-1Tucked Away

Well, I saw you once, then I blew it for ten thousand days

Yards away from Degrassi's main entrance, Manny stopped in her tracks. Emma, who had been trailing behind with her nose in her Biology notes, walked directly into her frozen figure and stumbled. "Ow," she complained, regaining her balance, "It's not a parking lot, Manny."

"I don't think I can do this," Manny murmured, her eyes fixed on the building that loomed ahead of them. "Can't I just -"

"Drop out of school?" Emma filled in dryly. "You've had over a week to prepare yourself, Manny. You can do this."

"Yeah, but what if someone knows? Somebody could've seen me at the clinic or heard me talking to Craig." Manny shuddered at the thought. "I'm already the school slut. I can't be the homewrecker who gets knocked up, too."

"You're none of the above. The rumor mill has moved on by now, trust me. All you've gotta do is put one foot in front of the other."

Just then, Jimmy arrived, his father dropping him off at the curb in their rented handicap-accessible van. "Man, I sure do know how to make an entrance," he called as he wheeled towards them, gesturing to the students who stared as the van pulled away.

Emma nudged Manny's ribs. "See? Jimmy has just as much reason to be nervous as you, but he's been in school every day since the doctors gave him the okay."

"What's going on?" the boy in questioned asked when he'd reached them.

"Manny, here, is scared people are going to be talking about her."

"How could they?" Jimmy turned his attention to Manny. "Emma and I are the only ones who know about everything, and we haven't said a word. Besides, you're a better person than almost everyone else in there. You know you did what was best and that's all that matters."

Inside the building, the bell rang, causing the few students left on the quad to scurry on their way. Jimmy didn't miss a beat as he began to roll away from them. "Come on, you know you're just dying to find out what you've missed in English. I promise, Wuthering Heights still has a few plot twists left. I'd better see you there."

"So?" Emma turned to her friend. "You ready now?"

Manny was still staring at the spot where Jimmy had been, a small smile on her lips. "Yeah. I guess I am."

XXX

"Manny, where have you been?"

She'd been expecting that question. She knew she couldn't skip school for a week straight without raising some eyebrows. But she'd been expecting it to be delivered by a stern administrator or perhaps a concerned classmate. Not Craig Manning, who'd spotted her in the hallway between third and fourth periods and dragged her into an empty classroom.

"I've been ... sick." The lie had been easy to feed everyone else, but with Craig's intense gaze on her, she could feel herself faltering. "The flu."

"The flu?" he repeated. "I don't buy it. You tell me you're pregnant and then disappear for a week. What the hell is going on?"

She wanted to cry. Deep down, Manny could feel a terrible disappointment growing in her - with him, for not being who she'd thought; with herself, for letting him mean so much. But before the tears could leak out, anger took over.

"I told you I was pregnant and you abandoned me," she accused.

"That's not true. I said I'd give you whatever you needed."

"Money to get rid of it was not what I needed, Craig! I needed a friend. I needed someone I could count on and - silly me! - I thought that could be you! I needed so much more than you gave me ... than you could ever give me!"

"So what did you do?" At her silence, Craig's expression darkened. "Manny, what did you do?"

"I had an abortion," she said stiffly. The words left a bitter taste in her mouth. "I paid a doctor to cut me open and end whatever life was inside me. So, you're welcome. I know this is what you wanted - everything all neat and tidy, me out of your way."

Craig was reeling from the shock. "I didn't - that's not - I didn't ask you to do that. You should've -"

"I should've what? Come to you? I did, remember?" She took a breath to steady the nerves that were twisting her stomach in knots. "It didn't go so well. So I did what I had to do. And now I'm going to move on with my life and forget I ever knew you."

Before he could get another word out, she rushed out of the room, ducking her head and blinking away tears. Craig stood alone in the classroom, his head spinning with what he'd just learned.

"Rough day?"

He looked up to see Jimmy in the doorway and tried to work up a grin. "Jimmy, man, yeah, you have no idea. I just got into it with Manny."

"I heard." He'd heard, all right. He'd seen Craig grab Manny and had followed to make sure she didn't get too upset. He'd listened outside the doorway as she tore Craig apart and he'd glowed with pride at her courage.

Craig ducked his head, embarrassed. "She got an abortion. Can you believe that? Without even telling me! Just ... went and did it, like it was buying a new outfit or returning a library book. How is that fair?"

"What's not fair is how you treated her," Jimmy countered. "What's not fair is that this has to be the third or fourth time she's run away from you, crying. And what's really not fair is that the two of you made a baby and you just got to walk away from it while she drove herself crazy dealing with it."

"Jimmy, man," Craig guffawed, nervous at the anger in his friend's voice. "Listen, ease up, okay, it's not like I'm to blame for this."

"Not to blame? Of course you're to blame! The only thing you had to do was hold her hand and promise to stand by her, whatever decision she made. That was all! And you were too selfish and too stupid to do even that!"

"Jimmy, oh my God." Craig looked absolutely shocked. Jimmy, thrown for a loop, followed his gaze and saw the impossible.

He was standing. With nothing but his two supposedly useless legs and a surge of adrenaline to support him. "I'm - I'm standing," he stuttered to Craig, who nodded mutely in agreement. "I'm standing!"

And then he blacked out.

XXX

"It's a marathon, not a sprint, Jim. Remember that."

With those final words of wisdom, Dr. Bedingfield smiled and exited the hospital room. Jimmy fought the wave of despair that was threatening to overtake him as the medic's speech reverberated in his head. His ability to stand up had been a fluke, a product of too many endorphins and a healthy dose of anger. His legs wouldn't just magically start working again. They might regain some mobility, but over a long period of time, with the right therapy and training.

A soft knock on the door shook away his thoughts of a grim prognosis. Manny poked her head in, smiling shyly. "Hey, how are you? You had us worried for a minute."

His legs were still useless. He was still useless. And he knew what he had to do. "I'm fine," he said, unconvincingly, and cleared his throat to try again. "Never better."

"Liar," she accused, but gently.

"Listen, Manny, I appreciate you coming down here to check on me, but I think ... it's probably for the best if you went home. You know, you just went through a big ordeal and you still need to be resting and ..."

"Are you trying to get rid of me?"

There was no mistaking the hurt in her voice. Jimmy closed his eyes to steel himself against it. "Well, no, it's just that ... I think I need to be alone for awhile. I need some space, you know? I'm glad I could be there for you for the operation and everything, but I think we should go our separate ways."

Manny nodded slowly. "I see. Okay. Well, I guess I see your point. Who wants to be burdened with used goods?"

"Manny, it's not like that," he tried, but she was gone, hurrying down the hall and out of his life. And he couldn't even run after her. Bowing his head, Jimmy cried for the first time since the shooting.