CHAPTER TWO

"Mark, get up. I'm leaving for work." I hear my mom yell from somewhere else in the apartment. I moan and throw the covers back up over me. "Mark," I hear her voice clearly now coming from what once was my closed bedroom door. "You need to get up. You are not going to lay around and do nothing all day long."

What does my mom expect me to do? I cannot go anywhere I am on house arrest. "So are you expecting me to get up and do nothing? Why can't I just sleep then?"

"Mark, you will not just be doing nothing all day long. There's a gentleman who lives in this building that's agreed to be your therapist." I look shocked at her. "Whoa! Wait a minute! I never agreed to any therapy!"

"Mark," my mom turns on her motherly voice. "You know that was part of your stipulations to get out of juvenile detention."

"I just don't see why I have to go and spend an hour talking to some douche bag about my feelings. Seriously, I don't think there's anything wrong with me!" I grin.

I see the look of disbelievement on her face. "Really? Do I really need to remind you of what occurred just a few months ago and apparently the things you had been doing before that? Not too mention the comment about how you think I forgot about you." I look at my mom and see what I think is guilt. "I truly never forgot about you, Mark. There were just things that I could not get passed myself. There were things between your father and I that you would never understand but I doesn't mean that I ever stopped loving…"

I roll out of bed when I saw her approaching me. "You're right, Mom, I'll never understand how someone forgets that she has a fucking kid and leaves him to focus on her career and left him to deal with…" I stopped. "Oh just fucking forget it, ok? You don't get to know my shit."

"Mark, I don't appreciate that language. I'm just not sure what your father was allowing you to do when you were living with him, but things are going to be different if you are going to be living here."

"If? If?" I laugh, "Really, mom, don't have much of a choice with this thing on my leg." I pointed to the home monitoring bracelet on my ankle that was a constant reminder of the shit that I had done.

"Mark," I hear the sadness in her voice, "I know you don't agree to all the court stipulations, but it did get you out of juvenile detention early, so how about a little bit of effort, ok?"

I shrug, "Sure."

"Good," she sighs in return. "You need to get ready so I can take you to your therapist appointment." She turned to leave my room, "Oh and I forgot to tell you that your tutor from Degrassi will be here around 4 today. You know your really lucky that you didn't get completely expelled from Degrassi and they are willing to work with you."

God, here comes the umpteenth guilt trip that she's laid on me for the last few months. "I know, Mom. I'm truly blessed." I stated as I walked past her and headed to the bathroom.

"Clare, did you hear?" Eli sat down next to me interrupting my concentration.

"What?" I ask.

"That, oh I am so mad, I can barely stand it. I can barely even talk about it." Eli pounded his fist on the table.

"Eli, relax, what happened?"

I saw a faraway look in his eye that I had never seen before. "Fitz."

I swallowed hard, "What about Fitz?"

"He didn't get any jail time. I am so disappointed in the justice system right now. I mean seriously the guy almost kills me and all he gets is a slap on the hand!" I watch Eli clench and unclench his fists. The anger emanating from him.

"Eli, calm down, please," I beg.

"I can't Clare. Not after what he did to me. To us." Eli was on his soap box again I rolled my eyes. When I first met Eli, I loved his passion about things but lately I don't know I had started to see a change in him. Actually, when I first saw Eli, I had been drawn to him immediately but since the Fitz situation, something in him had changed and I couldn't put my finger on what it was.

"Clare, are you listening to me?" I hear his voice interrupt my thoughts.

"Of course, I just don't understand what you are so upset about. You knew that eventually he was going to get out. They couldn't keep him in juvie forever and it's not like he's here anyway. I don't even think he's allowed to return to Degrassi."

Eli continued to clench and unclench his fists, "You're right." He sighed a deep breath, "but just so you know, it's my job to protect you if he ever comes near you and I don't think I would be able to control my actions if he ever did anything to you."

"Your job is to protect me, Eli?" I hissed. I felt anger rising up inside of me. "Your job? I thought your job was to be my boyfriend and to love me? I don't need a bodyguard."

I stood up and at the same time Eli did too. "Stop, you're right." He said, "I shouldn't have said it like that. I know you are smart enough to stay away from Fitz." He smiled.

I smiled back, "Of course," I whispered.

"So do you have time to edit my story after school today?" He asked smiling. "I thought maybe we could meet at the Dot around say 4?"

I swallowed hard, "I can't I have tutoring at 4 today."

"Seriously, Clare, you are one of the smartest people I know. You don't need tutoring." He smiled and laughed.

I smiled back, "I'm tutoring someone, silly." I hit him playfully on the arm.

"Oh ok. Who?" He asked curiously. "Please, tell me your not tutoring Owen again? I mean when is that dumb jock going to realize that he has no future besides saying 'Would you like fries with that?'" He threw his arm around my shoulders steering me in the direction of my English class.

I smiled although I found his statement to be a little offending. Sure, Owen was not the brightest guy in the world, I had tutored him in Math and he'd been able to pass Algebra. "No, not Owen. I'm not sure who it is," I lied. I figured it was better to lie then tell him the truth but how long was I going to be able to cover where I was going everyday at 4pm? How would I be able to tell him that it was me that was going to be tutoring his arch enemy?