This is my version of Rock This Town, with a bittersweet Janny sub-plot, just like a real Degrassi episode. The time line is a little different, basically its the same time as RTT, but Manny and Jay are together, but not engaged, just dating. Hope you likey
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Degrassi. :)
Snapshot: they stood together, plunged into darkness, lit only by twinkling Christmas lights in the background. It wasn't Christmas, but no-one cared. He was much taller than her; he had a good three or four inches on her, even in her tallest (most expensive) Manolo Blahniks. He draped an arm around her back and rested his hand on her hip and the other was entwined through her own fingers. Flash! The moment was cemented in a photograph, proof that they could be happy. Proof Jay Hogart made someone feel happy.
He took her hand and lead her out, spun her around and made her feel a million dollars. He pulled her back in and she sank into his wrath of safety. They rocked rhythmically to the heavy, pounding music. Manny was floating in ecstasy, her feet a million miles off the ground. As the beat melted away and the music began to fade, Jay placed a lingering kiss upon her lips. At that moment, Manny knew she was the happiest she'd been in a long time. A new song burst out of the speakers and spilled all over the dance floor. This time, it was slow, mushy record, with a sickly sweet, twinkly r&b melody and infectious bass line. They remained close, moving slowly to the tune, completely unaware of the other people around them. They were merely spectators, watchers, an audience.
Manny flipped herself around so Jay was behind her. His hands were on her hips and they moved together in time with the music. It was so loud and busy in the house, but the music was a muffled blur. Her heart was beating out of her chest, the crazy hammering was resounding in her head. She felt his breath on the side of her face and turned her head up to go face to face with him. He craned his neck in and they made out as if no-one was watching, forget dance as if no-one was watching! Things were heating up, and fast. Manny flipped around to face Jay without loosing contact with his lips. Jay subtly took a few steps backwards and Manny followed suit. They were up against the wall, it was getting harder and harder to contain themselves. Manny felt Jay's hands slip under the fabric of her shirt onto the bare skin. Her heart lurched and she pushed Jay harder against the wall.
He dropped one hand and lowered it to her thigh, caressing it ever so slightly. The other hand remained where it was, the electric passion almost completely encasing them. "Upstairs?" Jay broke the kiss for one moment to ask Manny. She didn't need to reply. A cheeky grin appeared on her face and a deliciously devilish glint flashed across her beautiful brown eyes. She spun on her heel and made her way across to the stairs. She had to fight her way through crowds of noisy, drunk party goers. She kept Jay close to hand at all times. As she battled her way through the crowds, desperate to sneak off somewhere with Jay, she heard a snippet of conversation that made her stop and stare.
"Yeah... some kid... stabbed... Lakehurst guys... outside." Manny could hear little bits of everyones conversations merging. She couldn't quite get her head around what she was hearing. Someone had been stabbed? What the hell?
She rushed up to Spinner who was standing near by and demanded to know what was going on. "Spin, what's going on? I just heard a guy say someone got stabbed?"
"Dimples, what's goin' on?" Jay was equally as confused about the whole situation.
"I don't know! Why won't anyone tell me whats going on?" Manny shouted in frustration, noting the blank expression on Spinner's face when she asked him what was going on.
"Baby, calm down!" Jay tried to get Manny to look at things rationally. "Who did you hear this from?"
"Those two!" Manny pointed out the guys who she'd overheard the rumor from.
"Well, wait here. I'll go over and ask. Wait here, OK." Jay instructed Manny to stay put, scared that what he was about to find out might be too much for her to handle. He had a fair idea on what had happened, he just prayed he was wrong.
"Hey, Buddy. What's goin' on?" Jay walked casually up to the two guys, he didn't know them personally, and inquired about the goings on.
"Some guy from Degrassi got stabbed. That's what I heard." The guy shouted back to him over the music, which was back to a similar heavy, up tempo club track like earlier.
"Do you know who?" Jay shouted back, a lump forming in his throat. His worst fears were coming true. He prayed silently to himself that this guy was getting his facts wrong.
"No, sorry dude." The guy held up his hands like he was surrendering and wandered off, along with his friend, leaving Jay alone to go face Manny and Spinner.
"What? What did they say?" Manny demanded to know as soon as Jay came back over. Emma, Toby and Sean had joined them, dying to know what was going on. It seemed everyone had heard little snippets of conversations regarding the mystery Degrassi victim.
"What's going on, Jay?" Emma requested forcefully. She'd been quite tipsy when making out with Sean upstairs just five minutes ago, but this shocking news had sobered her up. If a guy had got stabbed during her party, she'd be done for.
"They said a guy got stabbed just round by the back." Jay added what he'd heard from a separate source as he was returning.
"What? Oh my God, I'm going to jail!" Emma wailed, perhaps a little self-obsessed.
"He's a Degrassi student." Jay continued solemnly.
"Oh my God! No, it can't be. That's not-"
"Wait! Where's JT? Toby, you saw him last, where did he go?" Manny grabbed Toby's arms and shook him, desperately seeking answers.
Toby's stomach lurched and he felt his knees go weak. JT had gone to search for Liberty. The last time Toby saw him he was headed out the front door. "No way..." Toby gasped, his voice a strangled whisper, barely legible.
"Toby! Why aren't JT and Liberty here! What's going on?" Emma was hysterical with worry. Sean was cradling her in his arms. Jay was stood facing the window, all the others were facing him, away from the view out the window. This meant Jay could see what was going on outside. Hundreds of people were milling around outside. "Em, we don't know anything yet."
"I need to know! JT... it can't be!" Emma stammered.
"Stay there!" Jay snuck out the back door. There was no-one there, they were all stood out the front, wondering what was going on and if the rumors going around were true. Jay ran down the back yard and toward where he knew JT had parked his car. The only sound besides his heavy footsteps was the irritating sound of the chirping crickets, lurking in the foliage.
Jay picked up the pace as he got nearer. He turned a corner and came screeching to a halt as a horrible, horrible sight met his eyes.
Liberty was sat in a crumbled mess on the concrete, hysterical in floods of tears, JT's bloody body lain in front of her, a huge, nasty blood red gash ruining his shirt.
"Holy shit!" Jay whispered as he approached Liberty slowly and knelt by the side of JT's body.
Liberty looked up at Jay and opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out. She sobbed uncontrollably, and Jay had to think fast what to do. This was different than when Sean hit that guy racing. This time, there was blood, and a life on the line, and a girl witnessing it all happen. No girl should have to go through that.
"Liberty! Liberty! You have to get help, have you called 911?" Jay shouted clearly.
It took Liberty several attempts to utter "Yes" to Jay. "OK. We'll have to wait now. What the hell happened?"
Liberty was in no fit state to talk, so Jay accepted her silence. One thing he didn't expect was for her to fall into his arms and want to be held. He obliged. This situation was so crazy. This JT kid... Jay had fucked up his life for him last year when Liberty was pregnant, and he told him all about the wonders of selling Oxycodone. Now the dude was lying here dying and she had to see it unfold in front of her.
Jay knelt down, checking between Liberty and JT. JT's face was pale and his lips were getting blue. He was lying ironically in a basic recovery position, the left side of his face resting on the precipitation soaked ground. The stab wound on his back was horrific. Jay looked at it and cringed to himself. It would take JT a while to get over that one. Jay couldn't think like he was going to die, it just wasn't an option.
He began to hear sirens in the background, accompanied by the sound of rushing footsteps. He turned around to see Toby, Manny, Emma, Sean and Spinner running up to the crime scene, also in hysterics.
"Oh my God, no way! Please, not JT!" Emma was screaming as she saw him slumped on the ground.
Manny burst into tears as she saw the gash on his back. Sean just stood a few feet away looking shell-shocked, as did Spinner.
THIRTY-SEVEN MINTES LATER
JT was gone. His aorta was punctured. He was gone. He'd never be there, ever again. As the news registered with his friends, two other old friends stood together, awkwardly away from the rest of the group, re-evaluating their lost friendship. Jay wasn't ashamed to say he was crying. As if the whole drama with Liberty and JT wasn't enough, seeing his baby Manny crying so inconsolably was almost too much for him to take. Spinner didn't quite know what to make of the whole ordeal. He couldn't believe JT Yorke, that little dork he used to bully in grades seven and eight was dead, because of some stupid beef between two schools.
Manny, Emma, Liberty, Toby and Sean were crowded together, absolutely heartbroken, each and every one of them. Manny, Emma, Sean and Toby had lost their oldest friend. He'd been around since grade seven, even before that for Emma and Manny. But Liberty... Liberty had lost her first love, the love of her life. She'd adored JT since grade seven, she had him for such little time, and every day of their time together was tarnished by some heart breaking trauma, but this was going too far. He'd been taken from her prematurely. She had nothing left to remind her of the times they spent together. He wasn't even hers when he died, he was stuck in some dead-end relationship with some girl who could never have loved him as much as she did. It wasn't fair.
SIX MONTHS, TWO HOURS AND TWENTY-THREE MINUTES LATER
Jay carefully placed the flowers down on the grave. He picked up the old ones from last month and discarded them in the trashcan. He crouched down by the side and thought back to the last time he saw the deceased alive. It had been too long, just as he thought he was forgetting them, a visit to the cemetery bought it all flooding back to him. He sprung back up and slowly walked away from the grave.
"Later, mom." Jay said quietly to himself as he turned to go. He had to pass eighteen rows of graves until he got to the exit, he'd counted many, many times. He studied the names as he walked. Smith, Raymond, Jones, Carter, Allen... all these people lying six feet under. It gave Jay the creeps. It made him feel guilty about having a pack of cigarettes in his pocket.
As he turned the corner to leave, start on the home stretch, a grave caught his eye. He decided to take a detour to visit it.
"JT Yorke." He said out loud, his words were catapulted into the eerie silence. "What's up man?" Jay scanned the lettering. 1989-2007. He was way too young to die. The more Jay thought about this the more he shuddered. Death was a horrible thing and it was all around him. Literally.
A figure approaching in the distance made Jay jump out of his skin. Traipsing through the fallen orange leaves was Toby.
Jay wanted to make a run for it while he still could, but he found something rooting him to the spot. Jay had found over the past six months that Isaacs actually was a pretty decent guy. He even managed to set aside his differences with Sean and Emma, and they became a close group of friends. It was what they all needed; comfort and support in this, their darkest hour.
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