The Last Time the Rain Fell

I was in bed for the rest of the day and by the time the next morning finally rolled around; I was not making any moves to get out of bed.

"Olivia," my aunt began as she sat on the bed next to me, "If you don't want to go to school today, you don't have to. I have no problem with you staying home today."

I shook my head.

"As much as I would absolutely love to stay home and never leave this room again, I really think I should just face it. Nothing is going to get any better by ignoring them." I said.

She nodded her head in understanding.

"Okay, Hun," she began, "Why don't you start getting ready and when you're done I'll drive you and Adam to school."

I nodded my head, not entirely trusting my own voice since I had been crying for hours on end. Audra leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my forehead before tucking a piece of my platinum blonde hair behind my ear. She stood up and walked out of the room, leaving me to myself. I got out of bed and took a quick shower before getting dressed. I walked into the living room once my hair and makeup was done as well to see Adam tying his shoes.

"You're going to school today?" he asked me, his blue eyes wide with confusion.

I nodded my head and I could tell that he didn't understand my motives.

"Adam," I began with a sigh, "If I don't go to school and face Eli, Clare, and Jake I’ll never be able to look past all of this. I need to do it."

Adam nodded his head and reached his hand toward mine to intertwine our fingers as he led me out the door to where my aunt sat outside in her car that was carefully parked in the driveway.

I sat in the back, already knowing Adam wanted to ride shotgun as I placed my ear buds into my ears and leaned my head against the seat of the car. By the time Aunt Audra was pulling up outside of Degrassi, the song I was listening to was only halfway done.

"Come on, sunshine." Adam said sweetly, lacing his fingers with mine as we walked towards the school doors.

"Olivia," I heard a voice begin from behind me.

I turned to see my chemistry teacher and I felt my eyebrows furrow together in confusion.

"Yes?" I asked, my hand not leaving Adams as my teacher approached.

"I was going over your grades and you're doing pretty well," they began, "So, I decided that today instead of attending class I want you to go the library and tutor a student of mine."

"Sure, who is it?" I asked, desperately wanting to get out of class so I didn't have to be Jakes lab partner today.

"Her name is Becky Baker."

With that, my teacher left Adam and I alone. The two of us walked to our lockers with our hands swinging between us.

"Do you know who Becky Baker is?" Adam asked me as we put the combinations into our lockers.

"Um, I met her once but that was it. Do you know her well?" I asked, watching an unmistakable blush form on Adams face as his blood rushed to his cheeks.

"Awe, does Adam have a crush?" I teased, pinching his bright red cheeks.

"Stop it," Adam began as he dragged the 'o' out longer than necessary and swatted my hand away, "I don't have a crush on Becky Baker."

"So are you gonna ask her out?" I said as I closed my locker and Adam groaned.

"Liv! I asked her out like a month ago when Romeo and Jules was on and she didn't want to go with me." Adam said as he closed his locker.

"Oh, so you admit you asked her out?"

"Just go to the library already." Adam said with a teasing smile on his face before walking away in the direction of his first class.

I walked towards the library and pushed the door open when I reached it. My blue eyes scanned the room for the light brown head of hair I have only come in contact with once. When I found her, she shot me a bright smile and I walked over to her.

"Hi Olivia," she greeted sweetly as I sat down across from her, "Thank you for helping me out."

"Oh, it's really no problem. Chemistry is my favorite subject." I told her as I watched her take her textbook out of her bag.

She showed me what she had problems with and I explained it to her step by step.

"So this is a physical change?" she asked, nervously hiring into her bottom lip after the words left her mouth since she was clearly not sure if she gave the right answer or not.

I nodded my head and she smiled brightly, her perfectly straight teeth showing as she enjoyed the moment.

"So," I began now that she put her books away and we were finished with what we needed to do, "Is there anything else you need help with?"

"Actually, I kind of wanted to ask you something." she said, nervously twirling a piece of her straight hair around her finger as she bit into her lip again.

"Oh, what did you want to ask?" I asked her, leaning back in my seat slightly in an attempt to get more comfortable.

"I was just wondering if Adam ever talks about me since you're his cousin and all. You see, he asked me to go see the play and I said no but he let me sing on stage with the cast for the finale and I haven't been able to stop thinking about him."

"Well," I began awkwardly, "I know Adam well, and the one thing you can count on is that his feelings towards someone really don't change."

"Is it hard?" she asked, confusing me greatly.

"Is what hard?"

"That someone like Adam is your cousin. Not that there's anything wrong with the lifestyle he chooses to live, I was just wondering if-"

"Becky," I began, cutting off her nervous rambling, "Adam's my family. If he decided to paint himself purple and say he’s Barney, I still would love him and support him."

"Aren't you sort of religious too? Didn't you freak you when you found out?" she asked me.

"If your brother told you he was gay or trans would that change the fact that you love him?" I asked her, watching her vigorously shake her head back and forth.

The bell above our heads rang and we both stood up from the seats before going our separate ways. I walked down the hallway, the soles of my shoes making small noises as I did so. A hand wrapped around my arm and pulled me towards them.

"Ow, what the fuck is wrong with you, Eli?!" I asked, already knowing it was him even though the light in the janitor’s closet was still out.

"I need to talk to you and you won't even give me the time of day," he said as he turned on the light, something that only weakened my resolve since now I could clearly see his green eyes.

"You don't deserve the time of day, Eli." I said as he slowly let my arm out of his grip.

"Olive," he began, making my heart melt at the mention of my nickname, "Please just listen to me."

I nodded my head and he sighed in relief.

"I screwed up-"

"Well, that's the understatement of the century." I said, cutting him off.

"I know I messed up but I want to make it better. I’m trying to apologize.”

“No, you can’t apologize.” I said as I opened the door and walked out, stepping into the hallway.