Somewhere Out There
A/N: yes, about the music again. i love most of the songs i use as titles, so if you want to know who sings them, just ask. enjoy!
Chapter 2: Break Myself
Emma watched Manny and JT walk by as she hopped up to sit next to Chris. He kissed her on the cheek, but she just stared. "What's the matter, Em?" Chris asked, taking his signature headphones off his ears.
"Nothing. Just thinking," she answered, giving a half-hearted smile to reassure him.
"Penny for your thoughts?" he joked.
"Just remembering when Manny and I were still friends. I can't believe she hasn't apologized. I've cooled a lot over the summer, I mean without Manny, we might not be where we are, and I would definately forgive her, so why won't she just do it? She knows she's the one that messed up."
"Hopefully she'll get around to it this year," Chris said.
"Hopefully," Emma agreed.
It was the first day of school at Degrassi High School. Emma, Manny, Chris, Sean, JT, Toby, Liberty, and the lot were now in grade 10. Ashley, Paige, Spinner, Jimmy, Hazel, Marco, Ellie, Terri, Rick, and their lot were now in grade 11.
"A new year, and I'm really going to buckle down this year," Ashley said to Ellie as they entered the halls of the school.
"Ashley Kerwin, top of her class, straight A's, is going to finally buckle down this year? Alert the presses," Ellie replied casually.
"I'm serious, El. Universities want the top of the class, the best of the best. Why settle for an "A" when you can get an "A plus"? That's my motto."
"And mine is, why work so hard for that "A" when you can be perfectly happy with a "B" and it probably won't affect your future too drastically?" Ellie answered.
"You never know. Hey, who's that girl?" Ash asked, pointing to a shy girl standing by the main office, looking around to see if this was the only main office, and then finally pushing her way inside.
"I don't know Ash, you're this school's welcoming committee, go get her," Ellie said pushing her friend.
Ashley turned around to say something, but saw that Sean had already occupied the space she had just been standing in. She turned and walked into the office. "Ashley Kerwin!" Mr. Raddich said walking next to the new girl. "Just the person I was looking for. This is Katie Watson, a transfer from Georgia. Can you just show her around? Thanks, Ash," he said, leaving without hearing her response.
"Hi, I'm Ashley. Do you mind if I look at your schedule?"
"Oh, of course not!" The girl said, handing it over. "I'm Katie, like he said." She was really shy, Ashley noticed, with long, thin, straight, dark hair and brown eyes. She had a wonderfully shy smile, and Ash knew that before long, one of her dearest friends would be asking her to the dot.
"You have Mr. Simpson for homeroom, just like me. I'll just walk with you. So, what else do you have?" she asked, referring to the other papers Katie was holding.
"These are some old report cards. Something happened and my transcrips were delayed, and it's a long story, but I was supposed to bring these so they could make me a schedule."
"Really? I'd love to see an American report card," Ashley said smiling.
"Oh, go ahead," Katie answered.
Ash looked down the report card. "Oh, four "A"s and 3 "A plus"s," Ash said, not even trying to hide the jealousy in her voice. "That's a great report card."
"Thanks," Katie answered meekly as she followed Ash into Simpson's room. "I just hope I can keep my grades at Degrassi up."
Scene: Craig walking the streets of Syracuse, pondering Nick's offer.
Craig left Joey, Caitlin, and Angela at the park and walked a little way until he saw shops and restaurants. At the smell of real food, his stomach began to almost cramp, and he realized how hungry he was. He walked into a pizzeria a grabbed a few slices of pepperoni and a coke. He sat facing the window and watched all the people of Syracuse walk by as they window shopped and just passed the hours of the day leisurely. He knew he could get used to a city atmosphere, it was the kind of place he'd always really wanted to live. His eyes suddenly lit up as he saw right across the street a music store, with a brand new Gibson Les Paul in the window. He finished the last few bites and hurried out of the pizzeria and ran across the street into the guitar shop.
He checked out the tags. The clerk saw him and came over. "Brand new, midnight blue, the best color, I think, standard edition, I'll knock a few hundred off since you're just a kid, how's $2000?"
"Steep," Craig said. "Very steep." The clerk began to act very indifferent towards the cheap kid. "You know what, I've been saving for a car. I have about $2500."
"Well, look you'll even have some left over," he said, already wishing he hadn't said only 2000.
"I'm Canadian. That's about," he looked up to show that he was thinking, "$1850 in American. That's the best I can do."
"I'll tell you what, I'm getting an offer by phone from this guy a couple of counties south. I'll see if he can beat that. If he can't, it's your's."
"Really?" Craig asked.
"Yea," the guy said. "Here, just try it out, but if you break it, you buy it, market price. My name's Mike and I'll be back here if you need anything."
Craig sat strumming on it for a while. He knew Joey might get a little worried, but Craig had his cell phone and they would call if they needed him. The truth was, Craig was scared to stand, that he might never be able to hold such a perfect guitar ever again. The only thing that broke his concentration was a bell ringing and a couple kids walking in. They immediately saw Craig and walked over to him. "Real nice guitar. I'm guessing you've played for awhile?" he asked.
"Yea, I guess. My stepdad's real big on getting me to play. He used to have a band, and I started one, it was just a great feeling to be playing music."
"Oh, so you're already in a band?" the kid asked.
"Sort of. I live in Canada, and a couple of guys would come over and play sometimes, but we never did it for real, I guess you could say. But now I'm probably moving down here, so no more band."
"Well that's great. I mean, not for your bandmates, but I've got a band. We play gigs and all that, we were getting some real local cred, before our guitarist up and split. Said I'm the drummer, I shouldn't be running the band, he should. We thought he was getting a big head, and there's plenty of kids that could take his place, so we booted him. Unfortunately, that was two months ago, and no one down here has been able to take his place. It seems like everyone does guitar as a side thing, like drummers and basists who pick up a guitar one day and say 'hey, this isn't too hard.' We've been to all the local places looking for anyone who can mesh into our sound. I'm Lav by the way, this is Chris. Think you'd be interested?"
"That sounds awesome. I'm Craig. So, anyways, what is your sound?"
"We're real raw, man. I think we combine something like Blink with something harder, edgier, I don't know, like Thrice," Lav said.
"Lav does the vocals," Chris chirped in. "He almost sounds like Alkaline Trio, except you know, not a replica."
"Sounds good," Craig said. "Here, I'll play you a few chords I came up with while I was sitting here." Craig began to play, and pretty soon Lav began to hum along and play the air drums while Chris nodded his head to the beat.
After he was done, the two kids smiled. "You've got talent. I think you'd be good with us. If you do decide to move down here, here's my number," he said as he scribbled some numbers on a piece of paper. "We want you in our band. I'll tell you that right now. We might form your talent a little to our sound, but really, you have it." Craig was amazed. Jimmy and Marco never liked what he played, they said it was too hard or too whatever, but these guys liked it. And they got gigs. And gigs always lead to girls. And friends. His decision just got made a lot easier.
A/N: yes, about the music again. i love most of the songs i use as titles, so if you want to know who sings them, just ask. enjoy!
Chapter 2: Break Myself
Emma watched Manny and JT walk by as she hopped up to sit next to Chris. He kissed her on the cheek, but she just stared. "What's the matter, Em?" Chris asked, taking his signature headphones off his ears.
"Nothing. Just thinking," she answered, giving a half-hearted smile to reassure him.
"Penny for your thoughts?" he joked.
"Just remembering when Manny and I were still friends. I can't believe she hasn't apologized. I've cooled a lot over the summer, I mean without Manny, we might not be where we are, and I would definately forgive her, so why won't she just do it? She knows she's the one that messed up."
"Hopefully she'll get around to it this year," Chris said.
"Hopefully," Emma agreed.
It was the first day of school at Degrassi High School. Emma, Manny, Chris, Sean, JT, Toby, Liberty, and the lot were now in grade 10. Ashley, Paige, Spinner, Jimmy, Hazel, Marco, Ellie, Terri, Rick, and their lot were now in grade 11.
"A new year, and I'm really going to buckle down this year," Ashley said to Ellie as they entered the halls of the school.
"Ashley Kerwin, top of her class, straight A's, is going to finally buckle down this year? Alert the presses," Ellie replied casually.
"I'm serious, El. Universities want the top of the class, the best of the best. Why settle for an "A" when you can get an "A plus"? That's my motto."
"And mine is, why work so hard for that "A" when you can be perfectly happy with a "B" and it probably won't affect your future too drastically?" Ellie answered.
"You never know. Hey, who's that girl?" Ash asked, pointing to a shy girl standing by the main office, looking around to see if this was the only main office, and then finally pushing her way inside.
"I don't know Ash, you're this school's welcoming committee, go get her," Ellie said pushing her friend.
Ashley turned around to say something, but saw that Sean had already occupied the space she had just been standing in. She turned and walked into the office. "Ashley Kerwin!" Mr. Raddich said walking next to the new girl. "Just the person I was looking for. This is Katie Watson, a transfer from Georgia. Can you just show her around? Thanks, Ash," he said, leaving without hearing her response.
"Hi, I'm Ashley. Do you mind if I look at your schedule?"
"Oh, of course not!" The girl said, handing it over. "I'm Katie, like he said." She was really shy, Ashley noticed, with long, thin, straight, dark hair and brown eyes. She had a wonderfully shy smile, and Ash knew that before long, one of her dearest friends would be asking her to the dot.
"You have Mr. Simpson for homeroom, just like me. I'll just walk with you. So, what else do you have?" she asked, referring to the other papers Katie was holding.
"These are some old report cards. Something happened and my transcrips were delayed, and it's a long story, but I was supposed to bring these so they could make me a schedule."
"Really? I'd love to see an American report card," Ashley said smiling.
"Oh, go ahead," Katie answered.
Ash looked down the report card. "Oh, four "A"s and 3 "A plus"s," Ash said, not even trying to hide the jealousy in her voice. "That's a great report card."
"Thanks," Katie answered meekly as she followed Ash into Simpson's room. "I just hope I can keep my grades at Degrassi up."
Scene: Craig walking the streets of Syracuse, pondering Nick's offer.
Craig left Joey, Caitlin, and Angela at the park and walked a little way until he saw shops and restaurants. At the smell of real food, his stomach began to almost cramp, and he realized how hungry he was. He walked into a pizzeria a grabbed a few slices of pepperoni and a coke. He sat facing the window and watched all the people of Syracuse walk by as they window shopped and just passed the hours of the day leisurely. He knew he could get used to a city atmosphere, it was the kind of place he'd always really wanted to live. His eyes suddenly lit up as he saw right across the street a music store, with a brand new Gibson Les Paul in the window. He finished the last few bites and hurried out of the pizzeria and ran across the street into the guitar shop.
He checked out the tags. The clerk saw him and came over. "Brand new, midnight blue, the best color, I think, standard edition, I'll knock a few hundred off since you're just a kid, how's $2000?"
"Steep," Craig said. "Very steep." The clerk began to act very indifferent towards the cheap kid. "You know what, I've been saving for a car. I have about $2500."
"Well, look you'll even have some left over," he said, already wishing he hadn't said only 2000.
"I'm Canadian. That's about," he looked up to show that he was thinking, "$1850 in American. That's the best I can do."
"I'll tell you what, I'm getting an offer by phone from this guy a couple of counties south. I'll see if he can beat that. If he can't, it's your's."
"Really?" Craig asked.
"Yea," the guy said. "Here, just try it out, but if you break it, you buy it, market price. My name's Mike and I'll be back here if you need anything."
Craig sat strumming on it for a while. He knew Joey might get a little worried, but Craig had his cell phone and they would call if they needed him. The truth was, Craig was scared to stand, that he might never be able to hold such a perfect guitar ever again. The only thing that broke his concentration was a bell ringing and a couple kids walking in. They immediately saw Craig and walked over to him. "Real nice guitar. I'm guessing you've played for awhile?" he asked.
"Yea, I guess. My stepdad's real big on getting me to play. He used to have a band, and I started one, it was just a great feeling to be playing music."
"Oh, so you're already in a band?" the kid asked.
"Sort of. I live in Canada, and a couple of guys would come over and play sometimes, but we never did it for real, I guess you could say. But now I'm probably moving down here, so no more band."
"Well that's great. I mean, not for your bandmates, but I've got a band. We play gigs and all that, we were getting some real local cred, before our guitarist up and split. Said I'm the drummer, I shouldn't be running the band, he should. We thought he was getting a big head, and there's plenty of kids that could take his place, so we booted him. Unfortunately, that was two months ago, and no one down here has been able to take his place. It seems like everyone does guitar as a side thing, like drummers and basists who pick up a guitar one day and say 'hey, this isn't too hard.' We've been to all the local places looking for anyone who can mesh into our sound. I'm Lav by the way, this is Chris. Think you'd be interested?"
"That sounds awesome. I'm Craig. So, anyways, what is your sound?"
"We're real raw, man. I think we combine something like Blink with something harder, edgier, I don't know, like Thrice," Lav said.
"Lav does the vocals," Chris chirped in. "He almost sounds like Alkaline Trio, except you know, not a replica."
"Sounds good," Craig said. "Here, I'll play you a few chords I came up with while I was sitting here." Craig began to play, and pretty soon Lav began to hum along and play the air drums while Chris nodded his head to the beat.
After he was done, the two kids smiled. "You've got talent. I think you'd be good with us. If you do decide to move down here, here's my number," he said as he scribbled some numbers on a piece of paper. "We want you in our band. I'll tell you that right now. We might form your talent a little to our sound, but really, you have it." Craig was amazed. Jimmy and Marco never liked what he played, they said it was too hard or too whatever, but these guys liked it. And they got gigs. And gigs always lead to girls. And friends. His decision just got made a lot easier.