing right behind Bianca and making her jump straight out of her skin. "Was he awesome? Did you fall in looove?"
"Shut up, Immy!" Bianca laughed, picking a pillow up from the couch and throwing it at her. The two settled onto said couch. "I probably scared him off. I have this theory that if I blurt out my sob story in the first conversation, it'll weed out the people I actually want to talk to, but usually no one ends up getting weeded out."
"Hey, you weeded me out," Imogen said, then paused to think. "Actually, you're right, I'm not a weed, I'm a flower. Maybe you should change your theory."
"I still don't see how you guys are friends," Eli interrupted, sliding onto the couch next to Imogen and wrapping an arm around her. "I'm pretty sure you're plotting to kill each other more often than not."
Imogen rolled her eyes at Eli and shrugged his arm off. Bianca, noticing that Imogen was clearly uncomfortable, gave Eli a sarcastic smile. "Well, there's not many viable options for friends around here," she said in a fake-sweet voice, "You have to find the people who aren't completely insane. So if you were wondering why we haven't befriended you yet..."
"Yeah, the girl who steals everything in sight and the girl who wakes up screaming every night..." he trailed off, his eyes lighting up. "That would actually work so well in the poem I'm writing..."
"Don't fucking talk about Imogen like that," Bianca said, rising from her seat and moving forward. Imogen held her back.
"Calm, down, Bee," she said, firmly pushing Bianca back onto the couch, "You know you're going to get in trouble if you kick another guy's ass."
Eli laughed once, shaking his head. "I'd like to see her try." But apparently he didn't - he quickly got off the couch and walked away, muttering under his breath. When Bianca dragged her eyes away from his back, Imogen was smiling uncontrollably.
"You admitted it," Imogen said. Bianca's eyes widened and she immediately started to protest, but Imogen fought back my poking her arm over and over. "You're my friend," she said, "You're my friend, you're my friend, you're my friend -"
"My annoying friend," Bianca snapped before breaking into a warm smile. "I have to have at least one friend," she said, "And from what I've seen, you're the least likely to murder me in my sleep. It's not like I like you or anything sappy like that."
Imogen shrugged. "I'll take what I can get. Although it would probably be a better idea to befriend the person who's most likely to murder you in your sleep. Wouldn't want to get on their bad side, now would you?"
"Well, in that case, I should probably replace you with..." She searched the common room, but it fell flat. "I don't know, everyone in here's actually pretty damn sane. I guess they can't let the really crazy people mingle with the others."
"They never find the really crazy people," Imogen answered, her voice dead serious. When Bianca looked over at her, her eyes matched her tone. "It's so ingrained in them that no one notices. Well, until they shoot."
Bianca drew her eyebrows together, her expression a mix of confusion and horror. "O-kay. You've officially stolen any hope of my nightmares ever going away."
And just like that, Imogen's face brightened and her lips curled into a smirk. She put an arm around Bianca. "It's what I do best."
Alright, this is a bit short and ended sort of abruptly, but it kinda wrote itself and I'm actually pretty pleased with it, so I hope you guys are too. Reviews/favourites/alerts/et cetera are always appreciated! And I'd really like some input - what characters would you like to see next? What ships do you want? What disorders do you want the characters to have? I'm still in the process of plotting, really, so anything goes! :)