Chapter 2

Unwelcome Visitors

Ellie Nash awoke to the sound of an ill-fated clock radio blaring. She carefully aimed her pillow and knocked the clock radio to the floor, breaking it into pieces. "Take that!" she thought. Ellie's bright green eyes greeted the room with disdain and a moan loud enough that if her friend, Ashley Kerwin, hadn't left fo London only a few nights earlier, she would have been startled awake herself.

Ellie sat up and frowned up at the empty room. She hadn't been particularly thrilled when her best girl friend Ashley offered to stay with her when she'd visited Degrassi for the high school's graduation, but now-though Ellie would never admit it-she was missed.

Not that Ellie didn't love her friend dearly, but Ellie had her own problems. The biggest of which now involved Ashley's most serious ex-boyfriend; Craig Manning. Ashley and Craig's relationship had ended...badly to say the least; Ashley leaving him abruptly and going to London, shortly after Craig had requested her hand in marriage. Bad blood couldn't begin to describe the way they felt about one another.

Ellie was stuck in the middle, being that when Ashley left-to London-Ellie and Craig became the best of friends. Craig needed Ellie for everything he was going through-finding out he was bipolar, Ashley leaving him, and then Manny-well there'd been a whole series of Manny issues. And Craig'd been there for Ellie with everything she'd been going through-falling out and moving out on her alcoholic mom, her cutting problem, and later when Sean Cameron-boyfriend at the time-abandoned her (as she felt) after the shooting and heading back to Wasaga beach.

Knowing the way she'd felt when Sean'd left-he'd broken her heart-Ellie knew that she could never blame Ashley or Craig for the way they felt about one another. But at the same time she still loved Craig for being such a good friend to her when Sean-her only stronghold at the time he'd left- had left her all alone and in a state of semi-reality, hoping that he'd still love her when and if he returned from Wasaga Beach.

Now-a year later-Ellie had gotten over Sean, but it still stung sometimes to think about him. Ellie didn't do being alone too well; in fact it was one of the only things that scared her. Sean was the only one who knew this-and he was long gone. But, for Ellie, her situation grew even worse when she began to..."care" even more deeply for Craig, and not only wish that she wasn't alone, but that Craig was the one keeping her from loneliness.

Craig-always the clueless male-had begun dating Manny -whom he had previously dated, while, ahem, dating Ashley-and now he was into their relationship too deep to notice Ellie. The way Ellie's face went gray when he and Manny kissed in her presence. Or the way her red hair seemed to almost stand on end when he talked about he and Manny the 'previous night'.

Craig was gone now though-only a couple hundred miles away-but he was still gone far enough for Ellie to miss him strongly; and only grow to "care" about him deeper still.

"This is too much to think about so early!" Ellie thought and she climbed out of her bed having very unhappily remembered that this was the first day the new school year.

"0 5 I knew you well." She said dramatically as she stepped into her bathroom shower. Right then, she heard the doorbell ring. "HHHuuuuggghhh!" She huffed as she stepped out again snatching a nearby towel and screaming "I'm coming!"

"Who the hell is-" she began but almost dropped her towel when she swung open the door and saw the one person who was only all-to-unwelcome in her presence, standing there, arms crossed, smiling.

Scene Change: (Outside of Degrassi High)

Emma Nelson stood on the steps of Degrassi willing herself to go in. She knew she didn't want to even enter the premises. "Maybe I'll just skip." she'd kept telling herself the previous night, but being the her Father was one of the teachers that wasn't a very smart or inviting prospect. Manny had left ahead of her-something to do with meeting Craig-and she knew that Manny would also wonder where she was.

Emma took a deep breath. Everything about this school scared her to death. All of her nightmares came rushing back to her and she could almost feel herself fainting right there on the steps of her high school. Reality came crashing down on her and she realized that she was falling backwards down the steps. She could feel the scream easing into her throat until someone caught her. Peter she thought and readied her brightest, fakest smile which vanished as soon as she turned and realized who it was in actuality.

"Watch yourself, sweetie." he cooed as Emma snatched away from him and twisted her lips into a sharp, blood curdling look "Jay Hogart," she said, smirking at the same grimy boy she'd known the year before. Unlike everyone else at this school, his look hadn't changed, his future hadn't brightened, and even though he'd been kicked out of Degrassi for orchestrating the very prank that caused Rick to lose it and sent Emma on a downward spiral, here he was once again standing in front of the steps, making Emma life's even more miserable than it already was.

Jay managed a weak smile himself "Good morning to you too Emmi. I'd recognized that backside anywhere; well, more like that blonde head a' yours." and he smirked at Emma's whence knowing that his words had cut through the good girl's core.

When Emma had been completely gone, almost in a sleep like state and at her lowest point, she had begun a sexual but not sexual relationship with Jay. She'd gone down on him a few times in his car at some seedy spot in the woods-"the ravine"-and she'd regretted it from the first moment to the last- when she'd contracted Gonorrhea from him, and been labeled one of the "nasty girls" in school.

Emma knew that Jay was referring to this incident and she whenced at the shameful memory, comforting herself as always with the knowledge that she'd really been going through it then. "What the Hell do you want Jay!" She snapped, almost ready to charge him and knock him forcefully to the fall that he'd saved her from. "Nothing, nothin'. I just figured I'd do my good deed for the year and help you out, that's all." With that he turned and walked a little limpishly to his car. Before getting in he whipped around "I mean, You've always been so good to me." he said before a loud laugh, and jump, into his car.

Emma couldn't control the words as they flew from her lips or the strength and heightened scream of them "Screw you Jay! Screw you!" "Emma!" She'd heard as she'd turned around and saw the principal, along with her son Peter, Emma's boyfriend. "I'll need to speak with you in my office. Emma sighed a long deep sigh mumbled "yes ma'am" and followed the principal on the long walk to her office.

Scene Change: (Ellie's Apartment)

The day couldn't have ended soon enough for Ellie and as she burst into her apartment she was prepared to blast music and hate the world. But, something stopped her when she came in. The room didn't look different but it felt...different. She quickly glanced about the room trying to find anything out of place but nothing was. Everything looked fine. "Hello?" she called picking up the bat that she kept by the door. "Is someone in here?" after inspecting each room carefully, she sat down on the couch and let out a long sigh.

"Ellie, you're being paranoid." She told herself but she also justified herself in her mind when she remembered what had happened earlier that morning...

Earlier that morning...

Ellie's mouth all but dropped to the floor when she'd seen who was standing in her doorway. Manny Santos, with a sly smirk on her face and a look of arrogant uninterest. Ellie was noone to mess with and matched Manny's look, with an even more uninterested, don't-mess-with-me-today one.

"Yes?" Ellie asked sharply, knowing that she owed no explanation for her towel attire to the very unwelcome visitor. Manny frowned "Aren't you gonna ask me in?" "Aren't you gonna tell me why you're here?" Ellie said with a tone of restrained annoyance in her voice. The nerve of Manny to come here with an attitude issue, as though she had the right! Manny gave Ellie a hateful glare, but began to talk in a low and almost ashamed voice. "Look, El, honey-" "Ellie is fine, thank you." Ellie cut in, establishing her feelings about the situation. "O.k. Ell-ie, " Manny said keeping her arms crossed and rolling her eyes, "Craig is here." "He's here?" Ellie asked her cheeks burning red suddenly. Manny's eyes flashed violently taking notice of this "No, not here, here. Here as in he's visiting." She paused here , eyeing Ellie up and down quickly. Despite her fearless attitude Ellie still felt her cheeks burning under Manny's stare. She hated being judged by girls like Manny. Girls she had no respect or care for.

"And...so?" Ellie'd said. Maybe she was missing something... "Look," Manny said, "I know you've got a..thing for him or whatever but look, Craig is my boyfriend and I won't have you thinking that there is a remote chance of a you and a him. Truthfully there is no you and him. There's only Me and Him and then...you. Got that?" Ellie could feel her pressure rising but she contained herself enough to stammer out "You came to my apartment at 7 in the morning to tell me that!" Manny smirked a little "No. I came to tell you that if Craig asks you to visit him or to come visit you tell him no. Tell him...you're busy or... that you don't have time. He's only here for a week and I don't want him wasting-I'm sorry-spending time with anyone he doesn't have to, when he can be spending that time with me."

Ellie couldn't believe her ears. Maybe she was hallucinating, she thought. maybe this was a dream, no a nightmare, because in a dream she would have reached over and carefully snatched Manny's head off. Instead she just stared at her, not sure what to say but vowing that if Craig did call she'd make sure he came over even if she were busy, just to show Manny who not to mess with.

"Manny, I'm not sure what you're talking about but I'll be sure to let Craig know you don't want him to see me." and she began to close the door when Manny stuck her freshly pedicured foot into it. "Look Ellie, I know coming over here so early may seem a bit rash, but I wanted to make myself clear as early as possible," Manny stared at Ellie all seriousness, a vicious look in her eye "This way I can make sure that I can't be held responsible for anything that happens between us this year because of this...issue." Ellie matched Manny's look with a vicious gleam in her own eyes "Well good," Ellie said clenching her fists tightly "Cause since you approached me, neither can I." and Ellie slammed the door, Manny's foot being moved just in time for her to save her precious toes.

Ellie laughed to herself as she wished that she'd had the bat in her hand at that time, "No, "Me and Him" Ellie said to herself. "The nerve of that Bitch." But even though Ellie voiced her defiance, inside she could feel herself hurting because she knew in a way Manny was right. What would be the point of Craig even coming when she knew he'd only hurt her more? One thing Sean leaving had showed her, she didn't take being ditched by guys too well.

Ellie had a problem with cutting her arms to release her pain...her insecurities...her fears. Sean leaving had only started a fresh batch of problems for her with the cutting issue. With Craig's help she'd been able to stop herself from cutting. Now she had rubberbands on both arms to pop herself with whenever she felt the urge to cut. Her therapist had suggested it and she could feel one of those urges coming on. "No," she stated loudly, "I won't let another guy reduce me to that." and she stood up, unconsciously picking up the bat with her, and headed for her bedroom door.

She opened the door and something-someone-jumped at her from the floor in the darkness. She'd cursed herself for not having checked her bedroom and at the same time bashed whoever it was in the leg with the bat. "Aaaahhh!" she and he screamed together as she flicked on the light and stared at the unwelcome sight that lay in front of her.

Scene Change: (Emma and Manny's basement room)

Manny Santos lay in her bed, hugging her pillow and trying to shake the fear that she had most recently been faced with; losing Craig. She and Craig had been drifting further and further apart ever since he'd left to pursue his career in music and she really loved him. Manny was scared of losing Craig, scared of being alone, the way she'd always been.

Everyone had labeled Manny the school slut when she'd stolen Craig from Ashley Kerwin 2 yrs before. Since then she and Craig had broken up, gotten back together, broken up, and gotten back together again and now they were in that state of the relationship right before everything falls to pieces.

Manny knew this state all too well and she was trying her hardest to keep things from sinking further into the hole that their relationship was falling in. She could've blamed the distance for their problems, she couldv'e blamed her own mistrust; because she knew the fact that she'd stolen him from another girl meant that he was susceptible to being stolen. Instead, she chose an easy target and scapegoat for the problems, a target that she could blame for her own broken heart if things did fall apart; Ellie Nash.

Everyone-everyone except Craig that is-knew that Ellie had a thing for Craig. Manny was threatened because for 1. Ellie was Craig's best friend and 2. Ellie was perfect for Craig; at least this is what Manny felt. Ellie was everything she wasn't, and as much as Manny hated to even think it; Ellie was very beautiful too.

Manny noticed the way Craig was so protective of Ellie, and the way he trusted her with everything, almost more so than Manny, and Manny couldn't stop her jealousy from rearing it's ugly head when Craig had suggested to her that he stay at Ellie's when he visited. "It would take a load of off Joey," he'd said, speaking of his step father, "And I mean, Ellie would be cool with you visiting anytime." Manny's pulse had quickened as she leaned across their table at "the Dot" to kiss him, forcefully "But would she be cool with this...?" she'd said smoothing her fingers down Craig's chest. She and Craig had then headed to Joey's in Craig's room/garage and...

Manny knew that it was wrong of her to try and control Craig with sex but at the time she couldn't figure out anything else to do. And so on Monday morning she decided to head straight to Ellie's and let her know that Craig was not something she'd give up without a fight.

Even though Manny knew that Ellie wasn't the kind of girl to just try and steal Craig away, she couldn't help thinking as she drifted into sleep "Does he want to be stolen?"