Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi: TNG or any of the characters mentioned henceforth, except Andy and the teacher.
Dedicated: To my brother, because what happened to him this weekend should never happen to anyone; not even Paige.
Paige Michalchuk stood outside of the gray building fingering her visitor's pass.
"Now or never, Hun." She said softly to herself. She strode quickly up the stone steps, and pushed the heavy doors open.
The eyes of every student in the hall were focused on her. Normally she would have thought this was a good thing, but not today.
Why did I let Terri talk me into this? She thought frantically to herself. I mean, I miss her tons, but is this worth the stares?
She shook her head, and with a mental knock to the head walked briskly over to a pretty girl with red hair.
"Yes?" the red-head said snottily. Paige itched to put the girl in her place, but she remembered that she was at a new school for the day, and she wasn't the most popular girl. She pasted her tackiest smile on and tilted her head to one side.
"Oh, I just need directions to Terri McGreggor's locker." She batted her lashes and tossed her hair.
The girl looked at her with contempt. "Funny, Barbie. Thank God you'll only be here for the day." She pointed to the visitor's pass hanging from around Paige's neck. "We don't need anymore air heads cluttering up our halls."
Ha-ha, Sweetie. Watch it. Paige thought longingly of throwing the girl down the stairs, but instead tossed her hair again. Don't want an air head, eh? Well, sorry sweetie. That's what you've got for the day.
"Well?" She asked with just as much snottiness.
"Paige? Oh my gosh!" Paige spun around to see Terri rushing towards her. She was engulfed in a hug, but she still managed to hear the whispered words of the red head behind her.
"Why don't you ask her yourself, Blondie?" Paige grimaced but didn't reply.
"So, I guess you met Andy?" Paige glanced at the red head, who smiled with contempt.
"So this is Andy, the best bud you've told me all about?" She just managed to keep the shock out of her voice; just barely.
"Yes, isn't she sweet?" Terri smiled and walked over to Andy, and slung an arm around her shoulders.
"Oh yes, she could give you a tooth ache." Paige said with a false smile.
Terri laughed happily, and sighed as the bell rang. "Paige you're in my homeroom. Come on."
They walked up two flights of stairs and sat down in a room with only about ten other students. Paige looked around, wonderingly.
"Are all your classes this small?" she counted the students in the room; yes, twelve including herself and Terri.
"Yeh, pretty much, It's great for homework help." Terri said with a glance at the teacher. Paige glanced around and noticed something. How had she not seen this before?
"Uniforms, Ter? Are you kidding me?" Paige looked scandalized at the drab that adorned the students here.
"Yeh, but they're not that bad, really."
"Sure." Paige said incredulously. "Hey! Where are the guys anyway?" noticing for the first time that there were no boys in this class, and come to think off it, none in the hall earlier.
"It's an all girls' school." Terri said with a short laugh. Paige turned to her with a sour look on her face.
"So you mean, all you do is learning here? No fun at all?" Terri opened her mouth, but the teacher yelled for quiet, took roll, and dismissed the class. Terri and Paige couldn't hear each other in the hallway, and in the first class of the day things weren't good either.
"What happened to 'pretty much empty'?" Paige asked with a glance around the room. Every desk was taken, except one. One next to a very smug looking red head named Andy.
"Oh, well this is the Civics course. There's just this one, so it's always full. Sorry, I forgot about this one." Terri looked at Paige sheepishly. "The teacher's pretty strict; we've got assigned seats. I've got to sit over there." She pointed to the seat next to Andy, who waved sarcastically at Paige. I can't stand that girl, and I've only known her for ten minutes. She turned to Terri and opened her mouth, but the teacher had walked in.
"Seats! You can chat with Ms…." She glanced at a memo in her hand, "Michalchuk later." Terri looked embarrassed. She shrugged at Paige, and took her seat. "Michalchuk, pull a chair up over there," she pointed to the opposite corner of the room. Paige sighed and did as she was told. "Class, I'm going to remind you that the Honors English class is testing on the third floor. So all E Floor classes will be doubled. If you've got a class tomorrow, you'll take it same hour today." The class nodded, and Terri shot Paige a look. What does that mean? She wondered and sat down.
She didn't have much time to think about it though; the teacher began speaking and never stopped. The end of the period came, and Paige trasped after Andy and Terri to a class, that was, surprise, packed to the ceiling with students. Again Paige sat away from Terri and Andy, always together, and wondered to herself why Terri had even invited her here. They had spoken about 15 words to each other all day.
Then lunch came. Paige was relieved to find out that there was room at Terri's table for her, and that Terri had made sure to show her where the line started, ended, and where to put your utensils and garbage, and the door to the bathroom. All very helpful, and Paige filed it away for future reference.
The meal started off bad and ended worse. Andy shot Paige dirty looks the whole time. Then came the blonde jokes. Paige wondered why Terri wasn't stepping in; she was a blonde too. But Terri never stepped in. Andy's jokes got crueler and crueler, and Paige got angrier and angrier. What is this girl's problem? She thought to herself. I really don't care what she thinks, but why isn't Terri saying anything? She picked at her food, and didn't eat much. Andy cracked a rude joke about how she was too worried about being skinny to eat, and Paige wanted to scream. Terri stood up, and dashed over to the condiment stand, filling up on ketchup, mustard, horseradish sauce, and too many other things. Paige whipped to face Andy.
"What is your problem?" She whispered furiously.
"You. Terri doesn't need you. She tells me all the time about all your little escapades. All the crap you do to people. She doesn't need a friend like you. She has friends like me now." Paige looked at her scornfully.
"You're jealous? Wow, I should have seen that coming. I know I'm wonderful and all but grow up." Paige said with all the arrogance she could muster. She just wanted to go back to Degrassi.
Andy's eyes flashed. "Why would I be jealous of a slut who goes to a party half dressed and gets herself raped?" she said spitefully. Paige blinked. How could Terri tell her about that?
Terri was standing behind Andy; she heard what had been said. She dropped the condiments. Paige stood up; tears glistened in her eyes. Andy stood up as well; she looked at Paige and then faced Terri.
"Ter? How could you?" Paige whispered; broken. Andy smiled. Paige's tears fell. Terri opened her mouth, but no words came out. "Ter?" Paige asked again; asked her to choose; asked her to stand up for her; Andy or Paige?
"Terri, it's like this: Four years of high school, will you spend them alone with her?" Andy pointed at Paige. "Or with a friend, me?" Terri blinked, and Paige nodded through her tears. So it's like that. I guess I knew it would come back and bite me in the ass. She grabbed her purse. Terri still hadn't spoken. Paige looked her in the eye, and smiled a sad grimace.
"Bye, Ter." She took the choice away from her. Paige exited through the side door, and walked over to her car. She breathed heavily and opened the door slowly. She sat in the driver's seat, and leaned against the steering wheel. She waited for five minutes; gave Terri that time to come after her. No one came. She started the engine and drove back to Degrassi, leaving her tears in the wind between the schools, the friends, the lives.