working girl

dependent mumu for degrassitm

[lovedegrcssi]

( bethany joy lenz, forty-six, she/her ) did you know that christine “spike” nelson is in toronto? wow, time really has flown by since graduation. do you think they still remember having emma when she was so young? i know she graduated in 1992, but i heard since then they’ve been running her own hair business. they were always kind-hearted, but also had a tendency to be hard-headed too. i heard they still request just like heaven by the cure at above the dot’s karaoke night.

FULL NAME: christine nelson

NICKNAME: spike

BIRTHDATE: 20 september 1975

FAMILY: emma nelson ( daughter ) & jack simpson ( son ) / archibald “archie” “snake” simpson ( husband / tbd if someone picks up snake ) 

GENDER & PRONOUNS: cisfemale & she/her

SEXUALITY: spike is heterosexual. though she had moments where she’s experimented with her sexuality and thought that maybe she might be bisexual, or even more fluid in her sexuality, she currently still labels as heterosexual and doesn’t see herself as being with a woman. 

DISTINGUISHING MARKS: spike has a few tattoos, and a couple of small burn marks on her arms from when she started hairdressing. but nothing big and bold that you would really notice unless you truly were looking to pay attention to that sort of thing. 

HAIR COLOR: as a hairdresser, spike has had many har styles, but her current hair is her natural brown color and straight. no longer stylized in a punk rock way like her nickname 

christine was born to a young single mother and never really got a whole lot of everything. her mother worked hard for the two of them, and spike was...well, a bit rebellious trying to make sure everything she did was worthwhile for some time. but, of course, things didn’t go exactly as planned when after her first time having sex she wound up pregnant. she didn’t know what to do and how to react or anything, because she was so young and didn’t know if she could even handle being a mother. but, firmly believing that no matter what her boyfriend at the time believed, it was her choice to do what she wanted, spike went through with her pregnancy and became a mom at the tail end of her middle school career with the support of her mother and other friends around her. 

of course, things weren’t easy. her boyfriend wasn’t there for herself or the baby and it wasn’t exactly his fault but it was hard to see him living his life while she felt like she was struggling to keep her head above water most days. studying and keeping everything up with her daughter, it was a lot of work. while for a while shane paid some child support money, it got more complicated after his accident and left spike worried about what to do with everything she might need. and also about what might be coming for her in the future when it would be the world ahead of her and her daughter. 

graduation came and she felt like she was able to live her life, but she was working as a beautician and taking care of emma still. she always knew it would be hard work, but balancing it now that she was out of school she thought it would be easier. 

for some time it was, until emma hit her pre-teen years and spike was faced with the realization that she not only raised a mini-me, but a mini-caitlin in some ways too, and it was a lot to handle. while spike was still young and trying to live her own life--falling in love for real once more--she was struggling with how emma was going to handle everything too. and maybe things didn’t pan out the way they would have in a perfect world, but why would they?

she wound up pregnant once again before her wedding to snake and worried about what he might say about the pregnancy, she kept it a secret. it was the worst secret she might have kept and caused a fight. instead of getting married in the dress she’d picked out she wound up getting married in one of her old favorite band t-shirts and jeans, to the man she loved since high school and it was one of the best days of her life. 

of course, that didn’t mean everything was perfect. she still had to deal with troubles of raising a teenager, and a new baby, and also having a husband for the first time. 

eventually spike opened up her own salon business with money she’d been saving over the years and it’s been going well lately, but she’s still living paycheck the paycheck. 

[lovedegrcssi]

( katie stevens, twenty-six, she/her ) did you know that clare edwards is in toronto? wow, time really has flown by since graduation. do you think they still remember finding out she was in remission? i know she graduated in 2014, but i heard since then they’ve been writing for an online publication & traveling. they were always empathetic, but also had a tendency to be sensitive too. i heard they still request talking to strangers by maisie peters at above the dot’s karaoke night.

FULL NAME: clare diana edwards

BIRTHDATE: 17 march 1996 

FAMILY: randall & helen edwards ( parents ) / darcy edwards ( sister ). 

STEP-FAMILY: glen martin ( step father, married to helen ) / jake martin ( step brother )

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS: raised catholic, still believes in god but lapsed in the stricter upbringing that she once held close

GENDER & PRONOUNS: cisfemale & she/her

SEXUALITY: clare is bisexual, after dating a lot of guys in high school and attempting to figure out her life post-grad, she explored the world and in turn explored herself which led her to a lot of conclusions about the beliefs she once held not only about the world but about who she was. she’s dated a few women, but she usually dates men. 

DISTINGUISHING MARKS: clare has a scar from her chemo line, which she covered with a tattoo once it healed. it’s a vine of flowers, and she got it done after finding out she was five years cancer free. 

HAIR COLOR: naturally brown & curly, though she’s had multiple colors in the past due to both wearing wigs & having dyed it over the years post chemotherapy. 

clare was born in march, and while the wiki page doesn’t give a specific date i put a date on here for other reasons ( ie: i just want to be able to remember a specific date, lol ). her older sister darcy was the perfect child in all things that clare wasn’t -- clare used to call herself just the smart one, the one who people came to when they needed something done, or needed to know something because she often had the answer. 

she went to a private catholic school until high school, and throughout that time she was the victim of bullying where she was called names and tormented by girls. her parents often told her that it was just the journey that god had set her on and that she needed to be in this place -- the saving grace was when her sister’s school, degrassi, got a gifted program and she was able to convince her parents to make the switch to the public school and get away from the bullies ( mostly, though to be fair dressing up in her old uniform was kind of asking to be teased ). 

everything changed for clare once she was at degrassi. she felt free to be who she wanted, felt like she could explore herself and her studies. and she didn’t want to be tied down by boys. though, that last part didn’t exactly...last. 

throughout her time at degrassi clare made great friends, and some enemies as well ( looking at you principal shep in 9th grade ). but nothing would have been the same without the people. she credits the people at the school for opening her eyes to everything in her life, and allowing herself to explore and be who she wanted to be and not just who her parents expected her to become. 

in grade 10 she went through changes, both physically and emotionally -- saying goodbye to her glasses and having a bit of a growth spurt really did wonders for clare, and not just in the self esteem department. 

grade 11 with co-op was supposed to be the time she could explore what she really wanted to do, but it turned out to be a nightmare. despite getting placed in one of the top positions in the city, probably even the country, clare’s position was anything but prestigious. her mentor, who she was supposed to trust and allow to guide her, abused his power and took control of his position in order to get what he wanted. it brought back feelings of seeing her sister in the hospital, learning second hand what happened to darcy, and knowing all too well what the statistics were like for workplace assaults. 

it scared clare enough that by the time she was ready to finally have sex, she had to work herself up for that emotionally. but still, she doesn’t talk about it much, though she finally allowed herself to file a case against asher despite the evidence against her due to his own forethought and preparedness, nothing ever came of it and it still haunts her to this day though it’s been years since the events. 

the summer before senior year, clare was supposed to be preparing for a study abroad trip, she was supposed to be prepping for what senior year would be like as vice principal of the student body -- and instead, she found out she had cancer. she had to spend the summer in the pediatric oncology wing getting chemotherapy treatments. she still wonders about a lot of what ifs -- what if she never got cancer, what if she had noticed the lump on her back sooner, what if she’ll never be able to have children, what if she didn’t have the support system that she has. what if, what if, what if. 

senior year came as a surprise to clare, the usual studious girl was unfocused and everything was not what she expected. a toll taken on her by the chemotherapy and the maintenance medications on top of a pregnancy scare ( differing from canon, clare was never pregnant / did not have a late term miscarriage and instead she simply had a pregnancy scare ). instead of going to university like she always thought she would, clare decided to take time off and go explore the world on her own--there was so much she wanted to see, and though she didn’t want to admit it, she was scared that there wouldn’t be enough time. 

she visited europe and asia and the americas. clare was the kind of person who packed what she needed and worked where she could along the road, picking up odd jobs in places you would never expect the younger edwards sister to be working. what started off as a truly planned year long break became a job for clare. she’s been traveling and writing for an online publication, studying the world around her and taking the stories of people and lifting them up for everyone to hear who wouldn’t otherwise. 

now, back in toronto, clare is living in an apartment she has had for some time -- though it’s surprisingly sparsely decorated as she hasn’t exactly lived in it. but she figures that now it might be a good time to settle back down, and the only place she could really think to settle down was back home in toronto.  

[moonlightsdream]

[whisperhug]

[degrassi-gifs]

[lovedegrcssi]

...

[watchinghallmark]

Bethany Joy Lenz - on location for An Unexpected Christmas

[encoreetencore]

KATIE STEVENS in The Bold Type season two