Title: Group Therapy
Characters: Craig, Ashley, Emma, Paige, and Spinner.
Summary: sometimes, talking it out can help.
Author Notes: This is an edited version of the story. The original will be posted at my website ASAP. Otherwise, I don't remember or know if Degrassi Community School has three floors or not, but for fictional purposes, there is one. "The End of the World As We Know It" is Michael Stipe's; Degrassi belongs to its creators, and so on and so forth. The title comes from the name of the scene in The Breakfast Club when the kids all sit around and start talking about Serious Things.
Emma had been crying for hours. She'd tried to call home time after time, hoping that her mom would pick up, but all she got was the answering machine. She tried the salon, but no one picked up there either. Finally, about eight o' clock that night, she stood up and walked to the window and looked out at the now-flooded Degrassi Street. "Figures I'd be here when global warming finally happened," she said sarcastically.
"Aren't you happy that you're right for once?" Paige responded. She regretted being snide with Emma, mostly because she didn't really feel like being mean. Not knowing if your brother is alive does that to you, she thought, trying not to lose hope that Dylan and Marco were okay and sitting in some multiple story building, complaining that there was no cell phone reception.
Across the room, Craig was mournfully looking through a stack of pictures he had somehow managed to salvage before the water had crashed through the first two floors of the school. Photographs had always brought him comfort because they were happier times frozen and on glossy or matted paper. Pictures of him with Joey; pictures of him with Angie; pictures of him with Joey and Angie… a single photograph of his mother, and one of his father. All day, he'd tried not to cry, he'd tried to be strong for Emma, who not only had an entire family unaccounted for, but a friend. The last she and Craig had seen Manny Santos was in the hall about a half hour before the water began gushing in. Losing both of his parents had been hell enough, but at least he'd had Joey. Now he was Craig Manning, Super Orphan. In the dimmed lights of the upper parts of the school, he let himself cry just a little, for himself and for Emma.
The room was silent and still, the five remaining students not knowing what to say. Paige had tried calling the emergency line earlier, and then she'd progressed to letting everyone use her cell phone to call friends, family members, and other people, just to check up. Nothing. Spinner, who was usually the first to make pee-pee, poo-poo jokes had been frighteningly somber, muttering the occasional stray curse word. Craig had roamed the halls (well, the hall, the first two floors were now flooded), looking for other survivors. Emma sat and worried. And Ashley, who was usually quick to have an opinion, sat in her own corner, silent. She hadn't said a word since she'd wandered into the vacant classroom, her jeans wet and a look of complete shock on her face.
Craig wiped his eyes with the back of his hands, then laughed just a little. "You know what?" he said aloud. The other four stared at him, waiting for him to finish. "Michael Stipe was a liar."
Paige glared at him. "What?" she asked.
"Michael Stipe. The lead singer from R.E.M." Craig sniffled, and wiped his nose. "You know. That song. Something about it being the end of the world as we know it." For the first time since that morning, he found himself chuckling a little. "What a lie. It's the end of the fucking world, and I don't feel fine."
The girls looked slightly baffled, but Spinner got it. He let out a small snort, then began to laugh so hard he let out a loud fart. "I know it's not that funny, but it's nice to laugh again."
"Did you ever think you'd be around for this?" The sound of Ashley's voice, soft and wavering, shocked Craig. She pushed her bangs behind her ears, and moved closer to Spinner, Paige, and Emma. "You know. Destruction. The end of the world; whatever the hell this is."
Paige shook her head. "No. Never."
"Me either," Spinner admitted.
"I'd always hoped I wouldn't be," Emma said, rubbing her eyes.
"You think anyone's going to be able to find us?" Paige asked. "I mean, there has to be like, an emergency group or something that is looking for survivors. Somebody has to be out there… somebody…"
"I don't think so." Spinner hated to say it. "Unless there's a Coast Guard boat that survived or something."
Paige sighed heavily, then broke into tears again.
It was ten o' clock, and after a little more crying, the five students talked more about random topics.
"What do you wish you could eat right now?" Emma asked, only to be answered with groans.
"We haven't eaten in hours," Ashley complained.
"I've heard that if you're ever in a position where you're extremely hungry, the leather in your shoes is okay to eat," Craig added. "What? It's true."
Ashley leaned her head on Craig's shoulder, surprising him. Natural disasters had a way of making people forget previous transgressions. "Worse comes to worse, we could eat Spinner," she whispered to him.
"Hey! That's cannibalism! That's illegal!" Spinner shouted.
"Nothing's illegal at the end of the world, Spin," Craig joked.
Joking, Paige added, "Besides… you have plenty of meat on your bones…"
"And people wonder why I'm a vegetarian," Emma scoffed.
At one A.M., Paige, Spinner, and Ashley were all asleep. In the darkness, Emma sat next to Craig, his arm wrapped protectively around her. "I can't sleep," she said, pulling her hair back into a ponytail. "I don't want to. I'm scared I'll dream about something normal and think it's how things still are, and I'll wake up and be back here, alone."
Her words made Craig's eyes water over. "You're not alone, Em," he whispered. "If so, we're alone together."
The two of them silently walked toward the window, and watched the reflection of the moon dance on the water.