Chapter 3.

Surprise.

Charlotte;

I starred at myself in the mirror on a Monday morning. Why can't I have the confidence that other girls have? I thought.

I turned my computer on, only to find Alli Bhandari all over my Facebook page. Never mind dignity, but this girl wasn't afraid of anything. She was so straight forward, and didn't care what other people thought of her. I noticed she put up a Nicki Minaj song, and the next thing I knew I was all over her Youtube.

"Roman Zolanski?" I asked out loud. "Hmm…an alter-ego." I thought. I clicked back to Alli's page and starred at the differences between her and I. "Maybe that's what I need."

Once I got to school, I went to the cafeteria to get breakfast since I missed it this morning. I was waiting for the regular lunch lady to come to the cash, but instead, a tall boy with dirty blond hair, who was also wearing a tight hairnet I might add, came to take my order.

"Good morning," He said, his eyes transfixed onto mine. Suddenly, I forgot how to speak.

"Er…Um…gah. Hah. Heh. Number two." I finally said, and he gave me a funny look.

"Pardon?" He asked, and I went cold. Nice going Charlotte, you just made a fool of yourself in front of a senior. Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. I could either be my usual self and leave to avoid any awkward confrontations, or I could not act like myself. I began to think about my alter ego, and then I turned back to the boy, whose nametag read Declan.

"I meant, I'll have number two. The egg sandwich." I pointed up there, and fixed my hair while doing so. He nodded and waited for the cook to make the egg, while we both stood there, awkwardly.

"So, you're a senior?" I asked, fiddling with my ring.

"Yeah, it sucks. Last year here…I'm going to miss it."

"Really? I mean, I would too, except I miss my old school more. It was a private school."

"Really? Where'd you go?"

"Leland Prep." I hastily said.

"You went to Leland Prep?" His eyes widened. "That's insane. Isn't that the most expensive private school in this entire province?"

"Mhm. My mom knew people, obviously, so I got in. It's not as special as they make it sound. I mean, the indoor pool and Jacuzzi aren't that much of a big deal."

Before I knew it, I was telling him all about this popular private school. I got him to believe that my step-father owned the place, and how I got university credits for going there.

"Wow, that's unbelievable. I'm trying to get my younger brother to transfer there, but I don't even know how the process works."

"Hmm. Maybe I could help you out." I reached into my bag and grabbed a small piece of paper and wrote my number on it. "My name's um, Madison, by the way." I winked as I handed it to him, and his smile was so wide that I could've counted all of his teeth right there and then.

As I walked out of the cafeteria, I ran into KC.

"Hey you. I was looking for you in the library, where'd you go?"

"I was in the caf, just getting some food." I sighed, finally glad I wouldn't have to impress anybody. I looked over at KC and noticed something different. "What's that?" I asked, taking a bite of my sandwich.

"What?"

"That. That thing on your head."

"Oh, my beanie? Yeah it's nothing. Jenna got it for me." He blushed and I rolled my eyes.

"Ew. It looks bad, take it off."

"Shut up, Charlotte. I use it to get the ladies." He waved hi to a girl who walked by, but then walked straight into the water fountain as he turned around to see her go. The girl laughed at him and I rolled my eyes again.

"Mhm, yeah. Definitely a ladies man."

Amy:

School was over, and all day I was looking for him. Still the one with the unknown name. It really didn't bother me as much as it was supposed to. On my way to go catch my bus, a guitar case hit me in the head.

"Ow…watch where you're going." I snapped, upset overall because of him not talking to me, and now some random guy decides to be a klutz and hit me in the head.

"What? Oh God, sorry. Are you okay?" He turned around, and suddenly his dirty blond hair was all I was thinking about. I couldn't even talk. How on earth did someone this good looking exist and I had no idea about it? "Hello?" He waved his hand in front of my face. Then I realized I was just starring at him for a minute or so.

"Oh!" I clasped my hand over my head dramatically. "Oh my God. Everything's spinning." I clenched onto his plaid shirt, and his hat nearly fell off. I put all of my weight on him, and he nearly dropped his guitar to catch me.

"I didn't know it hit you that hard." He muttered, and helped me get my balance back. I figured it'd be way too obvious if I faked the injury, so I straightened myself out.

"Er, you didn't. I don't know what happened I guess, sort of just blacked out." I awkwardly laughed, and so did he. He pursed his lips together and started fiddling with his guitar. He looked really nervous, so I figured I should probably leave.

"Well, um. Bye." I exhaled as soon as I was away from him, thankful that the awkward moment was done.

It was about eleven thirty, when I realized trying to fall asleep would be pointless. I couldn't sleep at all, after having so many thoughts running through my mind. I turned on the light and took out The Outsiders. By the time I was done Chapter One, I realized it was about midnight, and it was pouring rain outside. I opened my door to take a peak and see if anyone was awake. I sighed in disappointment, hoping somebody would be awake to get me some food. I quietly closed the door, until I heard a small frigid rocking noise. My heart began to pound, and I held The Outsiders close to my chest.

Breathe Amy, it's nothing serious. I thought to myself. I quickly went under the covers of my bed, hoping that they would magically help me. For about three seconds, the house was completely silent, until the noise repeated itself. This time, it sounded like it came from my balcony. The rain was still pouring, but softer this time.

"Shit fuck shit." I began cussing under my breath, as I starred at the balcony. I turned off my rooms light, hoping that if there really was some psychopath killer out there, they wouldn't be able to see me. I slowly opened the balcony door, and whipped my head outside to see if anyone was there.

"Pst!" I heard something and nearly squealed with fear. "Down here." A pebble hit me in the forehead from my backyard and my eyes widened.

"Oh my God." I starred at him. "What. What're you doing here, how did you know this was my house?" I whispered, and he chuckled.

"Come down."

"Are you insane?" I felt like throwing my book at him.

"Nope. Just a bit, but I mean, all of the best people are, aren't they?" He winked at me, and I folded my arms, but still smiled. If this wasn't at midnight in the middle of the rain and a bit creepy, I'd consider this romantic.

"Come down, please?"

I looked back in my room to see if my parents would find out.

"Wait." I crept back in, grabbed my sweater and put a couple of pillows under my sheet. Before I walked back towards the balcony, I looked at myself in the window. What was I doing? I wasn't the type of girl who would sneak out. He threw another pebble in and I rushed out, without even thinking about what I was doing.

I came down the ladder and he grabbed my hand without saying anything, and we left my house. We kept walking and walking until we were out of the neighbourhood.

"Can I ask where we're going?" I whispered, even though we weren't in my house, the streets were silent and it felt like I'd be waking everybody up.

"It's a surprise."

"I feel like you're going to kill me." I joked, but there was a bit of wariness in my voice.

"Will you relax? You're so uptight, this is why I'm doing this." He winked, and we finally reached a forest.

"Okay, I'm so not going in that."

"It's just a trail, it's not an actual forest. Don't forget, we're in Degrassi. There's nothing actually intense here." He winked again, and I grabbed his hand tighter. If anything; he had a point. This was the most peaceful town.

He was right; the trail was so small that we were out of the forest and trees within two minutes. Finally, all there was in front of us was a big hill. He helped me get up, and we finally sat on the top. I couldn't even breathe because of how beautiful the scenery was.

"Oh my God."

"Yeah." He looked over at me, and then lay down. I felt like I should do the same, so I did. We both looked up at the stars and how clear they looked.

"You can't have this view back in town, because of the lights. Not many people know about this place, they think it's just apart of the forest."

"It's beautiful." It was all I could say. I was so shocked at what I was staring at. The night

seemed so much more calmer here. The rain wasn't as frightening; it was peacefully dripping down, and the warm breeze was the perfect addition. The smell of the wet grass filled the air, and the weather was just moist.

He leaned over closer to me, and closed his eyes. I knew what was coming, but I didn't know how to react. Instead, I pushed him aside.

"I can't." I finally said, and it felt as if the 'peacefulness' of the park was slowly fading away.

"Why not?"

"Why not? I don't even know your name."

"That's…irrelevant."

"How is that irrelevant? What do I refer to you as, then? Him?" I snapped, and as I looked around, the park didn't seem that calm either. The trees were rustling hard, and the rain was pouring down even harder.

"Look, I just don't want you to know. There are…stories. Stories about me, and if you found out about them, I just-I just don't want to lose you."

"I've known you for about three months." I said sternly.

"But we have something special- you can't deny that."

"I'm not! Of course we have something special!" I exclaimed, and then sighed. He doesn't understand. How doesn't he understand.

"You know everything about me. You know who I am, you know where I live, where I came from. You know everything, but I don't know anything about you." He just starred at me, his eyes glaring. Except, he didn't look scary; he looked hurt. "I promise, it won't change anything between us. We're still friends." I took a hold of his hand, but he didn't give it.

"I-I made a couple of mistakes last year. Dumb mistakes. This guy, he made me mad. I didn't mean to do it, I just want you to know that." He paused and then let out his hand. "My name's Mark Fitzgerald. They call me Fitz, though." He blushed, and I shook his hand and didn't let go.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Mark." I blushed too. I felt like this was perfect, the most perfect night. But why did I feel like there was something wrong? A tiny bit of my conscious was telling me to run away from him. I tried ignoring that, but not completely.

"Um, I hope you don't get offended or anything. But can we go home?" I asked and he nodded. He walked me back home in silence, and when we finally reached my backyard, he didn't let me go.

"So, I told you…" His voice trailed off, and he looked a bit embarrassed. I was confused at first, but then I realized what he wanted. I grabbed his face and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"'Night Fitz."

Elena:

It was Tuesday morning when Lindsay ran to me with a big box filled with party decorations.

"Elena." She said, with the angriest expression on her face. She looked like a tiger, and if I was a deer she'd just hunt me down.

"Er…yes?" I asked innocently.

"You got me into this mess. You can fix it. Alli wants to throw a dance, and she said since her and I are both running for president, we both have to make it look good, and other nonesence. I signed you up for the dance committee."

"What? But-but I suck at decorating."

"I don't care. I didn't even want to run for this stupid election!"

"What're you talking about? Linds, you got invited to parties, and you're even popular now!" I whispered the last part, but Lindsay rolled her eyes.

"Elena, that's what you wanted, not me. All I want is…" Her voice trailed off as Drew walked by us and waved at her. "That." She whispered once he left. "Okay, there's more." She grabbed a chair and sat down. "Drew's also on the dance committee. But if you go and talk to him for me, then I guess you could be like my wing man. Or…wingwoman? I don't know." She began going on about how much Drew meant to her, and to be honest, I sort of blocked out everything she was saying. She was stating the obvious. I mean, Drew was absolutely one of the most gorgeous boys in school. But he was also dating the most gorgeous girl in school. Was I even ready to get into any drama with the Bhandari's?

"…Please, Elena?" Lindsay was about to give me her puppy-dog faces, but before she could, I took the box from her and rolled my eyes. "Fine. But you owe me." I got up and walked to the gym, where the decorating took place. There were about twenty people in here, and there was Alli, standing on top of the stage ordering people around. When I finally placed the box on the stage next to her, she gave me a look and raised her eyebrow.

"Um, who are you?" She asked with a snooty accent.

"I'm helping out…" I choked out. My palms were getting sweaty; I hated being put on the spot. Everybody's eyes were on me, and a couple of people were muttering things behind me.

"She's with me." Drew stepped up and took the box. He gave me a nod and I finally breathed out, and everybody watched us in shock as we left to decorate the outside of the gym doors.

"Thanks." I finally said, thinking it was the right thing to say. Drew gave me a confused look.

"For what?"

"Just you know, helping me out in there." I scratched my neck and accidentally unlocked my necklace which fell down. I picked it up and tried to tie it around my neck again, but it wouldn't work. Drew began laughing and came behind me.

"Here, I'll fix it." I stood there while I could feel him breathing behind me. His hands touched my neck, and I got goosebumps.

No, Elena, no. He's not yours.

I couldn't help it. He didn't back away and I turned around.

"Thanks." I muttered, as I starred right into his gray-blue eyes. He was flawless. He didn't move an inch, and neither did I. We could've probably just stood in front of each other all day, if it wasn't for Alli slamming the door open to leave the gym.

"Drew, darling, come walk me to class. Whats-her-face or whatever can do the rest herself." Alli crossed her arms and waited for Drew, but he didn't move.

"I promised I'd help her," He shrugged. My stomach began to flip so many times that I thought I'd throw up rainbows. Alli scoffed, and didn't move, and Drew gave me an apologetic look.

"Sorry. We'll do it at lunch, okay?" He whispered, and I nodded, not knowing what else to do. Within minutes, they were all gone and it was just me in the empty hallway. I sighed and picked up the balloons to hang. Finally, when the bell for second period rang, I grabbed my things to go, when Lindsay grabbed me by the shoulders.

"So? How'd it go? Did he mention me?"

"What? Oh. Oh, yeah." I nodded, and then she squealed with happiness. It wasn't a big deal that I was lying, was it?

"Okay, I'll take the shift at lunch then."

"Wait! No!" Lindsay gave me a look, and I nervously swallowed. "Um, it's fine. You go eat lunch, I'll do it."

"…Why?" She gave me a suspicious face, and I shrugged it off.

"Er. I don't know, just because."

"Well, Drew's doing the lunch shift, so I think it's better off if I did it." And with that she was off. Didn't she realize? Didn't she realize that maybe I also had feelings for him? I sighed and closed my locker door.

"I guess my feelings don't matter." I muttered.

Charlotte:

After school I waited for K.C to finish basket ball practise.

"Hey, thanks for the wait. Want my brother to drop us off home?"

"I think I'll walk." The weather was beautiful, and there was even a slight rainbow, after the hard rain coming down last night.

"Alone?" He gave me his usual dorky expression, and then put his gym bag around his neck. "I'll come with you."

While we were walking, we passed a bus stop, with a huge banner for Leland Prep.

"My brother wants me to go to this school." He looked at it, and I gave him a look.

"Ew. It looks like a snobby school. Why does he want you to go there?"

"He told me he has ties. He can get me in." I nodded, afraid of what was coming next.

That night, my phone rang with an unfamiliar number on the screen.

"Hey, Madison? It's Declan." The voice said through the phone. My palms were getting sweaty, and my heart kept beating fast. I had to sit down.

"Uh. Hi." I managed to say. "Is this Danny? I told you, I'm beyond busy."

"Declan." He gave a nervous laugh, and then paused to see if I remembered him.

"OH, cafeteria boy. How're you?" I fiddled with my anklet.

"Good. Great. Listen, about today. I wanted to thank you for everything you're doing, Madison, so…how about dinner? At seven, tonight." He had a bit of hesitation in his voice, and I cleared mine.

"S-sure." I stuttered, but then thought of something. This isn't Charlotte, it's Madison. Who said Madison would be free on a Tuesday night?

"Actually, I have something to do tonight…can we make it Friday?" I held my breath for his response, and he agreed to it, and we finally hung up. I looked at myself in the mirror.

"Well, Madison. Looks like you got yourself a date."

I was about to pick my outfit out, when my mom called me down.

"Charlotte, can you go to the corner market and get us some milk?" She asked, handing me a twenty dollar bill. I grabbed my jacket and walked around the corner and then went into the grocery store. A really cute boy at the cash register who I've always seen but was afraid to talk to smiled at me, and I decided to ask him for help.

"So, um. Which one do you think looks nicer?" I held up two random Graduation cards that I found. He laughed and pointed at the more humorous one and I gave him a wink.

"I thought so too," I smiled.

"Do you live around here?" He asked, as he added all of the groceries together.

"Yup, just around the corner."

"Cool. I'm Brad." He pointed at his name tag and I laughed.

I let out my hand for him to shake. "Lily."

Lula:

I woke up in a hospital with my entire family looking at me.

"She woke up! Mo, tell your father she woke up! Thank you God, my little girl's woken up." She began praying as she sat beside me rifling through my hair.

"Are you okay? Lula, my darling, how are you?" My dad rushed into the room and I swallowed nervously. I looked at my hands, which had scabs on them, and then my leg, which was hanging on what seemed to be a canopy type thing.

"D-dad? What're you doing here?" I looked at my mom, who was wiping her tears away. My little sisters and two adopted brothers came by the bed too, and they were holding markers. I noticed the cast on my leg was filled with little doodles.

"What's going on?" I panicked, and tried to sit up straight, but I couldn't.

"You fainted, honey. You were walking home, but you fainted and an ambulance was driving by and they saw you. Isn't that a miracle? They just saw you there!" My mom kissed my forehead, but I was still too shocked to say anything.

"What's he doing here?" I snapped, giving my father a disgusted look.

"Lula." My mom sternly gave me a look to shut up. "He was worried, I gave him a call."

"Amber, I think it's best if you and I talk outside…" my dad opened the door and my mom followed him outside, and it was just me and my siblings in the room.

"Funny how the ambulance was in the neighbourhood, eh?" Colin, my brother, tried to make a joke.

"There was no ambulance." I said, staring at the wall.

"Yes there was, that's how they called us." Colin said again, but I shook my head, thinking back to that man.

"Hey, Colin, can you get the doctor for me?"

"He left early. There's a nurse, though…" He walked out to get her, but I yelled at him to come back.

"It-it's okay. I'm fine." I tried to sit straight up, and I looked over at all of the bruised marks on my hands. "What're these…?" I said quietly, but not quiet enough.

"Mom thinks someone did this to you." My other brother whispered.

"They-they didn't." I tried to think back to my fall. Nobody pushed me, I tripped. My hands were injured, it was just my leg. My heart began beating faster and faster, as I tried to get up and my stomach sent a sharp pain through my entire body. I closed my eyes, afraid to lift up my hospital shirt to see what's under it.

"We'll go outside." Colin gave me a nod, and took my sisters outside. I looked at my stomach once I was alone, and I began panting hard. What were all of these scars? These bruises, they were purple. I looked over to see a barf pan on the table beside me. Shakingly, I picked it up to see my own reflection.

I let out a deafening shriek, and began to cry.

My parents ran in, along with the nurses, only to see me crying and wailing, with my face filled with bandages, scars and stitches.

"Who did this to me?" I whispered.