Welcome to the new short story! Things are still super busy and it's a fairly short chapter.

Legal: I own nothing but the idea.

Important things to know before reading:

*Begins about a week after the Ice Hounds arrive

*Drew and Bianca are back together

*Owen is dating Paige

*Adam is dating Jenna

*Helen and Glen never dated but Clare did date Jake for a while

*Clare did not kiss Eli before break he is dating a girl who attends U of T

*Clare and Eli are friends again

*Drew did not sleep with Katie or get drunk and hit his head and did not drop out

*Helen and Asher began dating shortly after Eli crashed his car

*Asher has never been married

*Dallas is not a father in this story

*Luke moved alone and he's billeted with a family, his family stayed in Florida

WARNING! This story will be intense at moments and deals with molestation and incest

Ch. 1 Sittin' on a Bomb that's about to Explode

(CLARE)

Creeeaak the sound of my door opening wakes me before my alarm. I turn over and look to my doorway but it's already closing again. I assume it was my mom getting ready to tell me that it was time to get up for school but changed her mind I guess. Well I'm awake now and my alarm is set to go off in a few minutes. I sit up and turn the alarm off so it won't chime and go out to use my washroom. When I come out of the washroom I bump straight into my new stepfather and he catches me by the arms.

"Oops sorry Asher still got a little sleep in my eyes I guess," I apologize.

"That's alright Clare I was reading a work e-mail on my phone and was not paying attention to where I was going. It was entirely my fault," he apologizes back with a smile.

When my mom began dating last year I wasn't exactly thrilled, especially since it was coming on the heels of everything I'd been through with Eli, everything which culminated in Eli crashing his car. However when Mom brought Asher Shostak home I was thrilled. Asher had been my journalistic idol since I'd decided I wanted to be a journalist. I read everything he wrote, I especially loved the way he often lulled his interview subjects into a false sense of security before hitting them with a question that would throw them totally off, and usually make them stumble into revealing something they didn't want to. He was also very good at asking questions he wasn't supposed to by not really asking the question.

Asher was happy to cultivate my love of journalism and gave me tips about articles for the school paper and even just school reports. He even convinced Mr. Simpson to let me get school credit if I helped Asher with articles by fact checking. It was nice to keep busy especially since I wasn't exactly on speaking terms with Eli at the time. I did start dating Jake, we dated for a few months before an epic fight at prom led to a breakup and then Adam was shot. At least Eli and I made amends and became friends again while we were at the hospital with Adam. I spent a lot of time at the Torres house over the summer with Adam while he was injured. Asher proposed to my mom while they were on vacation last summer and I was happy for them both. I like Asher he's good to my mom and it doesn't hurt to have your idol living in your house.

They got married in a small ceremony at our church on December 30th and they've been away on their honeymoon until last night when they got back. I was on my own for the two weeks they were gone and school started again last week. Dad was supposed to be checking in on me but he didn't, Audra Torres did however. I even spent a couple nights at the Torres house before Mike Dallas moved in. I met him before school was back in session because I was at the Torres house the day Dallas moved in. He seems nice enough but he also seems like a typical jock, which explains why he gets along with Owen and Drew so well.

"Guess we both need to pay more attention. I should get dressed I need to get to school," I comment to Asher.

"I can give you a ride if you'd like, it snowed again last night," Asher offers.

"Okay thanks I'll be ready in about fifteen minutes," I reply and go into my room. After dressing in a long sleeve dress with tights and boots I go into the washroom to finish getting ready and grab my backpack and coat before going downstairs. "I'm ready to go," I tell Asher.

"What about breakfast?" Mom asks.

"I'll grab something at school."

"Let's go I need to get into the office," Asher says.

I wave to Mom and get into Asher's car with him. When he reaches for the gearshift he touches my knee, he gives me an apologetic and embarrassed look. I just move my knee away I guess it was a little close to the gearshift.

"Did you do anything wild while we were gone?" Asher asks in a sardonic tone and I chuckle lightly.

"No parties or anything wild. I spent a couple of nights at Adam's house. Audra insisted on it because my dad never did check in on me."

"You don't see your dad much do you? Did you have a good relationship with him before?" Asher questions.

"Yeah I guess, he worked a lot but he would take me and Darcy skiing every winter. It's about the only bonding we did," I reply.

"Such a shame," Asher comments just as we pull up to DeGrassi and then reaches over stroking my cheek with the back of one finger, "a father should be close to his daughter."

I'm a little disturbed, not so much by the comment itself but by the fact that he stroked my cheek during the comment. He's just giving me a kind smile now and I shake it off as my new stepfather getting to know me and maybe hinting at the fact that he'll be my father figure now.

"Yeah well thanks for the ride Asher I'll see you at home," I reply getting out of his car.

Asher waves and drives off and I walk into school. I walk to my locker and open it putting away my books and getting out others. While I rationalized Asher's last comment and action in the car is still on my mind and I barely hear Adam when he says hello.

"Hi Clare. Clare?" Adam says touching my arm when I don't respond. I close my locker and look at him; he's standing with Dallas who smiles at me.

"Sorry just spacing out, hey Adam, hi Dallas."

"Are you okay?" Adam questions.

"Yeah I'm fine," I nod as Dallas walks away to join Luke and some of the other Ice Hounds.

"How was your mom's honeymoon?" Adam questions opening his own locker.

"They said they had a good time," I reply and then Eli comes around the corner.

"Hey I'm going to do another play this semester you guys want to help?" Eli asks.

"Yeah I'll help a little but I'm still editor of the school paper which keeps me fairly busy. I will write you a killer article though. So what play are you going to do?" I inquire.

"Death of a Salesman a modern retelling," Eli grins.

"Sounds good," I smile.

"Just don't go burning the script on stage," Adam teases and Eli grimaces at him.

The three of us hang out until the bell and then walk to our broadcast and print production class and print production class together since we all have it as our homeroom. Dave is here at his desk and he grins at us. Adam sits at his desk next to Dave, me next to Adam and Eli next to me. Nothing much happens in homeroom, actually nothing much happens all day. Eli got permission to do his play and spends lunch putting up signup sheets. I eat lunch with Adam, Jenna, Alli, Dave and Connor. When school ends I go to the DeGrassi Daily office to begin the meeting. It takes a couple of hours before I call the meeting to an end and tell every to go home.

It snowed a little again but Eli is just leaving the auditorium and he gives me a ride home. I thank him for the ride and get out of the car, going into the house just as mom is putting dinner on the table. Nothing really happens at dinner, we make small talk over dinner about our days, after dinner they clean up and I go up to my room to do homework. After three hours of homework and an hour of writing an article for tomorrow's paper I take a shower and get ready for bed. When I go downstairs to get a glass of water I find Asher in the kitchen, I thought he'd gone to bed but he's having a drink. He stayed over a lot while he and Mom were dating and often had a drink before going to bed so it's something I'm used to seeing.

"Those look very nice on you," Asher grins commenting on the pajamas my aunt sent me for Christmas.

"Umm thanks, I just came down for some water," I tell him and make a mental note to always wear my robe outside of my room.

Asher just smiles and I grab a water bottle running back up to my room. I stay awake on my laptop for a while before I feel tired enough to fall asleep. Just as I'm turning off my laptop Asher opens my door.

"I really like the way that pajama top shows off your big sumptuous breasts," Asher comments. His words slur slightly and I can tell he's drunk but his inappropriate comment makes my cheeks go red.

"I think you should get out now," I demand pointing to my door.

"Night Clare," Asher smiles and leaves my room.

"He was drunk and he's never been a father or anything so he just doesn't know boundaries yet," I try to convince myself. It doesn't entirely work and I decide I don't want to sleep here. I get dressed again, dressing very warmly and grab my backpack leaving the house quietly. Despite all the snow I run all the way to Adam's house.

(DALLAS)

I was staring at my homework for my families in Canada class, it was the last homework I had and it was rather boring and was putting me to sleep. Actually my eyes were starting to close when I heard the upstairs kitchen door open, the outside door. I know all of the Torres family is home so no one should be coming in through that door right now. I grab Drew's baseball bat and quietly go up the stairs opening the interior door and opening it slowly. I turn on the light surprising Clare, she gasps and her eyes open wide like a deer in the headlights. Then she bites her lip and looks worried and apologetic for being here.

"What are you doing here so late?" I ask putting down the baseball bat. "How'd you even get in that door is always locked."

"I needed a place to sleep and I've known more than one juvenile delinquent a locked door won't stop me," she remarks and I grin at the fact that she can pick locks.

"You're safe here; the sofa downstairs is more comfortable than this one. We should go down there before Audra wakes up though she's a light sleeper," I tell Clare and she gives me a grateful smile. I let her go down the stairs first and turn off the kitchen light. I grab her a pillow and blanket from the closet and she takes them to the sofa. "You need anything else?" I ask as she starts making up a bed on the sofa.

"No I'm fine thanks Dallas," she replies.

"No problem, I have to finish a little homework let me know if the light bothers you," I tell her.

"No it's fine, do you mind if I watch a little TV? I need a distraction," she says in a quiet voice.

"Yeah no problem," I nod.

She grabs the remote and turns on the TV and I go back behind the curtain to my room. I finish my homework and go out to use the washroom, when I get out I check on Clare and she's asleep so I turn off the TV. I knew something was wrong or Clare wouldn't have come here through the snow in the middle of the night if everything was fine. At least she's asleep now and hopefully whatever is wrong doesn't invade her dreams. I go to bed and fall asleep pretty quickly, waking up again when I hear Clare go into the washroom down here. I open my curtain and Clare comes out of the washroom dressed and ready for school.

"You're leaving awfully early," I remark.

"Yeah I need to get to school; can you do me a favor and just not tell Adam or any other member of the Torres family that I was here please?" She requests.

"No problem you're secret is safe with me," I reply and she smiles. "Are you sure you want to go out in the snow at such an early hour?"

"I'll be okay it's just a couple blocks to The Dot," she says.

I nod and she grabs her backpack before leaving through the sliding glass door. I put the pillow and blanket she used back in the closet. I'm awake now so I shower and get dressed. When I go up to the kitchen Omar and Audra are up and making breakfast. I eat with them but don't say anything about Clare being here last night. Drew and Adam come down while we're eating and when we're all ready for school Audra drives us.

"So Clare's your best friend right?" I ask Adam as we all walk into school and both Torres brothers give me the same look.

"Yeah," Adam says slowly, "her and Eli why?"

"Just curious," I shrug and leave them to go to my team.

I see Clare in school but she's happy, or at least putting on a wonderful façade of being happy. She gives a couple smiles as we pass each other in the halls but we don't say hi or anything. After school I have practice and Clare has her newspaper staff meeting.

"Hey you know Clare right?" I ask Owen.

"No, I know of her. I think I've said hey to her once or twice but we're not friends or anything. She's best friends with Adam, I'm close friends with Bianca who's dating Drew and I'm friends with him. One of my best friends has a major crush on her last year, Fitz he works at The Dot you've seen him. Why? Do you have a major crush on her now?" Owen inquires.

"No she came over in the middle of the night last night and said she needed a place to sleep. Just wondering what she might be running from," I reply. I promised not to tell the Torres family that she was over last night I said nothing about Owen.

"No idea you should ask Adam he's her best friend," Owen says.

"Yeah and he thinks I like her since I asked if he was her best friend," I respond and Owen laughs.

Practice is pretty brutal, our first game is coming up and coach is working us hard. Own drops me at my billet house after practice and I come in just in time for dinner. Adam talks about Eli's play; Drew talks about plans with Bianca this weekend and that he wants to get a part time job. I talk about practice and how the team is getting along and the upcoming game. Omar and Audra talk about their jobs and after dinner Adam, Drew and I help clean up. I go downstairs and start on my homework, Drew still has a lot of his homework and so does Adam. Drew gets stuck on math homework which Adam helps him with.

"What's Clare's family like?" I ask Drew when Adam has finished his homework and gone upstairs.

"I don't really know, her parents divorced, I don't think she sees her dad much. Her mom just remarried and I know she was real excited her mom was dating some journalist. Adam said she's got an older sister but she's in some other country, Africa or India or something. Why? You doin' a background check on Clare or something?" Drew inquires.

"Just wondering. I mean if her parents go away and leave her for two weeks again we could have an epic party at her house."

"Yeah I'm sure Clare would allow that," Drew responds with a deeply sarcastic tone.

We finish our homework and Drew goes up to bed. I start to get ready for bed, stripping down to my boxers and an undershirt but before I brush my teeth I hear a knock on the sliding glass door. I go over and pull back the curtain to see Clare standing there and I unlock the door and open it.

"Need a place to sleep?" I ask her.

"Do you mind?" She asks timidly.

"Not one bit you're welcome here," I reply closing and locking the basement door again.

"Thanks," she says softly.

I smile at get the blanket and pillow again and set them on the sofa for her. She goes into the washroom to brush her teeth and I go in after her. When I come out again she's lying on the sofa watching TV.

"Do you need anything?" I ask Clare and she shakes her head. "Wake me up if you need anything, goodnight Clare."

"Goodnight Dallas," she replies in a quiet voice with a soft smile.

I smile back and go behind the curtain wondering how many nights she's going to sneak over here. And wondering how long before she tells someone what's going on.

The update on Wednesday, March 16th will likely begin in Clare's pov and include more of Asher as well as Dallas getting closer to the truth.