I finished chapter 1 a few hours ago,but I'm bored,so I'm starting chapter 2 now.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Degrassi, or the show.(Trust me, I don't.If I did,the show would probably be pretty boring.I mean,who would've thought of some of the stuff that happens? NOT ME!lol...anyway...)

Emma sighed. She walked through the empty halls of Degrassi,about to leave. She glanced in the office. The principal was still there, looking through a pile of papers.She patted the pile,and stood up.Somebody was next to her.They shook hands.Emma looked again.

"Jack?" she gasped. The boy looked up.It was Jack. He waved with a smile.

"Emma!Hi!" he wasn't wearing his black jacket today.He was wearing a black t-shirt with a white long-sleeved shirt underneath it, and jeans. The principal smiled.

"Ah. I see you know each other?"

"Just by name."Jack stated.

"And by life." Emma said under her breath.But clearly the principal and Jack heard her.The principal looked at her curiously.

"Care to clarify?" she said. Jack moved his hands across his neck, trying to tell her to hush.He shook his head,mouthing the words,"No, don't. No."

Emma ignored him."Jack saved my life."

Immediately,Jack cut in."Well,"he laughed nervously,"I wouldn't say that." He continued to laugh nervously as he said,"I - I mean, I wouldn't say, you know... life...per say...heh, you know..."

Emma stared at him, then continued."There was this man harassing me,and he punched him out."

"My,that certainly was a very brave thing to do, Jack." she smiled.

Jack sighed,as if with relief. "Well, uh...thank you, I-"

"Not to mention stupid."

"Huh?"

Emma stared at her.Did she want her to die or something?"How was it stupid to save my life?"

"Oh,no no no,dear,it wasn't stupid of Jack to save you, but it was stupid of him to do so without at least calling for help.I mean,what Jack hadn't been able to punch that man?What if he had gotten punched, but not knocked out? Then we'd have two deaths, or rapes, or anything on our hands.Which would mean utter chaos for our community."

Emma shrugged.Whatever.

The principal turned to Jack." Tommorow,come back to my office,and we'll get one of the students to be your guide for a few days."

"I can do it,"Emma cut in,"I'll be his guide."

"Well, that'sa nice offer. Jack, how about it?"

He smiled and nodded,"Sure, Idon't see why not.

YES! she thought.She smiled,"Great.Then, I'll see you later."

"Later?"

"Yeah. If I'm going to be your guide, then I think we should get to know each other."

Jack shook his head,"No,today's no good. I'm..busy."

Emma sighed,but forced another smile,"Ok, then I'll just see you tommorow."

He nooded. Emma sighed as they left the building. "See you later," she called after him,but he hadn't heard her.

oooooooooooo

"Ok,so what's wrong?" JT asked. He was sitting on her bed.She paced back and forth quickly in front of him.

"JT...things keep happening. I- I'll be completely fine one moment, then, I'll be completely depressed!I keep thinking about this thing...it was terrible!I- I -I can't believe --" she cut herself off,and looked at him. His eyes were full of worry.

"Well,what is it that was so terrible?"

"I- it was a year ago...I...there was a party, and --"

"Oh my God, bun in the oven!"

Taren turned and glared at him."JT, I am not pregnant!I said it happened a year ago,which means I would've had the baby. Besides, I've never had sex before."

"Well that was something I needed to know."

"JT!"

"Ok, ok, sorry.It's just that...how can I help you if I don't know what happened?"

Taren stared at him.Should I? I can trust him. But I don't know that. I've only known him for a week. But he's JT! But he may not be trustworthy.But you can trust him.Just do it! She sighed. After long debate,she sat down next to him,and stared straight into his eyes.

"JT..."

He stared back at her. Whatever she said next was bound to be bad.

"Last year, I..." she trailed off. She really liked him. Did she really want to ruin a friendship so soon? Did she really want to have to relive the pain again, outside of her mind?Hear the people whispering about her as if she wasn't there? She shook her head.

"I...?"JT encouraged.

"I..."she couldn't do it.But the images were running through her head so clear.The sounds so fresh she could swear it was happening agin."I...I...I... want you...to get out."

"What?" JT looked at her puzzled.

"I-I want you to get out."she spoke again. Her face was expressionless.

"But how am I supposed to--"

"Get out."her voice was expressionless too.

"No! I'm not going to--"

"GET...OUT!" she yelled.

"But-"

She stood up."GET OUT! NOW!"
JT stood too. He looked her directly in the eyes,then walked towards her bedroom door.He opened it, then turned to speak again.

"I thought you wanted me to help you."

Taren glared at him. "Get out."

"Taren, I--" he stopped himself. it wasn't even worth it. He threw his hands up in the air, and left with an exhasperated sigh. She heard him go down the stairs,and a little while later,the front door open and shut. After another moment,she heard a car start. She looked out her window and saw JT's car pull out of her driveway and start down the road.

She sighed.She had just ruined another friendship. One of many that she had ruined. She knew he probably hated her now,along with everyone back in Michigan. She flopped onto her bed, her face buried in the pillow, and shut her eyes. She tried hard to forget the memories. But everything was weighing her down. The voices of those who hated her most.

Coward...

Careless...

Irresponsible...

She sat there, the names echoing through her head as she drifted off to sleep.

She was trapped in a small room, the size of an elevator. It was dead quiet. She opened her mouth to scream for help. She banged against all the walls, and the floor. Nothing would give to let her out. She looked down. There was an inch of water in the room.She gasped and banged on the walls screaming.

"Help!Please!" her voice echoed into nothingness. She looked down again.The water was at her knees. She banged on the walls some more.

"Somebody!"

she heard a thumping sound coming from the other side of the wall. She backed up. Someone was trying to get in, to save her. The wall opened, and a heavy torrent of water spilled in. Taren screamed, but was cut off by the water sweeping her under.Just like that,the water was calm.But the wall that had let in the water was shut again.She swam towards the ceiling, but realized that the water had filled the whole room. She banged furiously against the walls. Her lungs were running out of air. She'd have to breathe soon. She had nowhere to go. Voices filled her head.

"Where are you going, Coward?"

Her lungs started burning. She needed air.Now.

"How could you be so irresponsible?"

She gasped, swallowing water, and started choking. She felt a grip on her shoulders pull her,and she saw the room slowly disappearing. She was now on the floor of a dimly lit room. She looked around to thank whoever had saved her.Nobody was there. She walked to the corner, where there was another light. The voices kept echoing.

"You're such a coward. A nobody. You don't deserve to live."

She saw something white under the light. A body bag. The ones ambulancesused to hold people after they died. She slowly unzipped it, expecting to see herself. The person was a girl. They were soaking wet, and their blonde hair was dark with the water, clinging to her face and neck and forehead. She was very pale, almost white. It was obvious she had died only a few moments ago. The voice was still speaking in her head as she recognized the girl: Ashley. The voice spoke again.

"How could you be so--"

Ashley's eyes opened and she stared at Taren,her eyes cold, but a smile on her pale face"--Irresponsible?"

Taren gasped and sat up in a cold sweat. She looked around her room. It was dark. Her clock read 2:54. She took a deep breath. Great.Now she was having nightmares. She wanted to climb out the window, and run to JT.She wanted him to hold her, tell her things would be fine, she'd be ok. To comfort her. To kiss her. She shivered at the thought of kissing him. But she'd only known him for a week. She sighed and got underneath her covers. She couldn't fall asleep again. She stared at the ceiling.

Taren woke up again. Ashley was giggling."You fell asleep?"

"I fainted!" Taren laughed. She turned the wheel as far as it would go. The car made a 90 degree turn to the left. She laughed and did it again, this time to the right. They went across the bridge,and Taren swerved again to the left.

"Do it again! This is fun!"

She swerved again. Her and Ashley broke into hysterical laughter as Taren swerved sharply again. She turned sharply one more time. And screamed. Her car was headed for the lake. There was a railing to keep people from going over, pecause there was a 10 ft cliff that led to the lake. Ashley shreiked as the car hit the iron rail. She jolted forward in her seat at the force of the collision, but pushed herself back. The car wasn't stopping. It had broken through the railing, and wasfalling towards the lake. Taren and Ashley screamed in pure terror.

"No! STOP!" Ashley yelled to the car. It plunged, front first into the lake. Ashley jolted forward again, and her head hit the dashboard. She was unconcious. The window, which had cracked, let in water as the car sunk towards the bottom. Taren gasped,and screamed again. She tried to undo her seatbelt, but her hands were trembling violently. The water was up to their laps. She kept working her seatbelt,and finally, she managed to open it. The water had slowly risen to their necks. She looked at Ashley.

"Ashley!" she gasped. She took a deep breath and ducked under the water,feeling around for Ashley's seat belt buckle. The water was so dark. She couldn't find it. She groped around in the darkness,and found Ashley's hand. She lifted her head to get some air. There was only a small space between the top of the car, and the surface of the flooding water. She took another breath from what she could and ducked back under. She had to go fast. Ashley' s head wasn't above the water. She found Ashley's lap, and trailed up to where the belt buckle was. She quickly undid it, and tried to pull Ashley out. She felt arms around her shoulders. It pulled her out of the car so quickly, she lost her grip on Ashley's arm. She waved her arms frantically trying to get the person off of her. She had to get Ashley. But the person had a strong grip. She couldn't see a thing in the murky water, but felt herself being pulled up. Her lugs were burning,screaming for air. But she had to get Ashley. She struggled, but finally got the person off of her. She tried to swim back to the car, but she needed to breathe. The had returned to her shoulder,and she let it pull her up. Finally, she gasped, choking on the water. Then,she heard a splash. She was above the surface again. She breathed deeply. She saw that the person holding her was a police with scuba equipment. He pulled her up the cliff, where a team of paramedics grabbed her and wrapped her in a towel. She cried. She couldn't help it. Finally, she got the words out.

"ASHLEY!" she screamed. She grabbed the officer by the shoulders. "ASHLEY IS STILL DOWN THERE!GET HER!HELP HER!PLEASE!QUICK!" She ran towards the cliff again,about to jump over, but tow of the paramedics grabgbed her and dragged her back to the ambulance. The officer followed. "There's another officer down there, getting your friend."

That didn't comfort her. She cried even harder. She was giving herself the worst headache. She needed Ashley to be ok. She HAD to be. "Pease, God, let Ashely be okay.Please..."

She cried. The paramedics ran past her. The officer had gotten Ashley. She could see her bright pink sneakers past the paramedics white uniforms. They were calling things out frantically. She cried harder, feeling lightheaded. People were running around getting things from the ambulance to help Ashley. She sobbed. It was her fault. Her fault the car had crashed. Her fault that she'd been driving in her condition. Her fault for whatever happened to Ashley. Her sight was getting blurred. She saw them put Ashley onsomething white, a stretcher.She sobbed harder, her vision now a blur of colors. She was really lightheaded. She couldn't feel anything. All she could see was the white blob where Ashley was. The voices became incoherent. Then everything blacked out.

She woke up to see a paramedic woman holding a heating pack on her head. She smiled at Taren. She moaned. Her head pounded. She could feel that they were moving. The sirens were on. She was in the back of the ambulance. She blinked as her blurred vision slowly pulled back to normal. She slowly turned her head to the stretcher Ashley was on. It was covered with a white sheet. She gasped.

"No! Ashley's ok, right."

The paramedic smiled at her weakly,"I'm so sorry."

Taren gasped.

"She...she was dead when we pulled her out. She was under the water too long, and the cut on her head had let loose too much blood."

Taren wanted to cry. To scream. But she was all out of emotions. She looked back up at the ceiling and blacked out again.

Taren sat up. She had fallen asleep. It was7:30. She had 30 minutes to get to school. She sighed, and got out of bed.

I'm so sorry, Ashley. I'm so so sorry.