Story: Fall to Pieces

Author: heartgddss

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or plots from Degrassi: The Next Generation. They are property of Epitome, CTV, etc.

Main Characters: Ashley, Manny, Craig, Emma, Jimmy

Summary: Ashley doesn't want to forgive Craig for breaking her heart. But when Emma gets involved, will love win over Ash's pride?

Rating: Two or three uses of harsh language, and other themes.

Before you read: Sorry for the wait! Um, not much to say about this chapter. Except for everyone who reviewed, you ROCK! Anyways... just read and review. Please? O.o

Marco Del Rossi and Spinner Mason had been sitting in Craig Manning's garage for the past thirty minutes. Spinner was half-asleep; his eyes were closed and he was snoring. Marco's brain was going nuts from the drumming of his own fingers and Spinner's monotone snoring.

"Spin! Will you STOP?" Marco didn't even have to look behind him to know Spinner hadn't been aroused. The snoring only grew louder.

Marco grabbed Craig's guitar pick off of the table. He turned around and threw it at Spinner's head, missing his eye about an inch off.

Spinner nearly knocked over his drum set from being startled.

"Dude, got some unresolved issues?" he scowled at Marco.

"Yes, as a matter of fact. I have an issue with the fact you resemble a hippo while sleeping." Marco turned around and stared at the door to the garage.

"Okay... well, you can't just take advantage of a sleeping dude like that." Spinner stood up, taking his drumsticks with him. He plucked one onto Marco's head in passing.

"Ow!" Marco smoothed out his hair, as if it weren't already perfect.

"Where are Craig and Jimmy? We have to practice for..." Spinner nervously stopped himself. He just hoped Marco hadn't caught that one.

Marco grinned. "What do we have to practice for?"

"Uh... Heather Sinclair's Bat Mitzvah." He began to silently pray for Jimmy or Craig to come.

Marco started laughing so hard he cried. He had to hold his stomach in slight pain, his laughs were so hard.

"What? What did I say?" Spinner's brow furrowed.

"Spin? Bat Mitzvahs take place when people are twelve and thirteen. Heather's not even Jewish. She goes to my church." Marco wiped a tear from his eye and tried to contain himself from combustion.

"Oh. Right." Spinner felt his cheeks flame, being caught in the act of lying. He knew that if he screwed up one more time Marco would figure it all out, and Dylan would kill him. That wasn't a pleasant thought.

"I'm going to go call Jimmy." Marco still had a knowing smile on his face. "And by the way, you screw up one more time, Dylan'll kill you," Marco whispered, as if he could read his best friend's mind.

"Telling you, Marco! There is NO party!" Spinner called after Marco as he exited the garage with his cell phone in hand.

Spinner sighed as he plopped down onto the couch, his face buried in his hands. This is so stupid, he thought. Marco already knows, so what's the point?

"Jimmy's around the corner." Marco said as he flipped his phone closed and sat down on the couch's arm. "He says he has to talk to you about something important, but he wouldn't tell me what."

The boy sitting on the couch took his hands out of his face.

"So Craig's taking a 'sick' day?" Spinner stood up and poked his head out the door. He closed it quickly, since it was still chilly outside.

"Chances of us seeing Craig today are slim. I was surprised to see even Ashley at school." Marco stared at Craig's guitar on the stand at the far side of the garage. Spinner sat back down at his drums.

"Hey guys." Marco and Spinner turned to see Jimmy squeezing through the door, his coat wrapped around him like his second skin. The two greeted him without moving from their warm seats.

"Marco. Dylan said he had to talk to you after hockey practice, so he should be here any minute." Jimmy delivered his message and put up his jacket on the rack.

"Finally. I get the two schemers in the same room." Marco smiled and eyed Spinner.

"What?" Spinner put up his hands in protest. "I hate it when you look at me like that!"

"Hey! You two! Stop playing 'Odd Couple' and get your stuff. We have to practice what we can without Mr. Screw-Up." Jimmy shook his head in slight disgust.

"Mr. Screw-Up? A bit harsh, don't ya think, Jim?" Marco asked sincerely.

"Yeah. Craig only cheated on my ex with the thong queen. He didn't screw up at all, did he?" Jimmy placed his guitar's strap on his shoulder and began tuning. Marco gave Spinner a questioning look, but he didn't notice due to the fact that Dylan just walked in.

"Hey!" Dylan wrapped an arm around Marco's shoulder and smiled at him. Marco returned his smile and kissed him on the cheek.

"Hey. What's going on?" Marco put his bass back on the stand.

"What do you mean?" Dylan looked at Spinner slightly menacingly.

"Jimmy said you had to talk to me." Marco said innocently, making Dylan take back his gesture towards Spinner.

"Uh... well..." Dylan looked around and noticed Craig wasn't there. He DID have something to tell Marco, but not in front of two other people. Especially not two other straight guys. "Guys, I have to take him off your hands... sorry." He looked apologetic.

"Not a problem." Spinner piped up, glad that Marco was leaving and he could be put out of his humiliation.

"Spinner! Dylan, is there any way..." Jimmy began to protest.

Dylan simply shook his head. "Unless if you want to stay, Marco." Dylan put on the most irresistible face he could produce.

Marco sighed in slight disappointment that Dylan had such control over him. "Sorry guys, I have to go." He placed the strap around his bass which was still on the stand.

Dylan grabbed Marco's hand and pulled him out the door, Marco reluctantly obeying. Jimmy and Spinner noticed Dylan immediately kissing Marco once they were out of the garage, somewhat out of sight.

"Take him off our hands... yeah right." Jimmy struck an incredibly horrible sounding chord and turned around in annoyance.

"Dude... it's not like he's gonna be playing at his own birthday party." Spinner fooled with the screw onto of the cymbals, creating a slight racket.

"It's not that." Jimmy said quietly. His eyes darted from Spinner, to his guitar, to the footprints the other two had left behind outside. There was still a thin layer of snow on the ground.

"Then what is it?" Spinner said thickly. He thumped his cymbal, making a repetitive gong sound.

"I'm just a bit irritated right now."

"About?" Spinner wouldn't take his eyes off of the instrument.

"God, could you be any more annoying?" Jimmy lifted his guitar off of his shoulder in rage and stomped over to the couch.

"Dude, I just wanted to find out why you're so bummed," Spinner said with concern. The way he said it made Jimmy think of a surfer dude with ugly board shorts on.

"I'm just so- MAD at Craig. He was such an idiot to Ash... I just don't get how he could be so mean to such a sweet girl." Jimmy felt like an idiot, pouring out his feelings to a surfer dude.

"Wait-" Spinner finally looked up. "Whoa! You still like Ashley!" He could not have sounded anymore blunt, which was usual for Spinner.

"What? No. No, Spinner. I DON'T like Ashley. And don't go around saying that I do. Try to contain yourself from being an idiot for once, will you?" Jimmy grabbed his coat and slammed the door behind him.

Spinner sat there for about a minute before he picked up his drumsticks and placed them back onto the drum set and threw on his jacket. He left, his mind still wondering, 'Where is Craig?'.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Mom!" Ashley called, placing her book bag and blazer by the door. She peered around the corner for her mom, or any signals that she would be around. "Mom!" she repeated.

"I'm in the kitchen!" Ashley's mother called back. Ashley could immediately smell the cookies in the oven, the strong smell hit her like a school bus.

"Hey mom." She picked up a cookie and kissed her mother on the cheek.

"Don't eat all of them. They're for a party Toby's going to," she explained, taking another batch out of the oven and closing the door with her foot.

"Toby? Party? Those are two words I haven't heard used in the same sentence for a while." Ashley chuckled. She took out a glass of milk and poured some into a blue cup.

"Ashley..." Ms. Kerwin warned. She slid the cookies off of the pan and into a basket. "Oh, I almost forgot!" She pulled off the oven mitts and placed them on a hook. "Something came for you today."

"What is it? Not more video games Toby sent out for under my name, I hope." She put the rest of the cookie into her mouth and followed her mother, wiping the cookie off of her hands.

"No, I don't think so. Here. It was left on the porch earlier today." She handed her daughter a brown package. It didn't have a return address; neither did it have her address on it. All it had was Ashley's name scribbled on the front and a small heart after it.

Shit, Ashley thought. She knew that handwriting. She also had a feeling her mother did too.

"Do you want to look at it together?" Her mother raised her eyebrows and reviewed the package.

"Maybe later. Excuse me." Ashley grabbed the brown box and raced upstairs, flinging herself onto her bed.

Ashley frantically searched for a pair of scissors, an envelope opener, anything that would get the package open and put her out of her misery.

"Ah ha!" she cried triumphantly, holding a pair of blunt scissors in her hands. She dug the spade into the tape which was holding the sides of the ugly cardboard together.

"Why won't you OPEN?" She moved the scissors up and down recklessly until the box was torn to shreds and its contents were revealed.

Inside were packing peanuts surrounding a videotape. The edges of the tape were blunt; it had obviously been used before for other purposes. On the label was the same as on the packaging: the letters 'ASH' in Craig's handwriting, and two little hearts on the edge.

Ashley hurriedly popped the tape in to the player and retreated to her bed to watch it, the remote control in hand.

Craig's face immediately came onto the screen after a bit of fuzziness. He was in the Jeremiah's living room, Craig's back to the wall which had the stairs. The date was playing in the right-hand bottom corner, telling Ashley that this tape had been made the same day.

"Go. Go!" Joey's voice came from behind the camera.

"What? Oh- is it on? Oh- uh- hey Ash." Craig smiled and lifted a hand. "Um, I really don't know where to begin to say this." His eyes darted from the camera to the stairs to the door, as if he were ready to make a quick getaway. "Well, um... this should go without saying, but I can't tell you how sorry I am. I even went to Caitlin to borrow her video recorder so I could make this, since I was, well, I was pretty sure you wouldn't talk to me.

"I can't even begin to tell you how horrible I feel. I was stupid, so stupid to do that to you, and I could completely understand if you hate me. I, uh," he brought his hand behind his head and scratched his neck. "Pretty much hate myself." He laughed an out-of-place laugh. "I've screwed up before, Joey would know." Craig pointed to the face of the camera, where Joey suddenly poked his head out. He waved, smiled with his head crooked to one side, and then turned the camera back on Craig. "Uh- thanks, Joey. I guess what I wanted to say is, Please forgive me, Ashley. You mean a lot to me." He smiled again, nervously, and then the camera flicked off.

Ashley had only one word that filled her mind at that exact moment. There was one, single word that covered every thought she had at the time.

BASTARD.