My first official fanfiction story :D A whole year of Eclare and there ups and downs. Enjoy and please review!

An Eclare Story

September:

Eli -

Degrassi Community School (a.k.a. PRISON in my opinion). As I drove up to the school in my hearse, I could tell this was going to be the start of a miserable year. Thank God I was a junior! Two years down, two more to go. For the most part I dreaded school, like any other teenager would. But, then again, it was my only escape from my feuding divorced parents and their stupid shared custody. Back and forth, back and forth, weekend after weekend. School was my only distraction.

My first day didn't go as bad as I predicted it would be. I roamed the halls alone, taking glimpses of my peers. All seemed pretty normal to me. People would stare, though, and I even heard some people talk about me, assuming I was some suicidal emo who had a connection to the afterlife. Perfect. I was getting a rep already and I had only been in the school for a day. But what else could mere teenagers suspect of a guy dressed up in all black who drives a hearse to school?

The rest of the day dragged and finally it was time to hop into Morty (the hearse) and drive home. People stared, of course, but I didn't expect anything less. On my way out I spotted two girls fighting over something on the sidewalk. One had very tan skin and black hair; the other had very fair skin with reddish brown hair. Suddenly I saw something be thrown into the air and the next I knew, CLINK. Shit! There goes another thing I ruined. I stopped and got out of Morty to find a broken pair of glasses next to my tire. Just great! I turned to the girl with the red hair, assuming they were hers, and said, "I think they're dead." And then I noticed something. Her eyes. She had the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen. I looked to the ground, hoping she didn't notice how I was staring at her.

"It's ok," she started, "I don't need them anymore. Got...laser surgery." Stuttering. Cute. I was making her nervous. I continued to stare at her. She seemed to notice, because she tried to look away. "You have pretty eyes." Did I just say that? Oh, yeah I did. "Thanks," she started, "I'll, uh, see you around?" "Guess you will." I hopped back into Morty and drove away, hoping that I certainly would see her around.

I couldn't stop thinking about the girl for the rest of the day. I didn't even know her name and she already had me going crazy. I figured a walk would calm me down, keep my mind off of her. I walked into this restaurant, "The DOT." Looked like the local hangout since I saw a lot of people from Degrassi there. And that's when I saw her. The girl who's glasses I broke earlier. She was sitting alone at a table with her laptop and a coffee. Suddenly I felt like fate was playing a very bad game with me. I had just spent the whole day thinking about her and there she was, only a few feet away. So I approached her.

"Hey there." She looked up at me and their they were. Those beautiful blue eyes that sent me to another world. "Oh, hi." She looked a little surprised, but then I saw something else...maybe...excitement? "Look I wanna apologize for what happened before." "Don't worry about it. I told you I don't need them anymore." She really was cute. Her smile, her voice, everything about her was amazing. "I'm Eli, by the way." "Clare." Well I got the name part checked off my list. "So, was there something else you needed or was that it..." She must've notice me staring at her again, because once she spoke I completely snapped out of it. "Uh, nope. I 'll see ya at school." WHAT? Smooth Eli, very smooth.

Who was I kidding? A girl like her would never be interested in a guy like me. I didn't want to leave her, but there wasn't anything else I could think of to say. I just wanted to keep staring into her eyes. I would get her, though. As long as I was at Degrassi, I would make Clare mine.

Clare -

I like him. There was absolutely no doubt about it. I couldn't stop thinking about the way he looked at me when he ran over my glasses. A blessing in disguise I would say, I thought. And then when he showed up later that day at "The DOT" my heart skipped a beat. I longed for him to stay a little while longer, but all good things come to an end at some point. I shouldn't have asked if he needed anything else from me. I should've invited him to sit with me or find any reason to talk to him more. But I didn't. Once again, I let the wrong thing slip out of her mouth. Typical Clare.

I couldn't see how I could be attracted to someone like him. He drives a hearse! Definately not my first pick. But when I was around him, it just felt...right. I never wanted him to leave and when he did I counted the steps he took. Wow...I was hopeless. I have to find some way to talk to him, I thought. Hopefully the next day will bring good news for me.

The next day seemed to last forever. Finally, it was time for English. I walked into the class and sitting right in the seat in front of me was my good news. There he was, Eli Goldsworthy, slumping down in his desk, coloring his nails with a black marker. I could feel my heart plunge down into my stomach. I was only a few steps away from my desk, but I couldn't lift my feet off the ground. I walked past Eli as quietly as I could, trying not to attract any attention to myself. I knew that if I caught him looking at me I would immediately start to blush.

Time went on during English and Eli made no effort to socialize with me. I was having a disagreement with Ms. Dawes over my last English assignment. I got a C. She was telling me it was because my writing is becoming "distant and impersonal." Did I really need this right now? And to top it off, she announced who my writing partner for the semester was going to be...Eli. "Me?" I heard him ask. He sounded less than thrilled. Great! Not only do I have a partner that I'm totally obsessing over right now, I also have a partner who probably doesn't like me back anyway. What a great year this was going to be.

Eli -

I had a thousand thoughts racing through my head. All of them good. Ms. Dawes wants me to be Clare's English partner? It was fate again. At first I was just happy to know she had no choice but to look my way through the entire class since she was sitting right behind me. And that way I know she's not ignoring my existence. At least that's how I thought of it. To her I was probably just some big head of dark hair getting in her way of learning. Did that still mean she was thinking about me? Works for me. But now I have an excuse to spend more time with her. So what if it's just for school? Study dates can be cool too. I could stare into her beautiful blue eyes and not have to worry about it seeming awkward. Thank you Ms. Dawes!

Then something snapped me out of my happy thoughts. A voice from behind said, "Great. That'll be fun." It was Clare. She didn't seem too happy about the partnership. Maybe she doesn't like me that much? Maybe I did something to offend her? But what? We've barely said a word to each other the whole day I've known her. Maybe she was just in a bad mood. This is not the real Eli Goldsworthy thinking anymore. The real Eli would never make a big deal over a girl he liked. He wouldn't think about her every minute of every day, and he wouldn't be obsessing over whether or not it sounds like she likes him. But Clare was no ordinary girl. She was...special. She makes me feel like another person when I'm around her. And that wasn't such a bad thing.

We decided to meet up for lunch the next day...to go over assignments, of course. I kept getting distracted, though. I kept getting lost in her...EVERYTHING. She was just all-around amazing. Focus Eli, I thought to myself. One thing led to another, and within less than five minutes I had convinced her to skip class with me. We found a park bench to sit on and looked over each others' papers. Trying to break the awkward silence I started a conversation. "Wow, this is a first; skipping school to do homework." "I still don't understand how you got an A and I got a C." Wow she was really obsessed with grades. A little annoying but nothing to hold against her, of course. "Simple. I'm dating Ms. Dawes!" Ah, one of the many jokes that came with my sense of humor. Clare didn't seem to find it that funny. Hmm, jealous that Ms. Dawes might be getting my attention more than you? How cute.

The rest of the conversation didn't go exactly how I planned it would. I told her she was a good writer but there's no point of view to her stories. I tell her to write about something that pisses her off. Her response? "Besides my English partner?" "Ouch!" I say with sarcasm. Well not complete sarcasm. Then she tells me about her parents...that things aren't working out so well, but she doesn't want to write about that because she thinks it's too personal. Wow. She really cares too much about what people think. So I tell her that and the next thing I know I'm daring her to scream at the top of her lungs. She does it. That's kinda...hot. Then she expects me to do it too. Uh, no thanks. She's ready to come after me, so I get up and back away, only to back up right into a pole and be left there with no escape. She's still running after me, insisting I do it. I grab onto her wrists and she realizes the moment we're having. She stops. I stop. I stare into her amazing eyes. I was about lean in and...kiss her. If she would've stayed one more second I definately would've done. But she pulled away, and I let her go. I gave her a smirk, trying not to show the huge grin that was ready to burst out of me. She sat back down and we didn't say another word.

Clare -

Uh, what just happened back there? Did Eli and I just have a moment? And did he look like he was about to lean in for a...kiss? Ugh! Why did I pull away? What came over me? I like this guy! I should've stayed there! I have the aching feeling that something would've happened if I hadn't pulled away. But I did. And I know I'm not going to stop kicking myself about it for the rest of my life. When I had to go, Eli had offered to give me a ride, but of course I said no. Me being me, I didn't think first about what might've happened on the way home. Instead, I only thought about not wanting to face the potential awkward silence that might've come with the ride.

The days went on and the flirting between Eli and I only grew stronger. We were spending a lot more time together...for English class, of course. We would constantly meet up for coffee to work on papers together. For some reason though, we would never be able to finish in one day. We would always start talking about something else and by the end of the day we would've only gotten a quarter of the project done. Weird. And now that Alli was off with Drew all the time, I would always be free to spend lunch with Eli. We texted and IMed each other almost every night, never getting bored of hearing about what was going on with each other. Things were so perfect. Except for the fact that we still needed to take that next step.

I made constant attempts to ask Eli out. But whenever the time came to ask, I always chickened out or was too worried about my parents to remember. Things had gotten much worse at home. Mom and Dad were still fighting constantly. By now, they seemed to have their own daily routine. Wake up. Get ready. FIGHT. Come home. Eat dinner. FIGHT. Get ready for bed. FIGHT. Sleep. Repeat. I was getting sick of it. Eli was the only person who understood what was going on with me. And that wasn't because he was only one who knew. It was because he had gone through the same thing with his parents when they were getting a divorce. He knew how it felt to sit alone in his room, listening as his parents were screaming right outside his door. He knew how it felt to walk in on them fighting and see the anger in each other's eyes. He knew how it felt to hear his mom yell after his dad after he had walked out, slamming the front door shut, probably to go stay at some motel for the night.

I appreciated the way he comforted me about it. He never asked too many questions and he always had the right answers. He was always there for me when I needed a shoulder to cry on. Whenever I needed him, day or night, he didn't mind me calling or IMing him. As we got to know each other so much more, I found myself falling more and more in love with him. WAIT! Did I just say LOVE? I guess I did. I can't blame myself. I've never cared for another person as much as I care about Eli. When I was around him, I had so many different feelings running through me. He made me happy. He made me forget about my troubles. He was the perfect boyfriend. But that was the problem. He wasn't my boyfriend. He was just an amazing friend. For now, at least.

Eli -

The chemistry between us was slowly driving me insane. No matter how many times I told myself to make a move, I always gave up. Not this time, though. I knew what I had to do.

I found Clare the next morning walking into the school. I ran towards her as fast as I could, calling her name. She turned around and gave me a warm smile. I started to get nervous. I thought I couldn't do it. I felt myself preparing to just forget about it and make up something else to talk about. But then I looked into her eyes. Those blue eyes that I couldn't keep off of my mind. I knew I had to do it. Like Adam always said, "It's better to just RIP the bandage off."

"So," I started, "got any plans for this weekend?" Ugh. That probably just sounded stupid to her.

"No. Why? Have something in mind?" She looked a little hopeful when she asked. This is going well, Eli. This is going very well.

"Well, I, er," Oh no. I started stuttering. Smooth. "Well, if you weren't doing anything, maybe you wanted to hang out?"

"Really? I'd love to." She smiled and we agreed to meet up for lunch. I did it. I actually asked out Clare Edwards. Hm, cool.