Hey guys! I've been working on this article for my school newspaper on Bullying and the second I wrote it, I needed to write an Eclare one-shot on it. Please Enjoy this one-shot I'd like to call "How To Save A Life"...

Please read and review! :3 Keep your reviews to a hatred minimum...

How To Save A Life

Most of the shadows of life are caused by standing in our own sunshine.

Elijah Goldsworthy, seen as the boy who wears all black, known as the boy who's the high school 'outcast'.

Although the rumors and whispers don't help his aching mind, the smirk that he seems to fake helps him throughout his miserable, long, terror-filled days that he goes through everyday when he stomps slowly up each beat up, gum covered step to the Degrassi doors.

"Watch it," are the two words that Eli hears every time he hesitantly walks into the hallways or tries to get up to leave a classroom.

What those people don't know, is that every time those words escape their cruel lips, which is usually followed by a laugh...it's just another scar that'll be added to Eli's collection on his arms, his thighs, and even on his back...well, the places he can reach anyways.

He doesn't want to admit that he feels alone, he doesn't want to admit that he is yet to make one friend at his school that he's been at for two years now and he most deffinately doesn't want to admit that these people hurt him.

"What the fuck are you looking at?" They hiss when his eyes accidently clash with their's by accident, in the mist of him trying to avoid eye contact at all times.

"S-sorry," he'll apologize, he'll apologize and then when he get's home, he'll scream for doing so.

Elijah Goldsworthy, the boy who some would think was made of stone, would go home and grab the sharpest thing he owns in his house, only to strip down to his boxers and smile at the reflection before his tear filled eyes.

"I'm sorry!" He'll scream loudly, laughing at the way he is so weak around his 'criminals', as he gripped onto the sink and stared at his blood shot eyes in the mirror.

After a moment of earth shattering screams, he'll smile as the people's threatening words echoing through his fucked up head and he'll slowly, ever so slowly drag a razor, or his personal favorite, the box cutter across the body part that he randomly picked out of his hat he filled with a variety of choices.

What he didn't know, was that he wasn't alone.

The next day, just like every other 'next day', Eli walked into school with his head down, silently praying that no one will lay a hand on him because he is still sore from all of the deep cuts covering his body.

A tear is close to escaping his eyes as he sees his 'best friend' call out his name mockingly, teasing out every syllable in 'Elijah' and Eli stopped in his tracks, gripping onto his book bag strap that was now slipping from his palms because he was starting to sweat with nervousness.

"So Emo boy, what's got your eye liner running today?" Owen asked, raising his eyebrows while biting back his bottom lip and turning around to laugh with his 'buddies' behind him as Eli gulped, "J-just please, d-don't t-touch me."

"Hm, what was that? You gotta' learn to speak up Emo boy," Owen mocked Eli's nervous tone, quivering his bottom lip just like Eli's was, as Eli took a deep breath, bracing himself for the impact of the fist from the overly muscular boy.

His eyes clenched together like they usually did as Owen's fist pulled back, Eli's knees nearly gave out on him, considering the situation he was put in at the moment and the amount of blood that he was losing, which was seeping through his clothes.

When Eli didn't feel any physical contact, he opened his right eye halfway only to see a girl standing in front of him as she pointed a stern finger at Owen and said, "If you want punch him, you're going to have to punch me first."

Eli's heart raced, not knowing what to do, either jump in front of the courageous, fragile looking girl that was making such a brave gesture to the teenage bully that would probably charge a punch at her, or just wait to see what was going to happen.

"Seems like the freaks are all pairing up," Owen muttered as Eli shook his head, knowing that he'd regret what he was doing the moment he did it as he grabbed the stranger's forearm tightly and quickly moved in front of her, protecting her from Owen's glaring eyes and clenched fists by his side.

"What are you doing?" She whispered nervously into his ear, making Eli grow goosebumps as he smirked and said, "Doing what I do every day."

Owen took that comment as a sarcastic remark to his daily punishment to Eli as he threw back his fist, pounding it roughly into Eli's face, making him stumble back into the girl uncontrollably and quickly lose consciousness...

A groan produced in Eli's throat as he dare not move an inch, too afraid to feel the damage that was done by Owen as he subconsciously tried to open his eyes, but he immediately shut them feeling the pain vibrating through his body.

He took in a short breath as he expected to open his eyes to see the Degrassi hallway ceilings, but his mind was poorly confused as he looked up, seeing a purple striped ceiling.

"Ah," he hissed while trying to sit up, but he felt a soft hand on his bare chest and his eyes immediately shot open, clashing with frantic, inoccent blue eyes staring back at him.

For the first time in Eli's life, he had woken up from a beating feeling...safe.

"W-who are you?" Eli spoke, hearing his voice crack and stutter miserably in front of the curious girl who was glancing nervously back at him, smiling slightly to lighten the mood as she said, "I-uh, my name's Clare."

"Nice to meet you," he whispered awkwardly as he then processed that a girl, an actual girl who walked on the Degrassi grounds was talking to him and staring at him-staring at his gashes on his chest.

His hands slowly traced the outline of some of his gashes which were covered up, but some were left untouched and still oozing slightly.

When the thought was finally analyzed in his mind, Eli immediately shot up, hissing with each frantic step he took, searching for his shirt to cover up from Clare's eyes. His heart raced, but then it took a dead stop when Clare stood before him, glaring down at her hands as she whispered, "I know Eli, you don't have to hide around me."

Eli slowed down, his movements now becoming hesitant as he gulped, his lungs feeling as if it was slowly closing on him while she didn't respond, only turned around, making his eyebrows tighten in confusion.

Elijah Goldsworthy was now completely puzzled by the scene before him, a teenage girl with these beautiful eyes, nervously taking off her shirt in front of him and his heart sunk into his stomach, watching Clare turn around with a nervous look in her eyes. When Eli's eyes locked on the gashes covering her stomach, all he wanted to was scream.

He shook his head, closing his eyes tightly, wishing that this wasn't happening.

This couldn't be happening, this couldn't be happening to such a young, inoccent and delicate girl who seemed so harmless. She seemed 'dark' before Eli's eyes, but her smile and tears had without effort, out shinned the darkness.

Even though Eli only knew her name, he didn't need to know anything else to understand or 'know' her.

Eli slowly approached Clare, her chin trembling as his fingers traced the outline of one of the gashes on her stomach and he whispered shakily, "W-why would you do this to yourself?"

She scoffed, sniffling in response as she mimicked Eli's actions, tracing the outline to his gashes covering his pale chest while whispering into his ear daringly, "Why would you do this to yourself?"

He gulped, not knowing what to say as she smiled, "You don't need to tell me Eli...I already know."

"How?" Eli asked, completely blown away by the way her cold fingertips made him shiver but, in a way, make him feel as if he was sitting by a burning campfire that was quickly starting to grow.

"It's not that hard to look at a person and see yourself in the reflection," she whispered, pulling away her hands from his chest and taking a step back, looking at him with concern written all over her face as she went to grab her shirt to cover up once again.

Eli quickly grabbed her hand before she could grab it as he said, "Y-you know, most people are afraid to show their scars...so, before you put that back on, I just want you to know that you w-won't have to do that anymore."

"Why not?" She asked cluelessly, standing up while holding the shirt in her hand nervously as he smirked, happy tears starting to stream down his face as he whispered, "We're not alone anymore."

"W-what do you mean? I-I'm alone all the time, I'm alone in my house, I'm on my own at school and everyone hates me for no reason," Eli smiled as she went on her rant, tears streaming down her face as he couldn't take it anymore, he couldn't take the unsettling words that this girl was using to express herself with.

He finally knew that he nor she would never feel alone anymore, but she didn't quite get it yet.

Her chest heaved as Eli sighed, not knowing what to do when a girl cried, so he did the one thing that he wishes someone would do to him every time he has a nervous break down...he tightly wrapped his arms around the trembling girl as she whimpered in his ear, her sobs filling his head.

"D-don't cry," he whispered in her ear as he felt her stomach rise and sink over his chest as she said, "I-I want to kill myself Eli...I want to do it, I want to end it all."

Eli felt her arms dangling adjacent to his sides, not embracing him at all as he gently stroked his fingers through her hair while saying, "I'm sorry Clare...but, now that I've met you, you're not going to end it, you're going to live it."

"I don't want to Eli, I don't want to anymore," she admitted through crying sobs as he pulled away from their embrace and said, "I know we don't know each other, but for some reason I feel like I've known you forever...so please, if you end it, then I guess I'm going down with you."

Clare smiled through her tears as she felt Eli trace his fingers over her scars on her bicep as he whispered, "I've felt alone throughout my whole life and school only makes it worse, but you, I think you can make it better."

"I can't help anyone," she whispered, "I'm useless...that's what the girls tell me in school."

"Let's make a pact," Eli told her as her eyebrows tightened in confusion as he continued, "I won't listen to the boys in school if you don't listen to the girls in school, does that sound fair?"

Clare smiled and asked, "S-So I really have a friend?"

Without responding to her question, Eli once again wrapped his arms around the shaking frame of a girl and to his surprise, she did the most reassuring thing she ever did in her life, wrapping his arms around his shaking frame...

END

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Cliffhanger Girl

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