reunited [jamie]

[Weston Lawrence]

For a few years, the idea of travelling anywhere was out of the question. He couldn't leave home often enough, much less the country completely. It had been the worst time of his life, frankly. He didn't know how many opportunities passed him by, but it had been too many. He'd been schooled at home for a good chunk of it, and barely even that when he barely felt like being out of bed and light made him want to crawl away and never come out again. Naturally, when he had been diagnosed with Lupus, it scared the hell out of him. In his fear, he had turned to being more pessimistic, darker and had tried his best to have a couldn't care less attitude. The medicine hadn't worked out at first. He became progressively worse, enough that it made his rebellious phase a little irrelevant. It was hard to be rebellious when he couldn't get out of bed fro the life of him. It was only in the last year that he started to get better. He had a shift of meds and the illness seemed to have gone into a more dormant state. It took time to adjust again, but he'd been able to go out again, to recapture a life that he was afraid of losing entirely. And honestly, it stopped him from looking at things so darkly. He didn't want to rebel, but instead felt more like his old self than he had before. He started to live again, resumed studying and even managed to start dating. And while he was aware of his dad's opinion of his boyfriend, he felt like he'd met his match. He loved him. And it had to mean something to have someone who would fly all the way to Canada just because he did.

This was a trip that he could only have dreamed of before. And to be able to go out here on his own at first, well, it was more than he could have asked for. He was excited, legitimately. Not only to be in Canada, but to see his sister again. And shortly after his arrival, she was precisely who he was looking for. It was after the school day was finished, but apparently there were still some stragglers around the front steps. "I'm looking for Jamie Lawrence, have you seen her?" He asked a group of students, in hopes that they might know her and help lead him in that direction. Surely, there were people that knew who she was in her own school. He couldn't seem to get a hold of her any other way.

[Deleted]

Jamie didn't mean to worry anyone. After everything that happened with Jimmy, she just couldn't leave and go home. What would people think? What would her parents say? She didn't want anyone to ever know. Her plan was flawed, she knew that. But she hoped it would work. Her family was planning to move here this summer anyways, while West was doing okay. All she had to do was survive until they got there. She had been doing it for a few weeks now. Sleeping in the boiler room, showering in the girls' locker room. Eating in the caf. This school had everything she needed. What she didn't count on was Kate swinging by to see her daughter. And when Ashley wasn't there--or Jimmy, or Jamie, for that matter, the woman called up Jamie's dad. The teenager was near panic when she got the call from Chris, but she tried not to let it show. "I'm fine, dad,,,,it's hard to explain. Please. I'm fine. I love you." She wasn't fine. She had slept with her sister's ex-husband, only to have him call her a mistake and leave. But she had to convince him she was. Whether or not she was fine was irrelevant. And it seemed to work. She had no idea that he had decided to play along and move here. She had no idea that he had sent her brother to find her and get set up in the house while they wrapped up some things in London.

To Jamie, it was just the end of another horrible day at school. The final bell rang, assuring Jamie that she had survived once more. She thought she might take a walk in the park, before returning to the boiler room for some sleep. At least it was Friday. She wouldn't have to deal with people like Stacey Torres until Monday. On her way through the halls, though, she walked past Natasha, who was heading back inside in her cheer uniform. As soon as she saw Jamie, she rushed to her and grabbed her shoulders.

"Oh my god, Jamie! You are going to be totally glad that you stopped wearing that uniform you used to wear! Know why? There's a guy looking for you at the front steps and he's totally hot! Good job, Jamie! Oh! I gotta go. I gotta get to Spirit Squad practice. But good luck with that guy! I have to know everything on Monday, K? bye!" Jamie blinked as the blond was suddenly gone and she was facing the front door. A guy? If it was anyone else, she'd be suspicious that it was a prank. But Natasha was too sweet to do something like that. Jamie wondered who it could possibly be. Not that she was ready for something like that. She wasn't. But it did make her curious. Biting her lip, she decided to go out the front instead of the side like she had initially planned.

When she opened the door and saw him, her eyes widened and she couldn't help but smile. That was definitely better than any old guy! She hadn't seen her brother in months. Of course she was happy to see him! Even if she didn't understand why he was there. Dropping her bag, she ran to her brother and hugged him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "West!" After embracing her brother, she looked up at him "Whot are you doin 'ere?" Not that she wasn't happy. She definitely was! It was just definitely shocking, considering that her family was all the way in London.

[Weston Lawrence]

West had always been afraid of holding his family back. Even if he was told otherwise, he'd felt like a burden throughout the worst part of his illness. And knowing that just because he was well now didn't mean that he'd be okay forever didn't help matters any. He was well aware that he might wind up sick again; that the odds were that he would have to deal with it in the future, but that didn't mean he had to let his present suck. But, he didn't want to hold people down because of it. He didn't want to be in the way of moving or vacation time or any of the little things that being a sick homebody made sure of. He wouldn't have guessed that he would eventually be sent to Canada on his own, to get settled and to find his sister. It was a big move. And while he really wasn't alone, it wasn't as if he had planned on having anyone with him. He was excited, legitimately so.

When the door opened, he glanced, only to respond with a grin. There she was. See, that wasn't that hard, after all. He knew that him showing up would have had to be a surprise. And that part of it, he wasn't so unhappy about. After all, the look on her face was priceless. As she came to him, he wrapped his arms around his sister and hugged her tightly. It was good to see her. And especially good to see that she was all right. The family was worried about her and there was no way that he could see their dads just hanging back in London while this happened. And it just so happened that West was well enough to get out there first. "I missed you that much." He joked, as if that had been his sole reason for coming out. Though, he was quick to continue, "We're pushing the move up."

[Deleted]

"Why?" Jamie knew exactly why. And instantly, she felt guilty. Still, the question rang out of her lips. She hadn't told anyone in her family about what happened. And if she decided to tell any of them, it would be West. He would understand. She knew he would. He had already gone through his phase where he didn't exactly go by the rules. Jamie hadn't been trying to be rebellious. All she had wanted was for the man she loved to notice her as something other than a student--even if that's exactly the way she should have been looked at. And she most certainly did not want anyone to find out about anything that happened. Especially not the entire school with that blasted article.

The article. It dawned on Jamie where they were standing. The second someone noticed them talking, they were bound to make sure West saw that article. She couldn't let that happen. Grabbing her bag again, she grabbed hold of his arm. "C'mon. Let's get outta 'ere. We can chat while we walk." and get far, far away from Degrassi. She knew that West was bound to notice the change in behavior resonating from her. A lot had changed about Jamie. She was more nervous, less confident, and obviously the biggest change was that she had stopped wearing her military school uniform. She had burned it, especially after reading the article and having the uniform mentioned. Abigail Stevens definitely had a major impact on her with that article. She supposed that was what she wanted. Well, no, actually, what she wanted was to get Jamie expelled. The sixteen year old was relieved that it hadn't happened.

[Weston Lawrence]

"Dads were worried." West replied, leaving the answer open-ended. If she didn't want to talk about it, they didn't have to. He was leaving it for her to be able to speak up about the situation if it's what she wanted. "We were coming out here in the summer anyway. And I needed to get out." As if that might alleviate any guilt she felt. He didn't think that there was any need for it. They were moving anyway and he was well enough to travel, so despite the bad circumstances, he was grateful to be out of England. It sucked to have the world going on without him. And he was done with that. It felt good to be out, to be a little bit on his own, at least until their parents got there. And it really was good to see Jamie again. He had missed her, so all of this, despite what happened, wasn't too awful.

"All right, sure." Weston didn't question it when she wanted to head out and so he stepped off the steps with her. "You've got to see the new place. It's great. And all ours for now." He grinned, though it wasn't as if he didn't notice that things had changed. It was just that he hadn't mentioned it yet. He saw the difference in her behavior, not to mention the shift in clothes. He never quite understood why she wore the uniform so often as it was, but now that it was gone, it was a curious change. He wanted to talk about those things, but he thought that he'd ease her out of the school before going too deep.

[Deleted]

Of course they were worried. Of course they were. What parent wouldn't be? All she said when they called was that she couldn't say where she was but that she was fine. How could she possibly have expected them not to worry? Jamie gave a nervous chuckle when he mentioned it, but didn't say anything. Not just yet, anyways. Instead, she walked with him and listened to him. She had to admit, it was better than sleeping in the school. And having the place to just her and West...it did sound good. She wondered for a moment if throwing a party might help the taunting about Jimmy stop.

The further away from Degrassi they got, the more free Jamie felt to talk. She exhaled as she led her brother around the corner and she looked up at him. "Oi'm in trouble, West. Oi don' even know how it got so outta control. Oi messed up and now everyone knows. Everyone's tolking about it. And Jimmy--" she shook her head. "'e left. Because of me." Mr. Maxwell said it wasn't her fault. And she wanted to believe it. And when she was in school, she acted like she did believe it. But when she wasn't faced with it, when she was alone and could reveal how she truely felt, she did blame herself. After all, he told her when he left that she was the biggest mistake he had ever made. A mistake. If she could go back in time, she would keep herself from kissing him. She would have just kept her love for him to herself. Because she was an idiot to think that he would ever love her back.