Note: The feedback has been amazing. Better than I expected haha :D. So, I've been thinking, I'm gonna make this a 10 chapter story. Maybe more, it depends ^_^ [Everything centered is Eli's POV, everything else is Clare's POV] Warning: This is somewhat of a filler…and setup for things to come.
03: Realization
Eli's POV:
After the past couple of weeks, I cannot get this girl out of head. A girl that is smart, witty, matches my sarcasm to a tee…a bit uptight…but I can change that. Should I tell her how I feel?…yeah definitely not. I mean, anyone can tell we live in two completely different worlds. But, hell, I can take the chance. It's what I do. I can handle rejection. I think.
I wake up in the morning and pull back the curtains. I've come to terms with my discovery. I LIKE ELI. See, I can say it without stuttering. I should tell him how I feel. Sure, our worlds are totally different. But hey, opposites attract right? But what if he doesn't feel the same way? I don't think I can handle the rejection, again. Well, off to school.
I walk to my locker and Eli's already there. That's strange. He's usually only at my locker to scare me.
"Hey…Clare," he says quietly, trying to disguise it in coolness. Eli hesitated? Since when?
"Uh, hey Eli," I look at the floor, trying to hide my blushing. Eli smirks as he looks at the floor, too. Since when is Eli…shy? Something can't be right. Does he…? Wait no. I shouldn't get my hopes up. He's probably tired or something.
"I-," we both end up saying at the same time. We both laugh.
"You first," I say hopefully.
"Ha, no…ladies first," he says sarcastically. There it is again. I let out an annoyed groan. No matter what, he finds a way to get under my skin.
"Okay, well…uh…," before I could finish my sentence, Alli runs up to me all excited.
"Clare, guess what!" Alli says giddily, "Oh, hi, Eli," she smiles brightly. I was at the peak of annoyance. She seems to find a way to ruin moments. I still love her though. She could see my annoyed face and she looked at Eli's face. He was pretty annoyed, too. "Oh, my bad, ha, I'll uh…tell you later, Clare," she said as she was backing away. Eli and I both laughed awkwardly. Right after that, the bell rang.
"Um…I'll see you in English," he said with a smirk.
"Yeah okay," I say quietly. We both look at each other and speed off in other directions. I think that's 'Awkward Moment #3'. Trigonometry…boring. Media Immersions…boring. Advanced World History…boring. Finally English! It was weird. When Eli came he acted as cool and composed as ever. Like everything was normal. I breathed a sigh of relief. I got my wish…that awkward thing went away, like it was never there. I think telling him how I feel would just create more awkwardness and I hated the feeling. It made me cringe. Yeah, I'm not going to tell him. I just can't, not yet at least. In English class, Ms. Dawes wanted the class to discuss the book "A Tale of Two Cities." Boring, but alright.
"Well class, I would like you to tell me what you think of the relationship between Lucy Darnay and Sydney Carton," Ms. Dawes announces. *cricket cricket*. Of course, no one was jumping on the chance to answer the question. "Fine, if no one wants to volunteer, I will just choose myself…Eli," she points at him.
"Huh?" He raises his head up from his making-his-fingernails-black-with-a-sharpie process. Typical. I giggle to myself. "Oh right, well I think Lucy should take her eyes off of pretty boy Charles and realize what she has in front of her," he says matter-of-factly.
"Ugh!" I say disbelieving, not realizing I didn't say it to myself this time.
"Clare, do you have something to say?" he asks with a smirk, almost a sneer.
"I think, that Lucy, can do what she wants and if she thinks Charles is her true love, then let it be so," I say hesitantly.
"Well, besides the fact that she can't even realize who that really is, when he practically took his own heart out and put it on the table, I think she's pretty stupid!" he says as a retort.
"Well he didn't even realize his own feelings until it was too late!" I say even louder. Wait a minute, was I still talking about Sydney Carton or was I giving myself advice without knowing it? He turned his head toward me and raised one eyebrow. He got up from his seat.
"She was his one true love!" He said sternly. I got out of my seat.
"He could've been hers, too if he would've stepped up and not worried about their differences!" I say as I cross my arms. The class started to murmur and laugh as this was starting to get interesting.
"You are unbelievable! You can't even appreciate the fact that he made the first…and last move!" he says with a slight laugh.
"Oh, so blame it on Lucie! Let's say she did like Carton, and she told him, then what? He would've brushed her off cause they were too "different". I say with air quotes when I say different. I have no idea where this is coming from.
"You don't know Sydney!" He says.
"Oh, let me guess, you have talked to him personally," I say sarcastically, "you obviously do not know Lucie either." He gives me a surprised look. Is this what awkward tension does to people?
"Children! Children! Uhh…you both make great points, but lets sit back down in our chairs…please," says Ms. Dawes trying to get control of the situation. Eli shakes his head like he was snapping back to reality. I scratch my head in a confused manner. He smirks at me awkwardly and I smile back. We both sit through class…quietly. As we walk out of class, we barely look at each other. As we are walking, he finally says,
"Sooo…you were pretty passionate back there"
"Heh, you're one to talk," I say quietly, "Umm…Eli?"
"Here, Clare," he gives me a note, turns towards me and walks off, taking his smirk with him. I read the note.
Meet me after school. We have some things we need to talk about
Ugh, if I hold in my feelings any longer, I'm going to combust.