Mr. Brightside

Summary: Clare Edwards and KC Guthrie are on the road to fixing things between them in their sophmore year at Degrassi. There's just one problem. The friendship that Clare has developed with Reese.

A/N: Will contain spoilers from Heart Like Mine and Start Me Up. There will be a triangle between KC/Clare/Reese.

Prologue

KC Guthrie smiled as he walked over to where his ex-girlfriend, Clare Edwards stood. He was thankful that they had begun to fix things between them after their breakup and they were now friends again. He had high hopes that they could get back together as a couple sometime soon, though he knew he still had alot of making up to do for how badly he'd hurt her. The smile fell from his lips as he saw just who Clare was talking to. Reese Robertson. His enemy. Reese and Clare had somehow become friends over the months.

"Hey Clare." He said as he finally got over to her, completely ignoring Reese.

A smile lit up her face as she looked at him. "KC, hey! " She said, looking up at him with sparkling eyes, not seeming to notice how tense Reese had gotten beside her. "Alli, Connor, Reese and I are going to have a study session at The Dot. You want to come?" She asked, eyeing him hopefully.

KC swallowed a laugh at the look on Reese's face. The guy looked pissed! Not that KC could really blame him. "Sure." He finally told her, seeing that she was waiting for an answer to her question.

Clare grinned. "Okay. So um..meet us outside on the front steps once class is over?" She asked of him, hugging her books close and leaning her hip against her locker.

Before he could reply, Alli and Connor walked over to the three him. Alli seemed to be trying to smother a laugh of amusement with her hand.

"Hey Clare, we should be going to Photography Club." The dark haired girl stated, grasping her best friend's elbow and beginning to drag her away from the boys.

Once the girls were out of sight, KC and Reese's expressions turned serious and their eyes narrowed at one another threateningly.

And the war was on.

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"Alli!" Clare complained, jerking her arm from her friend's grip and glaring at her. "I thought we were heading to photography class!"

Her friend didn't say anything for a few moments as she looked under each bathroom stall, being sure that they were alone. Finally, she turned and squealed loudly, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Clare, you totally have KC and Reese wrapped around your little finger!"

The girl in question scoffed and brushed back her short brown hair. Yeah right. Alli was totally living in her own little fantasy world. Of course, the idea of the two boys wanting her was appealing, but she didn't think it was true. KC and Reese were her friends. Nothing more.

Alli just rolled her eyes and smirked. "Why is that so unbelievable? Reese and KC both liked you last year."

Clare shook her head negatively. "Yeah, I dated KC and it didn't work out remember? He dumped me for Jenna. And even when I tried to make KC jealous by dating someone else, KC didn't try and get back together with me even though he broke up with Jenna."

"And Reese?" Her friend questioned, staring her down.

"Reese is just my friend. He helped me alot last year." Clare replied lamely.

"Whatever." Alli murmured in disbelief of her friend's ignorance.

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"Thinking about what you lost?" Alli leaned in to whisper to KC later that day as he looked at Clare who was leaning in to Reese, explaining something to him.

KC sighed sadly. "I can't believe that I ever let her go. I was such a---"

"A jackass, moron, bastard, a total dick?" Alli supplied rather happily as she sipped her Coke.

"All of the above." He grumbled, slumping in his seat. While Clare had forgiven him for everything, Alli still hadn't she was still very offended by what had occured last school year. He didn't blame her for that. He'd been a real idiot then and was lucky as hell that Clare had forgiven him and that Alli and Connor had befriended him once more.

Alli nodded matter-of-factly. "You are right about that." She told him. "I still can't understand what you did last year. I just know that you better not do it again unless you're prepared to sleep with one eye open.

Next Chapter: Flashback on how Reese/Clare became friends.