Our Experiment

2: Johnny

Past

Johnny stared at the number on his phone, his thumb hovering over the call button. He had been debating on calling her for weeks now but had yet to muster up the courage to do so. It had been almost 3 months since she left for the states. Last time he had seen her was in the hospital. He was only able to visit her once before she was whisked away to Washington. He remembered the second time he was going to visit her, but he was informed by hospital staff that she had already been discharged home. He was disappointed to find that their house had already been vacated as well. He had thought about calling her then but assumed that maybe she didn't want to see him again, or else she would have said something to him about when she was leaving.

Now, almost 3 months later, he couldn't take not knowing if she was okay. If she had healed from her wounds. If she was stable enough to have gone home. What school she was attending. If she was planning on returning to Canada any time soon, or if she was going to finish out high school in America. Maybe she would go to college with him in Canada. He wondered if she thought about him. If she missed him as much as he missed her.

He tapped the call button.

He expected it to ring a couple times and then she would answer. He hoped she would answer. He didn't know how she would react to his call but hoped she would be happy to hear from him. He hoped they could talk for a while, and perhaps make plans to see each other soon. He wanted to make sure she was alright. She didn't talk with him much while she was in the hospital, but he assumed that was because she was in so much pain and possibly traumatized by being almost crushed by a wall.

His hope was short lived by as soon as he placed the phone to his ear, the operator informed him that the phone number had been disconnected.

He felt his heart sink in his chest as he lowered his phone.

Maybe he hadn't been important to her.

***

Present

It was her third day at Degrassi and so far her only friend was Peter. She had met many other people outside of him, but he was the only one who had stuck around frequent enough to become her familiar person. She woke up this morning excited about going to school, mostly because of Peter. She hated that he had been hurt by being dumped, but she was excited that now it gave her a leg into his life. Even if they ended up nothing more than just friends, she enjoyed his company anyway.

With her bag slung over her shoulders, she walked out of her room, but just as she made it to the staircase she got a text. It was from Peter;

Want a ride to skool?

She smiled and replied: Sure. Where r u?

She got another ring as she made it to the bottom step.

Come outside.

Her dad had already left for work, so she locked herself out and smiled as she found Peter standing out front next to his truck. She laughed as she walked towards him. "Nice ride." She said, hugging him.

"Only the best for you, milady." He joked as he held the door open for her.

"So, how is your morning?" Justice asked as he settled into the driver's seat.

"Better now that you're here."

Justice felt her cheeks heat up as he pulled off onto the street.

"So, have you made any friends?" Peter asked her as they rode through a green light.

"Yeah, just some lame guy I keep running into." She said, nonchalantly. "You might know him. His name is Peter."