Okay So I've had this idea for a while and I finally decided to write it when I found out Clare's parents got divorced. Adam doesn't know that Eli hoards stuff. Also they get in a fight about some other ridiculous crap and its Adams turn to fix things between. Clare's thoughts are italicized.

CLARE POV

"Today you will be getting your rough drafts of your essays back." said.

"Which essay?" someone asked.

"The one where you compare and contrast 2 fictional characters. Actually a lot of you struggled with this assignment. Maybe if you heard an example it might help you. Adam, why don't you read yours." She said, then Adam smiled realizing choose him on purpose.

"Sure," Adam said, he got up walked to the front of the room "But before I read this, I need to tell you that I was struggling with one of the characters backgrounds so I asked a friend to help me, Alli Bandari."

I got nervous, why where they talking? They never hung out nor were really friends. Plus the goofy smile on Adam's face made me know that he was up to something.

He then began to talk "I also borrowed the name of the characters from someone's stories, but don't worry their personalities are completely different." As he said this he looked over at Eli, he probably borrowed the names of his characters. What was he up to?

"These 2 were complete opposites." Oh shit.

"He was so dark, and full of death, and she was so light, and full of life." Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, he's talking about me and Eli. But why? Were already dating, what's the problem know?

"If you asked them what they had in common they would immediately struggle, they would probably answer 'We both go to the same school' or 'We both have a super awesome best friend named Adam'." Yep it was definitely about us.

"But they didn't realize how similar they really were." Huh? Me? And Eli? Similar? Maybe this story wasn't about us? Well it probably was.

"They both have had to struggle in the past on their own. They acted strong but deep down both of them were hurting." Oh, I see where he's going with this.

"In her past her family had lots of problems, to everyone else they appeared to be the perfect Christian family, but people had no idea how wrong they were. Clara Edwin had definitely been through a lot." Eli smirked when he heard the name Clara Edwin, I could just tell. Yeah, this was definitely about us.

"Divorce, cheating, internet perverts, rape," Darcy "alcohol, drugs, blackmailing, self-mutilation, suicide attempts, and lies. They were probably the last people on earth you would expect this from."

Everyone jaws were dropped including Eli's. What could you expect though people thought I was perfect, now they knew what I had been through. Maybe now I won't be treated as this innocent little Christian girl, maybe people will start to realize how strong I had to be. Maybe people would just feel pity for me, which would really stink.

"And he's been through a lot too. Elliot Goldstein" Wow Adam, really original character names!

"Fell in love at a young age he was so happy and full of life then, but then he lost her, she died. She took off on her bike in the night, after the two had gotten into a fight, got hit by a car and instantly died." Poor Eli, he's probably on the verge of tears right now. I know how upset he was when he told me.

"He immediately assumed responsibility for her death, didn't blame the driver, or her parents who were the cause of the fight. He put all the weight on his own shoulders. That's another thing they had in common." Huh? That doesn't make sense. I don't put that amount of stress on myself!

"If you asked Clara, she would deny that that's true." Yeah, because it's not!

"She felt almost as if she was the cause of her family problem's. Technically if she wasn't carefree that weekend, and told her parents where her sister was going, her older sister wouldn't have gone on that ski trip with her friends, she wouldn't have been raped, if her sister wasn't raped then she wouldn't have had problems with alcohol, drugs, self-mutilation, and suicide attempts." I was on the verge of tears.

"After her sister was raped, her parents seemed different to her, like they had changed somehow. They wouldn't treat each other with respect, and eventually started to fight. Clara's older sibling went to Kenya, before she realized what was going on with them. She left, but to Clara it seemed like she was just trying to escape her problems." And then a tear slid down my face.

"Clara was strong, she was able to move on, and decided that if she could live a happy life from then on, she would be able to forgive herself. Since her family seemed distant, she decided to try to find love." Now I see why he talked to Alli.

"2 boys both asked had her to a school dance. She liked one of them but saw that the other one was going experiencing the same pain she was. She took pity on him and went to the dance with him. But eventually she ended up dancing with the other one that she really liked. The 2 eventually started to date and she discovered more about his past." Fun, I get to remember all this heartbreak.

"She found out he lived in a group home and both his parents were in jail. But for some reason, Clara, didn't leave him like he assumed she would. He realized how understanding she was and began to take advantage of that." If only I realized it sooner.

"So he cheated on her, with one of her best friends. The reason being that he wanted sex and she had a purity ring on her finger, and held on to her beliefs." I remember feeling betrayed, used and taken advantage of.

"They both had difficult pasts but here is where they differed. Clara decided to move on and eventually she would reach her happy ending." Now I remember it being so hard to do that.

"Elliot decided that if he could scare people away, he wouldn't get close to anyone and he wouldn't have to go through any heartbreak ever again." I knew that's why Eli was so scared when we got so close.

"Sure it sounds like a good plan but eventually 2 people got to him. The first was his super awesome best friend Adam." Oh Adam you are so humble.

"I think Elliot was so close with Adam because he understood him, most people didn't. Sure he could have ignored him if he wanted to, but he realized that they both needed at least one close friend so they wouldn't be so lonely." Awwwwwwww.

"The second was Clara. Normally when a guy dressed in all black, who drives a hearse runs over your glasses and the first think he says is 'I think they're dead.' You would be a little scared, or intimidated but not her." I think I was already in love with him then.

"In fact I think from the moment they met, though they didn't want to admit it, he was in love with her, and she was in love with him." Adam, how do you know exactly what I'm thinking?

"So he couldn't stay away from her. He decided he would just have to be careful not to hurt her, or to help her when she was hurting." Then I remembered what I had just happened.

"Wow, were really different, aren't we?"

"Opposites attract"

"And get married, and have kids, and get divorced-"

"Clare, were not your parents"

"Clare, what's on your mind?"

"My parents, I used to count on them for everything, they taught me right from wrong, told me divorce was bad, sex before marriage was a sin, but now they're getting divorced, they say their too different, and I asked, were you always so different, or did something change, and they said they were, always so different, but hoped they would go together."

"Also, they were required to edit each other's work for English class if they wanted to pass. Clara was the type of person who wouldn't be able to deal with a bad grade so they had to spend time together, which brings me to another difference." Great! Can't wait for you to talk about how much of a dorky nerd I am…

"She took her schoolwork seriously, and he would skip class whenever he wanted to, just because he was bored. She had really strong beliefs with her religion, Elliot seemed like he couldn't care less about religion." I pretty sure anyone can see how different we are.

"If you see them in the halls, talking, flirting, holding hands, whatever really, you would notice the looks they got, and you would probably be giving them strange looks as well." We definitely got a ton of looks.

"But maybe know when you see them you'll see how happy they make each other, how he makes her blush non-stop, how she can actually get him to smile and just how disgustingly in love they are in general."

Eli turned around and smirked at me, and I started to blush and smile, with only one look he had such an effect on me, god what was this boy doing to me.

"Thank you Adam" Mrs. Dawes said. "I hope we can all learn from Adam's fine example." She said looking directly at Eli and I.