Author's Note: Hey this is my first Degrassi fanfic; I felt an undeniable urge to write at the thought of Clare getting back with K.C. to get Eli to realize what he's missing. I love the Clare/Eli pairing and I want K.C. to end up alone because of his being a jerk as of late. And K.C. is rather manipulative and jerkish in this fanfic, so not good for K.C./Clare and/or K.C./Jenna fans, at least not in later chapters. Hope you like! If you do, please review and I'll add more! Trust me, it gets really good!
Chapter One
Clare yawned dramatically as she took a seat at her typical desk in math class. As usual, she got there early, but she was ready to sleep just to get away from the clockwork going on in her mind about Eli Goldsworthy, her most recent romantic interest.
She was trying her best to understand his need for time before jumping into a relationship with her, as he was still healing from his last girlfriend's death, a fate he felt responsible for. But it was hard, as every time she was around him she felt the urge to touch him or kiss him or grab his hand, anything just to be close to him.
Her thoughts were interrupted as more people entered the class and she started to get her homework out, but something odd struck her. She noticed her ex-boyfriend, K.C., sit down in the row next to hers just as his current girlfriend, Jenna Middleton, sat down across the room, barely acknowledging one another. Jenna looked like she was forcing herself not to glance K.C.'s way, while K.C. looked angrier than usual and content in staring forward, earbuds in his ears.
This confused Clare as they usually sat next to each other, flirting obnoxiously loud, or performing some other methods of PDA. She shrugged her shoulders, having gotten over K.C.'s rejection long ago, although old habits invaded her mind with curiosity. She didn't have time to ponder further as the instructor, Coach Armstrong, entered and everyone took their seats.
"Good Morning, everybody. Lucky for a good majority of you, I will not be going over homework this morning, rather we will be working on the term project; a video project." Clare nearly groaned. Her last video project was not a success. "Now I know what you're thinking: a video project for math doesn't exactly sound like fun. But with this you'll get the chance to explore how concepts we've learned this term can be applied to the real world. I'll pass out rubrics and explain further, but first I will be assigning partners." Now the entire class groaned; he seemed to never trust them on their own.
Coach began reading off the roll call list, going in alphabetical order, the first two names working together, the second two names working together, and so on. Clare mentally attempted to figure it out, but she realized who she'd be working with just as Coach called their names.
"Edwards and Guthrie." Clare and K.C. immediately shot surprised glances at one another, and out of the corner of her eye Clare noticed Jenna's jaw dropping. Clare averted her eyes quickly as Coach continued down the list.
"All right, everybody, get with your partners; I'll be passing out the rubrics and give you some time to discuss your plan for the project; all work will be done outside of class." K.C. immediately gathered his things and sat in the desk in front of Clare, straddling the chair to face her. He attempted a smile.
"Hey," He said, his eyes timid. Clare nearly rolled her eyes. He probably thought she wasn't over him.
"Come on, it doesn't have to be like this." She said. K.C., surprised, cocked his head in question. "Yeah, we used to date, and we broke up; it was a while ago, and there's no reason to have all this tension and awkwardness between us. Let's just do the stupid project, and leave it at that." K.C. smiled.
"Sounds good." He said.
"But can we plan some other time? I'm not up for working on it right now." Clare said, laying her head down.
"Clare Edwards, putting off schoolwork? Gasp." K.C. teased. Clare looked up at him briefly to stick her tongue out, to which he laughed out loud. "Want to get together at lunch, work on the project?" She bit her lip, uncertain; lunch was one of her opportunities to see Eli, next to English and their time in the hall. Oh, well, She thought, He can have more time to think.
"Sure, why not?" She said, sitting up. "Computer lab?"
"Like old times." K.C. said, a small smile on his lips.
"Yeah." Clare said, smiling shyly.
()()()()()()()
An hour later, Clare waited alone in the computer lab, eating a granola bar. Suddenly someone covered her eyes, and said,
"Guess who?" She knew immediately it was K.C., before playfully shoving away his hands and laughing.
"Wow, still doing that, huh?" She asked as he sat at the computer next to her.
"Yeah, remember when you used to freak out when I'd do it?" He said, wearing a satisfied smile.
"I remember my anxiety issues very well, thank you." Clare said, shaking her head. He laughed.
"You get meds or something?" He asked jokingly.
"I grew up." She said. There eyes met in seriousness for a moment, in which they were both reminded of the past, followed by an awkward silence. "Well, we should probably get started." She said, pulling out her math binder.
"Wait," He said. "You're probably wondering about me and Jenna, with the awkwardness in math today?"
"No." She said, trying to come across as nonchalant. He shot her a skeptical look. "Okay, maybe. What happened?"
"We broke up." He said bluntly.
"Why?" Clare asked, before she could stop herself.
"We just…didn't agree on some really important things." K.C. commented, looking down. His eyes were filled with…regret? Clare couldn't tell. She knew she felt bad for him. Things with him and Jenna seemed pretty serious.
"I'm…really sorry." She said, at a loss of what else to say. She put her hand on his. They smiled at each other, their little moment from earlier returning without an awkward silence.
"Hey," Someone greeted uncertainly from the computer lab door, ending their moment. K.C. and Clare looked up to see Eli, his eyes on their hands. She pulled her hand away and stood up, feeling strangely guilty. But she couldn't help but feel a tiny burst of pleasure. Eli looked pissed, his anger directed right at K.C.
