Clare's Point of View.
Embarrassed. Humiliated. Confused. Hurt. Those were only a few of the many emotions that I was going through as I was about to walk inside my house. My parents never used to fight like this last year, or at any time when I was younger. But once Darcy left for Kenya, they seemed to only fight. Ever since my dad's work hours have been increased, it's been adding even more fuel to the fire. And my mom has been going through retail therapy; buying everything she set her eyes upon since her sister died.
Each day their fighting would get increasingly worse. I stopped having friends over because I could not even bare the fact that they may see my parents fight. I always heard the kids at Degrassi talking about how they went to their mom's house or dad' house on the weekends; before this year, I thanked my lucky stars because I wasn't a kid caught in between a divorced relationship. But now it looks as if I will be jumping on that bandwagon soon enough.
It scared me to think I would have to choose between my mom and my dad. I could not imagine the look on either of my parent's face if I said, "Oh... I'll go live with mom." Or "Oh...I'll go live with dad." The truth was, I would rather get emancipated than choose to live with either of them separately. I loved both of my parents too much to have to pick between which one I would rather live with.
Through all of this, I have basically been neglecting all of my work, social and school, and I've suffered for it. Since the fighting began, I've been so concentrated on my parents' possible divorce, that my school work has gone way down hill. Being an Honors student, you need to have yourself together and be solely concentrated on your work; which is impossible to do since all I can hear is the screaming coming from outside my door. And even when they aren't fighting, they echoes of the last battle are so far etched into my brain, I can make a play in my head of them. My friendship with Alli and Zane has even suffered. Alli and Zane were the two people I loved more than anything. I could tell them about anything, anything other than my parents. Zane hadn't known about my parents until I told him a few nights ago through text message. But Alli, like Eli, found out for herself. She had noticed that I was acting odd over the summer and she was irked because every time she had asked me what was wrong, I shot her down, telling her that "It's nothing; I just haven't been myself lately."
One day over the summer, Alli had come over to my house to go to the library with me. Just as I had opened the door, it was as if World War III had begun. I tried not to cry as I closed the door behind me, muffling the sounds coming from inside my house. I tried to act like it was nothing, but Alli ran up to me and gave me a hug; she knew what was wrong. "Clare," she had said, "This is why you've been acting weird, isn't it? Your parents have been fighting? Clare, I'm so sorry you have to go through this. No one ever should!" We stood on my porch for five minutes, just hugging each other, all while the fighting began to calm down. "You can stay with me whenever you need to. Just say the word, and I'll come and get you." I was very grateful to have Alli and Zane with me through all of this; and now I had Eli.
Eli and I were on our way to his house to watch some movies with Adam, Zane, and Alli. Eli told me to text Alli, Zane, and Adam to tell them to bring over their scary movies. I discreetly told Alli about what happened, and she greatly accepted and asked me to stay the night.
Our hands were intertwined as we drove, basking in a comfortable silence. Even though we had only known each other for a day, I felt as if we've known each other for so much longer. It sounds so cliché and cheesy, but the way he handled the situation with my parents just made me feel like he actually cared. I knew that KC wouldn't have helped me like that.
"Looks like Alli, Zane and Adam beat us here," Eli said, pulling up to his house. It was a quaint, modest place. It was like my house; not too big, not too small, but just right. And like Eli said, there stood Adam, Alli, and Zane talking together. He let go of my hand and turned off Morty. There was a slight pause, and I said, "Eli, thank you." He turned his head and looked at me with his glittering green eyes. "Clare," he said leaning in. I caught my breath, thinking Eli was about to kiss me. "ELIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" Adam screamed outside Eli's window.
"WHAT?" Eli said, jumping in his seat. He straightened back up and scowled at Adam, who was wearing a huge smile on his face. I winked at Adam from behind Eli, and Adam just shook his head, laughing. "C'mon, Clare. Let's have us a movie marathon," Eli said as we got out of the car. "Let me call my parents first. You guys go ahead in and I'll be inside in a second. Everyone filed inside Eli's house but Zane.