Sean had dropped Emma off at her house after the dance. She thought back to when Paige said it would be the best dance in Degrassi history, for her at least it was. Between hearing how much thought Sean put into this, the possible in school daycare Liberty was pushing to student council, and everything with Paige it was the best she'd felt in months.

Her thoughts went back to Paige, after their heart to heart she saw her dancing with Ellie. She took out her phone and started texting.

Emma: hey, saw you 2 dancing, need details!

Several minutes passed, but Emma finally got her reply.

Paige: hey, can't talk right now, will tell you everything tomorrow ;)

Emma took the emoji as a good sign, this was comforting to see Paige happy.


Paige finished texting before laying her phone on the stand next to her bed and rolling back over facing the opposite side

"Hey." Paige said to the girl sharing her bed softly.

"Hey." The red head replied.

They closed the gap between them, locking lips for a few moments before pulling apart.

"This is weird, just yesterday I said I'm done with guys after dealing with Craig's dumbass to being in Paige Michelchuk's bed." Ellie said somewhat sardonically.

"I know what you mean, spending months obsessed with one person, then finding someone who actually returns the feeling." Paige said mildly amused.

Ellie suddenly seemed to pull away to Paige's mild shock. "You're talking about Emma right?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah, why what's wrong?" Paige asked, mild worry beginning to form.

"The rumour I hear is that Sean is the one that got her pregnant, and if that's true with how far she is, it would mean he did it while he and I were together. I mean I like the idea of a relationship but ever since I found out the idea of it happening again just scares me" Ellie said somewhat sadly.

Paige knew that's not how it happened but knew she couldn't say anything and after her slip up with Liberty she had doubled down on the secret.

"Ellie I can't tell you the whole story but trust me Sean didn't cheat on you." Paige said, trying to reassure Ellie.

"Look Paige I like you but it's just hard after that, and I know you and Emma are still close but it's like a constant reminder." Ellie stated somewhat disbelievingly.

"Ellie please, it's not like that." Paige said soothingly but more worry building up.

"Then what happened to Emma then?" Ellie asked, confused.

"...I can't tell you." Paige said upset but quietly.

"Maybe I should go." Ellie said, gathering her clothes and heading for the door.

"See you tomorrow?" Paiged asked glumly

"Yeah, sure." Ellie said somewhat annoyed

Paige wasn't too convinced she'd hear from Ellie tomorrow or again.


The next morning Paige was still upset over what had happened. She was debating if she should even try messaging Ellie. As she was contemplating her phone rang, it was Emma.

"Hello." Paige answered, trying hard to sound okay.

"Okay, I gotta ask what happened?" Emma asked excitedly.

"It's not happening..." Paige answered sadly.

"No, what happened?" Emma asked, wondering why Paige was so sad

"She thinks Sean cheated on her...with you actually. We got into an argument. I told her that I can't say what happened, just to trust me Sean didn't cheat. She left upset"

Emma could tell she was upset and she felt responsible. She was just trying to defend her and Sean. She wondered if there was anything she could do. Emma thought for a few moments she came up with something.

"Do you trust her?" Emma asked, a bit nervous.

"What do you mean?" Paige asked, wondering what emma was getting at

"You know her better than I do, would you trust her with your biggest, darkest secrets?"

"Of course, but what does that have to do with this?" Paige asked, wondering what Emma was getting at.

"I gotta go take care of something but I'll call you as soon as I can." Emma said quickly

Before Paige could respond, Emma hung up.

Paige felt more alone now, alone and confused. What did Emma mean by "does she trust her?"

After ending the call Emma started messaging Sean.

Emma: you dated Ellie, do you think she's trustworthy?


Ellie sat in her room, she had so much fun with Paige the night before, dancing together and then messing around with her. She didn't expect someone she used to be on not great terms with to work out just right. She couldn't figure out why it was such a big deal to her that she believed Sean didn't cheat. Her thoughts were interrupted when her mom called her telling her she had a visitor. She left her room and found Emma staring there in the living room.

"Ellie...hi." Emma said awkwardly.

"What do you want?" Ellie asked bluntly, wondering why Emma was here and how Emma knew where she lived.

"I don't want you to be mad at Paige, all she was doing was covering for us."

"What do you mean by covering?" Ellie asked, confused and slightly annoyed.

Emma let out a sigh, she looked worried but Ellie didn't know why.

"I want to tell you the whole story. Trust me, Sean didn't do anything wrong"

"Okay..." Elli said suspiciously

"It started the day of the shooting at school." Emma said quietly.

Suddenly she had Ellie's full attention. She went on telling her of everything that had happened after she went to try to console Rick. Ellie felt sick, she knew Emma defended him that day at The Dot, the only person who tried to do the right thing and this is what happened.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry." Ellie said to Emma almost in tears.

"It's okay, Paige has been coming with me to the guidance counselor and getting help for the future." Emma said reassuringly

"She's very convincing, isn't she?." Ellie said.

"Paige was really happy dancing with you, she was just trying to help keep what happened a secret from the school. Please talk to her." Emma pleaded.

Ellie realized that since Sean hadn't cheated she had no reason to be worried, if anything the whole story increased her affection for Paige, her willingness to help Emma.

"I will, thank you for coming here and telling me." Ellie said, relaxed at long last

"She's done so much to help me these last few months, I just want her to be happy." Emma stated simply.

"Yeah she does a lot for people." Ellie said pulling up her sleeves, the cuts had healed and faded away but the scars from her cutting phase were still visible.


Paige sat alone at home, thinking back to all the ups and downs of the last 24 hours. She looked down at the tattoo on her forearm, something about it just made her feel better. Her phone started ringing, she answered it before even reading the caller ID.

"Hello?" Paige said, trying to sound collected, she didn't need a stranger to hear her worries.

"Paige, Emma told me everything that happened. I'm sorry I didn't believe you." Ellie said apologetic.

Suddenly Emma asking if she trusted her made sense. Paige felt even worse about the slip up with Liberty

"You want to maybe do something tonight?" Paige asked

"That sounds really good actually." Ellie said excitedly.


Authors note: thanks again to all you still reading also to my beta reader balmz, again any feedback is welcomed