Author's note: As I said in the previous chapter, Ashley still hates Craig with a passion as does Manny. This takes place in season 4. I don't own any characters, just Quinn Jacobson, Marie Jacobson, and Mr. & Mrs. Jacobson

Quinn had successfully survived her first day at Degrassi. She didn't go home with a bruised ego, but with a crush. A crush, on Craig Manning.

Quinn got to the parking lot, where she found her car. A 2000 black Mercedes Benz. It was her father's, but he gave it to Quinn for her 16th birthday

Just as she was unlocking the door, a girl, who looked to be about 15, 16, came up.

"Nice car"

"Thanks. I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but, um, who are you?" Quinn questioned her.

"I'm Manny Santos" That was the girl in the trashy clothes that she seen at lunch. Quinn was tempted to make fun of her, but didn't.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Quinn. I just transferred from Toronto academy of the arts…or Haig, as its nickname…"

"Really. So, are you into dance, cheer, gymnastics, or anything like that?"

"Nah. I play tennis. I'm really into music. But that's it"

"Alright, well, I've got to be going then. See you around"

"Yeah. See ya"

Manny walked back inside the school. She met up with someone inside.

She thought it was quite odd, that someone like that would just go up and introduce herself. She didn't worry about it though

Quinn got in her car just as someone came up. It was Craig.

"Hey. I don't have a pair of wheels, so can I grab a ride with you?"

"Yeah. Door's open"

"Man. I love this car. It's awesome. It's a freaking Mercedes Benz. How did you pay for all of this?"

"My dad gave it to me. For my 16th birthday. My parents, they're doctors…so…"

Craig instantly thought of something, his father. He knew how it was to have someone as a parent in the health field. He figured they weren't home very much. He didn't want to tell her about his past. He didn't know her. Not yet.

"Yeah. So, where do you live?"

"Just keep going straight. Turn at the light. Then you'll see a neighborhood with some houses. The red one is mine". As she drove, she wondered about him and his past. He must have grew up with rich parents, she thought

"So, you know how to play guitar, you look like you're into music."

"I am. I love music. I can challenge anyone on the drums. Not so much on guitar…" she trailed off.

A nervous look appeared on Craig's face. "So, um, if you, uh, ever want to learn, I can give you a couple of lessons. I'd like to think of myself as an expert" the nervousness disappeared, a cocky look appeared.

Was he trying to ask her out?

She smiled. "Yeah, that would be nice" She thought of something. What if I never have a chance like this come along, ever again? He is so nice. So darling. Anything she could ever want…

Craig continued "So, if you ever, um, you know, want to come over sometime, I could show you"

Quinn was sure a confused look had spread over her face. She didn't know what to say. She thought about it for a minute, and finally came up with a response.

"How about next Saturday?" she had surprised herself. She took the moment and ran along with it.

"Next Saturday it is" see you later.

Craig got out of the car.

"Bye"

He walked up to the steps and went inside the house.

Wow. Craig didn't know what to think. Did he like this girl? Or was just a middle school-like infatuation? He didn't know. Maybe, this time, it would actually work out. Maybe, he wouldn't screw this date up…

Ashley walked up the door to her house and instantly picked up the phone. She had a plan to distract Craig from Quinn. She threw her backpack on the floor. She needed to vent to the one person, no one would have thought. Manny. She couldn't believe what she was doing, but she had to. Her feelings were hurt and she was utterly depressed. She secretly wanted Craig back, but she would rather die than have anyone ever find this out.

"Hello"

"Um. Hey" Manny sounded surprised

"Can you believe that stupid bitch?" Ashley sounded livid.

Manny knew who she was talking about. Ashley had talked to her earlier today about the subject of Quinn Jacobson. Manny had thought she was nice, but she knew Craig and what he was going to do. She wanted to save this girl anyway she could.

"I know. She walks up to Degrassi like she owns the fucking place"

Manny had call waiting. Someone beeped in on her phone.

"Hey, ash, well, I have a beep, so I'll call you back later, about this, er, plan of yours?"

"Okay. That's great. Thanks Manny. You know how it is. Bye" she hung up

Sadly, she did know what she was talking about. Manny wanted to befriend this girl, but she had already gotten treated as if she were a rag-doll by Craig. And she had hurt Ashley. Bad.

The person who had called already hung up. She was guessing it was Emma. She didn't feel like talking to her right now, so she didn't call her back. Manny was with JT now, but she always secretly, still loved Craig. She had a part of him forever. As did he.

Quinn drove to her house. It was an architectural masterpiece, some may say. Quinn didn't like it. It was huge, at least 5600 square feet. The outside paint was a rich red, with blue shutters. There were tall oak trees, with beautiful shrubbery in the front yard along with some white rose bushes. The lawn, very neatly taken care of by the Latina gardener, Alysia. She was beautiful.Quinn often accused her father of having an affair with this women. Her mother had the house custom built. And it took a long 10 years to finish. Quinn had her room downstairs. Her parent's and sister's, upstairs. She could sneak out anytime she wanted, but didn't. She didn't want to disappoint her parents even more than she had.

Quinn entered the house. It was a long day. She decided to sneak to her room for some quiet time.

This room was an escape to her. She had oldies rock posters, like The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, and The Stones all over the place. Her tennis racket was in the corner, all alone. She didn't know whether Degrassi had a team or not, but she wouldn't have bothered signing up anyway. Her bed was huge. A king size bed that she often retreated to from late nights. The wall colors were a dark purple and dark grey. The carpet, a frenzy of red, blue, orange, purple, yellow, and green colors. She had a green Macintosh Laptop, which she thought was wonderful. In junior high, she often used the instant messenger of choice, AOL. But didn't anymore. Her drum set rested in the basement.

Someone had rang the doorbell. She got off of her bed and checked out was going on.

Quinn walked through her house. She had seen the many pictures of her family at from vacation. The one time her parents did pay attention to her. They all looked so happy in Cozumel. Quinn's father actually talked to her that day. Marie didn't look too pleased when her parent's took the kids to the beach retreat on the east coast of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin. Why had they went there, she didn't know. She remembered that, or at San Francisco. That one time in Jamaica, when her parent's got high. She laughed to herself. Good times she thought.

She ran up to her door. No one was there. Wow. This was strange. She walked away with romantic thoughts of Craig.

The first week flew by. She had a ton of homework in Calculus and Grade 11 English. She had loved English though. Strangely, Ashley had stopped hanging out with her. Ellie seemed pretty nice, so she stuck with her for the week. She had gotten to know Craig better. They talked constantly in between classes and homeroom about everything. They had a ton in common. Their love for Death Cab, Music, Potato chips, classic rock and cars had meshed very well together.

But, they both hid a terrible secret from each other. They didn't want to ruin the high they were on.

Quinn was getting ready in her bathroom. She called Craig up earlier that day to ask when she could come over. He told her about 9 and it was about 8:45 now. She had a vintage Beatles Concert T-Shirt on, and a jean skirt that went to her knees. She planned on driving over to Craig's house, where she would probably meet his parents and siblings.

As she was straightening her hair, her sister Marie walked by.

"So, Quinn, who's the date with?"

"Craig Manning" she didn't expect her to know who he was. She was in grade 8. Quinn didn't have a very good relationship with her sister. Marie was very preppy; she had washed out blonde hair, with an Ashlee Simpson imitation cut, and was very much into Britney Spears. Marie made friends very quickly. She was already part of the cutest couple in grade 8. Her boyfriend was Ivan McKinley. An Ashton Kutcher look-alike

"Are you serious? He is such a doll. I could start drooling now. His curly hair, his blue eyes…"

"And your four year age difference. Sorry, but he's mine. Not technically, but soon enough"

"Alright, alright. So, since you're going out, you mind if Ivan comes over?"

"I don't think so. Invite some of your friends I guess, who are they now? Barbie 1, Barbie 2, or Barbie 3?"

"Shut up Quinn"

God little sisters suck.

Marie walked away. They used to be best friends. Quinn didn't know what happened. When she turned 10, she changed.

"Alright, it's 8:50, I'll be there at nine, hopefully, nothing bad will happen?" she said to herself

Quinn put the makeup and the straightened away. She grabbed her jacket, walked out of the door and, she grabbed her keys on the way out.

Quinn arrived at Craig's house by 9:05. She was late, but hopefully he wouldn't mind. She parked her car in the street and ran up to the steps. She rang the doorbell. The night was cool. Perfect for a midnight stroll.

Craig opened the door. He was in a red flannel shirt and under that was a vintage style shirt with car on it. He looked so attractive. No one else looked to be home.

He ran his fingers trough his hair. I want him so bad she thought.

"Let me get that for you" He opened the door and took her jacket off.

He was a gentleman. Wow. This is a nice surprise she thought.

"Thanks, but you know, you don't have to do that"

"No problem. It's my pleasure"

Quinn took a look around. His house was nice. There were toys around. The kind she had when she was about the age of eight or nine. It had a wonderful paint job. To the left of her was the living room with a couch and a television set.

"So, I'll take you to my garage. That's where my garage is so…"

"Alright, that's fine. There aren't cars parked in it, or anything is there?"

"No not at all"

Craig took her by the hand. A feeling came across her as he led her through his house. A feeling that sent shivers throughout her body. No boy had ever made her feel this way.

They finally ended up in the garage. There where Christmas lights lit up across the walls, a drum set, and speakers were set up. And there, on the old, ratty couch, sat his guitar.

"Wow. This looks awesome for a garage"

"Thanks. Well, I'll get my guitar and we can start"

He gracefully walked over to the couch. She was standing near the entrance of the garage and he had motioned for her to go by him.

He was standing up.

"Alright, you hold it like this" He went behind her. He was very close. He gently placed the guitar over her body while he placed guitar in her arms.

He continued "I think it would be better if we sat down" His arms were locked around her; he very slowly moved her over to the couch and sat them both down.

She was sitting on his lap, while his hand was caressing her knee.

Oh god. He has a boner! This is sooooo embarrassing she thought to herself

"Ok. You put your hand on the top part of the strings, which is up her and the other hand down at the bottom" He laced his hands through hers and placed them where they were supposed to go.

He placed the guitar down. He got up. Quinn was still one the couch.

Was he doing? She almost burst out in a nervous laughter

"Quinn, I, I, really…"

She finished for him. "Like you"

"You feel the same way?"

Something came over her, feelings of shame and guilt. "I can't be doing this. Not now. Craig, I really like you, but I just can't go through with this again. Not again. Craig, I'm so sorry". She ran out. Not looking what was behind her.

She was out on the street, not knowing where to turn. She thought about running but she was in flip-flops.

Craig ran after her. "Quinn! Wait! Please"

She looked at him. "Craig, I can't. I just can't. Not after what happened."

He looked at her and paused "What happened?"

She really wanted to tell him. But she couldn't she couldn't tell him she had been raped.

"Craig. I just, I just can't alright"

She ran. She didn't care that she was in flip-flops. She didn't know where she was going. Just anywhere but here she thought.

She didn't know this part of the neighborhood. In Junior High, she ran cross country, so she could go for at least another 10 minutes, or so she thought.

About 15, minutes into her run, she seen a swing set and decided that she would go there, just for a rest.

Why did I do this to the guy I really like? Why? He probably thinks I'm some psychopath. Why god? Why?

It was a nice park. Even thought it was about 10:30 at night, it still looked great. Great pine trees all over the place. A merry-go-round, another swing set, bathrooms. Must be a favorite make out spot she thought.

"Why must I do that to every guy? Especially him, especially Craig"

Quinn started crying. She started crying about everything. About Craig, about the rape and about everything. Just then he came walking up.

"You left your car at my house" he looked sympathetic.

"Fine. I'll go and get it. Whatever."

"Quinn, what's wrong?"

"Craig. I can't alright."

"Quinn, I really thought we had a connection. I've never felt this way about anyone"

She needed to tell him. She had to tell him. Maybe it would make them closer

"Alright I'll tell you. Please, just, don't let this change about how you feel about me"

"It won't. Nothing will change the way I feel"

She seriously thought about kicking him and running away, but didn't want to hurt him.

"Okay. When I was in grade 9, I had a boyfriend and his name was Charlie. We weren't serious or anything but he had a lot of problems. He smoked weed, he drank, and he had an anger problem. I stayed with him because I thought I could help him. He pressured me into drinking. I didn't do it, but one night, he grabbed my wrists and made me do it. He didn't make me smoke, he only did that around his friends. Soon enough, my life went down hill. Charlie went out of control. My mom found out about him from my sister. She basically told him off in front of my whole world arts class. I spent more and more time away from home. One day, we were hanging out on his couch. His parent's weren't home a lot, so basically he could do whatever he wanted and get away with it. He had his arm around me and was feeling me up. He said that he wanted to "Fuck Me" but he was drunk. I didn't want to have sex with him. He wasn't someone I really loved. I told him that I had to go home and he told me "You better stay the hell here or else". I tried getting up and running away but he caught me by my hair. He threw me down on the ground got on top of me and pinned me down. He tore off of my clothes, and my underwear. He forced me to have sex with him. Craig, I was raped okay?" Tears slowly rolled down her rosy cheeks

"Quinn, I don't know what to say. I'm, I'm sorry" He was stunned. He could only think of one thing to do. He put his arms around her and cradled her.

She started balling "Craig, I'm so, so, sorry for doing this to you"

"Don't worry about that" he cooed.

She slipped out of his arms and fell to the ground. Craig went instantly beside her.

"I just, I just don't want anyone to pity me anymore"

She laid down on the dewy grass. Craig instantly slipped beside her, hand over her stomach

He knew how it was. To be hurt by someone so bad. He thought he should have told her about Manny. About he almost had a child. Now wasn't the time. No, it wasn't… it was the time to care for her. No had done that for him. No one.

They stayed like that for the rest of the night. Holding each other. Realizing how happy they were with one another. Not a care in the world. They fell asleep, knowing they were secure. Quinn finally had someone. Someone who would care and protect her.

As she drifted off she thought why she didn't tell him the whole story. She was mad at herself for not doing so. He is so nice and charming, he deserves to know, but what happens when he'll find out? When I tell him…

Quinn fell asleep with a smile on her face, not aware who was watching or why. She didn't know what was in store for tomorrow…