Degrassi
Junior High: Spike
By Loretta Castellarin & Ken Roberts
Published by James Lorimer & Company Ltd.,
Publishers
Introduction
The excerpt below is from the new edition of Degrassi
Junior High: Spike by Loretta Castellarin and Ken Roberts. With the renewed
interest in all things Degrassi, thanks to DVD collections, Degrassi: The Next
Generations, and fan sites, the Degrassi Junior High books are a great way to
relive (or discover) the hopes and heartaches of this groundbreaking television
series.
More information about the book, Degrassi Junior High: Spike follows the excerpt. Enjoy!
Chapter One
Every night I have
the same dream. I dream about the party. I didn’t mean for it to happen. It
just did.
Lucy’s parties were always great. Her parents were never around. We could do whatever we wanted -- drink their booze, make out, anything. Mostly we just drank and danced and talked. Sometimes a couple that had been going together would disappear into a bedroom, but nothing serious ever happened. At fourteen, most of my friends were still a little embarrassed to kiss in front of other people.
I
went to the party with Shane. I really, really liked him. He’s not the
best-looking boy in school, but he is tall and blond and good-looking in his
own goofy way.
Some people probably thought we looked
like an odd couple when we first started going out. Shane looks kind of
well-scrubbed. He wears striped shirts with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow.
He even has a cowlick. His dad is a minister, so I think Shane’s supposed to be
a walking advertisement for virtue.
My
real name is Christine. Everyone calls me Spike because of my hair. It’s not
punky. I like to think of it as chic. Distinctive. My mother does my hair. It
was even her idea, although I love it. She has her own beauty shop, so I guess
I’m kind of a walking advertisement, too.
The
first time I noticed Shane was at a soccer game. He’s a good player, but not
great. He shows off too much, doesn’t pass the ball. I like sports, so I know.
I went to the soccer game with Erica because she liked some player who was
Shane’s friend. After the game, Erica ran over to talk with the guy she liked,
and Shane and I were sort of thrown together. Some people might say it was
fate. Dumb luck, I’d say. Anyway, Erica and the guy she was interested in
didn’t click, but Shane and I started going out.
“Going
out” doesn’t mean we went on a date every night. It means we had lunch together
at school and sometimes we walked home holding hands. We did go to a couple of
movies, but always with a group. Before Lucy’s party, we’d kissed a total of
eight times, although a couple lasted so long they should probably count twice.
I liked Shane. Liked him a lot.
I can still remember every second of
Lucy’s party. I’d looked forward to it all week. Shane and I went separately.
He got there first. I saw him sitting on the couch as soon as I walked into the
living room. He grinned and patted the empty seat next to him. I went over and
cuddled up close. Shane slipped his arm around me and gave me a squeeze.
Neither one of us said a word, but we both felt terrific.
I was really enjoying myself until
Joey and Wheels saw us. You would have thought they were still in grade school,
not junior high, the way they acted.
“Hey, Shane, my man,” Joey called as
he came over to us.
Wheels sat down and started walking
his fingers up my arm.
“Go away,” I told him.
“What’s the matter?” Joey said,
squeezing onto the couch between Shane and me. “Can’t we all share?”
Joey began to stroke my arm. I think
he’d had a beer or something. He and Wheels were really beginning to bother me
and Shane could tell.
“Let’s get out of here,” Shane said,
and we both hopped off the couch. Joey and Wheels laughed, like it was funny
that we were mad. Shane was holding my hand. He led me down the hall to an
empty bedroom. It must have been Lucy’s parents’ room. The bed was wide and
neatly made. A lamp on one of the bedside tables was on, and one of her
father’s suit coats was hanging on the closet door. Shane hesitated for a
moment, and I was so touched that he was scared, too, that I led him inside and
gently closed the door behind us. Shane looked me right in the eyes and then he
locked the door. We both turned and looked at the bed. He sat on the edge, and
I sat down beside him. We kissed. We could still hear music and laughing
through the walls. I think it made me feel secure, knowing that even though we
were alone, people were close.
It was a long and wonderful kiss.
Halfway through we both lay down on the bed, our legs still dangling over the
edge. We wiggled up onto the bed and kissed again. It felt great. My head was
spinning.
After a while Shane wanted me to take
off my blouse. I turned out the lamp and slipped it over my head. I don’t know
why I did it, but I did feel safe and happy. I was also a bit embarrassed,
lying there half-naked. But it was dark, and Shane hadn’t said or done anything
to make me feel uncomfortable.
It was exciting in a way. Daring. I felt
kind of funny, like you do when you’re sitting on a roller-coaster, waiting for
it to start. Sweaty and queasy, scared and happy, all at the same time. But
roller-coasters are safe. They look dangerous, but they’re not, really. Even
though I felt the same in bed with Shane, it turned out to be completely
different.
Shane pushed my bra up and squeezed
one of my breasts. It didn’t bother me, but I felt ridiculous. My bra was
tangled up around my neck, practically choking me. It didn’t make me feel
romantic, so I pulled my bra back down. Then I kissed Shane so he’d know I
wasn’t angry.
He didn’t seem to mind. He just laid
his head against my bra and rubbed one hand across my stomach. In a way, that
made me even more excited than when he played with my bare breasts. Besides, I
was glad he wasn’t mad at me. I knew what we were doing was dangerous, but it
was pretty hard to see how anything bad could come from feeling so good and so
close to somebody.
Shane’s hand moved from my stomach to
one of my legs. He ran the tips of his fingers along my leg, higher and higher.
I didn’t stop him. He scrunched up my skirt and then, before I knew what was
happening, he slipped one hand inside my underpants. I gasped and tried to move
his hand, but he didn’t stop.
I thought that when I put my bra back
down, he’d understood that nothing else would happen. I knew when I went to the
party I was ready to do something more than kiss, but I wanted anything we did
to be what we both wanted.
Sometimes, in old movies, the screen goes
all fuzzy when people start to make love. Birds chirp and flowers bloom, and
even though nothing happens on screen, there’s a mood, a feeling.
I wanted to find that feeling, and I
did, for a while. When we were just hugging and kissing, everything was great.
There was passion. There was romance. And then we couldn’t stop.
I wish Erica had knocked on the door
just a little earlier. But she didn’t. Just as she knocked, Shane thrust
himself inside me. I stifled a cry.
“Spike?” called Erica. “Heather and I
are leaving. You gonna come?” I heard her turn the doorknob. Shane pulled out
of me and scrambled into his pants. I pulled on my underpants and slid my
blouse over my head.
“Hey, what’s the big idea, locking the
door?” I could tell Erica was trying to listen now. “Spike? Come on, guys.
What’re you doing in there?”
“Nothing,” I yelled. “Just … uh,
talking.”
Shane turned on the lamp and together
we straightened out the bedspread.
“Yeah, well, it doesn’t sound like
there’s much talking to me,” Erica said, rattling the door hard.
“We were whispering, okay?” Shane said
with a giggle in his voice.
“Well, open up.” Erica rattled the
door again.
I gave Shane a quick kiss and ran to open
the door. Erica looked at us both suspiciously and then shook her finger, like
a parent. We all laughed together.
So, Shane and I had sex. If Erica
hadn’t knocked on the door, the actual sex part probably would have lasted
longer. He was only inside me for about five seconds. It didn’t even feel good.
It hurt.
About the authors
Loretta Castellarin was a writer and researcher on the
original Degrassi Junior High television series.
Ken Roberts is an award-winning author for children
and young adults and chief librarian of the Hamilton Public Library system.
About the book
Degrassi
Junior High: Spike
By Loretta Castellarin & Ken Roberts
Published
by James Lorimer & Company Ltd., Publishers
1-55028-925-X/ 5"x7½"/ Paperback/ 184
pages/ 2006/$9.95 CDN, $7.95 US
Spike is 14-years-old — and pregnant.
After one mistake at a wild party, she now faces hard
decisions and questions from her boyfriend, Shane, her mum, the school, and
even her friends. It’s not easy, but Spike is no quitter, as she demonstrates
in this stirring novelization of one of the most controversial and
groundbreaking series storylines shown on Canadian television.
More Degrassi books form Lorimer
Degrassi Junior High: Caitlin
By Catherine Dunphy
AVAILABLE
1-55028-923-3/ 5"x7½"/ Paperback/ 184 pages/ 2006/ $9.95 CDN, $7.95
US
Sometimes Caitlin feels like the only person who
cares about everything that’s going wrong in the world—things like nuclear
waste and the hole in the ozone layer.
Degrassi
Junior High: Joey Jeremiah
By Kathryn Ellis
AVAILABLE
1-55028-924-1/ 5"x7½"/ Paperback/ 184 pages/ 2006/ $9.95 CDN, $7.95
US
Joey Jeremiah wants to be a rock star and he just
knows that his band, the Zit Remedy, is going to go all the way. Then Joey
fails grade eight.
Degrassi
Junior High: Snake
By Susin Nielsen
AVAILABLE
1-55028-926-8/ 5"x7½"/ Paperback/ 184 pages/ 2006/ $9.95 CDN, $7.95
US
Grade nine isn’t turning out the way Snake planned.
The prettiest girl at Degrassi thinks he’s a geek, his marks are falling, and
his brother has just announced that he’s gay. Can Snake get it together before
the year becomes a total disaster?
Degrassi Junior High: Lucy
By Nazneen Sadiq
NOT YET PUBLISHED On Sale: September 1, 2006
1-55028-938-1/ 5"x7½"/ Paperback/ 172 pages/ 2006/ $9.95 CDN, $7.95
US
Lucy likes to take risks and shock her friends. Now
Lucy has a brand new plan: to take the trip of her life!
Degrassi Junior High: Melanie
By Susin Nielsen
NOT YET PUBLISHED On Sale: October 1, 2006
1-55028-940-3/ 5"x7½"/ Paperback/ 188 pages/ 2006/ $9.95 CDN, $7.95
US
For Melanie Brody, junior high isn’t all it’s
cracked up to be. Can Melanie change her attitude before she gives up
altogether?
Degrassi Junior High: Stephanie Kaye
By Ken Roberts
NOT YET PUBLISHED On Sale: September 1, 2006
1-55028-939-X/ 5"x7½"/ Paperback/ 168 pages/ 2006/ $9.95 CDN, $7.95
US
Armed with a brand new image, Stephanie Kaye becomes
president of the student council. But when the students object to her “presidential
style,” Stephanie's life begins a downward spiral.
Degrassi Junior High: Wheels
By Susin Nielsen
NOT YET PUBLISHED On Sale: September 1, 2006
1-55028-937-3/ 5"x7½"/ Paperback/ 186 pages/ 2006/ $9.95 CDN, $7.95
US
Wheels’ good fortune slams to a halt when his
parents are killed in a car accident. Will his friends be there for him now
that he really needs them?
Copyright
©1988, 2006 by Playing With Time Inc. All Rights Reserved. Please feel free to
duplicate and distribute this file, as long as the excerpt is not altered and
this copyright notice is intact. Thank you.