A/N: Thank You to everybody for all of the positive reviews and support.

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It was a cool and partially cloudy morning. Kendra, Brandy, and Nadia had decided to meet outside of Degrassi to discuss how they were going to confront Allie.

"We'll just meet at lunch." Kendra planned, "Allie's normally sitting over on the benches by herself."

"We can go over to her, one at a time, so it won't seem like we're ganging up on her." Brandy added.

"I hope it turns out that we're just over-reacting and nothing is seriously wrong with her." Nadia said.

But, so much for their plans. They later learned that Allie didn't come to school that day, which had Nadia really worried. As Nadia sat in her morning classes, the stress she felt over her friend's recent statement were only compounded by the news she was hiding from Kendra and the others. She had considered telling them the night before, when she had another one of her breathing spells. The doctors had told her that surgery would be necessary to correct some problems she had with her lungs. They, and her parents, had thought things would be fine until the New Year, but Nadia was beginning to feel a little worse as each day passed. There were times when inhaling and exhaling air through her body was excruciating. But Nadia didn't want to ruin Kendra's holiday plans and the Dragon dance that she had been working so hard on.

If she went into the hospital again, it would be like the last time she was there. Kendra would spend most of her free time in Nadia's hospital room. Even though Nadia would tell her to go home and get some rest or to just go find something to do and have fun for the both of them, Kendra would just stay there as if she didn't hear a word Nadia said. Nadia wouldn't be able to forgive herself if Kendra quit her Holiday project because of her. This was Kendra's way of forming a connection to the parents that she may never find, let alone meet. Nadia was also worried about what Lee's reaction would be. They had just started going out and they hadn't even been out on a real date yet. Having a girlfriend with a physical handicap was one thing, having one you could only spend time with during visiting hours was something else entirely. Nadia knew she could will herself to be okay until after the holidays.

The three girls met at lunch to rethink their strategy.

"So did you call her house?" Brandy asked.

"Yeah," Nadia answered, "Her cousin Brad was home from class and answered."

Brad was Allie's older cousin who went to community college. He had moved in with Allie's family before her parents had gotten a divorce. He had grown up in a really dysfunctional home but you would never guess it by the way he acted. He was sort of like an older brother to Allie. He also had a vibrant personality just like Allie, or like she used to have.

"What did he say?" Kendra questioned.

"Well, he told me Allie had gotten up once and went to the kitchen, and then had gone back to bed. He's really worried about Allie too and about the way she's been acting."

"Did you tell him what Allie said yesterday?" Brandy asked.

"No, I didn't want to say something and end up being wrong. I told him we were going to come over after-school to see Allie and he said that would probably be a good idea." Nadia answered.

As the girls continued their conversation about their friend, they stopped as they heard faint yelling from the distance.

"…I swear I'll kill him!"

"Just calm down, you're going about this all wrong."

The girls could see Spinner Mason heading straight towards them, with Paige trailing behind.

"All right Kendra, you have two seconds to start explaining." Spinner demanded.

"Huh?" Kendra blurted out.

"I know you've been asking about that guy Dean. Have you been secretly seeing him? Is that where you've been going after school?" Spinner asked.

"Spin, I don't think twenty questions is what your sister needs right now." Paige tried to explain.

"I think you should listen to your girlfriend. If you want any answers from me, then you can ask me the right way." Kendra asserted as she began to walk off.

"You're not going anywhere." Spinner said as he grabbed his sister by the arm.

In his concern about the well-being of his sister, Spinner had a temporary memory lapse. He forgot about the fact that Kendra had taken self-defense and various forms of martial arts for most of her childhood. She wanted to learn it as a way to defend herself, against anyone who thought they could take advantage of her because of her small size. Being a top student meant that even though she didn't have super strength, Kendra knew where the pressure points on the human body where and she knew how to manipulate them. Usually Spinner kept this in mind and it was the reason he avoided physical confrontations with her. Its not that he was scared of her, he just knew what he would be up against. But his forgetfulness today lead to him falling to the ground while his sister clutched his arm around his back. When Paige, Nadia, and Brandy saw Kendra grab Spinner, they decided to walk over to an empty table while the siblings worked their differences out.

Kendra didn't like using her martial arts skill in front of everyone, but she was tired of Spinner constantly embarrassing her at school. He only paid attention to her when he could bully any boy who showed the slightest interest in her. She didn't mind him being protective of her because she cared about him too. But she didn't go and make a fool out of him in public every chance she got. Why couldn't he show her the same respect?

"Ow, let go of my arm." Spinner demanded.

"Fine," Kendra said as she released him, "Just remember that the next time you decide to manhandle someone, especially me."

"But you still didn't answer my question. Why have you been secretly seeing Dean?" Spinner asked.

"What makes you think I've been seeing Dean, of all people?" Kendra wanted know.

"Well you broke up with Toby for no reason. Then you have this mystery project you spend all of your time on. And you get home, sometimes late in the evening, from who knows where." Spinner said accusingly.

"From who knows where! I haven't made any big secret of where I've been and what I've been doing. All you had to do was ask Mom or Dad or even me. But unless it centers around 'The Great Spinner Mason', you don't really care what it is. Well, the whole world doesn't revolve around you and your life. Didn't you consider I might have things going on in my life too? I've listened to you when Paige and you have had a fight over something stupid, or when you were just acting stupid. But you! You haven't even wondered if everything has been all right with me. If you did, you would know that what happened between Toby and me was more complicated than me wanting to date someone else. I'm more than that little nuisance that lives two doors down from your room and I'm more than the background noise of your life. Maybe you should get to know me a little better than that." Kendra told Spinner.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Spinner asked.

"For once, maybe you should stop and think about something I've said to you."

While Spinner and Kendra were having their argument, Paige asked Nadia and Brandy what was going on with Dean. They told her about how Dean and Allie had gotten involved and how he took her out the night of the dance. They also told her how she had been acting strange ever since that night.

"So where's Allie at now?" Paige asked.

"She didn't come to school today." Nadia answered.

"Is she okay?" Paige questioned.

 "We're not sure. We were going to go see her after-school." Nadia replied.

"Well, I'd love to continue the conversation, hon, but it looks like someone needs to have their pride scraped off of the ground." Paige said, pointing towards Spinner.

Paige walked over to Spinner to console him after his sister had made him 'Say Uncle'.

Brandy, Kendra and Nadia met after school to go over to Allie's house. But first they had to make a stop, at Joey Jeremiah's house.  As their team captain, Brandy needed to go tell Mr. Jeremiah how well the flower sale for the girls' soccer team had gone. Mr. Jeremiah had promised to match the funds of however much they raised. When they got there they rang his doorbell, but saw an unexpected face coming from Mr. Jeremiah's garage.

"Hi Manny." Nadia called out, "What're you doing here?"

"Um..…nothing. I mean, I was just helping Craig with his homework." Manny answered as she continued toward the sidewalk and started down the street.

"Since when does a grade 9 student help a grade 10 student in classes that she hasn't even taken yet?" Brandy pointed out.

"She's probably just throwing herself at Craig, like she does with every guy." Kendra answered, "Craig probably told her to get lost since he's with Ashley."

Just then the door opened.

"Hi girls." Joey greeted, "I'm sorry but I can't buy anymore cookies, I'm running out of room as it is."

The three girls looked at each other with puzzled looks on their faces.

"Come on, I'm just kidding. You girls have to learn to lighten up or you're not even going to make it to be my age." Joey said as he continued to tease them.

Brandy and Kendra got the joke and laughed along with Joey, but Nadia didn't see the humor in his statement like she normally would have. All she could think about was what Allie had said the day before and her own personal problems. It was enough to make Nadia burst into tears.

"Whoa, I'm sorry." Joey apologized, "I was just trying to be friendly, I didn't mean to hurt her feelings."

"Its not your fault Mr. Jeremiah," Brandy explained, "We've just had a lot going on lately and it's been kinda hard to deal."

"Sure. So you're probably here about my donation to the girls soccer team." Joey said to Brandy.

"You guessed right. Here's the official invoice for the flower sale." Brandy said as she handed a large envelope to Joey.

"Let me go get my checkbook." Joey said as he went back inside for a moment.

While Brandy was waiting for Joey to come back to the door, Kendra wheeled Nadia a little way from the house. She put her arm around Nadia, telling her everything was going to be okay. She said they were going over to Allie's in a few minutes and everything would be fine. But deep down Nadia was becoming less and less sure that things would be.