Hey Guys, thanks for all the awesome reviews on the previous couple of chapters! Today, August 24th, is the one year anniversary of my friend Lydia's death, so the song at the end of this story is dedicated to her. I loved her to death, hell, I still do, but I guess life isn't always perfect. So, here's chapter 3, hopefully you'll enjoy it! R&R!
Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi or the song I Wouldn't Mind by He Is We.
The next day went by insanely slow. Every ticking second that went by on the clock, felt like ten. At lunch, I sat in front of my locker with an apple, getting a start on the newest edition of The Goon. I was taking a loud, crunching bite of the juicy red apple when someone spoke.
"Hey, man." Adam said, moving to sit next to me.
"Hey." I said, my eyes never leaving the dark comic in front of me. I heard Adam rustling around in his backpack, and out of the corner of my eye, I watched as he set his own newest edition of the comic on his lap. I smirked as he opened it up excitedly, already several pages ahead of me. As I continued to read, I felt a shadow cast over us as someone stood in front of Adam and I. I looked up, only to see a stubborn, feisty Clare Edwards giving Adam a slight smile as she looked down at him.
"You're on the new one, already?" She asked him, looking amused, and ignoring my presence completely. I sighed inaudibly before my eyes landed back on the comic in front of me, tuning out Adam and Clare's conversation. My eyes widened as I read an unexpected- very unexpected- twist at the bottom of the page, and I flipped it eagerly to read the outcome.
"Eli? Eli!" Adam tried to get my attention by snapping his fingers in front of my face, and I reluctantly looked away from the excitement on the page of the comic. I looked between a sudden anger-stricken Clare to a mischievous looking Adam, confusion overtaking my expression.
"What?" I asked them, still confused.
"Did you hear what I asked?" Adam questioned, looking at me expectantly. I shook my head at him, glancing at Clare as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked down the hallway. "Do you still want to hang out after your tutoring session is over?" He asked me, and I nodded.
"Yeah, sounds good." I said, flashing him a smile. My smile quickly turned down as I watched Clare huff in annoyance and walk away from us, her angry face disappearing behind a corner. "What's up with her?" I asked Adam, and he only gave me a look. "What?" I questioned him, the look he gave me only making my curiosity become more urgent.
"Like you don't know." Adam said, flipping the page as he glanced at the comic strip on the page covering the page in his lap. He looked up, only to see my eyebrows pinned together. "She hates you." He said matter-of-factly, and I rolled my eyes.
"I couldn't tell." I said sarcastically, a smirk finding it's way onto my face. He only continued.
"She doesn't want me to hang out with you, because she finds you… what did she say? Infuriating." He told me, putting air quotes around infuriating. My smirk only grew bigger, and I looked back down to the comic in my hands. "Are you infuriating?" He questioned, once again looking amused. I shrugged.
"You could say that." I answered, and continued. "It's just simple to get under her skin." I flipped the page, bobbing my foot after I crossed them out straight on the floor.
"What do you mean?" Adam asked, still not looking up from his comic, while I did the same.
"It's easy to annoy her, to… you know, get a rise out of her." I told him, shrugging once again, continuing to read about the compromise between two characters. I turned my head to see that Adam was laughing and shaking his head.
"I think you're mistaken. Clare doesn't let anything bother her." He told me, and that only made my ego lift even higher.
"Uh, yes she does." I said, chuckling once. "She freaks out on me all the time." I said, no longer paying attention to my comic. "She got detention the other day because she swore at me in English class." I told him smugly, and I almost laughed as I saw Adam's jaw drop.
"She what?" He questioned, in pure awe and surprise.
"You heard me." I answered, nodding my head slowly.
"What'd she say?" He asked another question, now not paying attention to his comic book anymore either.
"She told me to 'Shut the fuck up.'" I told him, and if it were possible, his mouth got even wider in shock.
"We are talking about the same Clare, right?" He questioned in awe, standing up and putting his comic book away in his backpack. I chuckled lightly before mirroring his action as I took another bite of my apple, holding it with my mouth as I stood up.
"I'm pretty sure." I answered, hiking my bag higher up on my shoulder as I heard the bell ring, signaling the end of lunch.
"See you after tutoring, man." Adam said, holding out his fist for me to bump. After we said our bye's, I turned around to get my materials for English. My smirk crept back up as I thought about Clare, and the conversation Adam and I just had about her. She had spunk, a certain quality not many girls had. She wasn't afraid to fight back; she looked past my exterior, which was something that drove most other people away. I didn't want her to hate me, I really didn't. But it was just too much fun getting under her skin like no one else could.
Sure, she was pretty. She had natural, curly, auburn hair, and huge blue eyes that soften you with one glance. Unlike most of the fake girls her age, she didn't cover her face with tons of make-up everyday and dye her hair every other week. She was natural, different, real. She stood out, but in a good way.
Hell, who am I kidding? She's beautiful.
And as I strode into English class and saw her sitting there, watching me with her soft blue eyes as I walked in, I didn't even care that her eyes rolled when she saw me. It just this girl to be even more beautiful than it'd thought two seconds ago.
.
.
.
When school was over, I grabbed my bag from my locker and went straight for the library. I think Purino was a real dick to make me get a tutor, but if I got to hang out with Clare whilst that was happening, then who cares? I'll take that opportunity in a heartbeat. I walked the semi-busy hallways until I found the door to the library, held open with a door-stopper. When I peered through the door, I couldn't help but admire the view. Clare was sitting at a table with a book in front of her, assumedly waiting for me to get there. I knocked on the doorframe with my knuckles, the soft sound making her glance up from her book and sigh before putting it back in her bag. I scowled mockingly, trying to make her think that I didn't like it any more than she did. I picked a seat across from her, sinking down onto the thick plastic chair before getting my social studies book out of my bag.
"I'm only here to make sure you finish your homework." She told me, giving me a half-glare. I smirked as I saw how much I'd urked her just by being here. I looked at the first question in the packet due tomorrow, and I felt like closing the book and just ignoring it all together.
1. Between Athens and Sparta, which civilization had better army training? Support your answer with at least ten sentences.
This is going to take a while, I thought to myself. I read a paragraph in the book, and sure enough, the answers were right there. I wrote them down in my care-free script, then went on to the next question. I found that one too, and the next one after that. This might not take as long as I thought.
"Eli?" Clare asked out of nowhere.
"Hm?" I mumbled, in the middle of writing down an answer.
"You're clearly capable of understanding the material… so, why don't you ever do your homework?" She questioned, and I shot her a small smile.
"Why are you asking me that? I thought you hated me." I said, and she seemed taken aback by my bluntness.
"I don't hate you… you're just… annoying." She said frankly, giving me a playful glare. I contemplated something, but then shrugged.
"So I've heard." I told her, and she still looked puzzled. What was so confusing?
"You never answered my question." She pointed out, and I smiled at her determination to understand what I was doing.
"It makes Purino pissed when I don't finish my homework. So I don't do it." I said casually, as if it was the most obvious thing on the planet.
"Why does that even matter?" Clare asked me, and I shrugged again before pursing my lips.
"He's one of those people… that are just fun to mess with." I answered, and she seemed to be thinking about my reply as if it was the answer to an unsolved mystery. She didn't say anything, so I went back to finish writing my answer on the homework packet.
"Like… me?" She asked after a minute, pointing her index finger towards herself.
"What?" I questioned, confused by her sudden question.
"Am I one of those people that are fun to mess with?" She asked, and I mentally kicked myself. What was I supposed to say? 'Yes, you're pretty, funny, and it makes my entire day when I manage to get under your skin?' No.
"Yes." I said, shooting her a smirk, and it quickly turned into a smile as I saw the heat rush to her face. She seemed to accept my answer, and then moved onto the next thing. Why was she talking to me? She said she couldn't stand being near me when I was so 'infuriating'.
"I don't get it." She stated simply, looking down at the wooden table in front of us. I pinned my eyebrows together. What does she mean?
"What don't you get?" I asked her curiously, and she shook her head, looking confused herself.
"You're being… tolerable. Why?" She asked, and I immediately knew what she meant. I wasn't even trying to irritate her, I wasn't trying anything. I liked to annoy her because then she would fight back, which meant talking to me. She was already talking to me right now, so I had no reason to try anything. But, hell no, I couldn't tell her that. So, I only shrugged, which only confused her more. "You don't know, or you don't want to tell me?" She questioned, and I smirked again before repeating the shrugging action. "Okay, so, you don't want to tell me…" Damn, she was good. "Why not?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at me with a sly little smile on her face.
"Can I just do my homework?" I pleaded, not wanting to have this conversation with her. She continued to look at me while I answered another question on the worksheets. I wasn't even halfway through another question when her voice rang out through the quiet room. Damn, this girl would just not give up.
"No. Tell me." She said in a playful yet demanding tone, and I threw my head back and groaned at her.
"Elijah." She deadpanned, and I glared at her use of my full name.
"Not gonna' tell you." I said in a sing-song voice, dragging out the last two words. She only giggled, which immediately made my annoyed vibe disappear.
"If you tell me why you're suddenly being so tolerable, I'll let you finish your homework, and we can leave. Deal?" She said smartly, sticking out her hand from across the table. I hesitated before shaking it.
"Deal." I agreed, knowing I might quite possibly regret this. I took a deep breath; no use going around it, I guess I should just tell the truth. "I like to get under your skin because then you'll talk to me. But, you're already talking to me right now, so there's not point in trying to irritate you." I spoke truthfully, but then picked up my pencil and continued filling in more answers. "Will you drop it, now?" I went on to the next question, easily finding the answer and writing it down.
"I would talk to you if you weren't annoying." She said quietly, getting out her book that she had been reading before I got here. I looked up, just taking this in.
"Okay." I said, not really knowing what else to say. "But I'm still doing to bother you every once in a while." I said, smirking at her. She groaned into the empty air jokingly, a small smile on her face once she was finished. I glanced at the cover of her book, and I felt as if my eyes were about to pop out of my head. "You read Vonnegut?" I asked in bewilderment, not being able to digest that out of everyone in the world, Clare Edwards would be reading his books.
"Yeah." She said with a smile, opening her book up to where she'd left off. "You familiar with him?" She questioned, and I scoffed.
"Oh, I've only read his first five novels." I said sarcastically, and she laughed softly, making me smirk. Suddenly, her face adorned a new pink hue, and I felt a new round of confusion cloud my brain. "What's wrong?" I asked her, gesturing to her cheeks with my sharpied hand. Her face got slightly darker as I pointed this out, and my smirk was back.
"Nothing, it's just… have you heard of Chuck Palahniuk?" She questioned, and I answered immediately.
"Hell yeah. What about him?" I asked, penciling in a few more questions before flipping to the last page of the packet.
"I actually have two tickets for a Fight Club excerpt on Friday night. I was going to ask Adam, but I don't think he'd be interested in it." She said, not looking me in the eye. My smirk grew bigger as I understand where this was going. "If you're not gonna' be an irritating prick, do you, maybe, want to go?" She asked with a small, shy smile. I chuckled at her attempt at calling me a name.
"Well, I'll have to clear my ever-growing schedule…" I pretended to be serious, but failed completely when my smile broke through. She laughed, and I continued. "But, sure, I'll pencil you in." I told her, and for it seemed the millionth time today, I gave her a genuine smile. "I'll promise not to be a prick." I added lightly, making her giggle again. I stuck out my pinky to secure my promise, and she rolled her eyes before twisting her pinky around mine with a smile. When our skin touched, I felt a heat course through my hand, and it was as if electricity was flowing across my skin. She pulled away quickly, and I wondered to myself if she'd felt the static feeling, as well. She quickly covered herself up.
"You're such a dork." She told me, making me laugh before nodding to agree with her. "Finish you're homework so I can go home." She added, and I rolled my eyes at her playfully before getting to work on the last few questions. Surprisingly, I got done in only around ten minutes, and I shut the packet into my book before stuffing it back in my black bag.
"I'm done." I told her after putting my pencil back, and she nodded, not taking her eyes off the book. I waved my hand in front of her face, only to get no response. Is she really that into the book? "Earth to Clare-Bear." I said loudly with a smirk, and her head whipped up to glare at me.
"What?" She asked, setting her book down.
"I said, I'm done. Let's go." I repeated, and she put everything away in her tote bag before standing up to follow me out the door. We walked to the front doors in a comfortable silence, striding side by side, until I stepped ahead of her to open the door. She smiled and said a small thanks before walking through, me following after her. When we reached the bottom of the steps, I spoke.
"So, um, thanks for coming today." I thanked her, and she just waved it off.
"It was no problem really. You weren't that big of a prick." She said jokingly, then turning around and walking away. I chuckled. "See you in English tomorrow." She called over her shoulder, turning to look at me before waving goodbye. I waved back, still laughing lightly.
"Yeah, see you tomorrow." I shouted before walking over to Morty and climbing in. The dependant old vintage hearse started with a few creaks, before making a low grumbling noise. I smiled and packed out of the parking spot, turning on the radio.
I couldn't wait until Friday.
I listened to one soft song the whole way over to the outside entrance of the library.
Merrily we fall out of line,
Out of line.
I'd fall anywhere with you,
I'm by your side.
Swinging in the rain,
Humming melodies.
We're not going anywhere until we freeze.
I'm not afraid,
Anymore.
I'm not, afraid.
Forever is a long time.
But I, wouldn't mind spending it by your side.
Carefully we'll place for our destiny,
You came and you took this heart,
And set it free.
Every word you write or sing,
Is so warm to me.
So warm to me,
I'm torn, I'm torn,
To be.
Right where you are.
I'm not afraid,
Anymore.
I'm not afraid.
Forever is a long time.
But I wouldn't mind spending it by your side.
Tell me,
Everyday.
That I'll get to wake up to that smile.
I wouldn't mind it,
At all.
I wouldn't mind it at all.
When I got there, I saw Adam waiting for me with a mischievous smile on his face.
End of Chapter 3.
So, I adore that song. I think that Lydia would've really like it too, she was really sweet like that. Please review and tell me what you thought of this chapter, it took a lot to write it, because today just... well, sucked. Once again, please leave a review and give me your opinion of this chapter!
-Emmy Jean.