You know the drill: a million apologies. I had work and summer work. I have school in five days and I still have some work to do before then, but I wanted to make sure you guys got something before then. I'm making sure I finish and post this chapter before I step away from the computer, but then I am going to finish some more work…

And things will get more interesting in the near future for this story…

Also, I have a plan to post at least 5 times during the weekend (Friday-Sunday) after the first week of school. They'll be saved for the weekend because I will most likely write them during the week. I'll have two Zig stories I'd like to get out, a new Eli story, a story for The Walking Dead that is a song fic for Glenn, and then I'll probably just update a story that I already have. If I finish my summer work earlier and write something, then I might post it at that time! If I finish a story before the first weekend after school starts, I might post before Friday! And if I write anything extra, I'll post that too!

Ooh, I forgot. Guess what? I won a scholarship for writing an essay about diversity. Apparently, I won 'hands down' and they said they loved my writing! :)

Song for this chapter: "Pangea" by Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin.


"Eli, pick up," Clare whispered to herself. She'd been ready for nearly two hours and she still hadn't received a phone call or a text from Eli. It was his birthday and they were supposed to go out tonight. But that was not going to happen, as the movie they planned to see had started almost 50 minutes ago and the next showing would not start until 9:45. The movie would end after her curfew, and her parents definitely would not like that. She didn't even want to think about how they'd react if they found out she was dating Eli.

It wasn't until shortly after nine that she was finally able to get ahold of Eli, but when he answered, Clare could only hear the noise of partygoers, followed by the phone cutting off. She figured that his new friend Gillen, who she met once before when she came over to Eli's apartment, was responsible for this. Ever since he'd been hanging out with Gillen, he'd been going out to parties more often, missing dates, and he even told her once that he was failing two of his classes. Eli barely knew the guy, but suddenly he was spending all of his time with him. She knew she had to do something before Gillen caused Eli to spiral out of control…


When she arrived at Gillen's parent's house, the area stunk of alcohol and some other unidentifiable scent. People littered the front lawn and steps, making it hard to get inside. Surprisingly, the inside of the house was a prettier sight, but it wasn't by very much. The smell was definitely worse, but she wasn't worried about that right now. She was set on finding Eli, which would be tough if he was drinking, because the people in this room looked unrecognizable; they barely looked human to her.

After a quick search of the first floor, she decided to look outside again, silently hoping that he would be out there, rather than upstairs with some girl.

It turned out, though, that he was not with the crowd that still surrounded the front of the home. Clare was about to search inside again, but wondered if he would be in the backyard instead. The smoke coming from back there made her wonder if anyone was around that area.

After turning the corner, she saw that there in fact was a bonfire going on, hosted none other than by Gillen. Eli was sitting by his side. Clare walked over to him and grabbed him by his arm to pull him aside.

"Did you forget about tonight?" she asked him.

"W-what ab-bout it?" he slurred.

"We had plans tonight!"

"Whoa, you seem a little upset," Gillen said, walking over to Clare. "Is someone angry that their first college party wasn't fun?" He joked. He laughed a little, but then gained his composure. "Listen, kid, go home. Places like this can be a jungle."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. I don't think this is the place for people your age. Your maturity level just hasn't quite gotten there yet." He raised his hand to illustrate height.

Clare rolled her eyes, biting her tongue to keep her from screaming at the guy standing in front of her. She wasn't going to do anything stupid; she promised herself that. But when someone carrying some beer walked past her, she just felt that the opportunity was too good to pass up. She grabbed a cup, leaving the girl with the other, and threw it on Gillen. "Asshole," she muttered, before storming off.

Before she reached the front of the house again, someone grabbed her arm.

"Clare," Eli began. She waited for him to speak, but his current state of drunkenness apparently still had an effect on him, because he didn't continue.

"No, Eli," Clare said after a moment. "He needs an attitude adjustment…And I think you need to take some time away from all of this to decide who's really important to you. And that includes me. Good bye."


Okay, so it didn't really go how I imagined it would, but review! =D