A/N: I know you guys are probably like, 'How did Manny affect other people? She didn't even have a real storyline until 'U Got the Look'. I know that, but this is fan fiction, I can mold it anyway I want to mold it and this is the way I want to mold it: Manny dies and will be missed by all…or most…, but before she died, She helped out some people before she became 'slutty'. Not major things, but enough to be some what remembered by those that she helped. I'm sorry if I didn't clarify this earlier. Now, on with the story.

Chapter 2: Manny's Confession

No one specific

For some it was just another day at Degrassi, for two other people, it was as if no else existed because they were too lost in their thoughts to notice the people passing them by. Because the two people in the accident were minors, the police had refused to release information to the press. The only thing that the people of Toronto knew was that there was an accident that involved a drunk driver and a female jogger.

Emma

Emma walked through halls, her face covered with a scowl. She had pleaded with her mother and father to allow her to stay home and sleep away the pain of Manny's death but, they refused to let her stay home seeing as she was capable enough to beg them to let her stay in. "Emma wait up!" called Toby who had ran along side her.

"What do you want Toby?" asked an annoyed and very upset Emma. Toby answered, looking offended, "Geez, if I knew you were gonna be so hormonal I would have walked to class without you."

Emma ignored Toby and kept on walking straight ahead. "So, I don't see Manny, is she here?" asked Toby trying to lighten the mood, not knowing about what Spinner had down to Manny. Emma broke down in tears and ran off to the girls bathroom. Toby's face scrunched up as he asked himself, "What'd I say?" He shrugged it off as PMS and walked off to class.

Craig

Craig sat in Mrs. Kwan's classroom silent, numb, and unaware of what was going on around him. The only thing going through his mind was pictures of Manny from the day he first met her to the look in her eyes before she died. So much pain, so much hurt that he felt he could have prevented.

He felt as if he could have protected her, like he should have protected her. If he had forced Spinner out of the car then Manny would still be alive. He blamed himself, but he wasn't about to tell anyone that. He was too afraid that people would agree that he could have stopped Spinner and hate him forever. So he kept quiet and to himself. Only answering questions when he was forced to.

"Hey Craig!" greeted Ashley, breaking him out of his reverie. She walked over to give him a kiss and was shocked when he didn't kiss her back. "Okay, did I miss something?" she asked as she stared into his dark detached eyes. He only stared at the empty black board, letting her words go in one ear out the next.

Ashley set her things down and said, "Well, when you feel like talking, I'll be right here." She grumbled under her breath when he still didn't answer and stared out the window.

Emma

Emma had took her seat just as the last bell rung after crying in the girls bathroom. She logged on the computer and was immediately greeted by JT who was iming her. She sighed and answered back that she was not in the mood to listen to his lame jokes. J.T sent her a questioning look, but it went by unnoticed.

No One Specific

The morning announcements popped on television and the students knew it wasn't just a regular day when they saw the sadden face of Ms. Hazilakos on the screen. The students paid more attention to the announcements this morning, but no one was prepared for what was to be said.

"I received some very sad news yesterday. I'm sure you all know about the accident that occurred Tuesday concerning a drunk driver and a jogger who was hit. I was informed by one of our teachers that a student of Degrassi was the jogger." said Ms. Hazilakos as she looked into the camera.

You could here a lot of the students in Ms. Kwan's classroom along with Ms. Kwan who's head bowed down saying, 'Another one'. A lot of those people were asking why. The students began looking around to see who was absent and was relieved to see everyone there, but still worried about their friends in other classes. Craig just clenched his teeth and peered out into the drive way of the school, emotionless.

In Mr. Simpson's class, everyone was saying the same thing. 'Not another one'. Asking, 'Why Degrassi, why our school'. Everyone looked around them to see who was missing from school today and saw Manny's empty seat beside Emma. They all wanted to chalk it up to she was just sick, but saw the lone tear drop from Emma's eye and knew that Manny wasn't sick.

J.T looked from Manny's empty seat to Emma's lone tear to Mr. Simpson busying himself in grading papers. "Manny?" he asked softly to know one in particular. He shook his head no. Toby had told J.T that Emma was being hormonal and that was the reason for her ignoring him and her lone tear. Mr. Simpson was trying to finish some last minute grading before homeroom. That's what he was doing. Right?

Ms. Hazilakos continued, " I realize how hard this may be for everyone, especially because of what happened last year when a student brought a gun to school and shot another student and himself. Manny Santos was jogging when she was hit by a drunk driver who wasn't paying attention. I can't tell you how upset I am that another one of our students was loss do to carelessness and misjudgment."

The school went through another wave of silence, the only sound being made were the sobs of those who knew Manny well. "I understand that a lot of you knew Manny very well which is why we are allowing those to go home early so long as its okay with their parents. But, before you go we have a home video, a confession from Manny Santos before the accident. This tape was found by Manny's mother, Mrs. Santos, when she was going through some of Manny's things just after the accident. She knows it was Manny's private possession, but felt it necessary that you all knew the Manny behind the clothes. So I ask that you all watch it, I know it'll be hard, but please watch it." said Ms. Hazilakos.

She stood up from the seat and the screen went black momentarily, but then Manny's face came on. From the background it looked as if she was in her room. She was sitting on the bed Indian style in a set of heart and kisses decorated pajamas smiling ear to ear, her dimples showing fully.

Manny (video)

"Its me, Manny. Obviously. (giggles like a school girl). Well if anyone is watching this then I've either moved far, far away from hear or died at the peaceful age of like a hundred. (laughs) So, I've been seeing a therapist. My parents are like wasting money on a therapist cause they think I've lost my mind wearing these belly baring, skin tight clothes. I agree. I told my therapist about Rick and Spinner and Jimmy. He sent me to a doctor for wanting to give Spinner a second chance."

"If the people who are watching this go to Degrassi then you probably think I needed my head examined too. But think about it, I'm Manny Santos the school slut right? I mean that's what everyone else thinks so why shouldn't I give Styx, I mean Spinner another chance? I say, if we're on the same shit sinking ship we minds well help each other out. I wouldn't be surprise if I die thinking about giving Spin a second chance."

"I'll tell this to a camera in my house when no one's home, but I'll die before I tell that stuck up therapist of mine. She drives me crazy! 'And how does that make you feel?'. I ask her a question and she answers back with a question. I hate when people do that. I love Mrs. Kwan, but it absolutely drives me nuts when she does that! Now, on the other hand, my therapist helps me out a lot. I can tell her things and know that no one will ever know what I tell her because she won't and can't tell anyone. Patient, therapist, confidentiality. Don't you just love it?"

"I told her about me before the sudden change of style, about Emma, J.T, the abortion, Craig, Ashley, Paige, Hazel, hell, I even told her about my idiot airhead of an ex-boyfriend Sully. God I wish I never met him. There were a number of reasons why I changed my type of clothing and Sully was not one of them. He was thedecoy, a fake reason to give to the people who asked why I changed my choice of clothing. I wouldn't dare tell anyone the real reason why I changed so drastically. Not Craig, not Emma, not my parents, definitely not my parents, no one."

"I don't want people feeling sorry for me or the guidance counselor beckoning me from class to have a 'one on one' talk with her and I definitely don't want to have to see my therapist more than I already have to. That is exactly why no one will see this until I've died or move to some place like Africa and join the peace core. That's a laugh, those people would have to have a serious loose screw in their head to even interview me let alone let me join them."

"Anyway. My reasons for changing all lead up to one massive one. I wanted, no needed to be known as more than Emma Nelson's best friend. I thought joining the spirit squad would do that and it did. I went from being 'Manny, Emma Nelson's best friend' to 'Emma Nelson's best friend and Paige's lackey'. I love Em, she's like a sister to me, but I want to be known as Manny Santos. Just Manny Santos. And okay, I went overboard way overboard, but I wasn't Emma Nelson's best friend Manny, I was HOT, HOT, HOT Manny. Someone people would remember me as."

"Just so you know I wasn't marked as 'The School Slut', I was known as Degrassi's it girl, other than Paige. I wasn't marked the school until the whole 'dating/sleeping with Craig behind Ashley's back while Craig was still dating her. Everyone's heard Ashley's story and maybe even Craig's…whatever the hell it was…but you never heard mine and this is it."

"I admit I came on to Craig and that was when we…did it. Major detail, we only did it once. But, I didn't see him stopping. Oh god, now I'm really sounding like a slut 'But, I didn't see him stopping'. Anyway, after that, we met at this rave and then it started there. Meeting up in his garage talking about any and everything and playing music singing silly duets. hehe…we even sung that duet I had in my fantasy about him in eighth grade when he came into my classroom and we sing this duet and then he carries me away into the sunset. Stupid, stupid girl I was…am…was. Hmmm, confusing."

"Anyway. I gave him an ultimatum around Christmas of…2003, bad idea. The ultimatum was he either choose Ashley or me. He said he couldn't make that choice, I said he just did. The next night he comes on to the ice at the skating rank…another story…with no skates calls, out my name and without my minds consent, I turned around. He says, 'Its you, its always been you.'. I squealed and he picks me up, my legs wrap around his waist and I kiss him all over his face. We messed around for like an hour and a half and then he walked me home."

"Here I am thinking I had him all to myself and what does he do? UGH! I thought he got his justice when he lost both Ashley and I. WRONG! Stupid girl I am. We forgot to use a umm….you know. Which means I got…pregnant. I told him, he was happy, we got back together. We were planning on having a family, me him, and our baby. We were even looking at baby names of course Ashley had to go and ruin that. I mean I know she was upset, but to tell everyone my business because Craig was taking responsibility of me and our daughter…cruel. That's what it was, cruel. And I bet you any amount of money Paige was the one who told her. She can't keep a secret. But then again, neither can I."

"And to think I was going to name my baby after Paige since Emma was already going to be the godmother. I changed my mind about naming her after Paige or anyone else I knew because it didn't fit her. She didn't look like a Paige or a Emma. She looked more like an….Angie, but different. Amazing how much you can tell from a sonogram. I named her Kathleen Joanna Santos. I love the name so I didn't change it, but I was going to hurt anyone…who knew I named her or even knew I knew it was a her…call her 'Kathy Jo'."

"Being fifteen and pregnant is hard, but aborting your baby is even worse. Its worse than getting hit by a truck or being called a slut by your best friend since forever. Its worse than being….it's a bad thing and I don't recommend it for anyone. Not even people who actually have something going for them…something to look forward to when they graduate. Today, I asked myself why I aborted the baby… I couldn't think of a reason."

"I should let you know I only made this confession thing because my therapist suggested it and then told my parents that she suggested it which means I had to do it. I had no intention of living my hell all over again. She said it would help me release stress. She said I could tell the camera the things I couldn't tell her. That's not true. Except for a few things. She also said I should start out the video with what I was like at age five to what I'm like now. I do what I want when I want, so that didn't work out too well. I can tell you what I was like from five to fifteen. I can tell you how my mind worked from five to fifteen. But, I can't tell you anything about me from age fifteen to what ever age I am now…well whatever age I am or was when you first watched this."

"I'm going to start at age five and end at age twelve. When I was five I met J.T. He's like the goofiest person I've ever met. We did everything together. Then, I met Emma. We did everything together. Then Emma met J.T and we all became like one big happy go lucky family. At age six…I was diagnosed with….its okay Manny, no one will ever see this…I was diagnosed with…heart cancer. I was sent to the U.S for two years to go through chemotherapy and hopefully a heart transplant. They-my parents- sent me there so that no one would know about the cancer. Emma, J.T, and everyone else thought I was visiting a relative in the Philippines and going to school down there too. That wasn't true."

"I was to sick to go to school, in New York, where I was staying, everyone went to school, so there weren't any need for home school teachers. Which means I failed kindergarten and first grade. (I was two years older than Emma and J.T…funny, I looked like I was the same age as them, I just grew…more advanced before they did…mostly Emma.) So after the transplant, I came back to Toronto and caught up with my friends and entered kindergarten with Emma and J.T."

"At age seven, I started figure skating….without telling Emma and J.T. At the time we were all tomboys so figure skating and anything that has to do with dressing like a girl was out of the question. I was pretty good if you ask me. Eventually, we grew out of that faze but, I still kept my figure skating…and ballet a secret from Emma and J.T. I mean seriously, I wouldn't be able to come up with awesome floor exercises for gymnastics without some dancing skills already drilled in my mind now would I?"

"By the way, this is really random, but I could kick Jimmy Brooks butt in basketball any day of the week. Four words. Three brothers, only daughter. Anyway, age ten I started gymnastics. The balance beam was my best section, but I'm good all around…from what my coach, Cynthia, told me. When I turned twelve, Cynthia got an assistant coach who attended Bardell and was a gymnast himself to help her with all of us at Cynthia's Gymnastics for Ladies of All Ages. His name is Andrew, he was sixteen then, and he was HOT,HOT,HOT! Which means he's twenty now. Hmm, twenty minus sixteen? That's only four years."

"Age thirteen I left Cynthia's and openly joined the Degrassi Gymnastics Team. I know I said I'd stop at age twelve, but I need to get this out. At age fifteen, sometime in between Craig and Spinner, I ran into Andrew at the Mall. He was nineteen then, you probably already figured this out if you can count. We got caught up and then on the way to my house, he was dropping we off, he asked me out. I said yes and we dated for about two and a half months and then we broke up. We had to, his parents found out and made us break up because it was bad for his reputation to be dating a fifteen year old."

"That was my life, or the part that I decided to put on the video, so I'll go now. Wait! I want to tell the camera that I made another video just for Emma. Which means no one else is suppose to see it. I also made a personal video for Craig. Taped to it is a picture, well two pictures. Hey, Craig, if I die before you, can you like, make sure I'm buried with that gold figure skating charm bracelet on my right wrist? Thank you. And Craig, I'll always love you."

No specific person

The screen went blank and then Ms. Hazilakos came back on. "I realize everyone is upset and tired, we're letting everyone go home early. Tomorrow though, I want everyone here for the memorial that the school is having for Manny in the auditorium after homeroom. Mr. And Mrs. Santos will be there and I think it would help them a lot if the students of Degrassi gave their condolences, friend, acquaintance, or not a friend or acquaintance."

Craig

By the end of the video, Craig had started crying in front of the entire class. Ashley, still in shock from the whole ordeal, tried her best to comfort him, but he refused her and ran out of the classroom.

Craig walked aimlessly around the school, fresh tear stains reflecting the light from the ceiling. He stopped at every spot he had ever stood alone with Manny. He stopped at the locker where he told her she was too young for him. He stopped at the spot where he gave her the bracelet.

He decided it was all too much, plus students started filing out of the classrooms, so he went outside. That's when he saw the spot where Manny had told him she was pregnant and that he was the father. He smiled at the memory, then saddened again when he thought about the abortion.

He was surprised when she talked about the abortion, but then again, she hadn't expected anyone to see the video. He was excited to know that she had named the baby. He was excited to know that his baby was a little girl. He was shocked when she had said that she named the baby after his mother and Joey. He knew there was more to her reasoning for naming their daughter after his mother and step father, but he hadn't the time to think about that for Joey had rounded the corner to pick him up. The principal must have called him after Mrs. Kwan had told her about Craig running out.

"Manny's mom drop this by for you. She said it was from Manny. I guess it's a box full of your things." said Joey as he pointed to the brown moving box in the back seat next to Angie who was silent through everything. Joey had broke the news about Manny to her just twenty minutes ago and she had not taken it well. She didn't cry, she only looked away and refused to talk only saying that she would talk about it later.

Craig looked at the box and then just sat in the front seat and put his book bag in between his legs on the floor. "You guys only went on a date one time. I remember you came home and complained that she was acting to young for you, more like you're sister. So, why did she give you this box? Is there something you didn't tell me?" asked Joey, unaware of his and Manny's past.

Craig said, finally speaking without being forced to, "It's a long story, we'll talk later. Just…just take me home Joey." The bald headed man just sighed and drove off. Craig watched the scenery as they flew by, he laughed at how funny it was that every single thing reminded him of Manny considering they had only been to three places together. The carnival at the mall, his garage, and the ice rank. He'd miss her, maybe more than anyone…other than her parents.

Emma

Emma cried through the entire video. She was Manny's best friend, yet there were so many things that she didn't know about her. She didn't know Manny was a figure skater, or that she started gymnastics at age ten, she didn't even know Manny had Heart Cancer. She knew nothing about this Andrew guy or that she had been seeing a therapist.

She had remembered Manny say something about her seeing a therapist named Ms. Tillwood and that she had only known her via another friend. She must have been referring to herself. But, what surprised Emma the most was that Manny had said things about the abortion that she didn't know. She didn't know that she was the godmother. Sure she assumed, but she didn't know. She didn't know Manny had a sonogram or that Manny had named the baby after Craig's mom and step dad.

She was clueless to all of it. What upset her, though, not only did her best friend feel that she couldn't tell her everything, but that she, Emma, was one of the main reasons Manny changed her image in the first place. It scared Emma that a therapist knew more about her best friend than she did. By the end of the video, and the analysis of her thoughts, she concluded that she knew absolutely nothing about her best friend where it counts and now the entire school knew.

No one specific

Everyone went home that day, each with their own thoughts. A lot of people wanted to know who had killed Manny and wondered if that person would be in jail. A lot of people were also wondering when was Degrassi going to stop being the school where all the bad things happen. When was it all going to end?

Tomorrow will be a new day and then they will all find out who had killed Manny. Then, they'll wish they never knew. If they thought today was hard, then tomorrow will be unbearable.

A/N: I know this is probably sad, but I promise it will pick up. A lot of the things in Manny's video was personal and not even possible due to the years and everything, but please bare with me. I hadn't intended it to be that long, but it was. So to end this, thank you for reading and please review.