CHAPTER SIX: EVERY TIME I TRY...
The next day was a little less unnerving for the twins, since they'd actually made some friends and had somewhere to belong in the school.
They got there and went to their first period and talked with Paige and Spinner until Ashley came onto the TV screen to make the announcements and other news for the day.
"The Beginning of The Year dance at Degrassi is coming up not this Friday, but the next, so choose your date wisely," was the main thing everyone paid attention to and started discussing right off.
Paige grinned to Trent, "You ought to ask Terri," she suggested.
"I was actually thinking about that... but I probably won't do it right now or anything," Trent replied.
Trixie looked around sullenly; she didn't really have anyone that she hoped would ask her to the dance.
Spinner looked over at her, "So, Trix, who're you hoping might ask you?"
"I don't," Trixie replied.
"Hon, you've gotta have someone," Paige said, a bit miffed.
"No, I seriously don't; I don't know anyone well enough really yet," Trixie replied.
"Craig would probably want to," Spinner theorized.
"Well probably, but considering what he did to Ash and Manny..." Paig trailed.
"Dude, Paige, that was year before last," Spinner added.
"Yes, but Manny still hasn't gotten over him, as you can see," Paige pointed out.
"Who's Manny?" Trixie asked.
"Craig's sort-of ex," Spinner replied.
Trixie was just gonna leave it at that as Paige and Spinner talked on about it. Trent looked over to her sympathetically.
"Don't worry," Trent said, patting the younger twin's hand, "there'll be someone."
Trixie smiled a little, hoping that he might be right. She sighed and looked around, out of the corner of her eye seeing Jay staring her down evilly. Ha, like he'd mess with her or anything, her brother had already taken care of that...
The tone rang for second period and before Paige and Trent walked off, Paige called back, "Hey, us girls'll all go shopping for dresses, huh?"
"Sounds great," Trixie replied with a smile, trying to act more cheerful than she felt, waving.
Emma was walking down the hall and saw Trixie coming her way; she waved cheerily.
"Hey Trixie!"
"Hey Em," Trixie replied. She caught up with Emma and they walked to class together.
Toby saw Emma coming with Trixie and looked over to JT with a smirk.
"Guess who's coming?" he asked.
JT sighed, "Toby..." he sounded desperate, then he saw Emma, "oh no, she's probably telling her..."
"Telling her what, JT?" Toby asked mockingly with a grin.
"Nothing," JT covered up quickly, but what he saw next made him cringe a bit, wondering what the heck could be going on...
Outside, Emma and Trixie were about to go inside, but someone coming up stopped them.
"You're Trixie, aren't you?" a girl asked her.
"Yeees..." Trixie's eyes asked the obvious question.
Emma sighed, "Trixie, this is Liberty Van Zandt.
Spinner's warning spun in her mind, "Hello, Liberty..." she said with a friendly smile.
Emma looked to Liberty, "What are you wanting?"
"Oh, nothing in particular," Liberty replied, eyeing Trixie up and down, "just wanting to meet this new girl that everyone seems to be talking about."
"Well, we've gotta get to class, see you, Liberty," Emma replied, ushering Trixie inside, who looked back at the girl in the hall.
"What was all that about?" she asked Emma.
Emma shook her head, "Ignore her, she's just..."
"Annoying?" JT filled in with a smile.
Emma crossed her arms, "Well JT, we don't wanna be rude..."
"But we need to be honest!" JT replied with a grin.
Sean then walked in the door; Emma saw him out of the corner of her eye and chose to ignore him, but when she saw him give Trixie a nod of recognition, she couldn't help but sort of wonder.
"How do you know Sean?" she asked quietly.
"He helped me out yesterday," Trixie replied just as.
Emma seemed surprised, "Oh, okay."
JT sort of wished that everyone weren't around so he could actually talk to Trixie without everyone breathing down his neck. As if Emma saw what he this or something, she said:
"Well, I'm gonna go sit down, I'll see you later, Trixie," Emma smiled, walking over to her seat.
"So," Toby began, "anyone ask you to the dance yet?" this was directed to Trixie.
"Nope, and I don't really have anyone I think will," Trixie replied honestly.
"Why do you say that?" JT asked, a bit confused.
Trixie shrugged, "Just I'm not thinking too much about it; Paige said something about going dress shopping."
"So you're gonna go?" was JT's next question.
"I guess so," Trixie replied, "my brother's thinking about asking Terri MacGreggor and I don't wanna be alone that night."
JT nodded, "Cool," then got a look from Toby. He gave him a "what?" sort of look back as class started.
Trent, meanwhile, had been at his locker a little before class started when he noticed a shadow on the lockers beside him; looking up, he saw Manny.
"Hi, Trent," Manny said with a smile.
"Hey Manny," Trent replied, trying to be casual, not overly friendly or anything.
He got everything he needed and shut his locker, starting off for class, but noticing that Manny never left his side.
"Is there something wrong?" he asked her, not trying to be rude, but wondering what the hell was up.
"Oh no, nothing's wrong; hey, you've heard about the dance and everything. Got someone in mind to ask yet?" she wondered, looking up at him through her thick black eyelashes.
"Yeah, kinda, why?" was Trent's question.
"Oh, no reason... just wondering," Manny replied, a bit hurt, but tried not to show it.
"Well, see you later," Trent then ducked into his class.
Manny sighed; who in the WORLD could he be planning on asking?...
She'd find a way to get him to take her to the dance, she just knew it.
After that period, Trent and Jimmy walked out of the classroom and headed toward their third period, Craig meeting up with them on the way.
"Hey Trent, what kinda music are you into?" Craig happened to ask.
"Uhhh... stuff like Smile Empty Soul, Cold, Staind, Linkin Park..." Trent replied.
"What about your sister?" Craig wondered.
"Pretty much the same stuff, only she likes a few other things," Trent answered.
It was then that Trent suddenly remembered his conversation with Manny.
"Oh yeah, Manny came up to me earlier," Trent said.
"I'm not surprised..." Jimmy mumbled.
"What'd she say?" Craig was curious.
"She just kinda followed me from my locker to my class and asked me who I had in mind to take to the dance," Trent replied.
"What'd you tell her?" Craig wondered.
"I had someone in mind, just didn't tell her who in case word somehow got back," Trent answered.
Craig felt instantly sorry for Trent; she was going to try and get him in the same trap he had gotten into...
As Trixie was making her way to her third period, someone tapped her on the shoulder.
She turned to see JT, "Oh hey," she smiled, "what's up?"
"Well, I never asked you yesterday, but..." he seemed a bit nervous, but tried to cover it up, "can I have your number? 'Cause you're pretty cool and I wanna talk sometime."
Trixie shrugged, "Sure," she replied, grabbing her pen and writing it on his hand and writing her name in pretty cursive, then smiled, "there ya go!"
JT smiled, "Thanks, I'll call you."
"Cool; well, later, JT!" she called after him, walking on to her next period.
JT looked at the number on his hand; at last, his chance to get to know Trixie without everyone in on it.
Later on at lunch, Trixie sort of wandered rather than just staying in one place; she spotted Craig sitting on the school's front steps alone and decided to go over and say hello.
"Hey, Craig," she said and sat down, "how goes it?"
Craig was kind of surprised that she came over and sat with him, ""Ah, okay, and you?"
Trixie nodded, "Fair; I'm just kinda wandering."
"I could tell, you're over here with me," Craig replied with a grin.
Trixie laughed and blushed a little, "Right, blonde moment."
Craig made a face, "Nah."
Trent and Terri had gotten into their own conversation while the others, for some reason, all went to throw their garbage away at the same time.
"I heard you got into a fight with Jay yesterday," Terri began shyly.
"Yeah kinda... but it wasn't a big deal or anything," Trent replied.
Terri laughed a little, "If you were any other guy, you'd be gloating over how you kicked his ass."
"Well, I'm not any other guy," Trent replied, looking into her eyes.
Terri looked back into his for a moment, then looked away.
"So, um... what else are you into, besides karate?" she wondered.
"Well, pretty much just music, games and stuff like that," he answered.
"Oh that's cool; I like dancing. It's really fun for me, I'll just be in my room not doing anything and my radio will play some random song and I just..." Terri blushed and giggled nervously, "sorry about that..."
Trent laughed and smiled, "That's okay; my sister loves dancing, too, you should really get together and hang out sometime."
Terri nodded, "She seems really sweet."
They continued to talk as a soft fall breeze blew around them, ruffling their hair and causing a couple of stray papers on the ground to flutter.
Paige and Ashley were just walking around talking about nothing in particular when they got onto a subject...
"So Ash, got anyone in mind for the dance?" Paige smiled.
"Not really... well I mean yeah, in a way..." Ashley replied, looking down at her feet.
"Really? Who?" Paige wondered.
Ashley was quiet, then Paige gasped.
"You like Trent, don't you?" she asked with wide eyes.
"Kinda, yeah..." Ashley replied, but then sighed, "but it doesn't look like I have much of a chance..."
The two looked over at the table, seeing them.
"But Terri needs someone that'll be good to her, and I know he would be," Ashley added, not for one moment sounding bitter.
Jimmy and Spinner walked over to Craig, Marco following.
"...Well Craig, I think I'll go ahead and do more wandering; I'll talk to you in class," Trixie said, getting up and smiling to the other guys.
"Later..." Craig replied, watching her go.
Jimmy, Spinner, and Marco watched him watch her and all got grins on their faces.
"We know who Craig's got his eyes on... a certain vivacious little redhead with a name as playful as she is!" Spinner said, causing the guys to laugh.
"Vivacious? Spin, since when did you read a dictionary?" Jimmy wondered.
"Come to think of it, when did you start reading at all?" Marco added, causing more laughter.
"Oh, shut up, dudes," Spinner replied, patting Craig's shoulder, "this is the man of the hour, not me."
"So spill, Manning; you like her or not?" Jimmy asked.
"She's.... she's cute, she's.... nice, uh..... smart...." Craig rambled.
Spinner rolled his eyes, "Dude, that so wasn't the question!"
"Sh-ah, guys, I just... I don't know, okay? I'm still dealing with the repercussions of the Manny/Ashley thing here, I don't know WHAT I want..." Craig replied, getting up and walking into the school.
The guys looked from one to the other, scratching their heads, rubbing the backs of their necks, and sighing.
Trixie had visited the Grade Tens and met Toby's girlfriend Kendra and chatted with them for a little while; she'd wanted to visit with Sean and Ellie, but they were with Jay and she didn't really want to be around them.
But Ellie saw her and said something to Sean, so the two came over to Trixie.
"Hey El, hey Sean," she said with a smile, "what's up?"
They all talked for a little while and she gave Ellie her number so they could talk sometime. The bell rang and everyone filed inside to their next class.
The next day was a little less unnerving for the twins, since they'd actually made some friends and had somewhere to belong in the school.
They got there and went to their first period and talked with Paige and Spinner until Ashley came onto the TV screen to make the announcements and other news for the day.
"The Beginning of The Year dance at Degrassi is coming up not this Friday, but the next, so choose your date wisely," was the main thing everyone paid attention to and started discussing right off.
Paige grinned to Trent, "You ought to ask Terri," she suggested.
"I was actually thinking about that... but I probably won't do it right now or anything," Trent replied.
Trixie looked around sullenly; she didn't really have anyone that she hoped would ask her to the dance.
Spinner looked over at her, "So, Trix, who're you hoping might ask you?"
"I don't," Trixie replied.
"Hon, you've gotta have someone," Paige said, a bit miffed.
"No, I seriously don't; I don't know anyone well enough really yet," Trixie replied.
"Craig would probably want to," Spinner theorized.
"Well probably, but considering what he did to Ash and Manny..." Paig trailed.
"Dude, Paige, that was year before last," Spinner added.
"Yes, but Manny still hasn't gotten over him, as you can see," Paige pointed out.
"Who's Manny?" Trixie asked.
"Craig's sort-of ex," Spinner replied.
Trixie was just gonna leave it at that as Paige and Spinner talked on about it. Trent looked over to her sympathetically.
"Don't worry," Trent said, patting the younger twin's hand, "there'll be someone."
Trixie smiled a little, hoping that he might be right. She sighed and looked around, out of the corner of her eye seeing Jay staring her down evilly. Ha, like he'd mess with her or anything, her brother had already taken care of that...
The tone rang for second period and before Paige and Trent walked off, Paige called back, "Hey, us girls'll all go shopping for dresses, huh?"
"Sounds great," Trixie replied with a smile, trying to act more cheerful than she felt, waving.
Emma was walking down the hall and saw Trixie coming her way; she waved cheerily.
"Hey Trixie!"
"Hey Em," Trixie replied. She caught up with Emma and they walked to class together.
Toby saw Emma coming with Trixie and looked over to JT with a smirk.
"Guess who's coming?" he asked.
JT sighed, "Toby..." he sounded desperate, then he saw Emma, "oh no, she's probably telling her..."
"Telling her what, JT?" Toby asked mockingly with a grin.
"Nothing," JT covered up quickly, but what he saw next made him cringe a bit, wondering what the heck could be going on...
Outside, Emma and Trixie were about to go inside, but someone coming up stopped them.
"You're Trixie, aren't you?" a girl asked her.
"Yeees..." Trixie's eyes asked the obvious question.
Emma sighed, "Trixie, this is Liberty Van Zandt.
Spinner's warning spun in her mind, "Hello, Liberty..." she said with a friendly smile.
Emma looked to Liberty, "What are you wanting?"
"Oh, nothing in particular," Liberty replied, eyeing Trixie up and down, "just wanting to meet this new girl that everyone seems to be talking about."
"Well, we've gotta get to class, see you, Liberty," Emma replied, ushering Trixie inside, who looked back at the girl in the hall.
"What was all that about?" she asked Emma.
Emma shook her head, "Ignore her, she's just..."
"Annoying?" JT filled in with a smile.
Emma crossed her arms, "Well JT, we don't wanna be rude..."
"But we need to be honest!" JT replied with a grin.
Sean then walked in the door; Emma saw him out of the corner of her eye and chose to ignore him, but when she saw him give Trixie a nod of recognition, she couldn't help but sort of wonder.
"How do you know Sean?" she asked quietly.
"He helped me out yesterday," Trixie replied just as.
Emma seemed surprised, "Oh, okay."
JT sort of wished that everyone weren't around so he could actually talk to Trixie without everyone breathing down his neck. As if Emma saw what he this or something, she said:
"Well, I'm gonna go sit down, I'll see you later, Trixie," Emma smiled, walking over to her seat.
"So," Toby began, "anyone ask you to the dance yet?" this was directed to Trixie.
"Nope, and I don't really have anyone I think will," Trixie replied honestly.
"Why do you say that?" JT asked, a bit confused.
Trixie shrugged, "Just I'm not thinking too much about it; Paige said something about going dress shopping."
"So you're gonna go?" was JT's next question.
"I guess so," Trixie replied, "my brother's thinking about asking Terri MacGreggor and I don't wanna be alone that night."
JT nodded, "Cool," then got a look from Toby. He gave him a "what?" sort of look back as class started.
Trent, meanwhile, had been at his locker a little before class started when he noticed a shadow on the lockers beside him; looking up, he saw Manny.
"Hi, Trent," Manny said with a smile.
"Hey Manny," Trent replied, trying to be casual, not overly friendly or anything.
He got everything he needed and shut his locker, starting off for class, but noticing that Manny never left his side.
"Is there something wrong?" he asked her, not trying to be rude, but wondering what the hell was up.
"Oh no, nothing's wrong; hey, you've heard about the dance and everything. Got someone in mind to ask yet?" she wondered, looking up at him through her thick black eyelashes.
"Yeah, kinda, why?" was Trent's question.
"Oh, no reason... just wondering," Manny replied, a bit hurt, but tried not to show it.
"Well, see you later," Trent then ducked into his class.
Manny sighed; who in the WORLD could he be planning on asking?...
She'd find a way to get him to take her to the dance, she just knew it.
After that period, Trent and Jimmy walked out of the classroom and headed toward their third period, Craig meeting up with them on the way.
"Hey Trent, what kinda music are you into?" Craig happened to ask.
"Uhhh... stuff like Smile Empty Soul, Cold, Staind, Linkin Park..." Trent replied.
"What about your sister?" Craig wondered.
"Pretty much the same stuff, only she likes a few other things," Trent answered.
It was then that Trent suddenly remembered his conversation with Manny.
"Oh yeah, Manny came up to me earlier," Trent said.
"I'm not surprised..." Jimmy mumbled.
"What'd she say?" Craig was curious.
"She just kinda followed me from my locker to my class and asked me who I had in mind to take to the dance," Trent replied.
"What'd you tell her?" Craig wondered.
"I had someone in mind, just didn't tell her who in case word somehow got back," Trent answered.
Craig felt instantly sorry for Trent; she was going to try and get him in the same trap he had gotten into...
As Trixie was making her way to her third period, someone tapped her on the shoulder.
She turned to see JT, "Oh hey," she smiled, "what's up?"
"Well, I never asked you yesterday, but..." he seemed a bit nervous, but tried to cover it up, "can I have your number? 'Cause you're pretty cool and I wanna talk sometime."
Trixie shrugged, "Sure," she replied, grabbing her pen and writing it on his hand and writing her name in pretty cursive, then smiled, "there ya go!"
JT smiled, "Thanks, I'll call you."
"Cool; well, later, JT!" she called after him, walking on to her next period.
JT looked at the number on his hand; at last, his chance to get to know Trixie without everyone in on it.
Later on at lunch, Trixie sort of wandered rather than just staying in one place; she spotted Craig sitting on the school's front steps alone and decided to go over and say hello.
"Hey, Craig," she said and sat down, "how goes it?"
Craig was kind of surprised that she came over and sat with him, ""Ah, okay, and you?"
Trixie nodded, "Fair; I'm just kinda wandering."
"I could tell, you're over here with me," Craig replied with a grin.
Trixie laughed and blushed a little, "Right, blonde moment."
Craig made a face, "Nah."
Trent and Terri had gotten into their own conversation while the others, for some reason, all went to throw their garbage away at the same time.
"I heard you got into a fight with Jay yesterday," Terri began shyly.
"Yeah kinda... but it wasn't a big deal or anything," Trent replied.
Terri laughed a little, "If you were any other guy, you'd be gloating over how you kicked his ass."
"Well, I'm not any other guy," Trent replied, looking into her eyes.
Terri looked back into his for a moment, then looked away.
"So, um... what else are you into, besides karate?" she wondered.
"Well, pretty much just music, games and stuff like that," he answered.
"Oh that's cool; I like dancing. It's really fun for me, I'll just be in my room not doing anything and my radio will play some random song and I just..." Terri blushed and giggled nervously, "sorry about that..."
Trent laughed and smiled, "That's okay; my sister loves dancing, too, you should really get together and hang out sometime."
Terri nodded, "She seems really sweet."
They continued to talk as a soft fall breeze blew around them, ruffling their hair and causing a couple of stray papers on the ground to flutter.
Paige and Ashley were just walking around talking about nothing in particular when they got onto a subject...
"So Ash, got anyone in mind for the dance?" Paige smiled.
"Not really... well I mean yeah, in a way..." Ashley replied, looking down at her feet.
"Really? Who?" Paige wondered.
Ashley was quiet, then Paige gasped.
"You like Trent, don't you?" she asked with wide eyes.
"Kinda, yeah..." Ashley replied, but then sighed, "but it doesn't look like I have much of a chance..."
The two looked over at the table, seeing them.
"But Terri needs someone that'll be good to her, and I know he would be," Ashley added, not for one moment sounding bitter.
Jimmy and Spinner walked over to Craig, Marco following.
"...Well Craig, I think I'll go ahead and do more wandering; I'll talk to you in class," Trixie said, getting up and smiling to the other guys.
"Later..." Craig replied, watching her go.
Jimmy, Spinner, and Marco watched him watch her and all got grins on their faces.
"We know who Craig's got his eyes on... a certain vivacious little redhead with a name as playful as she is!" Spinner said, causing the guys to laugh.
"Vivacious? Spin, since when did you read a dictionary?" Jimmy wondered.
"Come to think of it, when did you start reading at all?" Marco added, causing more laughter.
"Oh, shut up, dudes," Spinner replied, patting Craig's shoulder, "this is the man of the hour, not me."
"So spill, Manning; you like her or not?" Jimmy asked.
"She's.... she's cute, she's.... nice, uh..... smart...." Craig rambled.
Spinner rolled his eyes, "Dude, that so wasn't the question!"
"Sh-ah, guys, I just... I don't know, okay? I'm still dealing with the repercussions of the Manny/Ashley thing here, I don't know WHAT I want..." Craig replied, getting up and walking into the school.
The guys looked from one to the other, scratching their heads, rubbing the backs of their necks, and sighing.
Trixie had visited the Grade Tens and met Toby's girlfriend Kendra and chatted with them for a little while; she'd wanted to visit with Sean and Ellie, but they were with Jay and she didn't really want to be around them.
But Ellie saw her and said something to Sean, so the two came over to Trixie.
"Hey El, hey Sean," she said with a smile, "what's up?"
They all talked for a little while and she gave Ellie her number so they could talk sometime. The bell rang and everyone filed inside to their next class.