Exclaimer: I don't own Degrassi. But I have a new kitty, and his middle name is Mr. Tuxedo Pants. And yes, I am serious.
A/N: First off: Yay, Charlie be gone. I am only excited about this because it means I can actually have Charlie exist in this fic, without having to change any aspects about her relationship with Fiona in order for Fallie to eventually occur.
Secondly: Chapter 10 already. Woah. I feel accomplished.
And finally: It has been pointed out Kallie and Katie couldn't have a ship name. However, I challenge that. I say... Kaltie! ...okay, maybe not, since it sounds too close to "Kalteen" and that reminds me of LiLo puking in Mean Girls. Barlin could work though (Barrera+Matlin) But whatever, the crush is mainly plot device. For what? You'll see later.
Timeline: After school that day.
The building The Dot was in seemed smaller than Kallie expected, from the things she'd heard over her last two days at Degrassi. Supposedly it held a club for teens above it, but from what the girl could see through the front windows, the upstair's mustn't be very big. Not to say the cafe was small, but it was oddly shaped, and only held about five tables plus the coffee bar/register. She supposed if you factored in the kitchen, and perhaps whatever storage rooms or bathrooms there could be on the main level, the level above it could be big enough to house a bustling nightclub.
A girl she faintly recognized as a student of Degrassi exited the cafe, holding open the door to let Kallie past. Casting another searching glance around, she noticed Anya- and thankfully- Fiona just to the right of the door when you were walking in. However, instead of heading towers them and possibly imposing, she walked across to the other side of the coffee shop and took a seat at a table that sat right next to a spotless window. She gazed out of it temporarily, taking in the sight of the entire street, including the comic shop she had been to with Eli and Adam the previous day. It already seemed like a lifetime ago.
The student quickly cleared her head, pulling out the sheets of music she already had with the script she had been handed to by the weird-haired girl that kept popping up everywhere that seemed to know everything about everyone. She recalled how the girl had grinned, holding out the stack of paper, with her eyes raking over Kallie in such a way that made her feel like a bug under a microscope, or worse yet, a body under a coroner's scalpel. The thought sent a shiver down Kallie's spine.
Imogen Moreno, the voice in her head said, I don't believe I've officially been introduced. Eli Goldsworthy tells me you're officially our composer. I'm supposed to get these to you, they're the ideas from this morning, that have been extended into mostly full plotlines. She had stopped her there, questioning that she was unaware the girl knew Eli. Oh yes, I know Eli Goldsworthy very well. He's such a dear, and oh so troubled, but al the best guys are, aren't they? Not that you'd know, given you are a lesbian.
To say Kallie's jaw had dropped would be an understatement. Obviously Imogen either didn't know what tact meant, or didn't care. Then came the question of how she knew that; had Eli told her? It's not that she cared that someone else knew, but it was kind of her business, and she did care about the possibility that one of her best friends would have told something that important to someone Kallie didn't even really know. But then Imogen had continued, her smile not faltering. Oh no, Eli Goldsworthy didn't tell me. You did. At this point she swore her jaw had unhinged itself and was now resting on the floor. Yesterday, remember? At Sal's comic shop!
What happened after that, Kallie was still too disturbed to recall, but the exchange didn't go on for much longer. Kallie practically flew out of Degrassi and away towards The Dot before Imogen could even utter a Goodbye, Kallie Barrera! In the time that it took to walk from there to The Dot, Kallie had been able to speed through reading the 'improved' version of the mishmash script three times, and she was already almost done reading it for the fourth. Nine of the ideas were still utter crap, and the last one, which had seemed promising this morning, was now lacklustre.
A heavy sigh left her lips, and she got up to walk towards the cash, quickly ordering a London Fog and taking a seat at the bar as she waited. More than a couple times, from her peripheral vision, she noticed Anya and Fiona glancing over at her, Fiona's eyes were saucers while Anya wore a cheshire grin in between bouts of hushed speech which the other raven-haired girl returned, just as quite, but a good deal more harshly, so it came out a low hiss. Kallie nervously fidgeted, wondering what they could be talking about, a paranoid thought invading her mind before she could push it down. They're talking about you. They've realized that you're just a lame dork. Tomorrow, when you go to sit with them at lunch, they're going to snicker and laugh and point- the thought fled as Kallie mentally cursed at it. Of course they didn't think that, and of course they wouldn't.
A mug was set in front of her, a robin's egg blue, and her nervous eyes briefly locked with kind ones belonging to a guy that couldn't be older than twenty. "Hey, you're new. Go to Degrassi?" She nodded slightly, lowering her eyes to her mug, taking a sip. "Someone has their worrying face on. What's up?"
She responded dryly, not really wanting to talk about the insecure thoughts that still poked around at the corners of her mind. Especially not with a complete stranger. "The air, the ceiling, Above The Dot, another ceiling, more air, clouds, the sky, the ozone, outer space, et cetera."
"A wise cracker. Been a while since I've had one of those. Well alright, if you don't want to talk, I will. I'm Peter. I go to Toronto University. Formerly Degrassi's most awesome student, but that's just between you and me. Wouldn't want to bruise any egos, now would we?" A small smile appeared on her face, "There we go. A happy customer is a paying customer. …if you catch my drift."
"Oh, shit. Sorry," Kallie hurriedly pulled a five out of her pocket and handed it to him. "Sorry, sorry. I'm… sorry."
"So I've heard." He grinned. "It's no problem, really. And if you ever want to talk, Miss Mysterious Mopey Girl, I'm here."
"Kallie." Peter nodded, sliding the five into the register.
"I'm gonna call you Mysterious Mopey Girl anyways."
Suddenly Kallie noticed Fiona standing next to her, looking like the poster child for nervousness. "Am I interrupting?" Kallie shook her head, and Fiona ventured again, "Can I sit?"
"I don't know, can you?" she smiled, and sat.
The Dot, as per usual, was pretty much packed as Fiona and Anya entered the establishment which had been a grill once upon a time. Of course, that had been before certain someones had nearly burnt it down. Now though, the owner of the place had banned anything that started with the letters 'G-R' which sucked if you wanted to order grapes or grain, Fiona had once sarcastically quipped. Now though, her mood was much more solemn as she and Anya took a seat at their regular table.
Of course skipping would backfire- why wouldn't it? She had to have had the worst luck a person that didn't believe in luck could have. Thankfully though, Charlie had left before her mom had entered full-on lecture mode. On top of making her sit through the entire speech, she had made her go back for the final two periods as well, which was pretty well pointless since it was French- which she was already fluent in- and History- which she already almost completely knew.
All she had wanted to do was go to The Dot with Holly J and complain about her horrible day; the redhead always let Fiona rant when she needed to. Of course though, she had her stupid dialysis. Not to say that Fiona didn't want Holly J to get better, it was just… inconvenient. But at least she had Anya, who had thankfully forgiven her for her comments on Owen.
Anya slid a copper coin towards Fiona, giggling slightly.
"Penny for my thoughts. Ha, ha." she mused, handing the cent back to Anya. "I was just thinking about how much today sucked."
"I'm sure it wasn't that bad." Fiona stared blankly at Anya, the look blatantly stating that it really had been that bad. "Okay, so maybe it was. But it could have been prevented. I mean, who cares about one bitchy junior? And speaking of juniors, specifically of the non-bitchy variety..," she trailed off, discreetly motioning to behind Fiona with a short, low whistle. The other girl quickly turned her head, and she was back looking at Anya within a fraction of a second. Fiona really was the master of the look-but-don't-look, a title that was shared with Holly J.
"It's Kallie." Fiona's eyes were wide, and she quickly glanced over her shoulder again. "And she's sitting down at a table!"
"Gee Sherlock, what an amazing deduction." The corners of Fiona's mouth turned downwards and she hissed out a reply.
"Shut up, you came in my bed."
"Ew, it sounds nauseating when you say it like that. And watch it with the pissy attitude, I was only joking."
"It should sound nauseating, because it's freakin' true. You know how much those space-foam mattresses cost? A lot!" she sighed, then back-pedalled. "Sorry, it's just, things suck today and they sucked pretty much all week too, and it's just sucking, and the last thing I needed was to be reminded of another problem I have."
"What other problem?"
"Uh, hello? Pedophile-me?"
"That's pedo-shaming. Pedophillia is the attraction to a pre-pubescent child from an adult. Clearly she isn't pre-pubescent, thus you are not a pedophile. Problem solved!"
"Problem not solved. Why can't I get crushes on people I have chances with? My straight best friend, a model in college, and now a girl I barely know that's three years younger than me that's in all likelihood straight."
"Well some of that may not be true. I mean you must have some sorta subconscious gaydar. Between Riley, Adam, and Charlie, you picked them pretty well for their various uses."
"Bearding and/or flings, you mean?" Anya reluctantly nodded, and Fiona continued. "I suppose it's possible that she is lesbian- a lesbian, god why do I keep doing that?- or even bisexual, but I know all of nothing about her. I've barely had one conversation with her, so it's not like I could make a call yet."
"Then go talk to her!" Anya grinned, giving Fi a double-thumbs up which obviously did nothing to encourage Fiona, who rather resembled an owl.
"Are you out of your mind! I can't talk to her, at least not alone! I suck at small talk and making friends!"
"Well then, make big talk and make a girlfriend."
"See, this is why Holly J holds the title of best friend currently. You're insane!"
"No, I'm smart, now go before I drag you over there." Anya fixed her gaze on Fiona, who reluctantly stood and walked over to Kallie, unable to stop fidgeting or remember what she usually did with her hands.
"Am I interrupting?" A shake of the head. "Can I sit?"
"I don't know, can you?" Fiona instantly felt better upon hearing the other student's voice, and upon discovering that her suspicions had been correct yesterday; Kallie wielded sarcasm quite well. She sat down next to the sandy-haired teen, rapidly realizing she had no idea what to talk about. Thankfully, Kallie quickly took the reigns in the conversation, smirking. "Where were you today, we had a date, remember?"
"W-What?" Stuttering. Well that's certainly smooth of you. Why not just say 'Hi, I'm crush, I have a Fiona on you.', after all, that would probably be less embarrassing.
"Lunch, remember? If I recall, I said 'see you at lunch', and then you said 'count on it'. I'm in the millions."
"Huh?" Fiona felt like slapping herself. 'What' and 'huh'. Dust mites were better conversationalists.
"Did you hear that, I believe it was the sound of that joke going over your head. Count on it… counting… ha-ha? Now you laugh so I don't look like a complete freak and/or idiot?" Laughter erupted, but it wasn't from either girl as they both looked across the cafe at Anya, who was beside herself. Quickly, she clammed up, squeaking out an apology. Fiona stood up.
"Yeah, ok, I'm gonna go away, and then walk over so we can start over." She did just that, slipping back into the seat next to Kallie. "Hi my name is Fiona, I believe my one-track mind sort of forgot I agreed to lunch. I skipped."
"That much I knew already, some wire-haired chick told me and Holly J you left during Drama and never came back."
"So you saw her too, glad I'm not crazy and just imagining the chick. Anyways, I went for lunch then didn't really feel like coming back. It's sort of depressing being there, it just reminds me that my only friends are graduating, and I'm not, and I'm going to be stuck with a bunch of freaks or people that all but ignore me next year."
"Hey! I take personal offence to that. We're not all freaks." she paused, "Okay, but we're not all bad freaks. You'll have me, for one. Which means you automatically inherit Eli." Fiona winced. "What is it?"
"Well, me and Eli are on not-so-excellent terms. I kind of broke his best friend Adam's heart."
"Oh. Well shit, I think I just found myself with divorced parent syndrome." At Fiona's quizzical expression that probably meant she was doubting Kallie's sanity, she continued on. "I'm friends with both you and Adam. You two aren't on good terms, apparently. Thus, divorced parent syndrome. Again."
"Again?"
"I'm also friends with both Clare and Eli. Which is even more awkward, but at least Adam's in the same boat there."
"Well Adam's a pretty forgiving guy, as you've probably discovered. His is a heart as good as gold, and if he's willing to make things minimally awkward, I am as well." Fiona extended her hand, picking up Kallie's mug of tea and taking a long sip before returning it.
"Now you owe me a tea and lunch." she joked, picking up the mug and taking a drink of her own, seemingly unaffected by Fiona's previous action.
"I'll just have to make it up to you somehow one of these days." Kallie faced forewords, mug warming her hands as her gaze slid to Fiona.
"I'll think of some way, eventually."
A/N 2: I know that the ending of this chapter pretty much sucked, but I tried to make it longer since I won't be updating for another couple of days (I'm going to be partying like it's my birthday, so take that Allstar Weekend) but I will still be writing when I get a chance to, so hopefully after I'm back from my mini-hiatus there will be multiple updates a day for a couple of days.