As Fiona Coyne looked in the mirror, she could hardly believe that this day had finally come for her, that she was about to graduate from Degrassi. She had somehow made it through all of her drama over the years: Declan, Bobby, her alcoholism, coming out, and being held back. Along the way, she had ended up a stronger person because of it, and quite frankly, someone who she actually liked being. Fiona knew she was truly happy, for the first time in her life, shortly after she began dating Imogen Moreno.
Fiona loved the girl, she knew that, but the two had yet to say the words out loud to each other. Although they still had the summer after graduation to spend together in Toronto, she knew that their future beyond that was up in the air. This was what held Fiona back from saying those three little words, and she hoped that Imogen had the same logic going on in her mind as well. Fiona was skipping attending any university in favor of an internship her mother had helped her secure in New York. She would be thrust into the world of fashion, gaining valuable experience instead of sitting in a classroom, which was more than okay in her opinion.
Imogen had been accepted to the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, much to everyone's surprise, since she hadn't told anyone she was even attempting to apply. Eli had been rejected by NYU, but settled on attending the close-by New York Film Academy instead, so the three of them would coincidentally be in the same city, even though none of them had planned for it. However, Fiona would be living in her family's apartment spending 6 days a week working 15-hour days, while Eli and Imogen would have dorms 4 blocks away from each other and countless time to study together. Eli was one of Fiona's best friends, and even though his relationship with Imogen had lasted all of two seconds and ended badly, she couldn't help but feel a little uneasy about the fact they would be so close.
Fiona and Imogen had made the decision that they would still talk and try to be together whenever they could once they were in New York, but they both wanted to experience everything they could, even if that meant eventually drifting apart. Neither of them wanted to hold each other back, but that didn't mean that it was going to be easy watching themselves potentially settle into new lives that did not include the other. Fiona knew she had already started subconsciously preparing for this and had been spending the past week with Holly J, who was back from Yale for the summer. She felt bad, knowing that Imogen had taken notice to being blown off for shopping with the redhead, but she told herself that they still had a couple months to be together before New York. A knock at Fiona's door snapped her out of her deep thoughts, and she regained focus on the present, which meant getting to the graduation ceremony at Degrassi.
"Fiones, can you believe this day is here?" Imogen chirped as she waited in the doorway, clad in her cap and gown. "Not really…this year has flown by" Fiona responded as she grabbed her own cap and gown and headed for the door. Imogen stopped her as the two were heading outside and gave her a kiss, "You know I'm really happy with you, right? I'm glad this year ended up like this." to which Fiona simply replied, "I know," although in her mind the doubt was starting to grow.
After the ceremony Drew and Bianca had decided to host an after party for the grads at the Torres house and Fiona had gone to Holly J's to get ready, much to Imogen's disappointment after Fiona told her she would meet her there. "You're being ridiculous Fi, just talk to her!" Holly J said as she applied eye shadow to the brunettes face. "What if she doesn't feel the same? With everything happening next year what if she can't wait to get rid of me?" Fiona responded. After yet another lecture about how absurd she was being, Fiona found herself at the Torres residence, talking to Bianca about their plans for the next year. She could see Imogen was already there, talking to Eli and Adam across the room, and she felt that familiar feeling of jealousy rearing its ugly head.
After successfully avoiding Imogen for the majority of the night, Fiona was trying to make conversation with Alli and Clare when Imogen grabbed her arm and dragged her outside. "Ow! Immy for someone so small you sure have a strong grip…" Fiona could barely finish her sentence before Imogen cut her off. "What is going on with you? You've been avoiding me all week, you don't even acknowledge me tonight, did…did something happen with Holly J?" Fiona almost laughed "Holly J? Of course not! What are you talking about?" The younger girl looked at the ground "Well you've been spending all your time with her and you were in love with her so…" she looked to Fiona for an answer. "Imogen, nothing is going on with her", she sighed "But I'm not sure I can say the same for you and Eli…" Fiona crossed her arms and looked off into the distance. "Fiona, there is nothing romantic between Eli and I anymore…Why are you trying to sabotage this? I know it's going to be scary in the fall but…" Imogen shrugged her shoulders, took a step forward, and waited for any type of response. Fiona looked at the sea of people still partying inside and shook her head "I can't do this right now…I'll call you tomorrow" and with that, she left.
The next morning Fiona appeared at the Moreno residence, flowers in hand. When the door opened to reveal an angry looking Imogen, Fiona started with her speech before the girl could get a single word out. "Look, you're right. I'm scared about what is going to happen next year, and I figured if I started pushing you away now it wouldn't hurt as bad. I don't ever want to hold you back, but I don't know if I will be able to just stand back and let you go without a fight because…well because I love you" Fiona finished. Slowly, Imogen's face lit up with a smile. "Well that's a good thing Fiona Coyne, because I love you too. Next year is going to be hard but I intend on doing everything I can to make sure we get through it". With that, Fiona knew that her happiness wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.