I'm still standing (Cyn!)

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Her dark eyes scanned the area before looking at her mother. "You know, we don't have to do this. There's still time to go put me back in Bardell," she said nervously. She wasn't looking forward to being a brand new student again. She had been in Bardell since freshman year, and it was what she knew. Already, she missed her friends, and it hadn't even been half a day out of that school.

"I'm sorry, honey. I go where the job goes. And you go with me."

Roxanne sighed and nodded. Sometimes, she wished she lived with her dad. But that wouldn't be happening anytime soon. Her parents had never been married, and when her mom got pregnant, she stopped seeing her dad. By now, he was married with kids of his own. She would never belong. Not in her opinion, anyway.

Her mom was a psychiatrist, and while Roxanne could understand why she was coming to this area, she didn't see why she couldn't just commute. Sure, there were a lot of traumatized kids here who needed someone like her mom and blah blah blah. But why should her life be turned upside down? But, it was, and now, Roxxie was about to start her first day at Degrassi.

"You'll do great. I know you will." She looked back at her mom and nodded. Sure she would. And it would rain pretzel m & m's and yellow and pink ponies would come and give everyone a ride to a magical kingdom with gnomes. But Roxanne wasn't about to complain. Her mom was a shrink, sure, but that didn't mean Roxanne felt like sitting through a session being asked "and how do you feel about that?"

She slowly opened the car door, stepping out of her mom's SUV. She half-waved at her as she watched her drive away. Now, she was all alone. Slowly, she turned and looked up the stairs.

She wished she could be as confident as her mother was. As she slowly went up the steps, her feet felt like they were being weighed down, like they were the weight of cement. She finally did make it inside, though, and managed to find the main office, where she stood around, waiting for her class schedule.

Once it was handed to her, Roxanne stepped into the hallway. Her first class of the day was Mr. Maxwell's homeroom. Roxanne leaned against a wall, studying the map and comparing it with the schedule handed to her, trying to find the class. It wasn't helping much, though.

The bell rang, warning students to get to class. When she looked up, she noticed the stares. Several kids standing nearby were staring and whispering. Roxanne looked around, suddenly feeling self-conscious. Well, this was just a great way to start a new school. Not.

"Take a look at those tattoos. What a freak." she could hear. Roxxie looked at her arms. What was wrong with her tattoos? She happened to like them. Nobody in Bardell had a problem with them. Biting her lip, Roxanne chose to nod to the kids staring, to show that she didn't care. And it wasn't that she cared, but it was weird for her.

She needed to focus on the task at hand. Roxanne looked back at her schedule, deciding to just pick a direction. She turned left, and followed the hallway, meanwhile hoping that someone would notice the lost-looking strange girl and help.

[Tommy Santos]

The warning bell rang, but Tommy wasn't in much of a rush. He would manage to get to class and most of the teachers weren't too offended when he was late. He was a good student and a jock, hence the school didn't usually work against him. Now and then, it did, but generally, he was never in trouble. And if he wound up a couple minutes late, he wouldn't be. Though, he didn't think he would. He was hanging out by his locker, focused on his cell phone, texting away before he realized it was probably time to move. As he pocketed it, he looked up in time to see a girl he didn't recognize walking around with a map. She had to be new. New and apparently lost from the way she looked. Her appearance, while nothing like Tommy's didn't throw him off. Shifting his messenger bag onto his shoulder, he followed until he caught up to her.

"Hey, you look lost. Where're you headed?" He asked. He knew the school like the back of his hand, so it wouldn't be hard to figure out where she needed to go. While Tommy had never been new, he did remember how confusing Degrassi was if you hadn't been there before. And the maps barely helped. If he had to look at a map now, he probably wouldn't be able to follow it. They were just messed up, that's all there was to it. "I'm Tommmy, by the way."

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And, as if on cue, she was approached by a boy. Her eyes raised when he said she looked lost. "Really? and here I thought the neon sign across my forehead with the word huh in bold letters wasn't big enough," she commented nonchalantly. She smiled, though, grateful to have some help, and looked back down at her schedule. "Uh. Mr. Maxwell? I guess." she looked back up at him. "Roxxie."

Eyeing him, she presumed from looking at him that he was someone who loved his school. Raising an eyebrow, she piped up again. "Oh, and save your welcome to Degrassi, home of serial killers, ra ra go team speech. I'm not much for school spirit," she informed him. Yeah, she knew how dangerous this school was. And she had to question her mom's sanity for sending her here. She had made the argument that her step siblings were here. Because, Roxxie so looked forward to sharing classes with the Brady Bunch. Not.

[Tommy Santos]

"Maxwell is this way," Tommy replied and jutted his thumb back down the corridor behind them. "Come on, I'll show you." It wasn't going to be a problem leading her in that direction. He knew where the classroom was; where every classroom was at this point. And while he didn't know what it was like to be the lost new kid, he saw enough of them to get a good handle on what it had to be like. Besides, the school needed to give a good impression. Tommy tried his best not to be one of those jocks that didn't care about anyone but himself. While he could get angry the same as anyone else and he didn't always socialize with every single mix of person, he didn't go out of his way to be rude either. If he was upset, that was another thing altogether. And even then, he didn't maneuver over to get in their way.

"I don't think any of us want to be known for that," Tommy said, because really home of the serial killers wasn't funny. There were people dying and while Tommy didn't spend a lot of time thinking about it, it was awful." Then with a glance at her, he shrugged. "You didn't really look like the school spirit type." He replied, and she didn't. So, he wasn't going to try to push her into being a part of the spirit of the school. Tommy was bound by being popular and a jock, but he enjoyed it too. He never really understood the anti-school spirit movement, but to each his own.

[Deleted]

She followed him, slightly confused. Didn't she just come from that direction? "Maybe you can just show me the entire school. I'll draw them a better map," she said, following him in the direction he had said. Seriously, Bardell was not this confusing. Then again, she had been attending Bardell since grade nine. She was sure if she took a few of these kids and stuck them in Bardell, they might be confused. Walking beside him, she gazed upstairs and saw a few people looking down. She wondered just how much like a mouse in a maze she looked.

She looked at him, giving an amused glance when he said she didn't look like the school spirit type. "I'm a type, am I?" she asked, teasingly. "So, what type do I look?" she asked, curious what his answer would be. She rarely got a chance to hear someone's first impression of her. She rarely cared. And it wasn't like she was going to lose any sleep about it. She was just wondering. She imagined that had the question been posed to her step-sister or one of her step-brothers, the answer wouldn't be too kind. But, this wasn't anyone who knew her, so she wondered.