"Gayle." I walk up to him as he stand by his locker in the hallway.

"Hey, Canada." He says, a little surprised by my walking up to him. 

"I brought you your jacket. I put it through the laundry, don't worry." I say, handing it to him. 

"Thanks." He says, putting it into his locker. 

"Is there still a spot open at your lunch table?"

"Yeah, of course. Glad we could keep you coming back." 

"No problem. I'm reading a book on climate change, to you know, be better at your game?" All of my words are rushed coming out. 

"That's great. It means you're getting more educated." 

"Yeah." I say. "I'm going to head to my class. See you in Earth Sciences." I walk away from him, letting a sigh of relief slip out of my mouth. That conversation was a complete nightmare. 

"Good morning class, I hope we enjoyed no work yesterday, because he real stuff starts today." The teacher says. "I will be assigning you your copies of Romeo and Juliet. We will begin our reading and comprehension of it today. Popcorn. Evan, you may begin,"

"Hope you're ready for lunch, today, Canada. I'm not going to go so easy on you." Gayle meets my in the hallway on my way to lunch.

"I'll try." I say. "You gave one to me last time, though." 

"What?" Gayle's voice goes up at least two octaves when he says that. 

"You told me about the Polar Bears at the store when we met." I say. 

"I was just checking to make sure that you were paying attention" Gayle says, matter of factly. 

"Sure you were." I say, smirking a little bit. 

"You know, you would learn a lot more by joining Save the Planet," Gayle says, his voice going high again. This time, it's not because he's lying, it's because he's pleading. 

"I don't know. I've been told I'm not very... approachable." 

"That's a lie." Gayle says. 

"One time, a kid saw me across the street and started crying." 

"It was a different time, besides that, it was a long time ago, and I'm sure you look different." 

"I don't like talking to people all that much." I say. 

"We can work past that. Come on, stop making excuses, you put in a little bit of effort by educating yourself, if you get another person to do it, and a person after that, and a person after that, and so on, we wouldn't be in as much trouble. We could be the first community in the whole state to be powered off of renewable resources. Imagine how cool that would be?" 

"I love the idea, Gayle, but I just don't know. I'm sorry." I say. 

"It's okay. You're at least educated." Gayle says. "So, where did you move here from?" 

"Why do you want to know?" I ask. 

"I'd like to talk to you about things that aren't climate related, thank you very much." 

"Okay, I moved here from New York. What about you?" I ask. 

"I was born in Rhode Island." He says. 

"Nice." I say. 

"Any siblings?" He asks. 

"Emma and David are my adoptive siblings. You?" 

"No siblings, just me. Favorite food?"

"I like french onion soup." I say. 

"I like squash." He says. "This may seem a bit forward, but, can I have your phone number. To contact, and be friends and stuff." 

"I'd like that a lot," I say, jotting my number down on a piece of paper. 

"Thanks." He says. "Class is about to start." He says. 

"Yeah. It is." I nod. The warning bell blares through the school. Gayle and I pick up our pace, and reach the lunchroom just fine. I sit at their table, and pull out my lunch box.

"Um... Canada?" Emma asks. I turn to face her. 

"Yeah?" I ask. 

"I think I got your piece of fruit." Emma says. 

"Oh, here." I say, pulling out the apple that is definitely hers. She likes the the sweet red ones, I prefer the green and sour ones. Most importantly, she can handle looking at the red ones. I think too much about blood when I see those ones. 

"Thanks." She says. 

"No problem, see you after school." I say. 

Emma tilts her head a little bit, an amused grin on her face. "Yeah. See you after school." 

"So, next question, Who was James E. Hansen?" 

"First Researcher of Climate Change?" I ask. 

"Correct." Gayle says. "You picked up a library book, and now you know everything about climate change." 

"The book has a lot in it." I say, shrugging a little bit. 

"Hey, we're just happy your taking in interest in Climate Change. We could use more people like you on Save the Planet." Leah says. 

"Like I told Gayle, I'm not that great with human interactions, but I'll always be a silent supporter." I say. "Sorry." I rush out, realizing that I probably just let all of them down. 

"It okay. Don't sweat it." Jordan says, nudging my arm a little bit. 

"Now, to continue..." The game goes on and on. We finish our day, and meet up at the back of school. Emma and David talk, I listen. We go back to the house, I get a snack, and start working on my assignment. Soon, I hear the door open, signalling that Matthias and Abigail are home, and dinner would be out shortly. 

So, I walk downstairs, and help make the meal. We make the pot pies in silent, aside from asking what the next ingredient was, or what was required of us next. It's a tradition, sort of. We don't ask any question about our day or anything like that until we're at the table. That way, we can make sure that we know everything we need to, and hear it right the first time. 

"So, Emma, how was school?" Abigail asks as we finally sit down at the table. 

"It was good." Emma nods. "Today, in class we discussed the Eight Proofs of life." 

"Did the change since the last school?" Matthias asks. 

"No. They didn't." Emma says, dawning her famous smile that could command a whole room. 

"David, how about you?" Abigail asks. 

"It wasn't horrible. I got some homework and had me fitness pre-test." David says, cutting into his pie. 

"Canada?" Abigail asks. I look up. "How was school today." 

"It was fine." I nod. 

"Who were those people you were eating lunch with today?" Emma asks. 

"They were just some... people from Save the Planet." I say. I didn't want to call them friends, in case it was too early to call them that. 

"Really? You seemed to act like friends. You talked more than I think you ever have. You were answering trivia question, and told me to have a nice day. You've never done that before. Canada, they bring out the best in you." Emma says. 

"Well..." My voice trails off. I'm at a loss for words. I feel my face grow warm. 

"They sound like friends to me." Matthias still cuts into his pie. 

"I don't know if they'd like me to call them that." I say slowly. 

"Why not? Do they not like you?" Matthias asks. 

"I don't know. At least, I don't think so." 

"They don't." Emma says, speaking up a little. "If they don't like you, they must be really good actors, Canada. They seemed friendly." 

"So, these friends of yours, they're in the same club, right?" David asks. 

"Yeah." I nod. 

"Why don't you join them?" David asks. 

"That wold put me out there, and then we would risk getting caught. I like it here, and I'd like to stay here for as long as I can." I say. 

"We've been able to disguise age for years. Hats and makeup do wonders." Emma suggests. 

"I know but... what if it goes south?"

"Don't worry about it. It'll be okay. Trust us, it's okay to stay with the general population." Matthias replies.

"I just-" 

"Canada," Abigail puts her hand on my arm. "I get that this new for you. New things can be hard. They are hard. I want to see you succeed, and, if what I'm seeing is correct, you want to succeed. You want to do this. So, just try it, okay? You have our blessing to do this. Go, and save the world." 

I sigh deeply. I do want to do this. I want to help Gayle. I want to be with other people. I want to do this. 

"You sure?" I ask, looking at all of their faces, making sure this isn't some kind of a joke, or they aren't really approving of this. 

"I'm sure of it, Canada. Tell your friend that you're ready to join his charity." Matthias says. 

"Okay. I'll tell him tonight." I say, nodding my head a little bit. 

"Thank you." Abigail says, putting her hand around mine, and having the proudest look on her face. We finish the meal. 

They know don't really direct the conversation over to me, which I'm grateful for. I like our dynamic. We know each other's limits, we support each other when needed, we always give an ear. It's nice. We've become quite the family over the past few decades. 

I walk back up the stairs, pull out my phone, and text Gayle. 

Hey. I text. No response. I'll just say my piece. 

CANADA:

 I've changed my mind about Save the Planet. I'd like to join. Please. 

No response after fifteen minutes. He probably thinks it's weird that I've changed my mind. That I should be more decisive. That I should've said yes in the first place, that I should've-

Knock knock knock. I identify the iconic sound that is Emma's knock. 

"It's open." I call out. 

"Hey, chill." Emma says, sitting on the chair in my little book nook. I move my chair in my desk to face her. 

"How'd you know I was stressing?" I cross my arms over my chest. 

"Because I know you." She moves from the chair to the bed. "Care to explain what's going on?" 

"Just sent Gayle the text." 

"Yay! I'm so proud of you!" 

"Thank, but he hasn't responded yet. Hasn't even read it. I'm just worried he's going to think that I... you know... don't really make decisions, or I don't stick with my actions, or... you get the gist." 

"Why's this boy getting you so nervous?" 

"Shush it." 

Emma throws her hands up in mock defense. "If you're so worried, why don't you use your instinct?" 

"Seriously, you want me to spy on some boy that I barely know?" 

"But you're becoming friends." 

"I know it's just... it's hard. I just feel like this is betraying some sort of trust that we share, or something." 

"Alright, but, I want the credit if you do it." 

"I get it, I get it." 

"Alright, well, I've got to study for a test in APUSH." 

"Do you really have to, since, you know, you've lived through most of it?" 

She sticks out her tongue at me. "Very funny, but it's on the Revolutionary War, which I was not alive for." 

"Alright." 

"I better get going. Holler if you need anything." 

"Will do." 

Emma leave me in my room, alone with only my thoughts to occupy me. 

A little quick trip couldn't hurt. Gayle won't even know a thing.

But I will. I'll know what I did. 

But it's not like I'm distrusting him or anything. I just want to make sure that he doesn't think I'm some weird girl who doesn't stick with the actions she makes. I want to make sure that he actually wants me to join his club, and he's not asking me out of some pity because I'm the new chick at school who eats lunch all by herself. 

Sighing to myself, I close my eyes, and focus only on thoughts about Gayle. My brain shifts around, and a wind rushes through my brain. My room around me turns to black, and it slowly shifts to the outside of the store that I was just at the other night. 

"Climate Change is happening, people!" Gayle shouts to anyone who will here. In his back pocket sits his phone, once more lighting up to reveal that he has gotten my message, he just hasn't read it yet. 

A wave of guilt comes on me. 

I should've trusted him. I'm such a horrible... I'm such a horrible... friend? 

The guilt stays with me for the rest of the night. It's the cause of me losing track of time in the shower. It's the cause of me tossing and and turning at night. 

I walk into school the next day. I see that Gayle is waiting by my locker, a bag in his hands. He perks up when he looks at me. "Canada! Hey!" He says. "Hey, listen, I'm so sorry I didn't respond to your text. I was handing out pamphlet's at the grocery store, and by the time that I had finished it was really late, and I didn't want to wake you up." 

I know I want to say, but I know I can't. "It's alright." 

"Anyways, so, welcome to Save the Planet." Gayle smiles. "Here, a little welcoming gift. It's kind of your uniform." He says, chuckling lightly. 

I open the bag, and see a variety of shifts, sweaters, and the exact same kind of jacket Gayle gave me four nights ago. "Thanks." I nod. 

"No problem. I'm sure you'll look great in them, but you look great in everything, so-" His face instantly flushes red, and I think mine does the same. "Sorry, that was really out of line, I apologize, and I would-"

"It's okay." I say, cutting him off. 

"Really?" He asks. 

I start nodding. Nodding harder than I should. "Yeah. Totally." My head is now nodding like I'm moving it to a heavy metal song. "Sorry, I don't know who says totally anymore, as like a stand alone sentence." I say. 

"It's chill. It's chill." He nods. I can tell he's uncomfortable as I am, and I don't need to be able to read minds to determine that. "Yep. I am lame. Well, I'll see you in science." 

"Yeah, see you then." I nod, walking away. 

That was unbearable. Was Gayle always that awkward, or did I make him that way? Is it selfish of me to think like that? To think that I make him awkward? It's more than likely just how he is. Every person at this age is awkward, maybe I just didn't notice it at the grocery store.