"CANADA!" A voice yells as I walk into the school. The voice isn't angry, though, it's energized, if anything. Not to mention, it's Gayle's.

"Gayle!" I try to match his enthusiasm, not his volume. We embrace quickly, and break away. "Don't you think it's a bit weird that we're having this reunion moment even though we hung out on New Years?"

"Yeah, but everyone else is doing it. Join the fun." Gayle says. "So, I have a proposal for you, and hear me out, you know how that presentation in our Earth Sciences class gets us 10 points extra credit?"

"Yeah...?"

"I was figuring, maybe you wanted to present?" His voice goes higher as he asks this.

Gayle seems really fond of this presenting idea. He's talked about how he likes public speaking, I mean, he's in a public speaking class, and gets to make a speech at graduation. I made a speech in front of thousands, and that speech had to be 15 minutes long, and recited from memory. What harm could it do if I just read from a power point? Not to mention, if I want to be good at public speaking, I guess I'll have to learn how to speak publicly.

I look at Gayle's puppy dog eyes for a second longer, let a sort of goofy- and probably idiotic- look live on my face. "Alright, fine."

"Yes! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Hey, I can present in front of a crowd like I did at that family reunion, I can present for anyone."

Gayle mocks gasps. "Is this what finally got you confident?"

"You betcha." I try my hand at a stereotypical mid-western accent. It didn't go well, but at least Gayle's laughing. "I better get to class."

"Yeah, I'll see ya in science."

"See you in science." We walk away from each other, and go about the rest of our days. I do the standard finals things, no subject goes unstudied. At lunch, Gayle and everyone else played the usual trivia game, evidently at the party, there was a Jeopardy version played. Fifth period went through and by sixth period, I could feel my heart racing.

I don't get why it's going so fast. I just presented in front of thousands, and the person who rules my kind. Maybe it's because I know tomorrow, that I'll see them all again. At the Feast, I knew that I could always hide in the room until it was time to leave. I did great the last time I did a speech. This time could be different, though.

"You okay?" Gayle's voice asks, breaking me from my internal monologue.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine, are you okay?"

"I get to do a presentation on climate change, I'm awesome."

I force a smile to come over my nervousness. "That's great."

"You still nervous?"

I look into his eyes for a second. I can't lie to him. "Yeah."

"Hey, you are going to do great, okay?" Gayle says, grabbing me by the shoulders, our faces inches apart. My face grows warm, and Gayle doesn't notice it, and the lack-there-of distance between us. "And if someone tells you otherwise, I'll fight them, okay? Ma enrolled me Taekwondo when I was younger in the hopes of being able to control my energy."

I think that is the most attractive thing I've ever heard. Forget about Adam Driver's 'You know I can take whatever I want' from Star Wars, the Force Awakens. Ignore Killian Jones' 'I hope it's my job to protect your heart' from Once Upon a Time. Gayle West saying 'And if anyone tells you otherwise, I'll fight them' is one of the best things a guy can say. What's even better is, I know he'll be fighting them with words, not his fist. Gayle wouldn't ever hurt a fly. If anything, he would rather get hurt.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." I smile, and we stand there for a hot minute (No pun intended) until the warning bell rings, and we walk into class. We take our seat at the usual table at the front, and the teacher begins her introduction.

"Okay, hope everyone had a nice break. I also hope that everyone has finished their Final Project on Climate Change. So, let us begin. The first people to sign up are..." The teacher looks at her sheet briefly. "Oh, looks like Canada and Gayle are the first ones who signed up to present. How ironic, last in the alphabet and first to present. Okay, you two, ready when you are."

Gayle and I take to the front of the class. We grab our papers, and start reading them off in the order we decided during lunch.

"So today, we are going to be talking about The Green New Deal." I say, attempting to kick this off the best I can.

"The Green New Deal was established and created by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, she introduced it to the floor as a way to cut back on carbon emissions be creating a tax on gas, among other things. One thing about the Green New Deal that stuck out to me was..."

Gayle and I go on and on in our speech. It's nice when you have a piece of paper right in front of your to present for your final. As Gayle says his speech, his eyes start glowing, and he sounds more energetic, if that's even possible. His smile also flows through his words. Occasionally, as we wait for the other to finish up, we exchange a glance. His gold flakes stay in his eyes. We take our seats, and the hour continues on, and on, and on. Gayle and I occasionally share glances again, but when we look back at each other, and hold real eye contact, one of us breaks away, and when I do it, it's out of embarrassment.

The bell finally rings, and we pick our bags up from underneath the lab station.

"Holy heck you did amazing."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. Where was she a few months ago?"

"To anxious to come out, I guess." I shrug my shoulders, and we walk out of the room. "You did amazing, too. You can tell you're really passionate about this stuff."

"Aww, you're so sweet. Thanks."

"Thank you. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be so... like this."

"Meh, I do what I can." Gayle says.

"Yo, Maple Leaf, you ready to head home?" David's voice interrupts us.

"Maple Leaf?"

"David calls me that sometimes."

"So can I call you that?" Gayle raises a brow, smirking playfully.

"If you want me to rip off your ears and where them like hats." I threaten.

"Okay then."

"Oh, sorry. Was that too intense? Did I go too far, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"You're fine, Maple Leaf." Gayle smirks. "Look who's rambling now." He slugs me in the arm a little bit. "I'm sorry if I over stepped there, too."

"No, it's fine. Don't sweat it."

"Thanks." Gayle says. "Hey, where's Emma? Is she sick?"

I don't know why or how, but here and now, I feel a tang of what I know to be jealousy break through my veins.

"She took up on an offer with the family to stay there." David explains.

"Nice. Send her my congratulations." Gayle says.

"I will, gladly." David says. "We better get going home soon. We'll see you later."

"Yeah, see you guys later!" Gayle waves us off. "Bye Canada!"

"Bye Gayle," I wave and smile as he walks away. David and I turn the other direction, and walk out to the car. Emma isn't here to ask about our day, or how our day is going. I really do miss her, even though I was jealous of her not even five minutes ago, and even though our second-to-last conversation involved an argument and her revealing to me that she had sex. David and I finally get into the car, and that's when he breaks the silence.

"So, want to tell me what in the world that was?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't need neuro-empathy to tell that there is some sort f spark between you two. So please, for the love of all things good, holy, and pure left in this world, that you will not ignore it like you did last time. This slow burn is killing me!"

"What in the world are you on about?"

"First of all, I see the way you look and talk to each other, you two are totally smitten, second of all, you got jealous of Emma!"

"How do you know that?"

"You kind of shut off, and I can tell when a person's a litter peanut-bitter and jelly."

"Props for that pun."

"Don't change the subject, Canada."

"Real name? Is it that bad?" I'm honestly startled by this. He's only used my real name a few times.

"No, Canada. It's fine, I'm sorry. I'm just... I'm trying to be the new Emma. She was really good at encouraging you, and this really awkward, so I vote we never talk about this again, and you ask Madelyn for all of your relationship advice?" David rubs between his eyes in embarrassment.

"Sounds great. I'll come to you when I need some big brother protection."

"Make sure you tell that boy, that if he breaks your heart, I will break every bone in his face so badly that-"

"I get it!" I cut him off a little bit. "Plus, I'm not going to go for him."

"Why wouldn't you? Do you not really like him?"

"I-I do." I mutter quietly. I can feel myself curling up in the seat and turning slowly to the door.

"A crush is nothing to be embarrassed about. Why not pursue this guy? It's clear that he likes you."

"Why should I, though?"

"What do you mean? I just gave you a great reason."

"No, I mean, he'll get older, and I won't. Eventually, we'll have to break up, so what's the point?"

"Canada, the point is, he will make you happy."

"I know but- it's just- Will I be happy if I'm constantly filled with the knowledge that I will have to brake up with him one day?"

"You will be happy while it lasts-"

"And I will be heart broken when it's over."

"Did you know that most high school relationships do not last?"

"I do."

"Then why are you so bent out of shape over this guy? And even if he is the one, which is a big if, we can just turn him."

"But what if he doesn't want to be turned? What if he's repulsed by me?"

"If he loves you, really loves you, he won't be repulsed. When Emma and I were turned, were we repulsed by each other?"

"You're siblings, you know that-"

"And Matthias and Abigail, were they repulsed by each other?"

"They were't, because they were turned at the same time, and knew they were in it for the long haul."

"Canada, if either of them didn't want to be in these shoes, we could've taken a silver bullet or dagger,"

"I know."

"An eternal life can really suck. Watching people you love grow old and die, having to break up with someone, because you haven't changed a day since high school. But one of the best parts, is being with your soulmate forever."

"It's a bit early in the game, though, to guess soulmate, don't you think?"

"Eh, I'm a big picture kind of a guy."

"So, you really think I should go for it?"

"Yeah, I think you should."

"Yeah!" David throws his fists up in joy, scaring the living daylights out of me.

"Not bad romantic advice, by the way."

"Meh, I try. Now, make me a promise."

"And that being...?"

"Promise that when we get home, you'll text him about this crush thing."

"I'm doing work with Save the Planet today, I'll do it in person."

"Canada, if you are procrastinating, I swear-"

"I know, I know."

"Okay, good." We drive in silence for a little while. "Look at me, being all like Emma."

"Much pride, big bro."

"Thank, Maple Leaf. I try."

Finally, the time had come for Gayle and I to do our foot post. We drove to another little town where we hadn't been in a while. It wasn't too close to Clair that they would know about us, but not too far that we would not be getting sleep on a school night. David and I's promise still stay in my head. Tonight, I am going to tell Gayle how I feel. I won't chicken out of it like last time.

"You're awfully quiet tonight, you know?" Gayle asks as we drive in his car. Thankfully, he's back to normal after hitting that deer.

"Oh, sorry."

"Hey, it's not a problem at all."

"Thanks."

"For...?"

"Oh, sorry."

"What's going on, Canada? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Well look, here we are." Gayle says as we finally pull into the parking lot of the church. Gayle's been here before, so he knows where he can park so he doesn't get towed. We both get out of the car, and start walking to the grocery store. Thanks to the snow that's coming down, not a lot of people are out. It's going to be a quiet night.

"I think we're going to have a snow day soon. It's in the air." Gayle says.

"Me too. Then we can answer the question of 'If the Earth is getting warmer, why do we have a snow day?'"

"The eternal struggle of a conservationist." Gayle replies, and then stares out into the street.

How am I going to tell him? Will I tell by just saying it bluntly? Should I pull him in and kiss him like it's a Hallmark RomCom? No, then that runs the risk of kissing someone without there consent, which is something no one should ever do. Wouldn't he know how he would like to be called, though.

"Gayle?"

"Hm?"

"I like someone."

"Oooh! Canada's got a lil' crush?"

I feel my cheeks warm up. "Maybe."

"Who is it?"

"Irrelevant. You're a guy, so how should I... you know... ask him out?"

"Be blunt with him."

I knew I should've gone with that one.

"Okay." I take a deep breath in, and a deep breath out. Here goes nothing. "So will you go to the movies with me?"

"Yes! Exactly! You tell him just like that, Canada."

Shoot. This is turning into a 15 year old's dumb romance faster than I thought. He doesn't know I'm asking him. He's dodging the question. He doesn't like me back. Yay. I feel a lump grow at the back of my throat.

"Maybe you should try calling him and telling him."

"Oh, I'll do that later."

"No, do it now."

"Gayle, I'll do it later, I promise." I won't. Man does it hurt to lie to him.

"Canada, I can't let you throw love out the window, please do it." A genuine asks lays in his voice.

"But we're working."

"We're volunteering, and no one's here, so, there's that."

I pull my phone out of my pocket, and stare at it for a second. I punch in my pass code, and scroll to my contacts, where I click on Gayle's name, and put it up to my ear. Let my humiliation begin. It rings for a few moments, and Gayle pulls his phone out of his pocket. I feel my heart sink as he looks at the caller ID and see that his picture for me is a picture I had no clue that he had taken. I was scrolling on my phone in his room, doing nothing attractive, and everything unattractive. He slowly picks up.

"Hello?" A hint of teasing lays in his voice. He knew the whole time. Was he really playing with me that much. "Sorry, I can't talk right now, I'm trying to get my crush to admit her crush."

Crush. I'm his crush. He has a crush on me. I feel a smile explode on my face. I'm sure I'm at a special level of 'Grinning like an idiot'.

"You're my crush, you oblivious little..."

"Oblivious little what?" He pulls the phone away from his ear slowly, and so do I. It's just us hear and now.

"Kind, adorable, wonderful person." I say, looking into his beautiful eyes.

"You must be talking about yourself."

"Trust me, I'm not." I say. "So, at some point or another, do you want to go see a movie?"

"Yeah, I'd like that a lot."

"So it's a date?"

"It's a date."

Gayle and I smile at each other for a minute longer. Soft chuckles sometimes come out of our mouth. Finally, he knows, I know,

We know.