Chapter Eleven – The Eleventh Letter, Age Twelve

Dear Quil,

Hi. I'm sorry. I truly and honestly am. But I'm hurt too, and I'm almost ready, just you wait. I'll be able to see you again soon… I just need a bit more time to gather all my bearings and sort exactly what I want.

It's just so difficult with you there sometimes, because when I'm with you, all other things seem to disappear, and it's just the two of us, and nothing else matters. Sadly, that's not the real case.

Anyway… so, this is when I was eleven, and it was seventh grade. I had made friends in my grade at this time; even though when I'd originally started everybody'd thought I was a freak. I was standing by my locker, twisting the lock hurriedly. I remember needing to go more quickly, because I was running late for first period.

"Claire." I heard a snarky voice behind me that I would recognize anywhere. Sighing internally, I turned slowly, hugging my geography books to my chest.

"Hello, Marin." I smiled, trying to hide a gag. She was standing in all her snobby glory, her uneven teeth sticking out of her mouth like she was a walrus.

"Why, hello Ms. Pedophile, wanna ditch class? We can go to the bathroom; the teachers don't go in there in the middle of class." She offered, popping the gum she had in her mouth.

"Um… okay." I whispered hesitantly. I was pretty bubbly as a kid, as you know, but when it came to schoolwork and getting to class, I was dead serious. But, I was kind of wanting to ditch… it was something fun, the wildest thing I could do at that age. Plus, I kind of wanted to see what they meant about the whole 'Ms. Pedophile' comment.

Marin and her friend Casey were leading me there, their arms linked loosely in a way that made me want to puke. They were like those old friends in the movies and stuff that sat on each other's laps and all that stuff. Doing that sort of thing was so out… it was almost like they liked Lady Gaga or something.

They pushed the door open, giggling slightly at the look on my face as they pulled me in. "Come on, Claire. Don't be such a freaking dip." Marin rolled her eyes. I hissed, narrowing my eyes as I stepped in completely, leaning against a stall.

"There. I'm in, I'm doing it…. Now what do you want?" I barked out, giving them a hard glare. They both shrank back from my gaze, nervously smoothing out their pants. Before they could answer, I suddenly remembered the comment they'd made earlier. "Wait, what did you guys mean by Ms. Pedophile?" I asked them. They both blushed a bit, but their snarky looks came back in a millisecond.

"Well, you always hang around with that, like, fort- year-old." She snorted, crossing her arms tight across her chest. Anger flared up bright in me as she said this, and I my face turned bright red.

"Yes, he's been in my life for forever. What's the problem with me being close to him? He's like… my best friend. And he's only twenty-five." I retorted, venom leaking my voice.

"Whatever. Don't you find it odd though, that a twenty-five year old man is sticking by you so much? I mean, he's like fifteen years older than you!" This time it was Casey who spoke, her squeaky voice colored with a smirk.

"Fourteen… he's fourteen years older than me. And he's like an uncle, and hanging out with your uncle isn't creepy." I said, but my voice was weak, pondering.

"Yeah, um, okay. I don't even hang out with my real uncle, much less a fake one. Claire, we wanted to talk to you because we're sort of… worried, that he might be stalking you or something. You know, the whole child molester thing." By the look of interest on her face, it looked like she was looking for gossip more than worrying about me.

"Actually, Quil cares about me more than anyone else, so shut your fu-reaking mouths." I snapped, getting irritated. I mean, how dare they suggest you were some sort… of creep? Because you weren't… and you still aren't.

"Ehm, okay. You don't have freak out about it. Just know who to talk to if he does anything." Marin flashed a weird smile, winking. Trying to hide a gag, I shook my head.

"Except, he won't. So buzz off wores." I hissed at them, tossing my hair. Their mouths fell open in shock as they flipped me off, fuming as they turned around.

I smirked when I realized that they had to be graced with my presence for another forty minutes, since they couldn't get caught ditching.

"So, you bitches gonna leave or what?" I sneered at them. I know, I know… I shouldn't have, but it was just so fun to piss them off.

"Oh, shut up. You're such a… a brat." Casey stammered angrily.

"Really Casey, really? 'Brat' is all you could come up with?" I snickered, rolling my eyes.

"Oh shut it! God knows that you'll be a fucking home wrecker when you grow up." Marin sneered angrily, flipping me off again. And that was the last straw. I know that you would be disappointed with me later, but that hardly crossed my mind as I dove at Marin, starting to claw her hair.

We screeched as we pulled each other's hair, stumbling out of the doorway and into the hall. "You – bitch!" she screamed loudly as I slapped her across the face before kneeing her stomach. Her hands let go of my hair to push me to the floor, and pretty soon she was on top of me, shaking my shoulders.

I let out a cat-like cry before kicking her you-know-what and pushing her off of me. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see people starting to gather around, having poured out of the classrooms. My guess was that the teachers had rushed off the office.

"You ho! God, get the fuck off of me!" Marin screamed as she grabbed my hair again, pulling it hard. I screeched before knocking her hands out of the way, tired of this girl fight-ish shit.

"You need to learn to shut your trap!" I warned her before balling my hand into a fist, swinging it back and letting it smash forward. It hit her jaw perfectly, and it felt good so I pulled back again, preparing to give another swing, when she kicked my knee, sending me stumbling backward in surprise. I was about to charge back at her when a voice interrupted us.

"Ms. Penning! Ms. Smart!" The familiar voice of our Mr. Jones, our principal, interrupted us and we both shrank away from each other immediately.

So, I won't go into detail about the trip to the office, or the weeks of detention we'd both have to serve… What I really remember is coming home to find you, freaking out when you saw the dried blood on my clothes, my puffy lip, and my bruised forehead.

After I explained I'd gotten into a fight, you left it at that, for which I'll forever be grateful for. I was just so angry at the fact that she was talking about you that way, in fact I'm still pissed about it.

But I wasn't ready to tell you then, even though I can tell you now. I know you were probably curious as hell to know that was all about. So now you know. I hope this will tell you that I love you so much, as much as you love me.

Forever and always,

Claire-bear

PS, Just so ya know, Marin walked away from that fight with the same injuries as me… plus a black eye! Oh ya baby!

Hey! So here is the next chapter! It would be great it people could review, review, review!!

Alright, so I am going to focuse all of my extra time and energy on finishing this fic before 2010! There are four chapters plus the epilogue left, so I'm gonna be typing away for the next eleven days!

Alright, that's all, so thanks to everyone for reading this chapter! The next one will be 'The Twelfth Letter, Age Thirteen'

As always, TwilightHeart21