A/N: As promised, a quick update and this is a longer chapter too. Thanks to those that reviewed. Enjoy

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or lyrics used.

Lyrics are Where Will You Go by Evanescence

Alex had just finished replying to a text when she walked into Java Central. She placed her order, took a newspaper and sat down. Her eyes glanced through most of it until she found the job ads. She took a deep breath and thought that the best place to start getting herself together was to look for a job.

The last few days had become a welcome distraction and spun and positive light on things. Inside, there was still that girl who went back to Degrassi to get extra credits.

She was adamant that she was going to do something with herself; she wasn't sure what but at least she was going to try.

The ringing of her phone interrupted her thoughts. She knew it could only be one person and she was right to think it was Jay.

"Lexi, I hope you're not moping." Jay said as his opening greeting.

"Hello to you too." Alex replied sarcastically.

"Oh, yeah. Hi. I've kind of agreed to help Manny Santos tonight so I'll be late again." Jay's words had sped up, as he wasn't really sure he wanted Alex to know.

"You know you don't have to keep telling me when you're gonna be late, it's not like we're married." It then dawned on Alex what Jay had said. "What are you helping Santos with anyway?"

Jay sighed before answering. "She's getting pressure from the rents and wants me to be the play the boyfriend from hell. I've already had dinner with her parents and now I'm also be her escort to her debut."

"Her what?" Alex asked while purposely refusing to contain her laughter.

"To celebrate her becoming a woman. She'll be getting money from family and some of it will be coming my way for my efforts." Jay spoke with confidence trying to ignore Alex's laughter.

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" Alex said before biting into a cookie.

"That's why you love me, Lexi. Admit it, you wouldn't have it any other way. So what are you doing now?" Jay asked.

Alex waved as Darcy walked towards her table. She sat down as Alex continued her conversation.

"Lexi, Lexi, are you still there?" Jay struggled to get Alex's attention.

Alex realised that Jay was calling her. "Um, yeah. I'm still here?"

"You sound preoccupied. Have you got yourself a new lady already?" Though Alex didn't know it, Jay had a huge grin on his face as he waited for her answer.

"No." Alex protested. "I've got to go now. Bye Jay." Alex ended the call and put her phone in her pocket.

"I was gonna text you again to see what you wanted but Jay called. He's worrying about me." Alex directed to Darcy.

"He obviously cares about you or he wouldn't worry." Darcy said with conviction.

"Jay, the all round good Samaritan, It's kind of ironic and a little bit sad that one of the first people to let me down is the one person I can rely on, these days." Alex was slightly freaked out when admitting this.

"It's hard to believe that you're talking about Jay Hogart." Darcy scoffed.

"He just told me he's helping Manny Santos with something as well, playing the 'bad boyfriend' for one reason or another." At this point Alex closed her newspaper and set it aside.

"Are you sure this is Jay. He once told me Spinner would dump me if I didn't sleep with him?" Darcy was twiddling her fingers feeling slightly uncomfortable with that memory.

"Damn, I didn't know he did that. He has been an ass but he's definitely been better lately." There was a hit of sincerity from Alex about her ex.

"I'll take your word for it, he's your ex." Darcy threw at Alex.

"You can't talk, you dated the furby." Alex started laughing at the nickname she gave him.

"Furby, who do you call furby?" Darcy looked confused.

"Spinner and his weird hair." Alex had placed both her hands above her head to gesture how much hair Spinner once had.

"I'm not going to even ask why you call him that. I take it the name started when you were hanging around Paige, in school." Darcy inquired.

Alex nodded to this. "Hung out, dated, whatever you wanna call it."

"Any chance of the two of you getting back together?" Darcy asked cautiously hoping that Alex wouldn't react badly to her prying.

"No. Complete, clean break this time, not even gonna be friends. She thinks I'm in Ajax with family right now." Alex replied.

"Was it that bad?" Darcy couldn't help but ask, she genuinely had an interest.

"No, it was just…final." Alex tucked some hair behind her ear. "Anyway what's with the sudden urge for coffee?" not really feeling like she wanted to have a long conversation about Paige, Alex changed the subject.

"Had to come out of the house. It feels like a prison sometimes, life feels like a prison. Parents are being overbearing and I needed some air. What about you?" Darcy didn't want to divulge any more details and threw a question back.

"That sounds a bit disturbing. Err... I'm job hunting or at least trying to." Alex had point at the newspaper in reiterate her point.

"Sorry, I should leave you to it." Darcy started to get up out of her seat.

"I didn't mean it like that." Alex stretched her arm out to stop Darcy. "I meant that I hadn't found anything that I actually wanted to do."

"Oh." Darcy smiled as she sat back down.

Darcy's phone started to ring; she picked it up and stared at it. This had become a familiar sight to Alex.

"You should try answering that one day." Alex wasn't really sure if her comment was sarcasm or if she was giving Darcy a push to start facing whomever she was avoiding.

"I just might have to do that." Darcy pressed the answer button on her cell. "Hello."

Alex mouthed 'I'll be back' to Darcy. Her intention was to go to the toilet but she spotted the notice board on the wall. She wondered why she hadn't noticed it before. She scanned it, looking to find something to catch her eye.

She took her mobile out and dialled the number she saw. She looked over to where Darcy was and saw that she was still on the phone. The person answering on the other end of the phone brought Alex's attention back.

"Hi, I saw a sign saying you had a vacancy, are you still looking for somebody." Alex enquired.

"We are, can you come in for an interview today, in about 2 hours?" The other person said.

"Yes I can." Alex took down the details of where she needed to be. She couldn't help the smile on her face when the call was finished. She finally made her way to the toilet and rejoined Darcy at the table.

"I'm gonna have to head off, got an interview to attend." Alex started to get her stuff together and put her coat on. Darcy got up from her seat and followed Alex.

"That's great, good luck." Darcy said as she and Alex headed outside. "See you later."

"Bye." Alex said over her shoulder as she walked in the opposite direction to Darcy.

Darcy had been walking for a while still avoiding the idea of going home. She was aimlessly walking past the Dot when Manny spotted her. Instead of shouting her name across the road, Manny decided to catch up with her and approach her cautiously.

"Hey Darcy." Darcy rolled her eyes before turning to see Manny calling her. "How are you, kind of been M.I.A recently."

Darcy wasn't sure how to answer this. "Ok. I guess. I've just needed some time away from everything." Darcy replied, not really willing to divulge anymore.

"Are you doing anything because we could hang out?" Darcy was feeling hesitant about Manny's question. Darcy looked Manny straight in the eye and she seemed to be pleading with her.

"I'm not busy." Darcy said as she walked beside Manny.

Jay was working underneath one of the cars when he heard his name being called out. "Hogart."

"Lexi." He said being a little bit puzzled. He popped his head from under the car to double check.

"The one and only, the now employed one and only." Alex beamed with her news.

"That's great." Jay was so happy for Alex that he pulled her into a hug. Before Alex had the chance to tell him about the job, they heard someone speak.

"Ok, you're Mr popular today Jay coz there's somebody else to see you." One of his colleagues announced.

"Hey Jay… and Alex." Jay and Alex looked round at who had greeted them.

"Santos." Alex then spotted someone walk from behind her. "Hey Darcy."

"Hi Alex." Darcy greeted.

"What… how come you're calling me Santos but you don't call Darcy, Edwards?"

"Why are you jealous Santos?" Alex asked while winking at Manny.

"No…I…err…" Manny was a bit flustered by this. Jay and Darcy couldn't stop laughing at her reaction.

"I'm not Paige." Manny shouted. "Jay can I talk to you for a moment?" Manny looked at Alex. "Alone."

Jay took Manny to one side while Alex walked over to where Darcy was standing.

"How did the interview go?" The younger girl asked.

"I got the job they want me to start next week." Alex couldn't help but have a big grin on her face.

"That's great news." Darcy surprised herself and Alex when she pulled the older girl into a hug.

Alex was surprised by the action; because it was Darcy and two it was the second hug she received in a matter of minutes. Alex would never admit it but Jay and Darcy made her feel wanted. "Wanna join me for a drink later and help me celebrate?" Alex asked as they pulled out of the hug.

"Sure, just let me know the time and the place and I'll be there." Darcy answered, not really knowing what to do with herself.

Manny and Jay rejoined Darcy and Alex. Alex kept looking at Jay and Manny watching their body language. She had a suspicion that they liked at each other. This was something that she was definitely going to tease Jay about later. Jay's boss came over and saw the mini crowd. He ordered Jay back to work and everybody all said their goodbyes as they left Jay in the garage.

Darcy and Alex were sitting in a bar, having a few drinks. Alex had gone to the bathroom when a guy joined Darcy. He walked over with a bad attempt to chat her up. He had two drinks in his hands and tried to hand Darcy one of them.

"No thanks." Darcy's words were cold, hoping that he would just move on and pester somebody else.

The guy moved closer to Darcy "Don't be so uptight."

"I said no thanks." Darcy was getting annoyed, as he wouldn't go away. She started to feel his breathe on her; which smelled of alcohol.

"Go on, it will help loosen you up." He continued. Darcy was completely grossed out and was praying for Alex to come back quickly.

"You heard her, she said no thanks." Alex injected as she approached them.

"What are you, her girlfriends coz I can play with that." He added, sticking his tongue in and out quickly.

"Let's see…no and leave her alone." Alex bit back, loosing her patience with every second.

The guy's friend came walking over. "Is this one for me then?" He gave Alex a wink. She just rolled her eyes and ignored him.

The first guy held Darcy's arm. "Let her go, you jerk."

"There are plenty of us to go around." The second guy said with a disturbing grin on his face.

The girls were still trying to fend the lecherous guys when people started to notice them. They seemed to be getting louder but nobody intervened. The encounter came to the attention of two bar tenders. They quickly intervened and pulled the guys away from Alex and Darcy. One of them mouthed 'I'll take care of them' to Alex as they pushed them out the back.

Alex looked at Darcy and saw that she was shaking. Alex grabbed Darcy's hand and took her outside the bar.

You think that I can't see right through your eyes
Scared to death to face reality
No one seems to hear your hidden cries
You're left to face yourself alone

"I can't believe them, who do they think they are?" Darcy started to pace up and down the street, while Alex gathered her thoughts.

"Unfortunately they're being guys. Darcy, don't worry about it." Alex was trying to get Darcy to calm down but it didn't seem to work.

"Don't worry about it." Darcy shouted. "How can you say that? They make my blood boil. They wouldn't leave me alone. Why wouldn't they leave me alone?"

Alex could see the anger festering inside of Darcy and decided to try something to get her to let it out. "Picture whoever has made you this angry because it isn't just the dicks inside there. Picture them and hit me."

"I won't hit you Alex." Darcy looked Alex in the eye for the first time since they got outside.

"Go on, you're angry. Just hit me, I'm giving you a free pass." Alex motioned to where she wanted Darcy to hit her. Alex couldn't think of anything else to help Darcy and it seemed like a silly idea in her head but she had to try something.

"I can't." Darcy was trying her best not to cry but her emotion seemed to be fighting against her wishes.

"You can, just do it. If not me then something, anything." Alex looked trying to find anything for Darcy to hit. "Whatever is building up, you need to let it out or you can't deal with it."

"I really can't." Tears were rolling down Darcy's face as she was still shaking.

"Why can't you?" Alex knew that whatever was eating away at Darcy, she needed to deal with it.

"Because I don't know who he is, I don't want it inside my head." Darcy's emotion was just too much for her. She dropped to the floor and sat on the curb. She held her head, hoping that this feeling would just go away.

"Who he is…? Alex squinted her eyes in confusion. "What… Darcy what happened, what made you cut yourself?" Alex pleaded.

"I was raped."