Author's note: So far so good with this story. Haven't gotten complete writer's block yet. And I apologize for typos in my story. I also apologize for the chapter thing, but this website won't let me divide chapters. I'm on chapter two continued. In this chapter I don't know how Marco gets to school everyday, so I'm assuming he walks with Ellie.

To my reviewers: chanelnmbr5: I read and reviewed chapters one and two of your Passions story (the first part of the back to school one you wrote) I've never watched Passions so this will be like reading a real book. Thank you for continuing to read my story. OCDDegrassi: I'll begin reading about Emma's bad mistake soon as well. ReRe04: I hope that involving the teachers makes the story better.XxXCocoPuffXxX: I hope you'll love this part even more.:)

Chapter two continued

"Did you watch the season premiere of the show I told you about?"

"No… I got real busy last night with homework and everything and I didn't get a chance to see it." Walking to school with Ellie meant being told about something to watch or read.

But Marco was taken by surprise at her next question. "Who was that guy that waved at you while we were walking home? The one that got on the bus." Ellie turned to look at him while they were walking.

Marco decided to make Miguel seem unimportant. "Oh, just a friend that I met, like, two or three weeks ago." Marco hoped that Ellie would just say, "Oh," like she did in some of their conversations. If Ellie was not concerned about Marco, she'd go back to talking about herself. Marco had not noticed that he was the same way. In fact, everyone did that. People just liked to talk about themselves

But Ellie didn't say, "Oh." Instead, she said, "He looks kind of creepy to me. I mean, the way he carries himself around. I've seen him; he looks like that guy Rick, what with his hair and everything… you know, the guy that brought a gun to school…"

Ellie paused as they were walking, apparently remembering that Sean shot him and that Rick was the reason that her boyfriend Sean had gone to stay at his parent's house instead of his home at Degrassi. But before Marco could say anything she continued.

"He looks a little cuter than Rick-I mean Rick was just plain ugly- but still, the way he walks around with his head down and his eyes looking up… he looks like that girl from The Ring except he's not all wet and decayed. But he still looks like he's going to kill someone or something like that." Ellie gave Marco a plain, expressionless look.

"He's not weird, El, he's just different. He's actually pretty nice, and a good friend. Besides, I know some that would say you weren't all that normal looking, but others say that they think you're cooler than anything. It all depends on what group you're with, that's all." Marco knew that Miguel didn't have many friends. He didn't belong to a group. But he didn't tell Ellie that.

Ellie didn't say anything. She decided after a moment of silence to steer the conversation in a different direction.

"So… how are things with you and Dylan?" She wanted to talk about him for once. She didn't realize at the moment that she had asked that question only yesterday.

Marco didn't understand the sudden interest in him. "Oh, he hasn't called me yet-" he decided to lie- "but Paige told me that he wants to talk to me. She said that he said he's too busy and that if he calls me, he won't be able to hang up the phone because he loves me and my voice so much." In reality, Marco never talked to Dylan's sister and he didn't know why Dylan hadn't called him. But he hadn't called Dylan, either, so he didn't have the right to question him. Marco hadn't called Dylan in a while because he was too ashamed. He actually dreaded the day Dylan would call. If he ever did.

"When did you talk to Paige? Yesterday?" Ellie sounded mildly skeptical.

"Yeah, sometime after lunch. She sounded like she was really happy to see me. I don't talk to her that much anymore, not after Dylan ran off to college, that is." Marco thought that he sounded believable.

"Well that's good news for you." Ellie smiled and she and Marco kept walking. They were more than halfway there.

But Ellie wanted Marco to realize what she thought could really be going on. "Have you ever thought about how big college is?" She asked in a thoughtful tone, hoping Marco didn't know where she was going with this at the moment. She wanted him to come to the conclusion himself.

"Not really. Why, does it scare you or something?"

"Well, no…" she looked down at the ground. "Its just people always say that if you don't meet someone in high school, you're bound to meet someone in college. People always told me that high school relationships were almost always superficial and stupid, and that college is where you start meeting people who really care about you. I've always wondered if that was true. I don't know about Sean sometimes. He seems to me sometimes like he's not going anywhere, and even though he's accepted me and all… I feel that because he left to stay with his parents… he'd rather deal with his problems without me."

Ellie realized what she had just told herself-regardless of what Marco thought. She had just said to herself that her relationship was unimportant and Sean didn't care to solve his problems around her. Instead of trying to point out to Marco that Dylan could be having flings with other guys, she just told herself that her relationship wasn't going anywhere. Sean could be… with other girls… he might have forgotten about her completely.

"El, that's not true. He just wanted some time away from Degrassi because it holds too many memories of what happened. He probably can't face people after knowing in his mind what he really did. Think about it, El. How would you feel about yourself if you took someone's life away from them, no matter how evil or psycho they were? Even though he was a hero, he took away this person's chance-the rest of his life-to change, or to get some help for his problems. He's in the ground now, and Sean knows that."

"…You're right. That is true. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. I mean, he calls me and sends me letters…of course he still cares about me."

"Exactly. So don't worry about it."

They were now in front of the school. The bell had not rung yet-they were a little early. There was a slight wind that blew Ellie's long, red hair softly off her shoulders and Marco's dark hair from his forehead. They stopped walking and sat down on one of the steps. Even though the sun was shining, they were still cold. Nether of them had remembered to bring a jacket or anything. There weren't that many people there. They saw Spinner and Manny across the steps, but Marco decided not to say anything because he was more interested in talking to Ellie. There was silence for a few moments

Then Ellie looked at Marco seriously. "I'm sorry if I'm pressing you Marco, but what I'm trying to say is that Dylan's away at college living in a dorm doing who-knows-what and I'm suspicious—"

"I don't want to hear this," Marco sternly interrupted.

Emma Simpson struggled to get herself ready for school. She knew that she might be late, but she didn't care at the moment. She wanted to take extra care in getting dressed and putting on make-up. She was glad that Manny had helped her with one of her projects for once, and today was going to be a good day because she had everything done and planned out.

She looked in the mirror. Her long blonde hair was pretty going down her back, and her small face was very clear of any acne at the moment. She was glad that she finally had more of a figure. She felt grown up just by looking at the image that smiled back at her. She had been wondering whether she'd gotten any attention from guys, but she decided that it was a good thing if she hadn't because the attention would be towards her body, not her. She wanted to meet someone who didn't want to hook up on the very first date-she was more of a happy, conservative girl who dreamed of an actual future.

She thought about what Manny had done with herself. Emma couldn't believe Manny wanted to walk around looking almost as bad as a street whore. She thought that it was impossible that Manny didn't imagine teenage guys pleasuring themselves to her body at night. Emma couldn't stand to have guys think of her that way all the time.

Of course, sometimes was okay. "I mean, I want to be thought of as sexy…" Emma thought to herself. She knew that she was living proof that you could still look attractive without throwing all your clothes away.

She thought about the double standard between men and women. "How come men don't show anything on a regular basis?" Emma knew lots of girls, including herself, that wouldn't mind seeing a little more than just a guy's lower arms. That would be quite nice. Emma thought about taking the initiative to get girls to wear clothing that advocated men pleasuring women-not too gross, of course-but something to get back at the guys plastering naked women all over their rooms, clothing, folders, lockers, and in their personalities. Emma disapproved of the blatant, meaningless, tawdry sexuality being flaunted in today's media and in today's relationships. She knew that the more sex that went around, the more STD's would evolve, the more actual relationships would diminish, and the addiction to pornography and sex would grow. Obviously people didn't care, or otherwise something would have been done long ago. She just thought that if girls started treating men more like sex objects and used them like they did to women, things could change. She knew that not all men behaved badly, but there were too many that did. And if girls presenting men as "toys" made men think that it was an invitation, she thought that women carrying weapons to protect themselves was necessary. She wanted to put the many men who mistreated and over-obsessed with women's bodies and emotions into place.

"But," she sighed, "No one would listen to me. Obviously everyone likes the way things are now." She still remembered the time when she was almost molested by that Internet predator. She stopped remembering those events because they troubled her and got in the way of her motivation in life.

She finished applying lipstick and brushed her hair, and then she went out of her room to get her mother so that she could be driven to school.

Her mother was still asleep when she found her. "Mom, wake up. Come on, I need a ride to school."

"…Huh?" Her mother was still half asleep. Obviously Jack-Emma's baby brother-kept her up all night.

"I need a ride to school."

"But Snake didn't give you a ride…?" Snake was Emma's father. He was actually the "geeky" media immersion teacher at Degrassi. He was Archie Simpson, and he had known Emma's mother since high school. But it felt weird being his stepdaughter, and it was a shock to her when she discovered that her mother was in love with Mr. Simpson-the geeky media immersion teacher. But she grew accustomed to having him as a stepfather, and soon it was no longer a curse, but a blessing.

"No. I told him that I needed a little extra time on that project I was doing. Could you give me a ride?"

"Sure Em, but… you might be a little late." He mother was still tired, but obviously awake enough to give a ride."

"It's okay, I can be late every once in a while…" Emma smiled

When Emma had gotten to school, the bell had already rung and she was about thirty minutes late. She went up to the attendance desk to ask for a late slip. The lady at the desk excused her because this was her first time being late this year.

While her late slip was being written out, the school principal-Mr. Raditch-and one of the school's secretaries were walking down the hall, and Emma could overhear their conversation.

"Someone has got to lock up these computers, though." Mr. Raditch didn't sound pleased.

"Well maybe if more teachers locked their doors…" the school secretary began to say.

"Yeah, but who's going to remember to do that?"

They stopped talking as they passed Emma. Her late slip was handed to her. But when Mr. Raditch and the secretary were a few steps away, she started walking slowly, and they were not aware that she could still hear them talking.

"Isn't it odd, though, that somebody would be looking at porn in Kwan's room?" He paused for a second, and then continued. "I mean, there's only one computer in there, but I saw repeated e-mails claiming that it came from her classroom.

"Well, maybe it's a possibility that she's been… you know…"

Emma walked far enough down the hallway to where she couldn't hear them. She shook her head, knowing that she was right about the way the world was today

She entered the classroom. Her stepfather was there at his desk, typing, an the rest of her class was at their desks, quietly talking and sending each other IM's. She went up to her stepfather's desk and gave him the late slip without saying anything and sat down in her seat.

She began working on the assignment that Mr. Simpson assigned the class yesterday. She hated media immersion, although she did very well in it, and thought that she could be doing better things with her time (although she didn't dare tell her stepfather.)

After about ten minutes, she got an IM.

Hey sexy.

She didn't know what to reply. It was mildly offensive to her in a way, but in another way it wasn't. She thought, and then she typed in the only thing that she could think of to reply.

Who is this?

Emma looked around the room. No one seemed to be looking at her…

Someone who thinks you're hot.

Emma was disgusted and closed the page. She couldn't believe that happened to her. She quickly decided that it wasn't going to ruin her day, and she resumed Mr. Simpson's assignment.

"…But…" she thought, after a moment, "Someone likes the way I look." She couldn't deny that what had just happened made her feel…attractive.

She shook her head quickly and forced herself to resume her assignment.

Last night Ms. Kwan had resolved not to let yesterday's incident upset her anymore. She knew that becoming upset led her no where, and ever since her husband's death she had been struggling for the strength to deal with life's occasional struggles. She had enough struggles being alone, and she noticed that she hadn't been doing much anymore. She found herself bored a lot, and she knew that there might be something she could do about that, but she told herself that she didn't want to for some reason. It was like ever since her husband died, life became a death sentence. She knew… she knew that death would come to her too. And she didn't know when, or how. And she knew that she would be alone until that time came.

Ms. Kwan had never considered suicide. And she told herself that she would never resort to that. Life still held something…

She looked up from Liberty's Julius Caesar report at her class to make sure that no one was disrupting the peace and tranquility that had overcome the room. Ms. Kwan hated loud, obnoxious people.

Nobody was bothering anyone. She saw a couple people sleeping, but after yesterday, she decided not to pick a fight with anyone.

She looked back down at Liberty's paper. "I don't know why I even bother reading through her reports," Ms. Kwan thought to herself. "They're always so well done that I'm probably wasting my time."

Suddenly, the classroom door swung open. Ms. Kwan and the rest of her class looked up to see who was there. It was Mr. Raditch.

"Ms. Kwan, can I please speak with you?" He didn't look any different than he usually did.

"Sure." Ms. Kwan assumed that this was about something unimportant. Usually anything that Mr. Raditch said was unimportant to anyone who listened. She exited the room and closed the door. She looked at Mr. Raditch.

"I need to talk to you about something that I discovered the other day."