A/N: Ok, I really hope that this chapter clears up any confusion about the list, or whatever. Also, it's not a short one either! Yes! Um, please continue to read and review, and do tell me if you are still confused. Please.

Disclaimer: (I keep forgetting to put this in.) I do not own the characters mentioned henceforth, except Sam.

The dust floated upwards in great plumes, and Manny coughed hoarsely. She could barely see through the gloom of the late night attic air. She shook her flashlight, as if that would make it shine brighter, and pulled up the next box.

She had been searching through the boxes in the farthest corner of the attic for over an hour, and still she hadn't found what she was looking for. This is why moving into a pre-made family wasn't the greatest. She had had to take up only the leftover space, and to tell you the truth, there wasn't much of it.

So all of her precious memories lay stacked in moldy boxes in the very back of the attic; past the boxes of winter clothes for the kids, past Sam's old bowling trophies, past the four or five boxes that contained keepsakes his ex-wife had left for the kids, past all that, lay Manny's treasure.

She had started off happily laughing at the memories stored in these boxes: old pictures she drew, old pictures she was in, kindergarten finger paintings, the whole works. Her mother had been big on saving everything. But, she had been here for a long time and it was now 2:30 in the morning.

She sighed and ran a hand through her beautiful black hair. She could have asked Sam to help her. He would have been all too willing to sit with her in the dark must of the attic's lonely keep, and sort through her former life with her. If only she had asked him, she would be doing this at a reasonable hour, and she wouldn't be so frustrated.

She hadn't, though. She had been selfish, and she wasn't ready to share this big thing with him yet. She wasn't sure she even wanted to at all. She tried to tell herself it was normal, that he wouldn't care about a high school time capsule anyway, but that didn't really work. There was something about this secret; something that said it would be told, but it must be told right.

So she had rolled softly out of bed, and snuck down the hall, into the kitchen. She had lain awake all night thinking about it, and she had decided to wait until everyone was gone the next morning, but something made her hop out of bed, pull her robe on, and quietly tip toe down the hallway. She slowly pulled the fold down steps out of the ceiling, and lightly scampered up the stairs.

She felt like Cat Woman, sneaking around her own house. She sort of liked the suspense. She had attempted to be quiet in the attic as well, but that really hadn't worked out. There were too many boxes in the way, and she found herself tripping. A lot.

But, she finally made it to the back of the attic, and she sat down in a puff of dust in front of the boxes labeled: SANTOS, MANNY. Wasn't she clever as a child? Then, she had thought it was funny to label her boxes like that. Now? Now, it seemed all too fitting.

Santos, Manny. The woman of the house. The wife. The step mom. The ultimate accessory. She felt like these boxes; added to this attic to make it complete. Just like she was added to this family to make it more complete.

She shook those thoughts out of her head and went back to work. She just wanted to find the box with her old high school year books in it. She wanted to look through them; see if she could figure out who the last person was.

If only she could find the damn box! She had searched at least twelve, and still no luck. The only thing that kept her here searching now was the simple desire to be right. She wanted to be right.

Emma.

She wanted to be right. She thought about the idea for this time capsule, and she smiled.

It had been her idea. The whole thing was Manny's idea. Oh, how she was proud of it. She had thought about it carefully for three weeks before even broaching the idea to Emma, her best friend. The one who always did everything right. The one who always organized something and always did it perfectly.

And Manny wasn't even spiteful with her idea. Well, not really. She loved Emma, she really did. She just wanted to show everyone that she, too, could organize and pull off something spectacular. So she thought and she thought about a Degrassi time capsule. She considered it piece by piece.

She looked things up on the internet; she even read a few books about time capsules. She looked into prices, and she looked into places to bury it. She looked at the actual capsules. She decided that she didn't want to tell the school about her idea. Because, then, wouldn't the actual carrying out of the idea be taken from her? She didn't want to lose any of the credit.

She kind of felt bad for being so selfish, but she couldn't seem to help it. This was her golden idea, after all, and she wasn't going to waste it. And if she wasn't going to give the idea to the school, well then, it was her show, and her rules.

She really like the idea of it being exclusive. She wanted it to be special. (Ok, really she wanted to keep the cost of the whole thing down, and the fewer people involved the smaller the actual capsule could be, thus, saving much needed money.) But, she told everyone involved that it was exclusive.

And she wanted the number of people to be under ten. Then she could buy the small capsule from the wonderful website she had found.

So, she picked her lucky number, 8.

So, now she had all the specifics worked out, and she thought it was time to tell Emma, who was totally supportive, and on board with the whole idea. She sort of even liked the exclusive part, even though she didn't openly admit it. But, from the start, Emma had tried to be a little too involved for Manny's liking.

It wasn't that she didn't want Emma's help, it was that she didn't want anyone to think this was Emma's project. So Manny had pushed Emma out of the main picture, and Emma had accepted that. She really had. She had let Manny take the complete lead, and hadn't even resented it.

But, now, twenty years later, Manny didn't want to be wrong. Especially after the last time she was wrong in front of Emma. This idea was her baby. She couldn't fail in the least.

So that was the other reason she was here in the middle of the night. She would need to call and remind everyone about the time capsule. That was her job, as the leader. But first? First, she needed the last name.

And she really didn't want to have to ask Emma for it.

"Yes!" she shrieked rather loudly. She coughed, and held her breath for a moment. No one seemed to have heard her. She clutched the book to her chest and twisted back and forth with relief. She had found it!

She leaned back against another box, and propped the flash light against her hip. She peeled the book open slowly, and turned the pages eagerly. She flipped to her grade, and glanced over the faces of her former class mates.

She didn't see anyone that rang a bell. Of course, anyone who she didn't already know was involved. She tried not to get nervous, and flipped the pages to the grade ahead of her.

Her eyes scanned the rows quickly, and they tripped over a few faces.

Paige... yeah, she was a part of it…Spinner…no…Hazel…no…Jimmy…no…Ashley…ha, no…Ellie…yeah, actually.

She smiled faintly as she thought back to how that had happened.

Manny walked quickly down the stairs, she was late for English, and she wasn't watching where she was going.

"Ouch! Hey! Watch where you're going, would you?" Ellie snapped at her. She looked flustered, and her eyes were rimmed in red. Manny did a double take; she looked like she had been crying. Ellie, crying? Psh.

"Sorry." Manny muttered and stared at her shoes. "Shouldn't you be in class?" She asked, trying to act like she hadn't seen Ellie's face.

"Yeah, and so should you. I don't feel like going, though." Manny looked at her skeptically. "I'm cutting, Manny." Manny's gaze was immediately drawn to Ellie's arms, and she, again, turned red in the face. "Cute, Manny. Not that kid of cutting. I don't do that anymore."

"Yeah." Manny felt awkward. So, of course, a part of her brain that she would love to have lobotomized kicked in, and her mouth opened. "Can I come to?" Oh, yes. Perfect Manny, make it more awkward. Great job, she thought to herself.

Ellie stared at her like she was an alien. Why was Manny Santos asking to hang out with her? Was she on drugs? No, she didn't seem like that type. She was the type to steal a person's boyfriend…

Manny seemed to know exactly what was going through Ellie's mind, because she turned red again, and looked at her shoes. "Never mind. See you later Ellie."

Ellie watched her start to walk away, and she didn't know why, but she called out.

"No, wait. Whatever, Manny. You can come."

So, Manny had gone. She and Ellie had snuck out of the back door, and talked behind the cafeteria through 5th period. Something had happened between them, because Ellie told Manny she was crying over Sean, (She made Manny swear on her life that she wouldn't ever say anything about Ellie crying over a guy,) and Manny told her about her time capsule idea. Ellie had looked moderately interested, so Manny invited her to join in. Ellie had actually said yes.

She shook her head yet again, and ran her finger down the row.

No…no…no…no…no…oh my God.

She knew who number eight was.

It was him.