Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi, PowerPoint, or the concept of taboo. I just find it really fascinating, and was bored. A slight AU, takes place after Whisper to a Scream, as though Paige never told Ms. Suave about Ellie.

A/N: I know, I suck and should update more. But I'd rather update once a year with a good, well-written piece than once a week with a really crappy five-sentence chapter.

"That was seriously not cool, Ellie." Paige said stiffly as she moved from one computer to the one on its left. "Remember the Golden Rule."

Ellie rolled her eyes from across the classroom where she was working on her third machine. "Was that a threat, or a lame-ass attempt at a lecture on morals? Sorry to disappoint you Ms. Righteous, but if it was the latter, I'm going to take anything you say with a grain of salt."

Paige glared at Ellie. "Do you even remember it? Treat others as you want to be treated?"

"I know what the golden rule is, Paige."

"Then you'll understand why I'm completely confused as to why you practically beg me not to nark on you about your…thing, which really should be dealt with, and then you go rat me out for 'provoking you' which, one, is so much more superficial than what you're doing it's almost funny, and two, wasn't even the case."

Ellie paused for a second, then moved onto the next computer, trying not to think about what Paige said. She knew the blonde was right; it had been crappy of Ellie to rat her out.

"I-," Ellie sighed, not wanting to continue but knowing she had to. "I'm sorry I got you in trouble with Simpson. I shouldn't have done it, and I apologize." She returned her attention to the monitor in front of her.

"Why did you, then?"

Ellie looked up, slightly surprised that Paige pressed the matter. "I… I don't know. I guess I was just… mad at you and wanted to get you in trouble."

Paige cocked a perfectly-shaped eyebrow. "Why were you mad at me?" she asked in all seriousness.

Ellie gave Paige a deadpan Look. "You were insulting me in front of the entire class! How could I not be mad at you?"

"The rest of the class had no idea what was going on."

"And that's what made it suck so much; you weren't doing it to gain face with everyone, you were doing to hurt me. That was really low, Paige." Ellie didn't mention that Paige's words had been all the more painful when compared to last Friday's antics.

"I was just trying to help," Paige said softly, looking down at her computer.

"Help?" Ellie was almost speechless. "Did you honestly think that making me feel like a total freak and completely invalidating all of my emotions would help?"

"I thought that if you heard what other people thought of cutters, if you saw what a horrible stigma they have-"

"-that I'd want to stop?" Ellie finished for her. Paige nodded silently. "Believe me, Paige, I know what sort of stigma follows me. It's been following me around way before I started this. And I really don't give a rat's ass. If I did care about what people thought of me, I'd be dressed like you, making out with whatever male I could get my hands on. But I don't care. And besides, even if I did, it's not that simple. It's not like I can just randomly stop. I can't stop. It's addicting. And if you had actually done some research, you would know that."

Paige's vision was glued to the floor. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "I really was just trying to help."

Ellie's temper was still flaring though, and she wasn't ready to forgive the blonde. She wanted to make Paige just as uncomfortable as she herself had been during Paige's presentation. "Well, you didn't help," Ellie stated simply, stalking across the classroom to the computer Paige was sitting at. "All your little show did, was this." Ellie pulled up the sleeve on her left arm a little, exposing a pale wrist covered with a dozen violently red half-circles.

Paige's eyes moved from the floor to Ellie's wrist, and she gasped softly.

"I couldn't very well pull out my compass in the middle of MI," Ellie said fiercely, "So I had to use these." She stuck her right hand in Paige's face, revealing unpainted nails with red tips. "And before you ask if that's the latest trend in French manicures, no, it's not. It's blood. My blood. Blood that you made me draw. So if the intent of your little sermon was to make me hurt myself, again, congratulations. You succeeded."

With that, Ellie crossed the room, picked up her black messenger bag, and left the MI lab, not even noticing the tears streaming down Paige's cheeks.