XFurubaX: Hey guys! I'm back! I wanted to say THANK YOU for reviewing and supporting my last fic! It meant so much! 3
Sorry for my random disappearance. End of school and lovely exams…But this summer I've got treats for you! =D!
This is an Eclare fanfic. In this fic, it takes place directly after the events of Vegas Night and when the new rules take place. Nothing to do with the "In Too Deep" series however, I am including new character Jake in it. ENJOY!
Out of all the things that had to come into Eli's life, Mark Fitzgerald had to be one of them. The two never even acknowledged each other's existences until Fitz decided to jack Eli's car…or hearse for no apparently good reason. After half a year of one revenge after the other, Vegas Night came. Clare, finally sick of the tension agreed to go with Fitz only if he swore to never bother either her or Eli again.
But Eli still needed the last laugh.
When they proposed an apology toast, Eli had slipped some little "secret" of his into one of the drinks to make Fitz puke…unfortunately it worked.
Clare, only angry at herself for not realizing he'd do it, finally let it out.
"What ever Fitz does to you, you deserve it!"
…Clare didn't mean it but what came next was far from what either one expected.
Fitz had brought a knife…
"Ok, look Fitz-I'm sorry! For Every-"
"Quiet!…"
He finally had him cornered at a locker. "Someone's gotta make you shut up."
He lunged the knife at him. Eli jerked back, and Clare screamed and…nothing. Eli had only gotten the piss scared out of him but afterward, things changed…
X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X
Two weeks later, winter break was over, and Degrassi was barely recognizable. Uniforms, no cell phones (or any electronics), name tags, no public displays of affection. Nothing any other high school would have. Eli was almost positive that no one could hate the uniforms more than him. He missed wearing all black to school. He felt…naked without it.
The halls were unusually quiet albeit the murmurs of how much everyone hated the new policy. When he reached his locker, Clare was no where in sight. Unfortunately for him. He hadn't said a word to her since the Vegas Night incident. He wanted to talk to her but was never able to reach her over the break.
He sighed, aggravated with everything. On the bright side, Fitz would be serving his time in prison.
He walked into his English class where Mrs. Dawes was walking toward her desk and everyone was already seated. He saw Clare, staring into her notebook, tapping the desk with the eraser of her pencil. Adam was copying the vocabulary words on the board, glancing at Clare with a concerned look every few seconds. There was an empty seat right next to her. He wanted to sit there but for some reason found himself walking to a seat completely on the other side of the class.
"Why the hell aren't you sitting next to Clare? THIS is when your supposed to talk thing out!"
Instead, he started to copy the vocabulary words like the rest of the class.
Once it was over, Clare darted out of the classroom and rushed off down the hallway for some reason. Eli couldn't see past the guy sitting next to him's head, and couldn't even get a glance at what Clare was doing. He ran to the doorway, standing there watching her turn into the girl's bathroom, he saw her face scrunching up and wiping underneath her eye with her hand…as if about to cry. Adam walked up next to him, looking at her as well.
"What's wrong with Clare?"
Adam turned at him, almost immediately turning away and sighing. Walking off.
Eli figured since he wouldn't see them again until lunch, he decided he'd shrug it off until then. However as he sat in his Science class, his mind kept wandering off. Why didn't Clare notice him when he walked in, or at least show him she knew he was there? Why wouldn't Adam talk to him either? Why the hell did they need dress codes?
"Excuse me!"
Eli jumped up a little, startling back into reality. He was sure his teacher caught him zoning out but he pointed to the student directly next to him.
"Can you quiet down? There are people here who'd like to listen."
The boy next to him snickered going back to chatting with the one behind him. Eli stared at the clock, waiting for the stupid hand to hit the 3.
"My god this class drags on so slow…why wouldn't Clare talk to me? What was she upset about?…Oh god…what if she's still mad about the Fitz problem?"
It had to be that. But Clare isn't the kind of person who just stops talking to people without telling them why she wouldn't want to be around them first. He suddenly arose out of his thoughts to hear his teacher;
"As you know, 90% of the mass in an organism is formed of 4 ele-"
Eli laid his head back down, he learned this in 4th grade. He just wanted to get to lunch…to settle things out, so the weird knot in his stomach would just, go away. When the time came however, he wasn't as anxious as he thought he would be. He went to sit at him, Clare and Adam's usual table but when he arrived, neither one of them were there. He sat down, assuming neither one of them got out of class yet. After a minute or two, he took his lunch bag out of his book bag and sat it on the table. Looking at the cafeteria doors carefully to see if he could catch them. After a few more minutes, he took an apple out from his brown bag and took a bite out of it. Finally, his eyes started wandering around the numerous table of the cafeteria when he noticed the first weird thing…Clare.
She was sitting at another table alone with her and Alli Bhandari. They looked as if they were having a serious conversation about something. He felt a little hurt. But she couldn't be clung around his shoulder all the time…but god, he really wanted to talk to her. Then the second weird thing happened. He saw Adam. Standing at another table far from them. Dave, Connor and Wesley were talking to him, as if trying to get him to sit down. There was a strange sadness in Adam's eyes. After a second of a few mouthed words he couldn't understand, Adam set his bag down, sitting between Dave and Wesley.
Then, the third weird thing happened.
He looked back over at Clare and Alli, Clare was wiping her eyes as she leaned closer to Alli, who was wrapping her arms around her. Tears fells out of her eyes. She buried her face into Alli's shoulder. He looked down at his apple.
Had he done this? Was it all that he couldn't let Fitz get away and he nearly got stabbed because of it? …
Or was something happening at home?…What if family problems were going on?
He looked back up at Clare. She was looking directly at him, with big, shiny eyes full of tears and a rather pitiful face. She then looked ahead of her, squeezing her eyes tightly shut and her face scrunching up as if about to bawl and hid her face once again.
Maybe it was him.
He looked away, a feeling of unknown guilt took over. And the knot in his stomach pulled even tighter.
When the dismissal bell rang, Eli walked down the halls in hope of finding Clare or Adam, but he was out of luck as the school grew emptier and emptier. He walked home that afternoon. That morning Morty wouldn't start for some reason and he hardly had any time to figure out the problem (due to oversleeping). He always cut through his neighbors backyard to get to his house. When he was 11 he had always walked home from school and created his own little short cut through his neighbors hedge (which he wasn't necessarily happy about) to avoid a longer walk, and got to his house through the back door.
"Dad?"
He walked in the back door which led to the kitchen, shutting the door behind him, the blinds slamming against the glass always made him jump a little.
No one answered.
"Mom?"
He was sure his mom was still working her shift at the local diner and his dad was probably sleeping due to being up doing his radio show until 3 A.M. He took off his jacket and went to the living room. He was about to go upstairs until he heard something at the couch. He stood on the first step trying to see over the head rests,
His parents were both sitting there, talking quietly to each other. He couldn't tell if it was an argument or if they were upset about something. He walked towards the living room, sitting on the small coffee table in front of them, he realized his mother was crying and his father was trying to calm her down.
"Fuck!" "Mom, you ok?" He tried grabbing her hand but she lifted it upward, wiping her tears. His father looked at him, nodding 'no' before bringing her to a hug.
"Did something happen?"
What if she lost her job?
He looked at his dad, he saw that he was trying not to get worked up himself. Eli stood up, "Did-did grandma die?"
Again, no response.
"She died didn't she?"
Cece stood up, walking upstairs. His father stood up, watching her.
"Dad, what happened?"
His dad sighed, not answering him. He sat back down on the couch cupping his head in his hands. Eli got more and more worried. He knew something was going on and if his parents wouldn't tell him, it had to be something awful. He rushed up the stairs to his parents room.
"Mom-!" he stopped when he got to the door. His mother was on the bed, her face buried into the pillow. He backed out of the room a little, but instead he sat on the edge of the bed next to his mother. He looked at her for a second, before he gently rubbed her arm. Trying to comfort her.
Whatever was wrong.
xXx
Clare laid on her bed. Eyes exhausted and wet. She stared at the ceiling, the sun was directly out of her window, bringing much light into the room. A notebook and a pencil laid untouched on her desk. She tried to write something, but nothing could come out. She had been laying down for almost fifteen minutes, listening to the war that was going on downstairs. Clare turned to her side to get a better listen. She got so fed up when her parents fought. Especially when it was over the silliest things.
Right now it was… what to have for dinner.
"Seriously?"
She sat up, suddenly laziness took over and she ended up getting a little more ear of what was going on. She pulled herself up and slowly walked down the steps. She got kind of afraid when she actually saw the war; her mother and father fighting in the kitchen. She cautiously and slowly walked in. As a child would when wanting to ask a stranger for help.
"M-mom?"
The two continued for a second, backing away from each other then looking at Clare with aggravated expressions.
"Uh,…"
"Think of something Edwards!"
"After dinner, you want to watch a movie? As a family?"
"Good enough."
Clare's mother seemed to calm down a bit, "I don't know baby, it's a school night."
Clare hesitated to continue, but somehow managed to spit out the words. "Well how about while we eat dinner together?"
WHY did she say that?
"Sure, if your father can make up his mind."
"I thought we had a plan-!"
The two were suddenly frenzied up again, Clare backed away, before she turned around and finally headed back to her room. At least she had stopped the fight for a short second. But she couldn't stand the thought of them being a broken family. The thought of divorce.
She laid on her bed again, the sun had set a little more and less light shown in her room. Her parents seemed to fight less when it got dark she realized. Every afternoon, she couldn't wait for the sun to set.
xXx
"What if the house is foreclosing?"
Many negative thoughts continued to race through Eli's head as he turned the dial on the locker. Whatever made his parents so upset the night before he had to know. Why the hell wouldn't they tell him? Eli's thoughts soon became irrational;
"What if dad got drafted to Afghanistan?"
He walked into his English class, he looked for Clare but she wasn't there. He saw Adam next to what would be her seat, writing down answers to the questions on the board. He went and sat on the seat on the other side of hers.
"Adam!" he whispered leaning over the side of the desk. Mrs. Dawes didn't seem to notice. "Adam, have you seen Clare?" Adam didn't hear him. But as if on cue, Clare walked in the room, her hands clasped over her mouth and her eyes red, tears drying on her cheeks. Everyone looked at her confused, and Eli was concerned. After standing there for a second, Clare looked away from the other students, sitting down in her usual seat.
Eli tried not to seem like he knew while Clare opened her binder, standing it on the table trying to create a barrier between her and the rest of the class. Eli realized she obviously didn't want to talk.
Suddenly, a boy, about 15 years old with deep brown hair and blue eyes stepped in. He had a purple slip in his hand.
"Hello? Is this Mrs. Dawes's room?"
Mrs. Dawes stood up from her desk, "Yes, can I help you?"
The boy walked to the desk, handing her the slip.
"Jake Toal?"
'Jake' nodded.
She pointed to an empty seat in front of Eli. "Right there is fine."
He sat down, Eli had to look around him to see the board. He was a sophomore as indicated by the purple shirt. He looked around the room checking out the other students. He then looked at the binder next to him. Clare didn't even raise her head to see what he looked like. In fact, her head was laid down, resting on her arms.
Eli then remembered the routine for every new student. Girls would get a good shot at him to determine if he's cute or not. And guys would check him out to see if he's worth pummeling if they felt like it.
Jake however was very quiet the rest of the class. He didn't raise his hand for anything, nor try to introduce himself to anyone. When class was over, he was in fact the first to get up and rush out. As everyone else stood up, taking their bags with them out the door, Eli slowly stood up waiting to see if Clare was going to move. She just remained at her seat with her head down. He slowly put his things in his bag, still no movement. Mrs. Dawes walked over to her desk, bending down to eye-level.
"Clare?" she said quietly.
Eli finally gave up and slowly backed out of the room, watching Clare slowly lift her head, revealing gleaming tears on her face.