As Blayne sat next to Sully in his brand new Ford Escort, she wondered something. 'Why am I doing this? Why do I still go to Sully? I just don't get it. It's like I can't stay away from him.' They pulled up in front of her house and she opened the door to get out.
"Hang on." Sully said.
"What?" Blayne said in a rush. She looked around. She didn't want anybody to see her.
"You have make-out hair." He said, grinning.
"Oh. Well, I'll fix it before I go in. Bye." She slammed the door and started smoothing out her hair. Once she was sure she looked okay, she went inside.
"Mom! I'm home!" Her mom poked her head out from the kitchen.
"Hey sweetie. Dinner is almost done. Why don't you help your sister set the table?"
"Okay." Blayne went into the dinning room where her nine year-old sister was setting the table.
"Hey, Katie. How was fourth grade?"
"The same as third grade." She responded.
"Yeah," Blayne said, remembering back to when she was in grade three. "School gets pretty repetitive."
After dinner, Blayne cleared her plate and went up to her room. She tossed her backpack on her bed and hopped on her computer. As she was checking her email, her phone rang. It was Craig. He was pretty much the only one who called her. Plus, Joey's name was on the caller ID.
"Hello?"
"Is Blayne there?"
"No, she broke her leg and we had to shoot her."
"Oh, I guess I'll have to settle for talking to you."
"I guess so. What's up?"
"Not a lot, we didn't really get a chance to catch up today. You ran out on me and the guys pretty fast."
"Sorry. My…mom wanted me home early. You know how she is."
"Yeah. Anyways, how was your summer? Do anything special?"
Blayne thought for a moment. Even though Craig was her best friend, could she really tell him that she spent most of her summer in Sully's bedroom, making out for hours at a time? No, she couldn't.
"Um….no, nothing out of the ordinary. You?"
"You know me. Spent the summer in the garage playing guitar and writing moody lyrics that summed up the tragedies of my life."
"Oh? New songs? And I have yet to see them?"
"I'll give them to you tomorrow."
"You won't play them for me?"
"Another time, Blayne, another time."
There was an awkward pause. Only, it wasn't awkward. It was just….silence.
"So, Craigger, any girls over the summer?"
"After dating a prude and whore, and being an asshole to you while doing it, I think I've pretty much given up on girls."
"True, you don't have the best taste, and yes, you do turn your back on your friends when you have a girlfriend, but don't give up. You gotta go through the bad to get to the good."
"You always have such inspirational, optimistic speeches directed towards me."
"Someone has got to make up for your bad attitude." She laughed.
"Anyways, I got to go, I'll see you tomorrow okay?"
"yeah, see you Craig!" She hung up the phone and gave a sigh of relief. There really was no one out there like Craig. She was pretty lucky she found him when she first moved to Degrassi. It took awhile for them to be friends, but in the end, it was all worth it. He was the best friend she had ever had. She remembered one time in grade ten when her dad had tried to contact her again. It upset her greatly and she called Craig. It seemed as though she was on the verge of doing something stupid and destructive to herself, so Craig wouldn't let her spend the night alone. That night he went to her house and sat in a chair as he watched her sleep. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her.
Blayne usually got up at 6:30 on school days, but on that Tuesday, she got up at 6:00. She took a quick shower, threw on some jeans and a Sex Pistols t-shirt, slipped on her black Chuck Taylor low tops, put her backpack on, wrote her mom a fast note, and headed out the door. She briskly walked to Craig's house. She didn't want to make much noise, so she went through the garage. As she entered the house, she saw Joey and Angie. Angie was about to say hi, but Blayne put a finger to her mouth, indicating to be very quiet. She smiled at Joey.
"Is Craig still sleeping?" She whispered.
He nodded his head. She put her bag by the door and tip-toed through the kitchen, up the stairs and stopped in front of Craig's door. It was shut. She tried the knob. It was locked, too. She stood there, thinking. Then she pulled a bobby pin out of her hair, straightened it, and stuck it in the hole in the door knob. She heard something click. Blayne smiled to herself. She slowly turned the knob, making sure there would be no click as she pushed it open. She only opened it far enough for her to slip in. She looked at Craig's bead. Although she couldn't see his face, Blayne saw dark fluffy hair sticking out by his pillow. She went over to the side of his bed and knelt down. She pulled down the covers so she could see his face. 'He looks so peaceful…and happy.' She thought. He had a slight smile on his sleeping face. She touched his nose. He moved sharply. She giggled. She pulled his eyelid open and watched his eye roll around for a bit, and then it stopped, looking right at her. His other eye opened, voluntarily. She let go of his face.
"Good morning, sunshine. Time to start a new day!" She said sarcastically.
"mmmhaaammm." Was all he said and rolled to the other side.
"Uh! How dare you turn your back on me, Craig Manning."
"Muuhhgraam."
"That's it."
She jumped on top of him and started tickling him. He fought, furiously. he hated being tickled. She fell off the bed with a loud thump.
"Breakfast is ready!" They heard Joey yell up that stairs. Blayne stood up and went to Craig's closet. She picked out some clothes for him. He got out of bed and stood up, not realizing that he was wearing only his fortune cookie boxers. She practically whipped his clothes at him.
"Ewww! Is that all you where to sleep? Get dressed. I'll be downstairs." She skipped out of the room.
'She really knows how to push my buttons'. Craig thought, half annoyed, half flattered that she would come early just to bug him. He shut his door after she left and put his clothes on. After he got his shoes on, he ran downstairs into the kitchen to find Blayne and Angie eating, and a plate full of food sitting next to Angie. So that is where Craig sat.
"Whoa, slow down buddy." Joey said as he watched his step son shoved bite after bite into his mouth, as if he were in an eating race.
"Sorry Joey, I'm just REALLY hungry." He finished before Blayne and Angie, even though they had started before him.
"hey Joey? What time is it?" Blayne wondered.
"Six fifty. You guys still have twenty minutes before we have to leave."
"Blaaayne let's go watch TV.!" Angie whined.
"Alright." They both got up and went into the living room. Craig followed shortly after. He plopped down on the couch in between Angie and Blayne, half sitting on them both.
"OW!!" Angie yelped.
"Watch it big butt!" Blayne exclaimed.
"Sorry!" Craig laughed as they both slid over, making room for him.
At school, Craig and Blanye met up with Marco in the lobby. Marco and Craig got into an intense conversation about Kid Elrick, but Blayne wasn't really talking. So she kind of just stood there, looking around. She caught Sully's eye from across the lobby and started making obscene gestures at her. She put on a mock angry look and then smiled. Craig noticed.
"What are you smiling at?"
"What?!" She said, caught off guard. She panicked.
"Nothing. I gotta go put my stuff away." She hurried off. 'Oh man, he almost…ughh I got to think more!' She thought harshly to herself.
In Ms. Kwan's class, they were supposed to be reading excerpts from The Odyssey and then connecting it to real life. As Blayne looked around, she was pretty sure no one was actually doing the reading. Since they didn't have assigned seats, today Paige was sitting in front of her. She turned around so they could talk.
"So hun, who do you have your eyes on this year? Jimmy, maybe? Or a bad boy, like Sean?"
"Ewwww no! Paige, I don't always like someone. C'mon now, you know I just got out of a pretty serious relationship at the beginning of summer."
"What, are you saying you aren't like…ready?"
"I guess."
"You don't still like Sully do you?"
"Paige, I LOVED Sully. No, I don't still like him, but that doesn't mean I hate him. Even though he was a slime ball."
"Whoa. Hun. I think you need an intervention."
"I'm fine, Paige." She snapped. Paige turned back around and looked at her book with wide eyes as she thought about what was just said.
Blayne was just about to start actually doing the assignment when she looked up at the clock. It said 8:14. 'Oh no!' She thought. She jumped out of her desk and put a hand to her stomach, clutching it. She walked to Ms. Kwan's desk and put her other hand on it for support. Or, fake support really.
"Ms. Anderson, what's wrong?"
"I feel horribly sick. I think…I think…." She put a hand to her mouth and made a gagging noise. Everyone in the class looked up to watch, on instinct. Ms. Kwan grabbed the hall pass and quickly gave it to Blayne.
"Go to the nurse's office, only come back if you're okay." Blayne nodded her head and ran out. As soon as she got out of the class, she smiled to herself. And Craig saw that through the open door. He shook his head and wondered what she was up to.
Blayne started on her way to the nurse's office then took a sharp right straight into the men's bathroom when she knew no one was looking. She put a sign on the door that said 'Out Of Order'. Then she went in. She looked at the stalls. There were eight plus five urinals. All of them had the doors closed. She grinned.
"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a lover by the toe. If he moans don't let him go, eeny, meeny, miny…." She pushed open the fifth one to find Sully standing on the toilet.
"Moe." He said.
Blayne went into the stall and shut the door.
Class was almost over, but Craig couldn't take it. He had two glasses of milk that morning and hadn't gone pee since. He had to go so bad he was bouncing up and down in his seat. He couldn't wait any longer. He burst out of his seat and ran to the Ms. Kwan.
"Please tell me you aren't sick."
"No, just gotta go."
"I gave the pass to Blayne and she hasn't return."
He looked around.
"Uhhhh….can't you just write me one!?" Craig spat out, jumping up and down. Ms. Kwan pulled out a post it and started writing on it. After what seemed like forever to Craig, she handed it to him and ran out of the room like a race horse. He whipped his head back and fourth to figure out where the nearest bathroom was. When he remembered, he took off. It only took him a couple of seconds to get there running, but there was a sign on the door. 'No way!' He thought. 'The next bathroom is too far away. I don't care if it is out of order, I'm going in.' He shoved the door open so hard it hit the wall.
Blayne jumped at the sound and hit the side of the stall she was in. She giggled, but Sully hushed her.
Craig heard the bump and the giggle. He looked around, and saw two legs under a stall.
"Hello?"
As she stood on the toilet, Blayne looked at Sully and mouth the word 'Craig' with wide eyes. Sully came out of the stall, shutting the door behind him.
"Don't go in there, man." He said, leaving.
Blayne was having a hard time balancing on the toilet. They obviously weren't made to stand on. When she heard Craig start peeing, stop, wash his hands, and leave, she sighed and sat down.
"This is too much work." She mumbled to herself. She waited in the bathroom until the bell rang and slipped out un-noticed as the hall was flooded with students. She went to her locker to get her books and realized something. She left all her stuff for English in Ms. Kwan's room. Then someone shoved books into her stomach.
"Looking for these?" Craig said.
"Uh, yeah, thanks."
"Feeling better, obviously."
"Yeah…just um…sudden moment of sickness."
"Ah, the twenty-four second flu." Craig said, kind of rudely. He turned to leave.
"Hey!" Blayne said in objection.
"What's got your panties in a twist? Mad because I didn't feel well."
"Whatever." He said. He knew something was up, and was pissed because she didn't tell him. She always told him. 'It must be bad.' He thought.
"Craig, c'mon. Can you really say you never feel sick during that AWFUL class?" Craig gave a half smile.
"There you are! I was wondering who the asshole that I was talking to was. Don't let him come back."
"I won't I gotta go to Geometry, I'll see you at lunch."
"Yeah, bye!" Blayne leaned against her locker. 'Maybe this isn't really worth it. Maybe I should tell Sully that I want to stop. But do I want to stop? Can I?' She questioned herself.
"Hang on." Sully said.
"What?" Blayne said in a rush. She looked around. She didn't want anybody to see her.
"You have make-out hair." He said, grinning.
"Oh. Well, I'll fix it before I go in. Bye." She slammed the door and started smoothing out her hair. Once she was sure she looked okay, she went inside.
"Mom! I'm home!" Her mom poked her head out from the kitchen.
"Hey sweetie. Dinner is almost done. Why don't you help your sister set the table?"
"Okay." Blayne went into the dinning room where her nine year-old sister was setting the table.
"Hey, Katie. How was fourth grade?"
"The same as third grade." She responded.
"Yeah," Blayne said, remembering back to when she was in grade three. "School gets pretty repetitive."
After dinner, Blayne cleared her plate and went up to her room. She tossed her backpack on her bed and hopped on her computer. As she was checking her email, her phone rang. It was Craig. He was pretty much the only one who called her. Plus, Joey's name was on the caller ID.
"Hello?"
"Is Blayne there?"
"No, she broke her leg and we had to shoot her."
"Oh, I guess I'll have to settle for talking to you."
"I guess so. What's up?"
"Not a lot, we didn't really get a chance to catch up today. You ran out on me and the guys pretty fast."
"Sorry. My…mom wanted me home early. You know how she is."
"Yeah. Anyways, how was your summer? Do anything special?"
Blayne thought for a moment. Even though Craig was her best friend, could she really tell him that she spent most of her summer in Sully's bedroom, making out for hours at a time? No, she couldn't.
"Um….no, nothing out of the ordinary. You?"
"You know me. Spent the summer in the garage playing guitar and writing moody lyrics that summed up the tragedies of my life."
"Oh? New songs? And I have yet to see them?"
"I'll give them to you tomorrow."
"You won't play them for me?"
"Another time, Blayne, another time."
There was an awkward pause. Only, it wasn't awkward. It was just….silence.
"So, Craigger, any girls over the summer?"
"After dating a prude and whore, and being an asshole to you while doing it, I think I've pretty much given up on girls."
"True, you don't have the best taste, and yes, you do turn your back on your friends when you have a girlfriend, but don't give up. You gotta go through the bad to get to the good."
"You always have such inspirational, optimistic speeches directed towards me."
"Someone has got to make up for your bad attitude." She laughed.
"Anyways, I got to go, I'll see you tomorrow okay?"
"yeah, see you Craig!" She hung up the phone and gave a sigh of relief. There really was no one out there like Craig. She was pretty lucky she found him when she first moved to Degrassi. It took awhile for them to be friends, but in the end, it was all worth it. He was the best friend she had ever had. She remembered one time in grade ten when her dad had tried to contact her again. It upset her greatly and she called Craig. It seemed as though she was on the verge of doing something stupid and destructive to herself, so Craig wouldn't let her spend the night alone. That night he went to her house and sat in a chair as he watched her sleep. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her.
Blayne usually got up at 6:30 on school days, but on that Tuesday, she got up at 6:00. She took a quick shower, threw on some jeans and a Sex Pistols t-shirt, slipped on her black Chuck Taylor low tops, put her backpack on, wrote her mom a fast note, and headed out the door. She briskly walked to Craig's house. She didn't want to make much noise, so she went through the garage. As she entered the house, she saw Joey and Angie. Angie was about to say hi, but Blayne put a finger to her mouth, indicating to be very quiet. She smiled at Joey.
"Is Craig still sleeping?" She whispered.
He nodded his head. She put her bag by the door and tip-toed through the kitchen, up the stairs and stopped in front of Craig's door. It was shut. She tried the knob. It was locked, too. She stood there, thinking. Then she pulled a bobby pin out of her hair, straightened it, and stuck it in the hole in the door knob. She heard something click. Blayne smiled to herself. She slowly turned the knob, making sure there would be no click as she pushed it open. She only opened it far enough for her to slip in. She looked at Craig's bead. Although she couldn't see his face, Blayne saw dark fluffy hair sticking out by his pillow. She went over to the side of his bed and knelt down. She pulled down the covers so she could see his face. 'He looks so peaceful…and happy.' She thought. He had a slight smile on his sleeping face. She touched his nose. He moved sharply. She giggled. She pulled his eyelid open and watched his eye roll around for a bit, and then it stopped, looking right at her. His other eye opened, voluntarily. She let go of his face.
"Good morning, sunshine. Time to start a new day!" She said sarcastically.
"mmmhaaammm." Was all he said and rolled to the other side.
"Uh! How dare you turn your back on me, Craig Manning."
"Muuhhgraam."
"That's it."
She jumped on top of him and started tickling him. He fought, furiously. he hated being tickled. She fell off the bed with a loud thump.
"Breakfast is ready!" They heard Joey yell up that stairs. Blayne stood up and went to Craig's closet. She picked out some clothes for him. He got out of bed and stood up, not realizing that he was wearing only his fortune cookie boxers. She practically whipped his clothes at him.
"Ewww! Is that all you where to sleep? Get dressed. I'll be downstairs." She skipped out of the room.
'She really knows how to push my buttons'. Craig thought, half annoyed, half flattered that she would come early just to bug him. He shut his door after she left and put his clothes on. After he got his shoes on, he ran downstairs into the kitchen to find Blayne and Angie eating, and a plate full of food sitting next to Angie. So that is where Craig sat.
"Whoa, slow down buddy." Joey said as he watched his step son shoved bite after bite into his mouth, as if he were in an eating race.
"Sorry Joey, I'm just REALLY hungry." He finished before Blayne and Angie, even though they had started before him.
"hey Joey? What time is it?" Blayne wondered.
"Six fifty. You guys still have twenty minutes before we have to leave."
"Blaaayne let's go watch TV.!" Angie whined.
"Alright." They both got up and went into the living room. Craig followed shortly after. He plopped down on the couch in between Angie and Blayne, half sitting on them both.
"OW!!" Angie yelped.
"Watch it big butt!" Blayne exclaimed.
"Sorry!" Craig laughed as they both slid over, making room for him.
At school, Craig and Blanye met up with Marco in the lobby. Marco and Craig got into an intense conversation about Kid Elrick, but Blayne wasn't really talking. So she kind of just stood there, looking around. She caught Sully's eye from across the lobby and started making obscene gestures at her. She put on a mock angry look and then smiled. Craig noticed.
"What are you smiling at?"
"What?!" She said, caught off guard. She panicked.
"Nothing. I gotta go put my stuff away." She hurried off. 'Oh man, he almost…ughh I got to think more!' She thought harshly to herself.
In Ms. Kwan's class, they were supposed to be reading excerpts from The Odyssey and then connecting it to real life. As Blayne looked around, she was pretty sure no one was actually doing the reading. Since they didn't have assigned seats, today Paige was sitting in front of her. She turned around so they could talk.
"So hun, who do you have your eyes on this year? Jimmy, maybe? Or a bad boy, like Sean?"
"Ewwww no! Paige, I don't always like someone. C'mon now, you know I just got out of a pretty serious relationship at the beginning of summer."
"What, are you saying you aren't like…ready?"
"I guess."
"You don't still like Sully do you?"
"Paige, I LOVED Sully. No, I don't still like him, but that doesn't mean I hate him. Even though he was a slime ball."
"Whoa. Hun. I think you need an intervention."
"I'm fine, Paige." She snapped. Paige turned back around and looked at her book with wide eyes as she thought about what was just said.
Blayne was just about to start actually doing the assignment when she looked up at the clock. It said 8:14. 'Oh no!' She thought. She jumped out of her desk and put a hand to her stomach, clutching it. She walked to Ms. Kwan's desk and put her other hand on it for support. Or, fake support really.
"Ms. Anderson, what's wrong?"
"I feel horribly sick. I think…I think…." She put a hand to her mouth and made a gagging noise. Everyone in the class looked up to watch, on instinct. Ms. Kwan grabbed the hall pass and quickly gave it to Blayne.
"Go to the nurse's office, only come back if you're okay." Blayne nodded her head and ran out. As soon as she got out of the class, she smiled to herself. And Craig saw that through the open door. He shook his head and wondered what she was up to.
Blayne started on her way to the nurse's office then took a sharp right straight into the men's bathroom when she knew no one was looking. She put a sign on the door that said 'Out Of Order'. Then she went in. She looked at the stalls. There were eight plus five urinals. All of them had the doors closed. She grinned.
"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a lover by the toe. If he moans don't let him go, eeny, meeny, miny…." She pushed open the fifth one to find Sully standing on the toilet.
"Moe." He said.
Blayne went into the stall and shut the door.
Class was almost over, but Craig couldn't take it. He had two glasses of milk that morning and hadn't gone pee since. He had to go so bad he was bouncing up and down in his seat. He couldn't wait any longer. He burst out of his seat and ran to the Ms. Kwan.
"Please tell me you aren't sick."
"No, just gotta go."
"I gave the pass to Blayne and she hasn't return."
He looked around.
"Uhhhh….can't you just write me one!?" Craig spat out, jumping up and down. Ms. Kwan pulled out a post it and started writing on it. After what seemed like forever to Craig, she handed it to him and ran out of the room like a race horse. He whipped his head back and fourth to figure out where the nearest bathroom was. When he remembered, he took off. It only took him a couple of seconds to get there running, but there was a sign on the door. 'No way!' He thought. 'The next bathroom is too far away. I don't care if it is out of order, I'm going in.' He shoved the door open so hard it hit the wall.
Blayne jumped at the sound and hit the side of the stall she was in. She giggled, but Sully hushed her.
Craig heard the bump and the giggle. He looked around, and saw two legs under a stall.
"Hello?"
As she stood on the toilet, Blayne looked at Sully and mouth the word 'Craig' with wide eyes. Sully came out of the stall, shutting the door behind him.
"Don't go in there, man." He said, leaving.
Blayne was having a hard time balancing on the toilet. They obviously weren't made to stand on. When she heard Craig start peeing, stop, wash his hands, and leave, she sighed and sat down.
"This is too much work." She mumbled to herself. She waited in the bathroom until the bell rang and slipped out un-noticed as the hall was flooded with students. She went to her locker to get her books and realized something. She left all her stuff for English in Ms. Kwan's room. Then someone shoved books into her stomach.
"Looking for these?" Craig said.
"Uh, yeah, thanks."
"Feeling better, obviously."
"Yeah…just um…sudden moment of sickness."
"Ah, the twenty-four second flu." Craig said, kind of rudely. He turned to leave.
"Hey!" Blayne said in objection.
"What's got your panties in a twist? Mad because I didn't feel well."
"Whatever." He said. He knew something was up, and was pissed because she didn't tell him. She always told him. 'It must be bad.' He thought.
"Craig, c'mon. Can you really say you never feel sick during that AWFUL class?" Craig gave a half smile.
"There you are! I was wondering who the asshole that I was talking to was. Don't let him come back."
"I won't I gotta go to Geometry, I'll see you at lunch."
"Yeah, bye!" Blayne leaned against her locker. 'Maybe this isn't really worth it. Maybe I should tell Sully that I want to stop. But do I want to stop? Can I?' She questioned herself.