Author's Note: My sole mission with this particular story is to try and fit it into the original Degrassi storyline as well as possible. Meaning, basically, that nothing about the school's students is to be drastically different by the time this reaches the show's current season. (Will it actually make it that far? We'll have to wait and see.) Some events and timelines may be altered (a little), but it will be necessary to make this approach work.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT by Caffeine Productions
CHAPTER ONE: Welcome to Degrassi

Degrassi Community School. The city of Toronto. Dominica knew no more.

It should have been a drastic, almost traumatizing move, but her mom seemed more concerned about her than she was. Maybe Dominica had just grown numb to all of the problems. Maybe that was what happened when so many bad events occurred one after the other, always cramped closely together.

Not that she didn't still miss her dad… That would ultimately take the longest to fade.

Her main intent on that first day of New School was not to draw attention to herself; it could only make getting started difficult. Of course, in order to remain inconspicuous, she would've had to alter her entire appearance. Something about her punk-girl persona just seemed to draw eyes even when there were more people around that shared her style. Or maybe it was how out-of-place her New York Rangers T-shirt (youth-sized for the proper fit) was against both the Canadian background and the rest of her dark ensemble. If a friend from her old school had been with her, however, she would have denied all of this and insisted that it was simply the Italian beauty that Dominica was fortunate to have… but she wouldn't be quick to listen, smile or no.

After all, she wasn't entirely Italian.

Disregarding the stares and curious glances, a few double-takes thrown in for good measure, nobody actually acknowledged the new student with words until she found herself in the main office. She was thankful that somebody had kept an eye out for her; she couldn't imagine what could be worse than needing to figure out the ropes of this place by herself. The man held out his hand to her and stated, "You must be Dominica, the new girl."

"Right," Dominica responded, taking the man's hand and shaking it.

"I'm Principal Raditch. I have your schedule and information with me here…" Principal Raditch handed her a couple pieces of paper. Then, he went on, speaking quickly to try and get the initial instructions finished in as little time as possible, "Eleanor Nash has kindly offered to show you around. If you have any questions, she'll be happy to help.

"Finally, welcome to Degrassi."

The door opened. This girl—Eleanor Nash—had stunningly red hair, a color that always struck Dominica as refreshingly unique whenever she saw it… especially when it wasn't a dye-job.

Both in fishnet sleeves and dark clothes, Dominica and Eleanor looked rather alike… minus Dominica's black hair, slightly darker skin, and the hockey shirt.

"I'm Ellie," was Eleanor's greeting.

Dominica answered with, "I'm Dom."

Ellie broke a smile. With a nod, she added, "I'm thinking that the two of us won't have any problem getting along."

Dom was led to her locker, Ellie giving a bit of direction to places such as the bathroom and Dom's first class along the way. Then, Ellie insisted that meeting other students was in order before getting a tour of the rest of the building. It was almost impossible not to try looking in every direction at once as Dom walked alongside the red-haired girl, taking in the sights and students of her new, hopefully-permanent school. She was finding herself feeling rather content already, despite first days being a stressful matter in themselves.

Out of nowhere, Ellie stopped talking. Her attention seemed to have been claimed by another matter. A boy was trying to signal to her from around the corner. Short, blonde hair. Muscular. By the look on Ellie's face, it was her boyfriend. He was trying to get her to come to him. Alone.

"Uh…" Ellie paused a second. "That's Sean… Will you excuse me for a moment? Feel free to do a little exploring on your own if you feel up to it. Come over in about ten minutes, okay? We'll be by the big window around the corner. You can't miss it."

Dom nodded, watched as Ellie jogged over to Sean, then decided to search for a place where she could direct her attention.

Wandering was always an option… No reason to interrupt Ellie and Sean's conversation prematurely.

For some reason, there's always that good possibility that you're going to literally run into somebody if you don't pay attention while you're walking, whether it be in a crowded school or on a deserted sidewalk. The chance of this happening also seems to increase with how distracted you really are. Dom didn't normally make such a mistake, but this environment was so fascinatingly new to her that there was really no avoiding it. She collided with a boy hard enough to make her ears ring, and her Rangers messenger bag fell from its loose position on her shoulder as the boy's books dropped to the floor right along with his own bag. Dom was immediately down on her knees to help him pick them up.

"Oh… damn," Dom muttered. She grabbed a few of the books, and the boy grabbed the rest. He seemed severely shaken by their collision, if not downright anxious. When Dom slid his black messenger bag toward him, he flinched back a little, like someone who had grown accustomed to expecting attacks from those around him.

Dom finally looked up at him as the two of them straightened up at the same instant. His face was framed in long, well-kempt brown hair, and there was a shimmer on the circular lenses of his glasses that somehow drew Dom's attention.

"I'm so sorry about that…" Dom quickly apologized. That seemed to bring the boy out of himself a bit… enough to accept his books back, at least. "I've been trying to take in everything at once… It's my first day here. I'm Dominica, by the way. Dom for short."

"I'm Rick."

It wasn't until she noticed Rick's new smile that she became aware of her own. There was something about him… Dom couldn't explain it; she was just drawn to it.

And to think that this was only day one…

Adjusting her bag so that the strap ran across her chest (thus making it harder to drop this time), she told Rick, "I should probably get back before it's too late to finish my miniature tour… I'm still learning my way around here."

"I'll see you around, then?" Rick asked quietly, almost secretively. Dom felt her smile become just a bit wider. Before she turned around to walk away, she met Rick's eyes a final time and said sweetly,

"Yeah. Yeah, you will."

That expression that just felt so utterly idiotic on her face was still there when Dom turned the corner to where Ellie had gone. She and Sean were sitting in front of an obvious, large window along with two other boys and one more girl. One of those boys was tall, long, curly blonde hair on his head, donned in a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey of its blue home-style. His arm was over the shoulders of the considerably shorter boy next to him. Dom recognized this second guy as Italian instantly because of his dark hair and skin of a few shades darker than her own.

Their final companion was in a pink-and-white outfit that looked to have taken a decent amount of coordinating and putting-together, every piece a flawless match other than the bright orange ribbon pinned to her shirt. This girl had blonde hair with shimmering, frizz-free curls. Up until she caught Dom coming toward them through her peripheral vision, she and Ellie were sharing a conversation. When the blonde girl looked up, so did Ellie.

"Just the moment for introductions. I didn't think we'd have time before our first class."

Dom made the approach. Once she stopped next to Ellie, the red-haired girl stood up and continued to speak.

"Dom, this is Paige—" The blonde, fashionable female. "—Marco—" The Italian. "—Dylan, Marco's boyfriend—" That would be the curly-haired boy. Ellie shot a small glance toward Dylan and Marco as though wondering if either of them would mind the divulgence of such information to a total stranger, but they showed no such signs. Ellie had undoubtedly worded her acceptance of this newcomer, and the two boys appeared willing to take her word for it. "—and, finally, Sean.

"This," Ellie turned to address the group, "is Dominica. Dom."

"Isn't that name Italian?"

That was Marco. His question was almost amusing, but only because he cut off Dylan; the taller boy opened his mouth to say something himself, but Marco beat him to it.

"'Dominica'? Yeah, it's Italian. I'm only a quarter Italian myself, though. The rest is Irish," Dom explained.

"And you're from New York," Dylan added. It wasn't a question.

"Right."

"Big hockey fan?" Dylan went on.

"Absolutely. There would be no life without it."

"Wow." Paige's turn. She sounded more tired than anything. "What are the chances of one new student coming here and having something in common with all three of you?"

"I told you that we wouldn't have any trouble with this one," Ellie said, looking pleased. Maybe even a little relieved. "Come on, Dom, I'll actually show you to your first class this time, just to be sure you don't get lost. We can let the others interview you later."

The five Degrassi students grouped together and led Dom through the halls. She didn't necessarily need to walk behind them, but it seemed helpful in preventing another accidental collision.

Speaking of the event… Dom spotted Rick just as the thought of him passed through her mind. He was standing off to the side near a row of lockers not too far away from where they originally met. She smiled at him as she went past, and he instantly returned the gesture.

She liked his smile. There was no denying it.

Dominica was quick to accept such a positive interaction from this new-school experience. For the first time in years, she could find nothing wrong with her situation. Who could let that go to waste?

Curiosity didn't cross her mind over the vibrant ribbon that Paige wore. She had no reason to wonder. As observant as she was in a place that had her in awe when things could have gone straight to hell instead, she just didn't realize how many of these ribbons were actually floating around with the disgruntled students of a drama-filled school.