Kelsie slowly climbed out of her black Acura, with her brown curly locks shaking to each side as she hopped out. She locked her door before slamming it shut, and heading off to the new world of hers. She had just left her whole life behind a month ago, when her dad was transferred from British Columbia to Ontario, a place where she didn’t know anyone.

She was a little uneasy, with it being her first day and all; she kept her head slightly down, avoiding any eye contact with anybody. She was timid being in such a big school, something that she wasn’t use to. Her school back home was only about half the size as this one, and at least she knew someone there.

She walked into the school, she could see that the halls were crowded; everyone was saying their hellos and finding out what each one of their friends did during the summer holidays. Hearing it all made her miss her friends even more. That should have been her back at Chatelech, but no, she had to be the new student in a new place.

Kelsie got to the end of the hall, and at first glance didn’t see the Office. She couldn’t bare the thought of having to go back down that jungle of a hallway again.  She started to turn around, dreading the very thought of walking down that hall again, when she noticed the office right in front of her. She made her way through the door, and stood at the front desk waiting the help of a secretary, patiently.

Craig ran up the concrete stairs of Degrassi High, with a giant smile on his face. He felt like this year he might actually be able make a fresh start after the scandal that occurred last year; having it spread around the school like a wildfire. Some days last year had been unbearable. No this year he wasn't going to make a mistake like that again. As he reached the top step, Emma greeted him.

"Hey Craig, how was your summer?” Emma asked, smiling. “Didn't really see you around Joey's place when I was babysitting?"

"I was working at the theater, and when I wasn’t doing that I was working on my two passions, my music and my photography. The guys weren’t really around most of the summer, so I didn’t have them to hang out with,” he was talking too much about himself. He wanted to know how her summer went. He wished that they had got to hang out like they used to, but at the same time he was glad he didn’t. “What did you do?"

"When I wasn’t babysitting your sister I seemed to be babysitting my brother. I did hang out with Manny and JT occasionally, but always with the both of them together. They seemed to be inseparable."

Craig looked down at the mention of those two. It wasn’t that he was jealous that JT was with Manny, it was just he wished he could find someone to be that happy with. Have a relationship that was totally built on trust and most of all true love.

"Oh Craig, I'm sorry," looking at him with sympathetic eyes. "I totally wasn't thinking...." she began to ramble.

"Emma, Emma, EMMA," he called. She finally stopped. "It's okay, I'm over her, it's just weird how Ashley and Manny both have someone, and yet I don't," his eyes began to sadden.

Putting her hand on his shoulder, "Craig don't worry, you're not the only one. I don't have anyone either."

Confused, since the last thing he heard they were together, "What happened to Chris?"

"He and his ex-girlfriend got back together. It's no big deal,” trying to hide her hurt she felt inside. He had promised that she was nothing, but that had all been a lie.

"We're starting to sound real depressing, and it's only the first day of school,” he joked.

"I know. What is wrong with us," starting to laugh lightly at themselves. If you can’t laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?

"Well starting now, we're going to cheer up, it's a new year who knows where that might lead us. I have to think it can't be any worse then last year." Craig smiled putting his hand on the door handle and started to open it, "Well I have to go, talk to you later."

"Yeah, see yah,” she said, as she sat down on the stairs.

Craig went through the door, and down the crowded hallway leaving Emma outside sitting on the steps waiting for Manny and JT since she promised she would, even though she didn’t really care if she saw them today.

"Can I help you miss?" one of the secretaries asked.

"Yes, I'm new here, and I don't know where I'm supposed to go to find out where my homeroom is.”

"Here's a little map of the school," handing her a little paper. "You go to the gym, first you look for your grade and then your letter of your last name. On that sheet will have your name and what room is your homeroom."

"Thank you," she said are she turned to leave.

Kelsie looked at the map, and was totally confused. She couldn't seem to find the office on the map. If she couldn't find the office, then how else was she supposed to find the gym? Finally, after staring at the map closely she was able to find it. As she started walking, the bell rang.

"Great it's the first day, I'm going to be late, and I haven't even gotten to the gym to check my homeroom," she said rolling her eyes. Yeah this was a great impression to leave on the first day.

Craig hadn't been to the gym yet; everyone had stopped him and asked him about his summer. He couldn’t believe how nice they were treating him, considering the way he got treated last year. He walked to the gym from the other end of the school. At the pace he was going he wouldn't get there until homeroom was finished.

Mr. Simpson came from around the corner, to see Craig walking down the halls. “Mr. Manning aren’t you suppossed to be in your homeroom right now?”

“Yes Mr. Simpson, but I haven’t been to the gym yet to find out what room it’s in.”

“Well I say that you should speed up that pace of yours if you’re going to make it at all.” First day, he thought.

“Alright, but I must ask, how are you feeling these days?” knowing how sick he had been last year. He hadn’t been around Joey to much lately so he hadn’t had much of a chance to ask him.

“Much better, I’m in remission now,” he said smiling. “Have a nice day,” Mr. Simpson said as headed towards his classroom.

“You too,” Craig started walking again towards the gym at a much faster pace.

Kelsie found the number of her homeroom, now all she had to do was find it on her map. As she was looking at the map, a boy appeared through the gym doors.

His curly brown hair dangled in his face, but he didn’t seem to care. He liked his hair a little long. He walked up to the grade 11 section, and looked under M. He was just about to leave when he saw her, noticing that she appeared lost. He came from behind her and put his hand on her shoulder.

“Excuse me...”

Kelsie jumped at her touch, letting out a scream, “Ah...” he had scared her. She wasn’t expecting anyone to come close up, and touch her on the shoulder. “You scared me.”

“Sorry, do you need any help?” he asked looking right into her eyes. They seemed so sad, he thought to himself.

“Yeah, I’m new here, and I don’t know where my homeroom is, this map is really hard to read. The print it so small,” she smiled, and then slightly looked down.

“I know what you mean; I don’t know how they expect anyone to find anything on it. Why don’t I help you?”

“That would be nice,” she gave him a bigger smile showing off her pearly whites. This was the first time since she arrived in Toronto that she had smiled.

 "So what room is your homeroom?" Craig asked.

"Room 2134 with Mrs. Sproule,” she said as she looked at the sheet she wrote it on.

"That's right down the hall from mine," he said putting his hand on the small of her back, as he led her out of the gym.

"So what is your name?" Kelsie asked, looking up at him as they walked through the halls.

Feeling a little stupid that he hadn’t introduced himself yet, "Craig Manning, and yours."

"Kelsie Fitzgerald."

Curious to know a little about her, "What brings you to Degrassi?"

"My dad got transferred to Toronto last month."

"So where are you originally from?"

"Sechelt, British Columbia. It's a little small town on the coast. It may be small, but it is so beautiful!"

"That's kewl, I love BC it's one of my favorite places. I hope someday to actually move there,” remembering the many trips he had taken there before his father had turned on him.

"I would love to move back after I finish school, maybe go to UVic,” that had been her dream place to go since she started thinking about her future.

"What do you love to do for fun?" he asked as they climbed the east side stairs.

"I love to take photos, write, and listen to music,” she didn’t know why she was telling these things to someone that she had just met.

"If you like photography, then maybe you should be on the yearbook or newspaper with me. They're always looking for new people,” thinking how great it would be to spend more time with this girl.

"You like photography too?" happy that she had found someone with the same interests.

"Yeah, I love to capture the moments of life. I also love to write my own music for my band."

"That's so kewl!!!” she said as the tone of her voice changed to being cheerful. “I always wanted to be in a band,” she could believe she just said that.

"Well one of these times you're going to have to come check us out,” he said as he began to grow feelings with out realizing it. This girl was perfect for him, they had so much in common.

"That would be awesome!!! When I arrived here, I thought this first day would be so crummy, I dreaded walking in being the new girl in such a big school. But now I don’t feel that way.”

“Well, now you know someone.” Craig pointed out to the door, “Here’s your stop,” he said as he started to walk away.

“Thanks!” Kelsie said, “It was real kind of you.”

Craig turns around on his toes, and as he walks backwards, “It was my pleasure, bye,” waving good-bye.

“Bye,” she waved back.

Spinner sat in his desk bored out of his mind, the first day was pointless. You never do anything but hear what you need for the class, and all the information teachers give out every year. He could be at the Dot with his girlfriend Paige making up quality time they lost during the summer. The door shutting close disturbed his line of thought. At the front of the classroom was someone that he was sure he had never seen before. She had brown curly locks and brown eyes that fit perfectly in between her petite nose. She wore a strapless black shirt with pleaded fuchsia skirt that sat on her hips perfectly in his thought.

Spinner turned around in his seat to face Jimmy, “Hey Jimmy, is it me or is she new?

Looking up at her, “She’s new; I’ve never seen her before. She probably got lost, probably the reason why she’s late."

Changing the subject, “So tell me man how things are going with Ash?”

“They’re good; I’ve waited forever for us to get back together,” remembering the many times he thought about her. Yeah the first time they tried it was terrible, but that was only because they both needed some time to grow.

“Hopefully she doesn’t ruin it again,” he said sarcastically.

Jimmy punched him in the arm. “Ouch,” rubbing his arm, “that hurt.”

“Well you don’t have to be so mean about her all the time. She knows how it feels to be hurt; I don’t think she’ll do it again. She’s done a lot of growing up since the last time we dated.”

“Okay I get your point…”

 “Can I have your attention class,” Mrs. Sproule interrupted Spinner. “We have a new student in our school.” She put her hands on Kelsie’s shoulders; "I would like you to meet Kelsie Fitzgerald.”

“Dude she’s real hot!” Spinner spat out, almost loud enough for her to hear him.

“Yeah, look but don’t touch,” reminding him of his girlfriend.

“I know, I know.”

“Kelsie why don’t you sit in front of Gavin,” Mrs. Sproule said pointing to him.

“Alright,” she said walking to her seat.

“Now class is almost over so I’m going to give you your assigned lockers,” she said grabbing the sheet off her desk.

Craig walked into his Homeroom, only moments after saying good-bye to Kelsie. He had a big smile on his face; he could tell that this year was definitely going to be a great year.

“It’s nice that you could join us Mr. Manning,” Mr. Mack said playfully.

 Looking a little embarrassed, “Sorry, I was helping a new girl find her classroom.”

“I will excuse you this time, now take a seat please.”

“Thank you,” he said with gratitude as he went to sit right in front of Marco.

“Hey Craig,” Marco said. He was glad that one of his friends was in his class. It meant it wouldn’t be too boring.

“Hey, what have I missed?” hoping that it would be nothing.

“Nothing really except the kind of things we’ll be doing in Socials. Tell me about this girl though,” he said nudging him, wanting to know is she was Craig’s type.

“Her name is Kelsie, she seems really nice. We seem to have a lot in common,” as he continued to talk about her, he began to beam.

“Is she good looking,” he asked.

“Yeah, she’s gorgeous!” just thinking of how she looked today as he spotted her in the gym. You could actually say she took his breath away.

“Sounds like you have a thing for her,” he said nudging him.

“No…I just met her,” wanting to believe that so, much but even he knew that he was fooling himself. It was love at first sight.

“Yeah but you seem to beam every time you talk about her.”

“I don’t know…we’ll see how things go. I want to get to know her….”

Mr. Mack interrupted him, “I’m going to come around and tell you your locker numbers and combination, and then you can leave and go put your stuff in your locker.”

****** 

Craig was sitting on a stool, with his shiny black acoustic guitar on his knee, as he strung the strings, trying to put music together for the lyrics he had started writing a few weeks ago. Just then, Spinner strolled through the garage door with his sticks in hand. Craig hadn’t even noticed him; he was too busy singing the song to see if the lyrics went with the notes.

Spinner came right up behind him, “Dude, are you always at work?” amazed at his dedication to his music. He knew he would never have that same dedication to it; it was more of a hobby, something to do for fun.

 Craig turned around and to find Spinner standing by the door, “I just wrote a new song, I was trying to find the right chords to go with it.”

“That’s kewl,” sitting in the near by couch.

“What brings you by so early?” knowing that he was the one they usually had to wait on. He wasn’t one to be on time too much.

“I was bored, nothing else to do,” he said as he slumped down on the couch, putting his feet on the chair in front of him.

“Where’s Paige?” knowing that they were always together. It seemed like they were joined at the hip, but he knew that was more of Paige’s doing then Spinner’s doing.

“She and Hazel went shopping for school supplies. Then they she said they were having a girls' night,” he said rolling his eyes at the last part.

“That’s nice, I guess we could have a guys' night out then,” he suggests. They could catch up on everything that had happened over the summer, since they didn’t get to see much of one another.

“I guess; where did you go after school, I mean I haven’t seen you since we went to homeroom.” This was totally weird because Craig wasn’t one to leave school right away or anything, he usually liked to socialize with his friends.

“I went searching for someone, but I never found them before they left,” a little disappointed by that, he really wanted to talk to her before she left.

“Bummer, who was it…Emma?” wondering if he was ready to admit that he liked her already. He saw the way he looked at her by the end of last year. She seemed to be the only girl friend to stick by him after the whole thing last year. She believed that everyone made mistakes, that you can’t hold it against them forever.

“No, there’s nothing going on with us. She’s just a friend,” he tried to tell him. Could he not have a girl friend without someone thinking there was more to it? Not all the girls hung out with he actually liked. Well at least even if he did, he wasn’t going to admit.

“Oh is that why you tried to avoid her all summer,” he began to bug him, knowing that he was just denying it to himself.

“I didn’t try to avoid her…I had a job,” he tried to convince him.

“That may be the case but you still wanted to avoid her. The question is why?”

“Okay, okay,” holding up his hands in defense, “I had a thing for her, but she had a boyfriend and I wasn’t about to be part of another love triangle. Anyway I don’t think I want her anymore,” but that was only after this morning, when he met another.

“Well anyways, you missed seeing this new girl in school.” Remembering what she looked like, “Boy she was a babe!” If he didn’t have Paige he would have totally went for it

As Spinner said that Craig began to wonder if Kelsie was the one he was talking about, the girl he had been searching for, “What was her name?”

“Kelsie, why?” he questioned. Why did he want to know, he wondered.

“That is who I was looking for.”

“Why? How do you know her?” real confused why Craig would know her, when it was only the first day. They had only one class today, so how could he possibly have met her unless in the halls or something.

“I met her when heading in the gym to find out my homeroom. She was lost so I helped her find her classroom. I went looking for her because I wanted to ask for her email address.”

“Dude you should so go for her,” thinking she may be the perfect girl for him, maybe she could get him out of the rut he got himself in.

Putting down his guitar on its stand, “Spin like I said to Marco I’m just going to get to know her first. I don’t want to do something stupid this time. Look where it gets me when I rush into things, and don’t think them over.”

“You got a point there,” knowing the big mistakes he had made over the years. He might not recover so easily the next time, he thought.

“So how are things going with Paige, I didn’t really get to ask you, given that she was right there this morning,” knowing that Spin may not want to talk about it while she was standing right there.

“Great, let’s just say that this summer will always be remembered.”

It didn’t take a genius to know what he was talking about, “You scored didn’t you?”

“That’s right, but don’t spread that around, Paige would kill me if she knew I said a thing.”

He wasn't so sure if he could believe that, it actually happened or not. “I wouldn’t do that, I know what it’s like when things get around the school. Besides that how are things going?”

“Fine, but I could do without her nagging once in a while,” sinking deeper into the couch. Sometimes he just needed a break from the way she treated him sometimes.

“Then why are you still with her if you don’t like her nagging?”

“I don’t know anything else, we’ve been together so long, and I do love her too. We’ll just have to see if that’s enough,” he sighed.

They didn’t even get to finish their conversation before Jimmy and Marco walked through the door. The room went totally silent as they walked closer to them.

“Craig I heard you have a thing for the new girl, Kelsie,” Jimmy said, grinning at him.

“Who told you that?” he said, staring at Marco, pretending to look very mad.

“Marco, what’s the big deal?” Jimmy asked, not seeing that there was a real reason to be angry about it.

“Nothing it’s just I met her today and I don’t even get to tell you about her before you find out.”

“Well I wouldn’t need to know what she looks like since she is in my English class with Spinner. All I have to say is she is FINE!”

“Can’t disagree with you there, I don’t think I’ve met such a beauty before,” Craig said as he remembered how she looked as he first laid eyes on her.

“Well we should get practicing,” Marco said, knowing that this boy talk could go on forever once they started talking about some girl they all liked.

 
******

They practiced for over 3 hours, they had lost track of time. It had been a while since they felt like it was fun. It had seemed to be like a chore at times, but today was different.

“Wow, looked at the time. I think that it’s about time that I got home,” Spinner said as he looked at his watch.

“I can’t believe it’s that late!” Craig said, looking at his watch. Usually the other guys had been itching to get out of there; he was surprised how different that was today.

“Neither can I,” Jimmy said.

They all gathered their stuff up, “See you guys at school tomorrow,” Craig said waving good-bye to them as they left in their cars, and he headed up the stairs into his house.