A/N: Trigger warning for mentions of Marisol's sexual assault in this chapter.

May

Marisol checked all of her luggage once again to make sure that she had everything for the trip. She double checked and triple checked already but she wanted to make sure just one last time. She packed two cheer uniforms, a practice uniform, two travel outfits, three dinner outfits, three day outfits, two of her favorite bathing suits, and four pairs of shoes. She also packed all of her makeup and hair products.

Today, her and her fellow pep squad members were going down to New York City for the finals of the cheer competition. It was them vs a rival team from Manhattan for the championship title. She couldn't wait to go to New York, especially after the recent breakup with Jake. After a month, she was finally starting to get over him. Maybe she would meet a new, cute boy from New York.

She planned to do all kinds of shopping down Times Square and eat at good restaurants. She even wanted to go to Coney Island and eat boardwalk pizza. There were all sorts of fun activities to do in the Big Apple!

"Mari! Your team is here!" Her mother called from downstairs.

"Coming, Mama!" She yelled back as she grabbed her bags and headed out of her room. She walked down the steps to where her mother was waiting for her.

"Have a good trip, baby. I'll miss you during those four days you'll be gone," her mother said as she pulled her in for a hug. Marisol smiled as she hugged her back before walking outside to where two large vans were parked outside her house. She got inside the first one with the cheerleading coach, Alli, Jenna…and Imogen.

When her and Imogen's eyes met, they immediately scowled at each other.

Thirty minutes on the road, and Jenna couldn't wait until they got to New York because of all the tension in the car. Not only did Marisol and Imogen glare constantly at each other, but Alli was glaring at her too. She didn't know what she did to Alli to make her hate her so much. Alli was too pretty to have such a nasty scowl on her face all of the time.

She put on some country music on her iPod to listen to and plugged in her earphones to distract herself. Despite being uncomfortable from the cattiness the other girls were showing right now, she was still excited to go to the famous US city. Their cheer coach promised them that they were going to do some sightseeing while they were in New York City. She in particular wanted to go shopping at Times Square. Her older brother had given her some spending money for the trip.

A Carrie Underwood song played, and she began to hum quietly to herself while watching the scenery outside her car window. One day, she hoped that she would be on the road for her concert tours instead of cheer, but that was a pipe dream for now.

"Jenna, you're humming too loud," Alli said with narrowed eyes.

"Sorry," she apologized nonchalantly before going back to her music. Alli folded her arms in indignation but decided to look forward to the front of the car.

Jenna hoped that eventually Alli would warm up to her, and they could be friends for Clare's sake.

A few hours into the road trip, Imogen was hungry. "Can we stop somewhere?" She asked as her tummy began to rumble.

"There's a rest stop coming up ahead," the coach said, and she smiled in relief. She sat back and played on her purple DS. She wondered how her dad was going to be without her for the next four days. She worried about his mental state lately. He was constantly forgetting stuff. However, she would take that over living with her mother.

The coach drove off an exit that led them to a rest stop that had a McDonald's. Imogen was the first one to get out of the car. The other girls quickly followed.

Inside, the restaurant wasn't that packed. There were only a few people waiting in line to order. When it was her turn, she ordered a happy meal only so she could get a toy.

"How old are you?" Marisol asked her dryly after ordering a quarter pounder meal.

"Old enough to mind my business," Imogen fired back.

"Really? Because you seemed pretty invested in a stupid little kiss Eli and I had before you two got into that train wreck of a relationship," the other girl sneered before picking up her meal. "If a kiss got you that mad, then you and Emo Boy were doomed from the beginning."

"Shut up, Marisol," she replied, not in the mood to fight. She just wanted to eat her McNuggets. The other girl thankfully went away, but not before shoving past her with her food.

She scowled but it quickly went away when she got her happy meal. She smiled as she went to sit down.

She opened up her box and squealed excitedly as she picked up a new doll from the latest kid's movie.

Alli went inside the bathrooms, and was immediately repulsed by what she saw…..and smelled. There was used toilet paper all over the floor and stains on the walls. Bracing herself, she opened up each stall to find one that wasn't completely disgusting. She found only one.

'I feel like I'm going to catch a social disease in here,' she thought to herself as she used the toilet.

Next to her, a woman was pooping loudly, and the scent was penetrating her nostrils in all the worst ways. She felt like she wanted to die. As soon as she was done, she washed her hands and quickly left the restroom.

Outside, Jenna was eating on a Mcchicken sandwich at the booth they were sitting at. Alli didn't really want to sit with her, but there was no other choice. When she sat down, she looked at her own food, which was a chicken salad and some water.

Suddenly, she wasn't that hungry anymore.

After they left McDonald's, they got back in the car and tensions between all of them continued to rise. Their coach tried to lighten things up.

"Okay girls, how about we all play a game or do something fun?" Ms. Mendleson suggested as she drove.

"Punchbuggy?" Imogen asked excitedly, and Marisol had a feeling she only wanted to play that game as an excuse to punch her.

"No way," Marisol turned down firmly.

"What about a nice song?" Jenna suggested.

"Absolutely not," Alli rejected quickly.

"How about the Name Game? Someone starts with a name of a celebrity and the next person has to say a person whose first name starts with a letter of the previous last name," the coach suggested, "I'll start. Janet Jackson."

"John Travolta!" Imogen said, before looking expectantly at her.

"T-Pain," Marisol said, wondering where this game was going to go.

"Paul McCartney," Jenna added. Then it was Alli's turn.

"Michael Jackson," Alli stated.

"Joan Rivers," Ms. Mendelson said, and for the next hour they played the game. By the end, they had pretty much gone through the whole alphabet. New York City was a mere couple hours away.

The sun was setting outside, and Marisol admired the pretty scenery she was seeing on the road. There was lush greenland and cute animals spotted at farms. This was the best part about road trips.

As for the worst part, besides sitting with a girl she truly despised, there was the unfortunate sight of roadkill. She saw a few dead animals laid out on the highway in such a gruesome manner that it nearly caused her to lose her lunch.

By the time they finally got to New York, Jenna was relieved. Any more of Alli glaring at her, she wouldn't be able to take it.

The hotel they were staying at was nicer than anything she had ever seen. It had a grand lobby with marble floors, giant glass chandeliers, and large fountains. Classical music played in the background. As someone who stayed at a roach filled motel the last time she was on vacation with her family, Jenna was pretty impressed.

The front desk receptionist gave them their key cards and the coach led them into an old fashioned elevator with a worker inside.

"What floor?" He asked them.

"Thirteenth," the coach answered as the worker closed the elevator gates and pressed the button.

"Thirteenth floor?" She heard Alli whisper fearfully to Marisol. Jenna herself felt more uncomfortable now than she already was by the road trip. It was bad enough that she was dealing with a girl that hated her guts, now it seemed like more bad luck was coming her way. Plus her stomach was hurting for some reason. When they got off the floor, Jenna was tense.

The coach unlocked the door to their hotel suite and led them inside. "Okay, girls listen up. Marisol and Imogen, you will share one room and Jenna and Alli, you'll share the other one."

"Seriously?" They all asked at once in disbelief and there were mixed reactions of shock, anger, and disgust.

As for Jenna, she just accepted that this trip was going to be unlucky indeed.

Dinner was at Times Square at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant. Despite the happy meal she had way earlier, Imogen was eager for more food.

"More garlic bread anyone?" Jenna asked as she took a piece of bread from the basket and passed it around. Marisol eagerly took two before giving it to Alli. Imogen eyed her suspiciously. She didn't expect Marisol to be the type to eat a lot of food considering she was a shallow, snobby bitch.

It didn't take long for their waiter to arrive with their food. Nearly all of them ordered some sort of shrimp platter except for Marisol, who ordered a big cheeseburger with bacon, barbecue sauce, and onion rings. The other girl proceeded to mow down her food as if she didn't eat anything earlier.

"Careful Marisol, you wouldn't want to gain any more unnecessary calories," she said in a fake, sugary sweet tone.

"Are you calling me fat, bitch?" Marisol asked with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"Marisol!" Ms. Mendelson sharply reprimanded.

"If that's what you want to call it," she answered with a shrug, "I've been noticing you've been getting a little big around the chest at practices."

"It's called growing boobs, you idiot. You would know if you weren't flat as a board!" Marisol fired back. Imogen bristled at her words.

"Girls!" Ms. Mendelson reprimanded them both this time, sending them each a warning glare. Marisol went back to eating on her burger, munching on it roughly.

Imogen sat back with a smirk on her face, happy that she could so easily get underneath the other girl's skin.

After the truly intense dinner, they headed back to the hotel room for the night. Alli wanted to see more of Times Square but she guessed that would have to wait until tomorrow or after the cheer finals.

As Jenna showered in the bathroom, she brushed her hair while looking at herself in the mirror. She wondered how Mo was doing right now. Her boyfriend gave her a final kiss for good luck at school yesterday, right before her dad picked her up. Her parents haven't found out yet that she had a boyfriend and she would like to keep it that way. They would blow a gasket and she wouldn't be let outside the house again until she was thirty.

Jenna began to sing loudly and Alli rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe she was going to put up with three nights of this. She quickly turned the volume up on her TV so she couldn't hear much of her teammate's truly awful singing.

She wished Clare was here with her so she wouldn't have to deal with Jenna alone.

Breakfast the next day consisted of an awkward silence at the table. Nobody was in the mood to speak to each other.

Marisol ate on her meal of bacon, eggs, and cranberry juice while avoiding Imogen's annoying scowl. She still didn't believe that the other girl dared to insinuate that she was fat at dinner last night. She wished she could slap her again.

"So Ms. Mendelson, what are we doing today?" She heard Jenna ask, trying to lighten up the mood at the table.

"Well, I was thinking we could see the Statue of Liberty today, or the Empire State building. What do you ladies think?" Their coach suggested with a smile.

"Statue of Liberty sounds great!" Jenna replied cheerfully. She then looked at the rest of them. "Right guys?" She addressed them.

"Sounds fun," Marisol agreed. She did want to see all of New York City's best sights on this trip. She just wanted to see them with girls who were actually her friends besides Alli.

"Can we see the big Toys Are Us store in Times Square?" Imogen asked excitedly. "The one with the Ferris Wheel?"

Marisol rolled her eyes at the question. Imogen was truly proving herself to be quite the child on this trip. She wondered how Eli was able to stand it when they were dating. She couldn't imagine swapping spit with someone who had the emotional maturity of a four year old.

"If that's what you want, then we'll do it!" The coach answered kindly.

"Can we go to the Macy's store instead?" Marisol asked dryly. "Or the MAC store? Or even better, can we go off on our own?"

"Absolutely not," the coach rejected, "There's sixteen of us on this trip and I cannot afford to lose any of you, we all have to stick together."

'Great,' Marisol thought grumpily to herself.

The boat ride to the Statue of Liberty was packed with fellow tourists. Jenna almost struggled to get through the crowd as she rested her arms on the railing. Her teammates weren't too far away from her, but she wanted some space.

The sight of the iconic green statue on the small island amazed her. Before now, she had only ever seen it in movies. She listened as an old man close by recounted the tale of his Italian grandparents sailing to Ellis Island decades ago and feeling American as soon as they saw it for the first time.

When they got off the boat, they had to go through security check in. She was forced to put her bag in a locker. She didn't mind. When they passed through security check, Mrs. Mendleson paid for their tickets to see both the pedestal and the crown. They then entered the building.

Inside, there was a line to take an elevator to the pedestal and it was long. The only other option was the steps….which consisted of a hundred and ninety five of them.

"I think this would be a great work out for you girls before the competition," the coach mused as everyone looked at each other uncomfortably. Except Imogen, who smiled excitedly.

"Who wants to race me up the steps?" She challenged, looking around. Not a single girl on the team volunteered. "Come on! Someone race me!" She pleaded.

Jenna found herself stepping forward. She felt bad for the older girl and didn't want to leave her hanging. "I'll do it!" She announced as cheerfully as she could.

"Yay!" Imogen cheered and next thing she knew, they were running up the steps.

Imogen wasn't even out of breath by the time they reached the pedestal. Even better, she beat Jenna, who was panting. "Ha!" She boasted as she bounced up and down at the top of the steps excitedly.

"Whew, that was rough," Jenna said as she took several deep breaths. Her face was completely red.

"You guys are weird," Marisol sniped at the two of them as she and the other members of the team reached the top.

"We're having fun, Marisol. Something you're obviously not familiar with," Imogen fired back.

"Whatever," the other girl replied dismissively as she moved past her to go outside.

Outside was a beautiful, grand view of Manhattan. Imogen looked around in wonder as she ran to the edge to get a closer view of the city. She looked up to get a closer look at the statue. While it looked small from the boat, standing at the pedestal of it, she had never felt so tiny. "Wow," she could only say as everyone around her took pictures.

Next, was the crown. It took a hundred and forty five steps to get to the crown and she read that only four hundred people were allowed to see it per day. So they were lucky. Just like with the pedestal, she happily ran up the steps, though no one raced her this time.

The steps to the crown were very narrow, and she almost felt a little claustrophobic in the tight space. But it wasn't enough to kill her excitement that she was actually inside of the Statue of Liberty.

There was a tour guide waiting for them when they finally reached the top. From outside the windows, she could see the torch the statue was holding. Inside, she could see the "hairlines". She reached out to touch them, feeling the rugged material underneath her fingers. The tour guide explained the history of the statue, including its remodeling in the 80s, but she was more focused on looking around everywhere.

Their time in the crown was short to her distress. They were quickly led back down the steps to exit the statue.

Outside, the coach gathered them all up to take a picture in front of the statue. "Ladies, say cheese!" She urged with a smile.

Imogen smiled widely, only for Marisol to do a pose in front of her just as the camera flashed.

After they were done visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, they were on their way to the Empire State Building.

Instead of a boat, this time they used the infamous New York City subways to travel. Alli was immediately disgusted by the sight of graffiti on the seats and subway walls, trash everywhere, and the strong smell of something foul. Instead of sitting down, she grabbed on one of the polls, feeling like she would get a disease if she sat on one of those grungy looking seats.

She felt something rub against her leg. When Alli looked down, her face blanched.

It was a big, giant rat.

Her brain took a few seconds to register the sight below her before she let out a scream.

Despite the horrible, traumatizing incident that went down with Alli in the subway, Marisol still felt some excitement when they got off the dreaded subway and saw the Empire State Building from their stop. The skyscraper was almost imposing as it stood taller than any other building in Manhattan.

They walked through the crowd of people to get to the building, and Marisol kept her hands deep in her pockets. She heard about the dreaded NYC pickpockets.

When they reached the building, she was the first to enter, walking in proudly. She took her sunglasses off as they got in the elevator. They got off and headed outside on the observation deck to see a large gathering of people taking pictures. Marisol rushed to the gates, and looked down at the city below her in amazement.

From this grand, beautiful view of the city, she felt like the Queen of New York.

The whole time they were on the observation deck, Jenna felt like she was being watched. She looked back from her spot to see Alli staring at her, confirming her suspicions.

"Isn't this awesome?" She asked the other girl, trying to start some lighthearted conversation. She expected a snide remark in return, or just a glare.

"Yeah," Alli agreed instead to her surprise. She stepped next to her. "This is pretty nice even though I'm scared of heights."

"Well lucky this gate is here to stop us from falling, right?" Jenna assured her. It would be a pretty ugly fall otherwise, though she was pretty sure Alli was currently fantasizing about pushing over the edge right now.

"I guess so," the other girl agreed again. They then looked down at Manhattan together.

Hope sparked inside of Jenna at the idea of them becoming friends after all.

The last tourist destination for the day was a big MAC store in Times Square. After leaving the Empire State Building, Marisol begged Ms. Mendelson for all of them to go inside of it.

Today, the store was offering free makeovers and pretty every girl on the team was eager to receive one. Except her. While Imogen liked wearing makeup, it was mostly on her own terms and not what other girls expected of her. She had seen the typical "makeover" girls like her received in movies and she did not want that for herself.

She watched as Marisol was the first girl to get a makeover. She sat pridefully in the chair and held her chin up for the workers to get started on her. 'She's in her comfort zone. The only area she's a genius in,' Imogen mused. She knew Marisol was some sort of expert in makeup. Only because it was the only thing taking up space in her tiny brain.

The worker enthusiastically worked on Marisol's face, prepping her face with foundation and concealer. Then she painted her face with pink lipstick and put mascara on her eyelashes. By the time they were done doing her face, Marisol almost looked like an entirely different person.

A strange feeling came over Imogen. For the first time, she realized that Marisol was really pretty.

Later that night, her, Jenna, Marisol, and Imogen all gathered in the hotel room to play some games. After some debating, everyone agreed on the classic Truth or Dare.

"Imogen, truth or dare," Alli asked Imogen as they sat on the floor in a circle.

"Dare," Imogen answered with a playful grin.

"Alright, I dare you to eat a piece of the hotel bath soap," Alli dared her while folding her arms. A few minutes of playing with Imogen Moreno, and she knew the girl would do pretty much anything.

"Cool!" Imogen accepted as she got up to get the soap bar from the bathroom. When she came back with the bar, she sat back down and took a big bite of it like it was a candy bar or something.

"Gross," Marisol said as she winced, and Alli had to raise an eyebrow at the fact that once again, Imogen seemed willing to do anything.

It was Marisol's turn next.

"Marisol, truth or dare," Imogen asked the other girl. Marisol watched her apprehensively. "Truth," she answered.

"Is it true that you hooked up with five guys at the same time last year?" Imogen questioned her. Alli looked at Marisol expectantly. She had heard that rumor before, and pretty much everyone in junior high believed it.

She didn't expect the darkness in Marisol's eyes. "No, I did not," she denied bluntly.

"But people saw you go into that tent with those guys," Imogen reminded her.

"Because I was drunk and those guys took advantage of me you idiot," Marisol snarled before getting up and storming off to the bathroom. She then slammed the door loudly.

Imogen bit her lip nervously as she and Jenna looked at each other. Alli was not expecting that answer at all.

There was an awkward silence in the suite.

Marisol cried at the bathroom sink as she thought about that night. Despite Drew knowing the truth of what happened to her, all of junior high still chose to believe that she willingly hooked up with those guys. That she was a slut. She almost got assaulted again at the dance last year because nearly every boy in her grade assumed she was fair game.

She gripped the bathroom sink as memories of everyone's judgemental stares the day after it happened, especially Katie's. She thought that this year, with her being elected class president, that everyone forgot about that stupid rumor but Imogen Moreno obviously hadn't.

There was a knock on the door. "Can I come in?" She heard Imogen ask in a soft tone.

"Fuck off," she answered gruffly, not seeing the other girl's face right now. She just might deck her in her stupid mouth.

"Please? I want to say I'm sorry!" Imogen pleaded, and she groaned as she opened up the door just a little bit. To her credit, Imogen genuinely looked apologetic.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, "I shouldn't have asked you that question. No one deserved what happened to you."

"Yeah, well, it happened and everyone at school thinks I'm the biggest hoe," Marisol replied bitterly.

"Well, you're not and it's not my place to judge," Imogen said as she opened up the door even further. She was holding a plate with a big slice of NY style pepperoni pizza on it. "Apology pizza?" She offered as she held out the food. Marisol was thinking about denying it, but her stomach rumbled just at the wrong time. She begrudgingly took it and followed Imogen back out to where Jenna and Alli were eating pizza. There were two medium sized pizza boxes and four bottles of Pepsi.

As she sat down, she took a bite of the pizza. It tasted just as cheesy as she wanted, and her stomach warmed up. She wiped her tears as she looked at her teammates, who were all looking at her sympathetically, even Imogen.

She felt a little bit better.

On the morning of the competition, things were finally a little tense between the four of them.

"You think we're going to win?" Jenna heard Imogen ask Marisol as they all ate breakfast together once again.

"Of course we're going to win, we're the best," Marisol assured her before eating on her bagel. "We're going to kick those girls asses!"

"Marisol!" Ms. Mendleson scolded her teammate for her naughty words. Marisol shrugged before continuing to eat her bagel.

Jenna was greatly anticipating this final match between them and the other school. While there were the normal anxieties she had about the competition, she was also confident in her team, especially after yesterday. Something had shifted in the atmosphere.

"If we win, my parents promised me a new wardrobe so winning is definitely a must," Alli remarked before sipping on some tea.

"A new wardrobe would be nice for me," Jenna mused, but it was just a silly thought. Her and her oldest brother were barely struggling to get by. A shopping trip was out of the cards.

"Maybe you can accompany me," Alli offered, and Jenna looked at her in shock. Was Alli Bhandari seriously offering to go shopping with her?

Alli gave her a small smile, and Jenna was eager to return it.

The building for the competition was some sporting center in Central Park. The whole way over to the building, Imogen's stomach was tightened in both excitement and dread. Today, they were either going to go back to Toronto with a trophy or not.

The rival team was from a middle school in Central Park and they had a red and black cheer uniform. All of the girls on the team stared at them in an intimidating manner, but Imogen didn't let them scare her. She just smiled at them. A few girls were looking at her getup in confusion. She had glittery gold and blue face paint on her face as usual, and she wore it proudly. Her hair was worn in two curly buns on the top of her head.

The other team went first. They did an assortment of flips, kicks, and tumbles without a single screw up in the routine. Everyone in the bleachers clapped when they were finished. The judges wrote down notes before giving them a solid eight in each category.

"Next up, Degrassi's Pep Squad!" The announcer introduced. It was time. Every member of the team got into position.

A pop song played as they performed their two minute routine which consisted of a choreographed dance, cartwheels, flips, and tumbles. As she performed, Imogen thought the team had never worked so well in sync. Everyone was happy too, smiling widely and cheerfully. The final part of the routine involved them getting into a pyramid with Marisol on top. Imogen was one of the girls holding her up.

Until very recently, Imogen would fantasize about dropping Marisol so the other girl could break her leg. But after last night, she decided to focus instead on working together with her. She felt bad for what she did last night, and decided to leave Marisol alone for now.

"D-E-G-R-A-S-S-I! Degrassi!" Everyone on the team shouted as their routine ended. She helped Marisol get back down as the audience clapped and roared for them.

It was all up to the judges now, who all had unreadable looks on their faces. They all anxiously waited for the scores. She looked over and Alli and Jenna were even holding hands. It felt like forever until they finally got their scores.

When each judge awarded them a nine in every category, everyone on the team cheered loudly. They had won!

Imogen jumped up and down in excitement with the rest of her team as they all hugged each other in joy. Some girls even had tears in their eyes. After hugging Jenna, Imogen bumped into Marisol, and they shared an unsure look with each other, not knowing what to do.

Imogen decided to make the first move. Smiling, she held out her arms for a hug. Marisol didn't act for a second, and Imogen thought she was going to get rejected.

Then Marisol smiled back and hugged her.