Anyway, this one, as usual, goes out to Orange as well as my fellow mad scientist Doc Evil and, you know, anyone else who reviewed. Writing-enhancing music was basically a bunch of Bloc Party and Tegan and Sara's new album "The Con." Go buy it, shit is amazing. Oh, yeah, please review. It makes for...longer chapters, I guess, certainly not quicker.
"Tobes, she called me herself and asked me to come back. Granted I only conveniently made it in time for the class trip, but I still made it. It's obvious she never forgot about the chemistry we had. Besides, the whole reason I left Degrassi in the first place is for her."
"For her or because of her?"
JT continued on, pointedly ignoring the remark. "Face it, buddy, Paige Michaelchuck wants me."
Toby scoffed. "Shit, JT, the only girl who's ever 'wanted' you was Liberty, and even she got over your alleged charm. Paige was probably just trying to be nice, or - much more likely - she had an ulterior motive, one that doesn't involve getting in your pants. And not to burst your bubble, but I heard she bats for the home team now, if you catch my drift."
JT rolled his eyes at Toby's combination smirk and eyebrow waggling. "Sorry, Tobes, my bubble is still firmly intact, despite your best efforts. And not only did you already tell me about the Paige "Dykelchuck" rumor, you also told me Danny and Derek started it, just like they start every lesbian rumor at Degrassi. The Afro Twins' rumor mill is bullshit, Toby, and so is you harping on me like this about Paige. Just wait 'til this trip's over and we'll see who's got high school royalty on his arm and who's still pining over Emma Nelson."
Toby shook his head, scowling slightly. "Whatever, JT, just don't come crying to me when Alex Nunez kicks your ass for coming on to her girlfriend."
And that was the end of the conversation. JT felt bad for the Emma dig, it was a low blow, but Toby had been acting like an asshole for the past week and a half, slipping in little jibes and passive aggressive crap. It started when JT announced he'd be returning to Degrassi in the fall and going on the Niagara Falls trip with the rest of their class. Toby had been excited until JT told him what had finally changed his mind about coming back to the school. Toby had spent the past two years trying - and failing miserably - to get JT to even consider talking to Hatzilakos, then one phone call from Paige and he was practically enrolled. He felt bad about it, knew how it must have seemed to Toby, but love made you do crazy things.
Once upon a time, James Tiberius Yorke had been a name synonymous with mischief, practical jokes, and all things funny. He had prided himself on being a legendary class clown, but it didn't stop guys like Spinner Mason and Johnny DiMarco from kicking his ass whenever they felt like it. Then things started to look up, his social stock started to rise, he became friends with Paige Michaelchuck. It started like most of Paige's friendships, she needed something and he was the means to an end to get it. In this case, it was $40 to fix a rather heinous haircut. Spinner and Hazel Aden agreed to hand over the money if Paige would go on a date with someone of their choosing, and JT had been the lucky sucker. It had been excruciating at first. Paige had shown up all but wearing a bag over her head, refused to even attempt to hold up her end of the conversation, and stared at her watch nearly constantly. Paige allowed him to pick the movie, saying she didn't want to see anything she might actually enjoy with him tainting it, so he chose the obligatory crappy slasher flick and proceeded to crack jokes the entire time; about half-way through, Paige actually laughed.
They ate in the mall's food court, not the most romantic of settings, but Paige didn't seem to care that the only thing French were the fries. All in all,, it was an enjoyable night, but when JT suggested a repeat, Paige shot him down. She gave him the usual speech about how he was a nice guy (or in her words, "not as big of a geek as I thought") but just not her type, then she did something unusually generous, she offered him a leg up. An invitation to sit at Paige Michaelchuck's lunch table was not something one turned down, but JT was hesitant. He already had Paige on his side, Jimmy didn't seem to care one way or the other, he was confident he could win Hazel over in time, but Spinner couldn't stand him. JT wasn't positive, but he thought spending every day at lunch playing personal comedian for the girl Spinner lusted after might just piss him off. Still, Paige was offering him free access to the inner circle, and Spinner wasn't the only one who was interested in her. JT had seen a different side to Paige on the date, something underneath all the snide remarks and popularity-obsessed persona she projected to the world at large. So he accepted the offer, and from then on he'd spend an hour charming the girls, getting the odd chuckle out of Jimmy, and feeling Spinner's eyes glaring red hot death into him. Within a few months, though, the paradigm shifted again.
Paige had never been a nice person. She'd show the occasional act of random kindness, but for the most part, she kept her good side locked up tight while the manipulative, plotting, rules-with-an-iron-fist side of her ran the school. She went through a particularly nasty period where no one, not even Hazel, escaped her wrath. Even Ashley Kerwin, who'd been flying under Paige's radar since she'd gone goth, got both barrels in the middle of English one day. Then, a few days after that, it was over, as if the entire week of super bitchery had never happened. What came next was even more baffling. Queen Bee, Bitch Goddess Supreme Paige was replaced by Bizarro Paige. She was quieter, almost withdrawn, and the bad blood that still lingered between her and Ashley was officially dissipated. The obsessive drive to maintain her status as number one was gone as well, but Paige remained Queen Bee, though it seemed she couldn't have cared less. Bizarro Paige also stopped caring who she was seen in public with, meaning JT's friendship with her went past lunch and pissed Spinner off even more, if his increased harassment of JT was any indication. It was months before JT finally found out what had brought about the change in Paige, and then everything went to hell.
Spinner, being your typical high school bully, wasn't the brightest guy, nor was he the most mature. When these traits were combined with his die-hard conviction that JT had stolen his woman you got a lot of stupid bully antics. One of Spinner's favorites was to push JT into a girls' bathroom whenever the opportunity arose. It never ceased to make the big oaf laugh and almost always resulted in JT being humiliated and sometimes getting his ass kicked by a pissed off girl. The last time, however, was different. Instead of coming face to face with a pissed off soccer player, JT found Paige. Paige crying and looking like she was struggling not to hyperventilate. He'd never known anything that was able to reduce his normally cool, collected, and snarky friend to a quivering, tearful mess, so after a moment of shocked staring, he went to her, put his arm around her shoulders, and tried out some "there, there"s that sounded incredibly lame to himself but seemed to actually help Paige, so he threw in a few "it's gonna be okay"s, and after a few seconds she had her breathing under control and shrugged off his arm, muttering her thanks and sounding embarrassed.
"No problem. What are friends for, right?" He took a deep breath and steeled himself for Paige's wrath before venturing on. "So, you wanna tell me what that was all about?"
She turned, her face a mixture of anger and disgust he was sure would've reduced lesser men to tears. "No, JT, I'm pretty sure I don't want to tell you." She grimaced before her face softened and she let out a sigh. "Shit. I'm sorry, JT, you didn't deserve that. I'm just stressed about thr basketball game tonight."
He frowned, not understanding why a game would have her so worked up. "Why should you be stressed? You're not even playing."
She turned back toward the sink, bracing her arms and taking a deep breath. "It's not the game, it's who's going to be there."
Then it hit him. Paige had some jerk off ex-boyfriend from the other team, Bardell, who'd cheated on her or something and she'd have to see him tonight. It explained everything, why she kept blowing off Spinner, her week of major bitchiness, and now the asshole was going to be on her home turf.
"Whatever he did, Paige, cheat on you or treat you like crap or whatever, you're way better than him and you deserve better. He's an ass."
She let out a short bark of laughter that sounded just on the edge of hysterical before looking him dead in the eye. "Dean didn't cheat on me, JT. He raped me."
He wanted to kill. Every nerve in his body felt like it was on sensory overload as adrenaline rushed through him and a tiny voice in the back of his mind steadily grew louder, singing for blood and urging him to make the bastard feel everything that Paige had felt. He didn't hear anything else Paige said, didn't hear her calling after him as he stalked out of the bathroom and down the hall, stride purposeful, fists clenching and unclenching. All he knew was that he had to find Sean Cameron. Although they didn't hang out as much as when Sean was dating Emma Nelson, JT still considered Sean one of his closest friends, and Sean always carried a knife on him. He said it was a holdover from his delinquent days in Wasaga Beach, running around on the streets with kids like him whose parents were too drunk or indifferent to keep an eye on them, breaking windows, stealing, getting into fights. Sean said he kept to knife to remind himself of all the shit he used to pull and how it almost ruined his life.
When JT finally found him, the period was over and Sean was just coming out of biology.
"Sean! Hey, I need to borrow your knife."
"Not so loud, JT. Jesus, you want the whole school to hear?" Sean looked around, as if to confirm that the entire school had not, in fact, heard JT, turned back once he was satisfied, and resumed speaking in a low voice. "What do you need it for?"
JT rolled his eyes feigning cool while his heart jack hammered in his chest, amazed at the ease with which the lie flowed. "Fucking Spinner zip-tied my locker again. Asshole."
"Yeah," Sean nodded, "he can be a real dick sometimes. Why don't you just get a pair of scissors? Your locker's right next to Kwan's room, right?"
"Already tried that, they were too big. And not sharp enough. Come on, man, I really need my algebra homework. It's already late from two days ago, Armstrong's gonna be pissed if I don't have it again. I promise I'll get it back to you after next period."
Sean sighed, "All right, fine, but make sure I get it back by the end of the day, and don't let anyone see it." He shoved his hand into his pocket, dug out the knife, pressed it into JT's open palm and took off down the hall in the opposite direction.
JT ducked into an open classroom to practice opening and closing the knife, he wanted to be ready for Dean, wanted him to know what was coming as soon as he saw JT. Fumbling the blade could give Dean time to run or, even worse, take the upper hand. Suddenly students were coming into the room. He had to het out before anyone saw the knife, which was open and clenched in his fist. He stutter-stepped out the door, too preoccupied with getting caught to watch where he was going. Then it happened, he slammed into a body, buried the knife in someone's back. Fingers still firmly wrapped around the knife, he pulled back, watching the metal slide out red, covered in blood. The body dropped to its knees, one hand reaching back to fumble at the wound, as JT kept backing away before he broke into a full-on run, slamming through the crowd of students and dropping Sean's knife along the way. He never saw Paige pick up the weapon, close, and discreetly pocket it, nor did he catch Alex Nunez watching her the entire time.
Toby told him about the incident later in the day, after everyone had been sent home and classes cancelled for the rest of the week. He admitted that he had been the one who stabbed Simpson, but refused to say anything more than that it had been an accident. Despite Toby's best efforts, JT refused to return to the school, sure that a trap was waiting for him, police hiding out in Raditch's office waiting to haul him off to prison.
He spent weeks lying to his grandmother, claiming to have mono and refusing to let her, Toby, or anyone else - not that there was anyone, not even Paige - into his room. When neither the police nor an enraged Simpson came calling, JT's paranoia slowly started to ease. After a month and a half he transferred to another school across town and life found its rhythm again. He made it a point not to draw attention to himself at his new school. He did his homework, talked to a few people, made some "business hours" friends as he called them, and erased all traces of the attention getting class clown he had been at Degrassi. The only true friend he still had was Toby, and though he could see the effect his abrupt leaving and secrecy had on Toby, who had grown bitter, cynical, and withdrawn, he knew he couldn't tell the truth. Stabbing Simpson had been an accident, but his original plan to kill Dean was definitely some kind of federal offense and Toby didn't need that kind of thing weighing him down like it weighed on JT.
And now, two years later, he was back at Degrassi. JT thought it fitting that the very same person who was responsible, sort of, for his fleeing the school was also the one to bring him back to it. But everything was different, only a few people even remembered who he was, Toby was doing his best to be a complete bitch, and Paige had barely given him a second glance since the trip had begun. He hadn't expected her to fall into his arms, but something more than a brief greeting and hug had been anticipated. Maybe Toby was right, maybe she was just trying to get to get the class back together for the yearbook or something. No. No, that was the kind of cynical, pessimistic bullshit that Toby thrived on now. Paige was just giving him space to settle in and let things calm down some before they caught up, the bus was way too noisy to hold a proper conversation…except she was talking to Alex Nunez, who was so not Paige's girlfriend even though Paige had her hand on Alex's shoulder and was leaning down closer than JT thought she needed to in order to hear the other girl and apparently she'd baked cookies for Alex, something she'd never done for him and - fuck. Fucking Toby putting stupid, paranoid fucking thoughts in his head. Paige wasn't gay, and by the time this trip was over Toby and everybody else would know it when the guy no one remembered walked off with the most popular girl in school.