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Chapter 4

Saturday finally rolled around and Clare found herself yet again alone in her house. Usually, Randall stayed with her on the weekends, but he was out of town on business. Clare already knew that Eli had plans with Adam for the day, and Alli was visiting relatives. With nothing better to do, Clare decided that a little relaxation with her favorite herb was in order.

She pulled an old bible from her bookshelf and opened it to reveal a hollowed out compartment in the thick stack of paper. A bag of weed and some papers inhabited the inside. Clare pulled out the bag, but stuffed it back in when the doorbell rang. She huffed in annoyance and made her way downstairs and opened the door.

She almost fell over when she saw who was on the other side.

Shane Newman stood before her, his dark hair a bit longer than before, his face aged with a light smattering of stubble. She took a moment to take in his physical appearance- he had grown a few inches and put on some much needed muscle, but not enough to be considered "jacked".

He gave her his typical crooked grin, Clare shortened the distance between them and landed a sharp slap against his cheek before pulling him into a tight hug.

"Ow, what was that for?" He complained into her hair. Clare pulled away, but kept her hands on his shoulders.

"That was for showing up unannounced, you said you would call when you were back!"

"Yeah, but I know how you hate being surprised, so…" Shane chuckled and leaned in to try and capture her lips. Clare immediately took two steps back and motioned for him to come in the house.

"You look nice." Shane said, taking in her eyes, now devoid of glasses. "Finally decided to spring for contact lenses, Edwards?"

"Laser eye surgery." Clare explained simply.

"Ooh, cheating genetic biology!" Shane joked. "I like it, you can almost see the madness that lurks behind those baby blues…" Shane murmured softly, gazing at her in appreciation. Yet again he brought his face closer to hers, and yet, Clare backed away.

"Before you get any ideas, I think you should know- I have a boyfriend- going on six months now." Clare explained.

"That never stopped us before." Shane pointed out.

"Yeah, but Eli's different- I actually like him."

"So any hopes I have at being physical with you are shot to hell?" Shane asked without any emotion.

"Yes." She insisted. Shane pondered this for a moment before shrugging his shoulders.

"Oh well, it was worth a shot." Clare laughed at his quick recovery, grateful that he wasn't mad.

"Come upstairs, I was just about to roll a joint."

"Actually, I have something a little better." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled two brown squares wrapped in plastic.

"How special are those brownies?"

"Special enough to make you see god. Bought them off some University kid last night."

"Speaking of which, where the hell have you been and when did you get back to Toronto?"

"I can only answer your second question for now; I got back a couple days ago, mom sold our old house, so I got myself a crappy little apartment."

"Where is your mom?"

"Not with me." he said shortly, avoiding the topic. "So, we gonna go to space, or what?" Shane asked. Clare decided to ignore his lack of information, for now. She was just content with being in his company again. They quickly devoured the brownies and decided to pass the time before they kicked in with a walk outside.

It was like being hurled back into time, Shane by her side again. She wasn't sure if she missed it horribly or not. Her time with Eli and Adam had been valuable, but nobody understood her like Shane Newman. After about thirty minutes of walking, they found themselves wandering through a familiar park.

The park held much importance to both of them. It was the same park where Clare and Eli had shared their first kiss during their Shakespeare project, but long before that it had been a haven for her and Shane. Aside from Darcy's pets, Clare had also experimented with her rage on unfortunate and unattended dogs at this very park, Shane aiding in their capture. She reminded Shane of this, he chuckled.

"So many howls left unheard." He quipped.

"So many dogs left floating in the wading pool." She returned. They shared a dark chuckle.

"How you feeling?" Shane asked, turning to her. His own brown eyes were squinted and glazed over.

"It's definitely taking effect."

"Me too." Shane smacked his lips. "God, I always get the worst cotton mouth from these things. Can we stop to get a drink somewhere?"

"Sure, I know a place." She answered.

In retrospect, Clare should have thought twice before taking them in the direction of The Dot, Degrassi's premier hangout spot, besides the ravine. She didn't consider that people from school could see her with Shane, a person who they knew nothing about. It was common knowledge at Degrassi that "Saint Clare" and "Eli the hearse-driving-junior" were an item. The sight of her with an unidentified boy could arise suspicion in the gossip circles at Degrassi. But she was much too content with his presence (as well with the brownie) to think about such things.

The Dot was practically barren expect for a few occupied tables here and there. An unfamiliar girl stood behind the counter, Peter had given up his job there for one at a coffee shop closer to his campus. Shane and Clare ordered their drinks to-go and waited by the counter while the obviously new barista floundered about behind the counter. Clare and Shane watched her with amusement, occasionally making snappy comments beneath their breath to each other. They were so en-wrapped in their own form of amusement that Clare didn't even notice the two boys walking up behind her.

"Clare!" a familiar voice called out. Clare felt a sudden panic wash over her before she turned around to see Adam and Eli approaching her.

Eli took one look at his girlfriend and immediately expected that something was off. Her eyes, usually big and shining were half-closed and bloodshot, like she had been crying. But her lips, were curled up at the corners in a half-smile and her face was devoid of any tears or smudged make-up. She looked extremely content and yet nervous around his presence at the time. If he didn't know better, he'd think she was stoned, but that was not Clare's style; or so he thought.

But what was perhaps more off-putting was the presence of an unfamiliar boy, standing much too close to Clare for Eli's liking. Eli stuffed his hands into the pockets of his blazer, clenching them so hard his knuckles turned white.

"Oh hey guys, what are you up to?" Clare asked as normally as she could. As convincing as she sounded, it did not distract Eli from the stranger beside her.

"We were grabbing some coffee before doing a few things." Eli said quickly. "Who are you?" he asked Shane with a trace of hostility in his tone. Before Shane could answer, Clare did for him.

"This is Shane, an old friend from my days at Catholic School. Shane, this is my boyfriend Eli and our friend Adam." Clare explained. Shane gave them a curt nod, unable to speak at the moment given the tension of the situation and the THC in his brain. "Shane was in the neighborhood and we decided to catch-up for a bit." Clare continued.

"That's cool." Adam said, attempting to break the awkward tension radiating around the group. "Hey did you guys ever get spanked by nuns with rulers? Clare always refuses to answer that question."

Adam's funny comment helped break the mood somewhat; Eli chuckled, Clare blushed and Shane howled.

"No, they were only aloud to slap our hands really hard and make us stand in the corner, the priests- now those were some bastards you had to look out for, well only if you were a boy." Shane retorted. Eli and Adam laughed. Clare couldn't help but notice that Eli was still eying Shane with suspicion. The girl behind the counter set their drinks down before them, finally.

Clare grabbed her drink and turned to Shane, quirking her eyebrow in a silent plea to leave.

"Adam and I were just about to head to the comic book store. Care to join us?" Eli asked. He directed his question at Clare, ignoring Shane's presence for the moment.

"Thanks, but Shane and I were going to catch a movie in a bit." She lied.

"Yeah, it's called Watching Paint Dry." Shane quipped. Eli shot him a dark look, as did Clare.

"If I had a ruler right now, I'd hit you with it." Clare said to Shane. Adam broke into giggles over Clare's remark. Eli smirked, Clare might've been reserved for the most part, but every once in a while she could be quite the badass. But he still didn't see anything trustworthy in Shane.

"Dude, we should get going." Adam said to Eli, pointing at his watch. "The store closes at 2 pm on Saturdays." Eli turned to his girlfriend and kissed her without warning. She responded amicably while Adam groaned in disgust and Shane looked on in amusement.

"I'll call you later." He whispered. He looked over at Shane and said- "Nice meeting you." Although he said it with a face that suggested otherwise. Clare let out a sound of relief once both boys had walked out the front door.

"Well that was interesting." Shane remarked. "Do you think he knew we're stoned?"

"No, we played cool and the effects haven't really kicked in all the way yet." Clare said, trying to reassure herself more so than Shane.

"So that's your boyfriend huh? Didn't know you liked Goths." Shane said mockingly.

"He's not a Goth, Shane." Clare growled. "Damn, I really didn't expect to see him today! No doubt he's going to grill me later about this."

"Why?"

"Eli…is somewhat protective of me." She explained, thinking back to the Vegas Night fiasco with Fitz. "The only guy he fully trusts to be around me is Adam. Seeing as how you look like a serial-kill-in-training, I'm sure he felt uneasy about you."

"Hn." Shane muttered with disinterest. "Well, enough about such boring subject matters as relationships; let's do something fun."

"What'd you have in mind?" Shane only answered her with knowing smirk.

"Seriously Adam, be honest with me." Adam sighed as he lowered the latest issue of 'The Goon', and turned to his best friend.

"Dude, why would Clare lie to you? She said he was just old friend from her private school days. You know, when they were children." He emphasized. "Besides, this is Saint Clare we're talking about; she would never cheat on anyone, let alone you." He said seriously before pausing and smirking at him. "Adultery is a sin."

"True, but don't be so quick to judge, she isn't so saintly all the time." Eli said with a quirked eyebrow.

"Oh gross! I don't want to hear about you feeling up my other best friend, it's just wrong."

"Sorry man." Eli chuckled. "It's really not Clare I'm worried about, it's her friend. Something seemed…off about him." Eli trailed. "And did you see the way he was looking at Clare before we went over? He was practically drooling over her like a piece of meat!" he finished angrily.

"Yeah, like you've never looked at Clare in that way." Adam shot back.

"That's different, she's my girlfriend. " Eli countered. "Well, I guess if he does try anything, Clare will reject him. I don't think he would force himself on her anything, dude's skinnier than me." He assured himself more so than Adam.

"So, you're good on this?" Adam asked, returning to the subject.

"I guess so, I just need to ask Clare about him to put my mind at ease."

"Uh uh, no. Don't do that. Horrible idea." Adam said, shaking his head.

"Why not?"

"Because in doing so you're basically telling Clare that you don't trust her. After all she's done for you, that's a pretty shitty thing to do to her." Adam explained. "No girl wants to be accused of being unfaithful."

Eli almost opened his mouth to ask how he would know, but decided against it. There's was no need to shed an ugly light on the pink elephant in the room that always appeared when discussing gender and sex with Adam.

"You're right. Clare would never do that to me."

"Gotcha!" Shane huffed as he tackled a stray beagle to the ground. Clare ran up behind him and bent down to clench the dogs barking mouth shut. She applied a layer of duct tape around his jaw to keep it sealed while Shane bound together the animal's feet.

Once their victim was secured, they took a step back, examining the beagle's futile effort to escape.

"So how do you want to do this?" Shane asked

"Not sure. Got anything on you?" Shane smirked and pulled out a small black object from his pocket. He pressed a side button and a gleaming blade popped out.

"Will this do? Or would you rather drown him? Easier to cover-it up."

"It's been a while since I did this." Clare admitted.

"It's like riding a bike, Clare." Shane assured her. Clare held out her hand, accepting the knife. She knelt down to the dog's level.

"Right across the neck, quick and easy." Shane reminded her.

Clare raised the knife and studied the dog's eyes, they were masked with an unmistakable emotion- terror. A hissing sound and the stench of urine confirmed it.

"No need to drag it out. Animals have no souls, no concept of time." Shane reminded her, fearing that she had grown soft in his absence.

"I know that." Clare stated. "I just like watching how hopeless they get once they realizes their fate." She explained with a small smile. Without another word, Clare brought the knife down hard and quick, dragging the blade deep into fur, flesh, and veins. Angry red spurts made their out of the wound as the dog began to shake hard and then suddenly lie still. The whole thing lasted only a few seconds.

"Nice." Shane said softly. Clare wiped the blade off on the dog's hind leg and handed it back to Shane.

"What do we do with the body?" She asked.

"Let's just untie it and toss it into the woods. We're far enough out that no one would find him. And if they ever did, who cares? It's a goddamn dog."

After they disposed of the beagle, they began to make their way back to Clare's house. Hours had passed since they had eaten the brownies, their effects now long gone. As they walked in silence, Clare busied herself with an upcoming issue- Darcy's return.

Her e-mail had been quite obvious that she intended to sit Clare down for a serious chat. Given the events that had taken place that day, Clare had her suspicions that Darcy knew that Scruffy didn't run away, as did the other rodents she owned. She initially thought about asking Eli to come with her to pick her up. After all, he was the only person she hung out with who had a car. But things could ugly with Darcy there. What if she didn't want to wait until they were alone to discuss her issue? Not to mention the fact that she had never even told Eli about Darcy's existence; it never seemed relevant in their conversations.

She couldn't let Eli find out about Scruffy, he would never look at her the same way again.

The wheels turned violently in Clare's head, formulating a solution to her predicament. She looked over at Shane, and her problem was solved.

"Got an e-mail from Darcy the other day." Clare said, breaking the silence.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. How would you feel about driving me to the airport to pick her up?"

"I could do that. Mom might not be around, but her car is." Shane said simply.

"I had something else in mind as well." Clare added.

"And what would that be?" Shane asked, his interest somewhat provoked.

"Ever see an abandoned church before?"

Next chapter: An emotional family reunion...