Prepare yourselves for the attack of the horizontal lines! Lol! :D
XXXIV. Ripple Effect
Toby Isaacs
What the hell is wrong with these kids? What about that is even fair? Rick was only trying to make a comeback. Now look what happens…
Jimmy Brooks
Dang, man. It almost hit me. That's messed up. What kind of a person would do that? What's Rick thinking about right now? I feel bad for being mean to him in the beginning. Really bad now that this happened.
Emma Nelson
Totally unexpected and completely juvenile. In front of us. In front of the host. In front of the Northern High kids. In front of the Degrassi kids. In front of Snake. In front of EVERYBODY. Poor Rick...
Queenie Parker
Holy shit! He worked so hard only for that to happen to him? Man, he was slaying the game! And that's the thanks he gets? Why are kids so cold? Poor Rick. Poor, poor Rick. That's so wrong. That's so messed up! I'll have to talk to him later.
Ivory Mann
I don't care for Rick anymore: I don't care to see him; I don't care to talk to him. But for someone to do something like that to him is so...wrong! Even someone like him has feelings and deserves respect for them! I hope whoever's responsible for that gets the wrath of Raditch. If Raditch decides to do anything about it.
Jay Hogart
Damn. That was awesome.
Spinner Mason
Everything went according to plan. And the audience seems to be getting a kick out of it. Perfect. Rick will think twice next time before messing with us again. Psycho.
Vivian Graham
My stomach. I can feel that giant breakfast I had bubbling in my system. I can feel perspiration drenching my t-shirt and soaking my armpits. The cameras are rolling. The gymnasium is filled with students and teachers watching the stage. Now everyone's eyes—even those on the stage—are glued to Rick.
Which sound was worse? The paint as it poured down from above like a giant water faucet, sticky and hardening as it covered Rick in a harsh yellow? It happened in slow motion: I watched helplessly from the audience as it covered his face, his hair, his suit and glasses. Was it the white feathers that fell down like snow, echoing the seconds of stone cold silence that filled the gym?
No. I'm pretty sure it's when everyone began laughing at him. Everyone is laughing at him. Everyone with the exception of the teachers. No one seems to care that, although Rick is covered from head to toe in yellow and white, his wide brown eyes pierce through it all with a gaze filled with anguish, hurt, betrayal. He scans his eyes back and forth as he watches everyone muse at his humiliation. The same crowd that cheered and whistled him on as he represented Degrassi's brain now hoot and holler at his new appearance.
And I'm here too. I'm on my student council shift, standing in the back of the room, making sure that all is well (even though there's security behind stage thanks to the game show host). My job is only to report back to Marco and to the student council advisor, Ms. Hatzilakos. I'm pretty sure, however, that everyone is seeing the commotion going down. Every classroom, every staff office, is tuned in to the Degrassi channel, so everyone in the school has the opportunity to watch Whack-Your-Brain live before It's edited and aired on actual television.
Everyone at Degrassi is watching. The whole school saw Rick's sweet victory quickly transform into a sick, Carey White nightmare. I'm glued to my spot, staring wide-eyed in horror, first at Rick, then at my peers who all squeal and squawk in laughter. I hear a few chicken imitations fly out of random places in the audience. I'm fighting against my stomach as the urge to vomit threatens me. I can feel Rick's pain and mortification radiating from the stage, and it breaks my heart into a million pieces. Both of my hands cover my mouth. All of our hard work. All of our team effort...it all lead up to this?
Who would do such a thing? Who hates Rick so much that they would take away the one thing that mattered most to him? He had a chance, a wonderful chance, to prove himself, and now he's even worse than when he first returned.
It's so hot in here...My head is throbbing, and the room is shaking around me like an earthquake. My stomach is winning the battle as I find my air passage being blocked by my food bubbling back up from breakfast. My breathing becomes rapid as I fight for air. My head feels like it's on fire.
Oh no. Oh no. Oh—
After one, massive wretch, I throw up all over the floor. The students closest to me scream and run out of their seats. Ms. Hatzilakos rushes over and holds my hair back. Another teacher nearby catches the vomit with a nearby trashcan, so I no longer decorate the floor with my stomach confetti. As other staff members around start ordering students to leave the gym, I know that the show is over, that time is no longer standing still.