"Yeah, I've been hearing that a lot lately." Jude tousled her bangs between her fingers and held out her schedule with her other hand. "I just transferred to Degrassi."
Staring at her with wild eyes, Mr. Simpson replied, "Well, welcome to my homeroom. Sit wherever you'd like."
Showing Jude over to a somewhat loud area of the room, Paige sat in her usual seat and pulled another chair next to her for Jude. She sat down and looked around to see many faces gazing at her. Once again, in a more stern tone, Paige cleared her throat, causing all the others to look away. "Jude, I'd like to introduce you to my friends. You already met Spin, Craig, and Hazel… Where's Hazel?" Paige stopped speaking and looked around the classroom and found Hazel across the room in the corner. Hazel caught Paige's eye and held up a piece of paper titled "Cool Things To Say To Jude Harrison". Paige shook her head slightly in disbelief and sighed. "Never mind about her. Jude, this is Jimmy, Ashley, Ellie, and Terri."
Terri welcomed Jude to Degrassi with a warm smile and asked, "Do you like Degrassi so far?"
Nodding, Jude replied, "Everyone's been pretty nice so far. Thanks to Paige, I'm not still wondering the halls."
Letting off a earsplitting and unruly laughter, Jimmy almost fell out of his seat. "You're funny. You're a funny girl."
The rest of the group finally took their eyes off of Jude and stared at Jimmy. Terri, sitting closest to Jimmy, patted him kindly on the knee. "You a little nervous, Jimmy?"
"Nah. Why would I be nervous? It's not like I, Jimmy Brooks, do not know how to act when a celebrity starts going to our school." He scratched the back of his head with a nervous laughter.
Blushing slightly, Jude added in a timid voice, "No, I'm not a celebrity."
"No, you're not." Ashley said off to the side, with a bitter look on her face. The entire time, she sat silently next to Ellie, who didn't look very happy either. Ashley stood and picked up her backpack off of the floor, getting ready to leave. "You're a poser," she stated as she turned to leave the group.
"What's your problem, Ash?" Craig blurted out.
Ashley turned back to face the Craig. She flashed him a deadly glare. "Are you serious? She's my problem! She's posing as some hardcore rocker chick, but all she is, is an ex-boy band member's project."
The faces around the classroom returned to staring, but more attention was focused on Ashley now. Jude could only look downwards at her feet, trying not to cry. She could only think of one thing to help her.
Sitting in her school's bathroom floor, Jude's face was soaked with tears. She asked in a pleading voice, "Then tell me, how do I not care what people think?"
"By caring more about what you think!" Tommy exclaimed. He bent down closer to Jude and looked her deeply in the eye. "Don't you ever ask anyone's permission to like your own music, you understand?" Tommy calmed himself for Jude's sake and asked softly, "Do you love that song?"
"Yeah," Jude confessed with a saddened tone. "I did. And then Jamie made me doubt…"
Frustrated, Tommy shouted, "Forget Jamie!"
Sighing, Jude responded, "You know I love it."
"Don't you ever let your friends, or the crowd, tell you if it rocks. You go out there and you tell them." Tommy stood, ready to leave. He took a few steps, but quickly turned around and added, "I believe in you."
Bringing Jude back, she heard Craig's voice. "You know she has great songs, Ash."
Ashley shook her head, refusing to admit Jude had any talent whatsoever. The only thing she did was flashed heated looks between Craig and Jude. Craig took them with ease, but Jude couldn't stand to look Ashley in the eye. She knew that she shouldn't get upset when someone doesn't like her music, but that just meant that someone didn't like her. Ashley bit back, "Right, Craig. I'm sure I'm not the only one that's heard, 'I'm In Love With My Guitar'."
Quickly wiping away her tears before they fell, Jude was ready to skip school for the next year. Paige caught her actions and felt her pain. "Why don't you just stop, Ashley. It's called jealously. We get it."
Now with another person on her dirty glare hit list, Ashley took off for the other side of the classroom. Paige put her hand on Jude's knee and patted it slightly, showing her support. Jude looked over at Paige and then up at the rest of the group, "Thanks. But I don't want to get in the way, you guys. She can come back, and I can go sit somewhere else."
