A/n: This is my first attempt at the idea of an older Eli and younger Clare relationship. It is kind of AU and OC, but I am trying my best to integrate things from the show as time goes on. I plan on updating hopefully about once a week or so. It is kind of based off the teacher/student fics done. I love those and this story pays homage to them in a different way. Please read and review if you would like.

I do not own Degrassi or the song this is based on.

One of these things is not like the other, one of these just doesn't belong. Can you help me figure it out by the time I finish my song? I believe that is how the classic Sesame Street song goes, but I can't be sure since it has been years since I have heard the song for myself. To be honest, I am not sure why the song popped into my head at that moment.

My mind was filled with about a million thoughts, trying to figure out the newest lead story for the Degrassi Daily, trying to find time to complete my grade 12 honors calculus homework, and wondering why I was sitting outside of Ms. Oh's office on the third day of school. My life was already really busy, and I did not need any more pressure to be added. I felt like I was a ticking time bomb, just waiting to detonate sometime in the near future. Clare Edwards, walking human time bomb. Has a nice ring, doesn't it?

I bite my bottom lip nervously and ran my hand over my battered copy of Twilight. I had been planning to do some relaxing during my first period study hall by reading the mindless drivel, but instead I was sitting outside of this office, waiting to be called inside. My plans to enjoy Edward Cullen and his hair were not meant for today, I thought to myself. It kind of saddened me because I found some of my old vampire novels inside a box at the bottom of my closet and decided to read them all again. But with the schedule I have already been weighed down with, I may not even be able to finish the first few chapters of Twilight before Christmas break. Ah, well. Grade 12 was a big year and I needed to be focused to ensure this was my best year. I was already planning for the future and needed everything to go flawlessly.

Now that was not too much to ask, was it?

"Clare? You can come inside now," Ms. Oh said with a cheerful smile, interrupting my menagerie of thoughts. The young teacher was wearing a black sweater with a dark blue pencil skirt, paired with some funky bright blue heels. She looked too young to be a teacher, she seemed like she could be a student sometimes. I know some of my male counterparts wished she was because of the way I heard them talk about her. It often involved a lot of nakedness and bondage surprisingly.

I stood up and followed her into her office, closing the door behind me and taking a seat in the leather chair in front of her desk. I placed my bag and book down on the empty chair, bracing myself for some type of dreaded news. Perhaps I would not be able to take the advanced level creative writing course being offered the first time ever or...

"You are very lucky, Clare. You have been offered an opportunity to work in a mentor ship situation with a Degrassi graduate. One who is doing very well for himself. He read some of your journalism and creative writing pieces and was highly impressed. Out of 150 students, you were chosen for this year long program. Congratulations," Ms. Oh beamed, surprising me with such fantastic news.

I had been anticipating bad news. Which really made no sense since I was the last type of student to ever get into trouble. My nickname was Saint Clare, for goodness sake. I should have known this would only be good news.

"I can't believe it," I replied honestly with a smile. "This is definitely a great way to start out my year. Thanks, Ms. Oh." I grabbed my stuff and began to head out the door. So much to do, so little time.

"Clare, wait. I have to give you the details of your internship and there are some forms which need to be filled out. The internship begins right after school and your mentor will set up a schedule which works best later on," Ms. Oh stated, catching me off guard. I had been in such a hurry, I forgot all about the minute details.

With a sigh, I sat back down and began to fill out some paperwork. I also could not help but wonder what my mentor was going to be like. A graduate of Degrassi could prove to be someone my sister Darcy knew or maybe someone new. I was brimming with anticipation for the school day to end so I could meet this mystery man who thought so highly of my writing.

Just my luck, it was probably some old guy who graduated in 1968 and wanted me to write about how it was during his younger days. That thought made me sort of dread not knowing the identity of my mysterious mentor.

I was late for my internship. What kind of impression was I going to make rushing in with messy hair and sweat covering me? I would look highly unprofessional and my mentor would immediately change his mind about me. He would say he could find someone with more adequate writing skills and dismiss me with a wave of his hand. Maybe it was true. I thought my writing was not too shabby, I could see myself being a journalist someday.

But he had the experience. He probably encountered some of the best writers around and knew what quality writing truly was. He could mock my diction, saying he saw better word choice in a children's book. Or perhaps my writing was filled with comma splices and I would never be able to fix them. Or my verb tenses did not match or pronoun antecedent agreement was lacking. There was so much he could do to break down my writing and there was nothing I could say or do to prove he was being capricious. He had experience and I was just a wanna be.

When I stepped into the building, I was expected some type of professional setting. Instead it was a loft with very laid back future, decorated with movie and band posters. It kind of resembled an adolescent male's room, which made me double check the address. Yes. I was in the right place, but this was not matching up to the expectations built up inside my mind at all. The atmosphere was too easy going to have any kind of semblance of professionalism. Was this some kind of sick joke?

"Clare Edwards, we have been waiting for you."

I looked up and saw the most gorgeous male I have ever laid eyes leaning in the doorway before me. He was taller than me, his body was toned and nicely muscled in a subtle way, and he was beautiful. Dark brown hair which swooped over his eyes and tickled the nape of his neck, stunning emerald eyes, and a smirk which made my knees weak. He was dressed in a faded gray tee, ripped black skinny jeans, and combat boots. Beneath his neck glinted a silver necklace shaped like a guitar pick.

Holy hell, this man was hot. You could probably fry bacon on his beautiful body and it would be the most delicious bacon you had ever tasted in your entire life. Why was I even thinking about bacon when I was looking to the most jaw dropping green eyes in the world?

"Um, yes. I am here for the uh...internship thing. My name is Clare Edwards and I am from Degrassi-" I bite my lip, blushing at how idiotic I was sounding in front of him. I could not keep my words straight at all, I kind of forgot how to even speak.

The mysterious man nodded and did not speak. It was as though he was giving me the same kind of once over I just gave him. He was evaluating my outfit from my light blue ballet flats to my matching floral dress with white cardigan. I felt stupid not taking more time to curl my hair more meticulously that morning or doing my makeup better.

I felt like some kind of short and chunky blue blob standing in front of this guy. It was starting to make me sweat, and I wanted to escape his intense gaze. But he was looking at me with that smirk of his, like he was interested in me somehow. Impossible, of course. My mind was just imagining someone as attractive as him would ever look at Saint Clare in the same way guys look at my best friend, Alli.

About what seemed like five minutes later, the guy spoke. "Ahem, yes. I'm Eli. The one who chose you for the internship at my publishing company. Welcome."

Wait, what?

I was feeling a tad confused because Eli did not look like the type to own anything but a motorcycle. Maybe a guitar. But an entire publishing company? Impossible. This had to be some kind of joke to trick the newbie where everyone laughs at me and then makes me fetch their weird coffee drinks.

"Is the new girl here yet or are you pretending to do work?" A voice shouted from behind the doorway Eli was now leaning against,

The voice sounded male and kind of impatient. Not in a bad way, but like someone who wanted to get his work started. I had to admire that because I was thinking the same thing.

Why was I standing here being scrutinized when I was supposed to be setting up times for my internship and finding out the tasks they wanted me to complete? My mind was all over the place and I was started to getting nervous about this whole situation.

The owner of the voice appeared, a tall male around Eli's age with light brown hair and freckles. He was wearing a red plaid shirt over an Atari tee with faded jeans. He poked Eli in the shoulder and said, "Stop drooling. I don't think Clare wants to stand around all day while you lust after her curves. So put your tongue back where it belongs and let's give Clare a tour of our humble office, okay? Okay." He smiled at me and said, "I'm Adam. Follow me and I will show you where your desk is."

Sure. My desk. I followed Adam and glanced back at Eli who gave me a lusty gaze. I guess you could call it that. There was something which kept drawing our gazes back together, which made me blush and he kept the smirk on his face.

Lusting after my curves, huh? That was the only thing perpetuating my mind while Adam gave me the tour. All the details seemed to be blurred together except the way my blue eyes kept meeting Eli's green ones.

What have I gotten myself into?

There is no way I can be the only person who has ever had a crush on her boss. It has to be one of the most common occurrences in the world, right? I was kind of crushing on Eli, but I would not let it get in the way of this internship. I was lucky to be picked to work at his up and coming publishing company as an editing intern. It was some kind of dream come true, and he was a nice added bonus.

At the moment, I was trying to figure out which one of the stories I wanted to look over first. Eli handed me a large pile of stories and a red pen. I was at a loss for words, but I got the idea he wanted from me. I was supposed to be practicing editing on these stories and see how far I was able to get in the time I had. He even said he would be around to answer any kind of questions I may have. I was about to pick up a story called "The White Room" when I got the feeling I was being watched. I looked over my shoulder and saw Eli sipping coffee out of a chipped blue mug, watching me. Not in a weird way, but a curiosity to see what I was going to do be handed such responsibility on my own. He was perched on his desk with his legs crossed just drinking his java.

"Hello, Eli," I said and picked up my red pen. Let him think he does not bother me at all. I can be cool and collected when I need to be.

I opened the manuscript and began to read. I already saw some inconsistent verb tenses so I marked them promptly and made a small note correcting them. I noticed the sound of footsteps, but I was trying to concentrate on the story. I was having a hard time though because a lot of the verb tenses did not match which caused confusion and the story was filled with spelling errors. I looked up to see if Eli was still watching me to find that he was literally leaning over my shoulder. If I turned my head in the right direction, I would be able to kiss him on those pink plump lips of his. Not that I wanted to kiss him, but he did have some very luscious lips for a man.

"Clare Edwards," he said a low voice, his breath tickling my neck and sending shivers up and down my spine. I turned my head just a few millimeters and looked him in the eye, wondering why he was standing in such close proximity.

"What?"

"I told you we had been waiting for you earlier. But I never got to finish my thought because Adam decided to butt in," he said with amusement is his voice, clearly enjoying making me all kinds of nervous. I was trying to figure out what he meant, why he would have been waiting for me. Nothing was really making sense at this point in the conversation anymore.

"I meant we have been waiting for you because of the talent you have. It is so rare to see such strong writing in a high school student, let alone the editing skills you possess. We were lucky to be able to get you for this internship," he finished, noticing my confusion still there. It did make me feel good that he considered me to be a good writer and editor, but it did not ease the butterflies in my stomach from the way he was standing so close to me.

He smiled, and then leaned in closer and closer. I was waiting for him to kiss me or something, but this was not some kind of romance novel. I bit the inside of my cheek and closed my eyes. This was not really happening and I was just imagining it.

Suddenly, Eli stepped away from me and picked up a red mug. He handed it to me and smiled. I was kind of confused because I did not know what I was supposed to do with. So I just held it in my hands akwardly and smiled nervously at him. Wait, maybe he wanted to me join him for some coffee?

I stood up and walked over to the coffee machine, trying to calm my nerves and pouring myself a mug of coffee. I added some milk and sugar. I turned around to return to my desk and bumped right into his chest. Luckily, the coffee did not spill.

"Why do you write, Clare?"

"Because I cannot imagine doing anything else," I replied, staring up into his green orbs.

"Same here," he replied with a smirk and causally pushed away a stray hair which had fallen into my eye. It was a very weird situation, and I could tell neither of us was sure what to do next. I was biting my lip for the thousandth time today.

"You must do that when you are nervous," Eli pointed out and grabbed his own coffee mug. I was trying to not bite my lip, but it was impossible. Eli made me a ball of nerves.

"Would you mind helping me stuff some envelopes?" Eli asked in a casual way, like he was inviting me to dinner or something. I wanted to laugh because I should be filling envelopes as an intern. I was there to help him out and learn at the same time. I had expected to be fetching drinks and dry cleaning, not editing stories on my first day.

There was something about Eli that drew me to him. I was supposed to be Saint Clare, but he made me want to shed that nickname. He was the seciest guy I had seen in a long time, because all of the guys at Degrassi were not much to see. I had not really dated because there was no one was kept my attention or brought out the kind of feelings like Eli was doing. He made me want to run my hands through his dark hair and feel his breath tickle the nape of my neck. I would not mind if his long, lanky fingers did some exploring of their own either-and...no. He was my mentor, way too old for me and way out of my league.

I nodded my ascent to help him stuff some envelopes and followed him into his office to get to work.

I walked into his office and realized we were the only ones here. Adam had gone home, and there was no one else around. Just me and Eli in this office. With envelopes. My mind was wandering to forbidden places when I noticed Eli was sitting on a faded black futon with a stack of envelopes in front of him. Ah, yes. The task at hand which need to be complete.

"I will help with those," I said, trying to sound kind of flirty. However, I failed and tripped over a box right by the table in front of the futon. I felt myself go flying in the air and then I felt a pair of arms around my waist. Eli had caught me and now I was lying on top of him on this futon. His hands were gripping my waist and I felt our hearts both rapidly beating. His hands traveled down to my waist and I felt myself leaning into him.

This should not be happening. I could get into some much trouble. My mom would be so disappointed in my behavior. She had raised me to be better than that and here I was acting like some kind of slut. This was not who I am, but I could not help myself. I did not want to stop what I was doing. It felt so wrong...but oh so good...

His hands keep making their way down my body until he grips my thighs and pulls my close to him. I press my chest against him and smile at the way he blushes for a moment. It is nice to know I affect him the way he does to me. I can't help but notice his grip tightening and his hands exploring my curves. I try to stop myself, but I moan in excitement. This whole situation feels so good... it is like letting go of all the drama and being in the moment. Eli leans in and kisses my neck, running his tongue along the bottom of my jaw. His action elicits another moan from myself and he groans in response. I look him right in the eye and then plunge my lips on his, not caring about anything else but Eli and this moment.