Grade Eleven - Semester One

Over the summer between grade 10 and grade 11, while Cole and Adeline remained friends, it slowly ended. Adeline had introduced him to her internet friends and quickly he became obsessed. He dated two out of the three of them and Adeline was livid. She was not jealous or anything, but she was upset that he took her friends away from her. After she expressed her anger, she told Cole she did not want to be friends with him anymore and that she shouldn't message him. Thus, the end of a weird friendship.

One of her other best friends in her usual friend group at the time, John, was crushing hard on this guy Adeline had never met, but very briefly saw in the hallway. He was all John ever talked about, he was obsessed in the healthiest way possible. To Adeline, this guy was a complete mystery, she even questioned if he really existed as she had never met or seen him.

It was late October, just a week before Halloween, Adeline's friend was having a party. Adeline was invited and decided to go, but she was nervous. She wasn't really close with anyone that was going, except for Quinn, but she was not going to be there until later in the night. Adeline got dressed up and asked her dad to give her a ride, then said he would pick her up in the morning to drive her to work. She thanked him, then went inside. She was greeted by Samantha, who everyone called Sam. Adeline was brought down to the basement where she sat awkwardly. Someone offered her a drink and she took it, hoping it would take the edge off a little.

"You should've gotten here earlier," said Will, "we already drank a bottle." Adeline laughed quietly and sat back in her chair, pulling out her phone and messaging the one person she shouldn't have; Elliot. She sent him a quick but sweet message, saying she wished he could be there, in which he responded with, well why can't I? Adeline stared at the message, then got up to find Sam. She And asked her if it was okay to invite Elliot, as it was a small party of only her friends. She was already wasted and agreed.

Adeline was excited and sat back down beside Will, texting Elliot the address. She turned off her phone and drank some more, waiting until she got the text that he was there. Eagerly, Adeline ran up the stairs and invited him into the house, grabbing his arm and pulling him down the stairs. The people that knew him greeted him happily, as almost everyone at the party was intoxicated.

"Would you like a drink? I heard there is a very limited selection of alcoholic beverages," she joked, nudging him lightly.

"Yeah, sure." He shrugged and walked over to the table where there were snacks, drinks and a single bottle of whiskey. Elliott poured them both a drink, as Adeline had mentioned she just finished hers before he got there. When Elliot sat down, the talking did not stop, especially with Will.

"Hey, you guys want to come out and smoke with us?" A guy named Tom asked. Adeline had known Tom for a long time, her grandmother used to be his babysitter so anytime she would visit she would see him. They drifted apart after a while as they had different friends in elementary school.

Adeline hesitated and as she opened her mouth to speak, Elliot agreed, and Adeline followed them outside. In her intoxication and nervousness, she had forgotten her shoes and said fuck it, running up behind them in her socks. They walked for less than a minute across the road from Sam's and up a small hill, settling behind a big fence that hid them from what they were about to do. Tom pulled a tall, glass bong out of his bag and Adeline stared at it in shock, wondering how he even fit it in there.

"You've never done this before, have you?" Elliot whispered and she shook her head.

"I've always wanted to though." He squeezed her hand lightly in reassurance as Tom's friend took a hit, then passed it along.

"I'll help you okay?" Adeline nodded as Elliot took the bong and lighter into his hands. "I'm going to light it and you breathe in when I say, okay? Don't take too much, I don't need you dying on me." She giggled at the comment and put her mouth on the opening, waiting for his signal. Tom and his friend were still coughing beside her and she was worried that was going to happen to her. Elliot looked her in the eye and nodded, so she started to inhale the smoke. Adeline thought it was fine at first, then she felt the harsh tickle in her throat and pulled away from it, coughing so hard she thought she was going to puke.

Tom, his friend, and Elliot started to laugh, then Elliot took a hit for himself. Adeline would usually feel embarrassed, but she found herself laughing as well. They stumbled back to the house and down the stairs to find Cole, who unfortunately for Adeline was invited to the party, dancing on a pole in the basement. She wanted to grimace and ignore it, but instead, she giggled and sat down on Elliot's lap. She was intoxicated and barely realized it. The weed mixed with the alcohol had made her a whole different person, and she was embracing it. Adeline felt happy and free, something she hadn't felt in a very long time.

As everyone around them was busy talking or watching a drunk guy pull a sheet off the wall and wrap himself in it as he sang songs from Frozen, Adeline was making out with Elliot and leaving hickies up his neck.

"I have a girlfriend, you know," he said, and Adeline stopped, looking him in the eye.

"Why are you letting me do this then?" She asked, standing up, but he pulled her back onto his lap.

"I...I really like you, Addie." Is all he said, then gazed around the room at the number of people passed out on the floor. "Do you want to go lay down on the couch?"

"Uh, sure." Adeline stood up and laid on the couch, leaving as much room for him as possible. Her friend Quinn was sitting on the other end, occupied with her phone as the lights to the basement turned off. Elliot lightly grabbed Adeline's face and began kissing him, then his hand moved to the hem of her skirt and up.

She had never done anything like this before, so she didn't know how she was supposed to feel or do. Adeline moved her hand to his pants, and they continued like that for several minutes until he stopped.

"Do you want to have sex?" He whispered in her ear. Everything inside her was screaming yes, say yes.

"Um...where would we...?" Adeline didn't know what else to say, she was dumbstruck with confusion and surprise.

"Well, we could find a bedroom, or you know, the bathroom..."

"I promised I wouldn't," she said, thinking back to what Sam had said to everyone when they got there. She did not want anyone to have sex in her house, which was understandable, and she wanted to respect Sam's wishes.

"Okay, that's fine," Elliot assured her, then rolled over and drifted off to sleep.

After that night Elliot and Adeline never talked about what happened. Adeline's birthday was coming up and Elliott knew that, so he had asked her what she wanted for her birthday. She told him she wanted some of the photos he took, as he was in a photography class and showed her some pictures once. Adeline loved the photos he took and wanted to keep them with her forever. They hung out a few days later, just over a week before her birthday and he had given her the gift while they were at the beach.

"Wow, they're amazing!" She looked through them in awe and when her eyes landed on a picture that he took of himself, she smiled. "This one's my favourite though."

"I'm glad you like them." Adeline put them inside a book, then placed the book in her bag for safekeeping. They walked around the beach and approached Adeline's favourite spot. She led him to the rocks on the edge of the water and they sat down together, looking out at the lake, unable to pin where the sky meets water. Elliott looked at her and moved closer, then took her face in his hands gently and kissed her softly on the lips.

"You can't tell anyone about this, okay? Or about what happened at the party," Elliot said, a pleading look in his eyes.

"You mean...you didn't tell your girlfriend about what happened?" She asked, her heart hurting at the secret she now had to keep.

"No, and I never will." Elliot looked away with a sigh and Adeline frowned deeply. She didn't want to be what ruined a relationship, but she wasn't the only one involved in what had happened.

-

It was a normal day at lunch, a few weeks after Adeline's birthday, and she was sitting with her friends. She had been avoiding Elliot, not wanting to contribute to him cheating on his girlfriend and being his side piece, so she went back to her usual friend group. Adeline was occupied with her phone as she saw someone approach out of the corner of her eye. She didn't look up, just listened intensively to what they were saying.

"Hey, I want you guys to meet Derek," said one of Adeline's friends. This caught her attention and she looked up, locking eyes with Derek. Her mouth almost hung open, she was surprised about how attractive he was and that he was looking at her and smiling. Adeline felt butterflies in her stomach, something she hadn't felt unless she was with Elliot. He broke eye contact with her and waved to everyone else that was sitting at the table. Adeline looked to John who's eyes were wide open.

"That's the guy!" He mouthed excitedly and Adeline looked back at Derek, then to John.

"Oh my god, he's hot." She mouthed back and then winked. John got up and walked over to her, then crouched down.

"I know, right? I'm glad you finally got to meet him." Adeline looked at Derek again, who shot her a glance while he was talking to someone else. She looked away quickly and back at John.

"Yeah, I kind of think he might be a little gay." She said, trying to show her support to John who smiled happily and went back to his seat.

Derek began hanging out with them every lunch and they got to know each other rather well. Adeline decided to finally talk to Elliott again and was hanging out with him as soon as she got to school in the morning. To her surprise, she saw Derek standing with Elliot and his friends. They were having a conversation about strawberry VS chocolate milk. As Adeline approached, they eagerly asked which she preferred, and she told them that it was definitely chocolate. Derek wanted to prove a point and told Elliot he would buy him some strawberry milk in that moment to prove that he was right.

As they marched down the hallway to the cafeteria, it was like a scene in a movie, where two characters share a look, one that freezes time, and it's just them at that moment. Sometimes the look is pure, whole-hearted, or the look is sad and heartbreaking. Like in How I Met Your Mother when Robin and Barney agree to tell their significant others they cheated on them, and Barney did, then was waiting for Robin in the bar, but then she walks in with her boyfriend and just shakes her head sadly at Barney. His world stopped, he was kind of distraught and just sad.

That was the look Elliot and Adeline shared one day. As Derek strutted through the hallway on a mission for strawberry milk, Elliot and Adeline looked at each other. She was smiling, happy they were getting along and amused by Derek's efforts to prove her wrong, while Elliot, though smiling, was sad. He could see she was slipping through his fingertips and there was nothing he could do about it; all he could do was sit back and watch her fade away.

They followed far behind Derek, and Adeline nudged him. "So, what do you think of him?" she asked curiously.

"I don't know, he seems chill. He definitely likes you though." Adeline smiled wider, she was hoping that was the case.

Adeline didn't want to take Derek away from John, but John assured her that it was fine and kept reminding her that he liked Adeline, not him. It made her feel guilty, but she was very happy around Derek. He made her feel loved, welcomed and alive.

-

In late November, Adeline and Derek were getting along very well and Adeline had started distancing herself from Elliot. They barely spoke and she stopped hanging around him at school. It was like he didn't exist to her anymore.

Adeline was sitting at lunch with her friends, but she couldn't find Derek. She texted him asking where he was, and he said he went out for lunch. Adeline frowned and went on her phone until she noticed her friends all leaving one by one within the span of 10 minutes. She looked up at Quinn as the last person left and opened her mouth to ask a question, but then a text popped up on her screen from Derek, asking her to meet him at the basketball court.

"What is this all about?" She asked Quinn who shrugged, trying to hide her smile. Adeline knew that Quinn knew something, she wasn't that good at keeping secrets. She stood up and headed towards the doors leading outside to the basketball court and heard Quinn following behind.

"I'm going to come, I'm bored." Adeline felt nervous now, she had no idea what was going on, she just wanted to see Derek. As she approached the basketball court, she turned the corner and there was a group of people, a few with their phones out. Her face turned red quickly and she turned around and started to walk away, saying, "nope, I'm out." However, she was curious about what was going to happen, so she turned back around and was met with a smiling Derek. He was holding a bouquet of flowers and was wearing a button-up shirt, different than he was wearing earlier.

"What is this?" She shrieked quietly to him and he laughed.

"Will you go to semi with me?" He asked and she hesitated before nodding quickly and engulfing him in a hug to hide her face. She had completely forgotten about the Semi-Formal dance, as she hadn't gone any the previous years. The crowd disbursed as the bell ending lunch rang and Adeline looked to Derek with a big smile.

"Can you keep those flowers in your locker for me? I don't have any room in mine." She asked sheepishly and he agreed. Derek waved her off as he headed to her locker and she headed off to the cafeteria to grab the things she left.

Derek and Adeline made a plan that her parents would pick him up and bring them to the dance, then his dad would drive her home. As soon as they got to the dance, her heart was racing. She was dressed in a knee-high, dark blue laced dress with her shoulder-length hair in loose curls. Adeline felt pretty, but she wasn't used to dressing like that, so she felt awkward. As they entered the dance, the room was dark, except for the strobe lights flashing around. There were tables set up around the cafeteria, decorated with table cloths, glitter and a fake candle in the centre of each. Adeline was impressed with the effort that was put into it all.

They met up with their friends at a table in the back, pulling over two extra chairs from a different table as their friend group was fairly large. Derek chatted with them for a little bit as Adeline looked around at the people dancing and hanging out.

"Do you want to dance?" Derek asked and she shook her head lightly.

"I don't really dance." Adeline looked away, then he grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the chair.

"Not even with me?" She gave him a look and then sighed, following him onto the dance floor as a slow song started playing.

"Did you plan this?" Adeline asked with a short laugh.

"I, unfortunately, did not, but great timing I guess." Derek wrapped his arm around her waist as she placed her hand on his shoulder. They swayed back and forth, then out of the corner of her eye she saw Elliot. Her heart dropped immediately, and she wanted to pull away from Derek, but she didn't. Elliot came over, holding a camera and held it up.

"Want a picture?" He asked, his face void of any emotion. Adeline could see the hurt in his eyes as he tried not to show it. She gave him a sad, apologetic look and as she went to speak, Derek pipped up.

"Yeah, sure!" After Elliot took the picture, he looked down at his camera's screen then walked away, disappearing into the crowd. Adeline didn't speak to him for the rest of the night, she just focused on dancing and having fun with Derek and her friends, though she kept a watchful eye out for him.