This chapter is longer than I had expected it to be. And also, though I'm not ready to actually bring Paige into the story yet, there will be more talk of her, especially when it get's closer to her actually coming home.

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Chapter 20

My life had dramatically slowed down since everyone had left to go back to school. It was just Ellie and me again, which I didn't particularly mind. We would also be starting school in a few days ourselves. It felt so weird to think I would be going back to school. I wasn't totally bummed though, I knew this would be good for me in the long run. Mrs. Michalchuk had taken me to buy my textbooks already and I had already started to glance at some of the things I would be doing. I really enjoyed reading my photography textbook. It talked about lighting and angles to help with effects of the picture. I hadn't thought about those before and I was eager to try their suggestions. I hadn't had time to really take any picture lately. So I was pretty excited to be getting back into it. Ellie had been calling me a lot lately too. We would sit on the phone for hours and talk about nothing. I cherished our phone conversations.

"Like that would ever happen." Ellie said.

"You never know. Maybe Craig will come back and decide he is nothing without his best drummer." I joked.

"Please, I'm an awful drummer." Ellie replied.

"I wouldn't know." I said playfully.

"Hey! That was your cue to say your awesome, Ellie." She laughed.

"Oops, Sorry." I said sarcastically, "Your awesome!" Ellie didn't know how much I had actually meant it.

I heard her laugh and I thought of her smile.

"You know, now I wish I would have heard your band play."

"I don't. Then our conversation right now would consist of you telling me how awful I played." She laughed.

"Ellie, you know I would never do that." I joked back.

"Sure you wouldn't." I could tell she was rolling her eyes.

I laughed.

"You know, we should start a band." Ellie was sounded serious.

"You wanna start a band?" I replied

"Yea, it would be fun. Besides, it's not like we have anything else to do."

"School." I said

"That doesn't start till tomorrow." Ellie joked and I couldn't help but laugh. "Besides, it doesn't have to serious. I kinda wanna play again."

"Well," How could I fight her Ellie charm? "I did want to learn to play bass."

"We need a guitar." Ellie replied.

"A bass is a guitar." I argued

"Not the kind we need."

"And I suppose you're going to want me to sing too."

"Well, if you insist." Ellie laughed

"I don't." I chuckled.

"But Alex." Ellie wined.

"No, I only sing for..." I cut myself off. I had only ever really sang for Paige. Only for Paige, upon request of course. Paige had begged me one night to sing her to sleep with a lullaby. I had refused, but Paige's power over me had been strong. I had never sang for anyone else.

There was silence on the phone.

"Alex, are you there?" I heard Ellie say.

"Yea," I replied.

"Are you okay?"

"Yep, I was just browsing through my photography book." I lied. I didn't want her to know I was thinking about Paige.

"Okay." She said.

There was silence again.

"So what time do we have to be at school tomorrow?" Ellie asked

"Well, English starts at 8:30."

"Fun." Ellie said sarcastically.

"Did you need a ride?" I blurted out.

"Umm..." Ellie was thinking.

"Mrs. Michalchuk's is taking me, she won't mind. She lives for this kind of stuff." I said trying to sound calm and collect.

"Yea, sure." Ellie accepted.

"This way we can be lost trying to find out classroom together."

Ellie laughed. "Well, I better go. What time are you coming to pick me up?"

"Probably around eight." I said.

"Alright, I'll be ready. See you then!"

"Bye."

What was wrong with me? Why was I feeling this feeling with Ellie. I knew I shouldn't be feeling this way. I didn't even understand how I was feeling. I went over to my desk and pulled out the locket from Paige. I held it tight in my hand. It had become my comforter. It was the closes thing I had to Paige and I cherished it dearly. It helped take my mind off Ellie for awhile. Everything I was feeling now was from the thought of Paige. When I could no longer stand the thought of her, I put the necklace back in it's box and out of sight. I looked at the clock. 9:02 p.m. I crawled into bed. It felt so warm and calm. I was out instantly.

-----

"Here, you need to eat up dear." Mrs. Michalchuk said putting one more pancake on my plate. "You need all the energy you can get."

"Thanks." I said as I started eating the pancake even though I was beginning to feel full.

"We need to hurry up if we are to be on time to your friend's house. We don't want to be late for our first day of school."

Mrs. Michalchuk was obviously excited about my returning to school. She didn't even try to hide it. I quickly finished the food left on my plate. Then I stuffed my books in my backpack and we were out the door.

---

"So," Mrs. Michalchuk began as we were driving to Ellie's. "You've been seeing this Ellie girl a lot lately."

"She is pretty much my only friend right now." I replied trying to sound calm. I didn't want to talk about this.

"Oh." Mrs. Michalchuk said bluntly. I wasn't sure where she was going with this.

"She's not my girlfriend." I said bluntly. I was ready to end this conversation.

Mrs. Michalchuk was silent, so I continued.

"Ellie and I are friends. That's it." I finished. I felt I had gotten my point across.

She was still silent, but she seemed to understand. We pulled up to Ellie's house and like usual, the door swung open and out emerged Ellie bundled up in her winter coat looking like a teddy bear. I chuckled to myself as she swung open the van door.

"Hey Alex. Hello Mrs. Michalchuk." She said as she climbed inside.

"Hey." I replied.

"Hello dear." Mrs. Michalchuk said, "Are you all ready for school?"

"I think so."

"That's good."

And at the click of Ellie's seat belt we drove off towards Toronto Community College.

-----

Mrs. Michalchuk tried to pull up as close as she could but the parking was outrageous.

"Alright dears." She began, "What time to you two get out?"

"Well, we both have English and then Math right after. We should be done before noon." I said.

"Oh, well that's not going to work."

"It's okay. I planned on taking the bus." I said.

"Yea, really it's fine Mrs. Michalchuk."

Mrs. Michalchuk looked a little disappointed but sighed.

"Alright then. Alex, I'll see you when I get home."

"Alright." I said as I got out of the van.

"Thanks for the ride, Mrs. Michalchuk." Ellie said as she jumped out of the van.

Mrs. Michalchuk rolled down the window.

"You girls know where you're going, right?" She said.

"Don't worry, we'll find it." I said.

Mrs. Michalchuk nodded and took off.

"Well then. Let's see, we need to be in GE102." Ellie said looking at her schedule.

"Alright, where is that?" I asked looking around trying to find something that looked helpful.

"I think it's that way." Ellie said looking at the map on the back of schedule.

"Okay-dokay." I said and we headed off.

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I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to do about Alex going to college. Though I don't really want to write about every little thing that happens with Alex while she is at college with Ellie, I kind of feel her going to college is kind of important to her growth, so I will be spending some time with that. Though I don't expect I will be writing full length chapters about it either.