Jimmy's P.O.V.

 

    I don't like to beat around the bush, so I won't. I didn't like Rick. I didn't like him when he hurt one of my friends, I didn't like him when he left, and I sure as heck didn't like him now. To me, I felt that the whole “I’m coming back to Degrassi so that y'all can see that I've changed" charade was a waste of time. Nobody was going to care whether he had changed or not. The fact was that he had messed with a group of people who could hold a grudge for years and not forget every little detail. That's the wrong group to be crossing. It was my group. There were the girls like Paige, Ashley, and my girlfriend Hazel to name a few. Then there were my boys which included me, Craig, Marco, my left back friend Sean, and I guess Spinner. I was okay with all of 'em, although I really had to think about my so-called friendship with Spin.

 

    Spinner never really treated me like a true friend. The only reason I hung out with him was because he was Paige's boyfriend. We were cool until he stole my mp3 player, the jealous idiot. But he didn't stop there. After he stole it, he tried to sell it. He was somewhat kind enough to give it back, but then he played the best friend card and from there, I walked. I didn't want to hear him whimper like a dog 'cause I really didn't care. I eventually let him try again. It's been all right since then.

 

    When Rick came back, I was probably one of the most upset. His girlfriend, Terri, was a good friend of mine. We were close and I was happy for her when she said she had found someone she liked because she was extremely insecure about herself and how others saw her. At the time, I thought Rick was strange, but okay. But I found out that his temper tantrums tended to take it too far to the point of violence and after she dumped him, the whole group hoped that she would never get stuck in another relationship like that again. Sadly, all of our hoping combined didn't work. Rick “sincerely" apologized for the pain he caused her and she forgave him. But their little reunion didn't last long. Because of another tantrum by Rick, my friend ended up in a coma. Afterwards, his mother transferred him to a new school and we were happy to see him go. We wouldn't have to see his face again. Wrong!  So in order to get rid of him this time, I helped him. I sprayed him with a hose after I refused him service at the school car wash. I pushed him into the occasional locker and even threw him into a dumpster once. I did everything in my power to get rid of him. But I didn't go overboard because I'd get in trouble with Raditch. I wanted him gone.

 

    So imagine my surprise when I found out I'd have to work with him on the Whack Your Brain team. My deep dislike for him was in full swing now. Spending more time with Rick the Psycho. I had so much joy, sarcasm intended.

 

    My first and last practice for the competition was actually kinda cool. At least after it started. We weren't even there ten minutes and Rick was already up in my face. Toby slinked into the room where we practicing with a paper towel to his lip. It was red with blood.

 

“Ah! Our high tech genius has arrived . . . and he's bleeding," Mr. Simpson announced with concern.

 

“Skateboard accident. I'm fine," reassured Toby. I was smart enough to know that the reason for his bloody lip had nothing to do with any skateboard unless it was from a video game and those are harmless. Mr. Simpson ran off to get him some ice. While he was gone, I decided to do a bit of questioning.

 

“So, give it up, Isaacs. Who did it?"

 

“Wish you'd hit him, Jimmy, instead of missing all the fun?" Rick asked. I was pissed. He had no right to be labeling me for anything because he didn't know me. I didn't even have a reason for hitting Toby anyway.

 

“Look, Rick, why don't you just back off?" I commanded more than asked. But Rick wouldn't give in. I thought maybe he was on something.

 

“I’ve been suffering for weeks. It's a big joke to you and your friends. I should just stop it. Toby doesn't deserve this. Nobody does." It didn't click at first, but I got the hint. What he said made me think. Was it really right for me to be mean to him because of what he did? To a certain extent, yes. But the guy had feelings too and I knew I should respect that. I dropped the subject. Mr. Simpson returned with the ice for Toby and we got to work.

 

“Which poem ends with a line 'and miles to go before I sleep'?" asked Mr. Simpson.

 

“Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening. Robert Frost." Rick answered.

 

“Correct. Which element represented by Te has also been known to cause garlic breath?"

 

“Tellurium!" Rick quickly answered.

 

“Bingo!" exclaimed Mr. Simpson.

 

The practice continued this way. A majority of the questions were answered by Rick with a few from Emma and Toby. I answered the sports questions. When we got to the last question, a sports question, I decided to give Rick a chance.

 

“And one last question from the world of sports. Which team has suffered the most consecutive Super Bowl losses?" I waited to see if Rick would answer. He didn't. Neither did Toby or Emma. I took the question happily.

 

"Buffalo Bills."

 

Mr. Simpson smiled at me. “Four time losers. No wins!"

 

“Utility perfected", Rick said. I gave him a nod. The dude was okay. All four of us left the room together. “Amazing trivia skills, Jim", Rick complimented.

 

“Thanks. You're good, too", I replied. I wasn't lying. He was good. Very good. He was meant for this sort of stuff. I was just there. As we walked, we met up with Spinner and his two other stupid friends, Jay and Alex.

 

"           Yo, Jimmy", Spin said. He turned to Rick. “Hey dog meat, you got something on your shirt." Rick looked down and Spinner flicked his nose. I knew it was time for Spin and the rest of 'em to get with the program.

 

“That’s just weak. Grow up." Alex took this as an opportunity to mock me.

 

“Ooh. Ricky found a friend."

 

I made it clear to drop it. “Give it a rest. It's boring." I gave them each a hard stare and looked down on them considering I'm about a head taller than all of them and walked off with the other three following me. I decided to give Rick a third chance, something that was rare when it came to me. He was all right in my book. It was everyone else's books I wondered about.