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South of Nowhere: Recaps: Episodes 1 & 2 (page 4)
by Karman Kregloe

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Clay comes home as the family is sitting down for dinner. He has just survived his first almost-arrest for driving while black and he is pretty shaken up. He looks at the rest of his ultra-white family, figures that they will not understand, and runs upstairs.

The following night, Glen is scoring the winning point for the basketball team while Aiden watches from the bench. Glen is so irritating that I’m starting to root for Aiden. At the dance that follows the game, Sean introduces Clay to the massive guy who beat him up the day before, and vouches for him. Then Sean introduces him to Chelsea, the girl for whom he got his ass kicked. He is making friends and the cute girl wants to dance with him. Finally, something is going right for Clay!

If only Spencer were so lucky.  She is bored and lonely at the dances, and she looks less than thrilled to be watching all the straight couples making out. She calls Ashley and talks her into meeting her at the dance. Ashley is acting like she just thinks dances are lame, but she’s really afraid that she’s going to get harassed there for being gay.

It’s really cute when Ashley shows up for Spencer. They gaze at each other for awhile, then Spencer asks, “Are you nervous?” Ashley lets down her guard and admits, “A little.”  Spencer holds out her hand and leads Ashley into the dance!

Spencer is adorably naïve and all smiles when they enter the gym, while Ashley looks like she’s about to puke. Spencer asks, “How does it feel?”  Ashley says it’s not quite what she imagined. Then Madison accosts them and says, “Didn’t you see the ‘no dogs, no dykes’ sign on the door?” Ashley sighs, “But now it is.” 

Madison keeps after the lovebirds. "Spencer, you’re blowing up girl!  If we had known you were gay we would have never considered you for the squad. Having a lesbian in the locker room always checking us out gets uncomfortable for us normal girls.”

When Ashley defends Spencer and tells Madison that the real problem is her jealousy of Aiden’s past relationship with Ashley, Madison drops a bomb. She mentions that Aiden got Ashley pregnant, and Ashley admits to Spencer that she lost the baby. When Aiden comes to Ashley’s defense, Madison snaps at Spencer, “You’re off the squad, so you can go play with your ‘life partner.”

Glen tries to get Spencer out of there, but she tells everyone, “No, I’m going with Ashley. And I’m glad I’m off the squad because I’ve been doing some judging of my own and you girls lose.” 

Glen and Aiden start swinging at each other, and when Clay tries to pull them apart, Chelsea  says, “Stay out of it. That’s the white boy’s problem.”  He tells her, “That’s my brother.”  The guys continue to pummel each other while Spencer and Ashley run out of the gym together.

Spencer demands a full explanation in the car. Ashley says that she and Aiden were together about a year ago, and that she was going to keep the baby, “Someone who I could finally love. Someone who could love me for just me.” 

Spencer needs some answers, “What are you? Gay? Straight? All of the above?” Ashley tells her that she’s not into labels.  Spencer is not satisfied, “Well everyone else on this planet is!”  Aiden runs out to their car and they help him get away from the security guards chasing him down.

The three of them park and stand looking out at the Los Angeles skyline. Spencer asks them, “Do you two want to be alone?”  Aiden and Ashley quickly say, “No!” 

Aiden is so sensitive and cool (and maybe gay) that he says, “Do you two want to be alone?”  The girls say “No!” in unison, but they smile shyly and look away. They TOTALLY want to be alone.

Aiden asks, “So Spencer, are you gay?”  Luckily, Spencer has been tutored for this quiz and says, “Um, I’m not into labels” as she gazes at Ashley. Sigh. Young, label-free love is beginning to blossom.

Ok. I’m hooked. Are Spencer and Ashley going to get together?  Is Clay going to hook up with Chelsea?  Is Glen going to get over himself?  Now I’m the one who needs answers. In the meantime, I’m going to watch Degrassi: The Next Generation and learn more teenspeak.

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