Today is a new day.

Today the world is how it was before Adina transferred to Hawthorne at the beginning of Sophomore year.

Sure, we think about her and we talk about her. ("Hey, remember that one time Adina did...) Every conversation is followed by a sollemn silence. No one wants to say anything, but everyone wants to say so much. There's nothing to say, but yet there's so much to say. Adina is dead. The world hasn't stopped turning.

Four months have gone by and we're about to start our Junior year.

At first, nothing was the same. We would go to Lola's house every Thursday (study group resumed), we would do homework, then we would talk. The first week, it was mainly small talk. After that, it was really deep conversations about life that we didn't used to have. We had them say... once every few months, and remember them for a really long time but we had so many of them in such a short time that I lost track of them all. After a while, about the time that school got out, we stopped having such deep conversations and we started doing teenage summer things. We saw each other almost every day. We went to the pool. We ate popcicles on the front porch. We camped out under the stars in the back yard. We were closer than ever.

Summer was a strange time. We were stuck between two worlds: the world of life with Adina and the real world. We wanted to believe-so badly-that we would wake up and find that we're still sophomores, and that nothing ever happened. We want to realize that Adina is hiding somewhere, and that she could be anywhere: waiting for us to come home from the ice cream shop down the street in Lola's basement, enjoying the air conditioning. Crouching behind a tree, waiting to jump out at us as we walk by so she can scare us, and jump right back in with us. Sitting in a beach chair at the pool, yelling at us, wondering what took us so long. I came to expect her behind every corner.

But that only made me realize one thing.

Everyone else has moved on. No one cares anymore. As far as I know, we're the only ones who actually remember her existence.

But it's a brand new year. It's time that I stop dwelling on her.

I don't have to be my old self anymore. I can be whoever I want. It's an entirely new school year. I have new classes, new teachers... new everything.

If I wanted, I could even have new friends.

But I am perfectly happy with Lola, Junie and Desmond. I love them more than ever.

"Dillon, give me your schedule," Junie demands. It's the first day of our junior year. We're walking from the bus stop to the school. For the first time ever, mom is letting me use public transportation.

I pull my schedule out of my pocket and hand it to Junie. She unfolds it and looks at it.

"Dillon! You're not taking any accelerated classes. Seriously, you need to challenge yourself," Junie scolds me. I laugh. I always found it funny that she would get so mad over what classes I'm taking. She's been scolding Desmond and I for taking easy classes since eighth grade now.

"I'm not like you, Junie... I don't like to challenge myself. I already have enough work as it is with my clarinet and everything," I say and it's true. I'm principal clarinetist this year. In the past few months, my chair position slipped a little bit but I got it back up pretty quickly.

"You could have at least taken accelerated English. It's not much harder than regular English and it looks good on college applications," Junie says. I groan.

"Well, what classes are you taking if you think my schedule is so easy? It's not like I'm taking remedial classes or special education," I say.

"Calculus One, Advanced Placement US history, Accelerated English, Advanced Placement biology, Advanced Placement Psychology, Spanish Year Five and French Year Three," Junie recites. I stare at her, not entirely sure what to say. She's always had a crazy schedule, but this year she's taking four advanced placement classes, two language classes and college level math. That's almost suicide.

"You're insane," I finally say.

"Nah... I'm just not a slacker, like you are," she says. She lightly punches my shoulder.

"Hey!" I say, lightly punching her back.

"You know it's true," she giggles.

I don't say anything.

We walk a half a block.

A guy I knew from last year walks by. His name is Dean. He's openly gay and he's the hottest guy in the entire school.

"Hey, Dillon," he says. My heart melts. He takes my breath away with two words. I don't know what to say back.

"Hi," I sputter. He walks by. I blink several times. I have no idea what was up with Dean saying hi to me, but whatever his reasoning is: I like it. I hope I wasn't too obvious. I've never let myself look at guys like that freely. I don't know how to hide that kind of thing.

"That's the same way you used to look at Desmond," Junie whispers in my ear. I blush. She's right.

"Thanks, June Bug," I say, sarcastically.

"He's gay, you know," Junie says, all knowingly. She smiles, provocatively, enticing me to be with him.

"I know that... That's why he's attractive," I say, staring at Dean's back as he walks past us. His tight fitting thick strapped tank top brings out his muscular back, which moves back and forth as he walks. His grey cargo pants go a little bit past his knees. He's on the track team, so his legs are very muscular. For some reason he isn't carrying a backpack. Oh well. It just makes it easier for me to look at him.

"You guys should go out," Junie says. I shrug.

"He probably doesn't like me," I say.

"He said hi to you. He might like you," Junie says.

"If he likes me, he must have a pretty fucking huge gay-dar," I say.

"Well, you do act gay sometimes," Junie says.

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"When?"

"When you talk about guys being hot," Junie argues.

"That's just around you, Lola and Desmond. It's not like I'm announcing that to the entire world," I explain.

"You still act gay."

"Shut up, June Bug," I grumble.

"Just saying!"

"I said shut up," I repeat.

"Fine," she says.

We walk a quarter of a block in silence.

"What do you think Adina would think if I got together with him?" I ask.

"What?" Junie asks, taken off guard.

"What do you think Adina would think if I got a boyfriend?" I say.

"Um... I have no idea. I bet she'd be happy for you," Junie says.

"Maybe," I say. I don't mention that I was looking for a more specific answer than that. I was looking for an answer more like what exact words would go through her head.

"She would be happy for you," Junie says.

"Yeah... I don't know. Do you think she ever wished I'd never have a good relationship?" I ask.

"Um, yeah... I bet she also wished you were dead. I know she did. She told me that once," Junie says.

"Gee, thanks," I say, sarcastically.

"Just saying!"

"If there's an afterlife, I wonder what she thinks when she watches us," I ask.

"I bet she's glad we're friends again," Junie says without thinking.

"Maybe," I say. I know Junie is just speculating. I know it's probably not true but her speculations don't seem right. They seem like Junie is just trying to make me feel better about my life.

We walk another half a block in silence. We're always unusually quiet after we talk about Adina. We just need to take time to think about her is all.

"Oh my god... Look ahead," Junie says as we're nearing the school. Lola is leaned against the wall of the school. Desmond is facing her. Their heads are unusually close together. I can't tell what their mouths are doing. My eyes widen, totally shocked. Lola and Desmond...? No.

"Oh my god," I say. I don't know what else to say. I've never pictured them together. It's almost funny that they would be making out right outside of the school. I have to laugh a little bit.

"When did that happen?" Junie asks, just as surprised as I am.

"I don't know... they never told me," I say.

"So this is why they both broke up with their girlfriends last week," Junie says.

We both burst into laughter.

"Thanks for the show, guys," Junie yells at them. They look up long enough to flip us off and return to making out. Junie and I crack up again. I never would have pictured them together. They've been friends for so long that I never would have imagined they would get together.

"Jealous?" Junie asks me.

"What?" I say.

"Of Desmond?" Junie rephrases. I smile. I haven't thought of Desmond in that way in such a long time.

"Oh, nope... I've been over him for a while now," I say.

"Really?" Junie asks, skeptically.

"Yes... now race you to the school," I say, lightheartedly, trying to change the subject..

"You're on," Junie says.

We race into the school. This time, no one gets hit.

A/N-So a little cheesier than I thought, but I guess I like it. You guys should all review, even though this is over now. :) I've really enjoyed writing this story a lot, which comes to my next thing:

Acknowledgements:

Thank you, Emma (Nessarose The Wicked Witch), Emily (pinkpalace77) and Miles (Wyld Asriel Somerset) for helping me develop this story and my characters for the past year or so, role playing conversations I'm totally stuck on, helping me make this story at least a little politically correct and making me write even when I don't want to. You are all awesome and amazing people. (You should look them all up on fictionpress. You can find them all on my favorites list.)

Also, I am working on a companion to this story called If God Is So Great. There is more information on that on my profile page. I am planning on doing another draft of that and then getting people to beta read it. If anyone is interested in beta-reading it after I am done with my current draft, please drop me a PM.