A/N: This is the last chapter before the story shifts. This chapter is a bridge between the young Johnny and the Johnny that exists today. Also, I know very little about the Canadian judicial system or their drug laws. I did some research but not extensive. So Canadians, feel free to correct any wrong information.

Chapter 3

Right before Johnny's 8th grade graduation, his father was arraigned for the drug bust. Johnny and his mom went to the hearing. Tony DiMarco was one of twelve people indicted for possession of narcotics. The three dealers were indicted for possession of narcotics with the intent to sell. All of the buyers were sentenced to ten years in prison. Since it was the first offense for Tony and two others, they were eligible for parole after five years.

But what were Halina and Johnny supposed to do until Tony was up for parole? Five years was a long time and there was no guarantee he would even be granted parole. Halina was diagnosed with Lupus a year ago and it was starting to take its toll. It was affecting her joints and she couldn't stand for long periods of time. She was starting to miss a lot of work because of this.

When the bailiff put Tony handcuffs and led him out of the courtroom, he told Halina he loved her and she started to cry. He tried to get Johnny's attention but Johnny looked away. He was angry at his father. Not just for making his mother cry but for the erratic behavior he had exhibited since after Nonna died.

He hated not knowing what to tell his friends when they asked him why his dad always wore long sleeve shirts, even in the summer. But he hated the lies most of all. Tony was supposed to be at rehearsal on the night he was arrested. He didn't tell Halina he was kicked out of the band for missing rehearsals and gigs until she visited him in jail. On Johnny's last birthday, Tony promised Johnny his drum kit because he said he was buying himself a new one. Instead he sold the drum kit and never bought another one.

Graduation came and went with very little fanfare. Johnny and his friends had always assumed thy would go on to Academy of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or BVM. That was were their parents had gone and it was the high school for Holy Cross. But it turned out all of them would be going to Lakehurst High instead.

Johnny had gotten a scholarship for financial aid based on both academic achievement and family income. But the school rescinded the scholarship once his father's arrest and incarceration became public. Bruce's father played football for BVM and wanted Bruce to play football too. But he felt BVM's team wasn't as good as when he was on it so he enrolled Bruce into Lakehurst. Lucas and Stacha's mom could no longer afford private school tuition even with child support from their dad. Yet the family income was still too high for financial aid.

Nic's sister, Gina, had convinced her parents to send her to Lakhurst the previous year. His parents didn't want to pay tuition for one of their kids at BVM when the other was in public school. Drake's reputation for being a troublemaker at Holy Cross had reached the administration at BVM. They sent a letter kindly requesting that Magda and Dennis Lempky not enroll their son there. Mia had already to transferred to Lakehurst Middle for obvious reasons.

The summer between grade school and high school was quite busy. Bruce spent most of the summer at football camp to prepare for Lakehurst football. Drake' parents sent him to some boot camp for difficult kids in a vain attempt to rid Drake of his difficult behavior.

Mia of course had her baby, and talk about drama! Lucas wanted to see the baby, but Mia and her mom wouldn't let him because he never called or visited Mia after she left Holy Cross. Lucas' mom threatened to take both Mia and her mom to court for visitation rights so they relented. Lucas and Mia were once again a couple.

Johnny lost his virginity that summer.

Nic's family was having their annual Canada Day barbecue. Gina, taking full advantage of Johnny's longtime crush on her, flirted with him all afternoon. He willingly took that bait. They were putting ice down each others' backs, chasing each other and feeding each other potato salad. By dusk, they were having sex in Gina's room. All Johnny remembered about it were the fireworks outside and the smell of sunscreen on Gina's skin.

The next day, Gina told everyone that she and Johnny hooked up but that he was not her boyfriend. She just wanted to break him in before high school. Johnny hated Gina for that, especially since Nic, Bruce and Drake were still virgins.

"Do you plan on breaking them in too?" he asked.

"First of all, Nic is my brother, you tool," she said. "Bruce is too fat and I can't stand Drake's red hair and freckles."

Right before high school, Johnny DiMarco's life began to truly suck. His first girlfriend dumped him because he wasn't good enough for her family. His father was in jail and his mother's illness was getting worse. He lost his free ticket to a school that made Lakhuerst and Degrassi look like Kindergarten academically and his longtime crush used him. He decided to cut himself off from the world. The only people he trusted were his friends, and he didn't even trust them fully.

Thus began Johnny DiMarco's reputation as a player and a bad boy. At Lakehurst, he hooked up with random girls and harassed kids who were smaller and weaker than him because he just didn't care anymore. He still kept up his grades and made the honor roll every quarter because he liked learning and probably always would. But that didn't keep him from constantly getting detention for acting up.

Things didn't fare well for his friends, either. Lucas and Mia were constantly fighting. Lucas was either not coming around enough to see the baby or coming around too often. Bruce was on the freshman football team but his dad hoped he would be good enough to make Junior Varsity even though few freshman ever did. If Drake was a troublemaker in grade school, he was an even bigger troublemaker now and no one could figure out why. His parents' marriage was suffering partly because of his behavior. Nic's dad had just lost his job and was having a hard time finding another one.

The fact that they lived in The Rows further solidified their reputation as lowlifes. Although kids from The Rows made up half the student population at Lakehurst, they were still unfairly judged and disrespected by the other half.

Mia broke up with Lucas halfway through grade nine and started dating Nic. She continued dating him for a year after she started grade nine. But she dumped him when she transferred to Degrassi when she was in grade ten and he was in grade eleven. That made Nic Rancone hate Degrassi Community School even more than he already did. The rest of the clique hated Degrassi too. Not just because Nic did but because all the Rows kids did.

Degrassi was the "rich" school The non-Rows kids secretly wished they could go there. Like Holly J. Sinclair, whose sister had been going to Degrassi since grade seven. But when she started grade seven, the public school boundaries changed and she had to go to Lakehusrt Middle and then Lakehurst High. Her sister got to stay at Degrassi.

When Nic decided to declare "war" on Degrassi and Mia's new boyfriend in particular, the others followed. Early in their grade eleven year, Drake would fatally stab that kid and try and implicate Johnny. But Johnny was only an eyewitness, so nothing happened to him. The last thing Johnny's mom needed was to have both her husband and son in jail.

Right after Christmas break, an electrical fire destroyed Lakehurst High. Half the students transferred to Bardell High and the other half went to Degrassi. The half that got transferred to Degrassi included most of the Rows kids. Nic and Gina used their grandmother's address so they could attend Bardell. They both said they would rather die than go to Degrassi.

Stacha had changed her name from Anastacia Valieri to Jane Vaughn for some inexplicable reason. Johnny assumed it was to disassociate herself from her brother. It was bad enough for Stacha that Lucas had been held back in grade four and they were now in the same grade. But at Lakehurst and Degrassi, he was also known as one of the friends of that psycho who killed JT Yorke.

Johnny had made the honor roll every quarter at Degrassi too. Still the "good kids" got upset when they saw his name on the list. This time it was because of his involvement with the stabbing. All they did was whine when they saw his name on the list at Lakehurst. At Degrassi, people went so far as to cross Johnny DiMarco's name off the list with pen or magic marker. One time, someone actually whited his name out. Eventually, Ms. Hatzolakos began posting the list inside the trophy case.

Johnny freaked out when Drake stabbed JT. That wasn't part of the plan. They were just going to crash some party, get drunk and maybe rough some people up or get laid. He especially felt bad about peeing on JT's car on a dare since JT was lying in his pee when he died. Talk about an undignified death. Johnny wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy. Still, he would continue to be associated with the stabbing because he was there.

When he and his friends were given detention for doing something dumb right before spring break, Hatzolakos made Johnny an offer. He could get out of cleaning the school during that week if he agreed to go to some boot camp instead. A group called Red Pines sponsored a boot camp at one of the public high schools every year during spring break. That year it was Degrassi's turn.

Bruce and Lucas were given the same offer but decided to serve their detention Johnny accepted the offer initially to get out of being a free janitor for the school. But it turned out to be a nice vacation from everything. The only thing he didn't like was talking about his feelings. They had this thing where everyone sat in a circle and talked about the events that brought them to the camp.

"...Yeah, so after my friend stabbed that kid, I sort of went off the rails. I kept asking myself 'why do I have to be such a jerk?'" That was all he was going to give those people. He might have opened up a little more if two kids from his school, Peter Stone and Darcy Edwards, hadn't been there. He still had to see them again after this thing was over.

After that experience, Johnny decided to lay low. He was still up to his old tricks, but he hooked up with girls less often. Lucas had dropped out of school and Bruce got more involved with football, so he didn't spend as much time with them. Most of his free time was spent taking care of his mom, whose condition had gotten even worse.

At the beginning of his senior year, Johnny decided to take another vacation from his life. Juniors and Seniors who were taking Ecology Awareness were required to go on an overnight camping trip. Freshmen and sophomores could go on the trip also if there were enough spots available. The only way upperclassmen could get out of it was to have a proven schedule conflict or family situation. Technically, Johnny qualified but his mom and Magda insisted that Johnny go on the trip.

He was looking forward to getting out of the city even though he would be surrounded by people he didn't like. When Mr. Simpson gave out tent assignments, there were an odd number of boys, so one would have a tent to himself. Johnny volunteered to go solo because he didn't want to share a tent with anyone. Nobody wanted to share with him either, so it all worked out.

Johnny was glad the school provided tents and sleeping bags to anyone who didn't have them, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to go. He packed five books and a deck of cards so he could play solitaire if he got bored with reading. His strategy was to interact with people as little as possible.

But that changed when he met Alli.

A/N: Sorry for the lack of dialogue in this chapter. I just wanted to bridge the gap between Claudia's part and Alli's part.