Hey guys, hopefully this hasn't been too long or maybe it has, if it has I'm sorry! How's everyone enjoying the new Degrassi (except for the new opening which is permanent grrr) I like it a lot so far, waiting for the storyline involving Miles dad which will probably be after the summer but yeah (speaking of Miles, I will be writing that Miles fanfic ofc after I'm finished this one bc updating two fanfics will not work out for me) But anyways, here's that new chapter! :)

A bag, that was what I needed.

A bag to throw over my head and be ignored for the rest of the day, well rather not looked at, I was ignored with or without a bag.

I walked into school, feeling the most tired I had ever felt. Last night, neither Sam or I could sleep, probably from the sugar rush of eating 75% of his candy bag, so we stayed up literally all night watching TV. I went to sleep two hours ago and woke up one hour ago. Plus with no sleep for me came not wanting to get ready. So now here I was walking into school with skinny jeans, an oversized gray sweatshirt that I randomly found in my closet and a pair of regular black and white converse, with frizzy, messy hair that I put no effort into attempting to fix and eyes that were attempted to be fixed with mascara but that attempt was void with the red that surrounded my pupils. I growled internally at the girls who walked by me with similar outfits but perfected messy buns and wonderful makeup. How did they even do that?

When I reached my locker, Eli was already there, putting books into his backpack and probably not realizing I was there, of course until I started to put in my combination.

"So how was-" Eli cut himself off abruptly, "Whoa."

I rolled my eyes and sighed at his reaction, now I had an idea about what was rolling through everyone else's mind that saw me as they walked through the hallways. I wanted to not care, I mean I put so much effort into what I wore every single day didn't I deserve a day to not give a shit what I looked like without judgment? I mean, I didn't judge the girls that wore skirts that were on the verge of looking like a piece of duct tape wrapped around of them. Or maybe I did, but I definitely did keep my thoughts and comments to myself in my head and I didn't show them my feelings so blatantly.

"Yes, I know Eli, I look horrible. But please give me a break. I had one hour of sleep and along with bad appearance, sleep deprivation produces edginess and the ability to snap on someone with no probable cause so please Eli, review any sarcastic remark you were about to say." I said, ending my speech with a lovely, heartwarming smile as I went back to packing up my books for the day.

"Actually, I was going to say whoa, I really like the messy hairdo, it really brings out the red in your eyes. I never noticed the red until today." Eli said, squinting his eyes and getting closer to edge me on even more and it was his lucky day.

I closed, or rather slammed if you wanted the real truth, my locker and turned to Eli. I didn't know what to do but I just didn't have the patience to deal with his insensitivity this morning. So, out of love for his well being if he wanted to be around me for the rest of the day, or anger that just so unfortunately had taken over me along with monster inside me fighting for sleep, I kicked him in the shin which in my mind didn't seem bad but as I saw him keel over in pain, I felt a little bad. Emphasis on the little.

I leaned over and whispered in his ear, "So, I'll see you later on at lunch. Hopefully, you've learned a valuable lesson today, don't mess with a sleepy Summer, especially when she gives you a forewarning."

I smiled as Eli cursing at me in a whisper faded as I walked away. Maybe I should be sleepy Summer all the time, she was much more badass and didn't have to put effort into appearances. Sleepy Summer was quite alright.

And that confidence boost was shattered right away as I walked into French class and no one outright laughed, but eyes were widened and mouths were covered and suddenly, having that bag didn't seem so bad.

Shoulders slumped and confidence torn, I sat down in my seat next to Cam and slid down hoping that maybe if I hid well enough everyone would forget about me but it didn't work out that way. Stares were still directed at me and I still heard snickers and whispers about how "I really walked out of the house like that".

"It's not bad," Cam's voice whispered down to me, "Messy hair is a trend right? Messy buns, stuff like that?"

"Yeah, messy buns that literally aren't messy at all." I whispered harshly back, "But this is a hundred percent messy."

As our French teacher began the lesson and turned around, I slowly came back up out of my slouch hoping everyone would be paying more attention to learning than to me.

"Anyways," Cam said, changing the subject while also simultaneously comprehending the lesson and writing down notes, "You, Eli, what happened after you ditched me?"

"I didn't ditch you." I said, louder than what I thought I made my voice, then lowered it back down to the smallest whisper I could manage, "Let's remember who locked us in a closet. But that's neither here nor there because your plan worked and Eli and I are what I guess you could call official, I've never had to think about it before."

"And once again, Cam is right. Wow I wish more circumstances in my life were like this." He said, stopping from writing his notes to look at me with a laugh then as he went back to copying common French greetings, he continued, "Any plans of the Mr. and Mrs.?"

"Actually yeah," I said, relieved that I'd be able to talk to someone about this because even though I already agreed to it with Eli, part of me was still itching and had a bad feeling about it, "So, Eli came to my house yesterday and said he had an offer. Turns out that offer was a road trip, me, him and his car, thoughts?"

"Well that offer was much different from what I was thinking," Cam chuckled, "But I mean, as long as it's not during school, I don't see how much could go wrong. Just don't do anything bad."

"It's just a road trip, I don't see how many bad things we could get into." I said, lying. There was plenty of bad things that could happen with Eli as a road trip partner. His spontaneity was attractive but also could be dangerous but I guess that was also attractive too. That damn bad boy persona and its attractive ways.

"Anything that starts off with 'It's just…' is probably more than what it just is, proven fact. Just remember that along the way, don't do anything you wouldn't normally do."

Lunch time.

Usually by the time I got to my locker, Eli was already standing there at our spot in front of our lockers waiting for me. But when I got there today, there wasn't an Eli to be found. Thinking that maybe he got caught late in a class or something, I shrugged it off and continued how I normally would if Eli was there. Get my lunch, close my locker door, slide down and sit on the ground. Eat. But as time went by, Eli still hadn't shown up. Suddenly, I regretted the sleepy Summer that took over me this morning. As always, I probably ended up taking things too far instead of just being a little funny.

I tried to finish my sandwich but I couldn't stomach it as I sat alone and people walked by, looking at me. Those pathetic looks were coming again. The pathetic looks of people who felt bad for you but not enough to talk or interact with you in any way. Basically, they just wanted to let themselves know that they had a heart, a good heart that can tell when someone is down or isn't happy but their heart wasn't good enough to pick them up or make them feel a bit happier.

"Why so glum, chum?"

Suddenly, in what was literally a blink of an eye, black converses appeared in front of me. The same black converses that were a few inches below the shin that I kicked this morning. When I looked up and saw Eli standing there, looking down at me, in the spur of a moment of happiness, I jumped up and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tightly.

"Whoa, where's this coming from?" he said.

Completely ignoring his question, I went straight into an apology as I realized I was more down in those 10 minutes without Eli, thinking he was upset with me than I was about a lot of things in my life before, "I'm sorry for earlier. I was tired and annoyed and I took it out on you and you didn't do anything really, well except joke about it and you joke about stuff all the time. I just hope you're not mad about sleepy Summer, she's sorry, I'm sorry."

"Oh, she's sorry! She's sorry, she's sorry, she's sorry, she's sorry, she's sorry! Luckily I don't have witch powers to kill you." he said, laughing then making sure I was laughing as well so that the joke didn't end up being as harsh as it could sounded, then when I laughed as well, he continued, "But it's fine, this morning was probably the hottest you've ever been. You're really attractive when you're mad. I'm thinking about pissing you off a little more every day."

I pulled away from him with a glare. I shook my head as I sat back down on the ground and Eli sat down with me.

"You ate without me?" Eli said, wiping away fake tears, "I just- I always thought eating lunch together was a thing, our thing, but you just ate without me- I don't even know what to do now."

"How about you start with eating your lunch, that way you're eating without me eating too and in the end, we both end up eating without each other."

"That's not the same thing but fine, whatever helps you sleep at night. Which hopefully, you will be sleeping tonight and will have your proper rest so tomorrow, lunch will be normal." Eli said, "And my shin will also be unharmed."

"Aw, poor shin of Eli's, what ever could I do to make it better?"

"Hmm, at the moment, nothing. But I'm sure our road trip will make up for it."

Yeah, the road trip, I'd be counting down the days.

High five if you got that The Craft reference in there (oh she's sorry, she's sorry, she's sorry, that part). Anyways, I've realized this story will probably be quite long with the way I've paced it and the ideas I have coming up or I could just make the chapters long too, that would work. Anyways, don't forget to be awesome and review and tell me what you think and I'll see you soon with another chapter (the start of the road trip whoop whoop)!