Hope you enjoy this chapter! Things start getting weird and Eli and Clare…people seem to find her a good topic to talk about with Eli.

We're in Week 6 of Now or Never! Ah, so sad. :(

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NOTE: It WAS a plane crash. Typo in an earlier draft of this, now replaced. That's what I get for writing near midnight.


The following morning, after finishing that English assignment I skipped, I lazily got ready for school. First official day of knowing who I was but not really.

Eli Pierce.

Sounds like a rich kid, that's what it sounds like.

I was raised a Goldsworthy and that's all I'll be known as.

I got to school in Morty and walked silently to my locker. Before opening the door, I hesitated. The last time I did this I got the shock of a lifetime. I don't even know who or how someone got into this locker. I slowly opened the door and looked around, checking the bottom and top compartment and found nothing. I felt relieved. I can't handle any more of this for a while.

"Looking for lost treasure or something?" Adam came up beside me with a big smile on his face.

Two emerged from the crash alive; Harley Richardson, 18, and Omar Torres, 23.

"Dude, what's wrong with you?" I didn't realize Adam was waving a hand in my face until I finally snapped back to reality. Adam's dad was involved in the plane crash that killed my biological father. He probably had no idea, Mr. Torres probably had no idea, and I certainly wasn't gonna ask them about it. At least…not right now.

"Nothing," I shook my head and put my stuff in the locker.

"No seriously, what's going on? Clare said you went home sick yesterday."

I shut my locker and looked at him. "She did?"

"Yeah," he shrugged. "Well, she said she hadn't seen you in the hallway when she came in late but we were paired up for a writing assignment and she said you went home sick and that she lied to Dawes."

"So why'd she tell you though?" I was seriously curious.

"I don't know, guess she had to be honest with someone," Adam replied. I saw him turn his head to something behind me and he then turned his head down and started laughing. "Imogen's coming right behind you."

"Great," I muttered under my breath. Imogen wasn't a bad person but she seemed…intense. She knows stuff about me that she shouldn't. Like my boxer size, what Adam and I did last weekend, how much gas I put into Morty in my most recent trip. It's weird but she's kinda cute, so it's half tolerable.

"Hi Eli," Imogen said excitedly. "I didn't see you after your English class yesterday."

Oh, so she has no idea what I was doing or that I went to the library?

"I saw Morty parked at the public library though," she continued and I nodded forcefully. She did know. "I wanted to go inside but that's the library Clare Edwards works at and—"

"Wait," I stopped her right there. "You have a problem with Clare?"

Imogen looked like she was panicking. "No, no, not at all."

"But you said—"

"I'll see you Eli Goldsworthy," and she skirted around me, hurrying away. I turned around and watched her leave quickly and then saw Adam holding in a laugh.

"What?" I asked him and we started heading towards our first classes.

"That girl stalks you and loves you, probably has a shrine to you in her closet, no wait- her entire room is probably a shine of you!" I pushed Adam away from me as he continued to laugh. This was too amusing for him. When Imogen first introduced herself to me, she had said that I spent most of my weekends starting with a coffee from The Dot. It was true. Since then, Adam could not let it go.

"So she has some kind of beef with Clare, eh?" Adam said once he finally stopped laughing. "Can't see why. Girl's a saint."

"She is," I agreed, thinking about yesterday and her gracious help. I didn't realize Adam stopped walking beside me until I got to a door in the hallway and he was standing a few feet away with a raised brow.

"Did something happen between you two that I should know about? You've barely spoken ten words to her," Adam said confused.

It was times like these when I questioned Adam's feelings for Clare. Before he met Katie, he would talk about Clare nonstop. Would always repeat that they were only friends but nonetheless, he spoke about her. Then he met Katie and now she is the one he talks about and I know he has feelings for Katie.

"Nothing Adam," I assured him. "She did cover for me so…"

"Right, right," he nodded his head. "Sorry, it's just…she's a good friend. Didn't think we'd have a common friend in her is all."

Now it was my turn to cock my eyebrows. "What do you mean by that?"

The bell rang and Adam looked relieve, thinking now he didn't have to explain himself. But he will. I'd track him down if I had to. Did he really not like the fact that Clare happened to talk to me? Did he like her that much?

He didn't even say anything as he left. He just awkwardly waved away and walked down the hall and I lazily made my way into mine.

That plaid wearing guy was in my class looking at me again and while the teacher had his back turned, I got his attention.

"What's your name?" I whispered to him and he looked nervous. I never made myself out to be intimidating and for some reason, I am to others. Sometimes worked to my advantage. A lot of the times it's just fucking annoying.

"Jake," he answered.

"Well stop staring at me Jake, pretty sure the girls would start wondering if they have less of a chance with you with all the staring you do," I tell him sarcastically. He rolled his eyes though.

"Just wondering what makes Clare talk about you," he retorted in a whisper.

Jeez, Clare has come up in 3 discussions already today and it's only first period.

"She talks about—"

The bell rang and Jake walked out of the room before I could ask more questions. I walked to my next class and breezed by the classes until lunch came by. I tried finding Adam in the cafeteria and realized he had to work the radio, making it impossible for me to have a conversation with him without getting interrupted. So I drove myself to The Dot and sat at the counter, grabbing a menu. Before I could open it, someone called my name.

"Eli, hey!"

Sav Bhandari, the president of the school himself, greeted me smiling. He was always such a easy going guy. Plus, he took Adam and I to the Dead Hand reunion show and got into a ton of trouble with his folks. To stay that we owed him is a huge understatement.

"What's up?" I asked. He looked busy but also happy to talk.

"Oh you know, last minute student council things," he said and I nodded. "Planning the last few events before graduation and prom."

"Wow, lots to handle but you're almost done with Degrassi, enjoy it," I tell him. He replied with a thanks and headed out. I opened my menu to order and something fell in my lap.

I quickly hid it in the menu and read what it said.

here's your mother's name. find her.

her name is a garden, opened the gates to water, and what you are.

I flipped the note over, hoping to find any other clue to add onto this cryptic message once again, and find none. Those were the only words and I pocketed it before anyone else noticed. I couldn't stay and wait for food there, I drove back to Degrassi and barged into Adam's studio, keeping as quiet as possible as he and Dave talked into their mics.

I paced back and forth and waited, barely even paying attention to what they were saying, until I noticed the "On Air" sign was no longer on. I brought Adam out of the studio almost forcefully.

"What's up with you?" he demanded to know. "You seem like you saw a ghost."

"I might as well have," I tell him.

His face turns into a different expression. "Look, if you're mad about the whole Clare thing—"

"I'm not."

"—It's just that…she's a sweet girl, Eli. She's too much of a people pleaser to even remotely deny someone so I was just…looking out for her. You're not that good at keeping friends with girls and Clare is so friendly that—"

"Wait," I held my hand up to stop his rambling. "I'm not good at keeping friends with girls? Since when?"

"Since you know when. When that happened, all of a sudden you'd take girls out, make out with them or do a little more, then you'd just drop them," Adam told me and my face dropped. "You're kind of a player, man. Clare, like everyone else, I fear, will fall into that trap and I can't bear to see her get hurt."

"I can't believe you just called me a player," I reply in disbelief. "Last time I went on a date was a month ago."

"Yeah, and the night before that you were making out with that Marisol girl."

"Who?" I asked. Can't put the name with a face.

"Exactly!" he pointed at me. "You'll just lead Clare on and boom, she'll get all disappointed and I hate seeing her upset."

"When has she ever been upset?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"You will never know," he slightly glared. "She's fragile, Eli. I'm only looking out for her."

"And by looking out for her, you just insult me," I comment. "Just admit it Adam. You have feelings for her or you had. You used to deny it but it's clear to me that you're just so hopelessly in love with the girl who you made to be your best friend and that's how she'll only see you!"

Adam looked extremely hurt and I knew I must've hit a nerve. He was always so quick to brush off my jokes about his feelings for Clare but the look on his face made me think…maybe it really was true. Did Clare reject him?

He looked down to his shoes for a moment then looked back up. "Did you think that me trying to keep you away from Clare could've been me trying to protect you from getting hurt?"

"And how could she hurt me?" I asked.

"By making you fall in love with her," he leaned closer and said sadly. "She was just my friend and I was only her friend but man did I fall for her."

"You never told me this…" I felt sorry for him. He had a hurt look in his eyes.

"You only wrote it off as a joke so I did too. Look, she doesn't do it intentionally I'm positive but when you get to know her, it's hard not to think that way.

"Adam, the show," Dave warned at the door. Adam nodded and turned back to me.

"Go, finish the show, I'll talk to you later," I tell him and he slumps back into the studio and I walked out of the cafeteria.

I momentarily forgot the reason I went in there to talk to Adam. I wanted to tell him about what I found in that menu but it seemed that he probably couldn't understand or make this situation entirely too James Bond for my liking. I just needed to get to the bottom of this, not play some kind of spy or detective.

I walked past the MI room and gazed inside, seeing Clare at a computer typing profusely. Did she ever stop working?

I realized that she was the only person who knew just the slightest bit of information. She knew I was looking for information about my birth year and was obviously someone I could trust when she covered for me. I had to get someone else's help since I sure as hell can't decipher this message at all that could tell me who my mom was.

Clare raised an apple to her lips and ate from it and only she could make a normal action look sweet. God, maybe Adam was right. Clare has that effect and it was definitely not intentional.

Before I knew it I was walking inside and stood beside Clare at her computer.

"Yes?" she asked, looking up at me.

"I need some help," I told her and she set down the pencil that was tucked behind her ear.

"English?" she asked.

I shook my head. "Uh…it's actually a serious thing."

"And you want me to help you?" she pointed to herself.

"Yes," I nod. "But there's something we need to agree on before I tell you what I need help with. Well, actually two things."

"I'm guessing one of the things is to keep this a secret?"

I smirked. "Yes. Do you know the second?"

"Nope, tell me."

"Just…let's just keep this professional, yeah?" I said unsurely. "No feelings get in the way, no personal things from either of us."

"You're making this sound like some kind of life changing thing that could make us fall into each other's arms for support or something," she said.

"And that's why this has to be professional. I need help finding things out and you working at the library and being the smartest person I know, I think you're the best person to help. So, with all the terms dealt out, what do you say?"

I held out my hand to her to shake and she eyed it and looked back up at me. Then she smiled. "Did you wash your hands? I'd hate to get sick in the midst of all of this information gathering."

"Just shake my damn hand, Edwards."