Clare's POV

"Like I said, I think I deserved less than a B. Mrs. Dawes went really easy on me."

Eli looked at me and shook his head in denial, "No. Your essay was great. You're too hard on yourself. Lighten up a little; be confident with your writing." I rolled my eyes, "Oh alright Dr. Phil"

Eli was right. I just needed to loosen up a little. I was always so stressed about school I never realized what I was doing to myself. We sat at the lunch tables when Adam plopped down on the seat next to me.

"Okay. So tonight, I'm thinking for movie night: comedy or horror? Choose your pick"

Both Eli and I answered at the same time. Of course he said horror. I was a comedy kind of person but if the boys wanted to watch a horror movie it at least had to be a good one.

Eli looked at me with puppy dog eyes. My heart sank. He was just so cute I couldn't stand it. Ever since he opened up to me about Julia I have felt like were growing closer together. I knew he liked me and he knew I liked him but we were just going to ignore it for now, which was extremely hard.

I sighed in defeat, "Okay, okay horror it is…. but it better be a good one not some lame Final Destination or something like that". Adam and Eli gave each other nucks. I gather my food together and stood up, "Okay well see you guys later" I said as I saw Ali walking towards me.

Ali looked nervous, "Claire, come with me to the computer room. I have to print something out". We walked together to the media room. We didn't say much. Ali and I hadn't really been talking. She hung out with Jenna now for some reason and I decided long ago that Jenna and I were not going to talk to each other. We got to the room and she sat at her assigned computer and began typing. I sat on another bouncy ball.

"So what's up with you and Eli?"

"Basically, nothing"

"Yeah…sure"

I looked over at her monitor, "How to deal with morning sickness? What? Ali are you pregnant!" She gave me a guilty look, "No but a friend is". I didn't say anything. I didn't even want to think about that. I looked at my watch. It was almost 1.

"I got to get to my locker, I'll see you later"

I left her and walked to my locker.

As I pulled out my geometry book out Adam came around me and situated himself against the lockers. "So I hope there's not going to be any make sessions during the movie tonight" He smiled, jokingly. "Oh shut up, you know Eli is still being weird about the whole "us" thing" I said. He pushed my locker closed for me, "Clare, Eli sometimes needs a push." I wanted for us work out so bad but I didn't want to pressure him. Maybe he didn't like me as much as I thought.

"You know Adam, there is a thing called pushing too hard"

"Not with Eli, trust me"

Adam, I guess, was right. He is one of Eli's good friends. He knows how Eli's mind works, better than I knew at least. "Sure Adam, I'll see what happens. See you tonight. At 7 right?" I asked as I began walking away. "Yeah! See you then!" He called after me.

Eli's POV

I waited at my locker for Adam. He always came to meet me here after school had ended. Suddenly saw him stomping down the hall with pissed off scowl. Oh shit, what was the problem now?

"Drew can be so annoying sometimes! I swear!" He yelled, letting out an angry sigh. He looked frustrated and pissed off.

"What did he do this time?"

"Basically, he invited his girlfriend over for OUR movie night. It was just supposed to be us and now they're going to be making out during the whole movie"

I thought about it for a second. Maybe it was better if we had more people over anyways. It defiantly would be less awkward with Clare.

"Adam, its fine. Your brother is cool plus it would probably be better if we more people"

He looked at me with a glare. He gave me his "not having it" look. I shrugged, "What?"

"This has to do with Clare, doesn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I know what you're trying to do, Eli. You want more people with us so it won't seem much like a date"

"It's not a date!"

Adam shook his head, "What ever dude, but sometime both you and Clare are going to have to get over this"

Adam didn't understand half of it. It was just complicated. If I did anything to hurt Clare... I don't know what I would do with myself. I felt so protective of her it was like I was fricken Edward Cullen and she was Bella Swan (What a cheesy way of putting it).

"Whatever let's just go alright?" I asked Adam, hoping that his lecturing would stop. Then I saw Clare running down the hall, "Adam! Wait! I have your English notes!" She handed a notebook to him; he took it gratefully. She looked at me with hopefully eyes.

"Soooo… are we still having movie night?"

"Uh yeah…"

"Cool… I'll see you then, Eli"

"Yeah, see ya"

Clare's POV

I knocked on Adam's front door expecting Adam to answer it when I found Eli pulling the door open. I had planned on coming over early to talk to Adam more about the Eli thing. That was obviously out of the question now.

"Hey, you're early" I said while stepping inside. He gave me his "Eli Grin", "Well you are too". He seemed quieter than usual. He kind of ignored me while leading me into the kitchen. Adam was opening up a package of popcorn. "Oh hey Claire!" Adam exclaimed while smiling. Then Drew came into the kitchen with Alli following him.

"Alli? What are you doing here?" I asked. Another surprise tonight was just full of surprises. Adam rolled his eyes, "My brother invited him".

We began watching the movie. Of course Alli and Drew were cuddled up on the lounger. Adam sat in the recliner chair. Eli and I sat on the sofa. It was the most awkward thing ever. I would say we sat close together but he seemed like he was so tense. During the movie I gave Adam, "help me out here!" glances from time to time but like the boy he is, he ignored it.

I had my arms crossed but then at one scary moment I griped onto the couch and by accident I had grabbed Eli's hand. He pulled his hand away so fast I couldn't even say I was sorry. He got up, a tad bit flustered, "I'm going to uhhh get some popcorn… Adam you want to help me out?". Adam looked at him with confusion, "Um, alright sure" He paused the movie and Eli and him left the room.

Alli and Drew were basically making out.

"Alli!" I whispered as loud as I could. She looked over at me with annoyance. Drew got up, "I'll go uh help the other guys" and he left.

"Alli, something is wrong with Eli. He has never acted like this before with me"

"Why don't you talk to him? You're never going to know what's up until you ask him"

She was right. I hated that. I got up off the couch walked right into the kitchen and stood there in the doorway for a second watching the boy whisper. I cleared my throat. The boys automatically left the room but Eli stayed.

"What's going on?" I asked him trying to hide my emotion. He bowed his head, staring down at his shoes. He looked into my eyes. I felt the chills down my back, "Look Clare," He said "I like you a lot. I just don't want to hurt you. I know people think things about us. I don't care what people say about me but I don't people hurting you because of me"

I looked at him with confusion. What was he saying? He made no sense.

"I know what you're trying to do, Eli. You're pushing me out again. You need to let me help you deal with your problems". He walked slowly up to me and place his hand on my shoulder, "I'm trying to protect you" He whispered as he looked down into my eyes. I wanted so much to just clasp my hands around his face and kiss his lips. I placed my hand on his cheek, "I don't need any protecting. I'm a strong girl".

He gently grabbed my hand removing it from his cheek, "Yes, you are." He smiled. His smile made me smile a bit. It lit up a light in my heart or so that's what it felt like but then his smile faded, "But even though you may not need protection from others you will still need protection from me" He walked out of the kitchen leaving me there by myself.

The rest of the night I said nothing to the others. After the movie we played Life but I sat out and just watched. From time to time Eli would look at me with hopeful eyes but I ignored him. I was done with his little games, if he didn't want me around then that was fine. Around 10 o'clock we called it a night.

"You need a ride home?" Eli asked me as I sat on the porch. This guy couldn't take a hint, huh?

"No. I'm fine. My mom is going to come to get me."

He shook his head, "No, text your mom and tell her you have a ride home. I can take you" He pulled my arm, pulling me up and we walked to the hearse. We got in the car, buckled ourselves in and left Adam's. It was pretty quiet and I didn't make any eye contact with him. After a while he spoke up.

"So is going to be like this? You're going to play the silent treatment game?"

"Eli, stop trying to be the man. I'm sick of your crap"

"MY crap! Wow, Clare. Nice."

I sat up in the seat and looked at him for the first time.

"Yeah, you know what Eli, you can find some other girl to play protector with because I'm so done with being treated like a child. You're almost as bad as K.C."

Fortunenatly we made it to my house so I got out of the car and slammed the door behind me. I watched as Eli sped off in the hearse.