Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi or it's characters.
A/N: Thanks to everybody who has reviewed my story for your support and your suggestions.
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Kendra was busy searching through the Degrassi library index on one of it's computer terminals. She was looking for books to complete her research paper on the War of 1812 for Mr. Reed's history class. He seemed like such a fossil, he only recently started letting students use internet sites as sources for their papers, but he still required them to use book sources along with them. "I could already be done by now," Kendra thought to herself. As she continued typing, she saw Nadia sitting at their table reading a book for her English class. Nadia had seemed down since her and Lee had decided to stop seeing each other. Even though Nadia said they both agreed to break up, Kendra wondered if Lee had dumped her and Nadia just wasn't telling her. Kendra thought to herself that she should ask Lee the next time she saw him, but then decided it would be better to keep her nose out of Nadia's business. If Nadia wanted her to know, she would tell her when she was ready.
"Man, this is taking way too long." Kendra said as she sat down at the table with a stack of books.
"How do you think people wrote papers before the internet?" Nadia replied sarcastically.
"Normally it wouldn't bother me, but with this paper, the Holidays-Around-the-World celebration, and ice-skating, there just aren't enough hours in the day. I haven't even started putting my skating routine together yet." Kendra confessed.
"It'll all work out, trust me." Nadia said, trying to convince her friend.
"I wish I had your confidence." Kendra replied. She had just barely finished her sentence when Nadia had another one of her breathing spells. It seemed like they were becoming more frequent and more intense. Nadia reached for her inhaler and after a few puffs she was breathing normally again.
"Nadia, are you sure everything is all right with you?" Kendra said, pointing out to Nadia that she noticed something wasn't right.
"Yeah, it's just that with it being Fall, the cold air just makes things a little harder is all." Nadia said, trying to keep Kendra from worrying.
Kendra went back to do her research through the stack of books on the table, not fully accepting her friend's explanation.
That afternoon, Kendra waited in the gym for her group to arrive so they could begin practicing for the holiday show. But when two of the volunteers finally arrived, they informed her that they wouldn't be able to participate in the show after all. Kendra had made some changes to cover for the fact she had lost one volunteer, but being short two more would be impossible to fix. When the other students arrived for rehearsal, she let them know that they could go home. She was canceling her entry for the show.
Kendra sat in the gym by herself, alone with her thoughts. She decided she would gather her things in a little while and return the equipment she had borrowed from the Asian Cultural Heritage Foundation tomorrow. But for the time being, she just felt like sulking. Maybe this was a sign that her attempt to connect with part of her heritage was a mistake. As she sat with her head down, she could hear footsteps approaching her.
"What are you doing here?" Kendra asked.
"I just came to see what this big secret is that my sister has been working on." Spinner replied, " So, the big secret is that you like to come in the gym after-school and try to do your best impression of a depressed teenager. I give you a 6 out of 10."
"Spinner, shut up! I'm not in the mood. Just help me take some of this stuff home so I can return it to the Heritage Foundation tomorrow." Kendra ordered.
"What is all of this stuff for anyway?" Spinner asked.
"I was going to perform a traditional Chinese New Year Dragon Dance at the holiday show. But most of my volunteers quit, so I'm just going to cancel it. It was stupid of me to think I could really pull it off." Kendra revealed.
Spinner knew this was serious, his sister was always so confident in her abilities. Hearing her doubt herself like this seemed, somehow, unnatural. So he tried his best to cheer her up.
"Say Kendra, why don't we just take this stuff down to the Heritage building today and go for ice cream afterwards. We haven't done that in a long time. It'll even be my treat." Spinner said.
"Okay." Kendra replied, with disappointment over the show still in her voice.
Spinner and Kendra made a bus trip to downtown Toronto, passing numerous landmarks. Soon they found themselves in front of a big, brown brick building.
"Is this the place?" Spinner questioned.
"Yeah, go through the doors and up to the second floor." Kendra informed him.
The pair got on an elevator and walked down a second floor hallway until they reached an office that said Mr. Kuan Yin Chan, Chairperson. Kendra opened the door to see Mr. Chan and his son sitting in his office discussing, what seemed to be, a rather important topic. Mr. Chan looked up with a smile when he saw Kendra and her brother enter the room.
"Kendra, so good to see you again. And you've brought another friend this time. Pleased to meet you." Mr. Chan said, extending his hand to greet Spinner.
"Nice to meet you." Spinner replied.
"Mr. Chan, this is my brother Spinner that I've told you about." Kendra said as she introduced him.
"Ah, yes." Mr. Chan said, remembering Kendra telling him about her family.
"So, what have you been saying about me?" Spinner said to Kendra, with an eyebrow raised.
"Nothing too embarrassing." Kendra said with a slight smirk.
"How has your friend, Nadia, been?" Mr. Chan asked.
"She's been…fine." Kendra replied, unsure of the answer herself. "We just came to return these things that I borrowed."
"I thought you needed them for your Dragon dance at your school?" Mr. Chan inquired.
"I thought I did too. But most of my volunteers quit on me at the last minute and it's too late to find replacements. I'm canceling my performance and I didn't want to keep anything, in case somebody else actually needed to use it." Kendra revealed.
"But you were so looking forward to it. It was all you could talk about the last time you were here."
"I know, but I guess it won't happen now." Kendra replied.
"Maybe not," Kyle, Mr. Chan's son said as he stood up from his chair, "I'm part of the Dragon dance that's in the holiday parade in downtown Toronto. We have to practice for the parade anyways, maybe we could do one of our final practice runs for your school's show."
"That would be awesome!" Kendra replied.
"Okay, just write down the date and time of the performance, and give me directions to get to your school." Kyle replied.
As Kendra wrote down all of the information for Kyle, Spinner could see how happy Kyle's offer made his sister and things seemed right again.
As they left the building, Kendra made sure to remind Spinner of his earlier promise, which he didn't mind. They went to a local ice cream shop and sat in a booth that allowed them to see the passing traffic on the busy street. As they waited for Kendra's double-decker fudge banana split to come, it gave them a chance to talk.
"So how do you like the new job?" Kendra asked.
"It's okay." Spinner replied.
"Just okay?"
"I mean, if it allows me to save up and buy a car for me and Paige to cruise around in, it's fine with me." Spinner replied, "So how about you? Paige told me everything that's been going on with your friend, Allie."
"It was really rough for her at first. But I think now that she realizes that she doesn't have to go through it alone, things are going to be okay." Kendra answered.
"I hope you're not mad at me for not telling you about what happened last year. I had promised Paige I wouldn't tell anyone else. But if I had known that maniac Dean had gotten involved with your friend, I would've definitely broken my promise." Spinner explained.
"I'm not mad at you. I know what it's like to be put in a difficult situation like that." Kendra said, showing that she did understand.
As they were talking, Kendra's dessert arrived. It was bigger than the picture made it look, so she shared it with Spinner.
"At least now it makes sense why J.T. ran out and attacked Dean last year." Kendra said, continuing the conversation.
"Speaking of J.T., check this out." Spinner said, reaching for his pocket with a huge smile. Kendra read a sheet of paper with something written on it.
"A love poem to Raditch. I don't know whether to be disgusted or to think about getting Mom and Dad to have you committed, big brother." Kendra said, trying to imitate the way Charlie Brown's sister talked to him.
"It's not from me, at least that's not what it's going to say. I'm going to put J.T.'s name on it." Spinner told her.
"Why are you going to do that?" Kendra asked.
"Because, I'm sick of him always crowding me and Paige. It's almost like we're a bicycle and J.T.'s some third, extra wheel." Spinner pointed out.
"You're being jealous for no reason. I don't think J.T. feels that way about Paige. Plus he's her friend and I don't think she's going to be too happy with you embarrassing him like that." Kendra informed him.
"What Paige doesn't know won't hurt her. My plan is fool proof." Spinner declared.
"I hope the fool that planned it has thought about what's going to happen if he goes through with it." Kendra said, cautioning her brother.
The siblings continued to talk about each other's lives like they used to when they were younger. They hadn't realized how much they missed their conversations, until now. They were glad that their ability to understand each other was still as strong as ever.
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Next chapter: Kendra gets made an offer she can't refuse.