"Touched A Dream"
A Degrassi Fan Fiction
Chapter Two: The Truth
(((Manny)))
"That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," I said as I walked down the hallway, Emma by my side.
"Told you that you would survive," Emma said, smiling at me.
I smiled back and we made our way down the steps, "So, do you have any plans?"
"Actually, yeah. I have a SITE meeting, and I'm running kind of late."
"Oh," I said, refraining from rolling my eyes. The environment always came first with Emma, "So, what are you doing after the meeting?"
"I honestly don't know. Why? Do you wanna hang out?" Emma asked.
"Yeah, actually. I think I'll go hang at the Dot. How about we meet there after your meeting?"
Emma shrugged, "Sounds good."
"Okay, see ya then, I guess."
Emma turned around and started walking, and I did the same.
(((Manny)))
I walked into the Dot and took a seat. I sighed and put my head in my hands. I had so many questions that were left unanswered and I was in no mood to talk to my parents. How could I face them after my little episode in the morning?
"Manny, are you okay?" Asked a concerned voice.
I looked up and saw Chris looking at me curiously.
"Yes..." I sat up and shrugged my shoulders, "I mean, no."
Chris took a seat and I figured he was expecting me to talk. Good ol' Chris. He seemed to always be there when you needed him.
So I let it all spill out. Chris just sat there and listened. He didn't interrupt me with comments, like Emma sometimes did. He just listened and let me vent.
"So, why does your mom being pregnant make you feel like that? It can't just be that your gonna be some live in babysitter." Chris finally said.
"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to push his words away.
He raised his eyebrow at me, "You know what I mean, Manny."
I did know very well what he meant, too.
I sighed and rested my head on my hand, "Well, my mom having a baby could ruin everything my family is to me. I mean, I've never been tight with them or anything, but I established a connection with my mother last year...and I don't want to lose it. A baby will take all my mother's time, and she'll just...forget about me."
Chris smiled, "Manny...I'm sure your moms loves you. She ain't gonna forget about you."
I returned his smile and felt a little better after I heard those words, "You know Chris, it's really great talking to you. Maybe we can hang sometime."
Chris shrugged, "That sounds good. But right now, I have to go. I promised my moms I would do some errands for her."
"Okay, later."
Chris smiled and walked away.
Just as he was exiting, a tired looking Emma entered the Dot. She stopped for a second to talk to her boyfriend, and then made her way to me.
She put her stuff down on the table, and greeted me, "Hey."
"Hey, how was the meeting?"
"Great! We got a lot accomplished," Emma grinned at me.
"That's cool," I sighed and rested my head on my hand again.
"Manny, what's up with you today?" Emma asked, looking at me curiously.
"Nothing..." I sighed and decided to just tell her, "Em, my mom is pregnant."
Emma scrunched up her brow, "And you're upset. Why?"
I rolled my eyes. I thought maybe she's understand, but I guess not, "Just forget it, Em."
"Manny, I'm your best friend. Can you at least tell me what's really going on with you, and why this is such a big problem?"
"Em, you wouldn't understand. You and your mom have always been close," I said, shaking my head.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I was never really had a good relationship with my mom, and we've gotten a lot closer. When she has this baby, everything will be ruined! Happy?"
"Okay, fine. So, what do you want to eat?"
(((Jimmy)))
I walked in my apartment to my find my mother arguing with somebody on the phone. She hardly noticed that I was standing there, I guess because she was so wrapped up in her conversation.
'Great', I thought.' The one time my parents are actually home, and they ignore me.'
I sighed and walked into my bedroom. I threw my stuff on the bed and popped in my favorite DJ Madd Bullets CD. As the music came pouring out of the speakers, I moved some of my stuff and starting doing push ups on the floor.
"Jimmy?" I thought I heard somebody calling me, but the music was too loud and I couldn't really tell. "JIMMY! Open up!"
I sighed and got up to turn down my music. I wiped at my face with a towel, and opened the door. My mother and father were standing there. Their expressions were far from happy.
'Oh no, what did I do now?' I thought, opening my door wider to let them in.
My parents stepped in and I sat down on my bed, pushing the junk that covered it aside.
"Jimmy," My mother said, glancing at my father uneasily.
I raised my eyebrows at her as if to say, "Um...yeah?"
She took a deep breath and turned away from me. I could see tears slowly streaming down her cheeks, and my mind filled with questions. I immediately thought of my grandmother, who had suffered from a hear attack the year before. Was something wrong with her?
"Is it Grandma?" I asked, scrunching up my brow.
My father bit his lip, "No, you're grandmother is fine."
"Then what is it?" I asked, clearly confused.
"Jimmy, this might come as quite a shock to you, but..." My father trailed off. He tried to comfort my mother, who was still crying. "It's okay, Jane."
That went on for about five minutes, until my father had succeeded in calming my mother down.
"Well are you gonna tell me or what?" I asked impatiently.
My parents exchanged looks and my mother finally spoke, "You tell him, Davon."
My father sighed, "Okay, Jane. I suggest you go into another room. This news is obviously too much for you to handle."
My mother nodded and walked out of my room, closing the door behind her.
He sighed again, and walked towards me slowly. He took a seat next to me, and stared at the ground.
Finally he spoke, "Jimmy, there is something we've been keeping from you."
"What?" I asked, dreading what would come out of his mouth next.
"Jimmy, you're...adopted."
(((Chris)))
'You know Chris, it's really great talking to you. Maybe we can hang sometime...' Her words echoed in my mind, and I smiled to myself.
"Chris," My brother called from the kitchen. "Chris! CHRIS!"
He snatched me out of my thoughts and I frowned slightly, "What do you want, James?"
"Emma's on the phone. She sounds pretty heated."
My eyes widened and I jumped up from my chair. Our date! I ran into the kitchen and took the phone from James.
"Uh, hey," I said into the receiver, as I walked back into my bedroom.
"Don't 'Hey' me, Chris. It's seven, our date was at 6:30. Where are you?!?" Emma's stern voice came through the phone. I cringed as I pictured her glaring at me icily.
"Sorry, I've been in la la land," I chuckled softly as I caught myself using my mother's phrase.
Emma sighed, "I guess it's okay. So are you gonna come down here and get on with our date, or are you just gonna have me stood up completely?"
"Naw, Em. I'll be down there in a little bit." I sighed as I clicked the Off button on the phone. I walked into the kitchen and hung the phone up on the receiver.
"I'm guessing you still didn't break it off with Mother Nature?" James asked, snickering at his jokes.
"One, how many times have I told you to stop cracking environmental jokes about Emma? And two...no."
James sighed and started to make himself a sandwich.
"Jay, I was wondering if you could do me a favor?" I asked, hoping he would say yes.
"Depends...what is it?"
"Can you drive me down to the movies? I was supposed to meet Emma there a half hour ago."
My brother turned around and raised his eyebrow, but didn't say anything. I breathed a sigh of relief as he grabbed his car keys.
(((Chris)))
"That had to be the worst movie ever!" I said as Emma and I entered the Dot. We had decided to go there for a little something to eat before going home.
"It was okay..." Emma said uncertainly, taking a seat at one of the many tables.
"I'll go get us something to eat. What do you want?"
"The usual. A veggie burger with a side order of fries. Oh yeah, and a strawberry milkshake." Emma smiled at me.
I faked a smile and went to go place our order. Ten minutes later, I walked back to the table with our food.
"A Veggie burger, fries, and a milkshake for you, and two burgers, a large order of fries, and a soda for me." I said, smiling as I placed the tray on the table.
Emma froze. She watched with a mortified look as I took a bite of my burger.
"Chris!" She cried.
"What?" I asked with my mouthful.
"You're eating...an animal! That was an intelligent, living, breathing thing just like you or me! What gives you the right to eat it?"
I sighed and set the burger down. How could I forget Emma was a vegetarian? She had ordered a veggie burger for pete's sake!
We sat in silence for the rest of the meal. Emma gave me her fries, since I couldn't eat my two burgers. She sat there glaring at me icily as I shoved the fries into my mouth by the handful. I avoided her stare and my eyes wandered over to a dark haired girl sitting all by herself. My eyes lit up as I realized it was Manny. Did she hang out here all day or something?
When we finished eating, Emma got up and waited for me to throw away what remained of our meal.
I walked her outside, and we just stood there. It was kind of awkward.
"Well, I guess this is goodbye. For now at least," Emma showed me a tiny smile and gave me a peck on the cheek. She turned around and started in the direction of her house.
"You don't need me to walk you home or anything?" I called after her.
"I can manage." She called back, not turning around.
She must of really been mad at me. She always wanted me to walk her home. She'd do anything to spend an extra second with me.
I shrugged and made my way back into the Dot. I spotted Manny and smiled to myself.
"Hey," I said, taking a seat next to her.
She looked up and smiled, "Hey. What's up?"
"Nothing much. So how about that time your promised me?" I asked, grinning.
Manny gave me a confused look, "Huh?"
"You said we could hang sometime, so how about now?"
A grin spread across Manny's face, "Sure. You know how long I've been here? I haven't been home since this morning!"
"Dang." I said. I stood up and extended my arm, "So where you wanna go and watcha wanna do? The sky's the limit."
She linked arms with me and smiled, "Hmm...I heard the carnival's in town. Do you wanna go? I hope Emma doesn't mind..."
We walked out of the Dot and into the night, "Why would Emma mind? Me and you just hanging as friends."
"As friends, right..." Manny said slowly. "So how are we gonna get there."
"Do you have money for the bus?" I asked, fishing in my pocket for my bus pass.
"Yeah," Manny said, "The bus..."
"What's wrong with the bus?" I asked in mock offence.
"Nothing," Manny laughed. "Now let's go have us some fun!"