A│N: I'M ALIVE! If you're reading my other story, Only Place I Call Home, you should already know why I've been gone for a while. If not, I'm going to leave another small explanation at the bottom of this chapter. This chapter is named after "Hit and Run" by Breathe Carolina. Sorry it took me so long, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Do I really have to do this every time? Probably not, so this will be the last time I do this because it is a constant reminder that I don't own Degrassi or any of the songs I name the chapters after, just my idea for this story.

My parents had returned Monday morning, as promised, only to find me rushing out the door. I heard my mom call out to me, but I ignored her since I was eager to get to school and find Imogen. I rode my bike seeing how I was in a rush and Eli was not an option at the moment. What was I thinking when I told him I wanted to sleep with him? I must've sounded ridiculous! I face palmed myself— literally. When I woke up Sunday morning, him and all his stuff was gone. All that remained was a note stating that his mom called him home for an emergency. Needless to say, I stayed home that day to work on my English assignment.

As I locked up my bike, I spotted Imogen through the front window of Degrassi, laughing. Whoever she was talking to was standing in front of her, hidden by the wall. She saw me coming and smiled, saying goodbye to her friend. She ran to meet me at the front door.

"Hello, Clare Edwards," she raised her eyebrows, "what news do you bring me today?"

"I bring no special news, I just thought you could escort me to class considering we have the same one," I decided to avoid conversation about Eli, "who were you talking to before I walked in?"

"Oh, that was nobody important, just someone in my chemistry class." She shrugged it off and we walked to class.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I don't know who decided to pull the fire alarm on the fourth day of school, but they saved me from playing dodge ball in gym. They kept us outside for the entire period so when we returned, it was lunchtime. I sat at our usual table in the back of the cafeteria where Adam was already waiting. Soon after, Imogen and Alli joined us. I felt strange, as if someone was watching me. Looking around, I locked eyes with none other than Eli. He was propped up on a wall, eating an apple. I took in his appearance, which was a gray unbuttoned shirt with a black long sleeved shirt underneath, black skinny jeans and combat boots. I glanced back up to his face, seeing the amused expression he wore.

"Clare, stop staring at Eli," Adam whispered next to me. I blushed and Adam waved him over.

"What are you doing?!" I loudly whispered back.

"Something you don't have the lady balls to do," he snickered, "ha, lady balls."

"Real mature Adam," I rolled my eyes, watching Eli make his way over. I suddenly felt self-conscious about myself in the shorts and light hoodie I was wearing as he looked me up and down slowly. He decided to sit next to me… great.

"So we meet again, Elijah Goldsworthy," Imogen said. What did she mean by again?

"Why do I get the feeling that you two know each other?" I said teasingly.

"Eli is in my chemistry class. He's also the person I was talking to this morning." I nodded slowly, not pushing the topic any further. I pulled out a book I had recently started and tried to ignore the brooding boy next to me.

"An Abundance of Katherines… what's that about?" I could feel him move closer, his breath tickling my ear. I rolled my eyes, an action I seemed to be doing often since meeting Eli.

"How about you read the book and find out yourself?" I coldly answered. I pretended to be immersed in my book, but I heard Eli asking for us to be excused. I wasn't planning on going… until he yanked me up from my seat, making me drop my book on the table. I tried to pull my wrist out of his grip but he was stronger. We got to the hallway and I crossed my arms over my chest, looking at the floor.

"Are you ok?" Oh, you've got to be kidding me.

"Peachy," I mumbled. "It's not like I kissed a boy and he ran away the next day… oh wait, that actually happened."

"I left a note—"

"Which we both know was a load of crap."

"You don't have to be so bitter about it, Clare." He reached up to touch my arm, but I pulled away quickly.

"Don't touch me!"

"Okay, I'm sorry. Just listen to me, please," I stared into his eyes, seeing his sincerity. I sighed and nodded, leading Eli outside and sitting under the furthest tree from the school building. "Julia was my first serious girlfriend. The second I saw her, I knew I had to have her. I couldn't let the most gorgeous girl I had ever seen walk out of the café that day. We loved a lot of the same things, from music to the kind of socks we preferred," he chuckled and then grew serious.

"What happened?" I asked gently.

"We were together for a little over a year— fifteen months, but the arguing started around our one year anniversary. They weren't even reasonable arguments, just silly disagreements. We would yell over homework problems or books, even what my mom should cook for dinner. But it seemed like each fight got more intense and she started getting more and more distant. It seemed like she was spiraling into self-destruction and I couldn't do anything to save her."

"The night she died, we had got into another argument. I had asked her why she had been acting so irritable lately, as if she was on edge about something. She just stared at me with this blank look. I finally noticed her eyes lacked that fire they once held, and she no longer had her confident posture or that daring smile. She looked fragile, Clare. Like a scared little girl. Then she broke down, which was completely unexpected. God, she started crying and screaming about how it was her fault and she deserved it. I just kept trying to calm her down because I couldn't piece anything she was saying together." Eli was in tears now and I rested my hand on top of his, giving him a supportive nod.

"He raped her. That sick bastard raped her. Julia's own father, someone that was supposed to take care of her and respect her, rapedher." My jaw dropped and my free hand went over my mouth in shock.

"Oh my God," I whispered, my own voice cracking as tears fell down my face.

"I didn't know what to do. So many different emotions ran through me at once. I was furious that he would do that to his own child and I was upset that I didn't realize it sooner. But you know what really broke me?" I waited for him to continue. "She thought she deserved it. Clare, she blamed herself. After I calmed her and myself down, I told her we needed to go to the cops. She didn't take it nearly as well as I had hoped. She jumped out of my arms and backed up until she got to the front door. My parents weren't home and I wasn't sure how to handle something like this. I got up and I walked toward her slowly but she kept shaking her head frantically. She wouldn't listen to me. Finally she stopped. There was no more head shaking or uncontrollable sobbing. Instead, she looked me right in the eyes with the coldest expression and told me that I would never understand. I tried," he choked back a sob, "I tried stopping her Clare, I really did, but she was too fast. She ran down the street and disappeared into the stormy night. I got in my car and started looking for her while I called my mom and filled her in. A couple of blocks later, I heard a loud scream that undoubtedly belonged to Julia and saw a car speeding away. I drove a few more feet and saw Julia, my Jules, lying in the middle of the street. I called the cops and told them where we were, telling them to hurry. I hopped out of my car and ran over to her unconscious body. I couldn't tell if she was breathing because it was pouring rain and I was crying. I didn't even register the paramedics pulling me up and placing me in the ambulance with her because the next thing I know, I'm in the hospital and the doctor is telling me she's gone."

I pulled Eli into a hug, feeling his body shake with each sob.

"It's my fault she died! If I didn't push her to report him, then she wouldn't have run into the pouring rain alone. She would still be alive. I killed my girlfriend!"

"No Eli, it's not your fault." I said gently, not wanting to upset him anymore. "You just tried to help her. If it's anybody's fault, it's her father's and the bastard that hit her and left her there to die."

"I'm sorry for dumping this on you, especially during school," he pulled away, sniffled, and continued. "I just wanted to explain why I left on Sunday."

"Not to upset you anymore, but what did that have to do with you leaving?"

"I'm not ready to let anyone in yet. I know we just met last week, but I like you… a lot. No matter how hard I fight it, something keeps pulling me to you and I don't know why. I don't want to scare you away." I hugged him again, tighter than before.

"I'm not going anywhere."

A│N: I was at the end of my junior year when I began writing this chapter and I had to study for my regents (and if you don't know what those are, they're final exams). I've also been really busy with college stuff, summer plans, etc. When I wasn't busy, I suffered from writer's block. Then my boyfriend and I broke up and I kind of lost my will to write. I can honestly say that I've had the very beginning of this chapter written for about two or three months but every time I opened it, I couldn't seem to continue from where I had left off. All is well now, so I hope to write and post the next few chapters very soon. To those of you reading this, thanks for sticking around even though I suck at updating!