Part 4: "You Lied To Me?"

A/N: Lalala. This is the one that a lot of you have been waiting for. I've kind of been putting off writing it for a while, but, alas, here it is. In Part 4-A, Craig finds out that Joey's been lying to him about his dad for two years…

Craig Manning rolled over in bed. It had been just yesterday when he'd been suspended for three days for getting in a fight with Marco. It was so unlike Marco to hit back. So unlike him. But, there it stood. His eye was still bruised and somewhat swollen. He'd gotten more than twenty stitches on his face; Marco was wearing a ring when he hit him in the face.

Rolling off the bed, Craig crawled down the hallway, into the bathroom. He propped himself up against the bathroom sink, staring at his reflection. He looked almost as bad as he felt. For some reason, he was exhausted from yesterday. He had a headache, and felt sick.

Craig fell to his knees in front of the toilet, and vomited into the porcelain bowl. The first feeling made him sick again, and he vomited about four more times. Joey knocked on the door. "Craig! Are you okay?" he asked.

Stammering for words, Craig said, "Uh…yeah, Joey. I think I'm gonna live." Craig heard Joey sigh, and then leave. 'He should be at work,' he thought. Craig rolled over onto his stomach, lying on the plastic bathroom tile. He rested his head on the floor, feeling the coolness.

About a half-hour later, Craig stumbled upward, and almost falling down the stairs as he went to the kitchen to get water. He drank most of the water, and then suddenly dropped the glass. He stumbled and leaned against the counter. Slowly, he breathed. In, out. In, out.

"Maybe I should just go back to bed," he muttered to himself. Just as he reached the stairs someone knocked on the door. He moaned loudly, and then went to the door.

He opened it. "Ash? What are you doing here? You should be…at…" he coughed heavily, and then spoke. "You should be at school."

Ashley walked inside and closed the door. "I know, Craig," she said. "But I had to come see you."

"Well, thanks. But I'm fine…I think," Craig mumbled.

"I want to make sure you're going to be okay."

"Alright, Ash, you're the boss." Ashley smiled in satisfaction. She pushed Craig up against the door. Silently, Craig wondered where Caitlin was. Then, he remembered her saying last night that she was going for a job interview. Ashley ran her hand over Craig's cheek, over the stitches.

Craig winced. "Sorry," Ashley whispered calmly. Craig nodded. "You look bad. You sound bad."

"I've been up for about forty-five minutes," he said simply.

"I think you need to go back up to bed," Ashley ordered.

"I was just about to go to bed when you got here," Craig said flatly, almost too tired to talk at all.

"I'm sorry! Here, let's take you upstairs…" Ashley said soothingly, leading Craig up to his bedroom. There, she laid him down. "Are you too hot? Too cold?"

"Too hot!" Craig cried.

"I'll be right back," Ashley said, before disappearing from the room. She came back with two cold gel packs that she'd found in the freezer three weeks before in a search for ice. She placed one on his forehead and one under his shirt on his chest. He shuddered, but then sighed in relief.

"Thanks, Ash," Craig said softly, closing his eyes.

Ashley pulled a thin blanket over Craig. He smiled weakly, and then yawned. He put one arm on his stomach, and another he left on the side. Ashley sat next to him on the bed and ran her hand through his hair calmly. Eventually, she laid down next to him and fell asleep.

They must have been sleeping for quite a while, because Joey came home at around four. He went into Craig's room, and hissed, "Ashley! Ashley!" Slowly, Ashley woke up and realized what was going on. She sat up calmly. "We didn't do anything," she said quickly.

"It's okay," Joey said simply. "Did you skip school and stay here all day?" Ashley blushed and nodded. She was surprised when the scolding she was expecting from Joey never came. He just smiled. "I think you should get home. Your mom's probably wondering where you are."

Ashley nodded. She got off the bed and went over to the other side. She leaned over Craig. "Craig, I have to go," she whispered. Craig moaned.

"I'm sorry…I'll call you, okay?" Ashley said quietly. Craig nodded. She kissed him softly before saying, "I love you, Craig." And then she left.

Monday

Today was a horrible day for Craig Manning. Today was the day he had to face Marco for the first time since Tuesday. Great. He didn't get his stitches out until the next day, but figured it would be okay to go around school with twenty-three stitches for only one day.

Joey offered to drive him to school, and he accepted.

When Craig got to Degrassi, his stomach lurched. "Bye, Joey," he muttered. He walked slowly up the steps, trying to ignore the looks he was getting from everyone. He ran to his locker, got his stuff, and closed the locker. He turned his head, and saw Marco walking his way. His face was lightly bruised, nothing compared to what Craig looked like. Of course, Craig hadn't been wearing a ring, either.

Not even bothering to lock his locker, he walked quickly the other way. "Craig! Craig!" Marco shouted.

Craig ignored him.

"Craig! Come on!" he shouted again. "I didn't mean to!" Craig stopped abruptly.

"Didn't mean to what, Marco? Didn't mean to hit me? Didn't mean to hit on my girlfriend? Didn't mean for me to get stitches? Didn't mean to have all these people staring at me because I look like some kind of freak? What, Marco? What didn't you mean to do?" Craig didn't wait for an answer, but simply ran to Mr. Simpson's class. He got a seat at the back of the room.

When the bell rang, and everyone sat down, Marco sat next to Spinner. "Thanks, Spinner. I never should've listened to you. Now Craig's mad at me. I tried to give you a second chance after everything that happened with Jimmy, but I guess people like you don't deserve second chances, right?" he said angrily.

After class, Marco tried talking to Craig, who still ignored him. Ellie put a hand on his arm. "Give it time, Marco," she said. "He got hurt a little bit more than stitches could fix in that fight." Marco thought about what Ellie said, and watched as Craig and Ashley talked at his locker.

"She's the only one that talks to him," Marco whispered.
"What?" Ellie said, confused.

"Ash. She's the only one that talks to him… because she's the only one who wants to."

Ellie stood, confused, and went to her next class when the bell rang.

Marco sat with Ellie, Ashley, and Jimmy at the lunch table. He leaned over to Ashley and said, "Where's Craig?" Ashley had a small intake of breath before she answered.

"He wasn't feeling well. He went to go see the nurse," she said smoothly. Marco nodded in understanding.

When the final bell finally rang, Craig looked from Mr. Simpson's classroom window to make sure that Marco was gone before he left himself. "Spying on someone, Craig?" Mr. Simpson's voice came from behind him quickly.

"You could say that," Craig answered.

"Well hurry up, I'm leaving early today," Mr. Simpson said happily.

"I'll leave when Marco does," muttered Craig. He sighed in satisfaction when he saw Marco walk down in one direction of the street. Then, he exited the school, making sure the door didn't make too much noise, as he didn't want Marco to hear if it did. It might draw attention.

Finally, he got home. Surprisingly, Joey was there. Usually, it would take him about two to five more hours to get home from the car lot.

"Craig, the doctor called," he said, as soon as he walked in the door.

"Which one? The therapist? The pharmacist guy? Or the one that put my stitches in last week?" Craig said loudly.

"The one that put your stitches in last week. He says that he's going on vacation tomorrow, so we have to go in and have your stitches taken out today instead of tomorrow."

"Okay," Craig said simply. So, they went to get Craig's stitches taken out. It hurt a little bit, because the doctor had to dig this metal thing into the wound to get the stitches out. But, in the end, it looked better.

No more stitches, just scars.

When they got back from the doctor, Craig went up to bed. Joey went up to Craig's room and sat next to him on the bed. "Craig, are you okay?" he asked in a concerned tone.

"Yeah, why?" Craig said lamely.

"I know that something's up with the meds, and I'll get it checked out, but it's not the meds that's the only problem."

"Yes, okay, Joey! I get it! You think I'm insane! Okay? Happy now? Good! Leave me alone!" Craig shouted.

"No, Craig, I don't think you're insane. And I'm not going to leave you alone. What's wrong? I want to help you."

Craig sat up slowly. "I don't want you to help me. Nobody can help me. Nobody ever will."

"Craig, I'd help you, but you're working against it." Craig was silent for about five minutes.

"Joey, you know when me and….Marco got in the fight? I almost hit Ashley. She came between me and Marco and I almost hit her. I was going to push her and keep fighting with Marco. But it took me a minute to realize that I was bleeding, and Marco wasn't. Everyone acts like Marco's cool and he's 'in'. Just because he was wearing the ring. So it made me look weaker. I'm weaker. Weaker than Marco. Haha. Hearing it makes me laugh. I was always stronger than Marco. He wasn't supposed to hit me back. But he did. And now I'm weaker than he is."

"He doesn't have to go through as much as you do."

"So? Is there a point to your statement?" Craig said, looking away from Joey and laying back down.

"Yeah, there is. You're not weaker than Marco. You've had to put up with a lot more than Marco ever has."

"I'm tired, Joey. I'm tired of everything. You know, when Ash came over last week, I was sick as hell. I could barely walk, I couldn't eat anything, and I threw up. I don't even know why."

"People get sick."

"I'm more than sick, Joey. I'm psychotic. I need to spend the rest of my life in a mental institute."

"Is that what you want?"

"No, but it's not like I want to take medications. I still 'need' them."

Joey talked endlessly about the importance of the medications until Craig fell asleep.

The Next Day

Joey, Craig, and Caitlin were sitting on the couch watching the morning news. Angie was sitting on the arm of the couch, saying, "Why do we have to watch the stupid old news?"

So far, the weather was supposed to be partly cloudy for the rest of the week. Craig was about to turn the TV off when----

"In other news, Albert Manning, the man charged over two years ago with the hit and run of a Toronto woman was released yesterday afternoon…"

The words went through Craig's head a million times. He kneeled down in front of the TV screen. He stared at the picture. He stood up, stumbled to the kitchen, and vomited in the sink. Fortunately, the sink was empty. He ran the water and rinsed out the sink. He stared back at the TV screen, then over to Joey, who had buried his face in his hands.

"How—why would---I trusted you…I believe everything you say, and…you lied to me?" Craig said.

"Craig, come on!" Joey shouted.

"I have to go to school," Craig said before running out the door.

A/N: Okay, so, there you go. Part 4-A. Part 4-B will be the search for Albert Manning! Yay! Okay, read, review, rate 1-10. Love, me.