Discovering Degrassi
Chapter One:
I walked through the doors of Degrassi Community School. I had been here before. My parents made me come with them just to "have a look-see". Lucky for me that no one was there then. Now the hallway before me was crowded with people, some working on their locker combinations, others talking with friends forgotten over the summer. One kid was even break- dancing. 'Wow,' I thought to myself, 'I've enrolled in clown school.'
The intercom above my head started to talk. I listened intently, I'm not really sure why. "Good morning students, and welcome to Degrassi. New students who have not received their locker assignment and have not received their new homeroom should report to the main office in the front of the school." The voice continued to drone, but I started walking away in the direction of the office.
I reached the office and stood in the line with about 10 other kids waiting for their lockers and homeroom. The receptionist, looking rather bored, asked, "Name?" and would wait for the shy and nervous to gather enough composure to respond with the right answer. Finally I was at the front and the receptionist posed the question. "Rachel McEnery" I responded confidently. Unlike others, I was never shy in saying my name. Mom had always said: "Be confident about you name because it belongs to you and nobody can take it away." My mom was quite the poet. My thoughts were rudely interrupted, as the receptionist responding irritably. "Ms. Kwan, I've circled her room on this map. Your locker number is 187. Here's the combination." She pushed the papers into my hand and proceeded to question the next student. I backed out of the room and walked down the hallway, looking for my locker. I found it and locked down at the slip of paper. While working out the combination, I listened to the conversation that the girl next to me was having with her friend. "Listen Manny! The cafeteria food has serious problems. The food is genetically modified. Do you even know what that means?" "Yes," replied the girl called Manny, "I've heard you rant and rave about this before. What are you going to do about it though? Are you going to write for The Grapevine? Bad things seem to happen whenever you do." The bell rang, cutting off the blonde girl's answer. "C'mon." She said, "We've gotta get to Ms. Kwan's room. I heard she gets pretty mad when people are late." I shut my locker and followed the two girls to the room. They were so absorbed in whatever conversation they were having that they didn't notice me tailing them to the room. I walked through the doorway and was relieved that nobody had notice my coming in. Being the new kid, I knew I was in for a lot of attention anyway and didn't really feel like bringing myself more. I don't really like undeserved attention. It makes me feel raw and open. I sat down at the end of the row, away from where everyone else was absorbed in conversation about summer break. Ms. Kwan entered the room and was just about to shut the door when a boy walked in. "You're late Sean." she said reprovingly, before actually closing the door.
"Sorry." he mumbled and sat next to the blonde haired girl. Homeroom went without any problems. She walked around and told us about our classes, especially hers. She laid out the ground rules for her homeroom, the ground rules for the school, and even some ground rules for life. Finally she dismissed us and stopped me from leaving the room. "Are you new here?" she asked. "Yes." I answered shortly. "Well, I see that your name is Rachel. Welcome to Degrassi. I think you're going to have a great time," she said, walking over to her desk. For one horrible moment I thought she was going to give me a nametag. How embarrassing! But she proceeded to give me my schedule. "The office gave this to me. It seems you forgot to pick it up this morning," she said, handing me a sheet of paper with all my classes. Great, I though, Now she thinks I'm forgetful. "Uh, thanks." I said, putting my schedule in my bag. "Well, I better get going." I left the room before she could say anything else. I got to my first class and saw that the blonde haired girl was in it with me. 'She's everywhere!' I thought. As I was the last one in the room, there was only one seat left. Several pairs of eyes followed me to the only empty seat, which was next to the blonde haired girl. I sat down and hung my head, looking for my notebook so I could start taking notes. The blonde haired girl was looking at me. I took out the notebook and looked up at her and then looked down at my notebook again. I started writing my name and the date in the corner, and looked up again. She continued to stare at me. "What?" I asked, not trying to be rude but wanting her to understand that I don't like being watched. "You're new here, aren't you?" she asked, taking out her notebook as well.
"Yes, I am," I said almost defiantly. "Oh. Well, have you met anyone yet?" she asked. I thought about this answer. If I said yes, she might not want to be my friend and right now I could do with a few more friends than none. If I said no, she might think that I couldn't make friends, like I was snobby or just too shy. "Have you?" she asked again. "No," I decided to say, hoping that she would take it the right way. "Oh, well now you can say yes. My name is Emma," she said. "I'm Rachel," I replied. She proceeded to introduce me to all the people sitting next to her. There was a boy with a hat on named JT, a boy with glasses name Toby, the black haired girl I had seen before named Manny, and girl with glasses named Liberty. The boy named Sean that was in my homeroom wasn't in this class. The teacher came in and started teaching very suddenly. By the time class had ended, I hadn't had a chance to talk to Emma about anything. I stopped by my locker and Emma followed me. It seemed that my locker was right next to her, lucky for me. Emma put her stuff in her locker and her and Manny ran to another guy down the hall. This guy was tall, pale and had a camera around his neck. I heard a voice behind me and turned around to find who was talking. A girl with blonde hair and a way to short shirt was talking to a bunch of grade 9 guys. "Paige, come on." said one of the guys. "No way. He's too short and it's bad enough that I have to come back here with a mullet." Paige replied. "Paige!" they tried again, but she merely shook her head and started walking. She passed by and then turned around to face me. I turned around too, so that I wouldn't have to face her. "Hey." she said, obviously talking to me. I turned around and saw her looking me up and down. "Have you ever been a cheerleader?" "No." I answered, looking back into my locker. "Well, you should think about joining our Spirit Squad. You look like a gymnast." After she finished, she turned around and walked away. I grabbed my stuff and ran to my next class. I really wanted to get a good seat. Unfortunately, I was the last one in the room again and this time the only seat left was next to the guy named Sean that was in my homeroom. I set my books down and looked at the chair. His backpack was in it. I looked at him. He was busy typing on the screen. I cleared my throat and said, as politely as I could, "Can I sit here?" "Sure," he mumbled again, moving his backpack. He never even looked at me. The teacher came in, and introduced himself as Mr. Simpson. "I will be your Media Immersion teacher again this year." he said, looking around the room at the students sitting there, several not looking back. He cleared his throat and continued, "Now, this year we will be focusing on . . . " I started to tune him out and looked around the room. The computers were brand-new it seemed, and they were very nice too. I was looking at my computer screen and suddenly the teacher's voice cut through my thoughts. "Now I want all of you to sign in to the computer and go to the . . . " I started to panic. Sign in? How do you sign in? "All of you should remember the passwords you got last year to these computers." Mr. Simpson started walking around to make sure the students were doing the right thing. He got to my computer, where I was terrified of what he might do, since I was not following anything he said. "What the matter here?" he asked, looking at my screen, "Why aren't you doing the assignment?" "I, um, I don't know what to do." I said, as quietly as possible. I saw Sean look over at me questioningly. "Oh, are you new here?" he asked, a bit louder than I would have hoped. Several others looked at me. I nodded and he said to me, "Well then, will you see me after class?" I nodded again and he said, "You can look on Sean's computer." Sean turned the computer screen to me and I scooted closer so that I could see what he was doing. I looked over and started to smile on the inside. He was pretty cute, even though he looked to be the rebel type. I made a mental note to ask Emma about him. For the rest of class I watched Sean and I tried to look as interested as possible. I hoped he was looking at me with the corner of his eyes. After finishing morning classes I went to lunch. I got a tray and ended up just getting some fruit. I saw the register ahead and started to panic again. I didn't have any money. I didn't know we had to pay and I only have a few loose coins in my bag. I got the register. "$1.75" said the lunch lady. "Um, I don't have . . . " I began, when Sean came up behind me and gave the lunch lady the money. "Thanks." I said, very relieved. "Don't worry. You're the new kid." "I promise to pay you back tomorrow." I said as he started to turn away. "Don't bother." he said and just as I thought he was about to smile, I was bumped from behind and my fruit rolled all over the ground. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" cried a voice. I turned around and the guy that Emma and Manny were talking to earlier was behind me. I blushed and scrambled to pick up my orange, which was rolling across the lunchroom floor. "It's ok." I replied, completely mortified. When I got all my lunch stuff back, the banana was squished, the orange was very dirty and my apple had disappeared entirely. "Oh man, now you have no lunch at all." he said, looking at my very disgusting lunch tray. He turned around and glared over his shoulder. I saw two guys looking at him, laughing. "Marco, Spinner, I going to kill you guys." I walked over to the trashcan and dumped what remained of my lunch. I turned around and looked into his eyes. He was looking back. I quickly let my gaze drop to my shoes and he said, "Here." He handed me the sandwich out of his bag, touching my hand as he gave it to me. Sparks flew from his eyes and I blushed without meaning to.
"Thanks." I managed quietly. "Well, see you." he said and walked away. I scanned the lunchroom for Emma and found her sitting with Manny. I walked over. "Can I sit her?" I asked. "Sure," she replied, "As long as you promise to tell us what happened to you over there." I laughed and told them about not having lunch money, having Sean pay for it and then getting bumped by that guy. Emma and Manny looked at each other. "What?" I asked, finally unwrapping the sandwich. It turned out to be turkey and since I was a vegetarian I gave it to Manny. "So Sean paid for your lunch and then Craig gave you his lunch? Those are the biggest flirtation devices there are." "No way." I said. "I'm brand new. They were probably just being nice." "Yeah, right." said Manny, taking a bite out of her new sandwich, "When is Sean ever just nice? Trust us, they were definitely flirting." I smiled. I figured that if it was really true, then this was the beginning of a beautiful new school year. I finished lunch and made my way to my locker. There was someone waiting for me there. Hoping it was Sean or Craig, I sped up. Imagine my shock when Mr. Simpson was standing there.
"Rachel." he said sternly. "Why didn't you come and talk to me after your classes?" "Oh!" I said suddenly remembering my appointment. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry Mr. Simpson! I completely forgot, there's just so much going on today." I said, hoping that my last words were a good enough excuse. "Well, here's what I was thinking. We can meet together after school and work on getting you caught up. There's another student in our class that needs from extra tutoring." "That's a great idea!" I said brightly, relieved that he wasn't as angry as I thought, "Can we start today?" "Sure." he said, "The other student is coming today too. Okay, so right after school. Please don't forget." "I won't this time. I promise." I said, waving after him. I had to run to my next class and just barely made it into class on time. After school I made my way to the Media Immersion Lab and I was astonished to see Sean in there with Mr. Simpson. "Ah, Rachel. Come on in. I've already started working with Sean, but go ahead and choose a computer." He said, motioning around the room at the computers. I chose one a few away from Sean. I waited for Mr. Simpson to come over. Just then, Liberty came into the room. "Mr. Simpson, I thought you said that you would check over this issue of The Grapevine for us while Mr. Tran is away." She said, in a matter-of-fact voice. "Oh yes, sorry Liberty. Guys," he said, looking at Sean and I, "This will only take a second. Sean, maybe you can help Rachel get started?" With a meaningful look at Sean, he left the room with Liberty. Sean sighed and got up from his chair to come over to my computer. "Okay, so have you ever used a computer before?" he asked. "Well, yes, but only to play games and stuff." I replied, embarrassed. I put my hand on the mouse and waited for him to say something. "Okay, well I guess first you should click on this." I didn't move my hand in time and he put his hand on top of mine. He looked at me, a little surprised. Embarrassed yet again, I moved my hand away. He looked surprised again and asked, "How do you expect to learn how to do this if I do it for you?" I looked up from my feet; my cheeks still red from blushing. I put my hand back on the mouse and he put his hand back on top of it. He moved it around showing me what everything did and when he finished, he looked at me. I looked back. We weren't smiling, but rather staring. He broke the staring contest and it was lucky that he did, because few seconds later Mr. Simpson came into the room. "How did it go?" he asked, looking at me. "Fine." I replied. "I just showed her where the stuff was." said Sean, shrugging. He went back to his own computer and kept working on whatever he was working on. Mr. Simpson and I worked until about 4:30. After I finished, I thanked Mr. Simpson and Sean and I walked out the door. I waited until we were outside the school until I said anything to him. "Thanks again for helping me and everything." I said shyly. "You're new," he said, shrugging, "New people always need help." He started walking away and I called after him, "Well, see you tomorrow." He looked back, but said nothing. Not entirely sure what that meant, I walked home a little quicker than normal so that I could call Emma and tell her everything.
I walked through the doors of Degrassi Community School. I had been here before. My parents made me come with them just to "have a look-see". Lucky for me that no one was there then. Now the hallway before me was crowded with people, some working on their locker combinations, others talking with friends forgotten over the summer. One kid was even break- dancing. 'Wow,' I thought to myself, 'I've enrolled in clown school.'
The intercom above my head started to talk. I listened intently, I'm not really sure why. "Good morning students, and welcome to Degrassi. New students who have not received their locker assignment and have not received their new homeroom should report to the main office in the front of the school." The voice continued to drone, but I started walking away in the direction of the office.
I reached the office and stood in the line with about 10 other kids waiting for their lockers and homeroom. The receptionist, looking rather bored, asked, "Name?" and would wait for the shy and nervous to gather enough composure to respond with the right answer. Finally I was at the front and the receptionist posed the question. "Rachel McEnery" I responded confidently. Unlike others, I was never shy in saying my name. Mom had always said: "Be confident about you name because it belongs to you and nobody can take it away." My mom was quite the poet. My thoughts were rudely interrupted, as the receptionist responding irritably. "Ms. Kwan, I've circled her room on this map. Your locker number is 187. Here's the combination." She pushed the papers into my hand and proceeded to question the next student. I backed out of the room and walked down the hallway, looking for my locker. I found it and locked down at the slip of paper. While working out the combination, I listened to the conversation that the girl next to me was having with her friend. "Listen Manny! The cafeteria food has serious problems. The food is genetically modified. Do you even know what that means?" "Yes," replied the girl called Manny, "I've heard you rant and rave about this before. What are you going to do about it though? Are you going to write for The Grapevine? Bad things seem to happen whenever you do." The bell rang, cutting off the blonde girl's answer. "C'mon." She said, "We've gotta get to Ms. Kwan's room. I heard she gets pretty mad when people are late." I shut my locker and followed the two girls to the room. They were so absorbed in whatever conversation they were having that they didn't notice me tailing them to the room. I walked through the doorway and was relieved that nobody had notice my coming in. Being the new kid, I knew I was in for a lot of attention anyway and didn't really feel like bringing myself more. I don't really like undeserved attention. It makes me feel raw and open. I sat down at the end of the row, away from where everyone else was absorbed in conversation about summer break. Ms. Kwan entered the room and was just about to shut the door when a boy walked in. "You're late Sean." she said reprovingly, before actually closing the door.
"Sorry." he mumbled and sat next to the blonde haired girl. Homeroom went without any problems. She walked around and told us about our classes, especially hers. She laid out the ground rules for her homeroom, the ground rules for the school, and even some ground rules for life. Finally she dismissed us and stopped me from leaving the room. "Are you new here?" she asked. "Yes." I answered shortly. "Well, I see that your name is Rachel. Welcome to Degrassi. I think you're going to have a great time," she said, walking over to her desk. For one horrible moment I thought she was going to give me a nametag. How embarrassing! But she proceeded to give me my schedule. "The office gave this to me. It seems you forgot to pick it up this morning," she said, handing me a sheet of paper with all my classes. Great, I though, Now she thinks I'm forgetful. "Uh, thanks." I said, putting my schedule in my bag. "Well, I better get going." I left the room before she could say anything else. I got to my first class and saw that the blonde haired girl was in it with me. 'She's everywhere!' I thought. As I was the last one in the room, there was only one seat left. Several pairs of eyes followed me to the only empty seat, which was next to the blonde haired girl. I sat down and hung my head, looking for my notebook so I could start taking notes. The blonde haired girl was looking at me. I took out the notebook and looked up at her and then looked down at my notebook again. I started writing my name and the date in the corner, and looked up again. She continued to stare at me. "What?" I asked, not trying to be rude but wanting her to understand that I don't like being watched. "You're new here, aren't you?" she asked, taking out her notebook as well.
"Yes, I am," I said almost defiantly. "Oh. Well, have you met anyone yet?" she asked. I thought about this answer. If I said yes, she might not want to be my friend and right now I could do with a few more friends than none. If I said no, she might think that I couldn't make friends, like I was snobby or just too shy. "Have you?" she asked again. "No," I decided to say, hoping that she would take it the right way. "Oh, well now you can say yes. My name is Emma," she said. "I'm Rachel," I replied. She proceeded to introduce me to all the people sitting next to her. There was a boy with a hat on named JT, a boy with glasses name Toby, the black haired girl I had seen before named Manny, and girl with glasses named Liberty. The boy named Sean that was in my homeroom wasn't in this class. The teacher came in and started teaching very suddenly. By the time class had ended, I hadn't had a chance to talk to Emma about anything. I stopped by my locker and Emma followed me. It seemed that my locker was right next to her, lucky for me. Emma put her stuff in her locker and her and Manny ran to another guy down the hall. This guy was tall, pale and had a camera around his neck. I heard a voice behind me and turned around to find who was talking. A girl with blonde hair and a way to short shirt was talking to a bunch of grade 9 guys. "Paige, come on." said one of the guys. "No way. He's too short and it's bad enough that I have to come back here with a mullet." Paige replied. "Paige!" they tried again, but she merely shook her head and started walking. She passed by and then turned around to face me. I turned around too, so that I wouldn't have to face her. "Hey." she said, obviously talking to me. I turned around and saw her looking me up and down. "Have you ever been a cheerleader?" "No." I answered, looking back into my locker. "Well, you should think about joining our Spirit Squad. You look like a gymnast." After she finished, she turned around and walked away. I grabbed my stuff and ran to my next class. I really wanted to get a good seat. Unfortunately, I was the last one in the room again and this time the only seat left was next to the guy named Sean that was in my homeroom. I set my books down and looked at the chair. His backpack was in it. I looked at him. He was busy typing on the screen. I cleared my throat and said, as politely as I could, "Can I sit here?" "Sure," he mumbled again, moving his backpack. He never even looked at me. The teacher came in, and introduced himself as Mr. Simpson. "I will be your Media Immersion teacher again this year." he said, looking around the room at the students sitting there, several not looking back. He cleared his throat and continued, "Now, this year we will be focusing on . . . " I started to tune him out and looked around the room. The computers were brand-new it seemed, and they were very nice too. I was looking at my computer screen and suddenly the teacher's voice cut through my thoughts. "Now I want all of you to sign in to the computer and go to the . . . " I started to panic. Sign in? How do you sign in? "All of you should remember the passwords you got last year to these computers." Mr. Simpson started walking around to make sure the students were doing the right thing. He got to my computer, where I was terrified of what he might do, since I was not following anything he said. "What the matter here?" he asked, looking at my screen, "Why aren't you doing the assignment?" "I, um, I don't know what to do." I said, as quietly as possible. I saw Sean look over at me questioningly. "Oh, are you new here?" he asked, a bit louder than I would have hoped. Several others looked at me. I nodded and he said to me, "Well then, will you see me after class?" I nodded again and he said, "You can look on Sean's computer." Sean turned the computer screen to me and I scooted closer so that I could see what he was doing. I looked over and started to smile on the inside. He was pretty cute, even though he looked to be the rebel type. I made a mental note to ask Emma about him. For the rest of class I watched Sean and I tried to look as interested as possible. I hoped he was looking at me with the corner of his eyes. After finishing morning classes I went to lunch. I got a tray and ended up just getting some fruit. I saw the register ahead and started to panic again. I didn't have any money. I didn't know we had to pay and I only have a few loose coins in my bag. I got the register. "$1.75" said the lunch lady. "Um, I don't have . . . " I began, when Sean came up behind me and gave the lunch lady the money. "Thanks." I said, very relieved. "Don't worry. You're the new kid." "I promise to pay you back tomorrow." I said as he started to turn away. "Don't bother." he said and just as I thought he was about to smile, I was bumped from behind and my fruit rolled all over the ground. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" cried a voice. I turned around and the guy that Emma and Manny were talking to earlier was behind me. I blushed and scrambled to pick up my orange, which was rolling across the lunchroom floor. "It's ok." I replied, completely mortified. When I got all my lunch stuff back, the banana was squished, the orange was very dirty and my apple had disappeared entirely. "Oh man, now you have no lunch at all." he said, looking at my very disgusting lunch tray. He turned around and glared over his shoulder. I saw two guys looking at him, laughing. "Marco, Spinner, I going to kill you guys." I walked over to the trashcan and dumped what remained of my lunch. I turned around and looked into his eyes. He was looking back. I quickly let my gaze drop to my shoes and he said, "Here." He handed me the sandwich out of his bag, touching my hand as he gave it to me. Sparks flew from his eyes and I blushed without meaning to.
"Thanks." I managed quietly. "Well, see you." he said and walked away. I scanned the lunchroom for Emma and found her sitting with Manny. I walked over. "Can I sit her?" I asked. "Sure," she replied, "As long as you promise to tell us what happened to you over there." I laughed and told them about not having lunch money, having Sean pay for it and then getting bumped by that guy. Emma and Manny looked at each other. "What?" I asked, finally unwrapping the sandwich. It turned out to be turkey and since I was a vegetarian I gave it to Manny. "So Sean paid for your lunch and then Craig gave you his lunch? Those are the biggest flirtation devices there are." "No way." I said. "I'm brand new. They were probably just being nice." "Yeah, right." said Manny, taking a bite out of her new sandwich, "When is Sean ever just nice? Trust us, they were definitely flirting." I smiled. I figured that if it was really true, then this was the beginning of a beautiful new school year. I finished lunch and made my way to my locker. There was someone waiting for me there. Hoping it was Sean or Craig, I sped up. Imagine my shock when Mr. Simpson was standing there.
"Rachel." he said sternly. "Why didn't you come and talk to me after your classes?" "Oh!" I said suddenly remembering my appointment. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry Mr. Simpson! I completely forgot, there's just so much going on today." I said, hoping that my last words were a good enough excuse. "Well, here's what I was thinking. We can meet together after school and work on getting you caught up. There's another student in our class that needs from extra tutoring." "That's a great idea!" I said brightly, relieved that he wasn't as angry as I thought, "Can we start today?" "Sure." he said, "The other student is coming today too. Okay, so right after school. Please don't forget." "I won't this time. I promise." I said, waving after him. I had to run to my next class and just barely made it into class on time. After school I made my way to the Media Immersion Lab and I was astonished to see Sean in there with Mr. Simpson. "Ah, Rachel. Come on in. I've already started working with Sean, but go ahead and choose a computer." He said, motioning around the room at the computers. I chose one a few away from Sean. I waited for Mr. Simpson to come over. Just then, Liberty came into the room. "Mr. Simpson, I thought you said that you would check over this issue of The Grapevine for us while Mr. Tran is away." She said, in a matter-of-fact voice. "Oh yes, sorry Liberty. Guys," he said, looking at Sean and I, "This will only take a second. Sean, maybe you can help Rachel get started?" With a meaningful look at Sean, he left the room with Liberty. Sean sighed and got up from his chair to come over to my computer. "Okay, so have you ever used a computer before?" he asked. "Well, yes, but only to play games and stuff." I replied, embarrassed. I put my hand on the mouse and waited for him to say something. "Okay, well I guess first you should click on this." I didn't move my hand in time and he put his hand on top of mine. He looked at me, a little surprised. Embarrassed yet again, I moved my hand away. He looked surprised again and asked, "How do you expect to learn how to do this if I do it for you?" I looked up from my feet; my cheeks still red from blushing. I put my hand back on the mouse and he put his hand back on top of it. He moved it around showing me what everything did and when he finished, he looked at me. I looked back. We weren't smiling, but rather staring. He broke the staring contest and it was lucky that he did, because few seconds later Mr. Simpson came into the room. "How did it go?" he asked, looking at me. "Fine." I replied. "I just showed her where the stuff was." said Sean, shrugging. He went back to his own computer and kept working on whatever he was working on. Mr. Simpson and I worked until about 4:30. After I finished, I thanked Mr. Simpson and Sean and I walked out the door. I waited until we were outside the school until I said anything to him. "Thanks again for helping me and everything." I said shyly. "You're new," he said, shrugging, "New people always need help." He started walking away and I called after him, "Well, see you tomorrow." He looked back, but said nothing. Not entirely sure what that meant, I walked home a little quicker than normal so that I could call Emma and tell her everything.