Chapter 29: "People Talking Without Speaking..."


"Baked Mac and Cheese? Aww Mrs. Matlin you shouldn't have." "No trouble, really. Maya said it was one of your favorites and you've had a pretty rough week. Starting a new week of school and ending it in a hospital... you're a brave soul." She says, a wise look in her eye. A look almost saying, 'I've been there before'.

"Well dig in, I made enough for ten." She says with a soft laugh, not unlike Maya's. "I guess it's that part of me that admires her for raising the 8 of us." She says with a wide grin, remembering her childhood. "I understand completely. My dad pretty much single handedly raised us, and every Sunday, without even thinking about it, cooks a pound of pasta for 2 people." "Hahaha. Been there. Maya's older siblings used to eat everything and anything in the house. Now I cook too much." "Oh that's nothing. Back in the early 2000's my older brother and his friends were watching Survivor and instead of eating the chips, they ate a bag of baby carrots and celery with ranch dressing." I say, spooning a glob of mac and cheese onto my plate and sitting down. "Teenage boys with a love for healthy food, how refreshing." Mr. Matlin says, grabbing a pitcher of water and setting it on the table. "We're junk food junkies though, he's the black sheep." I say, picking a forkful of mac and cheese up and plopping it into my mouth. "Wow! This is amazing Mrs. Matlin." I say, quickly eating another mouthful. "Aww I'm flattered." Mrs. Matlin says, putting her hand to her chest and smiling. "This is really good Mom. Exceptional work, thank you." Maya says, examining the fork before picking up another bite. "Well done honey, they're right." Mr Matlin says, pouring another cup of water for himself. "I feel spoiled." She says jokingly, asking Maya to pass the salt.

"Its so great to be home. It means the world to me that you're letting me stay in your beautiful home. I don't know what I'd be doing if I hadn't met Maya. She's an exceptional friend." I say with a wide smile on my face. "Honestly it's no trouble at all. Its nice having another girl around here. Katie, our oldest daughter, is off at Stanford. And it was getting lonely around here. You liven the place up." Mrs. Matlin says grinning, cat-like eyes glowing. "I've been known to have that effect hahaha." I say sarcastically, spooning another glob of mac and cheese on my plate. "I would say we could share clothes, but Maya is much smaller than I am hahaha. That would make the somewhat sister situation complete." I say laughing softly and picking up another mouthful on my fork. "I couldn't share close with my own sister either. It wasn't too bad, we have different styles anyway." Maya says, walking to the fridge to get more ice for her drink.

Once we'd all finished eating Maya and I cleared the table and washed the dishes. Then I had to start on the mountain of work that had accumulated in my three day absence from school.


I sit in my room, memorizing Spanish vocab words for a quiz on Tuesday. I hear a knock at the door. "Come in." "Hey Gee. I wanted to talk to you about something." Maya says, sitting on my bed. I put down my flash cards and fold my hands in my lap. "Sure My, go right ahead. What's up?" I say, sitting up straight. "Well, Cam and I were thinking. You and Zig are going to be spending an awfully long time together on the musical... Will he get jealous- Brian I mean." "Zig and I are friends, and nothing more. Sure he's cute but, do you see this ring? As long as I'm wearing it, Brian and I are still together." I say, putting my hand out to her. "Okay. But be careful. I swear he's got voodoo magic up his sleeves. He's very persuasive." She says, crossing her arms over her chest and looking away with a look of pity on her face. "Look. Maya, I really appreciate what you're trying to do. But I don't need it okay? I love Brian, I'm not going to give that up for a fling with Zig. Okay?" "That's exactly what I thought at first too..." Maya says, getting off of my bed and standing at the door frame. "Don't get hurt." She says, looking at me with sorrow filled eyes. Maya walks into her room and I hear muffled cello playing as I pick up my flash cards. "Lamentar, to regret..." I say in a hushed voice, sighing.


"Good Morning Degrassi, rehearsals for the original musical 'Well, what now?' start Wednesday, and call backs for Stacy will be in the auditorium tomorrow. That's all Degrassi, and have a great day." Dave says over the video announcements in homeroom the next morning.

Now everyone's talking about me. Maya fills me in on the funny rumors. According to Steve from Brian's Chem class, it was a drug deal gone wrong. And according to Jennie from Chorus, he's the Father of my unborn child. I filed the case with Mrs. Burke over the phone last night. The trial's next week. The fact that Gabe would come here just to be a dick is beyond me. My only question though, is he staying here? I decide to text my friend from back home.

Me: Hey Kid! Miss you oodles and boodles. Quick question, is Gabe still at school?

Danielle: Ahhh! I miss you more! BTW, Katie's pregnant. Details to follow. Skype me. And yeah, the dickwad's still here.

Me: I owe Prifti 20 bucks now. I thought it would be junior year.

Danielle: Which means I'm out too. I said 3rd term this year. It was over the summer, she's due in April. You have to fly down here for that.

Me: Wouldn't miss that shit for the world. Gtg, bell just rang.

Danielle: Love you Gee. Bye.

I put my phone in my back pocket and walk to English class.


"Ahh, it's good to see you Gioia. Hope you're feeling better." Ms. Dawes says as I enter the room. "Much better thank you. The boot comes off in two weeks and the cast comes off in three." "Marvelous." She says, returning to the work on her laptop. I put my bad on the ground and sit next to Cam. "Hey." I say as he looks up from Eli's journal. "Riveting stuff?" I ask, sneaking a peek at the work. "Oh yeah. You can borrow it sometime." He says, smiling and putting in his backpack, retrieving his binder and a mechanical pencil as the bell rings again and class begins.

"What is love?" Ms. Dawes asks, pacing around the classroom. "Anyone?" She asks after no one answers. "Alright. I'll answer. Love can not be described in words. It's a feeling in your heart. It's who or what you think about right before you go to bed and as you wake up in the morning. Your assignment is to write in your journal about love or lack thereof. I'll give you the rest of class to work on it. Converse with your neighbor if need be, but be quiet." Dawes says, pacing throughout her speech. She closes the door to the classroom then sits down, typing away at her keyboard.


Love: four letters, 1 syllable. Simple. Yeah right. So Dawes said "to write about love. And make it real and raw." Well here's some raw shit for ya. Fitz. Yup. We were a thing. He used to be this bad ass with a love for pain... but then Eli came along. Eli had to be Fitz's enemy. He had to take up all Fitz's time. I never got to see him through all that. Then he left for a while, and when he came back he was jacked up on Jesus. More so then Becky Baker, if that's even possible. So yeah, he turned to Christianity and he came back for CLARE. Not me. But Clare fucking Edwards. But you know, Fitz and his Jesus lovin ways were INFINITELY better than having to deal with all Harry's bullshit. Harry was my friend, sure I'll give him that. Then we were talking one day and asked if I wanted to having "A lil somthin on the side". Then he grabbed my ass. And, he was hot so I agreed. Little did I know Harry was hiding a pretty big secret. HE'S GAY! I mean, I'm cool with it. Love whomever you want and all that jazz, but really, really Harry? And the best part is how I found out. We were at a Torres house party and I knocked on the bathroom door. When I walked in I caught him with JAKE MARTIN! Why on earth would you fuck the tree hugger? The Brawny paper towel look alike! I mean, sure he's hot, but all he does is preach about the environment. The only reason Katie put up with it was to get in his pants. And that didn't work. I heard they all went to the Drianca "wedding" in Vegas and she banged the FaceRange guy for some cash. Have some class! I'm rambling. What is love? I guess I haven't found it yet.


I walk into chorus, Open Mic day. On days when we have nothing to fix and new songs aren't in yet, Goldman does Open Mic day. You get the music, he'll play it on the piano. I walk to the piano and hand Goldman my sheet music. "Oh, uh. Someone else was going to do that song. Maybe you two could do a duet!" Goldman says as someone taps my shoulder from behind. I turn to see Zig. "Hey." He says with a wide grin. "You're in chorus?" "Yeah, just transferred in from Music Theory. It seemed like fun in here." He says, grabbing a music folder and sitting next to Cam, who was getting used to Zig, but still felt a little squeamish around him. "Hi." Jake says quietly. "Hey Jake... what's up?" I ask awkwardly, not quite sure why we're talking. "I uh, I'm going to be singing with you today." He says looking down. "Okay." I say with a confused look on my face, thinking well we are in chorus together, no shit. Then I remembered what Goldman said.

"Okay class. Today we have a special treat. My veteran of Open Mic and our new friend Jake are going to be performing together. Tell them what you're singing guys." Goldman says, sitting down at the piano bench and flipping to our music. "I'm Jake." "And I'm Gioia." "And we're going to be singing 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow' by Carol King and James Taylor." Jake says, handing me a mic. I put it on the lowest setting. The chorus room's pretty small. Goldman starts playing the beginning bars and Jake smiles as he clears his throat. "Tonight you're mine. Completely. You give your love, so sweetly. Tonight, the light, of love is in your eyes. But will you love me tomorrow?" I sing looking at Jake. "Is this a lasting treasure, or just a moment's pleasure? Can I believe the magic of your sighs? Will you still love me tomorrow?" He sings in a shockingly beautiful voice. "Tonight with words unspoken. You say that I'm the only one. But will my heart, be broken, when the ni-" I sing. "When the night" He echoes back. "Meets the mor-" I sing, staring into his green eyes. "Meets the morning sun" He says back once more. "I'd like to know that your love, is a love that can, is a love that can, is a love that I can be sure of!" I sing to him my stomach in knots. "SO tell, me now, and I won't ask again. Will you still love me tomorrow?" He sings back with just as much intensity. "So tell me now, and I won't ask again. Will you still love me tomorrow. Will you still love me tomorrow. Will you still love me... To-mo-row." We sing together. At the end we are oblivious to people clapping. Goldman has to clear his throat to get our attention.

"WOW! That was great you two! Excellent work. Who's next?" Goldman asks, smiling brightly and walking back to piano. Zig raises his hand. "Oh yes you. What are you going to sing for us?" Goldman asks as Zig makes his way down the raisers. "Good choice!" Goldman says as Zig hands him the sheet music. "I'm Zig" and I'll be singing 'Sound of Silence' by Simon and Garfunkel." Zig says, turning up the mic and looking to Goldman with a weak, unsure smile. "Ya know! We did this song in chorus last year! Would you mind if Gioia came down here to sing with you?" "I guess it's up to her." He says with a twinkle in his eyes. "I'd love to." I say, making my way down to our makeshift stage. "Listen to the sound. Listen to the sound. Listen to the sound... of Silence." We sing together, harmonizing. "Hello darkness my old friend, I've come to talk to you again... Because a vision softly creeping. Left its seeds while I was sleeping." He sings, looking to Jake, who had an uncomfortable smile on his face. "And the vision, that was planted in my brain... still remains. Within the sound." I sing, looking to Zig, who isn't looking at me, but at Jake still. "Within the sound." He echoes. "Of Silence." "Silence." "In restless dreams I walked alone." "Narrow streets of cobblestone." " 'neath the halo of a street lamp. I turned my collar to the cold and damp." "When my eyes were stabbed, by the flash of a neon light. That split the night... And touched the sound." "And touched the sound. Of silence." We continue on till the end, switching off sections. Zig looking at Jake and me awkwardly looking at Zig. He must have gotten the 'she needs to be avoided' memo. Figures. I can't be just friends with a guy now can I? We sit down and other people perform. Zig stares at Jake the entire time. Is Zig jealous that I sang with Jake? I mean, we did have a moment there on stage... No. I sat in my seat, fidgeting till chorus ended. The room was full of applause as Jess and Alex finished an adele cover. The bell rang and the room cleared. It was lunch block after all. Zig cornered Jake and started talking to him. Cam was waiting at the bottom of the raisers with his backpack on, to walk me to lunch. "What's with Zig?" I whisper to Cam. "Well, Jake's like a musical prodigy, but won't agree to be in WhisperHug. Zig's pulling out everything he can think of, but nothing's worked." Cam whispers back, as we walk past them and to the lunchroom, where Tori was chomping away on a salad and Tristan read food labels. "Oh, Goldman told me to give you this." Cam says, reaching into his bag and pulling out a flyer for the school open mic. "He said the WHS chorus is in town on a music field trip and he wants them to perform at open mic for the parents to see 'what a year with goldman can do'." Cam says, putting air quotes around the last part. "Ahh! That's so awesome! I hope you get to meet Leanne. He'll probably want her to come too. Even if she is off in the real world. She has been buds with Goldman for fucking ever." I say, taking and examining the flyer. "He wants you to come after school to go over some harmonies. Oh, and I have something else for you." He says, opening his bag again. "Here. Now that you're a Canadian, you can have one of these bad boys." He says, putting a piece of candy, face down, on my palm. I turn it over. "A kinder egg...You, are a good man." I say, unwrapping and opening the egg. Tristan looks at Cam with a sad face. "Don't worry, I bought more." Cam says, taking three more eggs out of his bag. Tori and Tristan look at each other and squeal with excitement, quickly unwrapping and opening the eggs. "So, how goes hockey?" I ask, grabbing my lunch from my bag. "Its good. Its nice to be back, I just wish Luke would get off his high horse and stop acting like he owns the damn place." Cam says, glaring at Luke who's sitting with the team. "I mean, he's a pretty good hockey player. But pretty good doesn't get you into the NHL." Cam says, staring at the table. "You okay?" I ask, trying breaking him from his trance. "Yeah. Just school stress I guess. Junior year's a pretty big one." Cam says, puffing out a deep breath from, his cheeks and grabbing a sandwich from his bag. Maya and Brian join us then.

"Hey all. Oh there better be a Kinder Egg for me." Maya says, sitting down and glancing at the empty wrappers on the table. Cam pulls two more from his bag. "That's why I love ya!" Maya says, taking the egg and messing up Cam's hair. "Oh come on... that's not the only reason is it?" Cam asks, fixing his hair. "Well, you're not half bad kid. I think you're gonna be here for quite awhile. Especially if there are more Kinder Eggs." She says, trying to grab his bag. "Ahh but there are." Cam says, opening his bag up and tilting it to show Maya and the rest of us. There must have been 50 more. "I knew there was a reason I liked you." Maya says leaning over the table to kiss him.


Home again. I sat in my room working on Geometry when my phone rang. Unknown number. "Hello?" "Hi. Its Zig... I uh, come to the library. The uh, project, Spanish. The Spanish project is due in a few days and Jake and I need help. Thanks." Then he hung up, clearly flustered. I began packing a small bag with my Spanish textbook, notebook, and sources I'd printed for the project. I dug through a pile of laundry and found my gray sweatshirt. "M? You in there?" I ask, knocking on her door. "Just a sec!" Maya says, turning down her music and answering the door, her hair messy. "Cam's in here isn't he?" I ask, raising my eyebrows. "So we were making out. Sue me." Maya says, opening her door more and letting me in. She picked up a comb from her dresser top and began taming her mane. "I'm going down to the library to work on a project for Spanish. Hey Cam." I say, waving to Cam who's lying on Maya's bed with his arms behind his head. "Howdy." He says with a quick wave and a soft laugh. "Okay. I'm off, hasta luego." "We don't take Spanish." Cam says as I close the door to Maya's room and walk out the front door and down the block.


"Hey Gigi. Sit on down, we about to get our Spanish on." Zig jokes, waving to me as he sits down with books he'd grabbed from the shelf a moment earlier. "Will do." I say, taking off my sweatshirt and laying i on the back of the chair next to him, then taking out my notes. "Where's jake?" I ask, looking around for him. The library's pretty empty except for a few people reading at different tables or working on homework. There's maybe ten of us. "Oh, he's at the computers working on the PowerPoint. He's really good with computers... or so he says." "I heard that." Jake says, putting his hands on the back of the seat I'm in a placing a copy of the PowerPoint on the table. "It's almost done. I just need your notes," he says, putting a hand on my head. "And your Spanish section." He says, placing his other hand on Zig's head. "I'll be in the back working on formatting. Call if you need me for any reason." He says, taking his hands away and whistling as he made his way to the back of the library and sat at a spinning chair, typing away furiously.

"Need help with the Spanish part?" "Actually no. I'm almost done. I just need you to proof read it if you wouldn't mind." He says, handing over a sheet where he'd written sentences. "Looks good! I'll go run it down to Jake. He can have my notes too. Be back in a sec!" I say, taking my notebook and Zig's work to the back of the library.

"What's up?" He asks, not looking up from the keyboard. "I've got some notes for you. Tell me if you can't read some of it. I know, my handwriting is horrid." I say, handing him the notes and taking a seat next to him. "Wow, this looks really good." I say, glancing at the powerpoint as he flips through my notes. "And once we add these notes, we'll be finished. Excited stuff I know." He says sarcastically, propping the notebook up and typing away. I start getting up to leave, but stop myself. "Hey. Uh, I'm in this band WhisperHug, and we kind of need a manager... Would you be interested?" I ask, sitting back down and looking to Jake for an answer. "Um. Yeah. That doesn't sound completely horrible." Jake says with a smirk on his face. "How would tomorrow after school work for you?" I ask, looking into his green irises and smiling. "Alright... I guess I could swing that." He says nodding. "What's your sound like?" "We do covers of old stuff and we're working on some originals but there far from ready." I say, shaking my head at the thought of how horrible our originals are. "Okay... I'll check it out." He says winking as I walk back to the table I'd been sitting at with Zig and continue working on the project.


Hope you liked this one. I'm gonna be on a bit of a hiatus, I need some time to sit down and write some good chapters. That's partially why I made this chapter soooo long. Give you a bit more while I work on more chapters. These haven't been too great. Any who, I hope you enjoyed it. Have a good day Degrassians!

P.S. The thing about "Katie" was an inside joke for my friends who read this. I actually threw in a lot of our inside jokes in this, that's probably why its kind of strange sometimes.