Hey, it's Elipassedhisfrenchexam. This is my new story. It's about how Eli and Clare fall in love while working on the school play, Romeo and Juliet. I hope you guys will love it! It's in third person, and my last story wasn't, so you guys are getting a treat. Check out another story I'm currently working on called, "Tying Music into Love."

P.S. I hate when authors write that Eli is tall. He's not and I don't know why they're fantasizing about that.

P.P.S. I guess, because it's fanfiction, it's okay, but if anybody thinks that Eli's tall in real life, he's not. He's 5' 6".

Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi, or Shakespeare.

"Who knew that the morbid, death obsessed, guyliner wearing, Eli Goldsworthy would be into theater?"

"I thought there was a stereotype that emo guys like poetry and writing and stuff."

"I thought you said you weren't emo."

"I also said I wasn't obsessed with death, so stop saying that I am."

Eli Goldsworthy and Adam Torres were sitting at The Dot, eating burgers and fries. For both of them, it was their first year at Degrassi. It was the second week of school and there were already auditions for this year's play.

"Are you sure you want to be in Romeo and Juliet?" asked Adam. Adam was not interested in the literary arts at all, so sometimes it would be hard for Eli to talk to him.

"Yes! It's one of the greatest plays of all time! Ask a two year old, and he'll know what it is."

"I doubt that, Eli. I never heard of Shakespeare until I was in the fifth grade."

Eli laughed. Adam was fun to be around. Eli and Adam had no friends at Degrassi yet, both of them being outsiders.

By looking at Eli, you would immediately see how he was an outsider. He always wore all black, except for the occasional gray or white. You would never see him without his noise cancellation headphones, always around his neck. He also never took off his chain necklace. Some say it's a guitar pick, others say it's a faux metal shark tooth. Eli is also seen with his signature smirk, the kind that only certain people can bring out, and he wears eyeliner.

Adam, on the other hand, wouldn't be seen as an outsider at first. But when you look closely, you see an awkward looking boy, maybe a tomboy?

It had already gotten out at school that Adam was FTM. A female to male transgender. He got made fun of, but Eli, who couldn't care less about Adam biologically being a girl, always stuck up for him.

So, these two stuck together. Through thick and thin, for better or worse, these two might as well be married.

"Dude, I think the only reason you like this play is because both of the main characters die at the end," Adam said, looking through the script.

"No, Adam, I just like the play, okay?"

Adam furrowed his brow while looking at the screenplay. "Eli, you know you're going to have to kiss a girl for this."

"I know."

"Well, aren't you kind of allergic to girls?"

Eli rolled his eyes. Adam only said this because Eli never talked about girls.

"If you want to put it that way, you can. It's not like the kiss will mean anything."

"But dude, can I know why you always avoid the subject when I say something like, 'that girl is hot.'"

"I guess I'm not that attracted to girls."

Obviously, Adam was taking a big gulp of his iced tea at the time, so he spit it all over Eli.

"You're ga-"

"Dude, I'm not gay. I just...I don't know. The last time I had a crush on a girl was in the third grade. And when she found out she told everybody, and I became a complete and total loser. I guess I realized that all girls are stupid and popular and only like jocks or, "really hot guys." I've had tons of girls flirt with me before, and they all seem like desperate trashy...you know what I mean."

"Not all girls are like that, you know."

"I know, I just haven't found one yet."

*The next day, at the auditions*

"Alli, I'm so nervous!"

"Don't worry, Clare, you are totally going to get this part."

Clare Edwards smoothed out her button down dress. She didn't think it was enough to win over the director, but Alli said that, "any weirdo that dresses up for the part during the auditions is not going to get it!"

"I hope your right," Clare mumbled.

"Clare Edwards?" The director called her name from the auditorium.

"Break a leg," Alli whispered before giving Clare an encouraging smile. She really was a great friend to Clare, and she was grateful for that. Clare just thought Alli needed to wear a little less eye makeup.

Clare carefully walked to the middle of the stage. Declan was sitting on the bench with a few other people.

"I didn't know you wanted to act, little Edwards."

Clare could feel the hot lights burn down on her face. Or maybe she was just blushing...?

She laughed nervously. "Well, it's always been a dream of mine. Especially for this play. It's one of my favorites."

"Let's see what you have. Act 2, scene 2. I'll read Romeo's part."

Declan went to the page and started reading. He wasn't the best actor, but the Clare he was an amazing director.

" 'She speaks: O, speak again, bright angel!' Yada yada yada, 'And sail upon the bosom of the air.' Your turn."

Clare suddenly wasn't nervous anymore. She knew this was her calling when she started acting on a stage. All her fears slowly faded away with the bright lights shining on her face, the soft noise of her flats on the stage. This was an incredible feeling.

" 'O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou, Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet."

After a few sentences, Declan and his crew knew they had their Juliet. She must have been a prodigy sent from heaven above, because if she could do that, she could bring out tears in the toughest bully's eyes. Most kids would think that this play was going to be boring. Now that they had Clare, it wasn't going to be.

"Okay!" Declan broke the silence. They had all been in shock and he thought that Clare might have gotten the wrong idea about their quietness.

"Clare, you definitely have a very huge chance of being our Juliet. Great job. Next is...Eli Goldsworthy."

Clare was the last one audition for Juliet. Next were the auditions for Romeo.

As Clare was walking to the backstage, she bumped into somebody.

"Oops! Sorry, my-"

She looked at the face of the person who bumped her. It was a smirking, jade-eyed smug looking kid.

But the only thing she was thinking of was, "Wow, he's good looking."

"Um, s-sorry, m-my bad."

"It's fine."

Clare smiled.

"You have pretty eyes."

This struck Clare by surprise. Complete surprise. No one had even noticed Clare got laser eye surgery this year, and here was a goth/emo looking guy saying she had pretty eyes, when he had amazing ones.

"Uh, thanks."

"Well, I gotta audition blue eyes, see ya around."

"See you."

When he went on the stage Clare stood there in the same position for a good ten seconds.

Clare walked through the backstage door where Alli said she was going to wait for her."

"Oh my gosh, Clare, I watched your performance. You were ah-MA-zing! You are so going to get the pa-" Alli paused and noticed the dazed look on Clare's face.

"Clare, does this have anything to do with the really hot guy that I saw waiting in there?"

Clare blushed. "W-what hot guy?"

"The one with the long dark brown hair, full lips, and black clothes! The one that really doesn't look like my type, but who I admitted is hot? The one that's, well, not so tall."

"I guess I kind of...ran in to him."

Alli squealed. "Oh my gosh! What if he gets Romeo's part? Then it'll be fate!"

"Alli, stop. All he said was that my eyes-" Clare stopped, realizing that Alli would take that as a big deal. "Nevermind."

"Clare, you better tell me what he said about your eyes! What did he say?"

"He told me my eyes were pretty."

Alli squealed so loud the whole hallway turned to look at the best friends.

Alli unexpectedly grabbed Clare by the arm and dragged her back onto the backstage.

"Alli! What are you doing?" Clare whispered.

"I need to know if he's going to get the part of Romeo," Alli whispered back, looking through the side of the curtain, watching as the green-eyed boy spoke his lines.

"Why?" Clare asked, but Alli only shushed Clare. They both listened to his performance.

" 'O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night like a rich jewel in an Etheiope's ear; Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear! So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows, as yonder lady o'er her fellow shows. The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand, And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand. Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.' " The kid looked at Declan and his crew.

"Was I good?"

"Amazing!" Declan stood up. "And, to think, you didn't even have the script in front of you!"

Clare and Alli looked at each other. They couldn't believe that he memorized it.

They both walked silently towards the door and when they got out Clare was surprised that she squealed as loud as Alli.

"He's so amazing!"

"Clare, he's as good as you!"

"I can't believe he memorized the whole play-"

"That means he's a romantic, Clare!"

"And his words were so passionate-"

"You're going to make such a cute couple!"

Clare stopped making comments about his performance and had a serious expression.

"Alli. Who said we were going to be a couple?"

"It's obvious, Clare! You two are perfect for each other! And I know that after seeing him for three minutes!" Clare was about to object but Alli continued. "You're both really great actors, and you both obviously love the theater, and he's a romantic, and he's really hot!"

"If he's such a theater geek, maybe I shouldn't get my hopes up."

Alli was confused. "Why would you say- oh! Well, he does wear guyliner, and he has that hair, and those skinny jeans, and you're right about the theater geek thing...but wait! He told you your eyes were pretty!"

"And?"

"I know he's just a romantic, not gay, because I read in a magazine that if a guy is a romantic the first thing he notices about a girl is her eyes. I mean, if they're not ugly eyes."

Clare rolled her "pretty" eyes. "Yeah, and because those magazines are always so right."

Just then, two figures came out of the door. It was him, and another kid. He smirked at Clare before walking off down the hallway. Both Alli and Clare watched his retreating figure until it turned down another hallway.

"His smirk is amazing." Surprisingly, that cam out of Clare's mouth. Clare immediately put her hand over her mouth as if to take back what she said.

Alli pointed at Clare. "Nope! You said it! I knew you liked him!"

"Alli, how could I have a crush on a boy that I've known for five minutes?"

"Because you saw him act."

It was true. When Clare was watching him from behind the stage, something clicked inside her. She sort of instantly fell for him. Some would call it love at first sight.

"Now, Clare. Tomorrow the casting sheet will be posted by the auditorium. When you two get the parts, I bet you a manicure that you'll fall in love.

"You're on." Clare wasn't exactly sure if she would win, but she didn't mind giving Alli a manicure.

"Do you know his name, Clare?"

"They said it was Eli...Eli Goldsworthy."

*Nighttime, Eli's Bedroom*

This was a strange feeling for Eli. It was sort of like a warmth throughout his body, yet it made his heart beat faster and it made him nervous. The rest of the feelings were just teenage hormones.

Did he actually have feelings for this girl? He didn't really remember what it felt like to have a crush, considering how long ago his last one was. He's always only thought that girls were selfish, mean, and the other things he had said to Adam the day before. But this girl that Eli had just met...she was different. She looked sweet, and innocent, caring, smart, and...

Her eyes.

Her eyes were indescribable. Eli thought he was downgrading them when he called them pretty. They were more like...beautiful.

Eli had a love for the theater, but he wasn't good in saying his feelings out loud. He had never shared the sentence, "I love you," with either of his parents, or younger sister. It was strange, but Eli let his feelings out on the stage.

Eli heard a Dead Hand song playing and knew he was getting a call from Adam.

"What's up?" Adam asked.

"They sky."

"That's such a typical Eli comment."

"Well, I am Eli, aren't I?"

"Touche."

"So, why did you call? It's almost 1 am."

"I just wanted to know how you were so good. I mean, I know you're good, but when you acted out that scene to practice in front of me, it was half as good as when you were on stage. That stuff was amazing, man. You could be on Broadway. You know, if you were a good singer."

Eli rolled his eyes at Adam's last comment and answered his question. "You know...I'm better on stage..."

"Okay, now I know for sure that there was a reason. Now you have to tell me."

"When I was on stage I was telling the truth." Eli spat it out quickly, not wanting to admit to anything,

"You were talking about Juliet's beauty. How could that be telling the truth?"

"I never said Juliet," I mumbled.

"Dude...that girl that auditioned for Juliet...were you-"

Eli interrupted. "Oops, my mom's calling me. Gotta go, bye!" Eli quickly hung up, scared of how Adam would judge him at school the next day.

*Eli's Dream*

He was sitting in the audience, watching her on stage. She was brilliant, acting as Juliet. She was a wonderful actress, and he wondered if she would ever go into bigger and better things.

A silhouetted Romeo came and kissed her. He knew it was only for the play, but his body shook with anger as he came up on stage and punched Romeo in the face. Then, he walked over to her and kissed her.

Why was there hair in her mouth...?

"Eli," she spoke in an angelic voice, "It's time for school."

Eli woke up with a handful of hair in his mouth. "It's time for school, Elijah! Get up!"

It was just a dream. Eli hoped that while he was asleep he wasn't kissing his pillow.

Well, did you like my long first chapter? I hope you did! I really like this story. I'm surprised I came up with the idea.

Anyway, the new episode of Degrassi is on tomorrow. I think I'm going to see Paranormal activity 2, though, so I have to watch it the next morning. I saw a picture (SPOILER ALERT) where Eli was having dinner with the Edwards'!

Please review. Thanks.