As brave as she was, she always found it difficult to try to talk to her father about being in the elite class. She would play loud music, be unapologetic, and call out her dad’s crap, but somewhere down that path, she was still afraid to tell her father that she didn’t want to be in the elite class. We spoke about that a lot. She kept up her invisible walls; I told her it was okay to lower them every once in a while. But I didn’t want to pressure her. I loved her, and I wanted to make sure that we did things at her pace.

“Did you tell Mel that you love her yet?” Donny asked while keeping watch outside of the washroom after gym. I still didn’t like locker rooms so he stood guard so that no one came in while I was exposed.

“No,” I sighed.

“What’s stopping you?” he asked.

Fear. I was new to all of this. I was new to love and feeling anything other than sorry for myself. I didn’t want to ruin it.

“I’m not ready,” I replied.

Donny let out a gross laugh.

“Ohhh. Look at little Adrian, too afraid to tell his girlfriend that he loves her.”

“Shut up,” I grumbled.

“Fine, whatever.” He giggled.

I finished getting dressed and we left the gym. Donny seemed to be a bit jealous that I had a girlfriend while he didn’t. Maybe it was a big brother thing, but it got pretty annoying. I was worried about Donny. Some of the folks in his music club would post on social media, “Not all men are trash! All girls are the same.” I was worried that the behaviour of that crowd might rub off on him.

Mel told me one time, “Sure, not all men are trash. But a good amount of them are, and the ones who claim not be trash need to hold the ones who are accountable. Will you hold them accountable?”

I promised I would.

I learned a lot from Mel. I think the most important thing I learned from her was how to listen and not to speak to every issue that didn’t directly affect me. I learned more that way. She really opened me up to new ideas that I hadn’t thought of before.

“Hey, back to Earth.” Donny waved his hand in front of me. “You daydream a lot.”

“I know.” I shrugged.

“Hey, man, anyways I’m skipping the next class, need to finish the homework that’s actually due in it. I’d ask if you want to come but I know you’d say no.”

“You know me too well.” I shrugged a second time.

“Ha, that’s what growing up with you does to me. Text me later if you wanna chill during lunch.”

“For sure,” I said.

Donny left, and I made my way down the hall toward my locker. I could see students staring at me. Not in the “Oh my gosh, he’s such a fat guy” kind of way, but in the “Wow. He lost a good amount of weight” kind of way.