CHAPTER THREE: THE NIGHT BEFORE LIFE GOES ON
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Degrassi, I did create the character of Pem, though.
Part One: Beautiful Day
Saturday approached the Degrassi community quicker than sun melted a popsicle laying out on the pavement. Nobody was looking foreword to the draft but no one seemed to dread it more than Emma. In her pajama shorts and a tank top, she dragged herself up the stairs to her kitchen for breakfast with her parents and Jack.
"You're sure quiet." Her mom stated the obvious shoveling a spoonful of oatmeal into Jack's already packed mouth. Emma didn't answer, she just took another small spoonful of breakfast. Spike glided her eyes up at her husband and coazed him to say something to Emma.
He cleared his throat and asked, "What's on your mind?"
Again, Emma said nothing.
"Em?" Spike pressed on.
"I was thinking about the draft." She confessed in one large breath.
"We can't go a moment without talking about this war, can we?" Snake, who had the paper folded opened on the table, which had a large picture of three caskets belonging to soliders with the Canadian flag drapped over them.
"It's serious, Snake. What if you get drafted?" She finally looked up from her bowl of oatmeal.
"I won't." He shook his head and reached for her hand to rest his over to reassure her.
"You don't know that. Why is everybody just wishful thinking? This is serious." Emma was getting herself worked up, her face already red and flushed.
"No, I do know that, Emma." Snake cleared his throat. "I had my medical examination yesterday afternoon, after the assembly. When word of my cancerous past came up, the doctor assured me I wouldn't be sent. They don't want to send me out to the field where I'd be destined to come across high radiation."
A large grin took over all of Emma as she reached foreword and wrapped Snake in a bear hug. Spike just laughed in complete bliss. That's when it hit Emma, though, right as she was pulling away. She was thrilled that Snake wouldn't have to go to Iraq for the war but, that meant Sean had a better chance of going now. Ecspecially, because his health was tip top.
That afternoon, Emma took the bus all the way to the otherside of town where the autobody Sean worked at was. She pushed through the doors and over to the station he was usually postioned at. He was on his back beneath a black Sunfire causing all sorts of racket beneath it.
"Sean." She spoke up to alert him he was there. In a moment, he slid out and stared up at her.
"Hey, nice surprise." He beared a teeth filled smile at her. He was even more surprised when he noticed her holding a large McDonald's bag in her hand. Emma was against fast food joints, meat and Gem Foods. That was what most people knew Emma for. "What's in the bag?" He sat up and leaned his back against the vechile.
"Two quater pounders with cheese and large fry and a six piece McNugget." She recicted out of breath with a pale look of panic on her face.
"Why?" He asked, dumbfounded.
"I want you to be unhealthy." She stated as clear as she could. Sean clenched his eyes together and wondered if he heard her right. Ever since news of the draft broke out, Emma had been stranger than usual. "If your medical exam shows poor results, they probably won't send you. So, eat up!" She pushed the bag right in his face, so he could inhale all the scent of the greasy greatness that sat inside.
"I already had my examination, Em." He chuckled. "But, Thanks." he reached up and took the bag from her.
"Are you serious?" She sat down on a metal bench with his tool box on it. "What happened? What did the doctor say?"
"Not a lot." Sean shrugged pushing a few fries into his mouth. He swallowed and then continued. "She took the tests she had to and then dismissed me."
"Sean, I'm so worried."
"Really? You fake it well." He teased.
"It's nice that one of us thinks this is so funny."
Hesitantly, Sean sat up with his McDonald's bag and took a seat next to her, rubbing her back and giving her a salt filled kissed on her glossy lips.
"You said it, last night, this could be our last night, so let's stop worrying and go out and have a blast."
That sounded terrific to Emma.
Part Two: Easy Silence
Once the night rolled around everyone had took to one another. They were ither staying in for the last bit of family time they'd have in a long while or were going on the ultimate dates with their girlfriends. The lone ranger, Spinner, wandered through the doors of the Dot even though he'd booked the night off.
"What brings you here, General Mason?" Pem smiled in the low night light inside the resturant.
"Don't call me that." He lightly smiled and shook his head while taking a seat at the counter. "That's my dad."
"Well, Spinner, shouldn't you be out courting one of the lovely Degrassi chickies or crowded around your plasma screen watching a Will Ferrel movie with your family?"
"I should but, I have no chickies and my dad and mom are out on a date." He sighed, holding his head up with one hand. "How pathetic is that? My dad's got a date and I don't."
"If that's not a rhetorical question, it sounds pretty pathetic." Pem joked, playfully hitting Spinner in the arm. "Why don't you go out with your friends? I know you have no shortage of those."
"They've all got plans set in stone for this evening."
"Makes sense." She nodded.
"What about you, Pam?"
"Pem." She corrected.
"Right, Pem, sorry." He ran a few fingers through his hair and scoffed, lightly. He couldn't figure out how the name kept escaping his mind. "Why aren't you out?"
"Somebody's got to keep this place going."
Spinner glanced around but, the resturant was throughly dead.
"Shouldn't you be out?"
"Doing what?" Pem pulled a mug from beneath the counter and poured Spinner a cup of luke warm coffee.
"I don't know, hanging out with your friends, being with your boyfriend, watching some Will Ferrel movie with your family?" He teased her with a smidge of a chuckle. She laughed right back and then poured herself some coffee. She leaned foreword over the other side of the counter, so they could really talk.
"My friends are all out spending their invietable last nights together. My boyfriend doesn't exist and my sisters are all off with their boyfriends and my dad isn't around." She answered him the way she would a close friend. He felt completely at ease with her, maybe it was just because she didn't know him, she wasn't aware of the stupid thoughtless things he'd done before, or maybe it was because it seemed like if she did know about those things that she wouldn't really care.
"I'm sorry, Pem."
"You shouldn't be." She shook her head and stretched her back out straight. "He was a great solider, least that's what all his bunk mates tell me. He did what he loved and he died for his country's freedom. There is no reason to be sorry." Spinner had never looked at it that way.
"You're a military brat?" His eyes widened. He was sincerly interested in getting to know this girl as a friend. She wasn't like any of the other girls he knew, physically. She had a little meat on her and gypsy features, brown Anti-Medua hair, southern eyes, a thick Eastern accent and was always wearing one baby hair clip in hair. She had chubby hands that were the same kids as most pre- teens and from what he had noticed her feet couldn't be more than a six 6. He didn't know her much beyond that.
"I was." She pulled up a chair and reached around the counter for a chocolate bar. "I was born in Prince Edward Island and we were based there for a while, then we moved to Lousiana when I was little for a few months," She unwrapped the bar and took a chunk off and popped it into her mouth and offered some to Spinner. He ripped himself a piece still listening to her, comfortably. "Then DC, a brief stunt in Salzburg, then to Winnipeg, and about two months when we got word that my dad was killed by mustard gases in Iraq my mom moved us out here where she grew up." Swallowing the melted trace of chocolate on her tounge, Pem briefly nodded. "What about you? What's your family like?"
Spinner quickly swallowed and then dug right into it.
"We're pretty neutral, actually. My dad was a police officer growing up, it was only recently that he joined the military. He's always just loved having authority and he definately does in our house. My mom works part time at Zeller's but, mostly she's around to help at home. I have a pretty good relationship with them. I don't admit to my friends, but I do." He smiled at that fact. He would never tells his friends that he actually likes his parents. "I've got a younger sister, Kendra."
"Oh yeah, I've seen her come in here." Pem piped up with big eyes.
"Yeah, she comes by a lot. She likes the smoothies." He nodded, thinking about her and how much he'd miss her when in the trenches shooting in Iraq. "She's adopted actually but, it's never felt that way. She's my sister, no matter what."
"She's lucky to have such a comedic for a brother." Pem giggled, ripping another chucnk of the chocolate bar off.
"I haven't been myself lately, have I?" He asked this perfect stranger.
"I guess not but, It's understandable." Pem swallowed the piece quickly. She slid her eyes upward and noticed a stain of chocolate on his lips. She tried not to giggle, holding her arm over her lips, but she couldn't contain her laughter.
"What? What?" He looked around the room for what she was finding so funny. Self consious, he started to look at himself but, he couldn't see what was the matter. "Why are you laughing?"
She just shook her head and grabbed a napkin from behind her. Calming herself down, her eyes a little watery, she reached foreword and dabbed the napkin over his lips and tried to take the chocolate smear off.
"It was just a little chocolate." She showed him and then tossed it in the waste can. "Look, I should probably start to close shop and I bet you want to go find somebody to party with but, I can't wait to get your letters, Spin." She stepped out from behind the counter and pulled up one chair over a clean table.
"Actually, if it's okay with you, I kinded wanted to stay here and talk to you some more."
Pem took a moment to let that sink in. She hadn't made a lot of friends since moving into the neighborhood, so it was moving to her to maybe have found someone she could simply just talk to and have a good laugh with.
"Yeah, that'd be awesome." She agreed and with that said, Spinner hopped off the stool and helped her fold the chairs over the tables.
"So, tell me about living in Louisanna." He said the name of the state with his best Southern accent which made her chuckle.
Part Three: A Night Like This
Walking home from Ellie and Marco's place where she'd been hanging out with them and Jimmy and Ashley, Alex noticed Jay's car parked at the end of the street, the night wasn't freezing but it was cooling off and steering away from summer weather. She figured he had to be getting kind of chilly. She picked up her pace and knocked on his window. It made her smirk, seeing him jump when she startled him.
"Did I scare you, Jason?" She asked with a silly expression when he rolled his window down.
"I just wasn't expecting it." He tried to keep his cover.
"Why are you wearing sunglasses? It's pitch black out."
"Get in the car, Alex."
"Why?"
"Just get in."
"Jay, I just want to go home. It's Chad's last night there before he gets drafted, so I'd like to dance around in my underwear in my room, that's how victorious i'm feeling." She wrapped her arms around herself and painted Jay a nice picture which only excited him.
"Well, let me drive you. You can get undressed for your bedroom dancing in here."
"You're such a pig." She muttered while wakling around his car and letting herself in the passenger seat. Jay started up his car and it didn't long for Alex to realze they weren't headed in the direction of her place.
"Where are we going?"
"For a drive." He answered simply, turning up the volume to his ear shattering music.
"Why?" She frowned at him.
"I like the scenery in this part of the neighborhood." As if he was taking it all in, he bobbed his head around and checked out the houses around him. Alex dug her sharp unbitten nails into his skin which made him jump again. "Whoa, put away the claws, Kitten." He leaned back and looked just appauled at her. "Here I am trying to do a selfless act for my best girl and she's attacking me."
"Shouldn't you be out crushing beer cans with your head with the rest of your hooligan gang?"
Jay choked up a chuckle.
"Alex, did you seriously just say 'hooligan gang'?"
"You know what I mean." She crossed her arms and slithered down in her seat.
"Well, Moother Goose, as much as I'd love a drink and to have fun, I thought for my last night in our fair community we lovingly call Degrassi, you and me could go to the drive in."
"You did not!" She shot.
"I did, too." He dropped his jaw and pretend to be surprised by her reaction. They both knew each other too well.
"You did not because you're not stupid." He glowed with pride at that comment. "Slimy and mischevious you are but you aren't so stupid that you'd think you could take me to a drive in and get in my pants."
"Trust me tiger, I know better than that." He patted her knee. "Unless, you wanted, too."
"I don't." In a dark tone, she confirmed.
"They're playing one of those silent movies and I thought we could do what we used to."
Alex hadn't a clue what that was.
"You don't remember?!" Jay couldn't believe this. He reached down and turned his music down. "As if, Ale we did it all the time. It's what made me want to come back to your place all those times. You'd do all the female voices and I'd do the guys and we'd make up our own dialoge. We'd end up on the ground with stomach aches from laughing so hard.
"It rings a bell." She nodded but, really she could completely remember now. It was all those silent movie nights that made her want to wrap her legs around his waist, that made her want pour cement all over Jay's body and lay over top of him so when it dried, he couldn't pull away from her because it would hurt too much. It was the way his blue eyes watered when he was laughing so hard and how he'd lay his head on her lap.
"It's how I want to spend my last night." Jay confirmed while turning the music back up.
Part Four: Sick Cycle Carousel
Her zip up zipped all the way to the top, Ellie waited outside Craig's house for him to answer. She'd already knocked once and though she was excited to spend her last night with him, Marco and Dylan watching hours of bad old school television, she was trying her best to be paitent. When he finally opened the door, he had a wildman grin on his face and was still finishing laughing.
"Ellie?" He sounded shocked to see her.
"Hey, sorry I'm late, traffic was slow." She nodded. "Ready to go?" She jingled her car keys in her fist.
"Oh, we had plans tonight." He slapped his palm over his forehead. It had completely slipped his mind.
"You were going to come over and watch marathons of cheesy television with Marco, Dylan and I. Time to be nostalgic." She rooted, she wasn't liking the way his eyes kept shifting and how he was sighing shallowly.
"I forgot, I'm sorry. I made plans with Manny tonight."
Ellie could handle the plan fact that Craig had forgotten, he wasn't Mister Reliable ever but, she hated being stood up for Manny, she hated anything that put Manny before her. Ellie suddenly shrank down to ten feet smaller, she felt like a child who was let down because nobody would pay for her pony ride at the circus. She didn't want to think this was really happening. "Sorry, Nash." He said so casually. Making it real for Ellie, she heard Manny hollering at him from the living room.
"No problem." She managed to get out. "No problem, Manning." She tried to fake a laugh.
"I guess, I'll see you tommorrow. We're still all going to go meet where the list is posted at noon, right? That won't slip your mind?" She tried to reform from being hasty.
"Yeah, I promise, I'll be there." He agreed. "Have a good night without me, though."
"You too." Ellie said before heading back to her car completely disapointed in Craig and even more in herself for getting so excited.
More coming up! Please, comment, if you've got any requests for a story, I'm taking them, by the way. Or if you have any suggestions for this story, let me know.
I just thought I should write down what songs I'm naming these after
Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2
Innocent - Our Lady Peace
Won't Back Down - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
The Night Before (Life Goes On) - Carrie Underwood
Beautiful Day - U2
Easy Silence - Dixie Chicks
A Night Like This - Tomi Swick
Sick Cycle Carousel - Lifehouse
Chapter Four coming up! Who made the draft, who won't?