Manny Santos - Season 3

Season 3

At the beginning of her freshman year, Manny finally started to come into her own. Sully, a popular upperclassman soccer player, caught Manny's eye, but her attempts to get his attention went unnoticed. While bemoaning her "cute" reputation with Paige, the older girl told her that if she didn't like her image, she should simply change it. Manny took the advice and her new appearance took "sexy" to the edge. While she was ogled by the entire male student body for wearing visible thongs and skimpy tops, Emma and Liberty Van Zandt feared she was sacrificing her dignity. Manny saw it as jealousy and was particularly indignant to Emma's reaction, telling her to support her like Manny had always supported Emma over the years. Also, J.T. Yorke began to crush on Manny and she seemed to return the feelings until Sully suddenly took an interest in her and asked her out, much to J.T.'s dismay. Manny then got a new attitude that Emma found insufferable. Sully quickly became Manny's boyfriend but she grew agitated with his inattentiveness. When she refocused on Craig—who was now dating Ashley Kerwin—it became clear that she had broken up with Sully offscreen. After a misunderstanding with Ashley led to a big fight and breakup at Paige's 16th birthday party, Manny met Craig to console him. He took her back to his garage, where they had sex.

Craig kept up his relationship with Manny even after getting back together with Ashley. One night, while trying to hook Emma up with a new boy named Chris, the two girls attended a rave. With Ashley out of town, Craig showed up on Manny's invitation, and they proceeded to hook up again. Manny took Craig back to Emma's room in her house's private basement. After leaving the rave alone, Emma discovered Manny and Craig making out on her bed. She kicked Craig out and refused to talk to Manny. The next day at school, the girls had a particularly ugly argument in which Manny called Emma "the prude princess" and Emma called Manny "the school slut."

Though losing friends left and right, Manny continued to date Craig secretly. Over Christmas break, they met up in secret and she begged him to break up with Ashley for her but Craig said he couldn't. After talking to Caitlin Ryan, Craig was more confused than ever and went to the ice arena to tell her he would break up with Ashley. When Craig went to Ashley's house she gave him a vintage guitar that belonged to her grandfather, and he realized how much he really did love Ashley and knew he could not break up with her. Manny was unaware of this, as Craig had told her he ended things with Ashley. Thinking they were history, Manny made a comment to Ashley about dating Craig. A bewildered and upset Ashley slapped Craig across the face and broke up with him while they were performing on stage in front of a large audience. Manny soon followed suit.

A nasty flu spread throughout Degrassi once school was back in session, and Manny appeared to come down with it. She felt sick and vomited several times. But it soon became obvious that she was actually pregnant. Not knowing who else to tell, she confided in Spike Nelson, Emma's mother, who had Emma when she was around Manny's age. Ashley found Craig and Manny with a baby names book, and announced the scandalous pregnancy to the entire student body in the cafeteria. This heightened Manny's new reputation as the school slut. Emma was supportive of her while she was pregnant. Craig, it seemed, was maybe a little too supportive. His fantasies of raising a family drove Manny to the breaking point, when she realized she was not ready to have a child. She also realized that she did not want to be like her cousin, who her conservative Filipino family had previously sent to a convent in the Philippines when she became pregnant. Manny decided to tell her mother that she was pregnant, and also that she wanted an abortion. Her mother was surprisingly supportive. Manny's decision also further harmed her fragile relationship with Emma, who likened Manny's abortion to Spike getting an abortion.

Manny finished the school year depressed and, for the most part, anti-social. She hadn't planned on attending the year-end dance, but Liberty suggested that she go, because 'a certain friend of Manny's', (J.T.), really wanted her there. After several attempts, Manny happily accepted to be J.T.'s date, and the two began dating by attending the dance together.