So, this is one of my first stories! Eli and Clare are adorable; Nuff said. Enjoy the storyy!
By the way, I don't in any way, shape, or form own Degrassi. I can dream, thoughh. (:
Chapter 1:
I'm sitting in English class, trying to concentrate on what Mrs. Dawes is saying. I can't concentrate with my English partner Eli in front of me. Eli has become one of my good friends over the past few weeks. He's drawing on his nails with a black sharpie marker, and I can't help but stare. I like him; a lot more than I should. But, I don't think I could ever date him, because he always instigates fights with the school bully, Mark Fitzgerald a.k.a 'Fitz'. But, he still draws me in, and I'm not completely sure why. When he convinced me to skip class a few weeks ago, he brought out a rebellious side in myself that I didn't know I had.
And I loved every second of it.
"Clare, can you answer the question I just asked the class?" Mrs. Dawes said with a raised eyebrow and a small smile. I gulped as my cheeks grew warm with a blush.
"N-no, I'm sorry Mrs. Dawes…" I stuttered out, feeling embarrassed.
She chuckled. "Try to pay more attention, Ms. Edwards." She said, and turned back to the board and continued to teach.
"Smooth, Edwards." Eli said, turning his body sideways in his desk and smirking at me. I felt my face grow hot as soon as he looked me in the eye.
"Shut up, Goldsworthy." I retorted playfully with a small smile. He scoffed.
"Well, I guess I am pretty distracting… I mean, look at this face!" Eli said playfully, with a silly expression while waving his hands around his face. I laughed at how silly he can be. "I mean, I have this face, my amazing writing skills, my cynical sense of humor, my-"
I cut him off, "Oh, and don't forget modest, you can't forget modest." I said while giggling. He laughed huskily and was about to say something else when Mrs. Dawes snapped us out of our conversation.
"Ms. Edwards, Mr. Goldsworthy. Care to tell the class what you two were talking about, considering you thought it was more important than my lesson?" She half-shouted, with one hand on her hip.
"We were talking about how wonderful this class is!" Eli exclaimed cheekily, with a sarcastic expression soon following his statement. He turned to face forward in his desk and placed his folded hands on his desk.
Mrs. Dawes had a smile on her face while glaring at him. "Well, you two, since you claim to love this class so much, why don't you stay for an hour after school for a detention?" My jaw dropped in disbelief. I was supposed to meet Ali after school at The Dot!
"But, Mrs. Dawes-" I scrambled.
"No buts!" She interrupted. I sighed. "I'll see you two after school." She said, giving us both stern looks. "
"Cool." Eli murmured. Cool? How the hell is this cool? He is looking at me with a not-so-subtle smirk on his tanned face.
"What?" I snapped at him. He held both his hands up in mock surrender with a surprised look on his face, and then he turned around in his chair. Ugh! Eli can be so… irritating! The bell rang, and my peers rushed out of the classroom to do whatever they had planned to do. But no, I was stuck here; because of Eli.
"No talking. Eli, go and sit somewhere across the room." Mrs. Dawes ordered. Eli got up and plopped down in the desk unhappily. "I'll be in the teachers lounge grading papers if you need me. And don't even think about leaving early, because I'll need to sign your slips before you leave." Mrs. Dawes said sternly, strutting out of the classroom with papers in her arms. Once the coast was clear, I took out my phone and sent Ali a text.
Sorry Ali, I can't go to The Dot with you today, Eli got me another detention. Great.
~Clare
Eli cleared his throat, trying to get my attention.
"Clare." He said in a hushed tone. I rolled my eyes and ignored him, I was still rather cross with him, and I didn't want to look at him. His gorgeous emerald eyes would crumble my resolve.
"Clare, please don't be mad." He murmured. He actually sounded… sorry.
"Too late." I muttered, trying not to look at him, studying my hands intently.
"What are you so mad about? It's one detention. Big deal." He said, shrugging. I rolled my eyes at him again.
"I don't care about the detention. I had plans after school." I said, while narrowing my eyes at him.
"Like what?" He asked, challenging me.
"I was going to meet Ali at The Dot. But, you ruined that little plan, didn't you?" I retorted. Eli just smirked.
"You were talking, too. I'm not the only one to blame, St. Clare." Eli said while sitting back in his desk, knowing he had won.
"You know… I'm really not that much of a saint." I said matter-of-factly, avoiding how he had won our little scuffle. I hated how everyone just assumed I was a saint, when I'm really not. Everyone just judges me by my Catholic religion, and assumes I'm a goody-goody, when in reality, I'm far from it. Eli just laughed.
"Oh really? How so?" Eli questioned with a huge smirk across his smug face. I stood up, moving a few desks over to a desk next to his.
"You know how you were going to fight Fitz last week?" I said. He nodded. "Well, you know how a stink-bomb set off in the school, and conveniently forced the whole student body to flood into the parking lot, instantly stopping the fight? Yeah. Well. Guess who set off the stink bomb?" I said, crossing my arms with a smug look on my face. At first, Eli looked confused. But as realization dawned upon his face and his jaw dropped in disbelief, I knew I had proved his assumption to be wrong.
"No way…" He said, shaking his head and staring at the floor. "Why?" I looked at the ceiling tiles, put a disbelieving smile on my face, and shook my head.
"Why do you fucking think, Eli?" I said. Eli looked at me in awe, because 'Saint Clare' just swore.
"I… I don't know." Eli said, dumbfounded. I shook my head again; he's unbelievable.
"Because I hate when you fight with Fitz! I'm worried every day, that one of you is going to take it too far, and you're going to get hurt!" I ranted. I sighed, and Eli was about to say something, but I cut him off. "Do you even know what I have to deal with at home?" I muttered, with tears stinging my eyes. Eli's green eyes were wide, and he was staring at the floor with his mouth slightly open.
"No, Clare, I don't know…" He said softly. A tear slid down my cheek, as I realized I was about to tell my biggest secret to someone I've known for less than a month, someone I like, in a detention room. I took a deep breath, as I prepared for what I was about to tell him.
"My parents are constantly screaming at each other, so much that I can barely hear myself think. A few years ago, my sister Darcy was at a party. Some douche bag put a roofie in her drink, and took her away from the party and raped her. After it dawned on her what had happened, she slit her wrists too deep and tried to kill herself. My parents couldn't believe that their precious daughter had been raped by some psycho…" I stated bitterly. "So they fought. Darcy left for Kenya when it got bad, and she left me to deal with it by myself. And she still isn't back. School is like… is like my safe haven. And then, you fight with Fitz… And it scares me to death to think of what these little scuffles between you two could turn out to be." I choked on the last sentence, and let out a sob as I buried my face in my hands. Would Eli think differently of me if he knew I cared that much about him? I couldn't even imagine what I would do if something happened to Eli, and I shivered. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and quickly shook it off.
"Clare… I had no idea… I'm sorry." I heard Eli whisper softly. "I'm so… so, sorry." He put his hand on my knee, but this time, I didn't shake it off. I moved my hands from my face, and looked him in the eyes. To my surprise, his eyes were glistening and teary. I wrapped my arms around myself, and turned to face forward in the desk as tears trickled down my face.
I finally let someone in, I thought to myself. Just then, Mrs. Dawes popped into the room, papers in hand; Wow. That was great timing, I thought. She looked at us and did a double-take, noticing both of our teary eyes. Mrs. Dawes looked hesitant, and asked for our slips so she could sign them. After she signed mine, I hitched my bag onto my right shoulder and bursted out of the classroom, tears stinging my eyes. I heard footsteps behind me, but I ignored them. I can't believe I just spilled my biggest secret, something I've been hiding for so long, to my English partner. In detention.
So this is the end of Chapter 1! Suggestions, comments, anythingg? Put them in a review so that I can improve my writing! Thanks Guys! Hopefully the next chapter will be up sometime within the next weeek!