A/N: Trigger warning for mentions of Rick's abuse. Also Mo's diabetes symptoms come up in this chapter. Thank you to the one person who reviewed so far!

As a general warning, while this fic has an innocent vibe to it, it will not be that way for long as a certain event will change everything. Things will get darker and the character's dialogue will change that.

A month later

Marisol walked into school with a bounce in her step. Today was the day of the Halloween dance and she has been looking forward to it all week.

Katie was reading a book for class in their homeroom period when she came in class. She walked over and playfully tugged on her bestie's ponytail to get her attention. Katie looked up from her book with an amused look. "You seem happy this morning, Mare," she greeted.

"Because of the Halloween dance tonight, Katiekins! Aren't you excited to go?" Marisol questioned. She loves events whether it was parties or dances, and she was excited to dress up in a cute costume for tonight's Halloween dance. It may have been another week before the actual holiday but she was ready to wear her costume.

She was going to be Betty from the Flintstones and Katie was going to be Wilma. Ever since they became friends, every year they did a theme for Halloween. So far they have been an angel and devil, Thing 1 and Thing 2, M&Ms, Princess Peach and Princess Daisy, Velma and Daphne, Girl Scouts, and pirate girls.

"I guess, even if I think we're getting a little too old for costumes," Katie answered.

"You're never too old for wearing cute costumes," Marisol declared as Imogen skipped up to them.

"Hi ladies! Did I hear something about costumes?" The other girl asked cheerfully.

Her and Katie shared a knowing look. After a month of being forced to deal civilly with Imogen because of the Pep Squad, she didn't hate the girl but she still thought of her as a weirdo and that was never going to change. However she realized that Imogen wasn't as bad as she thought. Weird she was, Imogen showed up on time to every practice and performed with the high energy needed at games.

The only problem was that Imogen got weirdly possessive whenever she even remotely looked in Eli's way.

"Yeah, we're going as Wilma and Betty from the Flintstones. What about you?" She asked politely.

"Oh it's a surprise, but I'll tell you guys this much, it'll be the best costume at the dance. I love Halloween!" Imogen answered.

"Cool," she replied.

"I'm excited to see you there," Imogen said one last time before leaving their presence. Marisol turned her attention back to Katie, who had a teasing smile on her face.

"So does Mare have a new bestie?" She jokingly asked.

"Absolutely not, she's still a loser," Marisol denied strongly, "Just an acceptable one."

"You seem to have the same opinion on Eli," Katie pointed out as she looked towards his way. He was chatting with Imogen and Mo about something.

"Yeah, and you don't have to worry about him being anything more than that to me," Marisol assured her, shuddering dramatically at the thought.

Unfortunately, she wouldn't stop thinking about them ever since they kissed. The memory of his soft lips on hers flashed in her mind every time their eyes met or they had to do class work together. For some reason, her stomach tingled when they crossed paths.

"Good, because he's such a creep," Katie replied, "I wouldn't imagine going out with that."

"Me neither," Marisol agreed. "Only freaks should go out with him."

"Like Imogen," Katie added, before they both laughed.

"So what are you guys going as for the Halloween dance?" Imogen asked her friends as they all ate lunch together.

"Vampire, I'm thinking Dracula," Eli answered as he took a bite out of his chicken finger. He then looked at Mo. "What about you, Mo?" He asked him.

Mo seemed to have not heard him. He just looked down at his food. "Mo?" Eli repeated. "Earth to Mo," he said as he lightly punched his friend in the arm. That seemed to snap their friend out of whatever trance he was in.

"What?" Mo asked.

"What are you dressing up as for the Halloween dance?" Eli questioned. Mo blinked before answering.

"Um…..Spider-Man….," he answered slowly.

"Are you okay?" She asked Mo in concern.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just a little dizzy. That's all," he assured. "So what are you going as Immy?"

"It's a secret," she answered proudly.

"Are we allowed to guess?" Eli questioned. She shook her head in response.

"Nope," she answered.

"Pretty please?"

"Nope."

"Not even for me? Please," He pleaded and she bit her lip to keep herself from backing down. For Eli she would almost do anything.

"Nope," she said for the final time as Rick Murray walked past their table. He had a plate of chicken tenders and fries on his plate as well.

He went by a table and didn't notice that one of the kids had stuck out their foot for him to trip on. He fell to the ground immediately and face planted on his food. Several people in the cafeteria laughed as he got up. Due to the fact that he squirted barbecue sauce and ketchup on his food, they were now all over his face and hair.

He dumped his food in the trash and left the cafeteria without another word.

"You know, sometimes I think people go too far with that guy," Eli said with a frown on his face.

"He should have thought about that before he put his girlfriend in a coma," Mo replied with a shrug.

"I know, but it feels like people aren't even attacking him for that. They just want to be bullies and I hate bullies," Eli said.

"Yeah, well, no one told him to come back to Degrassi. What kind of dumbass comes back to a place where he has bad history anyway?" Mo argued. "If I was him, I would move to a far away country where nobody even knows me. Start clean. Instead, he chose to come back here, where he knows everyone is going to hate him for what he did. That bozo brought it on himself."

"I know, and it's not like I'm crying over him getting his karma. I just wonder how far is too far," Eli replied.

Imogen could see both of their sides. In a way, she wanted to completely agree with Mo. Rick abused his girlfriend, who was friends with some of the most popular kids in school. Getting bullied like this was a small part of the karma he actually deserved. But as someone who had been dealing with bullies all her life, she knew when people were treating someone like crap for the hell of it. However, Rick was no innocent victim from all the bad things she heard about him.

"If he's strong enough to beat on a girl, then he's strong enough to take the treatment he's getting right now. It's what he deserves for being a total scumbag," Mo insisted.

"If you say so, but everyone has their breaking point," Eli replied before going back to eating his chicken tenders.

As Imogen looked at the mess on the floor from Rick's fall, she wondered what Rick's breaking point was going to be.

"Alright girlies, say cheese!" Marisol's mom said as she held up a camera.

Katie smiled as her and Marisol did a few cute poses while the camera flashed repeatedly. They were both in their costumes with the right hair and accessories. They both even had a little red lipstick on. Marisol had to help her apply her lipstick because she was hopeless at makeup.

"You girls look so cute," Mrs. Lewis squealed in a way that reminded her of Mare.

"Thank you Mama!" Marisol replied cheerfully.

"Now let's get you guys in the car!" Her mom said as she led them out the door. When they got in the car, she sat in the back and mostly kept to herself as Marisol and her mother chatted enthusiastically about the dance. Sometimes, Katie wondered if those two were the same person, just in different forms.

When they got to Degrassi, the loud music from the gymnasium could be heard from outside. Students were pouring in from all different directions, and all were in elaborate costumes of some kind.

"Is that Imogen?" Marisol asked in shock, and Katie followed the direction she was looking in.

Imogen was dressed as a fairy with big sparkly ivory wings, a glittery green shirt, and a matching green poofy skirt. There were ivory leggings underneath her outfit. Her hair was done in a high ponytail and even from inside the car, she could see the glitter on the other girl's face.

There was a best costume competition tonight, and Imogen could definitely win that.

"Aww she looks cute," Mrs. Lewis gushed, "Isn't she on your little cheer team Mari?"

"Yeah, she's the weird one," Marisol replied as they got out of the car.

"Have fun, ladies!" Her mother said to them one last time before she drove off. Marisol turned, looked at her, and excitedly grabbed her hand. "Let's go inside!" She said as they walked up to the school.

Eli wasn't usually one for dances, especially with this many kids at it, but he decided to go anyway for Imogen's sake.

Compared to her elaborate fairy costume, he felt like he was lacking with his even though Cece made it herself. He was dressed in a simple Dracula costume with a black cape, white blouse, fangs with fake blood on them, and black dress pants. His curly hair was slicked back for once, and he had to admit he nearly felt bald.

He got a plate of crispy chicken nuggets, waffle fries, and a cup of juice before sitting down at a table with his friends that was decorated with a spooky theme. There were fake spiders on it with a big bowl of candy in the middle of it. The whole gymnasium was decorated with a spooky theme in general with giant fake ghosts, bats, and spiders hanging from the ceilings, cobwebs covering other tables and chairs, and props of tombstones and coffins lined up on the walls.

"This is pretty great," Eli said as he reached into the bowl and picked up a few mini Hershey bars and snickers for himself. Imogen, on the other hand, got a giant scoop of candy for herself and immediately started gobbling them up.

"Leave some for the rest of us, will you?" Mo asked dryly as he grabbed twixes, snickers, and almond joys.

"Sorry!" She apologized, though it was mumbled due to the food in her mouth.

Some obnoxious pop music was playing while kids danced on the gymnasium floor or talked to each other in small groups. Eli watched them all in amusement. He definitely wasn't going to do any of that.

He spotted Marisol on the dance floor, who was bopping along to the beat in costume while trying to get Katie to do the same. Her best friend just simply stood there awkwardly. The contrast in the two girls were clear, and he often wondered how the two were friends when they were so different from each other.

As Marisol danced, he tried not to get dirty thoughts while watching her but it was hard. He noticed that her shoulders were bare due to the costume she was wearing, and that it looked smooth. Despite her short height, her legs looked longer than usual with the halter dress.

Suddenly, he was getting sweaty.

"You wanna ask Marisol to dance or something?" Mo asked him with a teasing glint in his eyes, snapping Eli out of his thoughts for the moment.

"First of all, I don't dance and second of all, even if I did, it wouldn't be with her," Eli answered with narrowed eyes.

"Then stop staring at her, dude. It's kinda creepy," Mo replied before eating some of the chicken nuggets on his plate, along with the candy.

"Eli should dance with me," Imogen said before immediately getting up. She held out her hand for him to take it.

"I don't dance," Eli repeated firmly, folding his arms for emphasis. That did not deter his friend. She only walked over and yanked him out of his seat by force. He was shocked by the strength she displayed despite being so small.

"Well now you are, buttercup!" She insisted while leading him to the dance floor.

Eli knew that there was no point in protesting.

Marisol was surprised to see Eli dancing, but she didn't let it show as she danced and tried to get Katie to do the same. "Come on Katiekins! Loosen up!" She urged.

"I'm not a good dancer, Mare, you know this," Katie replied while shaking her head. Marisol only took her hands in hers in response to get her dance. It was always up to her to break her friend out of her shell. She made Katie do a cute salsa with her, twirling her around in the process.

"Oh, girls, girls just wanna have fun, they just want, they just wanna, they just want, they just wanna," were the words blasting in the background as they danced. Every so often, Marisol would look back at Eli, who looked like a fish out of water as he awkwardly moved his arms along to the beat while Imogen bounced up and down. They were a funny looking pair compared to everyone else.

Only when Eli caught her staring, did Marisol quickly focus back to Katie and only Katie.

After dancing to a few more songs, Imogen pulled Eli off the dance floor, and her friend couldn't be any happier. They retreated back to the table where Mo was sitting, and he had multiple cups of water surrounding him.

"Woah, you must be really be thirsty," she commented.

"Yeah, it's been like that a lot these days," Mo replied. Imogen had noticed that over the past few weeks, Mo was drinking a lot from the school water fountain or he would just have at least three bottles of water or juice at lunch. Then he would take frequent bathroom breaks throughout the day.

"How is your bladder able to take it?" Eli asked.

"I don't even know." Mo answered with a shrug.

"We should explore the school," Imogen said, "Who knows what secrets the school holds at night?" She loved exploring in all different places.

"No thank you, I heard that there's a ghost of a guy that blew his own brains out years ago roaming the halls every night," Mo refused. "I heard that his ghost even walks around with the gunshot wound to the head."

"Sounds pretty awesome to me," Eli remarked. "That is, if it's even true. Ghosts aren't real."

"Well, why don't we find out? Come on, boys," Imogen encouraged, excited to see if the rumors were true or not.

"I'm down, but Mo is chicken," Eli said while smirking at their friend.

"As if, I'm just not stupid. It seems neither of you can relate," Mo fired back.

Her and Eli didn't move until he gave in. Sighing, their friend got up out of his seat and joined them on their little excursion of the school.

Katie let Marisol drag her into the haunted house themed photo area where a group of students was lined up. A hired photographer was taking pictures of everyone by themselves or with other people. When it was her and Marisol's turn, they eagerly stood in front of the camera.

"Let's do a scary pose!" Marisol said.

"Okay," Katie agreed. They then both got into a pose where they seemed like they were ready to poune on someone, baring their teeth at the photographer. The photographer smiled as he took the picture of them. Then they did a few more poses, some "scary" while others were more cutesy. They left the area when they were finished.

"I'm going to get more chicken nuggets," Marisol said as they walked back to their table. "Do you want me to get you more as well?"

"No thanks, I don't need the extra calories," Katie turned down politely. She was careful with what she was eating tonight. She already had four pieces of nuggets, a very small amount of fries, and a piece of candy. She didn't need to poison her body anymore.

Instead, she went to get herself a cup of water.

He didn't feel so good.

As he walked around with Eli and Imogen, Mo's vision was getting blurrier with each step to the point he couldn't see people, just blobs. He felt sick, ever since he ate some candy.

"Can I sit down for a bit, guys?" He asked his friends. "I'll catch up with you guys later."

His friends shared concerned looks with each other before nodding and leaving. They didn't find any ghosts roaming the halls of Degrassi while they were creeping around the school, but they did find some old, strange pictures of Mr. Simpson when he was a kid performing with some band.

He went to sit at an empty table, feeling himself getting a little too wobbly. He was also sweating badly underneath his costume.

'What's wrong with me?' Mo asked himself as he took his mask off. He then rested his face in his hands. He thought it would help, but it only made things worse.

'I'll get some water,' he thought to himself as he got up from his seat. Despite the few cups of water he had earlier, he was feeling really thirsty again.

He didn't make it far before his vision completely blackened.

When him and Imogen walked back into the gymnasium, they noticed something was wrong immediately when a large group of students was crowding around their table. Him and Imogen shared confused looks as they rushed over to their table.

There, they saw Mo on the floor, unconscious.

"Mo? Mo!" Imogen exclaimed in worry as she crouched down and tried to wake up their friend, but he wasn't responding. Eli just stood there in shock, not knowing what to do.

"Everybody clear out, now!" A chaperone commanded as she moved past all of them. She shoved Imogen away. "Someone call 911!"

It was a half and hour before the ambulance showed up to take Mo away, and by then the dance was over. The lights in the gym came on and the music stopped. While everyone was waiting for their parents to pick them up, they all were whispering about what could have possibly happened to make Mo faint.

Eli tried to calm Imogen down as she was panicking. He had his arm wrapped around her while she cried. Inside, he was freaking out but he had to keep it together for her.

However, as he looked at the area Mo passed out in, he wondered if they were to blame for not noticing anything wrong with him until it was too late.

"What happened, Mari?" Her mother asked in concern as her and Katie got back into the car. They were waiting outside the school until her mother arrived.

"Some kid in our class passed out," Marisol answered, feeling shaky from the experience. She had never seen a kid pass out until Mo did it, and seeing him unresponsive on the floor like that was one of the scariest images she had ever seen in her life.

"Oh god," her mother said in horror.

"We saw him get up from the table to walk over to the drinks table and he just…..fell," Katie added from the back. "Nobody knows what happened."

"I hope he's alright," her mother replied.

Marisol was trying to process how a night that started off so well went disastrous in just two hours.

Mo woke up in a white hospital bed with his vision returning to normal.

His mother was the only person in the room with him, and she seemed to have been praying by his bedside. "Mohammad! Praise Allah you're awake!" She exclaimed with tears in her eyes as she reached over and grabbed his hand tenderly.

"Mom, what happened?" He asked with a groggy voice.

"You were in a coma for three days," his mother answered, "Your father and I were beginning to fear the possibility of you never waking up."

"Why was I in a coma?" He questioned in confusion. The last thing he remembered was trying to get some water at the Halloween dance.

His mother shifted uncomfortably in her seat at the question.

"The doctor told us that you are diabetic," she explained, "And you fell into a coma because of it. You were in serious danger of dying."

Mo could only stare numbly at his mother in response.