"Eliiiiii!" shouted an obnoxious voice.

Eli slowly turned his head to see Imogen quickly coming up behind him.

He raised an eyebrow, "Uh...hey Imogen." he muttered.

"Hey Eli! OMG! I've been looking for you all morning." Her eyes lit up as she spoke.

"Well...you found me? What do you need?"

Imogen giggled. "Oh, I don't need anything. I just wanted to...talk. Like...I think we should become friends, ya know?" she suggested.

"I don't do 'friends'." Eli's face held no emotion.

Imogen's face dropped. "So...you don't want to be friends?"

He simply nodded, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

She stayed silent for a minute but soon began laughing. "Oh my gosh, Eli, for a minute I thought you were serious!"

"...I was serious."

Imogen's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean you don't want to be friends? What's wrong with you? Why wouldn't a hot guy like you want to get to know a cute girl like me! What the fuck! You should be honored that I'm even interested in you, you fucking lowlife pothead who's going absolutely nowhere!" she ranted.

Eli's eyes began to glaze over. "...Are you done? I have to go meet someone somewhere soon, so..." he said as he trailed off.

Imogen called after him, "You're gonna go meet that cheap slut Clare?"

Eli froze, he knew how wrong it'd be to punch Imogen in the face but he was so tempted right now. He considered it for a minute but eventually, he continued walking, fighting the urge to go back and two piece that bitch.

One bad thing about Eli was always his anger but recently he had taken some classes of anger management. He knew how to control it better, now.

Any anger he had previously felt suddenly disappeared when he saw Clare.

She smiled at him, "Hey Eli."

"What? No hug?" he teased.

She playfully stuck her tongue out at him. "...Fine, I guess you can have one hug."

He quickly pulled her tightly into him, wrapping his arms around her waist. They stayed like that for quite some time, both not wanting to let go.

Clare cleared her throat. "Um...I think we can stop...now?"

Eli snapped out of his little trance. "Oh. Right." He let go just like she did.

They stood awkwardly off to the side, looking at the other Degrassi students pass.

"So...where's your lover, Fitz?"

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Fitz is so not my 'lover'. I have my eye on a certain someone."

Eli's heart began pounding. Could it possibly be...him?

"..Who?" he curiously asked.

She blushed deep red. "Well...it's just a little crush. It began like yesterday..so.."

"Quit beating around the bush, Edwards. Who is it?"

She blushed again. "...Jake Martin." she said, looking down at her feet.

...

Eli felt his heart shatter into a million pieces. His throat got a lump he couldn't seem to swallow without getting the feeling of crying. But he's a man so why would he cry, right?

Eventually he managed to say something. "...Jake Martin?"

"Yeah, he's so cute. I get butterflies just thinking about him."

"That's great, Clare, really. You should make a move or something." It killed him to say that but he had to. Otherwise what kind of a friend would he be?

I guess he was a fool to believe that maybe just maybe she'd actually had liked him back but now he knew he'd never be good enough for Clare. Maybe people were right about him being a lowlife who's going nowhere, that's probably why Clare didn't like him like that..

Clare interrupted his thoughts when she asked, "So who do you like?"

But what could he possibly say? Should he lie?

"I like the new girl, Ruth, she's beyond gorgeous." he played it off, pretending to be interested in the new girl from the states.

He could have sworn he seen something in Clare's eyes when he said that but that's not possible since she had a thing for Jakey boy.

"Ruth?" she questioned. "Why?" she asked sourly .

"Why not? Have you seen her?"

She rudely answered, "No."

He raised his eyebrows in confusion. What the hell was her problem?

"She's over there." He pointed over her shoulder.

Clare rolled her eyes, turning around, prepared to see this supposed "beauty".

Clare was sure she'd be ugly or something, but when she actually saw her, her jaw dropped.

Ruth stood at 5'3, straight black hair cascaded down the small of her back. She had big boobs, immediately making Clare insecure. Although it wasn't like Clare's were small but Ruth was easily a 38 C if not bigger, and to go along with the perfect boobs was her tiny waist. And her beautiful grey eyes and dimples to set it all off right. She was fucking perfect.

And Clare fucking hated it.

Clare was beginning to regret having asked Eli who he liked. Of course he wouldn't like her, of course he'd like someone like Ruth...who wouldn't?

But whatever, maybe liking Jake could finally help her stop liking Eli. Hopefully...

"Wow, she...is gorgeous. Almost makes me wanna go lesbian." She joked, trying to mask the pain she was feeling right now.

He laughed, "Right? Man, she's so hot."

She smiled slightly, "Yeah, maybe you and her can double date with Jake and I sometime? Well, that's if we each get the person first."

He rubbed his hands together. "Don't even worry about it, I'm already on it, trying to get Ruth. She will be mine, trust. And I'm sure you'll have no problem getting Jake." he assured.

Her small smile fell. She wanted to punch herself in the face for ever bringing up this topic, it hurt like hell, knowing the guy you've always liked, liked someone else. "Hopefully you're right. Well, I guess I should get to S-spanish before I'm late.."

He waved, "Okay, I'll see you at lunch."

...

Thirty minutes into Spanish class, Clare couldn't focus, she kept thinking about that bitch Ruth and how Eli liked her. I guess she really shouldn't call her a bitch because she didn't even know her.

Clare almost wanted to vomit when she glanced up to see Ruth walk into her class.

What the hell?

"Ms. Ruth Webster will be joining our class." Ms. Munoz, the Spanish teacher, welcomed her to the class. "Why don't you go sit next to Clare, Ruth? Clare raise your hand." Why the hell did she have to be seated next to her?

Ruth took her seat next to Clare. " Hi, I'm Ruth." she introduced herself to Clare.

I know just who the hell you are, you stupid bitch. Clare wanted to say but thought that would be a bit rude.

Clare faked a smile, "Oh. Hi. I'm Clare. Nice to meet you."

Today was not Clare's day at all.

"So how do you like Degrassi?" She thought she might as well attempt to make conversation with Ruth, just to test out what kind of person she was.

Ruth puffed out her cheeks, all cutesy. That bitch... Clare thought.

"It's alright. I'm liking it." She rolled her eyes in frustration. "Even though all of the guys here are freaking pigs."

Clare couldn't agree more. "I know what you mean. They are! They eye ball every female like we're some kind of piece of meat."

Ruth giggled, nodding her head. "Exactly. Although this one guy showed me the way to this class a while ago, he seemed like an all around sweet and sincere type of guy but with a little bit of an edge."

This automatically interested Clare. Could it be...no way.. "..What was his name?"

Ruth thought about it some, "I think he said his name was...Eli? I'm not sure though. He was pretty cute, too."

"Eli?" Clare wanted to make sure she heard correctly.

"Yeah. Do you know him?" she questioned.

"Actually, yeah I do. We're really good friends." Clare confidently stated.

Ruth's mouth quickly opened then closed. "Oh. I get it."

Clare's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean, 'you get it'?"

"You said you two were really good friends. I get it. He's yours. Don't worry, hun. I won't go after him or anything." she explained.

Clare blushed, "I didn't mean it like that. We, really are just friends. I-I mean if you like him, go for him. He's...not my type, anyways." she nervously chuckled.