Just to draw things out a bit more, here's a filler chapter. Just as a side note, in this story, Eli is not a hoarder. While I really like this storyline in the show, it just won't work for my story, so… Enjoy!

ELI'S POV:

I don't know exactly what I was thinking when I made the indecent proposition to 'help' Clare. I know that I was hoping she would take me up on my offer, no matter how inappropriate it was. I wanted to spend time with her. I wanted to show her that some guys thought she was fantastic so matter what she willing or not willing to do. Some guys would treat her the way she ought to be treated. Okay, so not just 'some guys'. Me.

So when Clare messaged me to tell me that she thought my idea was worth testing out, I was over the moon. I knew deep down that she had messaged me so she wouldn't have to tell me that she wanted to try the plan out face to face. But the fact that she was nervous and shy about everything made me like her even more. It was endearing to see a girl with virtue. Endearing, but oh so challenging…

We made quick plans to meet up at my house, where we would put everything into action. And that pretty much brings us to the present time.

So, I'm here, in my room, fussing over the wrinkles in my black and silver comforter, wanting everything to be perfect so Clare feels completely at ease. I know that this is probably the last place Clare thinks she wants to be. For now anyway. But that can, that will change.

"Been a long time since you've had a girl in your room," came the amused voice of my mother.

I looked up, through my open doorway, and met CeCe's eyes. I shrugged. I'd told my parents that Clare was coming over to study. I hadn't offered any other information. But it didn't take a genius to figure out that this was the first girl to even be mentioned since Julia.

"Should I be worried?" CeCe asked, raising an eyebrow. "Anything I need to know?"

I shook my head. "Nope."

She walked into my room, tentatively since she and the Bull were pretty adamant about me having my own personal space and doing with it whatever I felt I needed to in order to make it my own. She smiled at me as she ran a hand over a wrinkle on my bedspread, before sitting down gently.

"I'm happy that Degrassi is working out for you, Eli," she began. "Adam seems nice and Sav too. I haven't heard about Clare since today though. She must be a pretty great girl."

I couldn't help but smile crookedly, thinking of just how great a girl Clare really was. I imagined her meeting CeCe and the Bull, and her reaction to my less than conventional family tree. She would probably think they were crazy, but they would absolutely adore her.

"I take it from that smile of yours that Clare's special?"

I sniffed and tried to appear vague and uninterested. "She's okay, just a girl from my English class. You don't mind her coming here, do you?"

I already knew the answer, but asking was simply a way to put the ball back in my mother's court. My parents have always maintained an open door policy when it comes to friends. No matter what the situation, if I think enough of that person to want to invite them into my home, then my parents will be accepting of them too.

She rose from my bed and took a deep breath, stretching her long arms above her head. "This is just the mother in me coming out here, Baby Boy, but be careful, okay? You haven't so much as looked at another girl, not since Julia. I'm sure Clare is lovely, but take things slow, okay?"

She eyed my bed, the bed that I'd been fussing over, and winked. I laughed lightly, nodding my head so she knew that her message had been received loud and clear. As she walked out of my room, I stared intently at my bed. I could almost see Clare there. And she fit just perfectly.

CLARE'S POV:

I didn't allow my nerves to kick into full force until I was standing on Eli's front step, palms moist and my breath catching in my throat so much I almost couldn't breathe. I had no idea what to expect and that was what was probably killing me the most. Uncertainty is not a welcome guest for me. I like to know exactly what is going to happen at any given moment. But, given the present nature of my parent's relationship and how things are going between KC and I, I'm getting a lot more used to the unexpected; used to it, but still unaccepting of it.

"Clare," came Eli's voice, as he opened his front door.

I smiled, hoping that the way I was feeling was not what was coming across on my face right now. Right now I was terrified, nervous beyond belief, wanting to flee this whole scene for the safety of my childish, pink wall-papered bedroom. I was entering this house as an innocent, but what my status would be as I left it, was completely up in the air.

But Eli was waiting, holding his door open, and offering me entrance. I paused for one more minute, trying to will myself to walk away from this debacle. I knew that was what I should have done. God would have wanted me to walk away. But in the end, my curiosity for the unknown and my uncertainty of things with KC got the better of me, and I stepped forward until I was standing in Eli's entrance and he was closing the door behind me.