Chapter Three: It'll Be Alright

"And she totally got out of it." Manny explained to Stephanie, who was now her best friend since Emma, Liberty, and JT had turned their backs on her after what happened between her and Craig.

"Are you serious? Scandalous." Stephanie responded, instantly interested on how anyone could put one over on Raddich.

"No, it's not Stephanie. She had everyone where she wanted them, even Craig. If she decides that she wants Craig, she's practically got him already." Manny continued.

"I think you're over-reacting. No one could win over Craig in a couple of hours." Stephanie responded, dabbing a little red lipstick on her lips and stopping in her tracks. There was the new girl at their table. "What is she doing there?" Manny shrugged almost as if Claire suddenly wasn't important.

"So what are you going to do about this?" Stephanie nagged as she followed Manny who was walking closer and closer towards Paige, Craig, Spinner, and all the others.

"I'm making it up as I go." Manny paused at the table as seemingly everyone in the entire cafeteria turned around to see what was going to happen next. "Nice to see that I can still command an audience." She joked, sitting down beside Hazel who made room for her.

"What are you doing Manny?" Paige chimed in, unable to keep her thoughts to herself.

"The same as you." Manny tossed her hair over her shoulder as Stephanie sat down on the opposite side, next to Claire.

"You can't just pretend like nothing happened." Paige persisted.

"I'm not pretending anything. Don't make things anymore awkward and difficult than they need to be. I'm just trying to live a normal life here."

"Can't you go somewhere else?" Craig grumbled, hating being caught between Ashley and Manny again.

"If you have something to say to me, we can talk about it." She offered, trying not to let herself be hurt by the harshness of Craig's tone.

"Let's go then."

"Now?" Manny asked as he nodded and she followed him, along with the stares of the entire student body. Whatever happened between them was going to go public, and fast.

"That was entertaining." Claire mumbled to herself, loving the drama, but not liking that everything wasn't surrounded by her.

"What do you know?" Ashley grumbled back, not liking the fact that people were getting pleasure out of her pain. "You have no idea what havoc she reeked last year. It almost tore Craig and I apart."

"Really?" Claire began, trying to decide on whether to be sympathetic or say what she was really thinking. "There was a girl like that at my school once, but in the end, it all came back to her. Things got so bad that she had to move away." She finished, referring to how she and Kate had ruined Lizzie's life once she turned the entire student body against them. Too bad, Lizzie had no idea who she was messing with. Claire always got her way.

"You can let go of me now." Manny pulled her elbow away from Craig who had clenched her and didn't seem to want to let go.

"What were you thinking? Didn't what I said mean anything to you? It's over Manny. Done." Craig added. "After what you did, what did you expect?"

"I expected a chance to start over." Manny began. "I forgave what you did to me and it was done with." She continued, causing Craig to look down in shame. "Don't feel bad about it. It was my fault anyway and I know it'll never happen again." She touched his arm, trying to console him. Craig jumped back as if he had been shot.

"Please…"

"So, I can't even touch you now? It's not like what happened was a one-person thing. And I know it'll never happen again," even though I want it to so much, Manny added silently.

"We should keep our distance. People will start to talk and then we'll be back to square one."

"Is that what you want?"

"I guess." Craig whispered, not wanting to admit that he felt really guilty about Manny having to go into an asylum because he had led her into an obsession with him. "Yea." He added with the faintest whisper, so as to make Manny think she had imagined it was said.

"I'll see you around." Manny yelled after Craig, who looked like he was ready to run and look back. "You dropped your…" Her voice trailed off as she stopped and started to read the small flier that Craig had in his back pocket. A talent show. So, this was how she was going to change his mind and that of the entire Degrassi population. She was going to enter this talent show and be the most talked about thing. In a good way.

(A/N: I know I changed the point of this story, but if you're really interested in the original summary—about Manny going to Horizon, that story is called "You Left Me Alone" and it's under the 'Higher Ground' section of TV shows. Hope you like this one. Thank you so much for reviewing. I appreciate it andI hope that you enjoyed this part. Much love!! :) -NL )