June and Jay were officially together. Not boyfriend and girlfriend —they were both too guarded to have the 'what are we' conversation— but they were definitely together. Therefore it only made sense for Sean to invite them on a double-date with his new girlfriend, Ellie.

So there they were, standing in the lobby of the movie theater, tickets in hand for Elimination Round 3, waiting for Ellie to arrive. And waiting, and waiting. June fidgeted with the hem of Jay's jacket, she had opted to discard her usual oversized jacket in favor of a long sleeved cropped shirt to show off her belly button piercing. It was a date after all, and she wanted to feel sexy for her new… Jay. June managed to scrounge together a date outfit on short notice. But it required emptying and repacking the covered bed of her truck, where she kept her non-essential items. June was wearing her same hoop earrings she always wore, her same maroon lipstick. It was a drugstore knockoff of Clinique Black Honey. She tried to dress things up with a black denim mini skirt. She didn't doubt that Jay liked her outfit, hell his hand was all over her thigh on the drive there.

"Sorry," Ellie finally arrived with Marco Del Rossi of all people in tow. June tilted her head down in disbelief. What on earth was that girl thinking? If it wasn't such a faux pas and she wasn't so late, June would have complimented the girl's outfit. Ellie had an alternative aesthetic, but her red hair, big round eyes and skinny limbs made her look like a baby deer. Something about the juxtaposition just felt so high school. And it didn't help that she was bringing her emotional support gay with her on a double date.

"Hello, Jay," Marco awkwardly waved.

Jay side-eyed him, bewildered, "Uh.. yeah." He cleared his throat. June cringed at the situation. Why did Sean always go for such clueless girls? "You know what June I'm hungry, let's go get some popcorn."

"No I wanna see this," she pouted. Jay chuckled and grabbed her shoulders, steering her towards the concessions area.

During the movie, Ellie and Marco were laughing incessantly. It was supposed to be a horror movie, so June didn't realize what was supposed to be so funny. It was pretentious of him, really. June didn't like when people shit on "low brow" stuff. "Jay," she whispered in his ear, "Can you get them to shut up?" Jay responded by throwing a handful of popcorn at Marco. June grinned, satisfied. She continued to observe the trio in front of them. It was hard not to, with all of the noise they were making. Sean nudged Ellie, and she proceeded to shush Marco. Then, Marco and Sean reached into the popcorn bucket at the same time. June tried not to laugh.

As the movie winded down and Sean said his goodbyes to Ellie (and Marco, of course), Jay and June knew what they needed to do. On the drive home June turned around in the passenger seat to face Sean in the back. "Sean, you need to talk to Ellie. That was terrible."

Sean scratched the back of his neck. "I know, I know. I'll talk to her on Monday."

Jay chimed in. "Seriously, man. What kind of person brings a fourth wheel to a double date? Where do you find these awkward chicks, Sean?"

Sean's face soured. "Don't talk about Ellie like that, she's cool. She gets me." Neither of the older teens had a response to that. They knew how rare it was to be with someone who understood you.

On Monday, even June couldn't avoid the rumours about what happened to the grade 10 girl over the weekend. It set her on edge. She didn't want to admit it but the rumours reminded her of her father. She could feel her anger rising to a head before fifth period, so she rushed to the girls washroom to splash her face with water.

And of course, Paige Michalchuck was in there crying.

As soon as Paige noticed June, she snatched her book bag off one of the coat hooks and made a beeline towards the door. "Wait, Paige!" It came out of June's mouth before she even had time to regret her decision. Paige made a tentative stop, her hand on the door.

"What do you want, June? Are you here to yell at me?" Paige asked. Ouch. June wasn't sure if she completely deserved that, and it wasn't like she was doing this to mend fences. In fact she wasn't sure exactly why she stopped Paige.

"Paige, you knew her, didn't you? I saw you in the hallway with her before," pointed out June. Her. The abused girl, Terri. God, just saying the word abused made June's blood boil.

"Yeah, I knew Terri," Paige whipped around and pointed her finger at June, "What's this even about, anyways? Are you here to mock me about it? To make fun of her? Say she was asking for it?"

Somehow Paige always knew what to say to get under June's skin. "You know what Paige? Forget it. I don't know why I asked. You'll always be a stuck up little bitch." June once again shoved past Paige to leave the room, heading to a class that she didn't even care to go to.

It was unbelievable, honestly. How Paige riled her up. The logical part of her knew it wasn't all Paige's fault. Paige had her assumptions for good reason, she was just going off what she knew. But the logical part of June was hard to find under all of the mess.

Emotional or Behavioral Disorder: Oppositional Defiance Disorder. That's what it said on June's IEP. And defiant she was. She rarely went to counseling, which always led to the administration scrambling to give her compensatory time at the end of the year. She hated counseling with a passion, but they stuck it on her plan when her mom died and she had been fighting to get rid of it ever since. Her SPED classification was her most guarded secret. Not even Jay knew, although she was sure he wouldn't feel any sort of way about it. Her teachers never brought it up in class. All they had to do was make her sit in the back anyways. And why bother when she already sat in the back on her own? As she made her way to history class Jay met her in the hallway.

Chapter 5: Soft Rains of April

April, 2004

Author's Note: IEP stands for Individualized Educational Plan. It is a legal document required for students in the USA and Canada to receive special education services. High school students will usually attend their own IEP meetings to discuss accommodations. For students with behavior classifications, counseling may be a part of their required services.

"You going to Perino's today?" he asked, tossing his arm over her shoulder.

"I don't know. I feel like I'm suffocating in this building," June replied.

"Let's get out of here, then. I'll take my girl out on the town." June blushed at his usage of my girl. It was clear Jay thought highly of her, even though they were both too stubborn to label whatever it is they were. She reached for the back of his head and pulled him in for a kiss before they snuck out the side door.