Disclaimer: Believe me, if I owned Degrassi, I wouldn't be writing fan fictions, cuz you could watch what I wanted happening on CTV/the-N.

A/N: This is the first ever fan fiction of any type that I have ever wrote in my whole life. I figured I would start with a one-shot, and if anyone thought I was any good I could work from there. Tell me what you think.

Ellie hit the drum one last time as the song ended.

" Okay. Great job guys. One last time." Craig says to the band.

"Craig, it's too late. I'm leaving." Marco says. Jimmy nods his head in agreement. They start heading out of Craig garage, and Ellie begins to follow, wanting to get out of there as fast as she could. She often tried to leave before Marco and Jimmy, not wanting to be left alone with Craig.

" Ellie, wait a minute." Craig says, looking at her.

Ellie turns around to face him. "No, really, I'm good. I'll just be leaving too." She says as she turns back around and continues to walk out the door. Just a few more steps, she thinks, and I'll be out. Just a few more steps.

" Come on El. Please?" Craig pleads.

Ellie rolls her eyes, walks back over to the drum set, sits down, and crosses her arms. She glares at Craig. "What is it?" she asks, knowing what he is about to say.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Craig says, getting right to the point.

"I'm not doing anything to you." Ellie says, matter-of-factly.

"Exactly." Craig says, practically yelling. "You haven't said two words to me in a week."

It had been driving him crazy. Every time he would walk towards where she was, she would suddenly get up and leave. At practices, she talked with Jimmy and Marco and would always avoid his eye. He had been trying forever to get her to talk to him again, but Miss Nash seemed to have different plans.

" So, maybe I've just been busy." Ellie says, sounding as though she couldn't care less. In truth, she wanted to talk to Craig more than she had ever wanted to talk to anyone in all her life. But she couldn't do it. She had been so close, and she blew it. She could have had him, and she turned it into a feeling release rampage.

" El, we hung out all summer." Craig told her, his voice slightly shaking "You were such a good friend to me. No one knows me like you do. I just want you to talk to me again. I want to be your friend again."

Ellie just wanted to yell at him. "I know Craig. I want to be your friend again too, but I can't. You couldn't tell me about your sudden feelings for Manny, so how can I know what else you won't be telling me?"

"Ellie, please, don't make me beg," he said to her.

She couldn't help it. She smiled. "Looks to me you already are."

"I know. Please, please, please."

"Maybe. There will be conditions."

Craig looked baffled. "Conditions? What?"

"Apologize."

The look of bewilderment on Craig's face intensified. "I wasn't aware I did anything wrong."

At this point Ellie made what could be called a cross between a sigh and a frustrated scream, clenching her fingers into tight fists. Craig saw this and got up and held her hands in his.

"No, don't get angry with me again. We're trying to work through this. I'm sorry. I'm a guy. We never know when we've done something wrong. Ask Manny. She'll tell you. I do it all the time."

Ellie looked over towards the door, wishing desperately that she could leave.

"In all fairness Craig, you haven't wanted to talk to me a lot lately either. All your energy goes into making Manny happy." Craig opened his mouth to say something, releasing Ellie's hands as he did so. "I understand," Ellie said. "I mean, she is your girlfriend. And I know how girls don't' like when their boyfriends are friends with other girl. I don't want to tear you two apart."

"So," said Craig, "This is about Manny."

Ellie looked everywhere in the room except at Craig.

"It is! Listen El, she's my girlfriend. I love her. But I still want to spend time wit hyou. You are one of my best friends."

Ellie sighed heavily. "It's not that. It really isn't."

"Then I don't get it."

"Of course not. You never will, will you?"

"Not if you don't explain it to me!" Craig yelled, becoming extremely annoyed.

Ellie yelled back. "Manny, Craig! It's all Manny! I thought everything was going so well and then you start inviting Manny to do stuff with us!" Ellie too had risen to her feet. She and Craig were standing, facing each other, and glowering.

"So what if I invited Manny along! I had every right to do so!" Other things Ellie had just yelled began to sink into Craig's brain, and he kept yelling back. "And what was going so well?"

Ellie still couldn't bring herself to say what she had been really thinking. "Nothing, okay, nothing!"

"No, Ellie… I'm not going to let you back out that easily!"

"I'm not backing out of anything Craig! Backing out is the thing to do for people that are scared! You, of all people, should know that. You do it so often. But I'm not afraid. I don't need to back out of anything!"

Ellie was of course lying, because she was backing out, and she was very scared. For the first time in her life, she was scared of what people would think of her. Of what one person would think of her.

"What did I ever back out of Ellie? Tell me! What?"

By this time, the yelling had become so loud that you have sat in a tree across the street and understood every word clearly.

"Everything, Craig! Everything you've ever done in your life, you've backed out of! You got scared, and you ran to Manny! You were afraid of what you were really feeling, and you ran to Manny, just because you were familiar with her!"

"What the hell are you talking about? What was I afraid of? Tell me El, tell me!"

Ellie was so angry, nearly to the point of tears. "Of this Craig, of this!"

"Of what?"

Ellie did the unthinkable. Well, not unthinkable. She had imagined doing it many times, but never did it cross her mind to actually do it. She walked closer to him, which was hard, as they had moved a great deal closer during their argument. She threw her arms around his neck and planted a kiss right on his lips. He very slightly kissed her back.

They stood there, kissing, for maybe four seconds before Ellie pulled away from the kiss, grabbed her bag, and walked out the door. Craig stood, rooted to his garage floor for a good long minute before his brain kicked in.

He ran out the door and down the street, catching up with Ellie at the corner.

"What the hell was that, El?" His voice was calm and steady, but confused all the same.

"Nothing," she said as she pulled her jacket around her tighter.

"That wasn't nothing."

"Was so." She began to walk faster, but Craig stopped her.

"Ellie, what the hell is going on?"

"Craig, I want us to be friends again, okay? I was so glad to have another friend, and I just want that back."

"That isn't what I asked you. What just happened?"

"I told you, it was nothing." Ellie lied.

"Stop saying that."

"I just wanted to shut you, okay?" This at least was a half-truth. He had stopped questioning her, but it seemed as though the questions are coming back up

"And you couldn't have just told me to shut up?"

"Would it have worked?"

"Not until you answered me." Craig told her, smiling. Then he turned serious again, very briefly. "And trying to keep from answering now isn't going to work either, even if you do kiss me again."

Ellie blushed. Luckily for her, it was dark and Craig couldn't tell.

"Let's just leave it at this. I liked you. A lot. I felt like my heart was torn and shredded whenever Manny tagged along, and even more now."

Craig was shocked at this revelation. He wrapped his arms around Ellie and pulled her into a tight embrace. "So, what do you want me to do now?"

"Nothing," Ellie told him. He gave her a disbelieving look. "Really," she promised him. I don't want you to do anything about it. Just promise to be my friend, my really good friend and nothing more, and go back and be with Manny forever."

And that is exactly what he did.