It was a particularly slow lunch at the Dot, and Spinner took the lull in business as an opportunity to pull out his laptop and goof around on the internet. On the other side of the counter, Jay sat eating a cheeseburger while on his lunch break from the garage. Spinner skimmed over the screen, noticing that a large number of his friends on Facerange had all joined the same group within the past two days. He frowned.

"Damn, dude," said Spinner, shaking his head. He turned to the screen towards Jay, revealing the I Hate Holly J group. "Would you look at this? Who would do this to someone?"

For Spinner, the hate-group hit too close to home. It was eerily reminiscent of the days when taunting Rick Murray was the number one pastime of Degrassi, and he had been one of the most enthusiastic participants. The old guilt stung afresh, and seeing it happen to someone he thought was a decent person made it that much more real. He couldn't even imagine how out-of-hand teasing Rick would have gotten if Facerange had been as popular then.

"Holly J is a dirty ginger virus infecting Degrassi, she needs to be eliminated?" Jay read aloud, sliding the laptop closer and laughing slightly. "Jesus. Were kids this cruel when we were in high school?"

Spinner rolled his eyes. "Um, yeah dude, and we were the worst ones. Remember?"

Jay grinned with his familiar smugness. "Oh yeah."

Spinner sighed. "Look, watch the store for me for a minute, I gotta get some stuff from the back."

"Sir yes sir." As Spinner scurried to the store room, Jay scrolled up and down the screen, seeing just how deeply the hatred of Holly J ran in Degrassi's student body. He was engrossed in the expansive and illustrative wall posts, chuckling as he read.

Jay was so amused that he didn't look up when the bell on the door rang, and Holly J stormed inside, sweating slightly and trying not to cry. The door of the Dot shut behind her and she leaned against it, her heart pounding. She had just stormed out of the school cafeteria, where the walls echoed with the chant, "I hate Holly J, I hate Holly J…."

She heard Jay's laugh, and felt a trickle of relief. A good dose of throwing around the bull shit with Spinner and Jay was exactly what she needed. They didn't go to Degrassi; what did they care about lame stuff like that? When she was around them, the Dot was her safe place.

She strolled up behind Jay. "What's up, Stinko?" she greeted, wrapping her arm around him and glancing at the computer screen over his shoulder. "Surfing porn?"

Her face went pale as she saw the familiar hate messages glowing back at her from the computer screen.

"Howdy, shortstack," Jay said merrily. "Look! You're famous."

Holly J felt her stomach churn. She could hear the cafeteria chants again in her head, dizzying her. "I hate Holly J, I hate Holly J…"

"God, is there anyone in the universe who isn't amused by my misery?" she choked out, feeling her hands tremble. She took a step away from Jay and shook her head in disgust. "That's it. I can't take this. Tell Spinner not to be surprised when I don't show up for work this afternoon."

Jay sat in stunned silence as he watched Holly J run out of the Dot, tears sparkling in the corners of her eyes.

-o-o-o-o-

There was a thunderous pain deep in her stomach and throat. She had never cried so much in her life. She wasn't used to feeling this way. She wasn't used to feeling so… alone. It was never something that had concerned her before, but all at once she felt like she couldn't stand to be an island any more.

Hours after she'd run away from school, and away from the Dot, Holly J sat curled up on the corner of the plush living room couch, pulling the edges of her fuzzy pink robe closer around her body. Still damp from a long hot shower, her ginger tresses hung in front of her eyes. She pulled her knees closer to her body as she listened to her mother, upstairs, ranting on the phone to Heather about how mad she was about the whole hate group ordeal.

Holly J sighed and shoved another handful of buttery popcorn into her mouth. She knew that her mom was pissed, and that on the other end of the phone, Heather was probably steadily getting pissed off, too. Sinclair women were infamous for their tempers; not the kind of people you wanted to set alight. Holly J had counted on that fierce legacy to get her through high school. To face anything, to fear nothing, to need no one.

But unlike her mother and sister, Holly J couldn't get pissed off this time. She couldn't curl her fists in anger. She could only feel sadness. Loneliness. The idea that people hated her wasn't so awful; in fact, she generally counted on it. But the idea that everyone hated her… that no one, not a single person out there, could love her…

That was a more frightening thought. She sniffled and ate another handful of popcorn.

There was a knock at the door, which Holly J ignored at first. When she realized her mother was too busy on the phone upstairs to hear it, she at last grumbled and rolled off the couch to answer it.

The towering, lanky figure of Jay Hogart stood in her doorway, his face like stone and his eyes probing.

"What are you doing here?" Holly J asked in exasperation.

"I came to see what the infamous Holly J looked like without make-up, of course," he answered. His smile was ambiguous.

"I don't have time for campy banter," she said, cutting off his well-prepared routine.

The playful grin slowly drifted from his face. "Right then. No play time." He sighed and reached forward, tugging gently on a strand of her wet hair. "I just came to check on you, squirt. I know you had kind of a shitty day."

Holly J sniffled. Her throat was aching from all the sobs. She stared at the ground. "Kind of."

He had never seen her so deflated. Feeling the frailty of her presence was somehow disarming. He had never before felt the need to be so gentle. He tried to smile, and pulled out a silver metal flask for her to see. "Well hey, if you've got the blues, I always have a little remedy on me."

Holly J rolled her eyes at the container of alcohol. "Is that your answer to everything?"

"Is it really any worse than eating junk food and watching the OC?"

Holly J's lips were pursed to spit out another bitter and exhausted response, but his words stopped her short. She felt a grin tugging at the corner of her mouth. "How did you know I was watching the OC?" she asked mischievously, glancing backward towards the television which was only barely visible from the doorway.

"Huh?" Jay answered, scratching the back of his scruffy head. "I mean… you're watching the OC? That was just a guess, actually. Heh. Go figure."

Her clean, somber face suddenly illuminated with glee. "Oh my god, you totally know this show," she said.

Jay shrugged indifferently. "Dude, no, come on. All I did was pick the dumbest show I could think of and assume that girls watch it when they're depressed."

Holly J laughed, and even though Jay was embarrassed, he was glad to hear that gentle noise escape her lips. "Please. You recognized the dialogue. You watch the OC!"

"Watched," Jay said through gritted teeth, his shoulders hanging heavily in defeat. "Watched. I did date Manny Santos for awhile, you know, and I maybe was coerced into watching the DVDs. Once or twice. Maybe."

Holly J's grin only grew wider as she saw through Jay's thick skin. "Oh my god you love the OC! Who's your favorite, Seth or Ryan?"

Jay narrowed his eyes.

"Of course, Ryan; you're the bad boy type, that one's too easy," Holly J said, giggling. "Okay then, who do you like Ryan better with, Marissa or Taylor?"

Jay threw up his hands and grunted in discomfort. "I'm sorry, did I come here bearing kindness and goodwill? I must have been high, I think I'll be leaving now…"

Holly J's cheeks went pink with laughter, and she surprised even herself when she reached out and tugged on Jay's hand before he could walk away. "No, wait," she said, smiling as she met his eyes. "That's the first time I've laughed all day. Why don't you… come inside? Amuse me with your plebian ways."

Jay eyed her skeptically as her dainty, manicured fingers stayed clung to his own calloused hands. He could hardly make sense of why he'd bothered checking on her in the first place, and now he found himself invited into the very nest of the queen bee? It sounded like a dangerous proposal.

But then, Jay had always been a sucker for danger. "Well, I guess so, snickerdoodle," he answered. "What season are we on?"

Even as he played it cool, Jay couldn't help but hold his breath as he walked over the threshold and into the dazzling lair of Holly J.