Degrassi Community School

Underneath It All

"Maddie, hurry up. Eli and Adam are already here," says Olivia.

"Okay, I'm coming," replies Maddie as she comes down the stairs. Maddie is wearing a yellow polo shirt, a khaki skirt and an ID around her neck. She has short, curly, red hair and blue eyes and freckles. She is wearing a smile on her face.

"Bye mom," she says.

"Bye," says Olivia, Maddie's sister, who is two years older than Maddie and looks almost the same except for her short, curly hair. Olivia is wearing a red polo shirt, a khaki skirt and an ID around around her neck.

"Have fun on your first day of high school Maddie," replies her mom.

"I will."

They go out the front door and see a big black car.

"Hey, how do you like my new ride?" asks Eli, "I got it over the summer." He is leaning on his car and has on a blue polo shirt and khaki pants. His hair is black and he's wearing the same necklace he always does.

"I like it," replies Olivia and they kiss.

"Hey Adam," says Olivia afterwards as she is leaning in the car. A boy with brown hair, freckles and blue eyes is sitting in the car. He waves at her. Like Olivia, he is wearing a red polo shirt.

"Hey. Did you have a good summer?" he asks as he exits the car.

"It was fun."

"I can see it's your sisters first day at Degrassi," says Adam.

"You'll have a lot of fun," says Eli.

"Yeah, I can't wait," replies Maddie.

They all enter the car. Olivia goes up front with Eli and Maddie sits in the back with Adam. Eli is Olivia's boyfriend and is so sweet. He is goth and likes to wear all black. Adam is Olivia's friend and he is an FTM. Female to male transgender. Last year he was new and apparently he showed up one day as a girl. Everyone was shocked. He even got bullied, but all that is over. Adam is actually a really nice guy.

"Degrassi, here we come!" says Eli as he drives to the school.

"What did you do during the summer?" asks Adam.

"I stayed here in Canada for most of the summer. I was a counselor in training in my old camp. In August Olivia and I went to LA," replied Maddie.

"Sounds like fun," says Eli.

"It was. We got to see our cousins," says Olivia.

"Well, I stayed here all summer," says Adam.

"What did you do while you were here?"

"Nothing much. I just hung out at home with Drew. I saw Clare a few times."

Drew is Adam's older brother who's a senior and Clare is Adam and Olivia's friend. They are all in 11th grade. Clare used to date Eli last year, but they broke up. Now Olivia dates him. Eli is one year older, so he's a senior.

They all go to Degrassi Community School, which is a high school in Ontario, Toronto, Canada. In the middle of last year, the principal, Mr. Simpson said that everyone had to wear uniform. Ninth grader, like Maddie, have to wear a yellow polo shirt, tenth graders wear a purple polo shirt, eleventh graders, like Olivia and Adam have to wear a red polo shirt and twelfth graders, like Eli wear a blue polo shirt. Everyone wears khaki pants or skirt and has an ID around their neck.

"This summer, I went to New York,"says Eli, "I saw the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building. I also visited NYU, where I hope to go next year."