Clare didn't get any sleep for the third night in a row. She didn't expect her breakup with Eli to be easy, but she never thought it would be this hard. She still cared about him, but he was just too unstable. He needed to fix himself, and until he saw that, she couldn't be with him.

As she stayed awake in her thoughts, she wished she had someone to talk to, but Ali was in a courtship with Dave, she didn't want Adam caught in the middle. Even her own mother was unavailable, as she was having a rendezvous with someone. Ever since her divorce, she has been looking to have fun, staying out late, coming home drunk. She wondered if she and her dad would still be together if she had learned to have fun during her marriage. Maybe he wouldn't have cheated.

Clare opened her laptop and began to write. It was the only thing that kept her sane at this point. She had been working on a vampire story, but she was getting tired of it. I need to write something new, she thought to herself. An idea came to her mind. Her next story was going to be about a boy who could see people's thoughts. Whatever was in their mind at that moment, he would hear it in his head when he looked at them. It sounds cool, but it would probably be very dreadful. With everyone else's thoughts in your head, how could you think? How could you feel? Clare started giving her character attributes: he lived with his father, mother was deceased, best friend was a kid named Opie- who wanted to be popular but never fit in, just talked about life with the cool kids while Ron, the protagonist, listened and didn't talk much, Sophia would be the girl to catch Ronnie's eye, but she was taken by a popular boy name Zach, who was a bit of a bully. This was enough for now. Clare could figure out the rest later. Just as her eyes started to close, the sun started to rise.

A couple of hours later, she was dressed and getting ready to go to school. Tired as usual, she drank a cup of coffee before leaving the house. She took the bus and got there a little late. The bus driver got into a bit of a road rage incident that morning. Running up the stairs to class, she didn't even see that there was someone in front of her. She crashed into him, knocking both of their stuff to the ground.

"Sorry," she muttered as she went to get her stuff. She looked up, and she had run into Drew, who had been going to look for Bianca. They were supposed to meet up on Saturday but she was a no show. He was hoping to figure out why.

"I think that was my fault," he said as he went to help her get her papers. Their hands gently brushed against one another as he handed her, her essay for English class. The bell rang.

Clare blushed. "I gotta go, bye." She ran off to class. Drew also headed to class, confused about this bizarre encounter.

The day went on as usual. Clare and Adam ate lunch together. Eli, left during lunch. No one knew where he went. Eventually, Bianca showed up. Drew tried to talk to her, but she said she was busy. "Meet me after school."

Class got out. Drew went to find Bianca before lacrosse. "I missed you this weekend," he said, leaning in for a kiss. Bianca pulled back, guilt in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I decided to get back with Fitz."

"What? I left Alli for you. You said that..."

"I know what I said, and I meant it, then, but Fitz and I belong together. Don't be too mad." She kissed him on the cheek and ran off. Drew sighed and went to practice. He was clearly ticked off on the field. He was quite the heavy hitter with his lacrosse stick when he defended.

"Torres, this is only practice. Save the rage for the game on Saturday."

After practice, he got home, showered and had dinner with the family.

"How was school," Audra asked the boys.

"It was okay," answered Adam.

"Bianca dumped me for Fitz," muttered Drew.

"That jerk? Well, if she's dumb enough to get with him than maybe your better off."

"Adam," Audra scolded.

"Maybe he's right." Drew ate slowly, unsure if he actually missed Bianca or was just annoyed that she went after him, just to leave him for Fitz.

After dinner, he made a half-assed attempt at his homework and then went to bed.

Claire didn't know why, but she slept better that night than she had in days.

The next day, she got to school, a little earlier than the day before, but there was no one there when she made it up the stairs. She headed to her locker and then to class. She walked down the hallway, everything looking normal: KC and Jenna, Dave and Alli, Conner hanging out with Wesley, some random grade 9s whose names Clare couldn't remember. She didn't see Adam anywhere, and she didn't particularly want to find Eli.

Adam and Drew were running late to school. Drew spent a while in the shower, trying to clear his head. Adam ran to class, so he wouldn't be late. Drew took his sweet time. After school, he went to get Adam to go home and he saw Bianca and Fitz making out on the front steps. That made him quite mad. "Come on Adam! Let's get out of here."

"What's got his goat?" Adam muttered as he said goodbye to Fiona. "I gotta go." They went home. Adam didn't ask Drew what was bothering him. The car was silent the whole way, except for the radio.

Drew went into his room after getting home.

Owen, KC, Jenna and Marisol were hanging out at the Dot. Owen texted Drew to see if he and Bianca wanted to come, but he got no answer. "I wonder what's gotten into him?"

"Bianca's probably in his pants," Jenna muttered. Then they saw her come in, not with Drew but with Fitz. He kissed her possessively as they went to the counter.

"No wonder Drew didn't respond," Marisol commented.

"Well shit!" muttered Owen. "Drew got dumped."

At home, Clare was working on her story. She thought about changing Ron a bit. Maybe she would make him an athlete, but one who doesn't quite fit in with the team. His head is always somewhere else. He's a good player, perhaps because he can figure out which player is tired, or in pain or is out of shape, just by looking at them, but he doesn't quite fit into the "bro" lifestyle. Maybe it's his own head, that keeps him away from Sophia. Clare didn't write down a description for Ron, but if she had, he would have looked like Drew.

Wednesday

Owen saw Drew when he got to school. "You've been a ghost dude?"

"I haven't been in the mood to hang out."

"Look. Get over Bianca. There are plenty of girls in Degrassi, and you're a tri-varsity athlete. You can get any chick you want."

"I just need time to think."

"What's to think about?"

Drew was just tired, and annoyed and brooding. He got pissed off and punched a locker, denting it and doing a number on his hand. "FUCK!" he yelled. Hearing a shout, Clare came around the corner.

"Drew what's wrong?" She saw him. He looked like he was in pain, and his hand looked like crap. She then noticed the locker. "What did you do to your hand? You need to get some ice." Drew didn't want to go to the nurse, so Clare got some ice from the cafeteria and put it on his hand.

"Now why would you punch a locker? Are you trying to get out of lacrosse or something?"

"No. I just wasn't thinking," he muttered. His hand hurt like hell.

"What got you so mad?"

He didn't answer.

"You don't have to answer that. I shouldn't pry."

"No. It's okay. Bianca left me for Fitz. I just haven't been handling things so well."

"Well don't punch anything else, okay." Clare looked concerned for him. He looked at her. Her eyes were beautiful, gorgeous even. Why hadn't he noticed until now? "I got to get to class," she told him. "Feel better."

He watched her as she walked away. She had a nice ass. SHIT! He had to get to class now, and he had a hurting hand and was starting to get an erection.

Clare was worried about Drew. His hand didn't look so good. She asked Adam about him at lunch.

"He punched a locker?" Adam was concerned.

"Yeah and his hand looked like hell."

"I hope he snaps out of it soon before he messes himself up even worse."

Clare stayed after school to work on the paper. Drew had practice. He was able to play with a bad hand, but practice wasn't fun. Afterwards he was on his way home when he ran into Owen.

"I heard you fucked up your hand dude."

"How did you know?"

"Clare and Adam were talking about you during lunch. She sounded worried. I didn't know you too hung out."

Drew's eyes perked up when he heard Clare had been worried about him. "What did she say exactly?"

Drew got home, actually in a good mood for once. Adam was relieved. "Find a new girl," he asked.

"It's a little early to say, but I think I have." Now, he just needed to figure out how to woo her. He couldn't ask Alli for obvious reasons. He wasn't sure how Adam would handle the news and the only other friend of hers that he knew of was Eli, and he wasn't going there. Guy was nuts. Crashed his car over her, WTF! Owen knew about sleazy girls, not girls like Clare. Who else knew her?

After dinner, Drew thought about what he knew about Clare. She wrote for the paper. She was really pretty. That's about all he had to go on.

The next day at school, Drew went to head for his locker when he heard a shout.

"Why don't you just leave me alone?" Eli ran off.

Clare stood there, stunned. "Are you okay?" a voice asked from behind her. Clare jumped. It was just Drew.

"Sorry, I didn't realize anyone was behind me."

"What was that about?"

"Eli had a bruise on his neck. I asked him if he was okay. He looked like he had been in a fight or something, but he just got mad and started yelling. It was dumb of me. I shouldn't have tried to talk to him."

"It wasn't dumb. It was sweet that you cared. I wanted to thank you for helping me with my hand yesterday."

"Is it feeling better?"

"Actually, it is." Drew wanted to make his move, but he wasn't quite sure how. The bell rang.

"I gotta go. See you around Drew." Clare was off. Drew, still staring at that ass of hers. Well SHIT! He had another erection coming.

Friday came around and Clare was coming over to hang out at Adam's. Drew drove Adam home. "What are you doing tonight?"

"Clare's coming over and we're …."

"What?" Drew's voice cracked. "Clare's coming over."

"Yeah. What's the big deal?"

"Nothing." Drew sounded suspicious, but Adam didn't pry. When they got home, Drew ran up to his room. It was a mess. He started throwing his clothes in the hamper, getting plates to put in the dishwasher. He didn't want Clare to think he was a slob. Eventually, he got his laundry in the wash, his bed made, and he put in a plug in for good measure. The doorbell rang. Adam answered it.

"Hey Clare, come in." Adam felt bad about not hanging out more with Eli, but he was just so fucking moody. It was hard to take.

Clare went inside and proceeded to head downstairs. Drew hopped in the shower, not wanting to smell like lacrosse practice with Clare in the house. Just the thought of her gave him an erection and he started to stroke himself. "Oh Fuck!" he muttered as he grew in his own hand. He closed his eyes and imagined her perfect eyes looking at him as she put her little mouth around the head of his cock. He could almost feel her tongue swirling around the head. It only took a few more pumps and he yelled out "FUCK!" as she shot his load all over the shower wall.

"What was that?" Clare asked Adam.

"Don't ask. Drew's been an oddball lately."

Drew went to get dressed, but then he realized all of his clean boxers were in the dryer. Just donning a towel, he went to get them. At the same time, Claire was coming towards the kitchen to get some water. Again, they bumped into each other. Drew almost dropped his towel, and Clare could see quite a bit of him, his muscular chest and abs, dripping with water. He also smelled really good. "Oh Sorry," she blushed.

"No that was my fault." Claire went to the kitchen while Drew found some boxers. When she came back, he was holding white boxers with red hearts on them. Clare giggled. "Nice underwear, Drew" as she went back to the basement. Drew groaned as he headed up to his room. He needed to make a better impression, not even realizing that he had her at hello. He put on a black button down shirt, purposefully leaving the first couple of buttons undone, put on some aftershave, deodorant and a tight pair of jeans that he had to squeeze his ass into. He went down to the basement. "Did you two want to split a pizza or something?"

Clare looked up. He looked really hot right now, not that he didn't in his towel, but she was a little speechless this time.

"You going on a date?" Adam didn't get the attire.

"No. I just didn't want to look like a bum today."

Adam didn't get it, but he thought there was more to the story. "Pizza works, what toppings?" They settled on pepperoni and capers and a side of garlic sticks. Drew went upstairs to call in the order. Clare couldn't help but notice his ass in those jeans. God they look painted on, Clare muttered.

"What?"

"Oh nothing!" Clare stammered. "Should we go back to racing?" Mario Kart resumed.

Drew called in the order and headed back downstairs.

"So is Drew seeing anyone," Clare asked Adam.

"I don't think so. He said something about liking a girl, but if they were dating, he'd be with her right now instead of us. Why?"

"Oh no reason." Clare sounded a little disappointed.

Drew thought WELL SHIT! Now she thinks I like another girl. I could just kill Adam, not that he knew. He waited a minute before coming downstairs. "It will be about 30 minutes. Mind if I join in?" They added a controller for Drew. He sat next to Clare, gently bumping her when he wanted his car to pass hers.

"You cheat."

"Me. I didn't mean to touch you."

"I'm sure you didn't."

"What is with you two?" Adam looked at them, growing a bit suspicious.

They looked away and went back to the game.

Drew went and paid for the pizza.

"Are you and Drew?"

"No."

"Do you want to?"

"I don't know." Clare was honest. Before Adam could answer, Drew was back. He had plates and paper towels with him and the three started to eat. Drew couldn't help but watch Clare's mouth as she ate. She didn't notice, but Adam sure did. His best friend was falling for his brother, who at the very least was interested while his other best friend was on the rebound from losing her. This sounded like the perfect storm for drama, and Adam wasn't sure if he could take anymore. He sighed. "What movie should we watch?"