"Clare Edwards?" An unfamiliar voice says from in front of me. I look up and wipe the tears from my eyes.
"Jake Martin?" I whisper, while squinting through the tears in my eyes.
Jake is the last person I would think I would see right now, or want to see. The last time I saw him he threw a dead frog at me, but that was years ago; things have changed. In fact he has matured very much. I noticed how tall he's gotten, and his cute boyish features, also his biceps. He has really changed.
"Do I pass inspection?" He says, with a confident smirk on his face. 'Nope he's certainly the same' I thought to myself.
"What are you doing here?" I ask, irritated.
"I moved here? Your mom didn't tell you?" He says raising an eyebrow.
"I guess not?" I say, standing to my feet. I try to compose myself as much as I can.
"Are you, okay?" He asks while raising one eyebrow.
"I'm fine, what are you doing here anyway?" I say, with a kind of annoyed tone.
"Me? Your mom has been looking for you everywhere, and one of your friends told her that you would be here. So since my dad and your mom are friends he said that he would help her look, which means that I was forced to come." He says with a bored tone. He said the word 'friends' like it meant something more, I quickly put the thought out of my mind.
"Oh, okay. Well now that you've found me, let's leave." I say, while walking towards the exit. I spotted my mother laughing with Mr. Martin, then she looked at me and smiled.
"Are you okay honey? I heard what happened to Eli." She says, with an expression of concern.
"I'm fine. We broke up." I say as I look down at my shoes.
"Oh, I'm sorry, what happened?" She asks.
"I don't want to talk about it, can we just go home." I say, in a harsh tone. We walk out of the hospital, everyone seems to be in good spirits except for me and Jake, and he seems to not want to be here. We get to my house, and I get out of the car.
"So, I'll see you tonight?" My mom says to Mr. Martin.
"Tonight?" I choke. What is going on is my mom going out on a date with Mr. Martin, so soon.
"Yes Clare tonight, we're having dinner with the Martin's." She says matter of factly.
"Oh…" I say. I walk without a word into my house, and go straight to my room. I lay there face down in my bed crying. Then I hear the familiar sound of my cell phones' text message notification. I roll over, and reach into my jacket pocket and retrieve my cell phone; it's a text message from Ali.
Above The Dot 7
to kick off spring break?
if ur up for it?
I quickly responded with a simple "I'll be there." The last thing I wanted to do was spend my night at home, and watch my mom talk with her, as Jake put it "friend" all dinner. I fix my hair, redid my makeup and open my window. 'If I sneak out from the window, she won't no-' I thought, but then stop when I realize what I was thinking, this wasn't me. I close my window and sit down on my bed, as I try to remember how to breathe. 'Spring break, a new start' I think to myself. I get up, and walk down stairs.
"Mom, I'm going to Above the Dot with Ali and some friends tonight." I say, trying not to make eye contact.
"Clare, we have dinner with the Martin's today. I'm afraid you can't go." She says while putting on her earrings, and fixing her hair.
"Are you going somewhere?" I ask.
"No, why?" She says, her expression confused.
"Because you're dressed like you're going out. You're wearing makeup and fixing your hair, and you're glowing. Mom what's going on?" I say, concerned.
"Nothing Clare, breathe. I just want to look nice for dinner tonight is all?" She says smiling to herself. I looked at the clock, it's 8:30 the Martin's should be here any minuet, I thought their name with disgust, just because they're the reason I can't go to Above the Dot with all my friends.
*Ding Dong*
"Ooo Clare, get the pie in the kitchen and put it on the table." My mother says, as she rushes to the door. I look at her with my eyebrows raised not understanding what was going on with her. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed the pie, and slowly walked over to the dining table and set it down.
"Glen, Jake come in." I hear my mom say from the other room. I take my seat at the table, and wait for everyone else to come take their seats my mom and Glen sat in front of each other, and Jake and I sat at the ends of the table. I'm not in the mood for the dinner table conversation going on around me, neither is Jake it seems. I decided to tune into what my mom was asking Jake.
"So how was your first day at Degrassi?" She asks.
"What?" I choke out. Is that even possible, to register into a school right before Spring Break?
"I'll get used to it, when school starts up again." Jake says, as he fiendishly scarfs down mouthfuls of chicken.
"This chicken's really good." He mumbles.
"Oh, do you want some more? Light or dark?" My mother says, as she beams so happy that he's enjoying her cooking. I slip my phone out from my pocket, under the table. I start to type a message to Ali.
Nvm, can't ma-
"Clare, no phones at the table." My mother says, with a stern look. I look up, and I notice that everyone was looking at me. I make eye contact with Jake, and he raises an eye brow and grins. I lock my phone and put it back in my pocket.
"Happy?" I ask sarcastically.
"Excuse Clare, she's going through a break up." My mother says, as she sweetly smiles to Glen.
"I'm fine; I don't appreciate you telling everyone my business mom." I say, as I hold my fork with extreme force, in effort to control my anger.
"Actually, I think I need some air… All my friends are at Above the Dot right now…" I say, hoping that my mother will notice the severe emotional distress I was enduring at the moment.
"Go on, we don't mind really." Glen says.
"Hmm… Jake would you like to go along with Clare?" My mother says, she seems to be a bit hopeful."
"Umm…" Jake says, as he looks at me to see if it bothered me if he tagged along. I slowly nodded my head, but not enough for anyone but him to notice.
"I'll go." Jake says.
"Great come one." I say, as I stand up and grab his hand. My intention is not to go to Above the Dot, I simply want to take a long walk to get my thoughts together, and everything changed in an instant all in one day. I pull Jake through the front door, and I start to run. I don't know where I'm running to, but I keep going.
"Clare, where are we going?" Jake says, I can tell he's smiling by the tone of his voice. I look around and notice that I've run all the way to The Dot. I let go of Jakes hand and stop running. I sit down on the curb and start to cry. I remember that I'm not alone and quickly wipe away the tears, but he already noticed.
"Come on, let's take a walk." He says, as he walks ahead of me.
"How come I can never find a good guy, every time it ends in either apologies or disasters? What's wrong wit-. " I rant, but the I'm cut off by Jake's lips on mine. I quickly back away.
"What are you doing?" I ask, but I secretly wanted to continue.
"Just shut up for a sec." He says, as he comes closer to me. We kiss again, and I feel sparks, like the sparks I felt when me and, what's his name again? We both stop to get some air.
"Closure is key." He whispers into my ear.
"So Above the Dot?" I ask.
"Let's do it." He says. I lead the way. Hopefully this will be a good new start for me.