CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: DECEPTIONS

Marco and Spinner had come up with a genius plan! They were going to set traps all around the town. Ropes in front of the sidewalks and stuff. And then when Ellie and Emma were walking by each other, they'd pull them up and WHAM! The girls would be forced to crash into each other, and then they'd get back together…forever. It was the greatest plan in the history of plans being great, and they knew nothing could stop their success.

Nothing, of course, except for the dastardly schemes of Craig Manning. Once Craig had learned their plans, he went out and cut the ropes they were using to trip the girls! So when Marco and Spinner pulled their respective ropes…nothing would happen. Emma and Ellie wouldn't collide, and then Emma Nelson would be his for the taking.

Craig smirked to himself. His plans were foolproof. He was a man on a mission!

XxX

Paige stumbled through the graveyard. It had been weeks since that eventful Friday the 13th bash, and she had finally gotten away from her ghostly friend. Sure, he had seemed fun at first, but after a while it was all shoes this, lipstick that. Paige has enough of that shit going on inside her own head, she didn't need it from him too!

She knocked her knee into a large grave marker. "Owww!" Paige wailed. She kicked the gravestone, then jumped up and down on one foot. She glanced at the grave, and scowled.

"Fucking Ashley and Craig, always leave their gravestones lying around. Shit. That really hurt!" she cried out, kicking the CRAIG AND ASHLEY 4EVA headstone once more. This, of course, did nothing but hurt her even more.

Paige sighed. Nothing was going as planned. And now she had a broken foot to top it all off!

Paige knew what had to be done. Someone had to pay. Someone like Ellie Nash.

xXx

Ellie sat in her room, still brooding. Emma's lost brassiere sat ruefully on Ellie's chair. She stared at it longingly, wishing her Emmakins would come back to her.

She had been locked in her bedroom for two days. Marco and Spinner had repeatedly climbed a tree outside her window and knocked, trying to lure her outside with the promise of rain. But Ellie knew the truth. It didn't rain in Degrassi.

Suddenly, there was a knocking on her window. Ellie frowned. "Marco, Spinner, whoever you are, just go away. I'm not coming out. Not for anything!"

The knocking continued. Ellie jumped off her bed and opened the window violently. "Look, guys, I—oh, it's you."

"Yeah, it's me, bitch. And I don't want you to come out. I want to come in," the girl said threateningly.

"Yeah, okay," Ellie said. Paige climbed in.

XxX

Emma looked on in horror. Paige Michalchuck, obviously up to some kind of treachery, had just shimmied up the tree outside of her lost love's window. And to her horror, Ellie had let her come in!

Well, Emma fumed, if she can get over me so easily, there's no reason why I can't get over her

Emma nodded to herself, and found a phone book. She'd show them. She'd show them all!

xXx

Hazel Aden sat nervously inside The Dot. She had received a disturbing phone call minutes before, and had rushed to meet the caller in a public vicinity.

She didn't have to wait long. Emma Nelson walked in the door.

"Hello, Hazel," Emma said coolly, sitting down. "You got my message?"

"Message? You didn't leave a message. I answered the phone! We already talked!"

"Oh, yeah. Well, you remember what this is about?"

"You wouldn't tell me," Hazel reminded her.

Emma put her hand over Hazel's. "I've got some bad news for you, puppy. Ellie is cheating on me. With Paige."

Hazel gasped. "Paige! You can't be serious!"

Emma looked down. "I'm so sorry."

Hazel's face hardened. "Well, if Paige wants a new best friend, there's no reason for me to wait around for her! Emma, you're blonde. You're bossy. Want to be my new bestest best friend in the whole wide universe, even if the universe was full of delicious cupcakes and pudding?"

Emma smiled brilliantly. "I want nothing more."