Marisol put the key in the ignition, twisted it, and heard her car make a funny sound. She tried again and the sound became even worse.
"What the hell?" She slammed her fists on the steering wheel. She took out the key, opened the door of her car, and got out. Marisol opened the hood and examined the engine. She stared at it blankly, knowing nothing about cars. She looked around and saw a boy walking past her.
"Hey!"
The boy kept walking.
"Hey! Excuse me!"
The boy turned around, "yeah?"
"Can you help me?"
He shrugged, "sure."
"My car broke down. I don't know what's wrong with it."
He examined the engine closely, "I think your engine threw a rod."
"What does that mean?"
"The connecting rod broke somehow and is no longer directly connected to the crankshaft."
"Okay, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You're gonna need a new engine."
"Are you serious?"
"Or a new car."
"Can't you like fix it now so I can drive to school?"
"Why don't you just take the bus, that's how I'm getting to school."
"Oh yeah you're that freak that goes to Degrassi!"
"Wow, thank you," said Eli, sarcastically.
"I can't just leave my car here."
"I can try to fix it but-"
"But what?"
"I'm going to need something in return," truthfully Eli didn't really want anything in return, he just wanted to see what Marisol's response would be.
"I'll give you a hundred bucks."
"Cool," Eli examined the engine once again, "do you have a screw driver?"
"Yeah, it's in the toolbox my dad makes me carry around in the trunk of my car in case something like this happens. Too bad I don't know how to use any of the tools."
"Can you hand it to me?"
"And get my hands all greasy? I don't think so. You go get it, I'm not paying you to order me around."
Eli rolled his eyes and went to the trunk of Marisol's car. Marisol watched as Eli took out tool after tool from the box in order to fix her car.
"How old is this car?" Asked Eli.
"Like less than a year old."
"Then, how did this happen?"
"I don't know."
"Do you take good care of it?"
"Not really, it's just a car."
Right from that moment, Eli knew that Marisol was spoiled rotten.
Eli wiped his hands on his pants, "Give me your keys."
Marisol handed him her keys and Eli went into the driver's seat of her car. He started the ignition and the engine sounded fine.
Eli got out of the car and closed the hood, "There you go. It's fine for now but I would seriously suggest getting a new engine soon."
Marisol took out her wallet, grabbed a one hundred dollar bill, and handed it to Eli.
Eli raised an eyebrow at her, "You carry around hundred dollar bills in your wallet to school?"
"Yeah," she smiled and shrugged.
"Okay, then." He began to walk away but Marisol stopped him. Eli was hoping for a thank you.
"Do you want a ride to school?"
"No, it's okay. The bus is more environmentally friendly anyways," Eli smiled.
"Oh, I don't care about the environment," said Marisol, "suit yourself," Marisol got in her car and drove away.
Eli smirked and continue walking to the bus stop.
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Marisol parked in the Matlin's driveway and waited for Katie and Maya to come out of the house.
"Good morning Katiekins!" Marisol greeted her best friend.
"Hey, Mare," Katie greeted back.
Katie got into the passenger's seat and her sister, Maya, got into the back seat of Marisol's car.
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The three girls arrived at Degrassi.
"Guess what?" Marisol said to Katie.
"What?"
"I got some awesome diamond earrings as a present for my Mom's birthday."
"Oh cool, I'm sure she'll love them."
"You want to see them? They're super expensive."
"Yeah!"
Marisol opened the trunk of her car. Katie watched as her best friend's facial expression turned from ecstatic to worried. Marisol frantically searched her car.
"It's not in here!"
"What's not in there?"
"The earrings!"
"I'm sure they're around somewhere," Katie reassured Marisol.
Marisol suddenly had an epiphany, "I know where they are," she said, fuming.
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"Goldsworthy!" Marisol stomped towards Eli. "Give me back the diamond earrings!"
Eli, along with his friends, Imogen and Fiona, stared at Marisol.
"What are you talking about?" Eli finally asked.
"The extremely expensive diamond earrings in the trunk of my car. I know you stole them!"
"Why would I steal them?"
"I don't know, you probably wanted to sell them so you can use the money to buy drugs."
Imogen glared at Marsiol, "Eli doesn't do drugs."
"Yeah, I'm sure," Marisol said sarcastically, "have you seen what he looks like?"
"Seriously, Marisol?" Said Fiona, "how much were the earrings anyways?"
"Like over three thousand dollars!"
"It's okay," said Fiona, "I have like nine hundred thousand dollars cash in my wallet. I'll pay for them."
"What is it with you people and carrying large amounts of cash to school?" Exclaimed Eli.
"That's not the point!" Shouted Marisol, "you're little friend here stole from me!"
Abruptly, Marisol's phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hey, sweetheart, I have some bad news."
"What is it, Daddy?"
"Your Mom borrowed your car to go to the hair salon and she found the diamond earrings in your trunk."
"What? No! Now the whole surprise is ruined!"
"I'm sorry, sweetie."
"Well, did she at least like them?"
"She loved them."
"Okay, awesome!"
"Bye, sweetheart. I love you."
"Bye, Daddy. Love you too."
Marisol hung up her phone. She looked at Fiona, Eli, and Imogen, "I guess you didn't steal them after all. My bad."
Marisol started to walk away but Fiona yelled after her, "You owe Eli an apology."
"I don't owe anyone anything," Marisol threw a smug smile at Fiona.
"It's okay, Fi," said Eli, "I don't need an apology from somebody who doesn't matter, anyways."
The three friends walked past Marisol, Fiona even purposely bumped Marisol's shoulder to make a point. Marisol swallowed the lump in her throat and felt the world slow down as her feet slipped off her pedestal. However, she gained back her composure- as well as her pride- and kept walking, with her head held high.
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Eli entered gym class and saw a surprising but familiar face, sitting on the bleachers, reading A Farewell to Arms.
"Wow, the head cheerleader reads Hemingway."
"You need to learn not to judge a book by it's cover Goldsworthy. Get it? Book, cover, reading?"
Eli didn't laugh at her joke, "Well, you judged me before you even really knew me."
"But see I'm allowed to that, I'm high school royalty. You, on the other hand, are an unpopular peasant who is on the very bottom of the hierarchy."
"Wow, big words."
"I'm smarter than most people think."
"You know if you used as much brain power as you do lip gloss, a lot more people would respect you rather than fear you."
"Why would I want respect over fear?"
"You are student council VP, how many people do you know respect Sarah Palin, or George Bush for that matter?"
"How many people do you know fear them?"
"Good point," said Eli.
"You see, Katie is the people's princess, she wants to be respected. I, on the other hand, am a self-proclaimed dictator. I want to be feared."
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Eli's phone rang and he grudgingly grabbed it and put it to his ear, "hello," he said, still half asleep.
"Hey, I finished reading A Farewell to Arms."
"Marisol? How did you get my number?"
"I have my ways."
"Okay, I know you said you liked to be feared but this is going too far."
"Oh relax Goldsworthy, my best friend is your best friend's older brother's girlfriend."
"It's too early for mindfuck, Marisol."
"I asked Katie, who asked Drew, who asked Adam for your number."
"Okay...why?"
"Why the hell is the ending so depressing? I mean so Catherine dies and he just stands there in the rain like that Bruno Mars song. This book is more emo than The Bell Jar."
"Seriously Marisol, it's like," Eli checked his clock, "4 am in the morning."
"Why would Hemingway do this to his readers?"
"A lot of authors don't write simply to please their readers. Good writers make people think."
"Well, it's not fair."
"If it's so depressing, then why did you read it in the first place?"
"Well, I could relate a lot to Catherine."
"Of course you can, you're both completely shallow."
"Excuse me?" Marisol said, offended.
"You know what Marisol, if you don't want to challenge yourself and instead read books with cookie-cutter happy endings, then go read some Jane Austen or J.K. Rowling or something."
"But-"
Eli hung up the phone before Marisol could say anything else.
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Marisol entered The Dot and saw Eli resting his head on a table. For once, she actually felt sympathetic because she thought she had kept him up since she called him at four in the morning.
She approached him, "hey, I'm sorry I called you that early in the morning. You look super tired."
Eli's head ascended from the table and Marisol saw tears welled up in his green eyes. Marisol didn't know how to respond.
Eli buried his head in the table, once again, and sobbed. He also kept pulling the hairs on his head.
"Woah, are you okay?" Asked Marisol.
"Do I look okay?" Eli shouted.
Marisol looked around The Dot and was relieved when she saw nobody she recognized, "What is wrong with you?" She shouted back.
"Clare doesn't want me back, Imogen found someone else, and I keep hearing the name Julia everywhere."
"Well that is a common name, who is Julia anyways?"
"None of your business!"
"Okay, calm down. It's not the end of the world."
"Might as well be," said Eli.
"What is up with you, Goldsworthy? You spend your life moping after Clare and Imogen and all those other unworthy girls? You're whinier than a Jennifer Anniston movie!"
"I have Bipolar disorder," said Eli, clenching his teeth.
"Look, Charlie Sheen, smoke some weed, write a poem in your journal, and move on. Just make sure not to smudge your eyeliner when you cry."
"Very funny, Marisol."
Marisol gave him a smug smile. Then, she began to feel sympathy again, "don't bipolar people take some type of medicine or something?"
"I already took my pills."
"Well, I'm no doctor but I don't think you should be mixing your medication with caffeine. I'll take that," Marisol took Eli's cup of coffee and dumped its contents into the trash. Then, she went back to Eli, "come on, let's go."
"Go where?"
"You'll see," Marisol took Eli's hand and lead him to her car.
The two of them arrived in front of a building. They got out of Marisol's car and entered what Eli thought was the largest library he had ever seen in his life.
"This is where my parent's store everything they don't want in our house."
Eli's eyes widened, "so this isn't a library or a gigantic bookstore?"
"Nope," Marisol inhaled the air around her, "don't you just love the smell of old books?"
"Umm no, that's one of the worst parts of being an avid reader; having to smell the disgusting scent of old books."
"You know if other people didn't hate the smell so much, I would probably wear perfume that smelled like old books."
"You really care about what other people think, don't you?"
"Of course, everybody does."
"I don't," said Eli.
Marisol raised an eyebrow.
"Or at least I try not to."
"That's a waste of time, Goldsworthy. Like honestly, stop trying so hard."
Eli rolled his eyes and him and Marisol spent the rest of day reading books, debating over their favourite authors, and getting to know more about each other.
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Three weeks pass and Eli and Marisol have developed a clandestine friendship. They kept their friendship a secret because of the fact that they were in different social circles. Everyday, after school, the two of them would go to the building where Marisol's parents stored their old books.
One day, Eli and Marisol were both reading and Eli looked up from his book and saw Marisol intently reading Jane Eyre.
He noticed how beautiful and iridescent she looked compared to when he saw her at school. At school, she was a shallow and moronic trollop full of pep and evil. In solitude with him, she was intelligent, complex, perhaps even sweet.
Marisol noticed Eli gawking at her and smiled, "What?"
Eli broke out of his reverie, "Nothing," he began reading his book again and tried to wash his previous thoughts away by delving into As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner.
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Eli tossed and turn in his bed, trying to analyze his own feelings. Did he have a crush on Marisol? Did Marisol have a crush on him?
"What are you so afraid of?" said Eli, thinking out loud and talking to himself. Eli realized he had never been with a girl like Marisol before. Clare, Julia, and Imogen were all in his league. Marisol, on the other hand, was student council vice president, head cheerleader, little miss popular. Would it be shallow for him to go after her?
The next day, Marisol and Eli went to their usual after school hangout. As Marisol was about to grab a book of a shelf, Eli placed his hand on her shoulder.
She turned around, "What is it?"
"Do you think there's more between the two of us than just friendship?"
"I don't know," said Marisol, in a soft whisper.
"Well, then how do we find out?" Asked Eli.
"We could kiss," Marisol hesitantly suggested.
Eli was taken by surprise.
"We could kiss and see if there are any sparks," said Marisol.
"Sparks?"
"You know, the ones that they always talk about in the movies."
"Okay, sure."
The two friends leaned in closer and closer until their lips finally locked.
"So what did you think?" Asked Eli.
"You tell me first," said Marisol.
"I didn't feel anything," lied Eli.
"I didn't feel anything either," Marisol lied as well, not wanting to look foolish.
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Marisol walked into the halls of Degrassi and saw Eli near his locker, chatting with a friend.
"Hey," said Marisol.
"Hey," said Eli.
The two of them stared at one another while Adam stood in front of them and felt the awkwardness between Marisol and Eli.
"Well," Marisol broke the silence, "see ya," she continued walking with her head bowed down and her eyes on the ground.
Adam looked at Eli, "don't tell me you've been possessed by the wicked witch of Degrassi."
"Oh come on Adam, Marisol's pretty cool."
"You're kidding me right? Where is this coming from?"
"I've been hanging out with Marisol," whispered Eli.
"You've been going out with Marisol!" Shouted Adam.
Eli quickly put his hand over Adam's mouth, "Don't talk so loud."
"You've been going out with Marisol?" Adam whispered.
"I haven't been going out with Marisol, I've been hanging out with Marisol."
"So you and Marisol aren't boyfriend and girlfriend?"
"No, but-"
"But what?"
"We did kiss."
"You kissed Marisol!" Adam shouted.
Eli put his hand over Adam's mouth, once again, "Dammit Adam! I told you to be quiet. Come on," Eli dragged Adam outside with him in order to get privacy.
"Look, Marisol and I just kissed each other to see if there was anything more than friendship between us."
Adam shook his head and laughed, "Wow emo boy and little miss flirty flirt together. I thought I'd never see the day."
"First of all, we're not together and second of all, I didn't rag on you like this when you had a crush on Bianca, who's probably more evil than Marisol."
"Are you joking? Bianca is an angel, a saint, and a nun combined compared to Marisol. Wait, so you have a crush on Marisol?"
"What? No, of course not! You said it yourself, she's the wicked witch of degrassi, she makes babies cry, she makes puppies die, she's going to lead to
the human race's doom, she-"
"Makes your heart go boom boom boom?"
"I do not like her, okay Adam," said Eli as he walked his way back into the school.
"Fine. Enjoy being in denial," Shouted Adam with a huge grin on his face.
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"Hey," said Eli.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" Asked Marisol.
"I was actually looking for you."
"Well, I don't have a lot of time. Katie's busy with soccer so I have to take over morning announcements."
"I lied."
"Lied about what?" said Marisol, apathetically.
Eli walked closer to her and looked straight into her eyes, "When we kissed, I did feel something."
Marisol looked down at her feet, "Why did you say you didn't then?"
"I don't know I guess I was just in denial."
Marisol smiled, "I can understand that. Honestly, I never understood your appeal until now."
Eli smirked, "My appeal?"
"Don't get cocky now, Goldsworthy. You're the one confessing your feelings to me."
"Oh shut up, Mare," Eli pulled Marisol in for a kiss, putting his arm around her waist.
"Wow, now those were sparks," said Marisol, "so is this thing between us going to be kept a secret?"
Eli thought in silence. Suddenly, he heard Marisol yell.
"What's wrong?"
"The camera was on."
Eli's jaw dropped, "are you serious?"
"Yeah."
They stared at each other in silence.
Marisol smiled cheekily, "I guess our kiss was the morning announcement." Eli smirked and the two of them continued kissing.