AN: Hello! If anyone is still reading this, I must apologize for the lack of activity on my account. I have my excuses, but I suppose you don't care much! Haha. Just know that I love you and I'm sorry! Well, anyways I'm back and I'm wrapping this story up! My Degrassi days are behind me, which is super sad. But oh wells, I hope you enjoy this. More still to come!
I didn't have another dream like the one I experienced in history class for a long time. I had long ago shrugged it off as a side effect of having overworked myself. It was just a onetime thing, or so I thought…
"We're moving." The two simple words that no teenager wants to hear. But once they are spoken there's nothing you can do about it. So when Dallas and my mom sat me down at the end of summer and told me, I didn't argue. I just nodded and walked up to my room silently. Asha; however, was not as agreeable. She went on for hours, crying and whining and screaming that there was no way she was going to leave her friends.
By 10 pm, her cries finally died down and it was final. We were leaving for Toronto as soon as possible. Mom had a job opportunity down there, Dallas got a transfer, and we would be closer to family. The only issue was hockey. But of course, I should have known Dallas had thought about that too. The team in Toronto, The Ice Hounds or something like that, had seen some tapes of my games and they were willing to take me for their season. Although I'm sure it had less to do with my hockey playing skills and more to do with Dallas and who he knew.
So I would be starting a new season with a new team and a new school year at a new school. And I didn't know then, but my life was about to change for good.
"Maya!" My aunt Katie came running towards us after we got off the plane. She embraced my mom first, and held her a little too tight for a little too long. Once my mom squirmed away, she turned to me. She pulled me towards her, her brown hair tickling my nose.
"Oh Dylan! You've gotten so big!" When she pulled away, I saw that her eyes had tears in them.
Katie was older than my mom, but she didn't look it. She was a successful businesswoman and an avid soccer player. She had married twice. The first time to a man she met at Stanford, they had 2 kids a few years younger than me; Carly and Jackson. They divorced over money issues. Then she moved back to Toronto and reconnected with her high school boyfriend Jake Martin and they got married a couple years ago.
She hugged Asha next, giving her a light kiss on the cheek. Then gave a curt nod to Dallas. They had never gotten along. Jake gave us all a playful smile, and then went over to help Dallas with our stuff.
"I can't wait for you guys to get all moved in!" Katie squealed, almost skipping with joy. She grabbed my mother's arm and they ran ahead of us. Dallas and Jake followed with the bags, leaving me and Asha behind.
I started to follow them, but when I looked over my shoulder I saw that Asha had not moved a muscle. I walked back over to her.
"Come on Ash, they're going to leave without us!" I told her.
"Good." She said simply, crossing her arms.
"Good? Then you won't get to see our new house, or your new school, or get to meet all your new friends."
"I don't wanna move into a new house, or go to a new school, or make new friends! I was fine with all the old stuff!" She cried, big tears falling from her eyes.
"Oh come on," I said wiping her tears away with my sleeve. "It'll be fun, think of it as a new adventure."
Asha shook her head, her dark eyes meeting my light ones with a look of defiance.
I sighed. "Alright listen, I don't want to do this either. But we have to be brave, alright? That's what big kids have to do sometimes." I paused, she still wasn't buying it. "How about this, if you can make it through a week, I'll take you skating, just you and me."
She perked up at that. "You promise?"
"Promise."
"Pinky swear?!" She asked.
I stuck out my pinky finger and she wrapped her own tiny pinky around it. "Pinky swear."
"Alright, fine. But I won't be happy about it." She said.
I shook my head and laughed at her, then turned my attention to the thick crowd ahead of us. "Aw man, Mom and Dad are probably all the way to Aunt Katie's car." I sighed. "Here, I'll give you a ride, we'll go faster that way."
Asha lifted up her arms and I raised her up onto my shoulders.
She giggled with glee as we took off after my parents.
As expected, my first day at Degrassi was hell. I had already gotten lost four times before homeroom, and my hockey teammates, the only people I knew in the whole school, were no help. They gave me bad directions, and then laughed at me when I was late.
Homeroom was no exception. When I ran in 6 minutes late the teacher was already taking roll. When he saw me, he stopped and stared. He looked for a minute as though he had seen a ghost, but he quickly collected himself.
"Ah, you must be our new student." He said, giving me a smile. "Saunders, right?" He scanned the list he was holding. "Dylan?"
I nodded slowly.
"Go ahead and take a seat."
"So now that everyone is here, I'm Mr. Novak. Now, I know that most of you have had me before, but for those of you that haven't this isn't a normal band class. We will be playing…"
"Wait, what?" I interrupted without thinking. "I didn't sign up for band?"
"Well Mr. Saunders, obviously you did, and you must be good too. This is the advanced group. Only the best in the school get accepted." Mr. Novak responded calmly.
"But there must have been some kind of mistake. I'm a hockey player, not a band geek. I've never even been in a band."
"It says right here you play drums and guitar." Novak said looking down at a paper.
"Well, yeah I guess. But I've never had a lesson or anything. I just do it when I'm bored." I had always played music, ever since I could remember. My mom was always buying me all sorts of instruments to try, but drums and guitar were my favorites. I just kind of fooled around with them, nothing too serious.
My mom always used to say that I was making music before I could talk…
That's it!
She must have signed me up for band behind my back! She had always wanted me to take it at my old school, but I always refused. Now she had gotten her chance.
"If you really think this is a mistake you'll have to take it up with guidance after school, as of right now, despite how much I'm sure the class loves hearing you insult them, I would like to get back to class."
I was suddenly very aware of the many sets of eyes glaring at me from around the room. The word band geek echoed in my mind.
Whoops, not a good start.
I felt myself starting to blush. "Right, sorry." I mumbled, looking down at my notebook.
A few minutes later the bell rang.
I looked down at my schedule:
Social Studies- Room 220 – Mr. Lough
220? I hadn't seen any rooms in the 200's! I had no idea how to get there, ugh! Great, looks like I'll be getting lost again.
"You have Lough next period?" An unfamiliar voice asked.
I looked up startled. A girl stood next to me, I looked her up and down. She was short and skinny, her longish dark brown hair tied in a loose braid on the side of her head. She had big blue-green eyes, pale skin, and a long, thin nose. She was dressed conservatively in a light blue cardigan and jeans.
I knew that the guys on the Ice Hounds wouldn't give her a second look, but I thought she was pretty enough.
"Uh… yeah."
"Me too. I can show you how to get there if you want, it's kind of tricky." She said with a smile.
I studied her, debating whether or not I should trust her, or go it alone. She seemed to read my mind.
"Don't worry, I'm not up to any trouble. I just thought I could help you out. I know what it's like to be new. I moved here my freshman year, it was rough."
I nodded. "Alright, thanks."
She smiled and led me out of the band room.
"I'm Maisie by the way, Maisie Foster. I play clarinet in the band." She said when we were in the hallway.
"Dylan Saunders."
"Nice to meet ya!" She said happily. "If you need any more directions come find me, kids here at Degrassi, well…" she lowered her voice "they're vicious. Especially the Ice Hounds, stay away from them as much as possible."
I looked down, so I've heard…
"Um… I'm actually on the Ice Hounds myself…" I told her.
"Oh!" she threw a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry! I didn't realize! I mean I heard you say something about hockey to Novak earlier, but I wasn't really paying that much attention!"
I laughed. "Its fine, it seems like most people around here agree with you."
"Well…" she said, chewing on her lip as we headed up the stairs. "It's not all the Ice Hounds in general, it's just… most of them. The worst is Billy Parker, he's the captain and the biggest ass hole in Degrassi history. Have you met him yet?"
I nodded "Unfortunately…"
"Yeah, he sucks." She stopped in front of a door, on the side it said 220. "Well, here we are!"
I opened the door and motioned her ahead of me. "Ladies first." I said.
She laughed and motioned for me to go instead "By all means, you go ahead."
So I went in and Maisie followed. When I stopped to try to scope out a good seat, Maisie came up beside me.
"Speak of the devil…" she whispered, motioning at the back of the room.
There Billy Parker sat with a couple of other hockey guys, but my eyes quickly shifted to the seat beside him.
And that's when I saw her.
She was twirling a strand of her long, dirty blonde hair around her finger and doodling in her notebook.
When she looked up, she noticed me looking at her and smiled.
She had a heart shaped face, bright white teeth, tan skin, long eyelashes and big, beautiful, dark brown eyes.
Her smile made me momentarily forget everything in the world, including how to smile back. After a few seconds I realized how much of a creep I looked like and forced myself to smile back at her. It was a sloppy half smile, nothing compared to hers.
She giggled and turned back to her notebook.
I could feel Maisie's eyes on me, questioning, but I ignored her. I walked over to a desk in the front of the room and sat down. Maisie sat next to me and leaned over.
"Do you know who that is?" She whispered harshly.
I shook my head, pretending not to know what she was talking about.
"That's Ivy Asher; head cheerleader, senior, dumb as a post, her daddy's a surgeon, oh yeah and Billy Parker's girlfriend. Don't go there." She warned.
I shook my head at her again. "What are you even talking about?"
She sighed loudly and then the teacher came in.
"Hi, I'm Mr. Lough and this is Social Studies…"
I turned around just a little to get another glimpse of her. She was looking at me, her eyes bright. She smiled at me again and gave me a wink. I smiled back, only this time it was a better smile, a stronger smile.
And in that moment I felt like I could fly. Like everything bad had melted away. Maybe Degrassi wouldn't be so bad after all…