Haha hey this is my first attempt at a story...Sorry if it's not any good :)

She sat bored in the classroom behind her English partner, Eli. Their teacher, Miss Dawes, handed back their papers. She glanced at it, fully expecting there to be a bright red 'A' on the top, but instead, there was a disappointing 'C' in its place.

"Miss Dawes, there must be some sort of mistake. I've never gotten a C. How did this happen?" Clare questioned. The English teacher sighed and said, "Well, your earlier assignments were divine, but recently your writing has become distant…impersonal." Clare was baffled at this. She argued, "But I used complex sentence structure and advanced vocabulary." Upon hearing this, Eli rolled his eyes at her immaturity and defensiveness. It was just like her to argue her grade in the middle of class, regardless of who was watching or listening.

"But your assignment didn't tell me anything about who you are…What you want. You can't hide behind vampire fiction forever," Miss Dawes stated simply. Eli smirked at this. Clare flushed and averted her eyes. "I'm not hiding," she said embarrassed. "Then prove it. To your writing partner," Miss Dawes said while discreetly pointing to Eli.

"Me?" Eli questioned with a smirk on his face, his green eyes suspicious. "Yeah, you. You write well but you're…a little wordy. You and Clare will be editing each other's work this semester." Clare sighed, "Great…that'll be fun." Miss Dawes then excitedly said, "We may have a very special partnership on our hands people. Like Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes."

"Sylvia Plath killed herself," Clare muttered irritatedly, ignoring the small giggles coming from her classmates.

Clare was one of the last ones to leave along with Eli. As she walked out the door, Eli started to speed up and they tried to get out at the same time. Eli glanced at her, and snarky as ever, shook his head and smirked as he walked away. She stared after him, in disbelief that somebody could be as rude and frustrating as him.

She spotted Alli and walked up to her to vent. "He's just so…UGH. You know?" Clare said, frustrated. "I get it, you're in love with Eli. But can we talk about something more important? Like how I can get Drew's attention?" Alli sighed, staring at the said boy with a dreamy look on her face, "Ever since I laid eyes on him, I knew we were meant to be…"

Clare furrowed her eyebrows, "Uh…Have you ever even talked to him?" Alli rolled her eyes at her friend's innocence and lack of knowledge."You can't just talk to a guy like that, Clare. You have to have a strategy." Clare sighed at this, and channeling her inner daredevil, she said, "Well, better come up with it fast!", and shoved her friend in front of Drew. Clare smiled while watching Alli and Drew's conversation, and smirked while Alli, irritated, complained about it.

At home, Clare was working on her English assignment when her mom walked in. "Clare, do you think this is too much for tomorrow's church fundraiser?" her mom asked displaying the cute LBD she had on. Clare looked at her mom's outfit before smiling and complimenting her on her outfit. "Oh, well. Not too pretty, I hope," her mom replied, grinning. "Hey, what do you think?" shooting Clare a grin, Mrs. Edwards asked her husband as he walked into the room. Mr. Edwards looked her up and down, completely ignorant of the beautiful dress he had on, said unemotionally, "What? Oh the dress? It looks fine." Clare sighed, knowing what was coming. She tried to ignore her parents' hurtful banter, but she knew, chip by chip, her walls were starting to break down.

"You guys are fighting again," Clare stated the obvious. Her mom turned around, shot both her husband and Clare an exasperated look and said, "We're not fighting, we're disagreeing…Don't worry sweetie," before stalking off. Clare turned around to look at her father, who tried to give her a comforting smile before walking away. She sighed, hurt at her parent's relentless fighting and 'disagreeing', as her mom put it. She needed to get out of the house.

She ran to the door, and quickly shoved on her shoes before grabbing her keys and running to The Dot. She sat herself down at a table, and put her head in her hands, sighing.

Eli, who happened to be there at the time, noticed her and was arguing whether or not he should go and see what's wrong.

'Get over there!'

'No! What if she wants to be alone?'

'What if she doesn't? What if she wants to talk to someone?'

Eli knew he had lost his inner battle. Giving off an exasperated sigh, he stood up and stalked to Clare's table. He stood in front of her awkwardly, waiting for her to acknowledge his presence. Clare felt a presence in front of her, so acting upon her instincts; she looked up into the shimmering green eyes of Elijah Goldsworthy.

"Hi…what are you doing here?" Clare asked.

Eli smirked at her cold greeting, before deciding to completely ignore her question and sitting down. "What's wrong?" he asked simply. Clare shook her head and said, "Frankly, I just don't know anymore." Eli narrowed his eyes and stated, "That's bull. Of course you do." Clare glared at him before seeing the look of concern in his eyes. Upon seeing that, she softened and in an almost whimper-like fashion, she murmured, "My parents are fighting again…it's killing me." Eli almost didn't hear it, considering she said it so quietly, but from the parts he did hear, he got a pretty good idea of what she said.

He looked at her, almost sympathizing for her, but he knew that for a strong girl like Clare that sympathy was the last thing she wanted right now. Instead of saying sorry, he nodded, understanding. Trying to get her off the subject, he asked, "Do you wanna go somewhere?" Clare looked at him, giving him a soft, but dazzling smile, and said quietly, "Yeah. Sure." Eli stood up and offered his hand, which she accepted shyly, and walked out the door, with Clare in tow. When they reached his hearse, Morty, Clare finally asked, "So…where are we going exactly?" Eli smirked and said, "You'll see." He opened the door for her to get in before going around to the other side and getting in himself. He plugged the key in and immediately, some type of heavy metal/screamo music turned on. Clare, surprisingly, found herself liking the sound of the lead singer screeching the angry lyrics. Before she knew it, they were there. It looked like a bistro/café type of place. It was quaint. It was small. It was…cute. She was surprised that Eli would know a place like this.

"How'd you find this place? I've lived here my entire life and I've never seen this place before," Clare questioned. Eli smiled slightly and said, "Skipping school gives you time to really explore the city. I got lost one day and ended up here." Clare nodded, understanding. Eli looked into her eyes before saying, "So. You coming?" and giving her his hand, which she took gladly. They ran off into the café and spent hours there, completely off in their own little world, getting to know each other.

It was around 6 o'clock when they finally decided to leave. During that time, they learned many things about each other. Like how Eli lived with his grandparents, and how Clare liked the Fortnight series and other little tidbits. Clare was happy. Happier than she had felt in a long time. Eli was…exciting. He was new, and adventurous, and made her feel like she was the most beautiful girl in the world. No one had made her feel like that before. Not even K.C.

It was time for them to go home. It was getting late, and they both knew that, but they wanted to make this last as long as it could. So there they were, lying on the top of his hearse, hand in hand, looking up at the stars. "So, do you wanna go in yet?" Eli asked, hoping she would say no. "No…not really. Let's just stay here for a little bit. Is that okay?" she asked looking at him. He nodded, removing his hand from hers so that he could reach around an give her a hug. Feeling brave, Clare lifted her head and moved herself so that her head was on his chest. She looked up, and with her eyes, she asked him if it was okay. To show his approval, he started to play with her hair. She smiled at him and relaxed into his embraced.

Eli continued to pet her hair, relishing in how soft it was. They lied there in a comfortable silence before Clare sat up suddenly and said, "I should go," before jumping off the car and walking off. He sat up too and watched her walk away before getting off the car and running after her.

Clare was about 5 yards away from her front door when she felt someone pulling her back and yanking her into a warm, soft embrace. She looked up, once again into the beautiful eyes of Elijah Goldsworthy. This time, it was her who said, "You have pretty eyes." She detected a slight red tint coming onto his cheeks. He nodded and pulled her closer before giving her a soft kiss on the lips. It was bliss for the both of them, and they completely disregarded everybody else in the world. They were both in their own personal heaven. Clare pulled away first, looked down, and blushed. He lifted her chin up with his finger and pushed her soft, wavy brown bangs away. Staring into her magnificent blue eyes, he said, "I really like you, Clare."

Without giving her any chance to respond, he walked away, smiling. In the background, he heard a slight giggle. Then suddenly he felt someone jump on his back. He looked back and saw his favorite brunette there. She leaned into his ear and whispered, "I like you too, Elijah Goldsworthy," before jumping off his back and running away like a little girl, leaving him to chase after her.