So I realize it's been a hundred years since I've updated any of my stories but I hope bribing you to not be mad with new chapters will do the trick;) as always please drop me some reviews to know you're still reading!

-X-

"Ellie over here!" Ellie heard Craig call through the throng of students in the caf line at lunch that day.

She smiled and waved in his direction to let him know she heard him before grabbing her tray and heading his way. Ellie had been worried she wouldn't have her lunch period with any of her new friends but as luck would have it, it seemed they were all in the same lunch. Ellie sat down in the seat Craig had saved her and saw that Emma, Manny, Paige, and Spinner were all already there.

"Hey guys. Thanks for saving me a seat." she smiled shyly at them.

Paige was busy texting away on her phone and blatantly ignoring everyone. Emma gave Ellie a smile but she could tell it was a forced one. What had been up with her? Emma had been acting weird all day since her strange interaction with Simpson. What was up with that anyways? Manny also gave her a smile of acknowledgement but looked like she'd rather be anywhere else. Most likely because everyone had seen the video by now. And Spinner just looked agitated as he shoveled mac and cheese into his mouth. Craig was the only one giving her a genuine smile. Well these were her new friends, they came with issues just like she did.

"How's your first day been so far?" Craig asked her in between bites of goulash.

"It's been alright I guess. Just trying to get adjusted and take it all in." Ellie admitted.

"You'll do fine once you get used to it. It's really not so bad." Emma offered.

Ellie nodded and took a bite of her pizza. She figured that looked the safest to consume although Craig seemed to be thoroughly enjoying his hamburger mush.

"Hey sorry I'm late. Mr. Ehl needed to talk to me about my student welfare." Sean grumbled as he took a seat next to Emma.

"Is everything ok?" Emma asked obviously worried.

Sean's expression softened and he gave Emma a small kiss on the cheek. He'd forgotten how much she worried about everyone, him included. Her anxiety had already been off the charts all day.

"Fine. He just needed to sign some papers for me. No biggie." Sean shrugged it off and started in on his pizza.

Emma nodded obviously relieved and put her hand on his knee. She'd been craving Sean's touch all day, not even in a sexual way, but more in a comfort kind of way. She hadn't seen him since this morning and now that he was sitting right next to her it was almost like she had to touch him just to anchor herself in and make sure he wouldn't disappear.

Meanwhile, Paige and Spinner were being sickeningly cordial to each other which made it awkward for everyone at the table. Ellie was seriously waiting for one of them to blow up and start swinging, but it hadn't happened yet. Apparently they had made some kind of truce to be nice to each other. Whatever. Manny obviously had received a text from Jay because she'd been happily texting away on her phone the past few minutes.

Ellie figured it was a good first day so far.

-X-

"Sean, wait up!" Sean stopped and turned as he heard Ellie calling for him after their last class of the day.

Sean was more than ready for his day to be over and Armstrong was his last period...advanced chem was the WORST! His brain already felt like it was going to explode! He'd been distracted by Emma's distance basically all day and she'd been even weirder at lunch than she was in the morning. What was up with her? Not to mention the fact that he'd had a raging hard on that basically hadn't gone away since his little "lesson" to Emma in the kitchen that morning. He was aching to just get Em back to her house and fuck his bad day away. But from the looks of Ellie's worried face rushing towards him, he could tell his day was about to get a whole lot more complicated.

"Ellie, what's up?" Sean tried to act as if he wasn't annoyed considering it wasn't really her fault he'd had a shit day but he felt like he wasn't doing a very good job of it.

"Sorry to bug you. But it's Em."

Sean immediately stopped in the middle of the hallway and pulled Ellie towards a semi-private corner where they could talk and not be overheard.

"Do you know what's going on with her? She's been acting weird and distant all day!" Sean got right to the point.

Ellie looked really uncomfortable.

"I don't really know per say...it's just...a feeling." Ellie stumbled across her words.

"..well?" Sean didn't really have time to fuck around at this point.

Ellie sighed.

"It's just...well I have Simpson's class with her. And it's just that...well like I said it's just a feeling she really hasn't said anything to me about it...but when she walked in he tried to talk to her. And she just kind of brushed him off. It was almost like she just didn't want to have anything to do with him or something."

Sean rolled his eyes.

"Yeah well considering he abandoned her when he divorced her mom, I would want to avoid him too." Sean felt the need to stick up for Emma even though he'd been wondering the same thing just that morning.

"Well that's just it." Ellie pushed.

"What's it?"

"He didn't abandon her, Sean. At least he sure as hell acted like he didn't. He seemed really happy to see her and almost sad...crushed even that she blew off his greeting."

Sean was confused. He'd thought Simpson hadn't even tried to contact Emma once since he' moved out. Was Sean wrong? Had Archie been trying to see her all summer?

"That's definitely weird."

Ellie nodded.

"It's not really my business or anything but she looked pretty out of it all day after that. I just thought that maybe you would want to know. Emma has a tendency of pushing those closest to her away when things happen. She's been doing so much better, especially since she met you, that I just don't want to see her backpedaling you know?"

Sean nodded.

"Yeah, thanks Ellie. I'll be sure to pay extra attention."

Ellie's smile brightened.

"Thanks. I'm pretty worried about her. Let me know if you guys need anything." Ellie waved before she headed off in the other direction.

Sean didn't know what was going on, but he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

He walked off towards Emma's locker to meet her and Manny to drive them all home.

-X-

The minute they'd gotten home, Manny had run upstairs to call Jay and Sean had gone to the kitchen for a snack. Emma had a minute to herself to breathe and promptly locked herself in her bathroom. She figured she had at least a good five or ten minutes before Sean finished up in the kitchen and a least a good two hours before Manny was even off the phone. Emma splashed some cold water on her face and stared at her reflection. Her golden tanned skin from spending mornings at the pool with Paige was looking a little green and pale and the dark spots under her eyes were so prominent she looked like a zombie. Emma had tried hard to cover up the toll going back to school was taking on her body, but when she looked in the mirror all she saw were her flaws. This morning when she'd put on her cute little mini dress, she felt sexy and confident. And now, she just felt as if she wished she'd lost a little weight before she wore it. Her thighs were looking positively huge! Did Sean notice? Certainly Archie had noticed. The way he'd look at her disapprovingly in the middle of class made her stomach lurch.

Emma tried to calm down her racing thoughts and get a damn grip! She knew it was just the anorexia rearing it's ugly head once again, making her see things that weren't there. Imagining pounds of fat where she barely had any at all. She'd been doing so much better lately too! Ugh! Seeing Snake after three months must have been what was making her anxiety freak out so much! It was just her anxiety, right? Her eating disorder wasn't coming back! She was just being silly! Just having a bad day. Emma continued trying to convince herself she was fine, even as she changed into Sean's baggy basketball shorts and old sweatshirt to cover up the imaginary bloating. She splashed cold water on her face once more before pasting on a fake smile and heading into her room. Sean was still in the kitchen so Emma laid down on her bed and tried to stop herself from trembling so damn hard. She had nothing to be anxious about! Everything was fine! So why couldn't she believe it?

-X-

"Are you guys hiring right now?"

Alex Nunez couldn't believe her ears as she saw Paige Michalchuk, Miss Degrassi High, standing at the counter at the movie theater asking her for a job. Sure, since Alex had joined student council, she and Marco had become civil and even hung out in social situations on occasion so she and Paige were civil even acquaintances. But Paige asking for a job? This had to be a joke.

"What do you need a job for, Paige? Don't mommy and daddy pay for everything you want?" Alex tried not to be bitchy about it, but damn!

She had to work her ass off everyday after school to help her mom pay rent! Paige had everything she wanted and more! She didn't need this!

Paige rolled her eyes.

"It's not about that, hun. I just don't have any job experience and it looks good on a resume. It's senior year and college apps will be starting soon. I already have tons of extracurriculars but this job would really help me out on getting into my dream school." Paige lied.

She was pretty much a shoo-in at Banting University considering her mom was a Kappa Sig and a legacy and her grades had always been off the charts as well as all of her extra curricular activities. There was no way in hell she wouldn't get in! She just didn't want to be alone in that big old house of hers anymore. Her parents were still hardly ever home and Dylan was already away at his first year of university. Now that Sean and Jay had taken over Emma's place, Paige didn't get nearly as much time with her besties as she would have liked. Even Marco barely had time for her anymore with all of his student council duties and going off to see Dylan every weekend at school.

Even if she filled every day after school up with her extra curricular activities and spent her friday nights cheering at sporting events, she still spent waymore time alone at night than she wanted to. She needed something to fill those extra hours for a while. Just until she started to feel better about the whole Dean situation. Paige was grateful Spinner had agreed to a truce and the spirit squad had finally shut their traps about the whole thing. If she just kept busy she could continue to avoid the entire situation all year.

Alex rolled her eyes right back at Paige and scrubbed at a sticky spot on the counter.

"Are you sure you want to work here? I mean you'll have to take out the trash and sweep the floors and stir the nacho cheese when it gets that gross crusty layer on the top."

Paige inwardly shuddered but forced a smile.

"No problem hun. It's not like I don't know how to clean or something."

Alex suddenly stopped what she was doing and looked Paige right in the eyes...which Alex didn't do much. It was a little unsettling.

"Why here?"

"What do you mean?"

Alex cocked her hip and put her hand on it, emphasizing her attitude.

"I mean why work here? There are a million other places to work in this mall Paige. Why not one of the fancy clothing stores you love to shop at? Or the Dot where you basically spend your days hanging out?"

Paige sighed. She didn't know how to answer that. Honestly, she'd chosen the movie theater because of Alex. She figured they'd be working most of their shifts together and Alex made her feel...safe? No one ever fucked with her and those that had always got their face bashed in. Plus she didn't think she could handle working at The Dot near Spinner. She already thought about him enough as it was! And as far as working at a clothing store? Yeah of course it made more sense, Paige even thought about it herself...but somehow working side by side with someone she knew just felt...more comforting?

"I can't work at The Dot because my ex works there. And I couldn't get a job at one of the clothing stores because they aren't allowed to hire loyal customers." Paige lied.

She had no idea if that was true but Alex seemed to believe it so she was sticking with it!

"Look, as long as you're serious about this and you won't flake out on it I'll talk to my boss, Mary."

Paige breathed a sigh of relief.

"Really?" She smiled sweetly.

Alex smiled back.

"Sure, why not. I could use the help. You go sit in the lobby and fill this out and I'll go talk to her."

Paige took the application and got to work. An hour later she was officially the newest employee of the Degrassi Mall Cineplex. The old Paige would have been mortified. But the new Paige? She hummed as she walked to her car, finally feeling positive about something!

-X-