Degrassi community college was all but empty, with only the cleaners doing the rounds, and the drama club behind the closed doors of the auditorium to disrupt the peaceful silence. Fiona liked silence. It was comforting and uncomplicated, unlike most things and people around her.
She sat with her back to the door, tucked away in the corner of the art room humming quietly to herself. She stared down at the long skirt she was hand-stitching a pattern onto and sighed a little. She felt lonely.
She wasn't willing to admit that to anyone, she'd rather keep up her icy and introverted persona to the rest of the world, but it was missed her friends back home. Poppy, Harriet and Morgan were all funny, sweet and kind, and didn't expect anything from her. They didn't mind that she wasn't the 'loud' one of the group, or that she was fiercely protective and dependent on her twin brother Declan (in fact, they didn't mind that at all, given that it meant they could fawn over him and flirt with him at any opportunity), they just accepted her.
It was Morgan she missed most, with her fiery red hair and the sprinkle of freckles across her cheeks, with her smell of sunshine and strawberries, and her soft, delicate lips she had imagined kissing so many times. Fiona sat up and shook off the memories of the painfully platonic friendship she had had with Morgan. She always wondered had she not moved would she have struck up the courage to tell one of her best friends that what she felt was more than friendship? Probably not.
"Cool skirt" With a start, Fiona jumped up and stared at the girl who had just entered. She had long dark hair and a nose stud. Jess, was it? Jen? Something like that, Fiona had never spoken to her before, or had any inclination to.
"Er, thanks." Fiona replied flatly, pushing a strand her hair behind her ear.
"Sorry to be bursting in, I was just wondering if you'd seen Holly J ?" The girl asked with a smile, perching on one of the tables and putting her legs up onto the chair. Fiona glanced at her and shook her head, wondering why this random girl would assume she had seen Holly J just because she was dating Declan. Seeing Holly J would mean having to pretend she could stand the overly-confident, annoyingly mature girl who swanned around the school like she owned it. So she was student council president, so what? It meant nothing really, and now she had Declan in her clutches it meant Fiona never got to see her brother. She sighed bitterly, forgetting that the pierced-nosed girl was still in the room.
"Ok, no worries. I'm Jane, by the way." With a flash of pearly white teeth, Jane smiled and held her hand out to Fiona, something Fiona usually ignored. This time, though, for some reason unbeknown to her, she smiled a little and self-conciously shook Jane's hand, the formality of the gesture throwing her a little. In that moment she felt something and looked up, meeting Jane's eye. From the look of confusion on her face, she felt it too. Fiona quickly pulled her hand away and picked up the skirt once more, tracing the design with her fingers.
"Well, I'm going to leave you in peace. I'm meeting my boyfriend Spinner at the Dot." Jane explained, clearing her throat a little and glancing nervously at Fiona, who passively nodded and continued with her sewing.
As Jane left the room, Fiona watched her leave out of the corner of her eye, not quite sure what to make of their unexpected and brief interaction. The only thing she was sure of was that Jane was the most interesting person she had met at Degrassi, and that had to count for something, right?