Emma's P.O.V.

 

    I walked into school knowing that, as usual, something would happen, directly or indirectly. I had become very anxious lately because of a big competition we would be having at school the next day. It was actually a show called Whack Your Brain and I was on the team along with Toby Isaacs, Heather Sinclaire, and Rick Murray.

 

    Toby has been a life-long friend of mine. He had an interest in me, that I knew. But when you got around the lovesick part of him, he was an okay guy. He was extremely smart, loved computers, and was almost always there when you needed him. His intelligence is what landed him a spot on the Whack Your Brain Team. Because we had been friends for so long, he knew what I liked, disliked, when I was lying, and vice versa. This is always a good thing to have between friends, especially if you get in trouble. Trust me, I know from experience.

 

    Heather is another friend of mine, but Toby and me are closer. She's nice and everything, but she's kind of conceited. I like her when she's distressed because that's when she's nicest. She, too, is also quite smart, but she's no genius. But for whatever reason, I prefer to keep my distance with Heather, no matter how much she may be my friend.

 

    Rick Murray is an odd one. He came to Degrassi Community School last year. He was here for a few weeks and he's suddenly a monster. This caused him to leave Degrassi that same year. I guess you could say that his love was never meant to be, thanks to him. It was a surprise when he returned to Degrassi this year. Nobody wanted him there. But since we didn't run the school, there was nothing we students could do. Of course, considering I wouldn't stop without a fight, my friend Paige and me started a silent protest against relationship violence. We wanted to pressure it to the point where he would understand and want to leave. We wanted to make his life miserable. The best thing was that the principal, Mr. Raditch, couldn't do anything about it. But as time wore on, it came to a point where I decided that the constant bullying needed to come to an end even though I had actually started it. The thing was, just because I had stopped my little protest, didn't mean that I liked him. I felt sorry for him. That was all. But no matter how much I disliked him, he still had some good qualities like being a genius. Actually, that's all I can think of as a good quality. Since we were on the same team, I was nice to him. If I had to be on the same team as him, I felt that I should at least make him feel good about himself in some form.

 

    It was a while before I had found Toby and Rick. I was guessing they were off to their lockers or something else of no great importance, so I ran to catch up to them.

 

“Hey guys! I made flashcards! You want me to quiz them by category or should I shuffle?"

 

“I’m quitting", Rick blurted out.

 

“Rick! The finals are tomorrow", I reminded him.

 

“We have a new teammate. Jimmy Brooks a.k.a. my daily tormenter", he told me.

 

    I knew Jimmy. We weren't very close, but he was the school's M.V.P. for the basketball team. It was kind of hard to not hear about him. Jimmy was a good person. He had never hurt anyone. He never cheated on his girlfriends or told lies about others. He believed in giving everybody a second chance, but if you blew it, that was it. He had given Rick a second chance and according to Jimmy, he had blown it. Jimmy had turned cold toward Rick along with everyone else. Jimmy had also given his best friend, Gavin, or Spinner as we call him, a second chance after he had stolen Jimmy's mp3 player and almost sold it. That ended in disaster. But Jimmy claims that he thinks Spinner might have actually learned something from the shunning he received from him for that fairly long time. But even though Jimmy was a pretty nice person and great to be around, he was one of Rick's regulars and I don't mean a regular as in ‘he goes regularly to get his hair cut by the best barber on the planet although his filthy rich parents could probably afford it’. Just the day before, he and Spinner had thrown him into a dumpster and left him there. A brutal thing to do to a defenseless guy like Rick. I wished that since nobody seemed to like him, they could just leave him alone.

    In the midst of my thinking, Toby piped up. “I told you, man, just go to Simpson. Just ask him for a re-think on his decision."

 

    Mr. Simpson is my step dad. He and my mom had a thing for each other back when they went to Degrassi as teenagers, but that didn't work out. Then he started to work here as a teacher. He and my mom started dating again and I didn't like it. Actually, I was very much against it. Once, she bailed on me and my friend Manny to go to some stupid show with him. I blew up in her face about my issues with him a few times, but I finally let everything go. Then she proposed to him which led to a wedding that almost didn't happen because of a bit of news that came right around that time. It was a close call, but no matter what went on, they made up and the wedding was success even if my mom was wearing a t-shirt and jeans instead of a wedding dress. Soon after, and I mean real soon after, I got a baby brother. I got to name him and for whatever reason, I named him Jack. Even though I didn't like Mr. Simpson or calling him "Dad" at first, I've learned to love him and he loves me, too.  Since then, it's been pure bliss, I guess.

 

    This time I wasn't interrupted. I just stopped thinking so I could listen to Rick's situation. I may not have liked him, but I was always willing to help.

 

"If Jimmy's booted, he'll know it was me", Rick said, countering Toby's advice. I thought hard before putting my word in on the subject.

 

“Jimmy and them, they don't like you 'cause they don't know you", I told him. When I said this, I wasn't implying that I did. I stress this because I really didn't. I didn't plan to. I didn't want to.

 

“So?" he replied.

 

“So you came back to Degrassi to show you've changed, right? So work with Jimmy on the team. Show him you're not the guy he thinks you are."

 

“Think they want to know who I am?" Rick pointed to some nasty signs and letters left on his locker by obvious haters. “They want to torture me."

 

    I ripped the notes and signs off of his locker and dropped them on the floor. “Rick, we need you on the team. So you need to do something." My eyes met Rick's briefly and with that, I left for Science.