I DON'T OWN DEGRASSI OR THE DIALOGUE

The next morning, I woke up & got ready to face Rick & Emma at school. When I arrived, the place was buzzing with excitement. Kevin Smith was getting an honorary diploma from Ms. Hatzilakos & Paige, along with the spirit squad were giving him a special cheer. I tried to find Rick, but it seemed like he was going out of his way to avoid me. Finally, after lunch, the ceremony got started in the gym. Kevin got up on stage & Ms. Hatzilakos gave a big speech talking about what an honor it was to have a film shot at Degrassi.

"but, before we make it completely official, the spirit squad would like to send you on your way in style. Paige?" Ms. Hatzilakos said as the spirit squad came in. They were supposed to do a special cheer for Kevin, however, Paige hadn't prepared anything, so the girls just went in flying blind.

"Give me a K!" Paige said.

"K" 1 of the cheerleaders shouted.

"Give me an E!"

"E" some dude shouted out.

"Give me a V, I, N, S, M, I, T, H, Yay..." Paige said, before she ran out of the room, clearly embarrassed. Everyone felt bad for her, myself included, but Kevin clapped for her anyway. After the ceremony was over, I saw Kevin playing basketball in the gym. He was also taking to Paige about something. As I walked closer to them, I heard the end of their talk.

"You're just going to stand there after I dropped this wisdom on you? Go get the girl." Kevin said as Paige ran off. Kevin then turned & saw me. "Hey James." he said as he fist bumped me. "So, have you made a decision?"

"Yeah I have...I'm in." I told him.

"Yes! trust me James, you won't regret this. How bout you & I get some lunch & go over your contract. I had my lawyers draw 1 up incase you said yes." Kevin said.

"Sure." I replied as we got in Kevin's taxi & headed over to The Dot. As we ate, Kevin & I went over the contract.

"So basically, what this contract entails is that once you graduate, you'll be working at View Askew Productions, as for the profits from Panther In The Rye & any other books or music or movies that you may do, as your manager, I'll get a cut of it, does 10% sound fair to you?". he asked me.

"Sure, so when do I get the money?" I asked.

"Well, you can't legally get the cash until you reach the legal age of 18. Until then, it'll be in a trust. No one gets their hands on it."

"Ok, what about merchandising & movies? I don't really want to have Panther In The Rye merchandise, it'll cheapen the story."

"What about a movie?" Kevin asked hopefully I thought about it for a few minutes.

"I don't know...maybe someday."

"Ok, well nobody is going to do anything without your consent so it's all good."

"All right then, I'll sign." I said as I signed the contract.

"All right, so you still staying with Rick?" Kevin asked as he put the contract away.

"Actually no...he threw me out." I said.

"Damn, that sucks man." he said, suddenly he got an idea. "You know something James, when I was filming Jay & Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh? I rented a nice apartment in Toronto. I've paid for next month already because I thought I'd be here longer. Why don't you just take it off my hands.

"Really?" I asked, amazed that Kevin would just give me an apartment.

"Yeah, the thing is that it's about $250 a month, so you'll need to get a job." Kevin said.

"That's no problem, I can find something." I told him.

"All right, then I'm heading back to the states, I'll call you when the plane lands." Kevin said as he stood up & shook my hand. "It'll be a pleasure doing business with you James Stark."

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP FOR JAMES...OR ARE THEY? RICK STILL HATES HIM & HE NEEDS TO CHOOSE BETWEEN EMMA NELSON & TERRI MCGREGOR. NEXT TIME, JAMES MEETS 1 OF SNAKE'S OLD BANDMATES. REVIEWS & INPUT APPRECIATED.