"Okay," Peter began, flicking his blonde hair to the side. I bit my lip, wondering exactly how exactly I was supposed to explain what I needed to know. Mostly because I wasn't sure what I actually wanted to know. "How can I help you?" He asked, continuing to rub the dirty counter with that rag of his.

"Well…" I paused, knowing it would sound strange when I tried to ask him all this. "Do you know some of the people from Degrassi… the ones who were around when it was like… 2001?"

He shrugged, pausing to think. Softly he repeated "2001, 2001," like he was trying to connect the dates with the people. Finally he nodded and bit his lip, "Well, I know a few. Spinner Mason, for one. If you know him…" I shrugged and shook my head slightly, wondering if JT knew him. "And I know… Emma."

I nodded a bit, remembering JT saying something about her once. "Emma… she was around back then. When JT—"

I shook my head, ignoring when a light sprang in Peter's eyes. I was such an idiot.

"JT, eh?" I blushed and looked down, only looking up to nonchalantly sip my water. "Yeah, she was around back then, she knew him really well, too. Not that I did," he continued, tapping a unfamiliar beat on the counter. "But I'm sure you know what happened to him." He shrugged, looking at the clock for a moment. "So this is what you're doing, trying to find out about him…?"

I guess this was my shovel, my opportunity to dig myself out. If only I knew how to dig. "No, actually. I'm doing an article, for the school newspaper, since JT died four years ago."

He nodded, urging me to go on. I nodded and twisted the straw between my thumb and forefinger.

"And I wanted to see what happened to his friends, how they moved on after the death of their friend." I paused, thinking through my sentence over and over again, wondering if he would believe it. I wasn't sure, since he hadn't said a word, just sort of closed his eyes, like he was looking for some sort of loophole in my statement. Finally he nodded and looked at me, indicating that he believed what I said. Oh, of course he believed what I said, everyone did. I was St. Clare.

"Well…" Peter sort of let the sentence trail for a couple seconds, like he was deciding how to explain something to me. I just bit my lip, waiting for him to finish. "That's a …er… delicate subject. But, I guess that's a good idea for an article."

I nodded, letting my shoulders jerk up in a short shrug. I hesitated then said, "Well, someone has to do it."

He nodded. "True, and I'm not surprised it's you." He offered a weak smile. "If anyone can make a good article with such a sad subject, it would be Darcy's little genius sister." He paused for a moment and I looked down. I had been a long time since I was referred to as Darcy's little sister, since I barely saw her anymore. Besides, she wasn't in the school anymore; no one really knew who my older sister was anymore. But of course, I would always be that to Peter, his ex-girlfriend's smart little sister. And I wasn't sure if I had a problem with that.

"Wow," I muttered unintentially. "It's been a long time since I've been called that."

I wasn't very quiet, though, not as quiet as I used to be. Peter caught it and replied, saying, "Yeah, I'm sure it has." He bit his lip, his mind surely going to Darcy.

I hadn't heard much about any of his other girlfriends, I knew about Emma, and then I remembered seeing him with that curly-haired girl around school; the model. Maybe he met someone else after that, maybe he didn't. I guess this wasn't the time to ask about that, actually it wasn't my right to ask him about that. I mean, I only knew him through Darcy.

"Umm, anyway…" Peter began, pulling himself back to reality." About your article, do you want me to give you their numbers or something…?"

I shook my head, the question sort of sending me into alarm mode. I mean, then I'd need JT's help and I would have to go through… "No… I don't really need that much information; can you just tell me anything you know about them?"

He nodded. "Oh, wow. I guess I can start with Emma, since I saw her not to long ago." He bit his lip, pausing to recall the memory. "Well a little while ago, maybe a month, she came by here; she quit college and finished her bike riding thing… Clare, don't you need to, like, write this down?"

"Oh," I said, a bit surprised at the realization I was just listening, and I might need more than that. "Yeah, I'll just… record it."

He nodded as I dug through my pockets for my phone; I quickly put in the keystrokes and started the video recording. It had hours of life on it, enough for me to show JT. Peter gave me a small smile before repeating himself. Then he continued about Emma, moving on to Spinner, and from that Manny. He went on from there, saying whatever he knew. I listened, wondering how each person was connected to JT, was Manny his girlfriend, or his best friend? Was Emma like a sister to him, or had he never really cared about her at all? He didn't mention Liberty in the half-hour or so he was talking, I was a little disappointed at that, but JT didn't want to know about her anyway.

And then I wondered how often they thought about him.

Sorry it's kind of short.

And sorry I took forever to post this chapter.

Had a bit of writer's block, I'm sure you know how that feels. D:

May include a bit of Eclare in the next chapter, or Klare, for that matter.

Must get on with this story soon. Although, it may be less frequent since school is starting in just a few days.

Opinions may help with inspiration… (: