Disclaimer: I dont own Degrassi.
I lay in bed that morning, waiting for my alarm to go off. The first day of tenth grade was about to start. I turned my head to look out the window, through the trees she saw the blue sky shone and that the green leaves were as vibrant as ever. Soon the clock struck seven and music blared from the radio. I smiled and hit the alarm, almost jumping out of bed. I got ready and put on a dark green polo shirt and jeans. I looked in the mirror, my long auburn hair was tied into a half pony tail. My emerald eyes matched the dark green of my shirt and my teeth were brushed. I grinned at the reflection, grabbed my bag and headed downstairs. The kitchen was eerily quiet, my father was a pilot so he was at work and my mother had probably just left, taking the twins to day school. Only Ryan sat at the counter, munching on a pop tart and reading the sports page. I walked to the other side of the counter and poured myself a glass of orange juice.
"Hockey is on strike you know." I said to him smirking, he looked up and glared at me.
"Don't you have something to do?" He asked glaring at me then looking back down at the paper. Ryan was a grade ahead of me. He was on the hockey team and somewhat of a sports nut.
"Actually, I don't," I said sliding into the stool next to him. "Craig and Ash are going to come here then we are going to walk to school. So I thought I would spend some quality time with my brother." I said.
"Oh isn't this a dear diary moment, sibling bonding." He said, not looking up.
"It definitely is," I said grabbing a piece of toast our mother left out. I ate it as I pulled out a book and we sat in silence. Then the back door opened and Ash and Craig walked in hand in hand. They were both grinning, I smiled back. My best fried Ashley had been through some hard times and I'm glad she found someone who understood her. Craig was so nice to her, he wasn't a bad catch either, very handsome. He had the whole rocker thing going on. Brown hair with deep brown eyes and a leather jacket on. He was very good at photography and even had a band with his friends.
"Oh look its Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, Excuse me if you will." My brother said as he slid off his stool and headed out the door.
"Good to see you too, Ryan," Ashley called after him. She turned to me, "He got back from hockey camp, I gather?" She said.
"Unfortunately, he has been like this all week. My guess is he's on steroids." I said standing up. "Hi Craig," I added warmly. We headed out the door and I looked once more at Ash grinning at something he said, I smiled again. Last year Ash had gone a little Goth. She didn't know who she was, after that incident with drugs in 8th grade all our old friends ditched her. It was really very shallow of them, if they were really her friends they would understand that that wasn't Ash, it was the drug. Ashley and I had been friends since before I could remember, and I wasn't going to ditch her for something like that. Apparently Paige was, but I didn't think that highly of her. We all made small talk as we approached the steps of Degrassi Community School. I stood looking at it.
"Lindsay stalks her prey." Craig said. I looked back at him and laughed. I was a straight A student, always have been. I always thought that grades were something you could control, and stability and control was good. Being the perfect student was something you could decide and maintain. That drive got my mind off other things. We went to the office and got our schedules and went to the steps and examined them.
"I have two classes with Craig," I announced.
"You're taking Shop?!" Ashley exclaimed. I nodded, I took Shop because it was a class no one expected me to pass. I was too girly, too scholastic to ever be able to fix a carborator and I wanted to prove those skeptics wrong. I explained all this to Ashley and she nodded knowingly.
"Ah yes, feminism all the way!" She said. "And we have three classes together so all is well." She added.
"All is well indeed." I agreed.
"Hey Craig," A voice said, all three of us turned and looked around. There was Manny Santos, at least I think it was. She was dressed in a very provocative tube top and low cut matching sweat pants. She looked at Craig, apparently trying to look seductive. I turned to Ashley and she looked as stunned as I.
"Uh, hey Manny." Craig said "You look…different." He added. I fought the impulse to laugh.
"Thanks." She said walking off. A disgruntled Emma followed.
"Holy Jesus," Ashley said laughing. "She certainly turned on the Britney Spears."
"Britney Spears Federline," I corrected.
"Manny Santos, that was weird." Craig stated. He shook his head and changed the subject.
"Oh look, its Lindsay Brandon. Every teacher's wet dream." A voice said, a very distinctive voice. I balled my hand into a fist and took a deep breath.
"Ignore him," Ash whispered. I turned around to see Jay and his band of junkies. Jason Hogart, better known as Jay. The resident criminal at Degrassi, he smirked at me. He wore black pants, a black shirt and a black jacket. A silver necklace hung around his neck, no doubt stolen.
"Don't you have a church to desecrate or something?" I asked him. Anger flashed in his eyes.
"Brandon, maybe you should go hurry along and study, maybe it will give you an orgasm." He said, his gang laughed as they strode away. I narrowed my eyes.
"That gang of delinquents should be expelled." I said turning to Craig and Ash.
Ash shook her head. "Jay Hogart, the only person Lindz hates," Ashley explained to Craig. Craig nodded knowingly.
"He started it," I grumbled.
"Back in first grade Jay pulled a wad of her hair out on the playground. Lindsay hasn't quite forgiven him." Ash said to Craig, who laughed.
"It's not funny!" I protested "That hurt, and he laughed afterwards. Anyway, he is a disgrace to this school and just plain rude." I said as the bell rung.
My day went by quickly. The same old, beginning of school lecture on making good first impressions and such. My last class was shop and I had to say I was a little worried about it, no doubt I would get teased horrendously but I had to prove this. Not only to all of them, but to myself. As I entered the garage-like classroom that shop was held in I spotted Jay right away. I groaned as I leaned against the wall.
"I believe you have the wrong classroom," The teacher said coming up to me. He was an old man, and his eyes wee skeptical.
"No, I have the right class." I said handing him my schedule. I looked around to see the only other girl was Amy which wasn't much of a comfort.
"Well I think you should go get a different class because this one obviously doesn't fit you." The teacher said. I stared him down.
"I don't believe you know what would fit me and what wouldn't." I said.
"Well just know sugar, that this will be a dose of real life for you. Oh and you wont want to wear that in here." The teacher sneered. I glared at him, real life, I walked towards the back, I usually liked to sit in the front or the middle but I didn't want to be noticed in this class.
"Study girl in shop! Blasphemy." Jay called, I groaned, I was in no mood to deal with Jay. I stayed silent and the bell rung. Class began, the teacher dragged on about expectations then gave a brief intro to cars. About 15 feet to my right Jay stood, he was staring down a boy considerably shorter than him but looked just as tough. Sean Cameron, the boy who came in 7th grade, he deafened a boy in the ear at his old school. He was my age but was held back. I knew he was dating Emma Nelson which was a shocker because they were very different. Their voices got louder and Sean though a punch, soon a full fledged fight had broken out. I stared at them, then the teacher came up beside me.
"This is life for you, girlie." The teacher said then stomped over to the two and held them by the collar, whispering something to them and then pushed them out the door. He brushed his shirt off and then class returned to normal. Once the bell rung I caught up with Ash.
"So wait a fight broke out during Shop?" She said as we walked out the front doors.
"Yeah between Jay and that guy, Emma Nelson's boyfriend Sean Cameron."
"Yeah I know him; I wonder what it was all about." Ashley said. Outside there was a huge rally going on, probably one of Emma's environmental clean up deals. As we walked by the rally out of the corner of my eye I saw Jay next to his red Honda civic and Sean fixing it, they actually looked some-what like friends. I pointed this out to Ashley.
"Lovers quarrel maybe?" Ashley suggested. I laughed.
"Probably," I said, Craig then caught up along side Ashley and kissed the side of her head. She grinned and we headed to The Dot.
"Hey Ash," Ellie said, catching up to us. Ellie was another one of our friends, she was really nice. She was kind of Gothic and had red hair like mine except a little more red than orange.
"Hey El," She said happily. We grabbed a table at The Dot, a new little café close to school. Spinner worked here so everyone got pretty good prices. They also had really good coffee.
"Hey Lindsay, Craig." Spinner said as we sat down. Spinner had never quite admired Ashley, to him Ashley ruined his best friend's life in 8th grade and now she had taken Craig too.
"Hey Spin," Craig said, I nodded.
"What will you guys have," Spinner said taking out a little pad and a pen from behind his ear.
"White Chocolate Mocha," I said smiling.
"My personal favorite," He commented scrawling the order down.
"Mocha Frap," Ashley said, "Make that two." Ellie added.
"I'll just have tea." Craig said. Spinner shook his head grinning.
"That's a sissy drink, Manning." He said walking off.
"He's right." I said.
"Oh shut up," Craig said laughing.
After a while I started the trek home. I didn't live far from school, only a few blocks. We lived in a cozy brick house on Bordeaux Square. Just off Degrassi Lane. It was two stories with a huge oak out front. I walked in. The twins were in the den watching television.
"Lindsay!" Rachel yelled standing up on the couch. She had red hair and twice as many freckles as I did. They were seven and were the most hyper kids I have ever rested eyes on.
"Hey brat face," Sam said not facing away from the television.
"That wasn't nice, Sammy." Rachel said turning to him. Soon they got into an argument and I tiptoed out of the den and up the stairs into my room. It was bright, lots of windows that faced the big oak. The double bed was under two windows and across from a cabinet that held a television and movies. To the right of the bed was my desk with a computer and pens, pencils and papers. All very organized, then there was a bookcase. Filled with novels such as Harry Potter and The Da Vinci Code. In alphabetical order. I didn't have any homework so I checked my e-mail then watched a movie.
"Not doing homework?" Ryan said from the doorway. I looked up at him.
"Yes?" I inquired.
"Mom and Dad are calling a 'family meeting'." He said. I groaned and got up. Mom and Dad were sort of hippies. They were sort of stuck in the 60s. They tried to raise us vegetarian with no TV but Ryan quickly changed the vegetarian fact (he flung brussel sprouts at my mothers face when she tried to feed it to him as a baby) and the twins changed the TV rule. (It was the only thing that would calm them down.) Even before we got a TV, Ryan and I would sneak out to watch TV rouge at a friend's house. They even worked for a non-profit agency that was called Save Africa. Basically it helped create wildlife reserves and help Africa. So these family meetings were all a big hippie conquest. I walked downstairs to find mom and dad sitting on the couch, the twins were next to him.
"Lindsay, how was school?" My mother asked as I sat in the arm chair.
"It was good, thanks." I said raising an eyebrow.
"Ah," My father said pushing his glasses up on his nose. "You want to know why we called this meeting." He said. We all nodded slowly.
"The agency asked your father and I to make a trip to Kenya to open up a new preserve." My mother said proudly, her brown eyes shining.
"How long?" Ryan asked the question that was in everyone's mind.
"Well…9 months," My mom started slowly. My eyes widened, nine months?
"What about the twins, what about Ryan and I." I asked exasperated.
"Well your aunt has agreed to take on the twins." My father said.
"My prayers go out to them," Ryan muttered.
"Hey!" Rachel said to him.
"What about Ryan and I?" I asked.
"Well you two, we feel, are old and enough." My father started.
"And very responsible," My mother chimed in.
"Yes, you being 15 and Ryan being almost 17 I think you two can hold down the fort." Dad continued. I looked at each of them, they were smiling. Then I looked at Ryan, who although he wasn't smiling he sure looked like he was about to when they left.
"Dad, I definitely believe that I can take care of Lindsay and the house." He said in a dignified voice.
"That's good, honey." My mother said getting up to hug him. Over her shoulder I saw the twinkle in his eye. Mom and Dad are left the next morning. It was a little unnerving that they didn't tell us earlier; when I pointed this out they said that they had just found out themselves. I bit my lip, this would be a different year, for sure.