Chapter 1: Don’t Take It Personal
Chapter Text
Marisol Lewis woke up feeling abnormally sick and raw.
While rubbing her eyes, she groggily got out of her bed, walked out of her room, and entered the bathroom to get ready for school. While she showered, she couldn’t get the nauseous feeling out of her stomach. She constantly felt the urge to throw up and it’s been like that for the past few days.
Her breasts were very sore too, and she didn’t know why. It was painful just washing them or putting a bra on. She didn’t know why her body was attacking her like this, but she hoped it stopped soon. She was feeling a lot like shit lately enough as it is.
‘Maybe it’s my karma for homewrecking,’ she thought to herself, ‘In that case, K.C. should come down with the worst flu.’
As she brushed her teeth, she wondered if she should even bother showing up to school today.
“Good morning Katie-kins!” Marisol greeted her best friend, Katie Matlin, as she sat down next to her in their homeroom period. Katie was studying for their final exam for french class. She tried to sound as cheerful as she normally could, but it was hard when she was still feeling super tired and sick. Her mom wouldn’t let her stay home even though she begged her too.
“Morning Mare-Bear,” Katie greeted back with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. Marisol knew why. After it came out that she was sleeping with K.C. Guthrie even though he was dating Jenna Middleton and had a baby with her, her best friend didn’t look at her the same. No one did right now as she was seen as the new school slut, but she was always viewed as that even before this. After she broke up with Owen Milligan, her first boyfriend, for the final time, she rebounded in three different relationships afterwards and was judged for it. However, what she did with K.C. earned her scorn from the entire school.
She knew what she did was wrong, and while she didn’t care at first because she thought her and K.C. were making a genuine connection, the consequences of her actions were now hitting her severely.
Her Power Squad members were looking at her in deep disapproval, especially Chantay who was friends with Jenna. She was still set to be captain next year, but the gossip queen of Degrassi made it clear that it was only because no one was more qualified than her. While Chantay considered her a friend before this, now things were tense between them. Jenna was going to come back to Power Squad before she found out about the affair, but now she wasn’t.
People wouldn’t stop giving her dirty looks in class and whispering about her as she walked the hallways. Jocks were making jokes about her being “ran through” by the football team because she dated Owen, went on a date with Riley Stavros at the barbecue, went on an awful date with Drew Torres, and slept with K.C. It was awful. She felt like she had a scarlet letter on her shirt, and she wanted to crawl into a hole and die. The shame was getting to be too much, and seeing the disapproval in Katie’s eyes hurt more than anything.
“Are you ready for the school year to be over? I’m so ready for it to be over,” Marisol asked her friend.
“Yeah I bet,” Katie answered flippantly, which made Marisol frown. “So when do you think we can start making the posters, buttons, and shirts for the student council elections? I was hoping we can do it by Friday,” she questioned her.
“Um, Friday is good I guess. You want to come over to my house or yours to make the posters?”
“Yours. You know, Mare, you do realize that what you did with K.C. might look bad for my campaign right?” Katie asked her again with a critical frown.
“What do you mean?” Marisol asked her back in confusion.
“Well, think about it. Being friends with someone who helped ruin a family isn’t a good look. It might make people not want to vote for me,” her BFF pointed out.
“So what are you saying? You don’t want me to be VP?” She asked with fear. From the time they were little girls, they swore they were going to run the school together. They were class reps in every grade since middle school, and were even the president and vice president of their eighth grade class. They have always been partners and attached at the hip, so Katie possibly abandoning her made even more sick if that was possible.
“No, I just wish you were more considerate of how your wild sex hookups with K.C. could affect me before you did it. Was it even worth it, Mare? What was he possibly offering you to make you think that homewrecking was okay?” Katie scolded her.
“He told me that he was going to leave Jenna for me because I made him happy while she did nothing but make him miserable. We shared so many deep conversations about our pasts, and had so much fun at work that he told me that I was his perfect match, not Jenna,” she admitted, and she just realized how foolish she sounded. At the time, it made so much sense while they were cuddling after sex and K.C. was telling her how wonderful she was.
“He only said that because you were giving it up to him because Jenna couldn’t. How could you think that he was actually going to leave his family for you? You were just a distraction for him. I can’t believe that after all the times you were hurt by Owen cheating on you, you would hurt another girl the same way. I’m very disappointed in you, Mare,” Katie argued before turning her attention back to the textbook she was studying in. A few minutes later, the bell rang and the homeroom period had officially started. Students were chatting all around them but Katie was pointedly ignoring her.
Marisol felt like she had just gotten a brutal tongue lashing from her mother, but even her own mother was nicer than Katie when she was mad at her. She sank down in her seat as she tried not to cry at her friend’s harsh words. Katie always knew how to talk down to her when she felt that she was acting stupid.
Admittedly, she was stupid for sleeping with K.C. and she was realizing that more and more every day. But, that didn’t mean Katie was allowed to throw it in her face like that and make her feel even more terrible than she was.
She already knew she was a horrible person for what she did.
Later, she was getting her lunch at the cafeteria when she overheard some troubling words from some members of the football team behind her.
“If Owen and K.C. can get some, I can’t see why she won’t let me hit. She’s been curving me since freshman year,” Julian, Owen’s best friend grumbled as the lunch lady put nachos on his plate.
“Yeah, if she’s opening her legs up to multiple members of the team then I can’t see why I can’t get some hot ass from her either. You know a wise man once said that it ain’t no fun if the homies can’t have none,” Tom, another one of Owen’s asshole friends replied before they both laughed.
“Like I would fuck either of you when Owen told me you guys don’t even believe in washing your assholes because it’s ‘gay’,” Marisol snarled to them as she got her food and stormed off. It was a miracle none of her food fell off her tray with the way she was stomping off to her table.
She had fourth period lunch by herself and she was usually fine with that until now. She had never felt so alone before without Katie by her side. As she sat down at a table by the back of the cafeteria, she felt as if a thousand eyes were watching her.
She looked to K.C., who was eating numbly as his friend Dave Turner was joking about something to him. He looked back at her before glaring and turning to talk back to his friend. Her stomach dropped in response and she felt her anger rise. K.C. coldly dumped her immediately after Jenna found out about them and pretended she didn’t even exist at work these days. She understood that he was regretting their affair but she didn’t hold a gun to his head and force him to fuck her. It took two people to have an affair and it wasn’t fair that he was acting like it was mainly her fault. She wasn’t the one in a relationship, he was.
Marisol decided to focus on something else, like the plate of chicken nuggets and cheese fries in front of her. Cheese fries were one of her comfort foods and it was usually a quick remedy in making her feel better about something.
However, when she looked down at her food and smelled the melted cheese, the nauseous feeling inside of her suddenly got more tense. It was like cheese was the most disgusting smell in the world. She tried to ignore it as she ate her food, but the feeling wasn’t going away.
Eventually, it was all too much and when she got another whiff of the cheese, bile bubbled up in the back of her throat.
She wordlessly got up and ran to the bathroom.
As she was puking her brains out in the toilet, Marisol overheard more words about her.
“I can’t believe he got a job at that restaurant just to cheat on his baby mama with one of the school sluts,” a girl was saying to another.
“Yeah I guess you could call Marisol K.C.’s “little mistake”, the other girl joked before they both started to laugh. To Marisol, it sounded like two dying seals were squealing. She wanted to jump out of the bathroom stall and fight them both.
By the time she was finished throwing up, the girls had left and seemingly no one else was in the bathroom but her. Wiping her mouth, she flushed the toilet and left the stall with a sore throat and watery eyes.
She looked at herself in the mirror and was seeing nothing more than a dirty, disgusting slut right now. Was this how junior year was going to end for her? She felt and looked like hell.
She didn’t know why she threw up her food, but she knew it had something to occur with her sudden illness. Just yesterday, she threw up her breakfast in the school parking lot before classes started. Luckily no one was around to see it.
What was happening with her right now was more than a common cold or seasonal allergies, but it didn’t exactly feel like the flu either. It wasn’t even flu season yet. And she was sure that sore breasts weren’t a symptom of the flu so she wondered what it could be.
A thought popped into a mind, but she rejected it because it wasn’t possible. K.C. used a condom every time they had sex and she was on birth control pills. Then something occurred to her. There was one day where she forgot to take her pill for the day and she had sex with K.C. later in her car before work.
‘I didn’t get my period last month or this month either so far…,’ she thought to herself in panic. Nausea was bubbling inside her stomach again, and this time it was from horror.
Could she be….
…. pregnant ?
She ran back inside the stall to throw up again.
‘I’m probably just freaking out right now for no reason. There’s no way I’m pregnant after forgetting to take the pill just one time. No way. Absolutely not. I’m going to look at the results of this test and laugh at how paranoid I was being,’ Marisol reassured herself as she waited for the results on the pregnancy test to show. She had been repeating this mantra inside her head since she bought two pregnancy tests at the pharmacy.
She didn’t want to believe that the universe was going to make her life more miserable than it already was. It was bad enough that she was dealing with the aftermath of sleeping with a taken guy, she couldn’t handle being pregnant with that guy’s baby too. She could just imagine everyone’s reaction to that. The shame would follow her to graduation and possibly beyond. She might have to change her name and move to another country, probably Jamaica to live with some family members she had there.
‘I’m probably just freaking out right now for no reason. There’s no way I’m pregnant after forgetting to take the pill just one time. No way. Absolutely not. I’m going to look at the results of this test and laugh at how paranoid I was being,’ she repeated to herself in anxiety. Her parents would flip out if she was pregnant and her father might just disown her and have her shipped back to Jamaica before she could make the decision herself. It would be a shitshow.
There were quite a few teen mothers on both sides of her family, and her maternal grandmother was one, but her parents expected her to not be one and she didn’t want to let them down. She couldn’t imagine juggling a baby in her senior year of high school and through college.
‘I’m probably just freaking out right now for no reason. There’s no way I’m pregnant after forgetting to take the pill just one time. No way. Absolutely not. I’m going to look at the results of this test and laugh at how paranoid I was being,’ she thought to herself one last time before it was time to check her first pregnancy test. She would have to wait a few days before she could take the second one in case she got different results.
Marisol got off the toilet and braced herself before she picked up the testing stick. In all honesty, she probably wasn’t pregnant. Just because she missed one day didn’t mean it would change anything, right? She smiled at the thought and then she finally looked at the results.
Her heart stopped when she looked at the amount of lines on the test.
There were two.
For dinner, her mother had cooked a nice oxtail soup with white rice and beans. It was one of her best dishes, and Marisol’s personal favorite from her mother.
However she did not want to eat anything right now and in fact she wanted to start throwing up again like she did earlier at school.
“Mari, you’re not eating your food. Is something the matter?” Her mother asked her in concern before sipping some of the soup from her spoon.
“No, I’m just not really hungry right now,” she answered numbly as she played around with her food. Right now, she was too scared to even look at her mother, which was a rare occurrence. Martina Lewis was one of the softest and nicest women she knew, and yet Marisol didn’t even want to speak to her after the results she got on her pregnancy test.
It read positive, but she refused to believe that she was actually pregnant because the consequences of that were horrifying. She couldn’t recall a time where her mother had ever beaten her, but she might make an exception for her sixteen year old daughter getting pregnant because she stupidly forgot to take her birth control pill one day.
“Well if you’re not hungry, then you can’t just let your food sit there. We got flies around here, Mari. Put your food in the fridge and eat it later,” her mother suggested.
“What, Little Mari has boy trouble again?” Her older brother Devon asked her in a teasing tone of voice.
“Even if I did, it wouldn’t be any of your business,” Marisol answered sharply as she got up with her food and headed to the kitchen to put in their refrigerator. She wanted to add “asshole” at the end but she couldn’t when their mother was sitting right there.
“I’m just making sure I don’t have to beat one of those floppy haired boys at your school up,” he replied with a shrug as he went back to eating his food.
“Is it because of your sickness? You really are starting to look ill,” her mother pointed out.
‘It’s because I might be pregnant,’ Marisol thought to herself but didn’t say aloud. None of her family could know about this no matter the outcome.
She had shoved her pregnancy test as deep in the bathroom trash bin as she possibly could so no one could find it. She even put some of the trash inside the bin over it so it could be completely covered.
“Yeah, I think I need to go to bed early,” Marisol agreed as she left the dining room and started walking upstairs to her bedroom.
“Well make sure you do your homework before you go to sleep!” She overheard her mother saying. Her mother and brother were probably confused as hell. If she was in their shoes, she would have been too as she had to admit her behavior looked weird.
When she got into her room, she immediately went to her bed and plopped down on it. She grabbed her stuffed teddy bear from her nightstand and hugged it tightly to give herself some comfort.
In a few days, she would be able to take her second pregnancy test and she was going to pray that the test came back negative. She needed it to come back negative because the idea of being pregnant with K.C.'s baby after the turmoil their affair caused her was already too much. Too much of her future was dependent on her not being a statistic.
‘God, if you are gracious, then you will let this second pregnancy test come back negative,’ she prayed in her mind.
A few days later
God was not gracious to her.
“Marisol, Marisol, MARISOL!” Katie shouted to her to get her attention. Marisol snapped out of her current thoughts, which were all anxious and alarming.
She had just taken a second pregnancy test an hour ago in her bathroom again, and the results tested positive just like they did with the first one. She was pregnant. She was pregnant with the seed of her affair with someone else’s baby daddy.
She was absolutely disgusted with herself right now, but she was also feeling rather light-headed. She felt like she was going to end up falling down at some point today, and considering her current circumstances it might be for the best. This was the scariest thing she had ever gone through.
“What?” She asked her BFF, and she was firmly aware that her tone was a little aggressive but she didn’t care.
“I’m trying to get your opinion on what picture of myself I should use for the campaign items, but you seem to be in a different world,” Katie answered with narrowed eyes.
Marisol debated on whether or not she was going to tell Katie, but she figured that she should be the first person to know about this. She trusted her best friend more than her family.
“Because I have just found out some troubling news,” Marisol replied with a tremble as she turned to face her friend, “Katie, I’m pregnant.”
Her best friend went through a whirlwind of emotions in a matter of seconds at the news, but the one she ultimately settled on, and the most troubling one at that, was judgment.
“Seriously?” Katie asked, and Marisol knew another tongue lashing was coming.
“Yes, and I’m getting an abortion,” Marisol answered swiftly as the decision on how to handle her pregnancy was made right then and there. She was not going through with this.
Katie pursed her lips at her answer as they both knew how she felt about abortion. She was pro-choice but didn’t personally approve of it, and she was probably never going to let her live this down.
“You really got yourself in trouble, huh?” Her best friend asked her.
“Trouble that is going to be over soon,” Marisol dismissed.
“Sometimes, you worry me a lot, Mare. I love you but it’s true,” Katie replied to her with a worrying look in her eyes.
“I’ll be fine, Katie. You won’t tell a soul about this, right?” She asked her friend. She should know at this point that Katie would never tell any of her secrets, but she was rapidly growing scared of anything these days.
“Of course I wouldn’t,” Katie promised her with a reassuring smile.
For some reason, Marisol was not reassured at her words, and as they worked on the posters for Katie, she felt a deep tension in her gut.
Chapter 2: Friends
Summary:
Song title is Friends by Whodini
Chapter Text
Marisol had never felt so much dread in her life since the day she tried out for Spirit Squad her freshman year.
Even though the nurse was explaining to her and Katie right now the process of getting an abortion, it still wasn’t registering in her head that she was pregnant. Well now she was about to be un-pregnant, if that was a word.
“Will it hurt?” She asked the nurse in fear. There was something terrifying about a person inserting a tube and several rods into her vagina even if it was needed to get the fetus out.
“There will be some cramping and bleeding, yes, but it’s only minor and we will give you some cramping medicine to help with the pain. It won’t even last long. Think of it as a tiny pinch similar to the cramps you get before menstruating,” the nurse reassured her.
“Will this affect my ability to have children in the future? Will I walk around with a damaged womb and end up being a crazy cat lady because of it? Or even worse, could I die from this? I don’t want to die,” she ranted.
“Marisol….,” Katie warned her, and she knew she was being overdramatic, but this was something she needed to know. Her mother used to tell her horror stories all of the time of women on the islands who got botched back alley abortions and either were grievously injured because of it or died from internal bleeding. It was the stuff of nightmares and she was afraid that she would be next.
“While there are some risks as with every surgery, death is extremely unlikely and you will be able to carry children after this,” the nurse explained without a hint of condescension. She has been warm and friendly towards her since she stepped into the office.
“Good…,” she replied with a swift nod. There was still a knot in her stomach due to anxiety. The nurse then handed her a waiver and a pen so she could sign to consent to the procedure. But she still had one more question.
“Am I a horrible person for doing this? I don’t want to have an abortion but I also can’t be a mom at 16,” she asked one more time.
“Marisol, you’re not the first teenage girl to come in here for an abortion and you won’t be the last. You’re not a horrible person for making the best decision for your future but there are other options if you want to change your mind,” the nurse offered her.
For a moment, she pondered not going through with an abortion and maybe just putting the baby up for adoption or even just actually keeping it.
But then she thought about the reactions everyone from her classmates, friends, and family would have to her being pregnant. Then she thought about how Jenna and how K.C. told her about how sometimes he would come home from their job and she would look so dead inside while holding their sleeping son. Before she left the power squad for good because it wouldn’t be good for the baby, Jenna would complain about her weird pregnancy cravings, mood swings, aching back and feet, and constant urge to fall asleep. Was that the kind of life she wanted? Jenna didn’t even keep her and K.C.’s baby, she gave the baby up for adoption last month.
She also remembered the model Mia Jones, who was a teen mother while attending Degrassi. Practically every morning before school started, she and Katie would watch in the parking lot as Mia struggled to push her crying toddler daughter off to her mother. During Power Squad practices and performances, Mia often had bags in her eyes and was more irritable than usual sometimes . That was not the life she needed to have.
Liberty Van Zandt, who was school president during her freshman year, also got knocked up and ultimately gave her baby up because she wasn’t ready to be a mother. Marisol thought of her as a geeky nerd, but she admired her ambition back then and she admired her even more now for recognizing that she didn’t want to be a teen mother.
So her decision was final.
As Marisol signed the waiver, Katie held her hand in support.
After they left the clinic, Marisol got in the passenger seat of her car and cried. It was not out of sadness, but relief. Her pregnancy was over, and thus she could put her whole affair with K.C. behind her because there were no loose ends. Maybe by the beginning of next year, the rest of the school will forget about it too. During the procedure, they had also implanted an IUD inside of her so she would have a more effective method of birth control.
“Are you already regretting it, Mare?” Katie asked her in concern as she got in the driver’s seat. Due to her being sedated during the process, she was not able to drive and thus Katie would have to drive her home instead.
“No, I’m glad. Let’s just go back to my place. I’m pretty tired,” Marisol answered. Her friend then started her car and began to drive.
“I hope you learn from this Mare, and never put yourself in this kind of situation again. Being a mistress is bad enough, but a pregnant one? You need to work on improving yourself for the summer because none of this is a joke,” Katie told her.
“I know, Katie but for right now, I just want to celebrate the fact that I am no longer pregnant,” she replied tiredly.
“You can do that, but just be more careful next time. Okay?” Her best friend requested of her.
“Yeah, of course. I learned my lesson,” she answered as she leaned on the car window. Honestly, it would be a long time before she would have sex again if she were to get into a new relationship, and she was definitely not sleeping with some other girl’s boyfriend ever again.
Today was the start of a new Marisol Lewis.
Marisol spent the rest of the day eating junk food and binge watching chick flicks in her room with Katie before driving her home when she was feeling well enough to do it. She was already missing the presence of her best friend but she was going to see her tomorrow to work on the stuff for the election.
She was glad that one of the things that couldn’t be used against Katie was that her best friend was pregnant by some other girl’s man, but her affair was still something that could be against her best friend. No matter what though, Katie was still more qualified for the job than Mo Mashkour, who was obnoxious and grossly irritating. The guy was one of the most unpopular kids at Degrassi and repeatedly cracked unfunny jokes in class. She couldn’t stand him.
‘Katie is going to crush this election and then we are going to rule the school our senior year,’ Marisol reassured herself as she scrolled through her FaceRange page to check on the lives of other Degrassi students she was friends with. In a few days, they were basically going to be her and Katie’s subjects, but mostly her. Katie had the grace, intelligence, and maturity to be school president but only she had the power, determination, and ruthlessness to be queen. It’s how they balanced each other out and why they worked so well as friends.
She stopped scrolling through her feed when she came across a picture of Drew Torres flexing his muscles in the locker room in a tight, red shirt. He captioned the picture with: “Had a great first year at Degrassi with working out to my limits. Just do it!”
‘He’s so hot!’ Marisol gushed as she felt her stomach flutter. Drew was the most attractive guy at Degrassi after K.C., and she was so crushed when he didn’t call her back for another date and went out with Alli Bhandari instead. While she was embarrassed by how she acted on that day, she hoped that one day she would have another opportunity to give him a better time.
That opportunity could be now as he had been single since he broke up with Bianca DeSousa this semester, and with K.C. no longer being in her life, she was single now too. She was still sad over K.C. but she was willing to put her past behind her and move on to another cute guy that she had been crushing on since the beginning of junior year.
Drew was tall, handsome, charming and had the prettiest blue eyes. With him by her side, they would be a power couple at the school and a shoo-in for prom king and queen. What would their couple name be? Drarisol? Marew? Either one was perfect in her mind.
‘K.C. Guthrie was so last month but Drew Torres is now, and I will have Drew as my boyfriend by the end of the year,’ she vowed to herself as she liked the pic.
Who could Drew possibly want more than her?
On Monday, she found out who, and the betrayal she was feeling was overwhelming.
“The thing is, he gave me the impression that he was into someone else,” Katie answered awkwardly when she asked her if Drew was interested in her.
“Good to know,” Marisol replied thinly as Katie turned around and walked away from her with a stiff gait. Yeah that someone else Drew was interested in was her best friend. Katie was always getting on her for being a bad liar but she was a bad liar too at times and this was one of them. She may not be on the fast track to any Ivy League schools but contrary to what most of the school thought, she wasn’t a complete idiot. She saw Katie flirting with her crush on the steps and it was obviously something going on between them.
Marisol felt her stomach tighten in anger and hurt as she walked the halls to her next class. She couldn’t believe that Katie would shack up with Drew when she knew she had a crush on him for the longest time. How long was she going to wait before she told her?
Katie always got to have everything in their friendship, didn’t she? Katie got to have the brains, the adoration from their teachers, the praise from her own parents, and the expectation from practically everyone that she was going to be something. Meanwhile everyone saw her, Marisol Lewis, as just the pretty friend who was only good at getting cute boys. Now, she couldn’t even have that. Katie never even had a boyfriend before this and only kissed one guy in middle school yet she was still able to pull Drew from her.
The idea of Katie and Drew being all lovey dovey while she accompanied them as the third wheel was a sickening thought. She wouldn’t be able to stomach it yet Katie was going to put her through that anyway. She couldn’t believe her best friend right now.
‘She’s already seen as perfect by the whole world, and my own parents probably wish that she was their daughter instead of me. Now she has to take Drew from me too? I had enough of this shit!’ Marisol thought to herself in fury.
Well now it was time for her to take something from Katie, and she knew exactly what to take from her too.
The presidency.
“What is something you would like to see change about Degrassi?” Marisol asked a random sophomore at their locker. She had a notepad and pen ready to write down their answer. She was going to show Katie who was really qualified for the job as school president. Her bestie was shocked when she announced her candidacy at the last minute and she hoped she was scared right now. She should be.
“Um...the uniforms? Could we go back to regular clothes?” The sophomore asked her with a hopeful look in his eyes.
“Unfortunately that’s not for me to decide by myself but I promise you that as president I will certainly talk to Simpson,” she answered smoothly before walking off to find someone else.
“Jake, Jake, wait up!” She overheard a male voice say. She turned to the source of the voice and watched as Eli Goldsworthy tried to catch up to Jake Martin, who was walking pretty fast.
“Eli, I already told you in class and I’ll say it again, fuck off,” Jake rejected him coldly before he started walking even faster. Eli stopped in his tracks and threw his arms up in frustration. She guessed that this was a perfect opportunity to approach him. She didn’t want to though, Eli Goldsworthy was a creep.
“Hey,” she greeted as friendly as she could as she walked up to him. She didn’t expect him to come back to school after he burned a script on stage of his disastrous play. She thought he would spend the end of the school year in the nuthouse or something.
“Hi,” he greeted back flatly as he met her gaze with cold green eyes. She needed to end this conversation as fast as possible.
“So what qualities do you personally look for in a school president?” She asked him cheerfully.
“Someone who’s smart, mature, effective, and not only concerned with throwing parties or being popular,” he answered dryly before leaving her presence. Good. Just by talking to him, she felt like there were spiders crawling on her back.
The way he answered her question was giving her the impression that he was shading her. Well, fuck him. She didn’t need a vote from the school nutjob anyway.
As she wrote down his answer, she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She turned around and saw that it was Drew, who was looking pretty annoyed.
“Are you really running against Katie for president because I picked her over you?” He questioned.
“No, I’m running because I believe I’m more qualified for the job than her,” she answered swiftly while placing her free hand on her hip.
“You and I both know that Katie would be a better fit than you so cut the crap,” he sharply replied, “What kind of friend would turn against their BFF over a guy?”
“You don’t know the full story. Katie is always taking things from me no matter how big or small!” She argued.
“Marisol, I was never into you. You copied everything I ordered at The Dot while Katie at least can think for herself. You had no problems getting over me the first time while being a homewrecker, and I don’t see why you can’t move on from me again with the next guy. It should come pretty easily for a girl like you. Now end your stupid feud with Katie and your campaign,” he demanded, and she felt herself bristle at the thought.
“No. Katie may be smarter, she may be more responsible, and she may be dating the guy I like but I’m the most popular girl in school and I have a better chance at winning than her. She can deal with not being in the spotlight for once,” she sneered.
“Well I hope losing your friendship with her is worth it,” he replied as he gave her a look of deep disdain.
“Whatever,” she snarled before stomping away from him in her heels.
Drew didn’t understand. He didn’t have to deal with nearly ten years of being in someone else’s shadow. She was sick of the world revolving around Katlynn Marie Matlin, and the universe conspiring to give her everything at the expense of her.
It was time for her to have something.
Later that night, she looked at her campaign shirt on her bed and was pleased with how it turned out. It was a pretty pastel yellow, her second favorite color, with a nice portrait of herself on the front. The background of the portrait was in pink, which was her actual favorite color, with pink and yellow stars scattered around. The shirt was definitely more appealing than Katie’s boring blue shirt.
A part of her knew this beef with Katie that was going on wasn’t necessary and was very stupid. However, she couldn’t take being a second wheel to her bestie anymore no matter how much she loved her. It was annoying growing up and her parents comparing her to Katie all of the time, or the way teachers would ask her why she wasn’t working as hard in school as Katie. And then there were boys that she crushed on who only went out with her to grow closer to Katie and it was humiliating.
It seemed like Katie had it all while she had nothing but her looks and body. It wasn’t a good feeling and she had these feelings for a while.
With the way she had damaged her reputation this semester, everyone at school was questioning why a good, nice girl like Katie was hanging out with a homewrecking slut like her. Well now, she was going to have to work overtime for people to like her. It seemed to be working as all she did to do today at school was talk sweet and flash her signature big smile. Charm was one of her biggest virtues and because of that, people were no longer looking at her like a slut right now. She might actually have a chance of winning this election.
There was a ding on her phone, and Marisol picked it up. She tried not to cringe at the lockscreen wallpaper of her and Katie as little girls. In the picture, they were hugging in front of their elementary school and she was kissing Katie on the cheek.
The ding was another text message from Katie. It was the fifth one in an hour.
“Mare, I don’t want to compete against my best friend. Please drop out :(((“
She ignored the message.
The next day, it was time for the debates and Katie still refused to give up Drew for her. So, she was going to continue fighting against her for the title of school president.
“Alright everyone, it’s time to meet your presidential candidates. First up, Marisol Lewis!” Principal Simpson announced as everyone clapped, and she walked proudly up to the podium in response. She could do this.
There was a large crowd of students, and while most were looking at her in interest, some were looking at her in disgust such as Jenna and Drew. She chose to focus on the people who were looking at her in interest, especially the ones who were wearing her campaign shirts.
“I spent the last day asking the students what they want from their president and I’ve listened to all of their requests, even the illegal ones, and while I won’t break the law for you, I’ll make sure next year is the best ever!” She proclaimed excitedly as her opening statement. She sat back down as there were some cheers from the audience.
“Katie Matlin, you’re up next,” Simpson announced as her best friend walked up to the podium. Katie tried to walk with confidence, but she can still see some air of shyness in her. Nonetheless people were cheering enthusiastically for her, as none more louder than Drew. Marisol felt herself getting angry.
“Okay, um, the reason I’m running for president is because I love this school and together we can achieve our goals,” Katie stated, and Marisol rolled her eyes at the statement. It was so boring yet so Katie.
“Sounds super fun!” She sneered loudly, which earned her a glare from Katie. She didn’t care. Simpson leaned into her best friend’s ear with an uncomfortable smile.
“Um, tell the people one of the many reasons you’d make a great president, Katie,” the principal suggested for her, and that’s when she chose to strike.
“Ah I can think of several,” Marisol replied with a devious smile as she walked back up to the podium next to Katie, who looked like she was about to crumble right then and there.
“You see, Katie is great for keeping secrets which is important for politics, oh and she’ll step on anyone to get what she wants,” she said with a fake smile. Katie then let out a dark chuckle.
“You’re judging me for stepping on people?” Katie asked in disbelief as she nodded. “You’re such a hypocrite. At least I didn’t have to get an abortion because I got pregnant from sleeping with some other girl’s baby daddy,” Katie fired back at her quickly.
There was a complete silence from the crowd.
Chapter 3: Who Can I Run To?
Summary:
Song title is Who Can I Run To? by the Jones Girls.
Chapter Text
Before Marisol was able to fully register what her best friend just said, Katie’s face turned white in horror at her own outburst. Even she knew what she had revealed in front of the audience was the worst thing she could have possibly ever done.
“I….,” Katie trailed off while Marisol slowly looked around the room. The reactions from everyone were already burned in her mind forever.
Drew’s mouth was wide open in shock, and he looked like a fish that had been slammed on a hook. Simpson’s mouth was pressed in a thin line. There were dozens of people that were just looking at her in either shock or disgust.
Jenna’s reaction was more damning than anyone else’s. At first her face was stark white, only to slowly turn red in rage. If she didn’t hate her before this, she definitely hated her now, and at least some of that anger was directed towards K.C. as well. She got up and left the room silently but steaming at the same time.
As for herself, now that Katie’s words finally kicked in, she now had the urge to throw up once again. She couldn’t believe what just happened.
“Mare…,” Katie called to her with fearful eyes, but she didn’t want to hear her words right now. “Okay ladies,” Simpson cut them both off with a tense smile as he signaled for them to sit back down. Marisol numbly walked back to her seat. “Before we get too far off track let’s meet your final candidate,” he finished as Mo got up to the stage.
“I have two promises: to bring french fries back to the school caf and I am not going to get knocked up by your boyfriend,” Mo vowed with a joking tone, and that’s when Marisol had enough.
With tears in her eyes, she got up and fled the room.
Already, the news of her pregnancy and abortion spread like wildfire around the school.
“I can’t believe she actually got pregnant by him,” Marisol overheard a girl whisper as she walked the halls. With every step, it felt like she was sinking into the ground.
“I can’t believe she actually went through with killing her baby instead of taking responsibility for her actions. What a trashy slut,” another girl said in response.
“Mare, Mare, wait up! The abortion thing it just happened!” Katie tried to explain as she ran up to her, but right now she wasn’t in the mood. Marisol kept walking with no desire to stop. Tears were still flooding from her eyes with no sign of stopping.
“Just like the thing with Drew just happened?” She asked her friend in anger. Unfortunately even if she didn’t want to stop, Katie stopped her anyway by blocking her pathway.
“I’m so sorry, can we please go back to being friends?” Katie apologized and Marisol could see the genuine regret in her eyes. But it wasn’t enough.
“You have already everything, but not only did you take Drew from me when he was the only thing I ever wanted, but you outed my abortion too. Fuck you and your apologies. Go to hell,” Marisol snarled.
“Mare please, I can take it back okay? I didn’t mean to do that,” Katie pleaded.
“But you did, and you know it. When you were binging and purging your guts out last year, I was by your side through the whole thing and never shamed you for it. But the second I’m going through something, you get on your high horse. You’ve always been judgmental of me and talked down to me like I’m your child rather than your best friend. I’m sick of it. You want Drew, you can have him! But don’t call me, don’t text me, and don’t speak to me when we’re in class because this circus between us is over ! Again, fuck you and your apologies. Whatever happens in your life, I don’t want to be a part of it!” Marisol yelled out as her voice got louder with every word. Katie stepped back in fear, and she herself was surprised at the vitriol in her voice but it was needed. Katie had just ruined her life.
“Mare…,” Katie whispered one last time, and tears were starting to well up in her eyes as well. But the damage was done.
Marisol shook her head and silently walked away on her heels.
All eyes were on her once again in class, and once again Marisol felt small to the point it was overwhelming. She wanted to poof into thin air so bad, and if she had superpowers, it would have been to teleport into a remote island somewhere.
It was the last period before school was over, and it couldn’t end fast enough. She was constantly looking at the clock while Mr. Perino was yammering on about shit she could care less about at the moment. She just wanted to go home, cry in her bed, and maybe run away from home so she wouldn’t have to show up at Degrassi for the rest of the school year.
“Marisol, you have somewhere more important to be than class?” Perino asked her sharply, finally getting her attention. Everyone was quiet as they waited for her response.
“No, Mr. Perino, sorry,” she apologized quickly.
“Look at the clock one more time and it’s detention for you,” he warned, and she knew he was serious. She nodded numbly as he went back to teaching. It would be another twenty minutes before class ended, and so her suffering was long and hard.
She thought about the regrets she had in her life. There were a laundry list of them: wearing a tutu to kindergarten for a week, having her first kiss be with some kid who tasted like cabbage, her giving Katie a home Brazilian wax in middle school, that makeover she had freshman year where she basically attempted to dress sexy like Manny Santos in an attempt to get boys, going to Liberty Van Zandt’s birthday party where a senior got stabbed to death, dating Owen Milligan, letting him take her virginity in a tent at the Ravine, taking him back after cheating, being Riley Stavros’ date at the BBQ, going on that awful date with Drew, and hooking up with KC among other things.
But now, her biggest regret was befriending Katie Matlin.
When school was finally over, Marisol quickly ran to her locker, got her things, and ran to her car to get away from Degrassi as far as possible. She spared no time in talking to anyone.
She was just about to turn her car on when there was a hard knock on her car window. She turned around, and to her horror it was K.C., who was looking like he had just been through a bad argument with somebody. She had an educated guess on who it was.
“You were pregnant?” K.C. asked her, and the anger pouring off of him made her uncomfortable.
“Not anymore,” she replied as casually as she could.
“How when we used a condom every time?” He demanded.
“There was one time we didn’t, remember? It was right before work, and we were in a rush. I forgot to take my pill that day,” she explained, which made him scoff.
“I doubt it was mine,” he replied coldly.
“Why would it not be yours?” She questioned with an raised eyebrow.
“Well everyone knows about you and your long string of romantic entanglements, Marisol. You’re open to any guy who even smiles at you. There’s no way I was the only guy you were sleeping with this semester,” he reasoned while folding his arms.
She thought nothing more today could break her, but what K.C. just said made her feel like someone punched her in the face. She couldn’t believe what she just heard.
“I only had sex with two guys my entire life and you are one of them. Considering I hadn’t had sex with Owen since last year, it was yours,” Marisol argued.
“Yeah, sure. You have caused nothing but trouble for me since I met you, and you’re the reason I don’t have a family anymore,” he said with a scowl. She glared back.
“I didn’t know that you were forced to have sex with me when you unbuckled your pants for me immediately that first night we had sex in my car,” she replied venomously. The eagerness he had to cheat surprised her, since she thought he would be more conflicted.
“Well why wouldn’t I when one of the school sluts was offering?” He asked, and she almost jumped out of her car to slap the shit out of him. The audacity of what he was saying had her boiling in rage. She was the slut in this situation when he was the one who cheated? It was bad enough that the whole school was trashing her, but now this asshole was too after claiming they had a special connection?
She reached her breaking point.
“K.C., you’re the school slut. You dumped Clare Edwards as soon as a perky blonde cheerleader sprayed some water from a hose on you. You dumped Jenna after she got pregnant and was trying to get with Jess Martello immediately afterwards. After you got back together with Jenna, you started fucking me after she had your baby. You made the choice to cheat on Jenna, not me. I only helped you cheat. I wasn’t the one who was in a relationship and had a fucking baby at home, you were. You made the active choice of spending more time with me than your family because you claimed Jenna was a nag that was stressing you out. It was your responsibility to not cheat but you did, because you are fucking weak. You’re clearly not husband material if you step out on your girlfriends as soon as some other girl comes along and flutters her eyelashes at you. You’re sad over giving your kid up for adoption? I don’t feel bad for you at all, because Tyson deserves better to be raised by a deadbeat whore daddy,” she snarled as she rolled her windows up and turned her car on. She could see K.C. protesting her words but it was all silence to her.
As she backed out of her parking spot, and drove off she could see K.C.’s angry face but she didn’t care. At this point, there was nothing more someone could do to hurt her. Two people that claimed they cared about her just shitted on her in the worst ways possible.
When she got home, she didn’t even have the energy to cry anymore.
She coped with the horrible events of the day the best way she could, by taking care of her body. She was going to take a nice bath, exfoliate her face, give herself a mani pedi, and then wrap her body up in a fuzzy blanket while watching her favorite chick flicks. She might order comfort food too. It was all going to be a good distraction from the mess going on in her life.
After filling up her bathtub with rose water and petals, Marisol snapped a picture with her phone of it to post to Facerange. “Sometimes the best remedy to a bad day is a nice bath,” were the words she used to caption the pic. Before getting into the tub, she put some music on from her iPod to help her relax even more.
Her mood was already getting better just by her sinking into the tub. She sighed in bliss as she immersed herself into the rose water. For the next hour or so, she could feel good about herself despite the world working hard against her. She closed her eyes as a Beyoncé song softly played in the background.
She didn’t need Katie, as she had her own girl posse at school that would never harm her the way her bestie did. She didn’t need K.C. or Drew as she was attractive enough to pick up another guy by next year. However, she was going to take a break from boys for the time being. All they did was hurt her after getting her to open up to them. In all honesty, she didn’t need anyone as she could be awesome all by herself. She could be her own best friend, her own girlfriend, and her own parent. She was that amazing.
After fifteen minutes, there was a ding on her cellphone. She ignored it in case it was Katie begging for forgiveness yet again. Then there were several more. Confused, Marisol dried her hands with a towel before checking her phone. There were multiple notifications from her Facerange post. She unlocked her phone to read the comments in hope that they were all positive.
Instead every comment was full of people calling her a slut, a whore, or a baby killer.
Chapter 4: Dancing In The Street
Summary:
The final chapter of this short story!
The song title is Dancing In The Street by Martha and Vandellas.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Marisol was expecting the worst when she pulled into the school parking lot today. Today was the election, and after yesterday she wasn’t expecting to win it due to Katie’s loose mouth but she was still going to fight.
As predicted, everyone around her was staring as she got out of her car and walked into the school. She wouldn’t be surprised if it was like this for the rest of the semester. She didn’t even have the energy to scare them off with a glare. No matter what, next year she was going to come back stronger than ever.
When she got to her locker, she could only frown as the words “Marisol Lewis Is A Murderer” were painted across her locker in a bloody shade of red. There was a small baby doll taped to her locker with red paint splattered all over it. ‘So clearly the Jesus Club is mad at me,’ she thought to herself numbly as she went to get her books for the first three periods out. She was raised in a Protestant household, but even the Friendship Club was too much for her. They were entirely too judgmental, obnoxious, and had been at her neck since Owen bragged openly about them having sex in freshman year.
Inside her locker were religious pamphlets and sticky notes with biblical verses written on them, all centering around murder, adultery, fornication, and the womb. She would feel humiliated if she wasn’t starting to get angry at the world for trying to break her. Everyone wanted her to be the monster but she was not one. She picked up all of the religious crap inside her locker and dumped them inside a trashcan nearby. Next, she was going to tear up that baby doll and wipe the ugly paint off her locker. She went into the bathroom to wet some paper towels.
“Marisol Lewis is a killer of the unborn” was spray painted across the bathroom mirror when she walked in. There were two girls standing by the mirror, and they were looking at her with judgmental looks on their faces. Marisol sneered at them before attempting to wipe the words on the mirror off. It was no use.
When she came out the bathroom with the wet towels, Ms. Oh was waiting outside her locker with a concerned look on her face. ‘Oh brother,’ she grumbled to herself.
“Marisol, how are you?” The teacher asked in a gentle tone of voice.
“Never better,” Marisol lied quickly as some students gathered around them. Despite her feeling numb seconds ago, the feeling was now replaced with anxiety as she felt everyone’s stares again.
“I’ve heard some things about you yesterday that have me concerned,” Ms. Oh said to her.
“I’m pretty everyone is concerned about what the baby-killing school slut is going to do next,” Marisol replied dryly. The teacher pursed her lips in response.
“I’m not here to judge you. I’m here to provide support. Abortion is a process that gives women different reactions, and any feeling you have over it right now is valid. Student counseling services are here for you,” she replied.
“I’m fine but thank you,” Marisol rejected as politely as she could. She didn’t want to talk to anyone. Instead, she just wanted to get the year over with.
“Are you sure?” Ms. Oh asked her.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Marisol answered as the bell for homeroom rang. Unfortunately, cleaning her locker would have to wait. She sighed as she closed her locker.
Grabbing her bag, she quietly walked to her interview with Adam Torres and Dave Turner.
“So you’re definitely one of the most popular girls in school. Do you think that’s gonna help you win?” Adam Torres asked her as him and Dave interviewed her for their radio show, Mano y Mano.
“It’ll certainly help. Popularity gets you a long way,” she answered with a polite smile.
“Is that the only thing you would care about if you were elected president?” He asked her, and she could detect the critical tone in his voice. She had to think fast.
“No, I also care about making Degrassi a fun, comforting place for students, like a home away from home. I know that a lot of us really don’t have anything to do after school or that we don’t live in the best environments, so my duty as school president would be to schedule activities and events for members of the student body so students can have a necessary distraction from schoolwork if they need it.”
“What about students that are more introverted? Or afraid to interact with people?”
“There’s something for everyone. For the more shy kids, I’m thinking of painting events, craft making, book clubs, and game nights. You know, to encourage them to interact more with other students.”
“That’s good..how will you handle a difficult situation like protests for example?”
“Well everyone has the right to protest, and I wouldn’t try to stop them, I would find a solution that pleases everyone.”
Adam nodded at her answers, and she hoped that he was impressed. This was one of the hardest interviews she had ever done in her life, and she still felt like she sounded dumb, but she had practiced for this for the past two nights. She was going to prove to everyone that she was fit for president even if she wasn’t elected.
Dave then pulled out an iPad, and he had a glint in his eyes that she didn’t like at all.
“For our next bit, we’re going to ask you a series of questions that you have to answer truthfully. If you don’t, the lie detector on this app will go off,” he warned as he put the device on a stand next to him and Adam. Both boys had mischievous looks on their faces.
She definitely didn’t like where they were going with this.
“Cool,” she replied flatly.
“Is it true that you had an affair with K.C. Guthrie while he was dating Jenna Middleton and raising a baby with her?” Dave asked.
‘I wouldn’t call what he did “raising”,’ she thought dryly to herself. He barely even brought up Tyson while they were together, his only concern was fucking her. But she didn’t see how this had anything to do with her candidacy.
“Yes,” she answered as the lie detector declared her statement as true.
“How can you expect to gain the trust of the female student body when you’re willing to sleep with their boyfriends?”
“Because I realized that my actions were wrong, had terrible consequences for everyone, and hurt another girl. I wasn’t thinking of Jenna’s feelings at the time because K.C. made me feel good, he told me about how alone he felt at home and how I was the best thing that ever happened to him. He said that by the end of the semester, he was going to leave Jenna and Tyson for me because he had a better connection with me than them,” she confessed as the lie detector once again declared her statement as true, “I know now that it wasn’t true, and our relationship was just a fun pastime for him as an excuse for not spending time with his family, and for that, I’m sorry Jenna.”
“Is it true that you got pregnant by K.C. and then had an abortion?” Adam asked her as him and Dave leaned in for her answer.
“What does this have to do with the election?” She asked in annoyance.
“You have to answer the question, Marisol,” Dave insisted, and she once again wanted the ground to swallow her up. But she had to remain strong.
“Yes, I did,” she answered through gritted teeth, “And I don’t regret a single moment in getting it. It was probably the best decision I made in my life. Are you guys satisfied with that answer?”
“We’re just asking what students would like to know,” Dave reasoned, and she snorted.
“Well, I guess what goes on in my sex life is everyone’s business now, I might as well tell all of it,” she began with a dark smile,” I lost my virginity at fourteen in a tent at the Ravine to Owen Milligan, who not only lied about being a virgin so I could sleep with him, but was actively cheating on me with Bianca DeSousa. Losing my virginity was one of the most painful experiences in my life as I wouldn’t stop bleeding because he rammed himself into me over and over again and wouldn’t stop even after I was crying. Sex between us never really improved beyond that, and even after I did my best in a great girlfriend, he still continued to cheat and let his friends openly disrespect me.”
“I think that’s enough-“
“No, no, there’s more. You’re probably wondering if I slept with any of the guys I rebounded with after Owen. David Michaels, no, but he did try to get me a drunk at a party so we can do it. That’s why I dumped him. Brian Thompson, no, because we only lasted a week. Joshua Brown, we tried to hook up one time and stopped because JT Yorke had a bigger stack of dimes than him. Also he called me a dumb bitch afterwards. Yes, I’m probably what you call a slut or a hoe, but until K.C. I wasn’t hurting anyone by having sex. This is MY body, this is MY vagina, and yet I have been shamed repeatedly for choosing to do what I want with it. I was wrong for helping ruin a family, and I’ll probably carry that regret for the rest of my life but I’m not going to let that decision define who I am. I made mistakes, and I’ll probably continue making mistakes but the important part is that I’m growing with each one. My bad decisions regarding my relationships does not change the fact that I want the best for Degrassi and its students, and I’ll work hard to make sure this is a safe place for anyone. None of you are going to shame me into silence for my mistakes, especially you, Dave Turner, who had a piss balloon thrown at him and tased his own friend. Any other questions?” She finished coldly.
Dave looked like he swallowed a bird, and Adam’s eyes were widened in shock.
“No, I think we’re done here. Thanks for taking time to talk to us, Marisol, and good luck in the election today,” he replied quickly. Giving them a both tense smile, she gathered her bag and got up from her seat.
“No thank you guys for taking the time to listen to me. Here’s to hoping for the best!” She said cheerfully.
All throughout her classes so far, she could feel Katie’s eyes on her. Actually everyone was staring at her because of the radio interview, but Katie’s stares felt especially intense. She tried to ignore it. When the bell rang to signify that the fourth period was over, she tried to leave as fast as possible, but her ex-bff caught up to her again.
“Mare, can we please talk?” Katie asked her as they walked together.
“Don’t you have Drew Torres to make out with?” Marisol asked her dryly in response.
“Please, Mare. This election is tearing us apart, and I hate that we’re fighting like this. At least hear me out,” Katie pleaded, and Marisol turned to face her with a glare.
“We’re fighting like this because you decided to out my abortion to the school, Katlynn. Here, walk with me and I’ll show you what my locker looks like right now behind your big stupid mouth,” she sneered as she led Katie to her locker that still had “Marisol Lewis Is A Murderer” painted on it. Her ex-friend’s mouth dropped in horror at the sight.
“Who would do something like this?” She questioned
“Who do you think? The Jesus Club,” Marisol replied sharply, “Not only am I being treated like Hester Prynne, but now I’m also being treated like a murderer all because of you. All because you chose to tell everyone my business!”
“It only slipped out because you ran against and attacked me during the debates all because Drew picked me! You started it!” Katie argued.
“Yeah, well, you clearly had your revenge and now you get an easier shot at winning now that everyone is back to hating me. Now fuck off, I have a class to go to,” she snarled before slamming her locker and shoving past her friend.
She didn’t bother to look back at Katie.
After class, Marisol went to her locker to take her books out for her later classes. It was now her lunch period, and she braced herself for being stared at more by the whole school.
When she saw more sticky notes on her locker with scary bible verses, she could only sigh in response. The Friendship Club was going to be on her ass for the rest of the semester, but what was their endgame for her? Were they going to stone her for committing adultery in front of everybody?
She began ripping the notes of when the president of the club approached her with two other members. All of them were glaring at her.
“You have committed several grievous sins, Marisol Lewis, but none worse than the act of killing your unborn child,” he began.
“It wasn’t my child. It was barely bigger than a pea, and why should any of you care? You weren’t pregnant,” she replied flippantly, not looking at any of them. They didn’t deserve her full attention.
“A life is a life, no matter how small, and it is concerning that you show no regrets for the murder you committed. How can you live with yourself?” He asked her.
“Because I don’t regret it. I wasn’t ready to be a mother,” she defended herself.
“So the child had to pay because you kept opening your legs to anyone like an irresponsible harlot?” He questioned, and she bristled at the words. She finally turned to fully face them while slamming her locker door shut.
“Here’s the thing, you loser Jesus freak piece of shit, what I do with my body has nothing to fucking do with any one of you,” she snarled, “I don’t give a shit what your beliefs are, they have NOTHING to do me!” She exclaimed while waving her history textbook around dramatically.
She was taken aback when he slapped the textbook out her hands.
“They have everything to do with your relationship with God! You claimed to be a Christian your freshman year and yet you fornicate with no regrets, commit adultery with no regrets, and commit infanticide with no regrets,” he ranted and she was starting to get afraid. “You are an unrepentant sinner.”
“What are you guys going to do about it, stone me?” She challenged, taking a step back, only for them to step forward.
“No, but we are going to-”
“Why don’t you fuck off from her already?” A voice demanded, and Marisol whipped around and was surprised to see it was Eli Goldsworthy, who approached them all with a glare. “Don’t you guys have somewhere to pray?” He asked in a mocking tone.
“We’re making it known that we don’t support the actions of a murdering whore,” one of the members, a girl explained.
“Harassing people that make personal decisions that doesn’t affect you because you don’t agree with them? Not very friendly of the Friendship Club,” Eli snarked.
“The Friendship Club does not support a candidate that repeatedly acts against God’s word, and she should resign from the election,” the other guy sneered.
“I’m not fucking resigning. I don’t need any of your holy votes,” she rejected, aghast at the idea. “Just leave me and my locker alone!”
“Not until you deal with the consequences of your actions!” The president of the club insisted as he tried to get in her face, but Eli stepped in front of her.
“Fuck off, asshole. Or I’ll get Simpson and you can deal with the consequences of your actions,” Eli warned, and there was a dangerous fire in his green eyes. She was reminded of the fact that he got into a whole war with Owen’s friend Fitz that culminated in the Vegas Night disaster. Despite being only like an inch taller than her, Eli Goldsworthy really had an iron will.
After a few minutes of tense silence, the members of the Friendship Club all looked at each other before finally giving up.
“This isn’t over,” the president warned before leading his club members away from them. Marisol sighed in relief before turning to Eli.
“Thank you so much. I thought I was about to be executed,” she told him in gratitude.
“It’s no big deal. I just don’t like seeing people being bullied, especially for doing what they feel is the best decision for themselves,” he replied with a shrug, and there was an awkward tension between them. Yesterday, she didn’t even want to speak to him to ask questions about the election but right now he just defended her from a bunch of wacky holy rollers.
“So I’m not a baby killing harlot to you?” She asked in hope.
“No, it’s your choice. None of us are perfect and have any right to judge you when we’re all fucked up in some way,” he assured her before walking past her. “Good luck in the election,” were his parting words.
As she watched him leave, she had two thoughts.
One, he wasn’t a total creep after all.
Two, he was kind of cute.
It was the final round of the debate before students were allowed to vote. As Marisol stood around in front of a crowd of people along with Mo and Katie, she felt super anxious. These past two days have been the most horrible and humiliating days of her life and no matter who won, she was eager to get this shit over with.
“Uh, what’s your number one priority?” Adam asked them when Simpson opened the floor up to questions.
“More dances,” she answered quickly into the microphone before letting Mo speak next. Several people cheered for her.
“More options for the caf,” he answered cheerfully.
“Mandatory sports. Research shows exercise enhances self-esteem,” Katie answered, and her tone was still shaky.
“Those researchers haven’t seen me climb the rope in gym class,” Mo quipped as several people laughed.
“You make 500 dollars in a fundraiser, how do you spend the money?” Dave asked next.
“I’d throw a party,” Marisol answered.
“With lots of pizza,” Mo added.
“I’d poll you guys and then base my decision off your feedback after all it’s your money,” Katie said.
“Being president is a lot of hard work, how will you manage the pressure?” Sav Bhandari asked. With a tightened stomach, Marisol jumped in to answer.
“Keep a calm head and a rational mind through it all,” she answered.
“Or kill your baby instead of taking responsibility for your slutty decisions,” a girl from the crowd sneered. There was a dead silence for a couple seconds as Marisol held back a rude response. The girl had ratty looking hair, a huge zit on her forehead, and thin lips. She was easy pickings to tear apart but she wasn’t going to be that girl right now. Marisol took a deep breath before she began to respond.
“Look my abortion-”
“Was her decision,” Katie cut in to her great shock. She could only stare at her ex-best friend with her next words. “Marisol made a mistake with potential negative consequences so she rectified it in the best way she could. I was there when Marisol got her abortion and it was difficult decision for her but she did it anyway because she knew that at sixteen, she wasn’t ready to be a mother because being a parent is way harder than having sex, and that is one of her best qualities. When Marisol makes mistakes or bad choices, she always tries to make up for it no matter what it is. And when it comes to handling difficult situations, from the time we were little girls, she pushed through them with a smile on her face. Last year, I was going through something horrible and I ended up in the hospital for it. Marisol was there for me the whole time with gifts and encouraging words for me. She has never given up on me or judged me for anything, even though I have been judgmental of her or dismissive of her pain on multiple occasions. Despite the image she portrays, Marisol is one of the kindest and most caring people I know, and I don’t know where I would be without her in my life,” her friend bit her lip nervously before saying the next part, “Which is why I’m dropping out.”
There were multiple gasps throughout the crowd at her statement, and she herself was very confused but Katie was actually serious.
“Marisol has every quality someone needs in a president: intelligent, strong, fierce, compassionate, determination, friendliness, and charm. She would be a better leader than me, and that is something that I have known our whole lives. Vote for her,” Katie proclaimed before stepping aside but not before giving her a soft smile.
Marisol didn’t know what to think.
She was numb as she left her study period to go to her locker. Mr. Armstrong had given her permission to finally wash the red paint off her locker after she explained everything to him.
After the final debates were over, she left quickly and quietly before she could fully process Katie’s decision to drop out. She still couldn’t believe it. Being school president is what Katie wanted since freshman year, and for her to actually give up that opportunity for her was the last thing she expected. The next thing she had after the debates was study hall, and she unfortunately shared that with Katie, who was eying her down again as she entered the chemistry room.
She wet the sponge with soap to start scrubbing, but just as she was about to do, Katie approached her.
“Hey,” she greeted.
“Hey,” Marisol greeted back in hesitation, not knowing what to make of this.
“I know you hate me, and you have every right to after what I did, but I want to say once again that I’m sorry for everything. I was angry at you for running against me over Drew, but I shouldn’t have outed your abortion to the school,” Katie apologized again, and now she was actually finding herself willing to accept it. But she was still hurt.
“I trusted you to tell no one,” she pointed out.
“And I betrayed that trust. But I don’t want this to be the end of us, not when we’ve been friends since we were little girls,” Katie replied.
“You have Drew now, don’t you?” She asked.
“Drew is great, but he’s not you, Mare. You’re practically my sister. I don’t want to lose you over him and this stupid election, which is why I dropped out,” Katie explained and she could hear the sincerity in her tone.
“It’s what you've wanted since like forever.”
“Positions are temporary, but best friends are for life, and I can’t take you not being in my life anymore. Please give me a second chance, Mare,” Katie begged her. She thought it over, and how much longer of this beef could she actually take?
“I have to admit that being mad at you is bringing me a lot of misery right now, and I can’t really take more of it either, Katie. I forgive you,” she accepted, “And I’m sorry for acting how I did over Drew as well.”
“It’s easily forgiven, let’s just be BFFs again,” Katie replied eagerly with her arms out. Marisol smiled softly before they shared a hug. When they pulled apart, her best friend had one more question for her.
“Can I help you scrub this paint off?”
When it was time for the results of the election to be revealed, Marisol tried not to let her anxiety show as she re-entered the cafeteria. There were dozens of stares as usual at this point, but only a few were actual disgusted stares.
“Marisol! Over here!” Katie called to her as she sat in the front row of the bleachers with Drew. Her bestie was no longer wearing her election shirt. Instead she was back to wearing their grade eleven red polo shirt. For the first time in three days, she was excited to see her.
“Katie-kins! Are we ready to celebrate my win?” She asked confidently as she sat down next to the couple.
“Katie and I already made plans,” Drew answered stiffly, and she was put off a little by his attitude.
“We can fit Mare in them, can’t we?” Katie argued to her boyfriend.
“Sure, whatever,” he replied, and she almost frowned at the exchange. She could understand why Drew didn’t like her, but did he have to be so open about it?
Dave stepped up into the microphone. “Alright ladies and gentlemen, it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for….”
She grabbed Katie’s hand tightly in anticipation and her friend clung tightly to it in response. Adam walked up next to Dave and pulled out an envelope. The younger Torres brother began to speak.
“The next year’s president is-”
“Dave Turner!” Dave interrupted with a joking smile, expecting everyone to laugh.
No one did.
“He’s kidding folks,” Adam explained with an awkward smile. He then looked down at a piece of paper. “The school president for next year is…”
Adam took a few seconds before he said who it was, and she felt her heart drop in nervousness. She felt like she was about to explode.
“.....Marisol Lewis,” he announced while looking at her with a smile.
Her reaction was instantaneous. She squealed in excitement and bounced off her seat as Dave demanded a speech from her. People everywhere around her were cheering and clapping for her, especially Katie. She won. She actually won. She was now school president!
As she walked up to the podium, she felt like she was on air. She cleared her throat before speaking.
“I want to thank all of you for hearing my story and coming out to vote for me. I promise you guys that I’ll be the most awesome and fabulous president Degrassi has ever had!” She promised. Dave then leaned onto her with an opportunistic grin.
“And the pres gets to choose her vice so if you want…,” he started to joke before he saw the look on her face, “Yeah….,” he trailed off awkwardly.
“For my vice president, there is no more fitting for the position than my bestie, Katie Matlin,” she decided with a smile to her best friend, whose eyes lit up in surprise before it turned to excitement. Katie got off from her seat and promptly walked up and hugged her.
“Who else am I going to rule the school with?” Marisol asked her lightheartedly, and Katie smiled proudly in response.
They then held hands and faced the crowd together as balloons and confetti fell around them.
“President Marisol A. Lewis, I like the sound of that,” Marisol boasted as her, Katie, and Drew walked to her car. Now that her and Katie were no longer fighting, everything was at peace. In all senses of the word, she was now going to be the queen bee of the school. She was going to be president AND captain of the Power Squad her senior year. Her family was going to be beyond proud.
It surprised that people still wanted to vote for her after the K.C. and abortion incidents, but maybe that rant she did on the radio show helped. What she said in that interview was true. She wasn’t going to let the mistakes she made in high school so far define her. She was going to be a better version of herself. That, she was confident of.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with all of this power,” she added, a little scared at the prospect. She had been so used to only supporting Katie in leadership positions, that for once being in charge was going to be an interesting challenge.
“Hopefully it doesn’t go to your head,” she heard Drew mutter to himself, and her BFF sent him a warning look in response.
“Well you have me, vice president Katie Matlin to help you out. But I believe in you, Mare,” Katie assured her.
“I believe in us. That we can do this. Next year is going to be the best year of our lives,” Marisol vowed to her and they shared another smile together.
This may have been their ugliest fight yet, but they overcame it because their bond ran as thick as blood. They were not only practically sisters, but they were a team. Besides her family, she loved no one other than Katie Matlin and she knew that Katie felt the same way.
As they all got in her car, Marisol thought the sun never shined as bright as it did now.
Notes:
Thank you to everyone who read this fic and left comments or kudos. This was a fun scenario to write and for me, better than the actual plot in the show.
And most of all, thank you Marisol for being my muse 💜