Before The Rain

A/N: "Shoot to Thrill, was a good episode. Fiona is different than her brother. Declan sounded so cute when he said, "gaydar" I flove him! I think Fiona/Riley make good friends. Peter and Fiona will probably be the ones who are there for him whenever he decides to come out of the closet. Well that and Mr. Hot Nameless Dude who he's talking to in that one promo. Is that gonna be who he's supposed to punch? Clare and Alli taking photography class is interesting. Peter and Craig used to be into cameras. Then Craig became a musician and lost the bushy hair. And Simpson's reaction to seeing the picture on the phone totally reminded me of Craig's look after Marco kissed him. And I still remember Craig's words, "So when in doubt, you kiss Craig??!!" Is it wrong that I wanted those two to hook up? I liked them better than Darco.

Confession time: In the promo that had Sav and Peter, before Degrassi premired---I was way to distracted by Peter's pretty blue eyes to even care about the fact that the promo was hinting at him taking Meth. Yeah.

OH! And will we ever learn what the hell Connor's last name is?

Chapter One

Alli looked over Clare's shoulder to see what had shocked her best friend so much. She let out a stunned squeal, covering her mouth with her hands.

Madison broke away from her brother and brushed the stray strands of hair behind a small ear. She smiled nervously as she stood next to him, staring at the three people infront of her.

KC looked at his girlfriend and friends guiltily. They were all staring at him in disbelief. He'd never even hinted to them about having an older sister.

As if sensing her brother's nervousness, Madison took a step forward. "Um...hi." She said, carefully lifting a hand to waggle her fingers at the three younger teenagers.

Suddenly, KC cleared his throat and said, "Guys, this is my older sister Madison. Madison, this is my girlfriend Clare and my friends, Connor and Alli." He watched as Clare was the first to step forward and shake Madison's hand.

"Nice to meet you, Madison. I hope you like it here at Degrassi." Clare said, finally getting over her shock as she smiled brightly and shook the older girl's hand. To say that this was a suprise would be the understatement of the century. She could clearly see the similarities in Madison's and KC's facial features.

"How come we never knew that you had a sister, KC?" Alli asked the very question that they'd all been wondering. Her dark eyes were narrowed and her hands were on her hips as she looked at her friend curiously.

KC shifted his feet uncomfortably. A question of his past. He should've known that they'd wonder about it. Especially Clare. His eyes flitted down to stare at the floor in shame. He felt guilty for never telling her anything about all this, though he'd had his reasons for it. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak. "Madison and I were seperated by the foster system when I was twelve and she was fourteen.

I was put in with a family who had kids of their own and foster kids and Maddie was taken in by first time foster parents. We tried to stay in contact but weren't able to."

Madison nodded. "I just got myself emancipated from them. It's not their fault. I mean. They took care of me and I know that they love me, I just.....I needed to be with my brother. He's my family." She said to them with a gentle shrug of her shoulders, green eyes looking at the three young teens infront of her.

"How did you find me anyway?" Her brother asked, raising his eyebrows as he looked at her.

"I found an old news article on the internet. Actually, I found several. I know that you are on the basketball team and last semester, you four participated in something called Bot Wars." She didn't mention the fact that she'd also found out that he'd been arrested the year before for stealing a car with his friends and for busting some other guy's kneecaps. That article had been shocking but it had also mentioned the fact that he'd been placed in Nash Bright's group home for troubled kids and teens.

Just then, the bell rang, signaling the first class of the day. Madison groaned before reaching out to hug her brother once more and then heading to class.

*********

KC, Clare, Connor, and Alli stood in awkward, uncomfortable silence for a few moments. They all stared at one another with wide eyes. None of them knew what to say.

"We---should be getting to class." Alli finally said, breaking the silence as she grabbed Clare's arm with one firm hand and began to pull her along.

KC didn't say anything, just stared at their retreating forms as he took in a deep breath. He knew that his girlfriend and friends would want an explanation---he just wasn't ready to give one yet.

*********

Madison walked into the lunch room and got her tray of food. She eyed the tables for a place to sit. She saw her brother and his friends and was about to go over but decided against it. She really didn't want to make KC uncomfortable nor interrupt the discussion the four seemed to be having. Her eyes fell on a table where a boy and a girl both of whom, who looked about sixteen sat. They seemed well off, judging by their clothing and the girl had a fancy container that seemed to contain sushi. Sighing, she walked over and stood by the table. "May I sit here?" She asked.

The girl took a swallow of her diet pepsi and then nodded. "Sure." She told her, watching as the girl took a seat beside her gratefully. "Are you new here? I don't think that I've seen you around before.

Madison nodded her head. "I just moved here about a week ago to live near my brother. I'm Madison Guthrie." She said.

"Fiona. Fiona Coyne." She held out a hand for Maddie to shake, smiling all the while."My brother, Declan and I are new here too. We just moved to Toronto this semester."

"Our father seemed to think that public school would be good for us." The boy---Declan said with distane, obviously not in love with the idea of it.

Madison eyed them with alarm. "You mean this is your first time in public school?" She asked with alarm, looking right at Declan.

He smirked at her and nodded. "We never stay in one place for long but we've always went to private schools until this year. One thing that doesn't change though is the fact that my sister, seems to attract dirtbags."

Fiona rolled her eyes at him. He always had to bring that up for some reason. "Don't listen to him. He didn't even want to come to this school in the first place. Degrassi isn't that bad. It's better than some of the places I've been to. And I can tell you this. Private school guys are no different than these public school guys. They are all really immature."

Maddie laughed along with Declan and Fiona and thought that she just might enjoy this school.

Next Chapter: KC explains, Madison goes to KC's group home, Maddie meets Peter and Riley.