"I can't believe you're going to Paris without me. This is like, a dream for me, and you're just gonna let me watch from the sidelines?" Tori pouted, sitting down on Tristan's bed as he packed for the Paris trip. She knew that she shouldn't be upset just because Tristan's parents agreed to let him go to Paris and hers didn't, but she'd like to think if she were in his position she wouldn't go to one of the most gorgeous cities in the world without her best friend.
Tristan held up a red and white striped t-shirt and posed a question. "Is this too French?" He asked.
"Seriously?" Tori responded, her tone flat and annoyed due to Tristan completely ignoring what she had just said. "You know the quote. Gatsby Garcia said it best." She didn't want to manipulate Tristan into not going, she just wanted to make him feel really, really bad about it. So she was going to quote their favorite show. "Paris has the chance to change your life."
Tristan decidedly packed the red and white striped shirt before returning to his closet to grab more garments to pack. This boy's suitcase was about to be 20 pounds packed with every piece of clothing Tristan owned. "Gatsby said that, but Gatsby didn't even end up going to Paris, remember? She got off the plane before it took off and kissed Roman in the rain outside of the airport. Her life changed by staying at home"
And of course Tori remembered. She ran a West Drive fan blog after all. She knew that Gatsby Garcia, her favorite character on The West Drive, didn't go to Paris, but that didn't mean she didn't want to go.
"I'm going to be all alone here. You're leaving... Maya is leaving... You two are gonna become besties and leave me in the dust." She said, a pout prominent on her face. She knew she was being dramatic, but she was a dramatic person. That was what made her and Tristan so close.
Tristan sat down next to Tori and reassured her. "You're going to be fine. I like Maya, but she's not bestie material. You are forever my best friend. Maya likes cellos and...what else does she care about? I forgot. Oh, trying to steal your boyfriend. I could never drop you for someone like that. You're my A1 since day 1, Tor. You know that. And a summer in the most magnificent city in the world isn't going to change that. Nothing will."
She sighed and got up from Tristan's bed. "Fine." She said, defeatedly. "But I'm coming with you to the school to see you off. I think my favorite lipgloss is floating around at the bottom of my locker, and that color is discontinued." She reached into Tristan's suitcase and picked up a black beret. "You have to wear this today." She said. "I want you to be the garçon le plus mingon à Degrassi."
"What?" Tristan replied, which just made Tori more annoyed that he got to go to France. Her French wasn't perfect by any means, but he knew even less. She sighed, though, because resenting your best friend for anything was never healthy. She valued her friendship with Tristan, so she was going to let it go. No matter how much it bothered her that Tristan was about to have the best summer of his life without her in a city where he barely spoke the language.
The two walked to Degrassi from Tristan's house, which seemed like a good idea at first, since Tristan's parents weren't home and Owen had refused to give them a ride, but after two blocks of lugging Tristan's ridiculous bags, they were regretting everything. Tristan lived about seven blocks from the school, which, without Tristan's entire closet on their backs or weighing on their shoulders, was a nice light walk. With the bags, though, it was hell on earth. By the time they got to the school, Tori felt all gross and sweaty and basically screamed with pleasure when they got into the heavily air conditioned school.
They went to Tori's locker first, but didn't find any lipgloss. That was probably because Tori knew there was no lipgloss there. That tube was safely in her purse. But she wanted an excuse to scope out the Tristan-Maya situation and make sure that she had no reason to feel threatened.
"Guys! Hey!" Maya ran up to Tristan and Maya. "Tori, are you coming?" She eyed the four bags that Tristan and Tori were carrying. Maya's excitement seemed genuine, and Tori really wanted to not be jealous. Tristan could have two besties, right? Tori repeated that in her head over and over, trying to convince herself, but the insecurities were bubbling to the surface.
"No." Tori replied simply, her tone not as kind as it could be. "Tris is abandoning me." She said in a more joking tone, trying to save herself and not let Maya see that she was bothered.
They dropped off the bags and began wandering around the halls. "It's so weird to see the school so empty." Tristan remarked. It was true. There were a few people wandering around as well, other people who were going on the Paris trip as well as people who were working at the Degrassi Summer Camp, but compared to a normal school day, the school was a ghost town.
"Who is that?" Tristan said, poking Tori's ribs and causing her to jump out of her skin. She followed his finger and on the other side was a ridiculously cute boy. They kept walking, approaching the boy, when suddenly Maya tripped into a poster board and stole all of the attention away. Her damn clumsy charm. The boy was now smiling and making eyes at Maya, which clearly disappointed Tristan. "No boys." Tristan decidedly said, though Tori knew that if the boy was making eyes at Tristan, that rule wouldn't exist in a million years. She understood why Tristan was a bit of a hypocrite about these things. Tori and Maya had a lot more of a chance at finding a boy than Tristan did. It was unfortunate, but true. There weren't nearly enough cute gay teen boys in Toronto.
They left the cute boy behind and Tori wondered if he was going on the school trip. She'd never seen him around Degrassi, and she would've noticed a boy like that.
Tori snuck into the French room and sat with Tristan and Maya while they were instructed on the rules for the bus and the airport. There was nothing Tori wanted in life more than to go on this Paris trip. It felt so unfair. She started to tune out the teacher, now just sitting and feeling bad for herself because she wasn't able to go on this once-in-a-lifetime trip. However, she was snapped back to reality like nobody's business when someone familiar came into the room. Zoe. Freaking. Rivas. Also known as Gatsby Garcia. She and Tristan looked at one another with wide eyes, both holding back screams. Gatsby was their favorite character, and Zoe was their favorite actress on earth. What the hell was she doing here? If Tristan hadn't acknowledged it too, she would've thought she was having heat stroke from the walk over to Degrassi and was just imagining her favorite West Drive actress walking into the classroom.
"Bonjour, Bitches." Zoe said, and Tori almost died.
"I swear, if she's going on this trip, I'm going to kill my-" Tristan started, but paused when he realized how incredibly insensitive it was to mention suicide so carelessly after Campbell's death, especially in front of Maya. "I'm gonna kill my dog." He tried to save, but Tristan didn't have a dog. And him killing an innocent animal didn't really sound much better.
"Tori?" Madame Jean-Aux noticed Tori's presence at the worst time, when Zoe was approaching the three of them. "I don't have you on my list. You're not going on this trip, are you?"
She looked at Zoe, who was now looking at her with a smile pasted on her face. Zoe Rivas was smiling at her. "Not officially, but... can't someone like, fold me up and sneak me onto the plane in their luggage? I'm really flexible..." She trailed off, knowing she was about to be kicked out.
Madame Jean-Aux gave Tori a look and Tori sighed. "I know." She said. "But can I just... get a picture with Zoe Rivas, also known as Gatsby Garcia?" Her volume increased with excitement, which caused Zoe to smile at her. Zoe. Smiled at her.
"You're cute." Zoe said, pulling Tori in and giving her a side-hug. "Let's selfie it up." Zoe said, holding her hand out for Tori to hand her her phone, which she promptly did. Totally star-struck, she smiled like a fool through a series of about fifteen photos. "There's gotta be a profile pic in there somewhere." Zoe said, before stealing the seat that Tori was sitting in and crossing her legs.
Madame Jean-Aux looked at Tori once again. "Time to go, this is a meeting for people leaving for the Paris trip tomorrow. And you, mon cher, are not."
The last thing Tori wanted to do on earth was leave this room. Especially now that Zoe had entered the picture. If Maya was a threat, Zoe was like... A Sharknado. There was zero chance that Tori and Tristan's friendship would ever be the same if Tristan's favorite actress on earth decided to befriend him. Tori officially felt like chopped liver.
"Love you, Tor!" Tristan exclaimed as Tori left the room. "I'll text you all the time!"
And now, Tori officially felt cut out. Her best friend was going to Paris without her, with Maya and Gatsby freaking Garcia. She wandered toward the front entrance of the school slowly, not wanting to leave the school, because the moment she left the school, she accepted her fate. She looked down at her feet as she walked, which was clearly not a good idea, because her lack of looking up lead to her walking straight into another person.
Adam Torres. The boy that she had tried to set Tristan up with forever ago. The boy that she had thought was gay, but had turned out to be trans instead. Not one of her brightest moments.
"Oh, sorry." Tori said, noticing that tears had made their way down her cheeks. She knew that she was feeling sad, but she hadn't even realized that she was crying. "I'm just leaving."
"Wait." Adam replied, placing his hand on Tori's shoulder in the most comforting way. "You're not going on the Paris trip?" He questioned, and Tori shook her head. "You should sign up to volunteer at the day camp we're running. Are you good with kids?"
"I'm CPR certified. I babysit my nieces all the time." She replied, not even thinking about what she was saying. Was she offering to work at some day camp all summer? It wasn't exactly what she had planned, but maybe it wouldn't be the worst to keep herself busy.
Adam handed her a sheet of paper. "Well, you should sign up to help. We need all the counselors we can get. Right now it's just me, Drew, Imogen and Dallas."
Their conversation was interrupted by the girl who had tried to stop Romeo and Jules, Becky, who introduced herself by placing a kiss on Adam's cheek. Adam's girlfriend, Tori presumed. Was this girl seriously trying to mark her territory? "Hey there, handsome!" Becky said. "Who is this?" Definitely marking her territory.
"This is Tori. I think she's gonna volunteer with us. What do you say, Tori?" Adam looked to Tori, who had gotten lost in thought thinking about the fact that Adam was dating someone who had been so homophobic and probably transphobic no more than a year earlier. Adam seemed happy with this girl, but there was something about the bubbly blonde that bothered Tori.
"I'm in." She said. "I'd love to spend the summer with you, Adam." She said, then realized that although she definitely wanted to push Becky's buttons a little, that was a little heavy handed. "You, Drew, Imogen and Dallas." She tried to save herself, but she noticed that Becky was already visibly uncomfortable. This was going to be an interesting summer.