This is kind of short, sorry. Another chapter will be out tonight, though. I'm just making up for the chapter I didn't do yesterday. I was at the hospital with my mother during the time I usually write. Just a warning, this chapter has NO ELI in it, but I promise the next one will, so bare with me! Also, thank you all for the reviews! Seriously, I have the best readers ever and I really appreciate you all. -C

"I heard you had a little fight in the hallway today." Mrs. Carson said as we both settled into our respective chairs in her small office.

I was full of emotions today, both annoyance and joy, and sitting down talking to a counselor was something I really didn't want to do.

"Alli doesn't aprove of Eli." I said, playing with my hair, a nervous habit. I tucked it behind my ears, then pulled it back out on one side, then the other. Repeated until calm.

"Why not?" She asked.

"I don't know, stuff she's heard. From other people." I said quietly. I was still annoyed, but ranting about stupid best friends wasn't something you did with your counselor, it was something you did with your mom, or other best friends. People who would sympathize, not analyze.

"Gossip?" She asked. I nodded.

"She doesn't even know if half of it's true, and yet she expects me to listen to her when she says to stay away from him." I told her.

"She's just trying to look out for you." Mrs. Carson said gently.

"Yeah, I know that. Yet I'm capable of doing that myself." I said, a little more sharply than I had meant to.

"Clare," She started.

"Are you going to tell me what to do now too?" I asked.

"No, I'm here for support, not to boss you around." Mrs. Carson replied. I waited, knowing there was a 'but' coming. "But are you sure that Alli is wrong? Perhaps Eli is nice and good around you, but you don't know him either, Clare."

And she was right. She was totally, completely right. I claimed Alli was horrible for judging without knowing Eli, yet I judge him, only in a good way, without really knowing if he deserved it.

"I'll think about that." I told her, standing up and shouldering my bag. "See you tomorrow."

"Goodbye, Clare." Mrs. Carson said, and I shut the large, heavy wooden door behind me, leaving the serenity of her office and thinking hard about what she said.

"Clare!" Called a familiar, though not welcome, voice as I exited the school.

I looked around, trying to find my mother in the sea of parents and students and cars and buses. There she was, leaning out of an old car, probably older than me, painted a gross brown.

"Mom?" I asked, confused. She never came to pick me up, especially not in some strangers car.

"Clare! Jack and I came to pick you up. Isn't that lovely?" Her mother asked. She seemed slightly tipsy, but not full out wasted. Not yet anyways.

"Who?" I asked, not going any closer to the car.

"Jack! He's a new friend of mine. I met him down at..." She trailed off, obviously about to list the name of a bar, but decided not too. "Well, anyways, get in."

Jack leaned out the window to smile at me. He had greasy, brown hair and a body that was two times larger than dads, at least.

"Hi." I said to his creepy, smiling face. "Um, I was actually going to walk. It's really nice out and I need the fresh air. Thanks anyways!"

"Clare, get in the car." Mom said, very firmly.

"But I don't-"

"Clare!" She shouted, grabbing my arm. Jack continued to smile, as if it was completely normal for mothers to physically drag there daughters into strangers cars in front of her school.

I sat down, put on my seat belt. I staid quiet the entire ride to aunt Chrissy's. I felt humiliated and furious. How dare she. She had no right to force me to do anything. And Jack's creepy, beady eyes kept looking at me in the rearveiw mirror, making my skin crawl.

Where did she find this guy, anyways? Creeps-r-us? I thought mom had standards. Not that I should be judging Jack, since I didn't know how at all, but the vibes he gave me were enough to make me not like him. At all.

"Thank you for the ride." I said politely, undoing my seat belt and opening the rust door of the car.

I ran up Chrissy's front steps and into her house, not looking back at mom or Jack, though I could feel eyes on me every step I took.

"Look at him!" I shouted to Chrissy, who was trying to spy out the front window.

"Is that... Does your mom..." Chrissy tried to ask, but couldn't figure out the right way to. "Who is he?"

"Jack. Apparently her boyfriend, though she didn't actually say that, it was kind of implied, you know?"

Chrissy nodded. "I thought she'd never get over your father."

"I wish she hadn't." I replied. "At least not with this guy."

"Give him a chance, Clare. Your mom can see something in him, right? He can't be all that horrible." Chrissy replied.

I just nodded. I wasn't going to like Jack. I knew it. Yet I couldn't just be rude to him, not for my mom's sake, but just out of politeness.

Eventually mom came in, after a few long kissed with Jack, which Chrissy and I decided were too gross to watch.

"Next time I introduce you to a man, you respect him, Clare." Mom said angrily.

I just nodded. Something in me just knew that I would be seeing Jack a lot more, and that my feelings towards him wouldn't change. Yet if I wanted to avoid a large argument with my mom, I had to just bite my tongue and deal. So I did.