A/N: I didn't mention this in the last chapter, but the characters are going to be OOC. That's what makes the story interesting, right? I feel like I kind of need to clear some things up;
Jess's personality is completely made up by me; I'm just using her name and physical appearance. She's a junior in this story.
Alli is nicknamed Boiler Room Bhandari because of something that happened in her freshman year.
This story is rated M for reasons other than sex. I might just be overly cautious with the rating, because I don't really like writing lemons, but this is still going to be a pretty dark story. Just a warning.
And now… to the story!
000
Adam Torres would never admit it to anyone, but the prospect of a new school year scared the shit out of him.
He was basically still the "new kid," since last year he'd only attended Degrassi for second semester, and he'd done his best to fly under the radar. If anyone paid too much attention to him, they might realize that he didn't look like other guys, that his voice was a little too high, that his chest wasn't entirely flat, despite the uncomfortable bindings hidden under his baggy shirts. They might notice that Adam wasn't like other guys; that he wasn't physically a guy at all.
The only person who knew Adam's transgender secret, besides his family, was Eli Goldsworthy. They had attended the same middle school, and Eli had known Adam as Gracie. He took it remarkably well, though, and had commented that Adam had always seemed more like a dude than a chick to him.
After Adam had decided that he was, well, ready to become Adam, he had begged his parents to let him swap schools. And when he'd realized that his old friend Eli was attending Degrassi after his girlfriend Julia's death… well, it seemed perfect.
But returning to Degrassi now was fucking terrifying him.
There were so many damned people, and he felt like they were all watching him, waiting for him to slip up, waiting for a clue that he wasn't exactly who he said he was, and then his secret would be out. Was this paranoia?
Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean that people aren't out to get me, Adam thought grimly as he stared at the large building. Students were practically running through the doors, and he wondered how the hell they were excited to come back. Who would want to be trapped in a classroom or hallway for seven to eighthours, five days a week, until June?
He wanted to chicken out, to ask Eli to drive him back home and plead with his mother on his hands and knees to home school him. He'd fake an injury, a deadly illness, amnesia, anything to get him out of this.
It's just high school, Adam reminded himself. How bad can it be?
But he really didn't want to know the answer.
000
Clare bit her lip and tried her combination again, the slip of paper clenched in her hand. The first few hours of school hadn't been so bad, but now everyone else was at lunch in the cafeteria, and she was alone in the hallway trying to open her locker for the hundredth time.
She pulled down on the lock and muttered a few not-so-nice words under her breath when it refused to open again. What was with these stupid locks?
"Need some help?
Clare turned to see a petite, pretty Indian girl walking towards her. The girl had most likely just come out of the bathroom or something; her eyes were red-rimmed and a little puffy, like she'd been crying or something. Even so, her smile was bright and honest, and Clare found herself smiling unintentionally back.
"Yeah," she sighed. "I can't open my locker."
She handed the girl the piece of paper with the three numbers written in smudged ink, and she opened it on her first try. Clare's jaw nearly fell through the floor.
"How did you do that?"
"Practice makes perfect," the girl replied, shrugging. She offered her hand and smiled again. "I'm Alli."
Clare shook the girl's hand gratefully. "I'm Clare. I'm… new here. I moved from North Carolina." She glanced around the hallway and then added, "Um, thanks for helping me with my locker. Can you show me where the cafeteria is?"
000
Dave smacked KC's shoulder with the back of his hand to get his attention. "New girl," he said, nodding in her direction.
KC turned to see her and could keep the half grin off of his lips. "She's cute," he observed, and then added quickly, "Sort of," remembering that Jenna was at the table as well.
The girl was actually damned pretty, with short, curly hair, large blue eyes, and curves in all the right places; she was walking with Alli, who led her straight towards their table.
"Hi, guys," Alli chirped. "This is Clare, she's new."
Jenna gave Clare a sunny smile, despite KC's comments about her. "Hi, Clare. I'm Jenna, and these idiots are KC and Dave."
"Hi," Clare mumbled, her cheeks tinted pink. She sat down, a little awkwardly, between Jenna and Alli, and KC felt a little sorry for her. He knew what it felt like to be the new kid, the one who didn't belong. Clare seemed pretty nice, a little shy, and, well, she was cute.
KC shoved the thought out of his mind. He had Jenna; she was all he needed. The new girl was just the new girl, period.
000
Alli concentrated on balancing on the edge of the sidewalk, her arms stretched out to the side, as Clare walked a little behind her to avoid being hit by her flailing hands.
"So why'd you move up to good old Toronto?" Alli inquired, stumbling slightly and then catching her balance.
"Um, I… I made some mistakes," Clare mumbled, and Alli immediately regretted her question. If she had known that it was a touchy subject, she never would have asked. "My aunt lives up here, and my parents kind of… kicked me out."
Alli's eyes widened, and she was glad that her newfound friend couldn't see her face. Her parents had kicked her out? Sure, she knew that it happened to some people, but Clare? Over the few hours Alli had known the girl, she had proven to be kind nearly to the point of being naïve. Exactly what mistakes had she made?
"Oh, I'm sorry," she replied lamely, unsure of what she was supposed to say.
"Yeah, me too," Clare mumbled.
Jess and her friends Marisol and Chantay walked past, giggled, and whispered loudly to each other. Alli caught the words "Boiler Room Bhandari" and squeezed her eyes tightly shut, her hands clenching into fists and her fingernails digging into her palms as she heard the three girls walk away, their shoes tapping against the pavement.
"Alli? Are you okay?" Clare asked in a concerned voice, and Alli opened her eyes, taking a deep breath.
What would it take to erase that day from her memory? She would need brain surgery; doctors would have to cut into her skull to remove it. If they knew, if they just knew the truth behind it… but she couldn't tell anyone.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she lied. "They're just bitches."
"Don't let what people say get to you," Clare encouraged. "At my old school, people called me a nerd and a geek all the time, but I didn't let it bother me."
"People called you a geek?" Alli couldn't hold back a peal of laughter. "You?"
"I used to be pretty nerdy," Clare admitted, giggling. "It was a Catholic school, so everyone had to wear the same uniform, and I had these braces and worse these really geeky glasses, and, well… I started wearing contacts last year, and I cut my hair and got my braces off. And then a few months ago, I got laser eye surgery. I still have my old glasses…" She reached into her pocket and pulled them out, causing Alli to laugh again. She'd forgotten what it really felt like to laugh.
"Really? You used to wear those?"
"You know, I think I'm going back to my old look," Clare teased, slipping the glasses on.
"No way!" Alli snatched them away from her, and Clare laughed and tugged back on them as Alli jokingly fought to steal them away.
Suddenly, the glasses shot out of their hands, landing on the road beside them. There was an audible crunch as the car's tire ran over them.
Taking a good look at the car, Alli realized that it was a hearse. Not a hearse, actually; the hearse. Eli Goldsworthy's hearse.
Eli stepped out of the hearse, picked up the shattered, twisted glasses, and offered them to Clare.
"I think they're dead."
Well, no shit, Alli thought, but Clare blushed and stared at Eli like he was some kind of Greek god or something.
Alli didn't know very much about Eli, other than the fact that he wore black and had a bad reputation. He was kind of hot, she thought, but he really wasn't her type. Though, obviously, he was Clare's type.
She sighed as her friend stuttered over her reply and Dr. Doom commented that she had pretty eyes. Her foot tapped impatiently against the sidewalk until the hearse drove away, and then she turned to Clare and remarked, "Well, I've seen that look before."
Clare's cheeks were still a bright red, and she avoided Alli's eyes as she mumbled, "I don't know what you're talking about."
But she was smiling as the two girls walked away.
000
A/N: I'm not exactly proud of this chapter. It's kind of a filler, actually, but there will be drama in the next two or three chapters!
I originally wasn't going to continue this story, but I already have the next two chapters written, and a lot of people added this story to favorites or story alerts, so I figured, what the hell. But seriously, guys, it only takes three seconds to review.
The story will get better, I promise. Again, this is just a filler. I'm setting things up for later events!
REVIEW. Don't make me beg.
I do not own Degrassi or any songs that I use in this story.
