A|N: This chapter is named after "Fall Apart" by Every Avenue. You'll see why. By the way, she met Eli on a Wednesday, and Thursday was Eli's first day.

Disclaimer: I don't own the song Fall Apart or Every Avenue… although I would love a piece of their adorable lead singer. I don't own Degrassi either. ~le sigh~

I woke up Friday morning to a loud thud. Then a shattering noise followed by a door slamming. I groaned, noticing that it was only 5 a.m. Opening my door and peeking out cautiously, I saw the hallway mirror on the floor, shards of glass scattered, and a glimpse of my mom against the wall crying. Dad must have left already, because the house was quiet again. I silently thanked God for him leaving. I closed my door, crawled into bed, and cried.

It started getting bright in my room, a sign that I had to go to school soon. I checked the time, which was 6:45, and realized I had to get ready. I took a quick shower and put on a black long sleeve shirt, dark denim jeans, and my black converse. Tears still streaming down my face, I looked in the mirror to fix my hair and froze at what I saw. I had dark bags under my now bloodshot eyes, and my face was paler than usual. There was a bruise on my left cheek. The tears fell faster and the girl in the mirror became nothing more than a blur.

I walked into my house, ignoring my dad sitting on the couch. He reeked of alcohol, and that could only mean one thing.

"Where were you? Its 7 p.m., school got out 4 hours ago." He questioned.

"I went to The Dot with Imogen." He jumped up and rushed over to me. And then...

SLAP.

He hit me harder than ever. I fell to the floor, whimpering from the pain.

"CLARE, DON'T LIE TO ME!" I didn't argue back knowing it would make things worse. I crawled toward the stairs, shaking. He sat back down, mumbling things like "stupid whore" and "I hate you". I went upstairs and cried myself to sleep.

Whatever, I still love my dad, no matter how horrible he is. After wiping my tears, I fixed my hair and put on makeup to cover the bruise and the bags under my eyes. I grabbed my bag and shoved on sunglasses, running down the stairs to see my mom sitting at the table. I put on my coat, mumbled a goodbye and walked to school.

I walked up the stairs to Degrassi, avoiding the few kids who were there and went straight to my locker. I came a half hour early, so Eli probably wasn't here yet. I really didn't want him to see me so... broken. As I struggled with my combination, a boy with a black beanie approached me.

"Hey Adam," I put on my fakest smile.

"Hey." He smiled, then began rambling about the science lab we were doing today. It's funny how easy it is to fool people with a simple smile. I tossed my coat in the locker I was rummaging through, absentmindedly pulling off my sunglasses and tucking my hair behind my ears. He suddenly stopped. "Uh, Clare, what happened?"

I panicked, remembering that I started crying on the walk to school. I wiped my face before I walked in... My makeup! I mentally slapped myself. I decided to play stupid. "What do you mean?"

"Well for starters, you have a bruise on your cheek, you have dark bags under your eyes, and they're red, and you look-" He started rambling again, and I cut him off.

"Nothing Adam, I'm fine," I faked another smile, and sped off. Adam called after me, but I ignored him. I turned the corner and ran into someone. "Sorry!"

"Silly, silly Clare," I heard the person chuckle. My head shot up and his emerald green eyes locked with my blue ones. Oh crap.

"Eli." Of course the one person I was avoiding this morning is the person I ran into. I looked down, but not quick enough.

"Uh, what happened?" I'm getting so sick of that question.

"Nothing, I have to go." I ran around him and went to my first period class. There was still 20 minutes before class started, so I put my headphones in and listened to music. After a while, I started singing quietly to myself.

"I want you to fall apart like I did, you to hurt for all of this, all the pain you put me through, I wanna hear you say I don't deserve you."

Imogen walked in as soon as the song was over. I took off my headphones and wiped my face, even though Imogen already knew what was happening.

"Clare is it—" she began.

"My parents? Y-yeah. They've been fighting more lately and its g-getting physical. M-my dad threw my mom a-against the wall this m-morning, and the mirror f-fell off and broke because of t-the impact." I managed to choke out between sobs.

"And your face?" I looked away. "Clare, what happened to your face?"

"My d-dad hit me y-yesterday." I looked up and our eyes locked.

Imogen pulled me into the tightest, yet most comforting hug we've ever shared.

"Clare, you need to tell someone. You can't keep letting him hurt you like this," she whispered.

"I know, and thanks for caring. It's nice to know somebody does."

"Anytime," we pulled away from each other. We still had 5 minutes until our math class started.

"Hey Imogen, I'm going to run to the bathroom before class starts."

"You need me to come with you?" I shook my head and walked out. I checked my phone and saw I got a text from Alli.

'Adam told me you were crying this morning :[ wish we could talk now but I guess we'll have to wait until lunch, be strong xoxo'

To tell you the truth, I don't know what I would do without Alli and Imogen by my side.