Disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi

Monday

You walk inside the congested hallways inside your devil inhibited high school and immediately regret it once you see the red streamers lining the walls and the hearts taped to the dirty lockers. The place seemed too mushy for your taste, last year you were completely into sweetheart week with Fiona.

You had gotten her a golden necklace on Monday.

You had received a sloppy and poorly done sketch of your face on Tuesday.

You had stayed on the sidelines with a drink guzzling Fiona on Wednesday when she proclaimed she was not getting her clothes soaked in water, that and she had a massive hangover lingering in her head.

You had written her a long two paged letter about how much you adored her from her curly head to her heel clad feet and wondered how much she had written about you on Thursday.

You had sat with her at lovers lunch with Eli and Clare and while your best friends were fawning over each other's handprint letters sealed with sloppy kisses, Fiona was too intoxicated to read yours and the one she had written to you was a simple, "I like you and my water bottle."

You had spent the entire weekend in shame and sadness over how the one relationship you hoped to have worked had failed so miserably.

Since then you have been scared, afraid, frightened by the word relationship, the word itself made goosebumps skim across your pale body and make you swallow that huge lump that was sitting in your throat for the past months. You sit there and watch as others form relationships, intertwine their fingers and place small kisses on each other's lips, and you feel envy and shame course through your veins because you are not that man that girls talk animatedly about at the dirty lunch table or through the congested and full halls, you are not that man.

Sighing, you push your way through the halls and pass people you see daily, you wave a hello to Katie who was holding a small teddy bear in her petite and soft hands, she lightly caressed its face unknowingly as Drew wove his arms around her waist and gave her a light flurry of kisses on her cheek, causing giggles to erupt from her mouth and through her perky lips. You gave your brother and his enthusiastic girlfriend a small smile before passing by them and continuing down the hall.

Finally you reach your locker, you had expected to see Imogen standing there, a panda backpack straining her back, her brown eyes perky and ready for the oncoming day as she would sway back and forth on her combat boot feet, but instead you see your best friend leaning against your locker with his trademark smirk slapped onto his smug face.

Never had you ever wanna punch your best friend, but his demeanor made you wanna slug him as hard as you could manage, but you would come out more damaged than the supposed injured one.

"What, Eli?" You spit as you approach him and his smugness was heavy in the humid air, he chuckled and pushed the rolled up sleeves of his shirt to his elbows, showing off a paler shade of skin than your own.

"Oh nothing - besides the fact that Imogen just about gushed to me this weekend about how you were her sweetheart this week." Eli said in a lighter voice, a smile on his face as he sees you're obviously uncomfortably and in emotional pain by his statement, you roll your eyes and give him a daggering glare. "Hey now! Don't shoot me glares, dude! I'm just stating what I heard around here." Eli said with a grin playing on his lips as you lightly shove him, sending him a step back - barely any harm there you realize, his laughter only increase as he realized your anger towards this matter.

"Adam! You can't shove Eli around like that, he bruises easily." teased Clare as she walked up joyously, a huge playful grin gracing her lips as she immediately laces her small fingers with Eli's, a softer grin appears on your best friend's lips as he looks down at his girlfriend with passion lingering in his jade green eyes.

"Did you like your present?" murmured Eli as his eyes locked down at the blue gem hanging from Clare's neck, you also lock eyes with the blue gem, memorized by the item's beauty, you knew Eli must have been saving up his money from his bookstore job, picking up extra shifts just to pay for the precious jewel hanging around his love's neck.

Clare reached up and lightly touched the gem without taking her gaze off Eli, you started to feel a lump form in your throat by their interactions, this was something that would never happen to you, you would never get a look from a girl like one Clare was giving your best friend, you couldn't find a way to have a girl even give you the time of day.

You are not that man.

You will never be that man.

You are not a man.

You were soon pulled from your thoughts when you felt someone poke your arm playfully, you jump by the touch and hear chuckles surround you. Turning slightly to your left you see Imogen stranding by you with a grin on her face, Clare and Eli's chuckles behind you, but you ignore the two and hope for the lovers to leave you at peace - or at least with Imogen so you could give her the gift you bought for her this weekend.

'Hello there, sweetheart!" exclaimed Imogen and behind you, you could hear the sound of Eli stifling a laugh, you turn sharply and give him the dirtiest glare you could muster.

"C'mon, Eli. Walk me to class early." Clare egged on as she grabbed Eli's arm and started dragging him away, you watch as Eli's grin grows wider as his eyes dart between you and Imogen, he even makes a kissy face before Clare completely turns him around and starts scolding him like Cece would do if he refused to wash dishes.

You sigh and turn around to face Imogen, but gasp when you see she already has the stuffed panda bear in her small hands around, she lightly stroked the soft fur covering its body, she even grazed her fingertips over the prickly bamboo stick the panda bear was holding in its hands.

"Wait.. How did you get-" You begin to say, but Imogen ushers her hand up to stop you from furthering your stammering words, you can't help, but notice the many rings on her fingers, you figure this was another thing she had copied from Eli, but you notice the rings are different, she wears a Christmas tree ring on her thumb, a ring that has a orange tabby on her index finger, a huge sunflower ring on her middle finger, a nice clean cut diamond ring on her ring finger - despite that Imogen wasn't even married she still possibly liked the idea of wearing a diamond ring and a pink heart ring on her pinky.

You realize at this moment how different Imogen Moreno really is, from her high pigtails to her red ruby shoes, she was a different type of girl, nothing like how Clare is or how Fiona is, Imogen was a completely unique and quirky girl, someone who was now catching Adam's attention.

"Your backpack was open a tad bit and I saw Ralph's ear pop out so I plucked him from your bag while you were too busy shooting glares at Eli Goldsworthy." Imogen admitted as she moved the panda - Ralph to her arm, and quickly grabbed your hand, leading you down the hall as she continued to talk mindlessly of her morning.

You didn't interrupt her, it wasn't because your tongue was heavy under her vocabulary, or because you didn't have a word to say to the panda lover - it was because you wanted to hear her words, you wanted to hear about the two stacks of pancakes she had and how she had made her eggs have a smiley face, you wanted to hear about how she counted every red car on her walk to school.

You wanted to hear about Imogen Moreno's morning life, it intrigued you and more so, you also didn't mind the fact that she was still holding your hand.

Just as you think her words won't make your tongue heavy, she spills some from her lips,

"Hmm, I can't wait until tomorrow, Adam Torres, your face will be interesting to draw!"

A/N: Please review!