Just to repeat: I don't own Degrassi in any way.

Chapter 3: Your Call

"Sean ?" Ellie breathed.

"Yeah El, it's me." She exhaled sharply into the phone and ran a hand through her hair. It had been so long since she'd heard his voice. In fact, the last time she'd heard his voice, he'd told her that he loved her. In that first instant, it was kind of nice to hear his voice again, but after that initial feeling, that nice feeling melded into one of pain and disgust. It had been so long. The guy who was supposed to love her hadn't called since he'd left. All those days she'd spent waiting to hear from him. Soon the days melded to weeks and the weeks turned into a couple of months, and soon she couldn't bear to sit by the phone waiting anymore. She began to dissociate him from her life little by little, his name slowly fading from her lips with each passing day, until she didn't say it anymore. She hadn't said it until just then, and it felt odd in her mouth, a strange sensation she'd thought she'd forgotten. "El, are you there?"

"Give me one good reason not to hang up," she said, venom surfacing in her words.

"El, please just listen to me. I need to talk to you."

"Yeah, well then talk, and talk fast. I'm still waiting on that reason." She heard a heavy sigh from the other end, but she didn't break her composure. She just stood there, rigid, waiting. There was silence for a few moments before he began.

"Ellie, I don't know how things got all messed up. It just happened. I thought I was in control of everything, but things just kept spinning out of control, faster and faster, and soon I didn't know who I was or what I was doing. I never….. I never meant to hurt you."

"But that didn't stop you, did it?" She whispered.

"Ellie – "

"Sean, I have to go."

"NO ELLIE, don't hang up, don't hang up. I'm sorry." Ellie stopped short of hanging up, and resisted the urge to cry.

"Sorry? You're sorry!" She snapped. "Sean you didn't call me or visit or even return my calls!"

"I know I'm sor –"

"The last time I saw you or talked to you, I left you in Wasaga, and do you know what you said to me? You told me you loved me! You said you loved me, but you didn't! Because if you did, you would've called! I waited for you. God I'm so stupid!"

"No El, you're not!" Sean shook his head in frustration.

"You said you loved me," She shook her own head.

"But I did. I do. I still love you El."

"No. Stop. JUST STOP. Sean, I have to go. I don't think you should call anymore."

"NO El, please don't. Please just, don't – " She pulled the phone from her ear and ended the call. " – hang up." Sean breathed into the phone, but it was too late. He pulled his own phone away from his ears and sighed. He sat on the floor against a wall in his room. He stared at his phone for a few moments before thrusting it across the room in anger. He couldn't make her understand, but she had to know. She had to know.

Ellie sat her phone down on the nearest piece of furniture, and feverishly wiped at the tears rolling down her cheeks. Why was she crying? It's not like Sean Cameron mattered anymore anyway. She was completely over him. She'd banished him from her life, or so she'd thought. With each tear she wiped away, she knew that she was still hurt. She could accept that: Sean had hurt her. But she'd put him out of her memory, and with that one stupid phone call, he'd managed to worm him way back into her life. And she'd let him. That realization unnerved her. Why did she let him do this to her?

Suddenly, a door opened behind her and Marco appeared, wiping his eyes sleepily. "El, is that you?" He took in the sight of her tear-stained face and shaking hands, and suddenly he was wide awake. "Woah, El, hey come here." He walked to her and pulled her into a hug. "Hey, everything's going to be alright." He felt her shoulders heaving up and down as she sobbed into his shoulder. Eventually, he held tight to her wrist and arm and walked her back to the bed and let her lay down. She clutched the pillow tightly and sobbed some into it. Marco just sat on the edge of the bed and watched her, stroking her hair. He was worried about her. Then finally, it seemed that she had exhausted herself. The shaking slowly stopped, as did the sobbing, and eventually Ellie was quiet and still, except for the even breathing of her sleep.

Marco sighed, visibly relieved. He didn't know what had come over her. He'd have to ask her tomorrow. But for now, he lay down next to her and took her hand before slowly drifting back off to sleep.

Ellie woke up the next morning with an awful headache, the kind of headache that you can only get after you've spent a long time crying. She rubbed the side of her head, willing the pain to go away, but it was no use. She sighed and kicked her feet off the side of the bed, sitting up. That's when she looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand. "OH MY GOSH, WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL! Marco wake up!" She turned to the other side of the bed to wake Marco only to find him sitting on the floor, looking up at her. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

"El, what is going on? I woke up in the middle of the night crying your eyes out. You were hysterical. I've never been so afraid for you. You…weren't you, and that scares me El. Now you have to tell me what happened. Are you still messed up about Craig, because if that's what all this is about, I can tell you right now he's not worth it? You don't have to put yourself through all of that over someone like Craig Manning." Ellie looked down.

"It's not Craig."

"Then what is it?"

"It's – " Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"Eleanor, please tell me you're almost ready for school." Her mother flung the door open, looking disheveled and out of it, probably from a long night of drinking and passing out. Her mother looked from her to Marco. "Eleanor, what is this? Did he stay the night?" Marco shot up and looked at Ellie, who looked frozen like a deer in headlights. Marco looked around and grabbed Ellie's notebook off the floor.

"Hello Mrs. Nash. We were up late studying for our English exam today. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to stay over so late. We both just kind of fell asleep." Mrs. Nash looked from Ellie to Marco and then at the clock.

"Okay, I have to go. I'm going to be late for work. We'll talk about this later Eleanor. Please just hurry up and get to school!" She turned around and rushed down the stairs. A few moments later, a door slammed closed.

Ellie started grabbing books and shoving them into her bag. Marco handed her the notebook he'd picked up. "Don't think I'm letting you off the hook. We'll finish talking about this later. But right now we need to get to school. If I'm late one more time, I think Kwan will kill me. I'll be wasting away in detention for sure." Ellie gave a small smile, knowing full well Marco intended to keep his word.