The next morning Craig found Chloe sitting with Ashley again, this time on the wall of the courtyard. Ashley grinned discretely and excused herself, citing a need to use the washroom before class. Craig settled down in her place and explained the missing letters. Chloe shook her head.
"Why would he do such a thing?" She asked. Craig shrugged as he fiddled absently with some grass.
"I have no idea. Just exercising his parental power, I suppose." He offered, and Chloe noticed the bruise on his wrist was now bigger. She reached out to grasp his arm but he stood abruptly. "Gotta go, class and all."
He planted a kiss on the top of her head before jetting off into the school. Ashley returned just in time to see him go.
"What's his issue?" She asked, starting to walk inside. Chloe shook her head as she stood and followed Ashley.
"He'd rather bury his head in the sand than face facts." Chloe explained cryptically. The two passed Paige and Terri on the stairs, and Paige stopped. Chloe and Ashley walked past, completely ignoring them. Paige's eye narrowed as she turned to complain to Terri.
"That freaky girl is having a terrible affect on this school. Just look at all these people wearing black!" She cried, pointing at everyone else. In truth, Paige was right. There was considerably more black clothing on the people of Degrassi. Paige looked down at her own hot pink capris and baby blue tank top and sighed. Terri nodded sympathetically, but when Paige glanced over she found the girl to be wearing a black skirt and cardigan. "Terri!"
"It's slimming!" Terri replied sheepishly, and Paige shook her head before stalking off.

Later that afternoon Craig approached Chloe on her way to Gym class. He was smiling brightly. She paused in her trek to smile back at him.
"You certainly look pleased." She spoke, as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and guided her down the hall.
"I certainly am, Miss Chloe. I just remembered. Your birthday is on Friday." He spoke, and several people turned.
"Your birthday?" Spinner asked, who was standing nearby with Jimmy. "How old?"
"The big 1-5." Craig told him with a grin.
"15! You having a party?" Jimmy asked. Chloe shook her head. Jimmy and Spinner exchanged glances.
"What does that look mean?" She asked, huddling closer to Craig in mock terror. They grinned wider.
"We're going to have a party for you. At Jimmy's house." Spinner explained.
"On Friday. Will you come?" Jimmy asked, dropping to one knee. Spinner followed suit. Chloe just rolled her eyes.
"Who would be invited to this party?" She asked, suspicious.
"Everyone." Spinner replied. Chloe's eyebrow rose again.
"Everyone? Your parents won't care?" She asked Jimmy with disbelief lacing her voice. He shook his head.
"Out of town." There was a brief silence before Chloe nodded and the two boys let out a cheer. Jimmy stood up on a nearby bench and demanded the attention of the crowd.
"Everyone, listen up. You're all invited over to my house on Friday night, for Chloe Davidson's fifteenth birthday party. Bring food and gifts!" He finished, and Chloe hit him on the arm. The bell rang just then, announcing they were all very late. They each called out a farewell before splitting off in different directions.
By the end of the day everyone had heard about Chloe's party. The news was buzzing around Paige and Terri as the got ready to leave the building. Paige was disgusted.
"Spinner and Jimmy have never thrown me a party. It must be a trick, something to make her look stupid." She reasoned, and Terri looked skeptical.
"I don't think so, Paige. I heard them talking during lunch. Spinner said he's bringing a cake." She explained, then asked, "You're not going?"
"Of course I'm going, Terri. Don't be stupid, everyone's going to be there. I'm just going to turn it into my party." Paige replied with an intensely evil giggle. Terri was confused.
"How are you going to do that?" She asked, running after Paige who had started to walk away briskly.
"You'll see, Terri. You'll see."

"Ashley! What do you mean, 'not going'!" Chloe scolded, as she and Ashley sat down in their usual spot in the grass. Ashley shook her head.
"I just can't, Chlo. I'm really sorry, but it's not going to happen. After everything that happened with Jimmy, there's no way I can go to his house."
"Ashley, it's my birthday. You have to be there!" Chloe argued, tugging on her friend's sleeve.
"Chloe . . . "
"Please, Ash. Do it for me, you don't know how much it'll mean to me. It won't be any fun without you." Chloe added, sticking out her lower lip and whimpering pitifully. Finally, Ashley cracked a smile.
"Fine, brat. I'll go. But you're not to leave my side all night. And if I want to leave, I'm going to leave." She warned, and Chloe grinned gleefully. She reached out and pulled Ashley into a tight hug. Suddenly, a flash lit the area. Both girls looked around quickly, and found that Craig had just snapped a picture of them.
"Aw, Kodak moment." He said with a laugh, and Chloe stuck out her tongue. Craig snapped another picture and then let his camera hang around his neck.
"What are you doing today?' She asked.
"Going to see Angie. Want to come?" He offered. Chloe shook her head and gestured to Ashley.
"Plans." She explained, and Craig nodded.
"See you guys later." He spoke, heading off toward the park.
"Bye." They called in unison. They were silent for a moment after he had left before Ashley noticed Paige furiously batting her eyelashes at a burly and thick looking tenth grader. The puzzlement that appeared on her face caused Chloe to follow her line of sight to Paige and the boy. He smiled as she touched his arm and they laughed together loudly.
"Wonder what Paige is doing with Vinny." She pondered.
"Vinny? That's a mob name if I ever heard one." Chloe responded, shaking her head at Paige's shameless flirting.
"No doubt. He's dumb as rocks. He's a star wrestler, though. It's the only reason he's not repeating the ninth grade."
"He looks about twenty three." Chloe added. Ashley nodded.
"That's just wrong." She replied with a shiver as she and Chloe stood to start walking to Ashley's house. Across town, Craig arrived at the park to find Emma and Manny swinging with Angela on the swing set.
"Hey Emma, Manny." He called, and Angela leapt off her swing. She reached him within seconds and he swept her up into his arms. "Hey Angie!"
"Hey Craig." Emma and Manny replied in unison, each with their own version of a nervous giggle. Craig tossed Angie onto his back and walked back over to the swings.
"What are you guys up to?" He asked, laughing as Angela grabbed at his nose.
"Nothing. Talking about Chloe's party. Are you going?" Emma asked, peering up at him expectantly.
"Yeah, of course I'm going. Chlo's my very best friend. Right Ang?" Angela smiled broadly and nodded.
"Yep. She's pretty." Craig laughed at the statement.
"Yeah she is, Ang. Are you guys going?" He asked, finally returning Angela to the ground. Emma nodded and Manny shook her head. Both Craig and Emma looked to her in unison and asked,
"Why?"
"Because." Manny replied, looking sheepish. "I don't have a date."
"Manny! You have to go. I don't want to go alone!" Emma cried, stopping her swinging with her feet and causing dust to fly everywhere.
"I don't want to, Emma. I'll never find a date." She paused. "Unless you take me, Craig."
Emma looked shocked but Craig smiled.
"Sure, Manny. Sounds like fun." He replied, glancing at his watch. He balked at the time displayed there. "Oh man, I gotta get home. I'll see you guys later. Bye Ang, I'll give you a call, Manny."
He hugged Angela for a final time before waving goodbye and taking off toward home. When he was gone Emma turned to Manny to watch a self satisfied smirk appear on the face of her best friend.
"Manny, did you just ask him out?" Emma asked, and Manny nodded. "When did you decide you were going to do that?"
"I don't know." She replied with a shrug. "It doesn't really matter, though. I'm going to the biggest party of the year with Craig Manning!"