A few days later J.T. was brooding at a lunch table. He didn't usually do such an emo thing but due to recent events, it was the only thing he had been doing. A perfectly made double decker sandwich prepared by him earlier that morning was left uneaten so far.
"Hun, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?" Paige asked him. "You usually destroy a sandwich like it's your last meal."
He looked over to where Liberty was sitting in the cafeteria. Of course she was with her new boyfriend and his squad of lowlifes, eating a chicken salad primly while everyone else was laughing and joking around, probably about how many puppies they were going to kick after school. She looked so incredibly out of place with them that he wanted to drag her out of there and talk some sense into her. He knew Liberty enough to know that there was no way she was enjoying being around them. Her stiff body language and refusal to look at anyone but Sean in their eyes gave it away.
"Paige, what do you think of Liberty and Sean dating?" He asked his friend.
"Weird as fuck but it's none of my business," she answered with a shrug, "Sean Cameron likes his goody two shoe girls. I know you're happy that she's not obsessed with you anymore though. That was tragic."
'Am I though?' J.T. thought to himself in shame as the memory of his argument with Sean flashed through his mind. "You're in love with her, aren't you?" Sean's words kept repeating. J.T. had spent that entire night arguing with himself about how it couldn't possibly be true. Just because he liked having her around as a friend didn't mean he liked her like that , just because he had constant wet dreams about her instead of someone actually hot like Manny didn't mean he wanted to actually see her naked, and just because the sight of her and Sean made his skin crawl so damn bad, it felt like there were millions of fucking bugs underneath it didn't mean it because he was in love with her. He couldn't be in love with Liberty, not after so long. Sean was on crack.
But…then he kept thinking about why he never fully avoided Liberty and let her hang around him. He never found her completely annoying, just way too uptight and a know-it-all. But her being a know-it-all saved his ass from failing the final exam last year, and her massive brain was impressive. He always wondered why that as smart as she was, why her parents didn't make her attend a more prestigious school than Degrassi. She would fit in way better at a boarding school where everyone was as intelligent as she was. And she wasn't always uptight, she showed a more chill, fun side of her at the Hawaiian dance. She danced (awkwardly but in a way that was still cute to him), she cracked jokes to him that actually made him laugh, and she even did a toast with him. He was having such a good time because of that that he didn't even mind it when she made them slow dance on the floor with the other couples. It felt nice having his hands on her waist as they moved together, and she had some fruity body spray on her skin that still made his nose twitch in pleasure when he thought about it. When she wasn't being her usual nerdy self, she was… awesome to be around.
He was appreciative of how she didn't judge him for being good at sewing. Even though he didn't want to show it much at the time, it did make him happy inside that she of all people thought it was sweet. Compared to all of the other girls at school, Liberty thought he was this great guy who could do everything. It confused him because as much as he liked bragging to everyone about how awesome he was to seem cool, he knew deep down that there wasn't anything truly remarkable about him and that's why Liberty's crush on him didn't make sense. But her being with Sean right now somehow made even less sense….
"Wouldn't you say that Liberty could do better than Sean though? He's walking around like an extra in an Eminem video and the smartest girl in school is dating him," he argued. His friend raised an eyebrow at that.
"Opposites attract, that's why I'm somehow attracted to this doofus," Paige argued back while gesturing to Spinner. "Hey!" Her boyfriend protested but she ignored him.
"Again, it's none of my business and it shouldn't be yours either…unless, and don't jump down my throat for saying this hun, you've been holding secret feelings for her this entire time," she continued, and there for the second time this week, he was accused of being in love with Liberty Van Zandt. Like the first time, J.T. went white as a sheet of paper again at the thought.
"I really like Liberty as a friend but that's all. I just don't think a guy like Sean is the best fit for her," J.T. denied once again.
"Then who is? Toby," Paige questioned dryly. "Because that's the only guy at this school who could out nerd even her."
J.T. somehow hated the idea of Liberty dating Toby even more than her being with Sean. His best friend would certainly be super compatible with Liberty, and they would probably create kids so smart that they would cure cancer and overrun the world with robots. Which is why he thought they would be especially terrible together.
"Toby is happily in love with Kendra. The guy who's perfect for Liberty doesn't go to this school," he replied before finally grabbing his sandwich and biting it. While he ate his food, he stole another glance at Liberty.
Her hair was down today and Sean kept running his disgusting, greasy fingers through it in admiration. If there was one thing J.T. could admit to himself that Liberty always had very pretty hair. It was just hard to notice when she had that tight puffy bun on the top of her head. It was a perfect honey color with some highlights that looked golden. Every tight curl of hers looked incredibly soft like a lamb's. He remembered when he told Toby once during seventh grade about how he preferred girls with their hair long and down, and how Liberty suddenly started wearing her hair like that more often. At the time he wanted to be creeped out by that but…he couldn't. It brought out her face in a way that he liked.
Not that her face wasn't pretty. Other than her hair, he liked how her eyes lit up whenever she jumped to answer a question or did a class presentation. And he liked the shape of her lips, which he knew the feel of when they kissed at Ashley's party a few years back. While he thought he was on e, he kissed her on the cheek only for her to get bold and kiss him on his lips instead. He didn't mind that at all even though it was his first kiss. It was hers too and even though Sean Cameron may have got to kiss those soft lips every day, he got to taste them first.
'Fuck….I think I might be in love with Liberty,' J.T. realized, and the horror that came from that realization was just how right Sean was about him being stupid.
"There's a movie night at the downtown library going on this evening. It's only five dollars per person and they'll be providing pizza and snacks," Liberty announced excitedly to Sean as they walked to their next class.
"What are they showing?" Sean asked.
"The first Lord Of The Rings movie," she answered cheerfully. He scoffed.
"Those movies look so lame," he jeered. He never watched any of the three movies that came out yet but he thought the concept sounded stupid whenever Toby talked about it. Anything fantasy related just didn't appeal to him.
"They're not lame. They're amazing," Liberty argued, already getting passionate about the subject. "The books are even better and I've read each one ten times. I can recite my favorite chapters page to page in my sleep. I know the names of every main character and their family tree off the top of my head. I can even speak sentences in Elvish."
"That's nice, babe, but I'm just not into dorky stuff involving wizards, elves, and whatever the fuck a hobbit is supposed to be," he turned down swiftly.
"Hobbits are creatures with human-like faces, pudgy bellies, hairy feet, and a short height. You're half of those things," Liberty argued.
"Hey, I'm not that short," Sean argued defensively, "And my feet aren't that hairy."
Liberty gave him a pleading, needy look that was making him feel bad. She was so stubborn. 'Not unlike me,' he thought self-deprecatingly. So far as a couple, they had been only doing stuff that he liked to do. It was only fair that they started doing the stuff that she liked to do as well. He sighed.
"Fine, I'll go with you tonight," he accepted and was stunned when she squealed a little in response. Liberty Van Zandt didn't usually squeal, that was a Manny Santos thing.
"Yes!" She cheered before leaning forward and kissing him on the cheek. She then headed off into a classroom for Physics.
Sean couldn't help but smile as he stood alone in the hallway. He could tolerate her nerdy movies if it meant he was gonna get a sweet kiss every time he did so.
Emma watched their exchange from behind the glass doors, still feeling distaste at their relationship. She complained about it to Manny at her locker.
"He acts like he genuinely enjoys being with her," she grumbled.
"I would hope so, considering that's what a boyfriend is supposed to do," Manny replied dryly while holding her French textbook.
"I'm not in the mood to hear your smart remarks, Manny, this is serious," Emma snapped.
"Why? Sean was a total asshole to you, wasn't he? That's why you're with Chris," her best friend reminded her in confusion.
"I'm over Sean. But him going from me to Liberty makes no sense. I think he's doing it just to make me jealous and Liberty surprisingly isn't smart enough to see it," she assumed. And nothing could convince her otherwise. However, they had to stop soon because she couldn't take it. "She told me off when I tried to warn her."
Manny raised an eyebrow at her instead of agreeing with her. "Em, I think you need to let this Liberty and Sean thing go. You're starting to sound like a crazy, bitter ex-girlfriend when you have your own boyfriend. Are you not happy with Chris?"
"I am happy with Chris. He's a much better boyfriend than Sean. But I just think that Sean has no idea how much he's seriously downgrading right now and it's making me concerned," Emma argued. There was no way Liberty had the capacity to be a good girlfriend to Sean like she was. Liberty was too absorbed in her books and was rather plain looking. She was dull. She couldn't blame J.T. for not wanting to date her.
"You think Liberty is a downgrade?"
"I mean, yeah, it's Liberty . Him going from me to Liberty makes me look like the biggest loser at Degrassi," Emma reasoned with a grimace.
She did not expect for her best friend to have a look of disgust at that statement. "You are a loser. Not because Sean is dating Liberty but because you're acting like a total mean girl over it. Liberty is right, you were never a friend to her," Manny fired at her before walking away from her.
Some self-awareness about how she was acting during this entire situation finally trickled into Emma.
In another class, Liberty couldn't stop thinking about her upcoming date with Sean tonight. She had already planned out what she was going to wear and how her hair was going to be styled. She never thought she was going to act like Manny when she finally got a boyfriend but she guessed it was inevitable. She was trying to focus on reading her copy of Romeo and Juliet for class but for the first time in her life, she could care less about reading.
Her peace was interrupted by J.T. walking up to her. "Hey Lib, Tobes and I are going to The Dot after school. You wanna hang with us?" J.T. asked her cheerfully.
"I can't. Sean and I are going to the library tonight to watch The Fellowship Of The Ring," she turned down.
"It seems like you and Sean are going out every night," J.T. accused, and the bitterness in his voice was quite unexpected.
"Is that not normal for two people in a relationship?" She questioned in confusion.
"Not if you don't want to be seen as attached by the hip. Your whole personality is about Sean Cameron now," he accused. Liberty stopped reading her copy of Romeo and Juliet to frown at him.
"What's it to you, J.T.? You should be glad that I'm not crushing on you anymore. Since you think I'm so abhorrent and all," she reminded him irritably. A part of her was still hurt by how harshly he rejected her over the years, but being with Sean was slowly helping her heal from that.
"I don't think you're abhorrent. I never did and I never will," J.T. denied sharply, surprising her. He put his hands on both sides of her desk.
"Liberty, do you really expect me to believe that after three years of being in love with me, you're suddenly onto someone else? That someone being Sean ? He's beneath you," he argued.
"He's not," she argued.
"He is ," J.T. insisted callously, "He's not the guy who took you to the Hawaiian dance last year, who you went out of your way to dress for. He's not the guy you caught a detention for so he wouldn't get in trouble instead. He's not the guy you helped realize that's it okay to be a boy that likes sewing. He's not the guy you wrote silly love haikus over. He's not the guy you tutor to make sure he doesn't fail his exams. That's me . I'm the guy you always wanted."
Liberty's brain started shutting down as her former crush ranted, as she was getting too overwhelmed with frustration to respond. She didn't know why J.T. cared so much about this when he should be happy that she was over him. Unless….
"He's not even your first kiss, Lib, I am," he continued, mistaking her silence as permission for him to keep going, "Do you not remember what happened at Ashley's party? I kissed you on the cheek, and you kissed me on the lips, and then we danced. Do you and Sean have moments like that?"
She untwisted her tongue before speaking. "No, what we have is even better because Sean isn't afraid to show how much he likes me. He's not ashamed to be around me and that's why I'm happy to be his girlfriend. We never dated because you don't want to, J.T., and I'm tired of looking pathetic over it. I have been chasing after you for three years, and you never gave me the attention I wanted no matter what I've done for you. You say you don't think I'm abhorrent but it's hard not to believe that. Sean never makes me feel that way," she countered. He was now starting to look upset but she had to remain strong. "Do you even like me to be saying all of what you're saying right now?"
"I…," J.T. began to say, and her heart jumped in anticipation of him finally admitting he had feelings for him, the one thing she wanted for a very long time. But he said nothing more after the first word, or rather he couldn't , so her mind called her back to reality.
"My crush on you is over but you don't seem to like that. Nevertheless it is, J.T., and if you don't leave me alone, our friendship is over too," Liberty threatened as she thought about her new love, a guy that wasn't ashamed to be around her.
"Liberty, please- "
"Enough, J.T. Leave me alone," she commanded before opening her book back up to read. The conversation had to end right now.
J.T.'s face was full of hurt at her words, but he didn't say another word as he walked back over to his seat. Class started, and he was in a grumpy mood for the rest of the period.
Liberty allowed herself to not care.
School let out for the day, which helped build Sean's excitement for his night with Liberty. He walked out of school with a bounce in his step.
"Sean," he heard Emma call out to him, making him freeze. He turned around to see his ex-girlfriend walk up to him.
"What are you doing tonight?" She asked him.
"Hanging out with Liberty. What's it to you?" He questioned, very aware of his aggressive tone. After Liberty told him about how Emma acted towards her at the beginning of the week, he was viewing his ex in a negative light.
"I was just wondering," Emma replied defensively, "We haven't talked much since we broke up and I just want to make sure you're okay."
"I'm good. Real good," he replied firmly. She pursed her lips at his attitude but continued.
"You seem to be. I'm glad Liberty is making you so happy," she said before a more shameful look crossed her face, "She's not speaking to me at the moment but tell her that I'm sorry for what I said the other day. It was mean and that's not who I am or what I'm trying to be."
"It was fucked up, Em. I'm not dating Liberty just to make you mad. Contrary to what you may believe, my entire existence doesn't revolve around you," he replied with a glare, and he could feel how strong Liberty's influence was growing on him through the words he was using, "She's sweet, she's pretty, and she's good. All the things I liked about you but better. She's not a downgrade from you to me, she's an upgrade . Don't ever think otherwise again."
Emma nodded in acceptance of his words, but her eyes revealed her true emotion of being upset. He knew that she didn't want to hear that Liberty of all girls at Degrassi was better than her. It cut at her self-esteem, her insecurities that were bitter and nasty at their core. As much as she prided herself on being a feminist that fights to save the world, she still looked down at the nerds of society like everyone else who was obsessed with being popular. It was a dumb mindset, because nerds like Liberty were the ones running the world behind the scenes and making sure it would never collapse. Because of that, Liberty and people like her were awesome.
"I'll see you around, Emma," Sean finished dismissively before continuing on his way to Jay's car in the parking lot. He didn't give his ex another look.
He had a date tonight with his new sweetheart after all.
At the library, Liberty almost forgot that her and Sean were here to watch a movie as she looked around in wonder.
She already had two books rented out, which were Dracula and Jane Eyre , but she was already trying to plan out which books she wanted to read next. The Silmarillion? A Game Of Thrones? The Stand? There were hundreds of books to choose from the next time she visited. With how fast her reading speed was, it wouldn't take more than two weeks to read the books she already had.
"Does the lady think I'm going to start stealing books or something?" Sean asked her while gesturing to a librarian setting up the projector. An older white woman, she was staring her boyfriend down heavily.
"Maybe she just thinks you look interesting," Liberty suggested in assurance as she observed his outfit for the night. Sean wasn't dressed in his usual thug gear, he was only wearing a pale blue hoodie and denim jeans, so none of the library staff should have any cause to be unsettled by him.
While she sat down and Sean went to go get their pizza slices, the lady continued staring at Sean with intensity, as if he was about to do something wrong. Liberty was now sharing her boyfriend's discomfort.
When the movie started up, she tried not to focus on the old woman though.
Emma felt alone tonight, and she was bitter at the realization that it was her own fault. She grumpily rested her chin in her fist while trying to do Physics homework.
"Where's Chris?" Her mom asked her while washing Jack in the sink. Her baby brother was looking at his surroundings in interest, finding enjoyment in clapping his soap covered hands repeatedly.
"At his home. He's not in the mood to come over right now," Emma grumbled. The real story is that they got into a little argument at school today, as he accused her of still having feelings for Sean. Playing innocent, she acted furious at the accusation and insisted that he was being delusional. So now they were mad at each other.
"Huh? A shame because I know he loves my lasagna," her mom lamented. "Manny does too."
"Manny's not coming over for a while I think. She's mad at me. I think everyone is mad at me," Emma replied with a sigh at the end. "Chris, Manny, Liberty, Sean, it's like they're my four horsemen right now."
"What did you do?" Her mom asked in concern as she stopped washing Jack at the moment. Jack tapped his wet hair over and over again playfully when she wasn't looking.
"Give off the impression that I still like Sean and act mean towards Liberty because of it. She hates me now and Manny thinks I'm being a bully. I'm not trying to be a bully but her and Sean dating just makes me so uncomfortable!" Emma ranted. "I know it's stupid and I shouldn't care about who he dates when I have a new boyfriend myself. But every time I see those two together, it just sucks ."
"I think that's a normal reaction to a breakup. It's that silly little feeling where you don't want the person who hurt you to be happy. But you have to reign that in so it doesn't make you a monster," her mom gently advised, "You should focus on the things outside of that person that make you happy, like your new boyfriend."
"I'm trying to but I don't think Chris is enough right now," Emma admitted, and she hated herself for it. Chris wasn't supposed to be just her rebound boy.
"Then maybe you're not ready for dating again, Em," her mom pointed out.
Emma felt even more shitty than before.
Sean was surprised at how much he was enjoying the movie. As he and Liberty sat up in front of the projector screen, with his girlfriend huddled up in his embrace, Sean found himself more invested into the story than he should be. And the cool action scenes.
"These two guys remind me of Toby and J.T.," he whispered during one scene as two of the hobbit characters randomly joined in to this important council. They were the silly troublemakers of the main group of characters.
"I can see that. Toby is Merry, the smart one. And Pippin is the goofy one," Liberty replied. She looked as if she wanted to say more but couldn't due to the presence of others around them.
"The stupid one you mean," he replied flatly. He wasn't going to be at peace with his former friend anytime soon. Not after he knew now that J.T. had returned Liberty's feelings all along, the clown was just in deep denial about it.
Liberty giggled, a soft and light sound that was pleasant to his ears.
During a brief intermission, Sean had got up to use the men's restroom. Liberty had used that time to get ice cream for them both. The ice cream provided by the staff was packaged in small cups with wooden spoons.
"Chocolate? How'd you know it was my favorite?" Sean asked her as he eagerly took his cup. She had chosen vanilla for herself. It was a basic flavor but that's why she liked it. She wasn't very adventurous when it came to ice cream.
"You look like the type to enjoy chocolate," she answered nonchalantly.
"You know, growing up, I think I only had ice cream like five times before I moved in with my brother," he began, "My parents couldn't afford it, or rather they had no interest to spend money on things other than…well, nevermind. No need to ruin our date with grim stuff."
There was a sad glint in his eyes that made her feel bad for him. She didn't know what to say, and it was obvious that he had no interest in opening up further about his childhood for now, so she just grabbed his hand as a small gesture of comfort instead.
"At least you're enjoying ice cream now," she assured him, causing him to smile at her. Maybe it was because his features were usually hard that seeing him smile at her all sweet and tender made her tummy flutter.
The older woman that had been staring at Sean all evening walked up to them, making them both tense. As she opened her mouth, Liberty was worried that she was going to start accusing her boyfriend of stealing something or causing some sort of chaos. Or even worse, hurl insults at them for being an interracial couple.
"You remind me of my grandson, I think he even owns that same hoodie," she said instead with a friendly grin.
"Oh," Sean replied, "Cool. Does he go to Degrassi?"
"Heavens no. Almost nothing good happens at that school. He goes to Lakehurst instead," she denied with a grimace at the end. She then went back up to the projector.
"Lakehurst is even worse than Degrassi. They had eight fights and four drug abuse scandals three months in October," Liberty whispered to her boyfriend argumentatively.
"And an arson incident," he added as the movie started back up.
For all of Degrassi's faults, Liberty hoped that those goons at Lakehurst would never try to attack the school.
The next morning at school, J.T.'s brooding demeanor turned into grim acceptance.
"How'd the talk with Liberty go?" Toby asked him as he got stuff out of his locker.
"Terribly. Liberty is set on dating that wannabe greaser bastard. He won," he grumbled. He didn't want to believe it but whenever Liberty flashed that cold stare of hers, she was serious. And that hurt . He was reckoning with the fact that he had severely fucked up with Liberty.
"I guess it does suck when you're on the other side for once. Sorry bro," Toby replied sympathetically. J.T. shut his locker closed with a slam.
"I'll give it a couple months before they break up because of Sean behaving like a dickbag towards her. It's Sean's thing," J.T. declared in hope.
"And you'll swoop in and be her knight-in-shining-armor? Or court jester more accurately?" His best friend teased.
"Tobes, you know me so well," he answered with an impish smirk at the end. They then started walking to class together.
"Sometimes I wish I didn't," Toby replied dryly but J.T. ignored him.
Sean could have his fun with Liberty for the time being but at the end of the day, J.T. knew it in his heart that he and Liberty were ultimately meant to be.
"You seriously want to watch more of those flicks?" Jay asked him in disbelief as they walked through a different section of the school.
"Yeah, I just want to see how the story ends. That's all," Sean answered. He was glad the other two movies had already come out, and Liberty promised to let him come over to her house this weekend to watch them. Out of all the characters, Aragorn was his favorite due to how cool he was. He needed to see the guy become king.
He hated to admit it but he was growing a nerdy side…
His friend snorted.
"Pfft. I can't believe this. Your descent into dorkness has begun," Jay taunted him, "You're being whipped by Liberty Van Zandt ."
"Maybe I am. Maybe I'm just smart enough to make my girl happy instead of mad all the time like Alex is at you," Sean fired back. His friends argued every other day. At times, it seemed as if Alex wasn't even into Jay as much as he was into her.
"Chill, my guy. I'm just messing with you. I'm happy that you found a girl at Degrassi that can handle your gruffy new personality," Jay replied, smirking devilishly.
When Sean spotted his girlfriend walking in their direction, he called out to her. "Lib!"
Still feeling warm from her great night with Sean, Liberty eagerly approached her boyfriend. "Hey, Sean," she greeted. She wasn't comfortable with the idea of using pet names. They just all felt odd on her tongue, almost mocking.
"We had so much fun together at the library last night. I appreciate you for even going," she praised him with gratitude. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"Anything for my girl. You do what I like to do and I do what you like to do," he assured her with a smile. Her tummy started fluttering again.
"I'm glad you like me for me," she declared emotionally.
"There's a lot to like about Liberty Van Zandt," he reasoned, smirking.
Over her boyfriend's shoulder, Liberty saw Emma watching their romantic moment. It was that creepy look she always had when she was trying to be in someone's business.
Out of both desire for Sean and pettiness towards Emma, Liberty boldly leaned forward and passionately kissed her new boyfriend on the lips. He kissed her back with just as much vigor, making Emma look away. Good.
Liberty Van Zandt knew she made the right decision in leaving her feelings for J.T. Yorke behind, because Sean Cameron, even with his hardness, was much sweeter for her.
A/N: Much love to everyone who read this fic, especially those who left kudos and comments! It's awkward for me to write fics centering on characters from early TNG, as I didn't grow up with them as I did with the S10-14 cast, but I decided to challenge myself. Sean/Liberty is one of my biggest non canon Degrassi ships and I hope they're now one of yours too 😘❤️.
