Heyyy y'all, what's good? So, I debated long and hard about how I wanted to proceed with this chapter, and this is what I came up with. It's a little heavy, but that's because I'll be dragging us down into the darker parts of the fic. I have officially planted the seed of… well, you'll see.

There was perhaps something quite formidable about the end of a school term. Not that one didn't generally enjoy not having to go to class every day and being free of endless homework, but school provided a distraction. It served as an excuse to ignore the things in life that you just didn't want to deal with. It concealed everything that had been going wrong for months, but that you just didn't have time to notice. Summer gave you time to yourself and your friends, but it also brought on spells of boredom and depression. And as Ellie Nash knew well, time without school often led to things going very awry.

Still, University was letting out for the summer, and Ellie had been through too much hell preparing for exams and sitting through them to try to postpone that process (not that it would have been anyway). She was glad for the break, but she couldn't help feeling that a summer full of Paige and Alex had the potential to be worse than grueling college work. The two were like five year olds: at each other's throats one day and best friends the next. As much as Ellie was leery of Alex and Paige getting close again, the tiffs between the two were almost enough to make her want to push Paige back into Alex's arms. It never failed that after a fight with Alex, Paige would follow a cycle of insane frustration (usually with rants at Ellie's expense), followed by angry sex (the only part that Ellie didn't really mind so much, save the bruises she found in the morning), followed by unrelenting moodiness until one of the two finally swallowed their pride and apologized. Alex and Paige seemed to thrive off of the cycle, but quite frankly, it was wearing Ellie down.

Now happened to be one of the times that Paige and Alex were fighting. Ellie wasn't sure what had been said, but aside from sniping at each other across the kitchen some mornings, the two weren't speaking. Alex had gotten over her cold at a prime time it seemed, because Paige was pissed enough to consider poisoning her tea at this point, had she still been taking refuge on their couch. She had finally moved out though, back to her mom's place (where Chad was thankfully no longer a resident). Despite the fact that she knew better than to get into the explosion that was Alex and Paige's friendship, Ellie was still somewhat curious as to what had caused the argument this time. Both women seemed to be less angry and slightly more wounded. The redhead had a small feeling that there might be cause for worry, but let it go anyway. Hopefully they'd be back to normal in a few days.

It happened that today was Ellie's last day of class, and on top of that her last day at the paper as well for three fantastic months. Jesse was graduating this year, an event that he'd requested she attend. He had gotten an offer to write for a local webzine, and Ellie was greatly excited for him. There was one thing, however, that he had yet to do, and in Ellie's opinion (and everyone else at the paper who wasn't graduating), it was his most important job as a graduating editor. There was a general expectation among the staff that on his last day, Jesse would name his successor as editor. So far, he had yet to even mention the issue. As she entered the building, Ellie wondered if he even had anyone in mind.

"Hey Jesse," she greeted him, plopping down in her chair. He looked up, swiping a piece of hair out of his eyes, and grinned.

"Hey Frosh," he said. Ellie rolled her eyes. She was far from the girl that he'd given that nickname at the beginning of the year. Still a bit clumsy, but she'd left her fumbling Freshman ways behind her several months ago. Besides, she was practically a Sophomore at this point, but she figured that Jesse wouldn't stop calling her that even if she did point these things out to him.

"So, last day, huh?" Ellie pointed out blatantly. "You excited?"

"I guess," Jesse shrugged. "It'll be weird not being here any more." Ellie snorted.

"Please, you'll be back in here driving us all nuts next year, trying to tell whoever the editor is what to do." She wondered if her not so subtle hints were having any effect. If they were, he gave no sign, merely shook his head with a rueful smile and wheeled his chair over to the collaborating table.

"Okay guys, get over here," he called. The bright conversation around the room stalled as everyone took their seats at the table, Ellie included. "Now, I'm not much for big sappy goodbyes, or any goodbyes at all for that matter, so let me just say thanks. This was a damn good year, and though most of you guys dedicated yourselves to making my job as difficult as possible, I think we always made an effort to produce the best piece of journalistic abilities we could. So, that said, we're going to order some pizza and slack off like the lazy asses we are."

There was a cheer from around the table as people applauded Jesse's little speech. Ellie clapped too, but there was a look of confusion on her face that matched sever others in the room. There seemed to be an unspoken expectation that Jesse had missed a part of his speech, that he would remember his obligation to assign a new editor and get right on it. However, half an hour later, over pizza and laughter, he still hadn't said a word about it. So after everyone was finished eating and people were making preparations to leave, Ellie was slightly relieved when one girl finally spoke up.

"Hey Jesse, you still haven't told us who you've chosen to be editor next year." Jesse looked around the room, his face passive, but with a knowing glint in his eye.

"I haven't decided yet," he said blankly. "Have a great summer guys." And with that he grabbed his keys and left the room. Ellie was stunned.

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Paige was not a reader. This was a fact that she freely admitted, and one that most people who'd met her knew just by looking at her. Of course, there were a few select books that she enjoyed, all of which she kept on a small bookshelf in her room. They were time honored classics that had spoken to her during high school, and that still held some semblance of meaning to this day. And why go out looking for new books when the old ones served their purpose just fine? Her philosophy on this had yet to fail her. So it wasn't surprising that when Manny ran into Paige at the local bookstore (where she herself was looking through books to give her some choreography ideas for the end of the year Spirit Squad competition), she had to look twice to make sure she was seeing things correctly.

"Paige?" she asked curiously, walking towards the blonde (she was now a fantastically violent shade of blonde herself). Granted, she and Paige hadn't had the best of relationships in high school, but after almost a year of not seeing her, Manny was good enough to put the past behind her.

"Manny, hey," Paige said, looking up from the book she had previously been engrossed in. The girls shared a quick hug, more out of reflex than anything, before backing away. "What's up?"

"Not much, I was just surprised to see you in here. I didn't figure you for much of a reader when you were at Degrassi," Manny explained. Paige laughed.

"I wasn't, really. I'm getting ready to go to the school of fashion and design here in Toronto next semester, so I wanted to get some reading done over the summer," she said. Manny raised an eyebrow.

"Really? That's great! Are you excited?"

"Yeah, definitely. You're graduating in a few weeks, aren't you?" Paige asked. Manny nodded.

"Yep. I haven't really decided on a major yet, but it'll be weird enough not living in the drama filled world of Degrassi anymore," she said with a sigh. Paige grinned.

"Trust me, it's not so bad." As she said this, she thought of her and Alex not having to hide their relationship or worry about what others thought about them. Whatever delusion that caused her to think this quickly died away, leaving her only with a horrible pang of guilt for substituting Alex for Ellie in her mind. What was wrong with her? Maybe it was just a slip up.

"Are you okay?" Manny was asking just as Paige was pulling herself out of her own mind. She nodded absentmindedly.

"Yeah, just Degrassi nostalgia," she lied. "Listen, I've got to get going, but it was good seeing you again. Tell Darcy and the rest of the squad hi for me."

"I will," Manny said faintly, brow burrowed in confusion as Paige breezed past her to pay for her books and bolted out of the store.

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Slugs were disgusting creatures. Not really classified as insects because they had no legs, all they did was slither around with their fat, slimy bodies at an annoyingly slow pace, getting absolutely nothing accomplished, leaving a trail of sticky residue wherever they went. Alex was not a slug, but being back in Canada made her feel like one. She was so used to always having something to do, some assignment to take care of, some person to feed or give comfort to every day. Now, she had nothing. Her friends were perfectly capable of taking care of things on their own, and half the time her best friend wasn't even speaking to her. Even her mom had managed to get back on her feet during her absence. It seemed like the whole world had been put on fast forward while she was gone, and Alex had been hoping that it would pause, or at least record for her. Now it seemed the only person that needed taking care of was her.

The truth was, she hadn't been able to sleep for months. One night of waking up with an Indonesian militia man's gun in her face had been enough to put the kibosh on her deep dozes for the rest of her life. Watching men, women and children get slaughtered by their own leaders was all it took to give her nightmares. She loved her job, and she wasn't complaining, but this life had taken a toll on her already, and fighting with Paige the way that she did wasn't any help.

Sitting at the kitchen table in Marco's house with her face nestled in her arms, she couldn't help but question why Paige was pushing her away so badly. True, she'd made a mistake in attempting to kiss the blonde. She should have known better, and had she been in Paige's position she probably would have reacted badly as well. But could she really be blamed for wanting things to go back to the way they were? If she hadn't left for the Peace Corps, she felt certain that she and Paige would have gotten back together. Did that make it her fault? Was Paige punishing her? Or had she really moved on to someone else, someone better? Alex liked Ellie well enough, and she didn't want the redhead to get hurt in all of this, but she wanted Paige, and she had a feeling that Paige's rejection was only an attempt to quell the feelings that the blonde still had for her as well. If it came down to it, Alex would fight for her girl, plain and simple.

At the sound of footsteps entering the kitchen, Alex's head snapped up and she stopped all train of thought involving Paige, Ellie, and anything else, almost as though she were afraid that the intruder might read her thoughts. She was slightly surprised to see that it was Paige, looking at disheveled and exhausted appearance with a raised eyebrow. The blonde herself looked a bit odd, but Alex decided not to ask if anything was wrong. As far as she knew, Paige was still angry with her. The blonde curbed this suspicion though when she poured herself a cup of coffee and plopped down across from Alex at the table.

"Hey," she said quietly. Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Hey yourself." She was still a bit cautious. She didn't have nearly enough energy to fight another battle today.

"You look like hell. Everything okay?" Paige asked. Alex smirked at her tactlessness.

"Yeah, just tired. Living in hostile territory for the better part of three months doesn't exactly lead to exquisite sleeping patterns," she explained. Paige nodded.

"That makes sense. It probably gets pretty bad out there sometimes, eh?" Alex shrugged, not wanting Paige to feel like she was searching for pity, but glad for amicable conversation.

"It depends on the area. But anytime we can make even the smallest difference, it's worth it. So I don't complain much." Paige sighed and Alex suspected that an apology was in lieu.

"Alex… I don't know how we always manage to go so wrong. One of these days I think I might try to get rid of this insane exploding temper I seem to get with you," Paige said. Alex smiled ruefully.

"I hope not. If you do, that means I'm not doing my job right anymore," she pointed out. Paige chuckled and threw a balled up piece of paper at her before sobering up.

Meanwhile, Ellie was just coming down the stairs, having decided to change into sweats as a celebration of her last day. She stopped just behind the doorway when she heard Alex and Paige talking, not wanting to interrupt the peace treaty that was hopefully being signed.

"I'm sorry for what I said," Paige was saying seriously. "I didn't mean to be so harsh. The thing is, Alex… I did love you. I wasn't sure how to say it, or if there was even a chance that we could make it work. And then you left, and it was like someone took a cookie cutter to my heart and removed the biggest piece. I was barely even a person. And then Ellie came along, for whatever strange reason, with this article she had to do for the paper and it was like I had a chance to fill that space up again. I just need you to understand that things are finally good again, and that I'm really happy. And if you could be happy for me, without any interference, that would be great."

Alex sighed, and though Ellie felt a little bad for her, she couldn't help but smile. Paige was happy. It was the first real confession she'd heard from the blonde, and though she didn't really need it, it meant something to her. She was about to go into the kitchen and casually interrupt, but Alex's next sentence stopped her in her tracks.

"Did she really fill the space I left?"

Paige was tempted to lie, to say that yes, Ellie had filled every inch of the gaping hole left in Paige's heart. Maybe Alex would finally take the hint that Paige just wanted things the way they were right now and stop any plans she had to keep attempting to win Paige back. But for some reason, she couldn't lie. She could only say exactly what she felt.

"No, she didn't," Paige said slowly. Ellie's heart stopped as Paige trailed off. She waited several seconds, wanting to storm into the kitchen, to tell Paige how much of an idiot she was, to scream and cry and have one of those passionate blow ups that Paige always seemed to be having with Alex. The knife in her stomach wouldn't let her though, and instead she turned around and went back upstairs, throat constricted and heart full of pain. In the several seconds that had elapsed, Paige took a deep breath and finished her sentence. "But she did make her own space, slowly but surely. I'm happy, Alex, no lie."

Alex thought for several moments before replying. "You could be happy with me. I still love you, Paige, and I'm going to make sure you know it." She stood up, giving Paige one last look to let her know that she meant it, before leaving. Paige sat at the table, wondering who the hell she'd pissed off enough to be put in a situation like this, and sighed. These things never ended well.

Ugh, angst is so not my thing, can you tell? So, I'm really excited that the new season of Degrassi has started, but am I the only one who wanted to cry for poor Darcy? Though this does play into my next fic quite nicely. And answer me this: why can the writers of Degrassi not leave poor Palex alone? Sigh. By the way, how did you guys like the little Manny add in there? Reviews! Reviews! I'm so excited to hear what you guys think about the new season, about the fic, about anything! Hit me up, eh?

The new editor of the school paper: TexasWatermelon. Sorry guys, I'm taking over.