A/N: I can honestly say I do not like this chapter at all. It did not go where I wanted it to but whatever. Maybe you'll like it =)
Disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi or its characters. But I have about to own a new car radio =)
March is a month that I have come to love in college. In high school March was just another month where the seasons began to change. In college however March means SPRING BREAK! Yep, it's that time of year again where Spring Break is almost upon us. It's the end of February right now and Alex and I are discussing Spring Break plans. Seeing that we've spent the past two spring breaks in Miami and Beth's spring break is the same time as ours this year we figured that we'd pick a new destination to visit.
"We could go to Omaha," Alex suggests.
"Omaha?" I ask. "As in Omaha, Nebraska?"
Alex is nodding her head. "I heard that they have this zoo that has the world's largest indoor rain forest," she says excitedly.
"Who are you and what have you done with the real Alex Nuñez?"
"I can't be excited aboot the world's largest indoor rain forest? Jordan I'm like an onion, I have many layers."
"Stop watching Shrek with Major all the time!"
I'm A Barbie Girl in the Barbie World.Life in Plastic, it's fantastic.
"And stop taking my ringtones for people!" I yell.
Alex answers her phone. I already know it's Paige, not only from the ringtone but also because a smile just appeared on Alex's face. It's sort of weird now that Alex smiles every time Paige calls her.
"Hey Paige," Alex says. Alex opens up her phone and presses a button. "You're on speaker now."
"Hey Jordan!" Paige says through the phone.
"Hola Paige!" I greet her. "How's Vancouver?"
"The people here are slightly different than the people back home in T.O." she says. "But I have to admit that it's nice being back in Canada. How's school?"
"Sucks but I do like having a four day weekend every weekend," I answer.
"Well aside from not having a four day weekend I'm having an awesome semester so far," Alex responds.
Sometimes I just want to smack Alex and try to get the old Alex back.
"Well I was wondering if you two had plans yet for Spring Break," Paige says.
"Oh my God, please tell me that you're about to invite us to Vancouver," I tell her.
"Yes hon, I am. I would love it if you two and Beth could fly out here. You could see the set and the amazing costumes we have ready."
"Yes, a million times yes!"
"What aboot you Alex?"
"I'm in," Alex says. "I like Vancouver. Plus it would be different from our other Spring Breaks."
"Yay!" Paige cheers. "I'll email you two the details. Talk to you later!"
Alex closes her phone shut.
"Oh I am totally ready for some Vancouver fun," I tell Alex.
"And it's still skiing season!"Alex says excitedly. "We can totally go snowboarding."
"You know damn well I'm not good at snowboarding."
Alex puts her hand on my shoulder. "Then you can watch as I tear down the mountains."
I laugh sarcastically. "Yeah ok."
The front door of the apartment opens and there's Sage walking into the apartment. She looks tired, for real.
"Hey Sage," I greet her.
"Hey," she greets me back.
Alex stands up from the couch and walks over to her girlfriend. She kisses Sage on the cheek.
"Hey, how was your day?" Alex asks her.
"Exhausting, Basic Marketing Concepts is anything but basic," Sage says tiredly.
"I believe that," I tell her. "Just like snowboarding is anything from basic."
"You tried snowboarding once, ONCE!" Alex exclaims. "Vancouver has some of the best snowboarding places. Ya know they're having the Winter Olympics in Vancouver next year."
"Why are y'all talking about Vancouver?" Sage asks.
I hope up from my seat approach the couple. "Because Vancouver is the Spring Break destination this year," I tell her.
Sage raises her eyebrow and looks at Alex. "Really now?" she asks. "I don't remember discussing this."
"Well Paige called about five minutes ago inviting us out there," I tell her.
Sage laughs bitterly. "Of course she did. I thought you were coming down to Miami with me to see my parents?" she asks Alex.
"After last year?" Alex asks in disbelief. "I'm not going anywhere near your parents."
"I told you that I've been working on them since last year," Sage says. "You should give them another chance. They're giving you another chance."
"I didn't ask for another chance!"
"You know what Lexie, it's not even about my parents. This is about how you went ahead and made plans for spring break without even consulting your girlfriend."
"Well I actually told Paige we were going so-."
"Shut up Jordan!" Sage interrupts me. "This doesn't concern you!"
Alright, I'm going to go sit down on the couch now. I walk over to the couch and turn on the TV.
"Ok, you're upset and I can see that," Alex says. "I'm sorry. But let's face it, you can't really blame me for wanting to go to Vancouver to visit a friend and there's snow there! There's no snow here! And it's snowboarding season still."
"Well am I invited to this little trip?" Sage asks.
Cue the dead silence! I don't even have to turn around to tell you that Alex's face just fell and she's cursing herself out right now.
"Of course you're invited," Alex says nervously. "Why wouldn't you be?"
"No Lexie, I didn't mean did you just invite me. Did Paige herself invite me?"
Cue another round of dead silence! If this was a radio show we'd be fined thousands for dead silence, I'm just sayin'.
"…No," Alex finally responds.
"Did you even ask her if I could come?"
I sit up and turn around. "In Alex defense I did most of the talking," I tell Sage.
Sage turns and looks at me. Oo, angry eyes!
"Stay out of this Jordan!" she yells while pointing a very angry finger at me.
"Yes ma'am," I respond in a quiet voice.
"No I didn't ask," Alex answers the question from before.
Sage chuckles angrily. "Of course you didn't because now that your best friends with Paige again I matter less to you."
"Sage that is not true!" Alex exclaims. "I love you. You're first."
"Shouldn't I be first?" I ask.
"Jordan…" Alex says in a warning tone.
"Ok, I'll stop talking."
"Sage, you're first ok? When Paige and I weren't friends you were first and now that we're friends again you're still first."
"Are you sure Lexie?" Sage asks. "Because first you go to New York without me and now you're going to Vancouver without me. Doesn't seem like I'm first."
"Then comes with us," Alex says suddenly.
Wait, what did she just say? I just spun around so fast in my seat I think my head is still spinning. Sage's face is also telling me that she didn't see that invitation coming.
"What?" Sage asks.
"Come to Vancouver with us," Alex says again. "It'd be perfect for us. A vacation, we can visit the sights, play in the snow, and most of all we won't have to deal with your parents this spring break."
"Lexie I can't just come to Vancouver with you. It's totally last minute."
Alex is nodding her head. "Which is exactly why you should do it! Live in the now, live in the moment."
Oh my God, she's not really pulling out the "live in the moment" thing again is she? That didn't work so well the first time if I remember correctly. I'm just watching the couple now to see what's going to happen. A smile slowly appears on Sage's face. Uh-oh.
"Ok, I'll go," Sage says happily.
"Good!" Alex exclaims. "You will not regret it."
"Of course I won't because I'll be hanging out with you Lexie," Sage says. "I love you."
"I love you too."
And now they're kissing. I can feel the throw up in my throat slowly coming up through my throat. Oh thank God, they're done.
"I'm going to go call my parents to tell them I won't be coming home," Sage tells Alex.
Sage is walking to her bedroom while Alex is walking over to me with a smile on her face. Alex sits down on the couch. I start chuckling.
"What are you chuckling aboot?" she asks. "Did you see how I fixed that disaster?"
"You are a complete idiot," I tell her, still chuckling. "Sometimes I think you're a guy because you make really idiot guy decisions."
"Jordan, what are you talking aboot?"
I turn to look at Alex. "You just invited your girlfriend on a trip that was set up by your ex who she clearly doesn't like and Paige has no idea that a girl who she doesn't like is coming."
Alex's face falls. My chuckling has now turned into a full laughter.
"If I were you I'd call Paige right now to warn her," I tell her. "Because we both know how much Paige hates surprises."
Alex quickly pulls out her cell phone. Looks like I'm in for another interesting Spring Break.
Vancouver:
Did you know that Vancouver's nickname is Hollywood North? Yep, it's true. Well I think after this week it's be known as the place for round two of Paige verses Sage. I have to admit that I am sort of excited for this. I just have to make sure that I stay out of it.
Our plane just landed about fifteen minutes ago. Alex, Sage, Beth and I are walking off of the plane. My ass hurts, like seriously it hurts.
"I hate being on a plane, my ass always ends up hurting," I say out loud.
"TMI Jordan," Alex says.
"If you want I can take care of that for you later," Beth whispers in my ear.
I smile. "Yes please."
Alright I see some blonde girl frantically waving her arms in the air. I'm going to go ahead and say that the girl is Paige.
"Paige!" I greet her excitedly.
I drop my bag and pick Paige up. I'm hugging her while holding her up in the air at the same time.
"Jordan!" Paige squeals. "Put me down!"
I do as I'm told and put Paige back down on the ground.
"Thank you hon," she says. "It's nice to see you as well."
"Hey Paige," Beth greets Paige.
"Hey hon!" Paige greets Beth excitedly. "Oh my God, I LOVE your new highlights."
Yeah, Beth has like blood red highlights in her hair. I said they look nice, but really what else was I going to say? They do look good of course but I think my opinion is also biased.
"I decided to do something different with my hair," Beth tells her. "I got bored one day."
"Well your boredom turned into a complete success," Paige says.
Paige turns her attention to Alex. Paige's face definitely lit up when her eyes landed on her.
"Lexie, hi," Paige greets Alex.
"Hi Paige," Alex greets her.
The two approach each other, carefully it looks like to me. And cue the weird maneuver hug. I don't know why this hug looks awkward. Someone clears her throat. Oh yeah, that's probably why. Alex and Paige separate and now Paige is giving Sage her fake smile.
"Hello Sage," Paige greets her. "Nice to see you again." Paige's voice is dripping with sarcasm.
"It's nice to see you too Paige," Sage says. "You look well."
Someone is walking toward us. Oh hey, it's Riley. Riley walks up to Paige.
"Love, next time can you try maybe waiting for me?" Riley asks Paige.
Paige looks at Riley. "Oh sorry hon," she apologizes.
"'Ello everyone," Riley greets us. "Alex, Beth, Jordan it's nice to see you again. How were your holidays?"
"They were good," I answer. "How was yours?"
Riley shrugs her shoulders. "My mum came to visit, that's always fun but I spent most of the time working." Riley looks over at Sage. "Hi, I'm Riley," she introduces herself and holds out her hand.
Sage smiles and shakes Riley's hand. "I'm Sage, it's very nice to meet you Riley."
Riley looks over at Paige and smirks. "It's very nice meeting you Sage."
I have a feeling that Paige might have told Riley some biased things about Sage.
"Well let's get you all's stuff to the hotel," Riley suggests.
Everyone picks up their own bags and we're following Riley and Paige. This is going to be a long spring break.
Later in the Week:
So far everything has gone smoothly. Well as smoothly as one would think it could go. Well there was the snow fight incident. Let's just say that two girls were aiming for each other quite a bit and one was succeeding more than the other. Sage use to play softball along with lacrosse so she has pretty good aim. Poor Paige never stood a chance. But they weren't the only ones. I had to practically tackle Alex to ground to stop her continuous assault on Riley. I can honestly say that the only sane ones on this trip are Beth and me. Well I guess Riley too since she doesn't seem to notice what's going on.
Right now Alex and I are in the hotel room hanging out. Sage and Beth have gone shopping and Paige is working on some designs for the upcoming fashion week in Vancouver. It's amazing how many things Paige can work on at once.
"I must admit this has been a relaxing spring break," I say out loud. "Except for the snowball fight since some people decided to become quite ridiculous."
"I told you Riley hit me in the face and I was trying to get payback," Alex defends herself for the one hundredth time.
"Yeah sure she did," I say sarcastically. "You just can't handle the fact that some other girl is interested in Paige and quite possibly Paige might be interested back."
Alex looks at me slightly shocked. "You don't really think Paige likes her do you?"
"Well they will be working closely together for awhile and they're already good friends. You of all people know what working together can lead to."
"Yeah but this is Paige, Paige Michalchuk. There's no way she's interested in Riley."
"Maybe you missed the part where we all got hot chocolate together after the snowball fight and Paige and Riley were getting quite cozy."
Oomph! Alex just threw a pillow at my face. Not cool, really not cool.
"Just shut up Jordan," Alex says. "You have no idea what you're talking aboot."
Ya know for someone who says they're in love with their current she sure does get mad every time I mention Paige and Riley.
Different Day:
I'm going to kill Paige, seriously. I don't know what she was thinking when she suggested this but I'm going to kill her. I'm "hanging out" with Alex and Riley right now in the hotel room while Beth and Sage are out shopping. Apparently Paige could sense that Alex isn't Riley's biggest fan so she thought it'd be a good idea for them to hang out. I was dragged into this because in cases anything happened Paige wanted me to be there to stop it. I suggested to Paige that she should hang out with Sage and that idea was shot down quickly.
"So Jordan I hear you're from Florida?" Riley asks me.
Ten minutes later and we're still doing small talk.
"Yeah, my family is originally from Tampa Bay, Florida," I answer.
"What made your parents want to move to Canada? Quite a difference in climate and culture, if I'm not mistaken."
"My dad's company transferred him and he figured it be good for the family. It ended up being great for me so in the long run I am glad that we moved."
"Sounds like a happy ending. And what about you Alex?"
"Naw, let's not talk aboot me," Alex says. "We should learn more aboot you Riley. I mean moving to L.A. all the way from England and now you're living in Vancouver. Your life is probably way more interesting than mine."
Riley laughs. "Not really," she says. "I grew up in Hertford with my mum, dad, and older brother. My dad was a banker while my mum was and still is a bookseller. My brother is in politics which is something I've always found politics to be quite boring."
"What made you get into film?" I ask.
"I use to go to the cinema all the time when I was younger and I just fell in love with films and the making of them."
"So you just decided to up and leave your family and friends and try your luck in America?" Alex asks.
"Well after graduating from school I took some course at London Film Academy but decided that I didn't want to be in school anymore learning but instead I wanted to be out in the real world doing things. So I packed my bags grabbed the last £100 I had and got on a plan to L.A."
"Wow, what an inspirational story," Alex says sarcastically. "And you didn't leave any kind of love interest back home?"
Riley is shaking her head. "Nope," she says simply.
Wait, did I just see a smirk on Riley's face? I would say that maybe I was imagining it but I do not imagine things like that. At least I don't think I do.
"I gotta get something from the next room I'll be back," I announce.
I go into me and Beth's room to get my cell phone to tell Paige that I'm going to kill her for putting me into this situation.
"So Alex now that's Jordan is gone how about you and me have a honest conversation?" I hear Riley ask Alex.
I creep to the doorway. I always hear things when I'm creeping around. Apparently no one can talk around me.
"What do you mean mate?" Alex asks. She says the word 'mate' in her fake British accent.
Riley chuckles. "And here I though Americans were bad at British accents but I see that Canadians are worse," she says. "And also I'm not your mate, but not because I don't want to be. I'd love to be friends with you since you're friends with Paigey but it seems like that's not what you want."
"I'm the only one that calls her Paigey."
"That's beside the point. I don't know if I made you mad and if I did then I don't know how but every since we first met in New York you've been giving me angry looks and I'm bloody tired of it. Maybe you're mad because I fancy Paige but last time I checked you have a girlfriend so that shouldn't matter."
"I'm looking out for Paige."
"No you're not. I know your history with Paige and I think you're jealous. You're upset that Paige is moving on because apparently it's ok for you to move on but not her."
"You have no idea what you're talking aboot Riley," Alex says angrily.
"Maybe I do and maybe I don't but I do know one thing. I really fancy Paige and I think she fancies me too and if she does well then you're just going to suck it up, aren't ya mate?"
Although I can't see Alex I'm pretty sure she has her fist balled up.
"It was nice having this chat with ya," Riley says. "I feel like we've really gotten to know each other."
I walk back into the living room. Riley is just smiling and Alex looks angry. Well at least there was no yelling or crying this year.