The love triangle between Joey Jeremiah, Caitlin Ryan, and Tessa Campanelli began in Season 2 of Degrassi High when Tessa developed a crush on Joey, and later developed in the movie School's Out!. Joey was in the center of the love triangle.
History[]
Degrassi High: Season 5[]
In A Tangled Web, Tessa revealed that she had a crush on Joey. When she sees a secret admirer note in her locker, she assumed it was written by Joey. When Alex had the same note assuming that it was written by Tessa (when it was written by Arthur) she ends up dating Alex. Joey liked Caitlin at the time, and they were complicated since Caitlin needed a break to deal with her family issues at the moment.
In School's Out!, the love triangle forms and the drama begins. It is graduation time for the gang at Degrassi High, and everyone is making plans for the summer and their future. Most are preparing for university or far-off travel except forJoey Jeremiah who is preparing for another year in high school. His longtime girlfriend Caitlin Ryan has taken a number of extra classes and completed high school in three years and has graduated with Joey's former peers. Eager to hold on to her before she leaves for university to study journalism, Joey proposes to Caitlin at a graduation party hosted by Lucy Fernandez. Caitlin demurs, explaining that she is not ready for that kind of commitment. Joey storms out, only to run into classmate Tessa Campanellifresh from an argument with her boyfriend Todd, and agrees to give her a ride home.
Arriving at the Campanelli house, Tessa pulls Joey toward her for a kiss. The next day, on a break from the photo shop where she works, Tessa visits Joey next door at the drug store where he works and asks him on a date. Joey, though initially hesitant, accepts Tessa's offer, has a great time, and, as he tells Wheels the next day, gets to "third base Tessa confides in her co-worker, Spike, the details of the relationship. Spike reminds her that Joey and Caitlin have a pattern of breaking up and reuniting. Tessa rejects Spike's argument, noting that Caitlin will be leaving for university in a matter of weeks anyway. With Caitlin working most evenings and weekends and Joey working days, they spend little time together and Joey starts seeing Tessa more frequently and they soon go all the way. As the summer goes on, Joey sees both Tessa and Caitlin with neither realizing he is dating them both.
By the middle of August, Tessa discovers she is pregnant and decides to have an abortion. When she realizes that Joey is still with Caitlin with no intention of breaking up with her, she dumps him. Joey and Caitlin finally make love on his nineteenth birthday, approximately a week before Caitlin, Lucy, and Snake are all scheduled to depart for university. It's Caitlin's first time, though she is unaware that it is not Joey's. Unbeknownst to Joey, Caitlin has decided to attend a local university in order to remain close to him.
The next day, at a lake house party, hosted by Lucy's boyfriend Bronco Davis, Caitlin accepts Joey's earlier marriage proposal. Joey, who had been teasing Snake all summer about his inability to get a girlfriend brags once more about his abilities with women. Snake finally lashes out at Joey for all the teasing and blurts out about him sleeping with Tessa. Caitlin overhears and confronts Joey about it. She storms out after breaking off their engagement and telling Joey of her would-be plans to study locally in order to be with him. Immediately after unintentionally breaking up Joey and Caitlin, Snake realizes that former classmate Allison Hunter is drowning and rushes in to the lake to rescue her. Everyone congratulates him for saving her life, but he breaks down in a flood of emotion and anxiety.
Later, Joey stops to see Snake as he prepares to leave for university and asks why he won't accept Wheels' phone calls. Snake is disgusted by Wheels after killing a kid and severely injuring Lucy in a drunk driving incident, particularly in light of Wheels having lost his own parents to a drunk driver. He apologizes to Joey for saying what he said at Bronco's place. Joey accepts his apology saying that Caitlin would have found out sooner or later. He then reveals that his relationship with Tessa ended when Joey told her about various events (e.g. taking Caitlin to Bronco's cottage, having a birthday dinner with his parents) and explained that he loved Caitlin and just needed a rebound and wanted to impress Snake. Tessa didn't appreciate this and broke up with Joey.
Two months later, most of the gang get together for the wedding of Alexa Pappadopolos and Simon Dexter . Absent are Wheels, Erica, and Lucy. Wheels, still incarcerated, is planning to plead guilty for his crimes. Erica is teaching abroad in the Dominican Republic and has met a new boyfriend in the process. Meanwhile, Lucy has since regained vision in one of her eyes but is still not well enough to attend the wedding. Snake is accompanied by his girlfriend Pam whom he met at university, and he appears considerably more self-assured; he is still vocally disgusted by Wheels. Both Snake and Caitlin are receptive to Joey's apologies for the way he had behaved toward them. Joey and Snake make plans to hang out before he goes back to university, and as Simon and Alexa have their first dance as husband and wife, former fiancés Joey and Caitlin share a dance as friends. He predicts that she will be famous. This prediction comes true in Degrassi: The Next Generation as she is a well known journalist in her late 20s.
Trivia[]
- This was the second time that Joey and Caitlin were in a love triangle. The first was with Claude Tanner. They were later involved in a third love triangle with Joey's then girlfriend Sydney.
- The first love triangle was due to Caitlin's double love interest, while the second was due to Joey's double love interest.
- Joey's stepson Craig Manning later went through a similar love triangle with his ex-girlfriends Ashley Kerwin and Manny Santos from Should I Stay or Should I Go? to Holiday (2).
- Both Joey and Tessa graduated in the Class of 1993, while Caitlin graduated in the Class of 1992 with Joey's former classmates.
- Joey was a year older than Tessa and Caitlin.
- They were all friends with Christine Nelson.
- Joey was sexually active with both Caitlin and Tessa.
- Joey lost his virginity to Tessa, while Caitlin lost hers to Joey.
Timeline[]
- Started: School's Out (TV Movie)
- Ended: School's Out (TV Movie)
- Reason: Joey had been lying to Tessa when he was actually seeing Caitlin, and Caitlin found out about Joey's affair with Tessa.