Author's Notes: this is the edited version of my first Degrassi 'fic. The original will be available at my website (linked in my profile) at a later date.

Degrassi and the characters of? Not mine.

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Craig Manning had a deep-rooted hatred of school picture day.

It was probably due to the fact that all of his school pictures turned out horrible, with one of his eyes half closed, or a tuft of hair sticking out obnoxiously, or he'd forgotten it was picture day altogether, and he was wearing his scrubbiest looking clothes. He knew that high school photos were important—you were supposed to look your best because you wanted to be remembered as beautiful or handsome. But that certainly didn't mean his disdain for the occasion had lessened.

This time, he'd tried his best to actually have a decent photo. He'd brushed his hair a little, applied the tiniest bit of pomade or whatever that hair junk Sean had shoved at him to his curls, checked his teeth and outfit (gray "vintage" t-shirt and blue jeans), and reported to the gym to have his picture taken. It was relatively painless, shockingly. The slightly goofy-looking photographer told him to "sit up straight, slightly tilt your body toward the camera, and SMILE."

Craig prayed the picture wouldn't suck.

Mrs. Kwan had instructed the students to return to her classroom after having their pictures taken, and Craig was en route to the room when he heard sniffling. Curious, he turned a corner and walked down the corridor a little. There, sitting outside of the girls' washroom with her knees drawn close to her chest and mascara running in small black streams down her cheeks was Ashley Kerwin.

Craig slightly knew of her. Sean had told him about her, and how she'd thrown this party the year before that went disastrous. Ashley had taken E, and ended up making out with Sean, although at the time she was still "officially" with Jimmy Brooks. She had also called Paige Michalchuck a hag at the infamous party. He'd also heard various snatches of gossip about Ashley from other classmates, but Craig didn't believe anything yet. He'd only spoken to Ashley on a few occasions, but she seemed nice enough…

"Hey," he said softly, kneeling next to her.

Ashley looked up at him, her eyes still brimming with tears. "Hi. Don't you have a class to go to?" She wiped her eyes with the sleeves of her sweatshirt, leaving black smudges on them.

Craig cleared his throat. "Yes. Yes I do. But I happened to hear you, and… I was just curious. What's wrong?"

Ashley's sniffling had subsided, and her eyes were bowed down. "Every. Damn. Thing. Is. Wrong," she said, her voice in total monotone. "I screwed things up with Sean. Jimmy hates me, Paige hates me, and…" Her voice broke. "She. She even turned Terri against me. And Terri. Terri was the ONLY person who gave a damn about me when my mom insisted on sending me into therapy over the summer… she was the only one who cared, and PAIGE just… RUINED it." Fresh tears sprang to her eyes.

Craig just sat there, not quite knowing what to do. He wrapped his left arm anxiously around Ashley's shoulder. It was the only thing he could think of doing.

"What did I do?" Ashley sobbed. "How could I have been so… stupid?"

He didn't want to spew clichés—it's okay; we all screw up; don't worry about it. But for some reason, he felt compelled not to. All he could really do was listen to her, and give her a shoulder to cry on. And as Ashley sobbed, Craig wondered how much hell Kwan would give him, and why he found himself thinking that Ashley was gorgeous, even with mascara-stained cheeks.