Ch. 6 You Want the Last Word

(DREW)

"Alli," I remark peeling her off me, "we need to get out there or our parents are going to come looking for us soon." I never thought I'd be the one pulling a girl off of me, but the last couple of weeks Alli has been sort of clingy. It's Friday December 1st and this evening is the presentation Clare and Sav have been working on. While it's mainly for the school board and some other government officials the two families were invited to watch Clare and Sav present.

"You don't really care about Degrassi's accomplishments in the last decade, do you?" Alli asks, still with her arms around my neck.

"No, but I do want to support my sister. Don't you want to support Sav?" I question taking her arms from around my neck.

"I suppose," she sighs.

We go back to the auditorium and find our seats. I sit next to Adam, he's next to Dad and Mom is sitting next to Mrs. Bhandari, on her other side is Mr. Bhandari and then Alli. Most of the night is pretty boring, but Clare and Sav did a really good job on the presentation and it's the most interesting part.

When the whole thing is over several people go over to talk to Clare and Sav. So, our two families sort of huddle together while we wait for Clare and Sav. Finally, Clare and Sav come join us and we all go to dinner to celebrate. It's during dinner that I learn Sav, and his parents are leaving for Ottawa tomorrow to look at a university Sav is interested in attending. When dinner is nearly over Alli and I both excuse ourselves to go to the washroom. When she's sure that we're not visible from the table Alli pushes me against the wall to kiss me.

"My parents think I'm sleeping at Jenna's tomorrow night while they're away, but I'm having a party at my place instead. I'll keep it small, and no alcohol," Alli comments looking at me. If everyone didn't see me get drunk at Julian's party, they heard about it. I felt like hell the rest of the weekend and I have no desire to be that drunk again. "You and the twins, Eli I suppose, Jenna and K.C., Wes, Dave and Connor, maybe Hannah and Liam."

"Sounds good, you want us to bring anything?" I question.

"Snacks and pop maybe? My parents can't know I had a party," Alli replies.

"We should get back to the table," I comment when Alli leans in to kiss me again.

"Yeah, I guess," Alli sighs.

We both use the washroom, and I return to the table before Alli. When we get home, and down to the basement alone, I tell Alli and Clare about the party tomorrow night. Thankfully, Mom and Dad are going to a party at a friend's Saturday night, so we don't need excuses to be out. Mom just reminds us to be home by curfew. We swing by the store and pick up a couple bags of chips, a couple cases of pop and some cookies. Alli opens the front door and greets me with a kiss before I can even put the cases of pop down. Once all the guests are here Alli takes my hand going to the stairs and pulling me behind her.

"You're not disappearing at your own party to make out with your boyfriend," Jenna gripes.

"We're not disappearing, we'll be right back," Alli says.

She pulls me into her room, and I lie on her bed. Her lips attach to mine and my lips open. We are not right back downstairs in fact; I'm not sure how long we're upstairs, but I'm getting hard and she's practically lying on top of me. I know I need to break this up soon and go back downstairs, but it's getting harder and harder to pull away.

"PARTY!" The shout came from downstairs, and it was not one of the invited guests.

"Who was that? It sounded like Owen, we need to get downstairs," Alli remarks.

We jump up fixing our clothes, I have to adjust a little to try and hide that I was very aroused. I wipe my lips, and we go downstairs to see Owen, Bianca and Fitz and they brought alcohol. Actually, they may have already been drinking. I don't know how they heard about the party, but Fitz is eyeing my sister. She's currently sitting with Adam and Eli, but Fitz's eyes are on her and her alone.

"God, what a lame party," Bianca huffs. She looks miffed that I'm coming downstairs with Alli too.

"No one invited you three, get the hell out of my house," Alli demands.

"We came to liven things up," Owen says, holding up the liquor.

"I came to talk to Clare," Fitz comments, stepping toward her.

"She's not talking to you," Eli growls, standing up and folding his arms. He's standing in front of Clare so that he can't see her.

"Eli!" Clare huffs standing up.

"Please Clare, just…" Fitz begins. I'm starting to descend the stairs to get him away from her, but Eli pushes him first.

"She's not talking to you," Eli snarls as he pushes at Fitz.

He does it with enough strength that Fitz stumbles into an end table knocking over a vase. The vase shatters on the floor as Alli shrieks and the room goes silent. Fitz is fine, he rights himself quickly and didn't get cut or anything.

"LEAVE," Alli hollers at the uninvited guests. "You three need to go now," she seethes.

"You heard her, get out, no one invited you," I growl.

"Let's get out of here, this party is lame, and Fitzy isn't going to get to talk to Clare," Bianca remarks. She flips her hair over her shoulder and turns walking out. Owen follows her and Fitz reluctantly leaves after them.

"I need to get this cleaned up. What am I going to tell my parents?" Alii sighs.

"Where's the vacuum?" Adam questions.

"In the closet next to the kitchen," Alli replies.

Adam goes to the closet while Eli and I begin picking up the larger pieces of broken vase. K.C. and the others seem to decide it's a good time to leave. Everyone says they're sorry and they'll see us Monday and the others make their exits. Adam gets the vacuum and gets the last of the broken vase, Clare uses her phone flashlight to make sure there are no pieces under the furniture or stuck in the carpet.

"Some party," Alli sighs, sinking onto the sofa. "How did those guys even hear about it? My parents think I'm at Jenna's tonight, how am I going to explain the broken vase?"

"Not sure how those neanderthals heard about the party," Eli remarks, "as for the vase tell your parents you weren't feeling well and wanted to be home in your own bed. You felt a little dizzy and accidentally bumped the table, knocking over the vase in the process."

"Eli, that's brilliant," Alli grins.

"Thanks, since it seems the party has dissolved, why don't the three of us go to Queen Street. I'll get you both home before curfew, and then you two can continue whatever you were doing before the party was crashed," Eli says. He looks from my sibs to me and Alli as we talk.

"I'll see you two at home," I nod.

They gather their things and Alli takes me back up to her room. We spend the next couple of hours making out on her bed. It is really hard to control myself, but she holds my wrists anytime I try to caress her too low or even under her shirt. I made sure to set an alarm on my phone before we started making out again, and when it goes off, I pull away.

"I have to get home for curfew," I tell her.

"This was a much better night than I had planned anyway, Eli really is brilliant," Alli grins.

"Yeah, he's a clever one," I nod.

"You should take the rest of the snacks and pop you bought. If my parents see it they'll know I had people over."

We go downstairs and I get my jacket on, gathering what's left of the pop and snacks. Alli says she'll dispose of the trash and recycling without her parents knowing. She kisses me goodbye and I drive home finding the twins in the basement watching a movie. Adam helps me get the stuff inside and we put it in the kitchenette down here. It's not unusual for us to buy our own snacks for the basement so Mom won't notice. I finish watching the movie with them and we go to bed. Sunday is family breakfast and then we have chores. I'm in the middle of folding laundry when Alli texts.

Alli: Eli is a genius. My parents totally bought the excuse and asked how I feel. Mom is upset over the vase but more concerned about me. I'm not in trouble at all!

I just text back with a thumbs up. I feel like Eli is an evil genius and I'm not sure how I feel about that given how close he seems to be getting with the twins.

(ADAM)

"Gotta leave Adam," Fitz says as he and three other guys enter the weight room. He looked shocked to see me in here, but then his face got hard instantly.

It's Thursday at lunchtime, and I had eaten with Dave and Connor. Drew was eating with Alli as usual, my sister seemed to be eating with Eli as I couldn't find either one. I could have eaten in the LGBTQ room even though there's no meetings on Thursdays. I felt like exercising however and came to the weight room after eating. I was expecting to possibly find some of the hockey or basketball team in here, not for Fitz and three of his cronies to come in.

It had been almost two weeks since he, Owen and Bianca had crashed Alli's party. Owen and Fitz had largely stayed away from us all since then. We did see Bianca trying to flirt with Drew whenever Alli wasn't around. Though if she wasn't flirting with Drew then cheerleaders were. Alli seemed to be getting kind of clingy and possessive around Drew, although it's not like all the female attention was new.

"It's the school's weight room, you can't tell me to leave," I remark. One of Fitz's friends sneers and hangs up a pair of boxing gloves.

"You don't want to be in here Adam, not for this," Fitz replies. One of his other friends is sitting down and wrapping his knuckles with the tape boxers use.

"What's going on?" I inquire.

"Can't tell you," Fitz replies. I refuse to be ousted from the school weight room, and I don't move. Fitz kind of sighs and gets close to me, I clench my fist ready to hit him. "First rule of fight club," Fitz says in a low voice.

"Don't talk about fight club. I want to stay," I grin.

"No way, she'll tell Simpson or her mom on the school board," Fitz's crony remarks.

"It's he!" I snap at the boy before looking at Fitz. "I won't, not a word, won't even tell Clare or Drew. C'mon let me stay," I plead.

Fitz looks thoughtful for a moment and then nods, "Okay, but not a word."

I smile and make the zipping motion over my lips. I'm fairly certain that he's only letting me stay to get into the good graces of my sister, but I don't care. If I can stay, then I can prove to them I can fight. Fitz pairs up with the guy that complained about me being here. They spar for ten minutes and then the other two spar until the bell. Fitz and his friends leave, and I change in the locker room. I have to visit my locker before class and I'm a couple minutes late to civics and citizenship, but Miss Cosnell doesn't say anything. She does give me a concerned look, but I just smile and shake my head to say everything is fine.

"Where were you at lunch?" Clare asks when we start walking to fourth period.

"Media room," I reply.

She twists her mouth, clearly not believing me. She may try and probe me some more but she's meeting Eli after school because he asked for her help with a story. I know it's his not-so-subtle way of spending time with her. Hopefully, by the time she gets home she'll have forgotten that I was a couple minutes late.

Mom picks me up after school and takes me to therapy. Drew is home when we get home, and I help him with homework while Mom makes dinner. Clare gets home just before dinner, thankfully she doesn't ask why I was late to civics and citizenship. Over dinner Mom pushes us to study hard for midterms next week.

"Ugh! Midterms, I'm going to fail biology and math," Drew huffs collapsing on the sofa when we get back downstairs.

"You'll be fine, Clare and I will help," I tell him.

"K.C. is good at math and Alli is a science wiz if you need more help," Clare comments.

Drew just groans again. We finish our homework and go to bed. I notice that Clare doesn't talk about her time with Eli this afternoon. Friday at lunch I go to the weightroom right away, changing in the locker room and when I come out Fitz and his friends are back. Fitz and one of them are watching the other two spar.

"I want to fight," I tell Fitz.

"We'll find you a sparring partner," Fitz replies.

He doesn't look at me, but I smile. I don't get to fight today, but I watch the four of them fighting. They are pretty careful not to hit each other in the face, but it seems like just about anything else goes, anything but the groin anyway. I'm not late to civics and citizenship today so Clare doesn't give me a look when I'm in class before she is. After school I go to my locker to stash books, and that's where Eli finds me.

"Hey Adam, I haven't seen you much, want to come over tomorrow and play video games?"

"Sure," I grin.

"Cool," Eli smiles. We watch Fiona and Holly J putting up signs for "A Night in Vegas" dance next Friday. "Another dance," Eli rolls his eyes.

"Looks like a night of fake gambling actually," I remark and Eli smirks.

There's a hockey game tonight, but none of us are going. So, the three of us meet at Drew's car after school and go straight home. Alli has a family dinner tonight or Drew and Alli would probably have a date tonight. We don't have homework tonight, but Mom makes us study for midterms. The three of us stay up late watching movies before going to bed after two in the morning.

Saturday morning Dad drops me at Eli's house. We play video games most of the day, taking a break to listen to Dead Hand and read Goon comics over lunch. I mention the Dead Hand concert tomorrow and invite Eli over to watch the concert on TV. I'm pretty sure that Drew and Clare both have plans tomorrow, but even if they don't, I'm sure they'll give us the basement.

Clare and Drew leave Sunday after finishing their chores. I finish my chores, shower and get ready to watch the concert. Mom and Dad are running errands and going to dinner, Drew is on a date with Alli. Not sure what Clare is doing, but she's not at the house. When the concert is going to start in ten minutes and Eli isn't here, I call him.

"Hey, concert is about to start, you on your way?"

"Shit, the concert, I totally forgot Adam. I asked Clare to meet me at The Dot and help me with a short story I'm submitting," Eli says. He doesn't sound very sorry, but he does sound panicked.

"You're standing me up to make out with my sister?"

"We're not…" Eli pauses either not admitting it or not saying it in front of Clare, "we're just writing Adam. Why don't you come and help, record the concert, we'll watch it later and I'll buy you both lunch."

"No, forget it, spend time with Clare, she's who you want to spend your time with anyway," I huff in annoyance. Feeling betrayed, angry, and frustrated at the whole situation.

"Adam that's not tr…" Eli begins but I'm too irritated to listen.

I hang up and turn off my phone. I start watching the concert alone, but I'm seething and annoyed. I have a lot of pent-up energy that needs to be released. I keep the concert on but go to the garage, I get some rope, an old life vest from when we used to kayak and an old pillow. I make a sort of punching bag that I hang from the ceiling beam down here. I listen to the concert and punch away at the bag, it's not that heavy, it moves a lot, but it makes me feel better. I'm not picturing the bag as Eli or Clare, I would never ever picture hitting my sister, no matter how irritated I was with her.

"Whoa, why are you so pissed?" Drew asks when he comes in the basement and almost gets hit by the punching bag.

"Nothing," I snap back.

"Okay, I'm going to go shower," Drew says slowly.

I wait until he passes and goes upstairs before I continue hitting the makeshift punching bag. When I hear my parents get home, I take down the makeshift bag and toss everything into the alcove down here. Sitting down to watch tv, the concert is over, not even sure when it ended. Clare isn't home for dinner, Drew and I order pizza, but he doesn't ask why I'm angry still. After eating I go upstairs to shower, after showering and changing I go downstairs to find Clare alone.

"Thanks for superseding my plans with Eli so you could get more time with him," I bark out a little more angrily than intended.

"Adam, Eli called me late last night and asked me to meet him. I didn't know you had plans. You could have come to The Dot and helped. All we did was work on his story, Eli's a little scary when he's on something, he gets so many ideas," Clare says. I'm too angry to hear the anxious tone in her voice.

"Whatever, Drew can't leave Alli's side and the one good friend I made at Degrassi, and he doesn't want me, he wants my twin," I grumble and turn around going back upstairs.

I know I'm being somewhat unreasonable, and I don't feel like arguing with Clare right now. I sleep pretty restlessly, probably guilt. I'm really not angry at Clare, I know it wasn't her fault and that Eli can get fairly single-minded, but I took it out on her. As restless as I am I know Clare isn't sleeping well either. Yet my pride is keeping me from going in to talk to her. We're both up late, we both skip breakfast, and Drew notices the tension in the car the next morning. He knows better than to ask though. As soon as we're in school Clare and I part ways. I go straight to class and find Eli already in here.

"Hey, missed you yesterday Adam, we got a lot done. I'm sure it would have gone faster with your help," Eli comments.

"Yeah, sure," I mumble and sit at my desk.

"Raincheck the concert? How about a guy's night after finals. We can do it Friday, unless you're going to Vegas Night? Eli inquires.

"Haven't decided if I'm going yet," I reply without looking at him.

"Want to eat lunch together? You can tell me all about the great concert I missed," Eli offers, and I know he's trying. I just shrug but I probably will eat lunch with him.

Several other kids come into class, including Clare. Her cheeks are red, and she looks miffed, but I can't tell if it's because of me or something else. She sits down without talking to us and she leaves quickly before either of us can say anything. At that point I'm pretty sure she's still annoyed with me, and I go to remedial gym. At lunch I go to the caf and look for Eli, he waves, but he's sitting with my sister. Deciding he wasn't serious about eating lunch together I start looking for somewhere else to sit.

"Adam," Fitz calls scooting over. He's sitting at the table with his fight club friends.

"Really?" I question somewhat dubiously as I arch my eyebrow.

"We've been hanging out at lunch, bygones right?"

I look over at Eli and Clare, watching me with astonishment. "Right," I nod, sitting next to Fitz. Glancing back at Eli and Clare I see the udder shock on their faces. The five of us eat pretty quickly and go to the weight room. I change in the locker room, and they're already paired off and fighting when I come out. I watch them spar and practice on the punching bag in here.

"Tomorrow?" Fitz asks as they're getting ready to leave.

"Yeah, with a sparring partner, I'll fight anyone," I reply.

Fitz just nods and they leave, I change quickly and barely make it to class. Most of the day is review for midterms. Clare will hardly look at me in third or fourth period. I know that she's going to ask though, she'll bring it up. She chooses the moment Drew starts driving us home to do so.

"I can't believe you've been hanging out with Fitz!" Clare admonishes me. She's sitting in the front with Drew and turns in her seat to shoot me a glare.

"You've what?" Drew exclaims.

"Fitz has been cool to me, hasn't bothered me at all. He's letting bygones be bygones and I can hang out with whoever I want," I shoot back, crossing my arms.

"You think Fitz has just forgotten it all and is going to be your best friend now? I'm sorry I've been spending a lot of time with Eli, but he's still your friend Adam. I really don't think that Fitz is truly your friend, and I don't want you to get hurt."

I don't reply, the drive home is silent, and we all do homework separately in our rooms today. We're all civil at dinner, but thankfully Mom does most of the talking. The three of us just tell her we're studying for finals. Tuesday is another silent and tense drive to school. Drew leaves us as soon as we're inside. Fitz is in the hall when we come in and smiles at us.

"Adam," Fitz calls. I smile back and go over to Fitz. "Hey Clare," Fitz grins and waves at her. She turns up her nose and stomps away, Fitz sighs a little. "She still hates me," Fitz says, twisting his mouth with shame.

"She'll get over it, give her time," I reply.

"You coming to the weight room at lunch?" Fitz asks as soon as Clare is out of sight.

"Got plans at lunch," I shake my head. It's the last LGBTQ meeting until after break and I don't want to miss it. I also don't want to tell Fitz that's why I won't be in the weight room.

"Tomorrow then, we have a sparring partner for you," Fitz tells me.

"Cool," I grin, "I better get to class."

Fitz nods and I walk to class. Clare isn't in here yet and when I sit down Eli makes a remark about me hanging with Fitz. I ignore him. Clare comes into class and sits down but doesn't say anything. We don't have time to talk since it's our final, we can leave when we're done so I use the washroom and go to remedial gym early. There really isn't a final for remedial gym, we do go over some of what we learned this semester.

I spend lunch with the LGBTQI club. Miss Cosnell brought us pizza and we spend a lot of it talking about events for next semester. Clare is in class when I get into civics and citizenship. We take our final and Clare and I finish at almost the same time. I leave class but she runs to catch up with me.

"I don't know what Fitz told you but he's not your friend Adam," Clare says.

"Butt out Clare," I snap at her.

She flinches a little but doesn't say anything else. It's a quiet ride home in the car, Drew sees the tension but doesn't say anything. I'm sure he realizes it's got something to do with the fact that I'm hanging out with Fitz. I do homework in my room while Clare and Drew are in the basement. The next morning we're all up and out early. Drew is meeting Alli to study for his science final this morning. Clare and I have a free period after homeroom. I spend part of the period in the library studying. I go to the weight room early and change, waiting for my sparring partner and excited to fight.

"Okay, where's this chick that wants a beatdown?" Bianca asks, walking into the weight room.

I realize this was Fitz's plan and my face gets hard, "I'm not fighting a girl!"

"Sorry, but there's a code. No guy is going to hit a girl," Fitz shrugs.

"I'm not a girl," I hiss angrily, shoving at Fitz.

"Yeah, between the ears, but we fight with our fists not our brains," Fitz replies. He's kind of chuckling, his friends are laughing, Bianca just looks bored.

I growl angrily and storm off to the locker room. I don't even change, just grab my backpack. I change in the washroom and then wait outside the weightroom for Fitz.

"Thought you'd be hanging with your new BFF Fitz," Eli remarks coming over to me. I don't even acknowledge him, just continue watching the weight room door while pounding my fist into my hand. "What is it, Adam?" Eli asks concerned.

"You guys were right about Fitz okay, I'm an idiot," I respond. I'm still not looking at him, just carefully watching the door.

"Adam, w…" Eli starts but I see Fitz leaving and I storm over to him.

"Hey, Fitz you intolerant asshole," I growl. Fitz looks over and I punch him as hard as I can in the stomach. He doubles over and clutches his stomach. I'm pulling my fist back to hit him again when Eli runs over grabbing my fist. "Let me go Eli, he deserves this," I hiss. I'm trying to pull my hand away, but Eli is pretty strong.

"I'm sure he does Rocky but there's a teacher, you don't want to get detention for this," Eli says.

I look to the side and see Mr. Elliot down the hall. I turn away with Eli and storm off quickly. I'm mostly heading for class; Eli is following me. Just my luck we see Clare in the hallway, and she instantly knows something is wrong.

"Adam, what happened? Why are you so red?"

"Fitz did something," Eli tells her before I can speak.

"I knew it! I knew he was going to build you up and let you down," Clare seethes. Her fists and jaw clenching as she speaks.

"Yeah, you were right, okay, I'm an idiot for trusting him, is that what you wanted to hear?"

"You know that it's not Adam, I was worried. Forget about Fitz alright, we just have to get through one more final. Then it's break and you won't see Fitz or any of them for two weeks," Clare says, taking my hand.

"I need to get to class, see you guys later," Eli says, patting my back before walking off. Clare starts dragging me to class, but I stop her after a few steps.

"I'm sorry Clare, I should have listened to you, to Eli, everyone, I guess. Just felt like I was getting exiled from all the relationships in my life, and I wanted something of my own," I apologize to her.

"Adam, you know that isn't true! I'm your twin, you will always be more important to me than any boy, than anyone. Same for Drew. Eli is your friend too, he's just single-minded, sometimes it seems like he gets an idea and forgets everything else. I'll stop spending so much time with him so you can have guy time," Clare says. She kisses my cheek, and I smile. I put my arm around her, and we walk to class.

Miss Cosnell just has us read since we took the final already. We have our science final in fourth and can leave as soon as we're done. Clare and I are two of the first to finish. Clare says she's going to the washroom once we're in the hall. As soon as she's gone Fitz comes up to me, his eyes narrowed and his jaw tight. It was the auto shop final this afternoon as well, guess Fitz finished early.

"Outside, near the football field in ten minutes, we settle this," Fitz growls in my ear.

"Fine," I nod. Fitz turns and walks out, and I stiffen, going out the back entrance so Clare can't stop me. I pass Eli though and he runs over.

"Why do you look pissed again?" Eli questions.

"Showdown with Fitz in the yard in ten," I reply.

"No Adam, let's just go to Simpson," Clare says, appearing suddenly. She must have seen us when she left the washroom.

"No, I can handle this," I respond. This is my battle, and I have every intention of fighting it.

"I got your back," Eli says, patting my back.

"Ugh! Why do boys always insist on solving things with their fists," Clare grumbles, throwing up her arms and walking off. Eli and I exchange a look watching Clare storm off.

"Girls," we sigh and shake our heads.

We go outside, waiting on the side of the stairs near the football field. As soon as I see Fitz walking over, I begin to storm over with my fists clenched. Eli beats me to it though and swings at Fitz, he gets Fitz in the chin, and he stumbles back. I run over and grab Fitz kneeing him in the stomach. We can't do anything else as suddenly there's a stampede of kids coming outside. We look over and cowardly Fitz takes off into the woods.

"What's going on?" I ask Dave.

"Someone set off a stink bomb," he says.

"Oh gross, I hope this smell comes out of my clothes," Alli whines.

I don't see Clare but exchange a look with Eli. I'm sure we're both thinking that she's the one that set the stink bomb off. There's no way the timing is a coincidence.

I know for the most part this has been fairly cannon but things do change after Vegas Night. Next up will be "God I've Had to Fight".