I do not own Degrassi, or the characters, but it would be pretty rad if I could be on the show. Just saying.
So, anyway, here is All Falls Down- Part 1. I assume most of you reading this are familiar with the way I write these, but if you are not, I break all the individual episodes into two parts. Welcome to the first half of All Falls Down- Part 1! Enjoy. =D :
After the tussle with Fitz, Adam and I made our way to the back of the school. People were pouring out of the building at a fast pace. It was nearly the end of the day, but it certainly wasn't time to leave yet. Most of these people should be finishing up exams. "What do you think is going on?" I asked Adam as I wiped the blood off my lip.
"No clue," Adam said, drawing out his words in confusion. Just then we both spotted Sav, and ran up to him.
"Hey, man," I greeted him, "What the hell is the deal?" I asked, gesturing to all the people spilling out of the school.
"Someone must have set off a stink bomb," Sav said, clearly unhappy. "People had to stop in the middle of an exam, so tomorrow we're going to have to make up for it. Simpson is pissed, and wants to find the rat that did this."
I nodded. Whoever did it must have thought they could get out of their exam, when in reality this was going to make our last day before break more stressful and hectic.
At least that's what I was thinking until I noticed someone's absence. I turned to Sav, "Did you see Clare on your way out?" I asked him.
"Nope. Sorry, buddy," Sav responded. "You could ask Ali, though," he pointed her out to me across the sea of bodies.
"Thanks," I told him, already heading in his sister's direction. I turned around to call back to Adam, "I'll call you later, okay?"
"Yeah, sure," Adam said, his eyes sweeping the parking lot for Clare as well. Her absence was pretty weird. The three of us usually stuck together, so it was strange that Clare hadn't come to find Adam and me by now. It's not like she didn't know where we would be and what we would be doing…which led me to my theory about this stink bomb. Adam and I were occupying the biggest trouble maker of the school when it was set off, and if Ali didn't know where Clare was then I pretty much had an affirmation of what Clare was doing right now.
I pushed my way through the anxious crowd toward where Ali was standing with Adam's brother, Drew. I tapped her on the shoulder.
She looked surprised to see me there, requesting her attention. That was understandable; it wasn't like we were friends just because Clare and Ali were, so we didn't talk unless absolutely necessary. "Can I help you?" Ali asked, annoyed I had interrupted her moment with Drew. Truth was I didn't really like Ali that much. She wasn't exactly the best friend to Clare. Don't get me wrong, Ali's not mean, or a bully to Clare, but she is so obviously more interested in Clare being there to listen to Ali's problems, and never the other way around. In my humble opinion, Clare deserved better than that- much better.
"No, I just came by to bask in your marvelous-ness," I told her sarcastically, narrowing my eyes at her. When Clare wasn't around Ali and I made no effort to be civil. "Actually, I was wondering if you saw Clare anywhere on your way out of the building." I asked her, trying to hide my animosity.
"I figured she was with you…," Ali sounded worried to find this wasn't the case. I really should give Ali more credit: she does care about Clare; she just had trouble not being self-absorbed.
Either way I now had a pretty good idea of who set off the stink bomb. "Thanks," I told Ali earnestly, then ran off. I decided to check the front of the school, where Adam and I had left Fitz, before officially declaring Clare as MIA.
As I reached the front I noted that Fitz had apparently made it to his feet, and left. I did a quick sweep of the crowd before me, and, as I assumed, Clare was nowhere to be found. 'Very interesting,' I thought to myself. I double checked the entire perimeter of the school for Clare before getting in Morty. I might as well think it through logically before pinning this on Clare. I had no clue whether Clare had the means, or not, but I'm sure it's not too hard to find a stink bomb. She definitely had a motive: Clare was worried about Adam, and she wasn't too keen on my idea to join him, instead of letting him go down alone. It would be just like her to try to evacuate the school, making it impossible for a fight to take place. Add in the fact that she was nowhere to be found after the crime had been committed, and that Fitz hadn't been the one to do it, and Clare seemed like a valid suspect.
I pulled Morty up to my house, parked him, and ran inside- anxious to call Clare. My mom was sitting in the kitchen, so I stopped to greet her.
"What happened to you!" She cried out.
I stood there, confused for a second, before I remembered my bloody lip. "Oh," I said, reaching up to touch it. The lip was only swollen a little; it would go down by tomorrow morning. If I hadn't been so preoccupied with my thoughts of Clare, and her possible criminal record, then I would have been smarter about hiding this from my mother.
"Oh? That's all you can say?" my mom hovered nervously.
"It's fine, really," I told her honestly, "I was helping out a friend who got into a sticky situation. You know Adam, Mom; he comes over here to play video games with me every now and then."
My mom just started at me, flabbergasted. "What if you had gotten suspended?" she asked, only slightly upset with me. My mom was used to me coming home with battle wounds from the various bullies I had to deal with. They still freaked her out though, so I usually did my best to hide them from her.
"I don't think I was in danger of that," I told her honestly. Not only had the stink bomb made that an impossibility (way to go, Clare), but I had gotten knocked down pretty early, and didn't have the chance to really fight.
She relaxed only slightly. "I'll go wash it; it'll be fine," I told her comfortingly, and then walked out of the kitchen. Before I washed it, though, I had some business to attend to. I walked into my room, closed to door, and pulled my cell phone out of my pocket. I dialed the number from memory, and then listened to it ring. I narrowed my eyes as it went to voicemail, "Hi," the voice recording chirped, "you've reached Clare's cell. Leave a message after the beep, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Have a great day."
I rolled my eyes- she was just way too perky and sincere it was almost impossible to believe that she had set off the stink bomb. "Clare, it's Eli," I started my message, "your mysterious disappearance has not gone unnoticed. Please, call me back." I snapped the phone shut. Of course she wasn't answering her phone when I needed her to.
Clare did not call me back. I waited all evening for the phone to ring, sending Clare the occasional text message as well, but it never did. I considered driving over to her place, but as it was I probably already seemed like a crazy person. I don't know why this was bothering me so much; just a week or so ago I was the one evading Clare. But I was bothered- I didn't like not hearing from Clare, and the sad thing was it had only been a few hours.
This manic behavior proved to me that I was ready to really take the next step with Clare. I didn't want to be without her, and I rarely ever thought about Julia anymore. Clare said she would give me time, but it turns out all I needed was a little space to prove that I wanted Clare to officially be my girlfriend.
The sense of urgency I felt to take our relationship to the next level was overwhelming. I wanted to call Clare and tell her the good news, or, better yet, rush to her house to tell her in person. Then I remembered I couldn't because Clare had momentarily fallen off the face of the Earth. I sighed, trying to collect myself. I would see her tomorrow; there was no way she could skip school because she had to take exams, so I had to calm down now. I crawled into my bed, took a few deep breaths, and tried to fall asleep. When I finally did, Clare was in every single dream I had.
The next morning, I walked into school, my determined aura rolling off me in waves. Today was going to be a good day, and nobody could bring me down.
The first stop I made was Clare's and my lockers, but she wasn't there. Adam, however, was.
"Hey, Adam, what's up?" I asked him.
"You're lip looks better," he commented happily.
I had forgotten all about it, to be honest. My mind was otherwise preoccupied. "Yeah," I said, "Have you seen Clare, per chance?" I asked him anxiously.
Adam chuckled. "Couldn't get a hold of her last night either could you?" I shook my head, laughing along with him. "That's why I'm at you're locker, actually. I saw her in the library, but I didn't say anything to her. She seemed nervous, you know? Anyway, I thought you would want to talk to her, so I waited here to let you know where she was." I really did have the most amazing friends.
"Thank you so much," I told Adam; patting his shoulder, "You're the best!"
"Yeah," he agreed, yelling after me as I walked toward the library, "Don't you forget it!"
Degrassi's library had a glass wall that gave students a clear view of the office, so I had a pretty good idea of what Clare was doing in there. I slipped in quietly, noticing her immediately. She looked adorable as usual, I noted. Adam was right; she had an anxious air about her, as she pretended to read a book. She wasn't doing a very good job, I might add- the book was open in her hands, but she wasn't exactly being discreet as she watched the office intently.
I snuck up behind her, chuckling as she did a frightened little jump when I leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Hiding from the po-po?"
She gaped, and smacked the book closed, "Just looking for a book," she told me, keeping up her miserable charade.
I followed her over to the shelves, and decided to let her know I was onto her. "Saving the world one stink bomb at a time," I raised my eyebrows at her. She turned to me, a sheepish look on her face. "I knew it was you!" I exclaimed; she didn't need to confirm it- her face told me everything. That's one of the things I loved most about her eyes- once you got to know Clare she couldn't hide anything from you, her eyes were too expressive.
"Someone had to stop Fitz from fighting Adam," She said, defending herself. So, I had her motive right, too. I smiled, priding myself on how well I had come to know her. I wanted to lean in right then to give her a kiss; tell her that I was ready to be in a relationship with her, but I restrained myself when she continued. "One second more, and he would have kick Adam's butt."
"I was the one who was going to kill," I told her. Not entirely true, but Clare didn't need to know that.
Clare rolled her eyes at me, and then glanced through the shelves to scope out the office one more time. I looked, too, and saw that Simpson was on his way over here. Clare went into freak out mode. "Simpson's coming over; he knows I did it. I'm going to get expelled," She whispered all this frantically, looking at me desperately.
"Three days suspension max," I told her, attempting to calm her down, "and only if you get caught." Lucky for Clare, I had a plan. I would clear her name, and then tell Clare the good news about us.
"Maybe I should just confess; throw myself at his mercy," Clare said nervously.
"Or let me handle it," I told her confidently. She shot me a confused, worried look. I raised my eyebrows at her before backing out of the bookshelves, and spinning to face Simpson. "Sir," I started, getting his attention, "I hate to be a rat, but I think you should question Mark Fitzgerald about the stink bomb. I heard him bragging about it," I lied smoothly. It would be easy to pin this on Fitz. He was a troublemaker, and the entire faculty knew it. Not to mention, even if he denied it, it was my word against his.
"Clare?" Principal Simpson turned to her, looking for a second opinion, "is this true?"
She shot a warning look at me before turning to Simpson. She wasn't really at liberty to deny it even if it did go against her principals. "Possibly," she said noncommittally. Smart girl.
"Okay," Simpson said, happy to have someone to focus on, "I'll look into it."
Now that I had taken care of that, I focused on Clare. "Justice has been served," I assured her, taking a step closer. She was so beautiful; her piercing blue eyes looked a little more relaxed.
"If Fitz finds out," she started to caution me, but I cut her off.
"I'll handle it," I promised, confident. I had one more thing I wanted to do before heading off to take my first exam of the day: Clare had to know I was ready. I smiled at her smugly, "Now, let's talk about something more important: like how you're going to thank me for throwing Simpson off your set." I took another half step closer to her, leaving almost no space in between us.
She crossed her arms, and pursed her lips, "What'd you have in mind?" she asked me playfully. 'You'll find out very soon,' I thought to myself excitedly.
"Well," I started, we were so close, and I began to lean down, "I don't know." I said the last word against her lips. Clare's hands found their way to my shoulders, just as the kiss started out. This wasn't for any school project, so I didn't have to keep it PG. I trapped her top lip in between my own, and grazed it with my teeth. I let my hands find her wait, holding her up as Clare melted into me. I deepened the kiss, letting my tongue slip into her mouth. Her tongue met mine, and they danced around each other in a fun little pattern. I started to pull away slowly, making the kiss last as long as possible. My heart was pounding as Clare's bangs fell back over her eye. She blinked in surprise, and I felt my knees go just a little weak. I was breathless. I stared into her blue eyes, trying to communicate why I did that without having to talk, and ruin the moment. Then I remembered that I was in school, and had an exam in a few minutes. I couldn't think of anything to say really, my mind was filled with what just happened; making note of every blissful second, so I just told Clare, "I have a French exam…"
She was breathless, too; her words barely coming out above a whisper, "I think you just passed it." She looked me in the eye, and then her gazed dropped down to my lips, almost as if she were entranced by the idea that seconds ago they had been moving together with her own. I wish I could have stayed, but, regrettably, I could not, so I backed away. I heard Clare exhale as I walked out of the library. Before the library was completely out of sight I turned back to find Clare, with her fingers placed against her mouth, watching me leave. I flashed an elated smile at her before jogging off to my exam room.
Adam was already seated and ready. "How's Clare?" he asked me casually. I blushed, and Adam did a double take. "You're blushing?" he asked incredulously. "Never mind, I don't want to know."
I shot him a devilish smile. "I'd like to think she's a little weak in the knees," I told him anyway.
Adam shook his head, "Spare me the details. All I have to say is finally. It took you two long enough."
Just then Madame swooped in, placing an exam on each of our desks. "Begin," she declared loudly, and sat down at the front of the room. I glanced at the exam. Madame had put "French: The Language of Love" above all the questions. Immediately my mind jumped to Clare. I shook my head, trying to physically make room for French in there, but it was hard. The test definitely took me longer than it should have. My mind kept wandering back to the library. However, I was able to focus long enough to answer all the questions, hopefully correctly. As soon as I was done, I walked to the front of the room, handed it in, and practically ran out of there. I couldn't wait to find Clare again.
Adam was waiting outside the doors for me. "How did you do?"
"Good, I think. I hope. I don't know…I was a little distracted," I told him honestly, keeping a look out for Clare. "How do you think you did?" I asked him.
"Dude," he said, cutting me off by stepping in front of me, "you still are distracted. You don't have to make small talk with me, go ahead and go find Clare."
I laughed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be so obvious about it. I do enjoy your company," I punched him lightly in the arm.
"I know," he nodded at me, "and your apology is accepted. Now go find Clare," he commanded me.
He didn't have to tell me twice. I took off for my locker to drop off my books before I went to look for Clare. Luckily for me, I didn't have to look very far- she came to me.
"How was your French exam?" She asked me bounding up to my locker, and leaning on the one next to it.
I stopped putting the books in my locker so I could look at Clare. She had a small smile on her face, her blue eyes especially excited. Her cheeks had a light blush to them, and her hair framed her delicate face perfectly. She was too cute for her own good; I just couldn't get over how beautiful she was. As soon as she was by my side it was like some part of me that I didn't know was worried, relaxed. "Way too long," I told her sincerely.
She smiled as I leaned in, about to pick up where we left off at the library. My heart started to beat out an irregular pattern as I got closer until Clare inhaled, pulling away just slightly, but enough to make me stop my advance. I pulled back a little raising my eyebrows at her in question. What did the mean? I panicked for the second.
"Does this mean I have a date to Vegas night?" Clare asked, her voice so full of hope that I relaxed. This was an acceptable reason to stop me. I had been afraid she hadn't wanted to.
"Depends," I smiled devilishly, "do we get a corsage?" We shared a small, sweet smile, and I leaned in again, anticipating the kiss.
Too bad a hand smacked the locker next mine on the other side, causing Clare to jump, and me to whirl around to see who was responsible. I should have guessed it was Fitz. He had probably just spent a good amount of time with the principal. His furious stare was a pretty good tip off to the way his morning had gone.
"I just spent an hour in Simpson's office," Fitz told me angrily, confirming my thoughts, "Someone told him I set off the stink bomb."
"Me and my loose lips," I smiled innocently at him.
Then, lightning quick, Fitz put me in a headlock. I assumed he had never met a bar of soap, let alone deodorant because being so close to his pits made me gag a little. The dude smelled rank. "Not so lippy now, are ya?" Fitz asked me as I pulled on his arm, trying to get free. I seriously couldn't breathe- the stink was that bad.
Thankfully a teacher walked past, and Fitz released me. I also pushed him away a little for good measure.
"This isn't over," he threatened me, before taking off down the hall.
I watched him leave, angry that he not only interrupted me and Clare, but he hadn't learned his lesson yet. When was this guy going to give it a rest? Didn't he know that brains beat brawn every time? "The dude's a menace," I commented bitterly, "Someone needs to teach him a lesson."
"Because that worked so well last time," Clare said worriedly, trying to meet my gaze. I looked into her eyes, seeing nothing but concern for me there. I wish I could put this to rest for Clare's sake. She worried about this feud far too much. "Can't you two just kiss and make up?" Clare pleaded with me.
I smirked. "He's not really my type," I joked with her. Not that I had thought Clare was my type in the beginning either, but look at us now. She was just what I needed.
"I'm serious, Eli. Someone is going to get hurt."
I sighed, and finished up in my locker, closing it. "The only way to avoid a bully is to keep him scared," I told her. I knew from years of experience. Clare really had nothing to worry about.
"Or," Clare started hesitantly, "you could lay low with your…girlfriend?" She seemed cautious, like I might not take too well to her referring to herself as my girlfriend, when in reality, I made my heart swell.
"Twist my rubber arm, girlfriend," I conceded, smiling happily at her. She beamed back at me, grabbing my hand and pulling it around her shoulders. I wound my fingers in with hers- they fit together perfectly. She grabbed me tightly around my waist, and we started off down the hall together. I couldn't help but glance at her every few seconds or so.
To say that I hadn't been this happy in a year was an understatement- I had never been this happy in my whole life.
Wow, guys, this is by far the longest chapter I have ever written. I didn't even mean to ramble on like that, so I'm sorry. I still hope you enjoy it, though. Please, let me know what you think. I love getting your feedback.
I hope to have the second part of this first episode up soon. Until then, have fun with this one! Thanks for reading. =)