Adam's POV
I feel a million times better waking up this morning than I did compared to yesterday. So good in fact, I think I have a little bounce in my step. I'm ready before Drew is so I head down to the kitchen to grab breakfast.
Of course my mother is there too, "Sleep well?" She asks, coffee cup in hand.
"Yeah," I say not really paying attention. I pour a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice.
"So you'll come straight home from school?" My mother inquires, her way of reminding me I'm grounded. As if I would forget something like that.
"Yes ma'am," I say, faking a little salute toward her.
She rolls her eyes, "And where's your phone? I forgot to take that from you last night," she asks, holding out her free hand.
"Really mom?" I say, pulling my phone out of my pocket and handing it to her.
"Grounded means grounded," She says, not giving me any wiggle room.
She goes back to sipping coffee while I eat my breakfast and the kitchen remains quiet. Drew comes bounding down the stairs about five minutes late and heads for the front door, "Ready Adam?" He asks.
I've been ready. But instead of saying that, because I'm trying to cut heartbroken Drew some slack, I say, "Yeah." I put my dishes in the sink and grab my backpack as we head out the door.
I head to my locker before the first bell rings but I spot Blair lingering near my locker. Yikes. I decide I don't need my books. I turn on my heels and head in the other direction. The first friendly face I see is Becky, she's standing in front of her opened locker.
I lean against the locker next to her, "Good morning Baker," I say cheery.
She looks over at me and smiles, "Hey Adam, how was your weekend?" She asks casually.
A few images pop into my head. One of Bianca and me at Niagara Falls standing at the bow of the boat. Another of my brother and me getting drunk as he drowns his sorrows in alcohol. And lastly of me coming home late Sunday night and getting grounded for a week. "It was a bit of a rollercoaster," I say. "How about you?" I ask.
"It was really good, except on Saturday I was really looking forward to hanging out with this cute guy, but he cancelled on me." I smile when she calls me cute. Becky's rarely that forward.
"I'm sure he'll find a way to make it up to you," I promise. I hope that didn't come off too flirty or anything, I don't want to send mixed signals.
"He always does," She says closing her locker. "He can start by walking me to class," she says smiling at me and looping her arm through mine, leading the way toward our chemistry class. A few people notice us walking together but it doesn't really bother me, let them stare.
"No problem," I say as we navigate through the halls. Is this what it would feel like if Becky and I were dating? It's kind of nice.
"And he can come over after school to work on our chemistry project," Becky suggests.
"I don't know Becky," I say unsurely, "Your dad isn't exactly my number one fan." An evening with the Bakers is asking for disaster.
"My mom and dad will be at Luke's hockey game," Becky answers. A few moments pass as I think about her offer. "Come on please," Becky says tugging on my arm.
"I wish I could, but I'm grounded," I say. She looks extremely bummed out, which I don't like at all, "but you could probably come over. My mom won't be upset if I'm doing school work," I say, compromising.
"Yay!" Becky says eagerly, smiling ear to ear. Her infectious smile makes me start grinning, she's the cutest when she's happy. It doesn't seem so long ago that I would go out of my way just to make her laugh and see that beautiful smile.
Class starts and we take our separate seats. Occasionally I'd glance at Becky and catch her staring at me, and every time she would smile at me before turning away.
Eli starts to catch on, "Something going on between you and Becky?" He whispers.
"I don't know, we're hanging out tonight," I respond.
"Like a date?" He asks. Is it a date? It sounded more like a study session, and when Becky means study she literally plans on studying. So maybe this is just a friendly get together.
"More like a study thing," I clarify.
…..
Bianca's POV
I hear Adam and Eli talking about Becky again, something about Adam and her hanging out tonight. I need to talk to Adam as soon as possible because I can't help but feel like the window of opportunity is closing.
I scribble a quick note on a piece of paper, "Want to have lunch with me?" I toss it onto his desk when the teacher isn't looking.
I hear Eli ask, "What's it say?" Usually I don't appreciate nosy people, but I know Eli is Adam's best friend and they probably tell each other everything anyway.
I hear Adam unfold the note, he's probably reading it right now. "Nothing," he says, replying to Eli. I hear him write something back before tapping me on the shoulder and passing the note back. We briefly lock eyes when I turn around for the note. The smile on his face already tells me that it's a yes for lunch.
I read what he wrote and I can't help but smile, "Wouldn't miss it." He may not remember what happened Saturday night, but he's still the same sweet guy toward me.
I find Fiona during break between 2nd and 3rd period, "Hey I'm going to have to postpone our lunch plans," I say apologetically. I hope she doesn't think I'm ditching her or anything.
"Oh okay, what for?" She asks curiously. At least she's not mad.
"Adam and I are going to have lunch together," I say smiling. If anyone can share in the happiness with me, it's Fiona. She's like the only one who supports the idea of Adam and I together.
"Oooh that's exciting, do you have a plan to help jog his memory?" She asks.
"I think so," I say. I'm going to set up a picnic in the park, the park we were at Saturday night when he confessed his feelings for me. And if that still doesn't help, I'll have to resort to some persuasive tactics that Adam won't be able to resist.
"Good luck and call me later to tell me everything," Fiona says enthusiastically.
"I hope I have good news to tell you," I say.
"Don't worry, you will," she says confidently.
…..
Adam's POV
It's the class before lunch and it's dragging on. I can't focus on the teacher at all, my thoughts are preoccupied with Bianca. I'm a little surprised she wants to have lunch with me, but it's a good surprised. I wonder if Fiona meddled or if Bianca thought of this on her own. Either way, I get to spend lunch with the girl that I like.
The last 10 minutes of class felt endless, but alas, the bell finally rings. I'm the first one out of classroom as I eagerly make my way toward Bianca's locker. I turn the corner and see Bianca waiting for me by her locker. I pause for a moment, staring at the incredible girl waiting for me, and grinning like an idiot. You can do this Adam. Go be with her.
I hardly take a step forward before I feel someone grab my arm and pull me back around the corner, away from Bianca. "What the fuck?" I say, turning around to see Dallas.
"You have to come with me now," Dallas says urgently. Nothing he could possibly say could convince me to ditch Bianca. The world could be ending and I still wouldn't cancel my lunch date with Bianca.
"I can't I have-"
Dallas cuts me off, "It can wait. Drew needs us." Fuck.
I glance over my shoulder toward what's awaiting me around the corner. I know what I want to do and I know what I need to do, but they're two completely different things. I need to be a good brother, "Let's go," I say to Dallas.
Fuck, I hope Bianca will forgive me.
I follow Dallas to a storage room behind the theater. He takes two quick glances left and right before opening the door. We make our way through a bunch of props, costumes, and stage equipment before things clear out and I spot my brother sitting on a couch. The second thing I notice is the open beer cans and half-drunken liquor bottle on the table in front of him.
"Fuck," I mutter to no one in particular. "Did you find him like this?" I ask Dallas.
"Yeah, he drunk texted me," he says.
I take a seat on the couch next to Drew, "You okay bro?" I ask sympathetically. I know he's hurting right now because of the whole Bianca thing. I hate seeing my brother like this.
Drew mumbles something incoherent. He's slouched over, half sitting half laying on the couch. He's way too drunk to be at school. He can't talk, so if a teacher catches us he's screwed. And I doubt he can walk properly, so Dallas and I will have to get him out of here without being seen.
"Got a plan?" I ask Dallas.
"Not really," he says.
"Lunch just started, the halls will be filled with people. We can't get him out now," I say, trying to talk my way through some sort of plan. I have no idea what to do and the only person I would call for help in a situation like this is passed out in front of me. "Go get him some water for now, he'll need it if he doesn't want to feel like shit in a few hours," I tell Dallas.
Dallas makes his way out of the storage unit and toward the cafeteria.
I take a few minutes to hide the beer cans and liquor bottle in case someone finds us that shouldn't know about the condition my brother is in.
"I'm gonna puke," my brother says, which is the first thing he's said that I actually understood. I look around for something to give him and settle on a hat, probably someone's costume, and hand it to him to puke in. He grabs it and sits up in time to throw up into the hat. Gross. He hands me back the hat, which I reluctantly take and set down where I hid the alcohol.
"Feeling better?" I ask. He mumbles something I don't understand at first. "What?" I ask getting a little closer.
"Get Bianca," he mutters. I wonder if he wants her so they can talk or if he thinks she can help. Either way, it's a good idea. Bianca will know what to do with him.
"Alright stay here," I say, not that I really needed to. He looks like he won't be able to get up on his own for at least a few hours. He's too far gone.
I head to the cafeteria and look around, no sign of her. I walk around the halls a bit, checking places people occasionally eat lunch at. She's not there either. I head outside and look for her at the picnic tables, nothing. I wish I had my phone so I could just text her. I head back inside and decide to check for her at her locker. I turn the corner, the one I was at just minutes earlier, and find her still waiting at her locker. She's probably been here for at least 10 minutes.
"Bianca," I call out as I walk toward her.
"Late much?" She says, but doesn't sound too mad, "Come on, I'm hungry," she says tugging me toward away from where I need to be.
"I can't, uh I have to cancel our lunch plans. I need you to help me with something instead," I say. She looks confused, but still not upset, which is a good sign. Surprisingly she doesn't ask any questions as I take her hand and lead her toward the storage room.
I open the door and pull her in, "What are we doing here?" She asks. I just now realize what she must be thinking, me pulling her into a storage room alone, it probably looks a little sketchy.
I turn to face her, "Drew's drunk and hiding out in here. Dallas and I don't know what to do or how to get him out of here. I thought you could help," I say, filling her in on the situation.
"That's not what I thought you brought me here for," she says exhaling in relief.
"What'd you think I brought you here for?" I ask, giving her a confused look but grinning because I think I know the answer. I like that she was thinking about it, but I love that she went along with it too.
"Nothing," she says blushing. I give her a cocky smile and she rolls her eyes. She brushes past me, walking through the room to get to Drew, and I follow behind her.
We find Drew sitting up, which is a good sign, with his head rolled back looking at the ceiling. "How you feeling bro?" I call out.
His eyes are completely shut when he says, "Room. Spinning."
"Drew," Bianca says tentatively. She walks over to him and takes a seat next to him while I stay put. Its weird watching them from the outside perspective. Drew already looks at ease now that she's around and Bianca looks natural interacting with him. "Can you stand up, Drew?" She asks in a soft voice. She looks genuinely concerned for him, and all of a sudden I feel like the outsider in this situation, even though Drew's my brother.
I hear the storage door open and I freeze in slight panic. Thankfully it's just Dallas coming back with the water I asked him to get.
He notices Bianca as he gets closer, "I see you brought reinforcements," he says.
"Yeah," I say. Dallas hands the water to Bianca and sits on the other side of Drew. "So what should we do?" I ask to no one specifically.
"If a teacher sees him like this and Simpson finds out, we're all fucked," Dallas says, pointing out the obvious.
"I think we can get him to the car," Bianca says, "We just need a distraction of some sort."
"Like what?" I ask.
"Don't worry leave it to me," Dallas says, getting up from the couch with a mischievous grin. "In five minutes, the coast should be clear, alright? Get him out of here," Dallas says. God knows what plan he just cooked up in his head, but I know Dallas is good at creating trouble.
Dallas disappears out the door and I take a seat where he just was. "Thanks for helping Bee," I say.
"Of course," she replies. I wonder if she's helping because I asked her to or because she wants to help Drew. Or both.
After a few minutes I say, "It's probably safe for us to get him out of here." We pull Drew up, I'm supporting his right side while Bianca has his left. I open the storage room door and glance into the hallway, "All clear," I say as we walk him through the halls. It's actually completely empty, no students or teachers anywhere. I wonder what Dallas did.
Drew's dragging his feet, making it tough to move him along, but we finally make it out the front steps of the school and to the parking lot. I unlock the car and we awkwardly place him in the passenger seat before I shut the door.
Phew, I sigh in relief, "Thank you Bee, I couldn't have managed this without you." I take a step closer to her and put my arms around her. I feel her arms go around my back and her head rest against me, reciprocating the hug. This was meant to be a thank you hug but neither of us are pulling away. After a few more seconds of enjoying this hug I say, "I should get going, I need to get him home."
"Okay," she says, reluctantly letting me go.
"I don't have my phone but I'll talk to you tomorrow," I say. She smiles at me before turning around and walking back toward the school. I briefly watch her leave before getting into my car and pulling out of the parking lot.
I manage to get Drew into the house, up the stairs, and on his bed. I grab him a water from the fridge and set it on his nightstand. I also take the trashcan from the bathroom and put it near his bed, in case he needs to puke. He looks pretty passed out, so I figure it's safe to leave him alone.
I go downstairs and notice the clock on the microwave says its past 2:00. The school day is almost over and my parents should be home in about 2 hours. Hopefully Drew can pull it together by then. But I doubt it.
I check the answering machine for a call from school. Fortunately, school has already called and left a voicemail for my parents, "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Torrres, your sons Adam and Drew did not attend most of their classes today. They will be marked for their unexcused absences and you have been notified. Call back if you have any questions. Have a nice day." I erase the message.
I take few minutes to relax before I remember that Becky will probably be here in an hour. I have a lot on my plate right now, and I'd rather cancel on Becky, but I don't have my phone to do so. So I guess I'll just get ready. I take the time to clean up the downstairs before she gets here. I take a quick shower and change my clothes. I check on Drew one more time, he's right where I left him.
I hear the doorbell ring while I'm brushing my teeth in the upstairs bathroom. I quickly rinse out my mouth and head downstairs. I open the door to a smiling Becky.
"Hey Adam," she says cheerfully.
"Hey Becky," I say moving aside so she can come inside. "So listen, I had to leave school early today and I didn't bring home any of my chemistry stuff. If you want to cancel this study thing, that's cool with me," I offer.
"That's okay, we can just hang out," she says.
"Alright, uh can I get you anything?" I ask.
"I'll have whatever you get for yourself," she says taking off her jacket and hanging it on the coat rack. She looks really pretty, she's not in the outfit she had on at school. She's in a white summery dress. I quickly avert my eyes, careful not to stare.
I go to the fridge, grab two waters, and a bag of pretzels for snacks.
"Let's head downstairs," I say leading the way. I've never been alone in the basement with Becky before. I mean, really I've never been alone with Becky ever. It's a little unnerving.
I set our snacks down on the table in front of the couch before grabbing the remote and taking a seat. She looks a little unsure of herself as she sits down next to me. I'm glad I'm not the only one who is uncomfortable with the situation.
"So," she says, turning to face me, "Why'd you have to leave school early? She asks.
"I had to take Drew home, he's sick," I say, leaving out the part involving the alcohol and sneaking him out of school unseen. Becky's an understanding person, but I'm almost positive she wouldn't understand Drew getting drunk at school. Or alcohol consumption in general.
"Oh should we cook him soup or something?" Becky asks. Leave it to Becky to be caring and considerate for someone she hardly knows. It just adds to the many things that make Becky Baker an incredible person.
"I don't think he'll be able to keep it down," I say. He's probably puking his guts out right now.
"Oh okay," she says.
"How's the fundraising for school going?" I ask, changing topics. Becky's on the committee, I don't really know what she does, but I know she's a hard worker for a good cause.
"It's okay, but it's a lot of work and not enough people to help out," she says.
"Is there anything I could do?" I offer.
"We could make posters to hang up around school reminding people to buy tickets for the raffle happening at the end of the week," she suggests.
"Okay, we have poster board and whatnot around here somewhere," I say getting up from the couch and searching for arts and craft materials. "This good?" I ask holding up a few blue poster boards, glue, and colored markers.
"Perfect," she says taking the board from me. We set everything up on the table and get to work. Becky's doing pretty much everything since I don't have a creative bone in my body, but occasionally she'll ask me to cut something out or glue something onto the board. Mostly I just watch her work. She's very methodical about everything.
"You're good at this," I point out.
"Thanks," she says smiling at my compliment. "You know what's funny?" She asks, already sort of giggling.
"What's that?" I ask curiously.
"Making these posters reminds me of how my dad found out about us," she says.
"Tell me the story," I say, leaning back against the couch.
She takes a break from the poster board creation and leans back next to me. "Well," she starts out, "I was so happy we were together that when I got home I decorated this little poster with our initials on it," she confesses. That's adorable. Only Becky would do something like that. "And when my dad got home he saw it and asked me who A-T was."
"And knowing you, you're not the best liar," I laugh. Another quality I find endearing, honesty is totally underrated.
"Right," she says giggling, "I'm a terrible liar. So it only took him seconds before he figured out that you were someone special to me." I like that I'm special to her. There was a time she was special to me too.
"Well if it makes you feel any better, my parents had it figured out by dinner time," I admit. With Drew and Dallas teasing me mercilessly and my obvious different behavior, I wasn't exactly same old Adam.
"Really? And how'd they figure it out?" She asks.
"I couldn't stop smiling that night and my mom called me out on it," I say. For the brief time we were together, there's no doubt I was happy. Everyone could see it too.
We have a brief moment where I contemplate kissing her, she's looking at me as I stare back at her, and the desire is there. But before I lean in, I think of Bianca. An image of her face pops into my head. I turn my head away from Becky, "We should get back to work," I say nodding toward the poster.
"Okay," she says, going back to whatever it is she was doing before.
My mother comes home after a while. "Drew? Adam?" She calls out as she walks down the stairs.
"Hey mom, Drew's upstairs in his room and uh Becky's here because I'm helping her on some school stuff," I say.
My mom makes her pleasantries, "Hello Becky, it's nice to meet you," before turning her attention toward me, "Adam can I talk to you for a minute?" I can tell by the glare on her face that she isn't happy.
"Sure," I say getting up and walking toward her.
"What part of grounded don't you understand?" She whispers sternly.
"I know mom, I'm sorry. She asked for my help and I didn't want to say no," I reply.
My mom sighs in annoyance, "No more friends over, got it?" She says.
"Got it," I say.
Before I turn to leave she starts to talk again, "So that's The Becky?" She asks curiously, her anger greatly dissipated.
Now it's my turn to sigh, "Yes that's Becky," I answer.
"Hmm," my mother says, not really giving much away. "Becky, will you be staying for dinner?" My mother asks. That was surprisingly cool of my mother to offer, I never thought she would approve of the girls I was interested in.
"No thank you Mrs. Torres, I told my parents I would be home soon," Becky responds politely. Part of me is relieved, Becky needs to go home. The other part is a little disappointed though because I was enjoying her company.
"We'll finish up here," I assure my mom. She seems pleased with the answer because she turns around and heads back up the stairs. Hopefully her next stop is not Drew's room.
"I'm all done here," Becky says from the couch as I walk back over to her.
"Looks great," I say admiring her handy work, "makes me want to buy a raffle ticket."
"Good," she says pleased with herself.
"I can take those to school tomorrow," I offer. It's easier for her to leave them here than risk them getting ruined later.
"Okay thanks," she says. I walk her upstairs and to the door. "Bye Adam," she says giving me a quick goodbye hug.
"I'll see you at school," I say shutting the door as she leaves.
The rest of the evening goes by quickly. I told mom Drew's too sick to eat dinner and luckily when she checked on him she wasn't suspicious of anything. Surprisingly my mom didn't extend my grounding for having Becky over. And I spent the rest of the night watching TV because I didn't bring home any of my homework.
Around 11 o'clock I say my goodnights and head to bed.
A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I was very disheartened after last Thursday's Degrassi. I won't spoil it but it definitely sucked major D. But back to the story... I know this chapter focused a little too much on Beckdam but don't worry because I'll make up for it in the next chapter. PS how much longer do you want this story to go for? I have no idea how I would end it but I can't go on forever. That's not realistic. Moving forward, how do you see Drew dealing with a potential Adam and Bianca get together? How will Becky deal with it? How will Adam justify betraying his brother? Who do you think would support the relationship? What hardships might Bianca and Adam face if they get together? And so on, please comment and I promise to do my best not to make you wait 10 days for an update.