Disclaimer= I do not own Degrassi.


He was not very attentive when hanging out with the guys. As he was chilling and sipping, he had a flashback about what his friends heard through the grapevine. That bit of information caused him to drop his pop, head for his car, and bolt for the dance. To not make a scene, he parked far away and walked slowly and deliberately towards the school. As the school neared sight, he saw a familiar face looking distressed and a guy that was smiling. Instinct came into play as he made his move.

xxx

Clare walked up to KC so she could kiss him; BUT as her eyes closed; Declan pushes KC aside and gets the lip treatment. They each kiss with a fervor only seen with strong couples, so it was only natural that they pull back. Clare was shocked as to whom she is kissing; however, Declan plants another suck face maneuver and after a few seconds, her eyes closed and she returns the kiss with just as much passion. Poor KC is forced to watch everything that is transpiring. All he could muster was an "I respect your decision - - have a nice life Clare." Clare was unable to reply, thus she could not see KC walk away supra agitated, alone in the dark and along the long route home. Meanwhile, both Declan and Clare sat on the steps to catch their breath. They could not believe that they kissed each other in the way that they did. "Holly J's really going to kill me now."

"No she won't." Clare was confused, so Declan explained to her that they had broken up. "My hormones are raging again."

"Don't be so hard on yourself." Declan sighed, scratching the back of Clare's head, "you got that off your chest. It was pretty obvious that you looked stressed out, so putting all of your bearings into the kiss makes perfect sense." Both get up and Clare starts heading back to the dance, feeling much better. Declan stands pat, uneasy about heading inside, but Clare assures him that nothing bad will happen. "I don't want to make things awkward between me and a certain someone." Clare shrugs and resumes heading back inside until Declan calls her name, offering to drive her home. "Now? Its pretty early to be heading back - -"She noticed that Declan had a speaking intention, so she accepted because she did not even want to attend the dance in the first place.


The following Monday did not start comfortably for Clare. Immediately upon entering the halls, Alli starts the bombardment of questions. "Where were you?"

"Did you leave - -"

"ALLI! Calm down, it's a Monday; don't waste your energy right now." Alli concurred, walking alongside Clare as they headed to class. Clare passed by KC's locker, which had a big dent in it. She could only sigh because the inevitable would've happened either way. Declan settled down on the ball seat in Media Immersion, logging in to check his email. He opened up one with the "Dude! Open this link!" subject heading and skimmed the last Anti-Grapevine post. "That guy just HAD to snitch didn't he? What he was referring to was the wild rumors going around that he made out with Clare outside the dance on the steps. It was true, but it put a big wrench into soothing things over with everyone, primarily Holly J. Declan immediately whips out the phone and texts Clare to meet him at Above the Dot to talk.

xxx

Fiona had kept a low profile since returning to Degrassi. That silence was not infinite during the trial with regards to the Bobby ordeal. We find her at the Dot sipping on her usual cup of coffee. A good cup of the dark stuff was what she felt was needed after winning the trial. It had been a week or so since the trial ended and slowly but surely, Fiona was normalizing her life. She sets her cup down to turn around and her body jerks in horror as she is staring into the cold eyes of one Bobby Breckenridge. "What are you doing here?"

"How could you do this to me?" Fiona weakly replied that justice needed to be served after all that he put her through. "Whatever! My reputation is ruined because of you! Don't you have any remorse - -"

"Don't you have any morals? How can you put your hands on a woman, a woman who is weaker than you?" Bobby punched the nearest table and threw a few chairs around, frightening Fiona even more. "You are not a woman, you are a b - -"

"AHH!" Bobby's face was covered in piping hot coffee. "Do me a favor loser: get out of here because you are no longer welcome."

"What if I don't leave?"

"I have even hotter coffee in my arsenal that will burn skin off your face." Bobby flipped the bird and amscrayed. "Thank you so much, um, Peter was it?"

"There you go." Peter set his two supersoakers filled with coffee and cleans up. "That guy was a jerk, but he won't come back here. I can assure you that he will never bother you again." Fiona smiled then turns her attention to the supersoakers and couldn't help but laugh. "Whats so funny?"

"You got rid of a monster with a children's toy."

"No actually these were originally paintball guns molded into supersoakers and I… hey these toys made you breathe easier again." Peter feigned in defense. Fiona laughed again as she was opening up her purse. "Don't worry about it, its on the house," Peter said, not knowing he had his hand on Fiona's. He blushed a smile and went to busy himself with the muffins.


Dual pop in each respective hand, Declan and Clare talked about how their summers went. "So you went to Europe huh? I lived in Rome for a while… great place, the calzones are AMAZING."

"I didn't stay there long… my mom said that she had a long lost cousin in Pisa. We stayed at a nearby hotel and I think that hotel is frequented by mafia people."

"Scary, but that's Pisa for you." They both shared a laugh and Declan gets up for some reason. Apparently he likens himself as a mime because he places his hand on a phantom wall. There was a creaky spot on the floor that Declan stepped on, which made him lose his balance and fall on Clare's lap. "I guess I'm not as sturdy as I thought." He remained on her lap as Clare's face was reddening, but he got back into focus and he brought up the play that they did last year. "Run lines with me Clare."

"I don't remember them - -"

"Oh no problem, read them off my phone." They rehearsed lines and the feelings that Clare worked so hard to suppress came back in full force. When they finished in an uncompromising position, Declan jettisons for the bar mini fridge for another pop, but Clare follows him and grabs his arm, turns him around, and looks at him with a volcano face because her eyes were sprouting and her glossed lips were about to explode. They began the lean when bursting through the doors was one Holly Jeanette Sinclair. "H-hey Holly J - -"

"Save it Little Edwards…"

"Can we talk now Declan?"


Team Holly J or Team Clare, which of these teams will Declan play for? A looming decision awaits him next chapter, the final one for this fic.