Disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi or any of the characters in this fiction.
Author's note: Thank you for the reviews. Last chapter was a little bit of a cliffhanger ending, wasn't it? From this point on, I'm putting in a spoiler warning, as I believe I'll be mentioning some minor things that happened at the end of season 4. But, I don't think you'll really be able to tell the difference between what happened at the end of the season and what I made up, so the spoiler warning is really very minor. Thanks for reading, thanks for reviews! Reviews and constructive criticism are always welcome! Thank you! Idontknowanything
Chapter 3: The Bad Boy's Back
Jay Hogart was back, and nobody was as surprised about his return to Degrassi as he was. He had never expected to be allowed to return to this school ever again. But he had taken a chance, and asked Ms. Hazilakos for the same deal she gave Spinner. Maintaining a C average in summer school was no big deal, as Jay had always been able to do that in school without even trying. He sometimes wondered what his grades would be like if he actually made an effort to do all his homework like all those geeks. He'd lost count of how many times he had ignored the "if you only applied yourself to something other than making trouble" speeches.
Unfortunately, he didn't have the luxury to ignore any speeches now. One strike and he was out of school – for good. And as much as he would have liked to blow this whole school thing off – it was his future. He was smart enough to know where he would end up without a high school education. Hell, he could even end up there now, if he wasn't careful. And he didn't want to end up in prison, like his dad. He never wanted to end up like his dad.
So Jay had decided that if there was one thing worth begging for, it was his future. He had begged Ms. Hazilakos for another chance, and surprisingly, she had given him one. Jay knew he had gotten lucky, there. If good old Radditch was still in charge, Jay wouldn't have even been allowed in the office. But Ms. Hazilakos was one of those rare people who seemed to think that there was a little good in every student, even a bad seed like him.
As Jay sat in a chair outside the principal's office, he mentally kicked himself for being so early. Spinner was no where to be seen, so it was Jay alone who was subjected to the glares of the straggling line of early incoming students as they walked past the office window and saw Jay sitting in his favorite chair. They were all hypocrites, all of them. The same people who had laughed hysterically as Rick stood on the stage covered in yellow paint and feathers were now giving him outraged glares for the stunt.
"As is any of them wouldn't have done it themselves if they had thought of it." Jay thought to himself, as he gave a group of gossiping grade 10 girls who were glaring and whispering at him outside the office window one of his best "don't mess with me" looks.
"Jay Hogart, Ms. Hazilakos is ready for you now." Mrs. Perry, the secretary said, after talking on her phone for a moment.
Jay got up from the chair he had affectionately claimed as his own when he started coming to school at Degrassi, and walked into the office he had spent a lot of time in. Ms. Hazilakos was sitting in her chair behind her desk, and motioned for him to sit across from her. He noticed that Ms. Hazilakos had gotten some more comfortable chairs in there than Radditch had. As Jay sat down in the cushioned chair, he sort of missed the old, rickety wooden chair that he had used to sit in ignoring Radditch's lectures. But as he sprawled out in the new chair, and discovered it didn't dig into his back the way Radditch's had, he sort of figured he could get used to this new chair that came along with a new principal. And as he looked across the desk at Ms. Hazilakos, he definitely thought he could get used to the new view.
"Hello, Jason. I'm honestly going to say I'm surprised to see you here." She said.
Jay restrained himself from making one of his usual smart-ass comments, and just sat silently. But he really wanted to say something back to her. He really, really wanted to.
Ms. Hazilakos looked at Jay silently for a moment. Jay felt like she was looking through him and somehow knew the kind of comeback comments that were on the tip of his tongue. When Jay didn't say anything, Ms. Hazilakos smiled, and then she spoke.
"There are some conditions to your being allowed to come back to school, which I discussed with you and Spinner last summer. Should I go over them again?" she asked.
She was interrupted by the phone ringing. She picked it up and answered it. "Yes, send him in Lisa." She said.
Almost immediately, the door opened to reveal Spinner.
"Hello Gavin. You're late." She said.
"Sorry, Ms. Hazilakos. My mom made me drive my sister to school today, and I had to wait for her." He said.
"That's fine, Spinner. Sit please." Ms. Hazilakos said, as she motioned toward the chair beside Jay.
"As I was saying to Jason, your re-admittance is conditional. You have both met the summer school requirements. Now, I am going to take you to your mentor teacher in a few minutes. Your mentor teacher will be meeting with you once a week to go over your grades and attendance records to help make sure you are attending all your classes" -- at this point she looked pointedly at Jay, slouching in his chair — " meeting your C average grade requirement" – with this statement she looked a Spinner for a couple of seconds – "and staying out of trouble." She said, as she looked back and forth between both of the boys.
"Who is going to be our mentor teacher?" Spinner asked. Jay could almost see Spinner thinking "Not Kwan, not Kwan" repeatedly. Jay started to hope it was Kwan for the amusement factor. After all, no matter what teacher it was, it was guaranteed that Jay had said something to offend him or her, so he really didn't care who it was, and it would definitely be more interesting if it was a teacher that Spinner didn't get along with either.
"Mr. Simpson has volunteered to be you mentor teacher. It works out well, as he is your homeroom teacher also, and can be available to you during that time as well as after school." Ms. Hazilakos said.
When Ms. Hazilakos said the name of the mentor teacher, he felt his hope for an actual future slip through his fingers. After all, Mr. Simpson had to hate him, which meant Mr. Simpson would probably be actively looking for anyway possible to get him out of the school, and away from innocent girls like his precious daughter or step daughter or whatever she was to him. Jay should have known something like this would happen. Jay had taken a huge chance in asking to come back and agreeing to Ms. Hazilakos terms. But he had to take a chance for his future. But one thing he had learned long ago – when you take a chance, life screws you over every time.