POV- Clare

The second period bell rang and I gathered up my books and headed for the door. I bit my lip as I grabbed my English composition notebook. I checked my hair in the mirror and turned to Alli, who was getting books from her own locker.

"How do I look?" I asked her, referring to my outfit and hair.

Alli brought a finger up to her chin and thought for a second. She walked over to me and played with my hair a bit and unbuttoned the top three buttons of my shirt. "There you go. Now you don't like my grandma."

I rolled my eyes; I knew she was over-exaggerating. "Thanks, Alli."

She winked. "Make sure to get Eli's attention!"

"But Alli I don't even-" I said but she already walked away. I humphed and trudged to English. I took my usual seat, which was three rows and behind Eli.

I put my books down and took my seat. Eli was already sitting down, busy coloring and doodling with his black Sharpie. He must've gotten another pair of headphones. I had been using the ones he gave me. Last night was the first night in days that I had spelt like a baby.

"So, class, today we are just going to review for our upcoming test. After we get enough of that in you are free to do homework from other class," Mrs. Dawes told us. So pretty much what she was saying was she was going to talk half the period while mostly everyone spaced out and then we would pretty much just talk after that.

She got into the lesson right away, and I took the occasional notes for about ten minutes, but then I started spacing out and just couldn't pay any attention. I started to doodle in my notebook for about ten, fifteen minutes.

"And that completes our lesson for today! If anyone has any questions feel free to ask now before I start grading papers," she said, and when nobody spoke up (nobody wanted to listen to her anymore), she sat down, put her glasses on and got to work.

Eli turned around right away."How have the headphones been working lately?"

"Oh, um, there good. I can actually concentrate when I do things at home. I see you got yourself another pair. You didn't have to give me yours and then go out and buy a new pair," I told him.

He shrugged. "Well, I still needed something to keep me from listening to my English partner, " he joked.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, very funny…"

"I certainly thought so! …So, has your writer's block stopped? Or do we need to arrange some more public embarrassment to help you with it again?" Eli asked. (Jokingly or not, I don't know.)

"I don't think so, my writing has seemed to improved a lot," I said.

"And it's all because of me. Feel free to thank me," he said smugly.

"Hey, don't get too cocky. It wasn't all because of you," I laughed.

He rolled his eyes. "Please, I bet your life just kept getting better and better since I've showed up here."

I smiled. "Oh yeah. Totally. Being English partners with you for English is the best thing that has ever happened to me," I said jokingly.

He smirked. "I know, right? It just can't get any better when it comes to Eli Goldsworthy," he said.

"Don't flatter yourself, Eli," I said smiling.

"Ooh, that hurts!" he said in that joking Eli voice of his. "So, I heard the Dot makes some pretty good food. You're gonna have to come with me sometime so I know what's good and what's not."

I was surprised by that. "Hmm… I'll think about it."

Eli smirked. "I won't worry myself over this, Clare. I know you won't be able to say no to me. I am quite the handsome devil."

I scoffed. "You wish!" then I really noticed that even though it was extremely cocky of him to say that, it was completely and utterly true. And those green eyes.. That sideways smirk…

"Earth to Clare! I know you can't help it, but it's very rude to stare," he smirked once again. I pushed his arm.

"I was not staring…"

Eli laughed. He said sarcastically, "Of course not."

I cleared my throat. Something about Eli was just so… competitive. It made me competitive, also. Like we were fighting for something, but I wasn't sure exactly what.

And the weird thing was, I almost… liked it.

A/N- I'm gonna have another part to this story… and it's up to you guys; should they start having romance right away? Or have it SLOWLY build up? It's all up to you guys. Please review =)