[/b] Joey Jeremiah was the youngest of four, his older siblings being out of high school by the time he reached 8th grade. Because he was the baby, Joey was pretty spoiled. He got most of the things he wanted, which included a brand-new keyboard for his fourteenth birthday. And since his two friends Snake and Wheels had guitars, the three decided that they should start a band. Life was perfect.
At school though, he was far from spoiled. In Junior High, he wasn’t taken seriously by the girls—at all. In fact, most of the time, he was laughed at for his attempt at flirting (“Joey P Jeremiah, P for Playboy!). Though he was the first one to manage a kiss from Stephanie Kaye when she was running for president, the only thing that kiss really did was find a way to get her more votes—she agreed to kiss every boy who would vote for her. But when he tried to get Stephanie to go to the dance with him, he discovered that she wanted to go with his best friend, Wheels, instead. Joey was mad about it, but quickly got over himself when Stephanie showed up drunk at the dance.
Because he was laughed at himself, Joey was a bit of a bully to the seventh graders. When Arthur Kobalewscuy and Yick Yu went to Degrassi for the first time, he offered to show them to their class and then shoved them in the broom closet and locked the door at two separate times; first Arthur, then Yick. He also taunted Melanie Brody for her failure to need a bra, calling out in front of a crowd at school that she was so flat, the walls were jealous. And when Melanie and her best friend, Kathleen decided that they wanted to try drugs, just once, Joey saw an opportunity to make money and bought a bottle of vitamins, claiming them to be Ecstacy. Of course, Joey didn’t exactly get away with his bullying all of the time. He ended up pushed in the school swimming pool by LD for his comment to Melanie, and when the grade sevens discovered his deceit, they managed to get Joey’s clothes off—bought with the profits—and locked
him in the broom closet.
When it came to the kids his age, though, Joey wasn’t all that bad. Sure, he made wise-cracks but he also knew when to be serious, when the situation called for it. And he did find himself in a few situations that called for it. The first one was his in the beginning of eighth grade, when Degrassi Jr High was getting ready for picture day. Joey already knew what he wanted to wear—“the famous four J’s; Joey Jeremiah and his Jean Jacket”. When he went home, though, he discovered that, after cleaning his room, his mother had taken his jacket and used it to mend his torn jeans. Joey freaked out, announcing that it was child abuse, and moped around for the next day because he didn’t have a jacket “It took me forever to get that one good and used!” when his classmate, Rick Monroe, learned of his dilemma, he offered to sell his jacket to him for forty bucks, which Joey jumped at and agreed to. The boys went to Rick’s place after school, and after giving him the jacket, Rick offered him a soda. This turned out to be a big mistake, though, because his dad came home, flipped out in front of Joey over their drinking the last two sodas, and as Joey was leaving, he witnessed Rick getting beaten for it.
Joey ran home, completely stunned and unsure of what to do about this. He asked a couple of people for advice, but it really didn’t help. Finally, he went to the school secretary and asked her what she would do if she knew a kid who was getting beat up by his dad. Concerned, she asked if everything was all right and he said sure, walking away distractedly. Immediately, the woman called child services, under the impression that it was Joey who was being abused, especially when he got a nasty bruise on his head from falling off his skateboard.
Since he hadn’t paid for the jacket yet, Joey invited Rick to his place so he could get his money. By the time the boys got there, though, a man from child services was there, talking to Joey’s parents about the alleged abuse. Joey stepped up and stated very clearly that his parents never hit him, that sometimes they yelled but that was all. The man asked him who he was talking about then, because whoever it was needed help. As he explained this, Rick ran out of the house, wanting nothing more than to get home, but as he grabbed his bike, the chain broke on it. The guy from child services was able to catch up, and convince the boy to go with him. Rick ended up living with his brother.
Things settled down after that, and as the first semester of eighth grade ended, Joey went back to worrying about junior high things—like his crush on school president Stephanie Kaye. At first, she turned him down, disappointing Joey. But then, by what he thought was some miracle, she started paying attention to him again and even asked him to be the sports rep. Joey was willing to do pretty much anything to get on good terms with Steph, so he agreed. To his dismay, though, he found out from Wheels that Stephanie was only trying to make him jealous. Joey went to Stephanie’s best friends, twins Heather and Erica Farrell, and hesitantly, they confirmed what the girl was doing. Upset, Joey went to where a group of kids were rallying against Stephanie because of her choice for sports rep and quit, telling her “you don’t have to be nice anymore, ok, Stephanie?” and walking away.
The second semester was kind of slow, especially when Wheels’ parents stopped letting him play in their band—which they had named the Zit Remedy—until he could get his marks up. Things started looking up, though, when they discovered a new girl, Liz. It was love at first sight for Joey, especially with the way she kept her hair. Everyone had assumptions that she did “it” a lot. And since Joey was in a hurry to lose his virginity, like his buddy Shane McKay had, he asked Liz to work on a project with him. She agreed, inviting him to her place. Joey got over excited, and stopped by the store on his way to her house and bought several boxes of condoms. As they were working on the project, he asked her if they could please do it (hey, at least he said please!) It was the wrong move, though, and Liz threw him out, not talking to him again for an entire year. Joey hated that happened, because he really liked her.
So, when Snake got a date with Melanie Brody shortly after that, Joey took full advantage of the opportunity to make himself feel at least a little better by taunting his friend for dating a girl a year younger than him. Snake ignored his taunts, and took the girl to see Revenge of the Reptiles, despite it not being a movie that any girl would want to see, ever. Of course, Joey, along with Wheels, showed up at the theater with toy dinosaurs, sneaking up behind the couple with them. Which, when Yick (who had asked Melanie out first) showed up and discovered that she had lied to him, also meant that Joey and Wheels had front row seats to the girl’s embarrassment.
Michelle was the next one to fall victim to Joey’s taunts, since the girl never spoke up. He called her Mouse and made it a game to sneak up on her and scare her. But when the girl stood up and gave a speech, about shyness ironically enough, Joey realized that she was actually pretty good and offered her money to write his speech. She rejected his offer, of course, and what else could he have expected after teasing her relentlessly? By this time, Joey really should have learned his lesson about bullying people. Unfortunately, the lesson he wound up learning came up days later.
Joey often ragged on this guy, Dwayne, because he was in special ed classes. He called the guy a broomhead, a doorknob, and several other names. And when Dwayne found out about it, he wasn’t too happy. He challenged Joey to a fight, knowing that as scrawny as Joey was, he was sure to lose. Joey went to the fight, not wanting to be branded a chicken for the rest of his life, and got his ass kicked. Joey took the beating, and even managed to stop his mom from calling the principal about it.
As the semester wound down, Joey finally found himself receiving some attention from a girl—the wrong kind. Like a few other eighth-grade boys, Joey had pictures of binkini-clad women in his locker, infuriating tomboy LD. She called the pictures sexist and demanded that he take them down, which, of course, Joey refused. He even rated the women, and then compared them to LD. A couple of days later, she did the same, comparing Joey to posters of men. So, when the secretary came to Mr. Radditch’s class and asked Joey to show him her locker, sending him straight to the principal’s office, Joey decided to get the girl back by telling on her for her pictures, claiming he was “truly” offended.
After being yelled at for the pictures, Joey decided he could really use a good time. So, when Snake’s parents went away for the weekend for a wedding, he convinced him to allow him and Wheels over, which the boy very hesitantly agreed to. The boys were up all night watching movies, and wound up oversleeping and waking up fifteen minutes before Wheels had to be at an eye doctor’s appointment. Joey insisted that they drive him so he wouldn’t miss it, telling Snake that he knew how to drive. Of course, once he dropped Wheels off, he couldn’t just take it straight back to Snake’s place. Instead, he took it for fries. As they were eating, however, another car backed into theirs, and when they ran out to check it they discovered, to their dismay, a busted taillight. Panicking and not wanting to get caught, the boys used money they had been saving to get an amp to fix it. Ironically, that was how they got caught—by fixing the taillight that Snake’s dad had busted the week before. As punishment, all three boys were grounded, and Wheels was banned from seeing Joey.
As the boys got closer to graduation, Joey made a daunting discovery—while he did pass eighth grade, it was barely just so. Mr. Radditch explained what his marks were and that his parents had decided that he should take the year over. Upset, Joey initially said that he was through with school for good and that he wouldn’t be attending the dance, which disappointed Wheels and Snake because they had gotten permission to play at the dance. Wheels reminded Joey that if he ever did become a rock star, he would have to play in front of a lot of people, so he might as well start by playing in front of their friends. At first, Joey told him to leave him alone, but then decided that he was right and sucked it up, attending the dance anyways. As it turned out, grade sevens were allowed to go as well, since they were adding a grade nine to Degrassi Junior High and it was the only way to get them to do the work, so Joey didn’t feel so bad. In fact, he commented that now that he was going to be in the same grade, the grade seven chicks didn’t seem so bad.
Over the summer, Joey managed to reunite with Liz. As the two got closer, she confided in him that she had been molested by her mother’s boyfriend as a small child and had never really trusted guys after that. Though, for some reason, the girl trusted him. Joey had never felt so protective of anyone in his life. On his fifteenth birthday, he decided that he wanted to just spend it with Liz. The two had gone to a play together, and as the night progressed, so did their relationship. One thing led to another, and Joey and Liz ended up back at his place, in his bed. Liz woke up the next morning embarrassed, but Joey assured her that there was nothing to be embarrassed about, and that it wouldn’t change the way he felt about her. Their relationship continued throughout the summer, but by the time school started again, she seemed angry with him over something and wanted nothing to do with him.
Wanting a distraction from what was going on with Liz, Joey attempted to reunite with the other two members of the Zit Remedy, deciding that their next move should be to make a demo tape of their song, “Everybody Wants Something.” Since Wheels was still banned from hanging out with the dark-haired teenager, Joey convinced him to take one for the team and sneak out of the house to record their demo. He later found out that while they were singing into a tape recorder, Wheels’ parents were in a car accident with a drunk driver and were killed. Joey reasoned that they didn’t know that would happen and tried to get his friend to listen to the song, which freaked Wheels out and caused him to attack Joey, beating him up. He apologized later, which Joey shrugged and said not to worry, and that if he ever needed someone to beat up on, that was what he was there for. And while their friendship continued, the Zit Remedy was over for the time being.
The rest of the semester went rather quickly, and before they knew it, Christmas had come and gone, and their second semester had started. Joey dove right into his classwork, determined to not fail eighth grade a second time. When he noticed how well Caitlin Ryan was doing in school, he figured that it would be perfect to pair up with her for an assignment; because she would help him get the A he desperately wanted. The two discovered that they had a lot of fun together, and when the upcoming dance was mentioned, Joey politely said that he would dance with her. Though, what he really wanted was a second chance with Liz. After begging her, she finally agreed to go to the dance with him, saying she was about to move anyway, so why not. Joey didn’t understand until he was much older why she was leaving, but he was thankful to have one last night with her. As he appeared at the dance, he saw Caitlin, complimented her on how nice she looked, and asked if she had seen Liz. After being pointed in the right direction, Joey went up to her, telling her she looked beautiful, and the rest of the dance was spent with her. He never even noticed that Caitlin never redeemed the promise dance.
With Liz gone, and Caitlin mysteriously mad at him, Joey was at a loss for words. So, rather than dealing with chick stuff, he decided to focus on the band. Still on the quest for fame and fortune, Joey saw his ticket to easy street when the local radio station had a job opening for a kid, being a janitor. Joey eagerly applied and got the job, but quickly learned that his charm only got him so far, when first the station manager and then Dr. Sally found his demo tape on their desk. Since he was spending more time doing that than actually doing his job, Joey was let go. As he stood in the station one last time, awaiting his last paycheck, though, Dr. Sally spotted him and addressed him, telling him that the tape was really good and that they should keep practicing. Since Joey had already told his friends that they were going to be a big hit on the radio, he lied once more and claimed that he decided that wasn’t really the direction the band needed to go in. Of course, Snake and Wheels didn’t believe a word he said. Of course, it didn’t matter much, especially when Gourmet Scum came to town.
Everybody was hyped about the concert. The tickets were selling for twenty bucks, and everybody was trying to cough up that kind of money, Joey included. He quickly found his way when he was challenged that he couldn’t get a date. If he succeeded, Joey would earn the money needed for the concert. He accepted the bet, sure that it would be an easy win. As he went from girl to girl, though, he quickly learned that the girls weren’t as crazy about Joey Jeremiah as he thought they were. Finally, he went to Caitlin, despite knowing how mad she was at him. His charm definitely worked on her, though, and he got a date with her set for that Friday, one week before the concert. The two were having fun, and by the end of the night, Joey had all but forgotten his bet, until BLT approached him with the money—in front of Caitlin. Upset that she was nothing but a bet, she dumped his soda on him and ran out of the restaurant they were at, in the rain. After saying a few choice words to BLT, he followed. He tried apologizing and explaining that she meant more than that, even going so far as to tear the twenty dollar bill up to show her that he didn’t care about the money, only her. He wasn’t able to make the concert, but he did have one thing—he had Caitlin.
Caitlin was the best thing to happen to Joey. She was a good influence on him, more than he even realized. When Wheels ran away and called to let Joey know, rather than keep it to himself, Joey informed Wheels’ grandmother where he was—something he would have never done if he weren’t dating Caitlin. Though, no relationship is without conflict, and for those two, the first one came up over a party at Lucy Fernandez’s house. Caitlin was nervous about being at a party with high schoolers and said she didn’t want to go, which definitely disappointed Joey. He decided that the best thing to cheer himself up would be to bring beer to the party, dragging his two best friends along with him. Of course, only being fifteen years old, none of the boys could pass for nineteen and were refused alcohol. They hung around the liquor store, trying to get strangers to buy it for them—and failing. They were about to give up, when Snake spotted Clutch, an older high school boy. Joey approached him, and he agreed to getting a case of beer. Once he had it, though, he took half of the case and left them. Only left with six cans of beer, the boys were dismayed, and decided rather than showing up at the party with a less than adequate amount of beer, they’d wait and share a beer with each other first. Unfortunately, the night ended rather quickly when they got caught by the police.
The rest of the school year was spent on punishment for the beer, and Caitlin furious at him because she had actually shown up at the party, and he never showed. As finals rolled around, Joey found out that, to his relief, he managed a B average and would be going on to the ninth grade. Eager to celebrate, Joey went to Caitlin, apologizing and pleading with her to go to the last dance with him. Uncertainly, she agreed. The two met at the dance and had made up—just in time to have to run out of the school when it caught on fire.
After an uneventful summer, Joey readied himself to start high school—finally. He was so sure of himself, that as he got dressed, he slipped a hat on and told himself in the mirror
you are going to be the coolest guy at Degrassi. He started at Degrassi High with high hopes and dreams. After all, his life was perfect—he had a girlfriend (Caitlin), he was back with his friends for two more years, and he was
finally in high school. He also had big plans for the band, which involved some changes. So, as soon as he saw Snake and Wheels, he ran to them and began the Zit Remedy conversation. Snake informed Joey of the daunting news that Wheels sold his guitar, and while Joey knew that wasn’t good, he was determined that nothing would stop them this time. He insisted to his friends that they needed a new name, since Zit Remedy wasn’t catching on like they would have liked.
As they were talking, the three friends were approached by Dwayne and his friends and informed that they were going to have to keep an eye out for initiation, despite Snake’s attempt to be helpful and, holding up the handbook, said that they couldn’t. Joey was sure that the bullies were just trying to scare them. So, rather than worrying, he went on to come up with a few names to try, his favorite being “Barf Bag,” but when he brought it up the following day, Wheels wasn’t too interested in that one. As the boys were talking, they ran into a very flour-covered Snake, who nodded and said that “they got me”. This unnerved Wheels, but Joey refused to be worried.
As the days went by, the boys decided to simply shorten their name to “The Zits.” Joey’s next idea was for them to shoot a music video, which Snake and Wheels agreed to. So, Joey approached the only person he knew with a video camera, Lucy, and informed her and LD that they wanted to shoot a video and asked if they could borrow her camera. She agreed, but said that she had to be the one to shoot it. The boys agreed, anxious to make a music video. The boys pulled their money together, except for Joey, who felt like he shouldn’t have had to since he is planning everything. With fifty dollars between Snake and Wheels, Joey announced that they had enough for taping expenses. Snake asked about having a script, but Joey insisted that all they needed was a girl wearing a bikini. And he had just the girl in mind—
his girl. Caitlin.
Though, wearing a bikini for a music video wasn’t exactly her idea of fun. Joey pleaded with her, even going so far as to tell her that she had a great body. This only angered her more, and Caitlin stormed off. Joey sulked, fearing that the video was over, when he was approached by Allison and Amy. The girls told Joey that they would wear bikinis for twenty dollars each. Despite it not being
his money, Joey happily agreed.
When they met up to shoot the video, however, and Lucy found out what costumes they would be wearing, she refused to let them use her camera. She called it sexist and informed Joey that it was wrong. Snake and Wheels sided with Lucy on the being-mad-at-Joey angle, furious at their friend for spending their money. Joey went after his friends, pleading and apologizing. Snake and Wheels told him that they would break up the band unless he agreed to stop making decisions without them. He would also have to start pitching in his own money. Not wanting his band—or their friendships—to break up, Joey agreed.
The band had a lot of red tape to get through after that so Lucy would do the video. When they finally had it bikini-free and female-approvable, they took their script to Lucy. Initially, she had a problem with the use of a car, since they were going to use Clutch’s car, and that was her ex-boyfriend. But then, after some coaxing from the twins, she agreed. It was a bitter-sweet day for Joey Jeremiah. While they were
finally able to film their video, Joey’s biggest fear was realized that day—Caitlin broke up with him so she could date fellow activist Claude. Joey was so broken-hearted that while he was able to fake a smile and get through the video, he couldn’t even bring himself to go with his friends for pizza.
Joey decided that with Caitlin having broken up with him, he needed to keep busy so he wouldn’t think about her all the time. So, went about promoting the video, and after bugging the producer relentlessly, he managed to get the band’s music video “Everybody Wants Something” on tv. Ecstatic by this accomplishment, Joey wanted to go out and celebrate with Snake and Wheels. And when he finds a flyer for a strip club advertising admission at half-price, he showed it to the boys and convinced them it would be better than pizza. Once they got there, though, they found out to their dismay that the flyer was only good during the week, and they had gotten there on the weekend. They only had enough for two with drinks, and after playing rock, paper, scissors, Joey was left outside. He stood outside the club, wallowing in self-pity, when a hooker approached him and offered to “party”. Instantly, he got nervous, muttered that he had homework to do, and went home.
Joey was pretty embarrassed, so he toned it down for a while and concentrated on school. Though, his problems with classwork hadn’t really let up. In fact, it got harder as the school year progressed. With his parents’ permission, he was tested, and it showed that he had dysgraphia. As the counselor spoke about it, she mentioned putting Joey in one special ed class per day. Joey took that to mean that he was retarded and decided he was going to drop out. Though, after an unexpected altercation with Caitlin led to a heart-to-heart, she told him he would only be dumb if he did drop out. And after thinking about it, he realized that she was right and decided to stay.
Soon after this happened, Lucy finished writing her first screenplay—a feminist Thriller called It Creeps! She approached Joey, Snake, and Wheels, begging them to be in it and get killed. She reminded them that she was the one who shot the music video for them. Snake pointed out that it sounded fun, so they agreed. They met at the school on that Saturday, and despite having laughed at how cheesy the lines were, Joey had to admit that it
was fun. And when Lucy showed the movie in her class, it got him out of his own since he had been in the cast. It seemed to be a fitting way to end the school year—doing a movie with his friends—as Joey was going to be spending the summer working.
At the end of the summer, though, Joey wanted to get a car
so badly, but he only had seventy-five bucks left from his savings. The rest, he had spent on video games and fries. He found out that his dream car was about to go to another buyer and asked his friends for advice. Snake unwittingly mentioned that when his older brother went to Degrassi, there was a kid who took bets he wouldn’t walk through the cafeteria naked and won a bunch of money….and then, as soon as he realized his mistake, nervously pointed out that he would get in a lot of trouble. But Joey had a plan.
It had been announced that the school’s staff would be in a meeting during lunch. So, Wheels and Snake were given the assignment to go around the school collecting bets for the streak that would take place during the staff meeting. Some people were repulsed, like Simon Dexter, who answered “why would I want to see
Joey naked?!” but most were intrigued by the idea and placed bets. Joey thought this was a sure-fire way of getting the money for his car. He removed his clothes, giving them to Snake, and held his hat to his waist and began the walk of shame. Before he could get all the way across the cafeteria to collect the money, though, Mr. Radditch walked in, and Joey heard “Mr. Jeremiah!” boom from behind him.
The boys found out that it was Dwayne that had ratted Joey out and cost him all that money. As such, Joey vowed to get revenge on him. So when Wheels saw Dwayne destroying the new condom machine in the school’s washroom, Joey decided that this was just the ammo he needed to get him back. He approached Dwayne, blackmailing him and saying that if he didn’t give him the money he lost in the bet, he would tell that he destroyed the condom machine and get Dwayne, who was already on probation, kicked out. This led to a fight, and when both Joey and Dwayne started bleeding, Dwayne stopped the fight, telling him that he didn’t want Joey to get AIDS. This shocked Joey, and he decided not to blackmail him after all. What shocked him even more was that Dwayne gave him the money—so he wouldn’t tell. He didn’t want to take it, saying he wouldn’t say anything, but Dwayne insisted.
As his rivalry came to a halt, Joey’s friendship with Wheels was put to the test when, after lying to his grandma so he could go to a concert (that they never made because Joey’s car broke down), Wheels was kicked out. Being the good friend that he was, Joey invited Wheels to stay with him, even though he wasn’t used to having anyone share his home other than his parents. After all, his siblings had all been out of the house since he was little. Wheels claimed to love Joey like a brother, but Joey was really getting sick of having his friend there all the time, eating their food. Meanwhile, he and Dwayne actually began a friendship, when Dwayne helped him fix his car.
When he was invited to join Luke, Yick, and Arthur for an all-night poker game, he decided to go for it, since he desperately wanted a break from them. Surprisingly, Arthur was a real card shark and won all of their money, Joey’s included. Though, he did have fun and it was a great release. It was a very short one, though, and soon after the game, his mom informed him that Wheels was stealing and he needed to go. Joey confronted his friend about it, and when he was lied to, he decided that he was done with Wheels for the time being.
Instead, Joey focused on getting through the tenth grade, as well as his ever-closer friendship with Snake. The boys planed a camping trip, but when Mr. Webster announced that there would be an unscheduled test on Monday, Joey wasn’t so sure about it. Snake, having been looking forward to the camping trip, suggested that he take his books with him and study in the tent. Joey reluctantly agreed. When they headed out that Saturday, though, Joey discovered that he had left some notes out of his locker. When he drove to Degrassi to get them, though, they were met by the student body president, Bronco, who told them that nobody was allowed in. Behind him, the boys could see men with Savages t-shirts moving equipment. They begged Bronco, but he told them they couldn’t get in.
Joey and Snake started to leave, when they discovered an open window to a classroom. Snake yelped at Joey that he couldn’t do it, and Joey answered “Yes, I am, and so are you!” the boys managed to get inside, but as they were crawling down the hallway to try and get a good look, they came to a corner where they ran into Lucy, Erica, and Heather. Both the boys and the girls screamed, which caught Bronco’s attention, but worse—Mr. Radditch. He made all of them leave, including Joey—without his notes. The boys went on their camping trip, saddened over having to leave the school, but mused that they were at least
close to seeing the Savages!
With less than a month left of school, Degrassi began holding auditions for the school’s talent show. Snake and Joey decided that they were going to perform together—by wearing giant sombreros, painting eyes, moustaches, and mouthes on their stomachs, and wearing Mexican skirts. Of course, the plan was to sing Everybody Wants Something. As they were waiting to audition, Claude, or as Joey called him “The Ice Maiden’s Old Boyfriend” auditioned with a very dark poem about death. Joey laughed at the older boy, and when Claude was told that it wasn’t right for the show and yelled out that they were all a bunch of sheep, Joey baa’d at him. If only he knew what would happen the following day, he would have never done it. But as it turned out, Claude took a gun into the bathroom and shot himself in the head. And to make it worse, Joey’s buddy Snake was the one who found him.
Life seemed to be at a stand-still after the death of Claude. Snake was traumatized and decided to stay home for a while. Wheels approached Joey, giving him the money he had stolen from his mother and asking him to apologize for him. He also asked how Snake was doing and whether Joey thought it would be ok to call him. Joey told him that he thought Snake would like that, and thus Wheels’s and Joey’s friendship was mended. And that wasn’t all.
Joey had been begging Mr. Webster for help with his science work. Finals were coming and he felt hopelessly lost. Mr. Webster said he was rather busy, and asked Caitlin to help. Caitlin initially said no, but the teacher pressed the issue until she agreed. She told Joey that she didn’t want to meet at the library because they wouldn’t be allowed to talk. Instead, he could come to her place after dinner.
Caitlin worked with Joey, but got frustrated pretty quickly when she learned that he didn’t understand any of it and had allowed her to continue to talk without asking questions. The two decided to take a break, and went into the kitchen for a snack. That’s when the subject of Claude was brought up. Caitlin insisted that she didn’t want to talk about it, but then continued to bring the subject up. Joey pointed that out and said gently “maybe you do want to talk about it.” That was when he learned that Claude had said goodbye to her, and then she had received flowers after the fact that all but blamed her for his death, saying he forgave her. Joey hugged her, telling her that Claude had wanted her to feel guilty and told her not to give him the satisfaction. All of his bitter feelings against Caitlin diminished greatly.
The talent show had gone on, with Wheels performing with Joey instead of Snake, since he wasn’t ready to come back just yet. The school year came to a close, with Joey passing, to his relief. The final dance for the year came up, which Joey invited Caitlin to, sparking the beginning of a second relationship for the two. But as the days came to an end, they learned that Degrassi would be closing, and this would be the school’s final dance together as well.
Joey was thankfully sent to the same school as Wheels, Snake, Lucy, Erica, Heather, Spike, and Caitlin. Joey’s eleventh grade year went by rather quickly. He didn’t have a whole lot of time to get himself into trouble, as his classwork kept him on his toes. Joey barely had time to do much of anything, as he had to work even harder to make sure that he passed. Caitlin, too worked extra hard, taking on both twelfth grade and eleventh grade work, so when graduation came up for Joey’s best friends, his girlfriend graduated along with them.
At a graduation party hosted by Lucy, Joey proposed to Caitlin, who turned him down. She explained that she just wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment. Angry and hurt, Joey left the party, running into Tessa, who had also left, because of her jerk of a boyfriend. She asked if she could get a ride home, which Joey agreed. Once they got to her house, though, instead of getting out and going inside, she kissed him.
Thus began the Tessa/Caitlin/Joey love triangle. With Caitlin and Joey having conflicting work schedules, the two barely saw each other. So, Joey began seeing Tessa on the side. As the summer progressed, Joey dated both girls, with neither realizing that he was seeing both. That all changed on his nineteenth birthday, though. Tessa had called, to give Joey news that he never did receive. He had told Tessa that he would be spending his birthday with his parents. When she called, though, his mother explained that he was out with Caitlin. While Joey returned home late, he found out that she had called the following morning and called her. She hissed at him “You don’t know what you’ve done! I never want to see you again!”
When a week later, Caitlin accepted his proposal of marriage, however, it managed to soften the blow. And when the gang attended a party at the lake house owned by Bronco’s parents, Joey told Snake all about it, teasing Snake about his inability to score with chicks. He had been doing this all summer long, as well as bragging about his two girlfriends. Finally, Snake lost it and yelled at Joey, not even noticing when Caitlin walked in. He announced that “Joey dates Caitlin and is FUCKING Tessa Campinelli! Bravo, Joey!” he finished sarcastically, applauding until he saw Caitlin. Joey watched Caitlin as her heart broke. She told him that she was going to change her plans for him, called him a bastard and ran into one of the bedrooms, crying. Joey knocked on the door, pleading with her to talk to him, but got no answer.
As if that day wasn’t bad enough, Lucy and Wheels got in a car wreck when he drove drunk. It landed Lucy in the hospital and Wheels behind bars. Snake wanted nothing more to do with him after that, and when he left for college, he told Joey that he would never forgive him.
Joey’s life dulled down after that. School started up again—his final year, but he was pretty much miserable. He didn’t see any of his old gang again until a couple of months later, when he attended Simon and Alexa’s wedding. He got to see Snake again, who actually had a girlfriend by that time, Pam. And he got to see Caitlin again, where they shared one final dance before they parted, not to see each other again for ten years.
Joey’s twelfth grade year went by rather quickly, and Joey was faced with the ultimate question of what he would do after high school. He looked into several college degree programs, but never found anything he really liked. Halfway through the summer, Joey still didn’t know what he wanted to do. That was when he ran into a man that in his early junior high years, he had constantly nagged to try and sell the Zits. The man explained that he had left the radio and now owned a car lot. He offered Joey a job selling cars. He told him that if he was anything like his fifteen year old counterpart, then he would be an amazing car salesman.
Joey took the job, and quickly learned that climbing the corporate ladder was very possible in the business he was in. In just four years, he had gone from a simple salesman to being the financing manager. And that was when he met Albert and Julia Manning, with their nine-year old son, Craig. The married couple had come in, and had decided on a car that one of the salesmen was selling. Joey had them in his office while he found a bank to finance the car and drew up the paperwork. While they waited on an answer from the bank, Joey made small talk, finding it very easy to make Julia laugh. From the day they met, Julia always called him Joe, and for some reason, Joey liked that.
When the deal was signed and finished, Julia stalled a little behind Albert and Craig, and took Joey’s business card, whispering that she was going to call him. And she did, just days later. Despite her being married, Joey found himself in a new relationship. She confided in him that her husband was very controlling and she didn’t want to be with him anymore. And just months after the two met, the woman left Albert for Joey. The two married, and had a beautiful baby girl named Angela.
The marriage only lasted a few precious years, though, because when Angela was four, Julia passed away. This depressed Joey so much, that he cut himself off to the rest of the world. He had his own car lot by this time, Jeremiah Motors, and he dedicated himself to just his work and his daughter.
When the ten year reunion came around, Lucy, as well as several other students Joey had gone to school with, came to town. Lucy tried to coax Joey into going to the reunion, telling him that Julia would have wanted him to go. After agreeing to test-drive a car, Lucy got Joey to go out with the old gang, which included herself, Caitlin and her boyfriend, Snake and Spike. The gang reminisced old times, and when a tv commercial came on with Joey ripping his shirt off, despite the harsh criticism from Caitlin’s boyfriend Keith, who was also a movie director, Caitlin stood up for Joey, saying it was perfect for him and that he had always been a ham.
Seeing his old friends did raise Joey’s spirits, and he found himself at the reunion, where he found Keith cheating on Caitlin with Allison. This didn’t set right with Joey and by the end of the night, he had outted Keith. He and Caitlin started talking afterwards, and came to a mutual understanding, agreeing to be friends. The rest of the year was spent healing and the occasional phone conversation with Wheels, who had recently been paroled. While Snake refused to talk to his former friend, Joey did keep tabs with him throughout the year.
By the time the summer was over, Joey was hanging out at Spike’s with Snake quite a bit. He even hired Spike’s daughter Emma to babysit for him. He found out from Emma that Craig had been seeing his daughter and had taken Angela to the park. He tried to talk things out with Albert, reason with him that they shouldn’t keep the two apart, since Craig
was Angela’s older brother. Albert refused, and even said that he wanted Craig nowhere near Joey or Angela. The situation worsened, however, when Emma and Craig’s new friend Sean Cameron came to him and told him that Craig had run away, and that his father beat him. Joey set to work finding Craig and when he did, he invited him to stay with him and Angela.
It took some time to get used to having a teenager in the house, but Joey tried his best. He even allowed Craig to take one of his cars for a wash. When he went away for the weekend, though, and told Craig that he could invite some friends over, he was only able to be gone for the one night. The next day, the security company alerted him that one of his cars had been taken. He rushed back to Toronto, only to find Craig with friends Spinner, Sean, and Marco returning his car. He took the boy home, grounded him, and ripped the tickets Craig had won to see Kid Elrick.
As the weeks went by, Snake and Spike’s wedding approached, with Joey in charge of the bachelor party. Craig went to him and convinced him to get a stripper involved, despite Snake’s request for no strippers. Joey said it was going to embarrass him, which was why he did it. Before Fancy appeared, though, two young boys, Toby Isaacs and JT Yorke showed up, insisting that they were there for the show. JT even whined that Craig would get to watch. Joey informed them that Craig would be up in his room and told them to go home. Later that night when Emma showed up wanting to speak with Snake, she found the boys, causing all three to scream, and when Joey found them, he grabbed them by their ears and took them home.
The rest of the year went pretty smoothly, up until finals time. Albert showed back up in Craig’s life, which Craig accepted at first, without Joey’s knowledge. So when he came home with a bruise on his cheek, Joey was stunned and angry all at the same time. As it turned out, though, that Albert had sped off after hitting Craig and got into a car accident. The crash killed him. Joey’s relationship with Craig grew stronger, as Joey tried to be the father that Craig no longer had. He tried to make it clear that he wanted him to be able to go to him no matter what.
Which, when the new school year started, Joey discovered that Craig really was listening. Joey received a phone call that he and Emma were stuck in Stouffville because they had taken the train there earlier that day but got back to the station after the last one had already gone. Irritated, Joey showed up and immediately said “Stouffville?? Just answer me one thing—what the heck is in
Stouffville??” to which Emma immediately answered “My dad.” Joey went quiet. This had been his former friend. Not saying anything else, he took Emma home before going home.
Soon after this happened, Craig formed a band with Spinner, Jimmy, and Marco: Downtown Sasquatch. Excited to see Craig pick up something that he had been into himself, Joey agreed to let the boys use his garage to practice in. But then he wanted more. He wanted to hang out with the teens, sit in on their practice sessions, and even play with them. He wound up getting a big dose of reality when Craig told him that he needed to lay off.
Joey needed to focus on friends more his age. So, when Snake discovered he had Leukemia, Joey decided that it was his job to cheer him up after his chemotherapy got him down. He showed up at his place, ready to take Snake bowling. At first, Snake declined the offer, but then Spike spoke up and made him go. While they were there, Wheels showed up, and after a moment’s hesitation, Snake allowed him to join the game. By the end of the night, the three bald men were driving Snake home, singing Everybody Wants Something, and Snake’s spirits were definitely lifted.
Soon after that, Joey met Sydney, and by the time the holidays came around, they were getting pretty serious. But then Caitlin came back, and the two accidentally shared an intimate moment. Joey didn’t think that anything would, or even should come of it, and decided to not say anything to his present girlfriend. When he found out that Craig had made the same mistake he did back with Tessa and Caitlin, and that Craig had been dumped by both girls, Joey explained that he knew what it was like and shared the story. It was then that he learned that it wasn’t too late for him and Caitlin and that Craig had overheard Sydney saying some things to Caitlin. He confronted Sydney, which led to the two of them breaking up, and Joey, Angela, and Craig rushed to the airport to stop Caitlin from leaving, where the two shared a passionate kiss. Thus, relationship number three with Caitlin was started.
The rest of the winter flew by, and by the time spring came around, Joey was having some financial hardships. He noticed that Craig was spending his inheritance money on extravagant things, like the first guitar Kid Elrick ever played. He decided to ask him for some rent, which highly offended the teenager. He ended up disappearing on Joey, and by the time he came back home, Joey broke down and explained that he was close to losing the car lot and going bankrupt.
At this point, Caitlin was off in Africa, and Joey didn’t want to ask her to come back to bail him out of his money troubles. He decided to put his house up for sale. When the realtor he picked was doing a crappy job, Sydney showed up, after having been informed by Craig what was going on. She told Joey “Let me do my job.” Just days later, Caitlin returned from her trip, and seeing Sydney’s sign, asked Joey what was going on. Of course, he wasn’t going to lie to her. He didn’t expect what happened next, though, when Caitlin bought the house so Joey could keep it.
As they were talking about it, Caitlin received a daunting phone call, and by the time she hung up, she told him “We have to get to Degrassi. Now.” There had been a shooting. Craig came out, whispering that it was Jimmy. Joey couldn’t believe that his son had been through that. Craig was taken home, where the tv was kept off to keep him from being haunted by the news reports on what had happened.
Joey continued to be protective of Craig. So it was hard for him, when nearly a year later, Joey learned that Craig had mouthed off to Snake and left school. He tried to get Craig to sit down and talk, but he wouldn’t. Craig fished through a shoe box in the closet, and took off again. His girlfriend, Ashley Kerwin, had invited him to her dad’s wedding, so Joey decided to wait until it was over to talk with Craig. He got distracted from the topic of ditching school, however, when he learned that Craig had destroyed a hotel room and slammed Joey with a five hundred dollar bill to his credit card. This time, Joey decided that he wasn’t going to have a choice but to sit down and listen to him. When he tried, though, things took an ugly turn.
Craig attacked Joey. Joey wound up on his back, his arms up, protecting his head. That was all he could really do. He wasn’t about to hit back. Not his son. When Ashley came in, wanting to talk to Craig, and found them like that, she grabbed Craig’s arm, and instantly, Craig started crying. Joey knew that something was wrong. He hated to think that Craig could be crazy. But he knew that what had just happened was
not normal. Craig was taken to the doctor, and soon enough was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, due to a chemical imbalance in his brain. Joey tried to explain to his son, that none of what had happened was his fault; even if he wasn’t quite sure he believed it himself.
Joey was determined to keep a close eye on Craig, even though he knew he couldn’t watch him all of the time. As the ending of the year came around, Kevin Smith came to town to make a movie, hiring Craig to write some of the music. Ashley, though, informed Craig that she was going to England. And at Kevin’s advice and Caitlin advocating the idea to Joey, Joey gave in and bought the ticket for Craig. He told him that it came with conditions, and that he would have to keep up with his medication and keep in contact.
At around the same time, Caitlin proposed to him. Joey was completely thrilled as he started making wedding plans. The two planned on inviting all of their old friends from high school—that was, with the exception of Tessa Campinelli. The wedding plans came to a halt, though, when Joey learned that Craig never made it to the airport and was somewhere out in the streets. Caitlin pulled strings and helped Joey make a television appearance, showing Craig’s picture. Thankfully, a server at one of the homeless shelters spotted him and called it in. Craig had been badly beaten up and his guitar stolen. While Joey was ranting about it to Caitlin, she pointed out that the guy responsible could just be a kid, like Craig. Joey scoffed, and retorted that Craig did NOT beat up guys on the street, and Caitlin answered “No, he just beats you up at home!” It became clear that Caitlin wasn’t ready to be part of this family, and she told Joey that she had been offered to start Ryan’s Planet back up in LA and she was taking it. Their second engagement was broken off.
Life in the Jeremiah-Manning household had calmed down after that. It took a few months, but both Craig and Joey were able to move on, even after Craig learned that Ashley was staying in London—and had a new boyfriend. Joey even met someone new, Diane, whose sister hired Downtown Sasquatch to play at her wedding. But at the wedding, Joey heard the bridal party gossiping about him and decided that he was too old for her.
The house was soon to get quieter for a few months. Downtown Sasquatch was discovered by a producer, but Craig was the only one serious about music, as Ellie told him. She wasn’t ready to be called “Chick on Sticks,” and she doubt she ever would. And the others had other dreams, other goals. Not music. So, Craig went solo, and left Toronto to go to Vancouver.
He returned that February, however, and things definitely got interesting again. Once more, Joey was launched head-first into Teen World. Especially one night, when Ellie, who had apparently taken some drugs, woke him up by trying to pull a prank on Craig. When she saw him, she called his baldness hot and kissed him. Joey definitely had to keep from being amused there. But the biggest surprise came that summer, at the appearance of Gina.
What Joey had never known, was that he had gotten Liz pregnant. That was apparently why she had left. He was definitely surprised when the teenager showed up. Liz had been in Toronto back when Spike had her baby, and had never shown up, never even bothered to tell him that he had a daughter. And now, he learned that the girl had been kicked out. She had come to him. And what was more, she
adored The Zits. Of course, Joey wasn’t going to turn her away. He welcomed her into the home, and tried to get Craig to get along with her. Even when he found out that she had a much older boyfriend, and that was why she had gotten kicked out, he didn’t turn her away. Of course, he didn’t like the fact that she had a boyfriend, either. She was fifteen years old! And the man was older than he was. Joey had no clue what to do about it. Though, as it turned out, he didn’t have to.
The girl had a pregnancy scare. And while it turned out to be negative, the older man realized that he had made a mistake and broke it off. As soon as he did, Gina extorted money out of him—big money. Joey discovered just how sly his daughter was. Though, he was definitely glad that she was single again. He encouraged her to date, telling her that he had no problem with it as long as the boy was more along her own age. And when Spinner wound up being the boy of choice, Joey had to bite his tongue. The kid wasn’t the nicest boy around. But he WAS her age. And she seemed to really like him.
So when Craig asked him to go with him on a tour the next year, Joey was torn. He wasn’t sure how he felt about leaving Gina and twelve year old Angela alone. But Gina insisted that she was fine, and to go on. He reminded her to keep a close eye on Angela, and NO PARTIES. And he did go with Craig. As it turned out, he wasn’t the only one Craig had asked to go. Darcy and Caitlin were, too. It was kind of an emotional time for him, seeing Caitlin again. But it turned out to be a good thing.
The two got back together while on the tour. And what was more, she got pregnant. They were going to leave the tour early, when Darcy made a daunting discovery—she was pregnant as well. Both Darcy and Craig were in relationships, and both were engaged. So, in order to save the relationships, Joey and Caitlin agreed to extend the tour the full nine months, and when they went home, take both babies home as twins. Both wound up being boys, and even now, Ezekiel and Jeremy have no idea that they are not really twins, and that Jeremy is really his principal’s son.
When they got back, though, Joey learned that Caitlin was not the only one he had gotten pregnant. A one night stand with Diane right before he left had left her pregnant, and as she reminded him, he had decided she was too young. So, she wanted him to take care of the baby. All of a sudden, he had three babies on his hands. And while Caitlin wasn’t breaking up with him, she wasn’t going to marry him just yet, either.
The next year was filled with changing diapers and crying babies. It was also filled with working to throw Gina a rocking graduation party. She had gotten into Banting and would be leaving soon. Everyone was invited to her party, except for Toby Isaacs. It seemed odd to him, because Gina barely knew the boy, right? As he soon learned, though, Joey hadn’t been paying the closest attention to his daughter. As it turned out, Spinner had cheated on her with some girl named Jane. And a heartbroken Gina had wound up playing a game with her friends, including Toby. And the game had gotten heated, and now, she was about to go to Banting pregnant. As a result, she wanted nothing to do with him, and when Toby showed up, the girl ran out of her own party in tears.
Joey followed her and offered some fatherly advice. He told her that had he known about her, they could have had a relationship a lot sooner. He asked her to please think about what she was doing. Cutting Toby off from her life could very well mean cutting him off from her baby’s life. He also said that he might be better suited to take care of the kid. After all, Gina was going to live in a dorm. Dorms didn’t allow babies. Gina took the advice from him, and once she had the baby, handed her over to the boy who had gotten her pregnant. She refused to care that he already had a one year old at home. And while that wasn’t quite what Joey had meant, he did understand her reasoning. For his part, though, he tried to be there for his granddaughter as much as possible.
Just weeks after her graduation party, there was also a wedding in the works. Emma, who by now had one year old twins, had accepted Craig’s proposal back when she told him she was pregnant, which had been right before he left for tour. He had slipped a ring on her finger and promised that he was going to marry her. And after almost two years, they were finally doing it. A week before the wedding, Craig confided in Joey that he had a two year old daughter by some girl named Fiona. Joey had told Craig that he needed to keep it in his pants from then on, or he wouldn’t be throwing any wedding receptions. Which was probably why he didn’t know that Emma was two months pregnant when she got married until that day. Joey wasn’t too happy with Craig for keeping it from him, but wasn’t exactly going to make a scene. He never got to meet Summer, though. Craig kept her away from his family, and from the press.
When Erin, Ezekiel, and Jeremy were five years old, Caitlin finally accepted Joey’s invitation to move in. Angela was eighteen years old, and was about to graduate high school. Joey understood that she had a seven year old daughter, and he suggested that she share Angela’s room until Angie was out of the house. His daughter wasn’t too amused, but he reminded her that if she intended on going to college, then she would need to get used to sharing a room, anyways. The first night that Caitlin and Kylie had moved in, everyone was talking at once as pizza was being passed around. That was when Angela dropped the bombshell.
She wasn’t going to college. The room went quiet, and Caitlin had spoken up first. She tried pointing out that college was necessary. Angela snapped at her that she didn’t care what she thought. When Joey tried to tell her to listen to her, she stood up and said “Why should I? You didn’t go to college! You became a car salesman! I
know what I want to do, dad, and I don’t have to go to college to do it! But you’re not going to even give me two seconds to hear me out so whatever!” She stormed out of the room, leaving Joey uncertain as to what to do.
Had he really ignored her that much? Joey got up from the table, following his daughter to her room. He got an earful that night, about how first it was all about Craig and then it was all about the babies and she was sick of being forgotten. She told him that he knew nothing about her or what she wanted to do with her life. And he realized that she was right. She could have gone wild, and unless she came home pregnant, Joey wouldn’t have realized it. So, he apologized. And for the next several hours, the two talked—
really talked. And by the end of the night, he learned things that he never knew about his daughter. Like the fact that she had a tattoo, and that she wanted to be a pilot. She had it well thought-out, and he had to support it. So, two days after she graduated, she went to pilot’s school. Course, since she flies all over, she never truly moved out, and when she does stop in Toronto, she still shares a room with Kylie.
He made one more proposal when Kylie turned thirteen. Caitlin got mad and told him to stop asking. She said that if she was ready, she would ask him. But Joey never did understand it. They had been in four relationships now, were living together, and had been for the past six years, and she wouldn’t marry him. To this day, she still refuses to even discuss marriage.
Though, when Erin became addicted to alcohol, his attention was diverted. He had to help her. Though, it seemed that this was one thing he really couldn’t help with. He wound up seeking professional help for her. Recently, though, he was finally able to welcome her home. And while he has three fifteen year olds and a seventeen year old in the house, Joey has been considering taking in another child. At least to keep him distracted until Caitlin comes to her senses. Because, three teenagers aren’t distracting enough.
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