Chapter Two, Part One: No One has the Power to Hurt You like Your Friends

Leia Bai

Degrassi had no dance team here or any dance program to speak of. Sure there were a few elective classes that consisted of basic ballet, jazz, and modern but nothing that really challenged me. Still, I had enrolled in all of them, throwing Calculus I to the side.

What freshman seriously took Calculus anyway? I knew I was already older than the other kids, by one year, but dumping math for this semester wouldn't hurt me. I just had to take it every semester after this one to "graduate with honors."

My mom was forcing that on me, but being smart wasn't something I wanted to be known for. I wanted to make people love dance as much I did, to live, breath, feel, and want to die for it. That's how I felt when I was forced to leave ballet training school. I wanted to die. It was like the only thing that really mattered to me was being taken away and replace by a regular high school.

I don't exactly know the whole story and why I was forced to leave, but I'm guessing that dad found out about my late night adventures and freaked out. I don't know what the big deal was. It was just sex, and a couple of the guys that I'd been with well … I was their first so it was nothing to worry about.

I didn't get how parents could justify them having sex at least three times, to have me and my siblings, but then I do what it is in my nature to do and everyone just freaks the hell out. And my other brother, Tiyo could do whatever he wanted.

No one even cared what he did, as long as he brought back all As and kept up with the piano lessons.

That's why I really wanted to dance in this moment. I needed to get my mind off of a lot of things and it was completely my release. I didn't even check to see if the dance studio was reserved or not, but I didn't care. Anyone who had a problem with it was going to have to drag me off the floor. This was my sanctuary, my home.

"I knew I'd find you here girl." Danny walked onto the dance floor as I continued the routine I was working on. "Wow, what's that for … a strip club?"

"No. I'm trying to get a dance team started here."

"Why? That's what spirit squad is for." He answered as I lost focus on my chaines and slid to the floor. I knew there was no way to stop me from falling down so I tried to my best to make a pretty landing, and I did … in a split.

"Now that looks painful." Danny rushed over to me, helping me to stand.

"Anyone can learn how to do it." I smiled. "I didn't think football practice was over yet."

"Yeah. It got canceled for today and I was looking for you." He explained with a smile.

"Bull shit. You were totally macking on some girl on 'spirit squad.' I can totally see the field from the windows up here." I explained, pointing him in the right direction.

"Aww man. You caught me." He looked down for a second. "So … you think she likes me?"

"I think she likes messing with you." I explained as he helped me pick up my stuff and get ready to leave. Basically, I wanted an excuse not to have to go home right after school. The only thing that mattered to me was dance, and there wasn't a team here or anything so I just chilled here until Danny's practice was over.

I told my mom I was a freshman representative for student government and on the spirit committee or whatever and she didn't ask anything else. As long as I was involved in something that I could put on my resume, she was fine with it.

Danny and I walked side by side, my soft sofee shorts clinging to my body with sweat. I hadn't finished my routine yet, but there was always tomorrow. Danny stared at me silently as I pretended not to notice. I was always a little afraid of what was going to come out of his mouth, what he was going to say, and if he was going to ever mention my actions at ballet school to the Degrassi community.

"Are you a mute now or just a mime?" He started to mimic my actions as I smiled unwillingly. "Finally! An emotion!"

"You're so stupid Danny." I grinned, flipping my hair over my shoulder and, by doing so, catching the guy of some guy with a doofy grin and drum sticks in his hands. He was cute, but not cute enough so I didn't bother looking at him longer than I needed to.

"Hey Spin." Danny slapped hands with the guy that had been looking at me as I turned my head the other way, pretending not to notice him studying me. The two started a conversation as I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the wall, acting like I was completely disinterested in their conversation.

I was thankful for the distraction of Alli, whom I had met a couple of days ago but hadn't talked to since. "Hey." I breathed, happy to see her.

"Hey umm … Lee" I shook my head as she tried to guess my name again. "Okay umm ….Lyn …La-"

"Leia." I answered impatiently. "Haven't seen you in the girls' washroom lately."

"Things are looking up. I'm running for freshman senate in student gov. Want to help with my campaign?" She wondered politely.

"Now Leia here wouldn't be of any use to you unless you were organizing a new reincarnation of the Pussycat Dolls." Danny jumped in, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. "Trust me; you're better off without her help."

"My friend here doesn't know what he's talking about." I uncrossed my arms. "I'll do whatever you need me to do to get those extra votes, okay?" I promised as Alli nodded, genuinely happy to have me on board.

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Claire Edwards is my campaign manager and she's organized this meeting schedule for my committee members. We start tonight but you can just drop in tomorrow. Okay?"

"Cool, but--"

"Perfect. Laters!" Alli gave my shoulder a quick pat and rushed off into the hallway, acknowledging the next group she ran into.

"You are such a jerk." I pushed Danny's arm away from my shoulder, walking off as Spin was left in the dust. "Why would you say something like that to her? I'm not the next Pussycat Doll." I rolled my eyes.

"No, more like the next Playboy Bunny, but you've been very good lately … what's up with that?"

"I knew you were going to pull this sooner or later." I rolled my eyes disgusted. "I'm trying not to have everyone here hate me. Alli seems like she'd be really cool to have around and I don't want to be confined to you as a best friend."

"Why not? I'll be your girl friend." Danny offered. "We can have slumber parties, take bubble baths together, give each other massages…"

"Ha. Ha." I rolled my eyes as he placed his arm around my waist. "My mom would personally forget her Asianness and kick your scrawny little butt." I answered. "She'd so go Crouching Tiger on you." I smiled, enjoying feeling this close to him. It wasn't that Danny was so great or anything, but he was a warm body and he was … there. Plus, I knew I could trust him. He'd seen me at my worst and he would never take it farther than touchy-feely friends.

"Crouching Tiger? I thought you were Korean."

"No, I'm CHINESE!" I groaned as he chuckled in delight.

"I know that. Just messin with ya." Danny explained. "You know, my 18th is coming up and I was going to have this big celebration--"

"You know I can't. Kai-ying is like my mom's personal spy now and Tiyo will definitely be there. I can't have crazy fun knowing that the sibs are lurking around the corner." I joked. "I already told you Danny, I'm trying to be good … at least for a little while."

"Then we'll have a rated G, alcohol, temptation, and fun-less pre-party just so that you can go. Invite whoever you want, even Kai-ying."

"I'd rather invite your future girlfriend instead."

"No way, you think so?" His face lit up as I rested my head on his shoulder for a little bit. "Really? Mia?"

"I know it."

Alli Bhandari

I walked into the next Indian Cultural Exchange meeting feeling more than just a little dejected. I had worked so hard on that speech and it see that my efforts went to waste, really bothered me. I knew that I should just get over it because I wasn't anything special.

It wasn't like this didn't happen to people all the time because it did. I had been hearing it all my life, but it never really hit me so hard in the face until this. High school was turning out to be the big reality check that I didn't want it to be.

I sat in the front of the meeting again this time, trying to pretend like nothing bad happened. I was furious and steaming on the inside, but I could get past it. Indian Cultural Exchange was a really good group to get involved in. They were well-known around the Toronto community, which is a big feat, and I knew that being a member of it was something that was going to benefit me, and why was I sounding like one of those stupid infomercials on television?

I just had to get through this meeting and then talk to the president, make Mohammed understand that I was way better qualified for this than Shahela.

As the officers spoke through the meeting, I took notes so that I could focus on something besides getting angry and attacking everyone in the room. It worked, that is until Mohammed stepped up. I had been so infatuated with this boy back in grade 6 that it was sickening. He was like two years older than me so when he moved onto grade 9 and I was in grade 7, I was devastated.

I'm not going to sit here and say that seeing him didn't do anything for me, because it totally did, but I was older now and Mohammed as a dime a dozen here at Degrassi. For now, I could put my normal boy-craziness on hold and focus on what he was saying … couldn't I?

"Does anyone have any suggestions? Alli?" Mohammed turned his attention towards me as I nearly sunk down in my seat, embarrassed. I had zoned out completely and had no idea of what was said.

"Well, I propose that we work with the International Student Union." Shahela spoke up. I nearly snarled at her. I hated her so much for taking the spot I had worked so hard for and now she was suggesting things? Since when did she actually care about ICE.

As the meeting came to a close, I tossed my things into my baby blue messenger bag, completely furious. I looked like such an idiot out there.

"I'd hate to be that bag right about now." Mohammed joked as I quickly tossed the last notebook in there and closed it.

"Is there a reason why you're speaking to me?" I asked with such an attitude that it shocked even me.

"I wanted to congratulate you on the speech you did. What you wrote about ICE was amazing. I really think we can really blow them away at the convention."

"That's really nice." I sighed, genuinely over this.

"It was so great, in fact that we're using it at the convention." He continued.

"You're WHAT?" I wondered, both surprised and outraged.

"Are you upset?"

"Of course I am. I worked really hard on that and to hear that Shahela is getting my spot and that my words are going to be used without my consent? I won't agree to that." I answered bravely, fully understanding why people said that life was unfair.

"Look, it has nothing to do with you Alli. Your words are brilliant. When you speak, everyone wants to hear what you're saying."

"But they don't want to hear it from me because I'm 'too dark.'" I rolled my eyes disgusted at the concept even though I knew just how true it was. I suffered from having an excess of melanin in my skin.

"You know how it is Alli. I'm sorry. Lighter is always better." Mohammed looked at me with pity. "Look, just stay out of the sun and then maybe next semester it'll be less of a problem." As Mohammed walked away, I stood at the desk, stunned with my jaw nearly detaching itself from the rest of my face. To think I used to be in love with that idiot.

Claire Edwards

It really bothered me to know that KC and everyone else knew that I cared about what other people thought. A month into school and people were still making references to the incident. And to a certain point, I still could not understand why everyone laughed.

It was a hymn. People are supposed to at least be respectful of different expressions of religious beliefs. And it wasn't like my voice was completely horrible … that was the one thing I could do better than Darcy, besides out-smart her, and now I was praying that my so-called "lovely" voice be taken away.

"Hey niner, sing another hymn for us?" Alli's old crush, Mohammed, mocked me as I clinched my jaw, continuing to walk down the hallway as steady as ever. At least I was at the point where I didn't storm out of the room in tears. At least I was starting not to care … right?

"He is the epitome of a jackass." Alli said to me, referring to Mohammed who was off making fun of someone else.

"And you're in love with him."

"Used to be." She corrected me. "Look, Claire, I was thinking that just because you had this minor mishap in front of the whole school doesn't mean that you shouldn't run for senate. You should."

"But then I'd be running against you and we'd split the votes." I answered logically, truly terrified about having a repeat performance of that stupid song I sang. It was all KC's fault and by the way … where was KC?

"I'm just running because you backed out. It's not that I don't care about student government, but with both of us as senators Degrassi can really be better. Don't you believe that?"

"Now you sound like a really bad political commercial." I responded with a chuckle.

"Smiling? That's good." KC joined the two of us, looking rushed. "What did I miss?"

"Stupid upperclassmen who think they're better than everyone else." Alli answered as I buried my face in my locker for a second. I actually wanted to talk to Alli about some … girl stuff, but now that KC wasn't here I couldn't say what I wanted to say.

And once Leia walked by and I saw the reaction of every guy in the hallway, I was instantly reminded of the type of power that I would never possess … no matter how many books I read or how much smarter I became.

(A/N: I know it's a little choppy, but I'm trying to not to make other chapters as long as this one. Also, watching the new Degrassi completely threw me off because I envisioned the characters differently … oh well. Make sure to review. Who do you want to hear more about?? –NL)